Beta Ch.8 "Multiple"

"I should smack you right now." Asa glared at Mathys.

"Well, that's understandable. I don't blame you or anything." Mathys simply took out a cigarette and began to smoke.

Behind him sat Rob and Grant, who was sitting Indian style and seemingly unconsciousness. His eyes looked empty and his body was slightly slumped forward.

"Now that Rob placed him in his mind, I'll quickly explain what I'm about to do." the girls gathered around to listen to Mathys' explanation. "You see, the Guardian lies within the mind of their master. From there, a Beta can call their Guardian out of their mind and give them a psychical form. For some reason, Grant's Guardian hasn't contacted him in anyway, which is extremely unusual for a Guardian. So, I have two theories. One, the Guardian isn't there or two, something is preventing the Guardian from contacting Grant."

"It's most surly not one. It's already proven he's an auto-Beta." Tina added.

"Correct. That means it must be two. Something is preventing the Guardian from contacting him. Whatever it is must be something big. I heard of something like this before. Usually, it takes the psychic type of crap to fix it, but since I don't know any doc, I have a better option... I'm going to pull the damn Guardian straight out of Grant's mind."

"Wait a second. How is that even possible?" Shibaki asked.

"Simple really, Rob is going to use his shadows to pull it out. I don't know all the details, but he says light and darkness lies inside everyone or whatever and he can connect his shadows into Grant's to pull his Guardian out."

"That's... quite vague... and incredibly risky. You do know that..."

"I know, I know. If this fails because of what is holding the Guardian is too strong, then the connection between Grant and his Guardian will forever be locked." Mathys interrupted.

"Then why are you doing this? Can't we just wait for it to appear? Why are you trying to hurt my brother?" Asa grabbed Mathys by his collar.

"Look, girly... you wouldn't understand. This is more of an auto-Beta thing, okay? Only we can understand why it's important to have a Guardian. Just trust me on this. If I do end up hurting him, then you can be first to punch me out of here."

For a while the two just stared at each other. Asa tried to see if Mathys was joking by looking into his eyes, but she saw he was dead serious. Finally, she sighed and released her grip.

"Fine, just this once." she agreed.

"You know, you can be quite the character, girly." he brushed his shoulders off nonexistence dust and smiled at her.

"Quit calling me girly."

Mathys ignored Asa and walked towards Grant and Rob. "Ready, Rob?" he sat down.

"Yes, master." Rob touched the ground. Shadows from around him began to move swiftly from the original place and slowly stretched towards Grant. Rob slightly raised his hand, lifting the shadows off the ground and turning them into thorns. He then closed his fingers to his palm, moving the thorns to Grant's unconscious body. He stopped his fingers just an inch from his palms, which halted the tip of the shadow thorns on Grant's skin. The thorns consistently move around Grant's skin, like snakes.

"What's going on?" Lola whispered to Mathys.

"This is where Rob has to find where the source of the problem. If it's something psychical like a scar, then he needs to pull the Guardian out from the other end of the scar. It somewhat bypasses the problem and allows the Guardian to take form." Mathys whispered back.

"A scar?" Lola remembered the large scar across Grant's chest.

Suddenly, the thorns stopped at Grant's chest, exactly where the scar was. "Now... the extraction process... this is the hard part." Rob motioned his thorns to Grant's back. Afterwards, he pulled his headband off his right eye, revealing its dark black tone. Rob slowly pulled his fingers back, the thorns pulled back in response. In between the thorns was a small purple blob of energy. Everybody, expect for Asa, sensed a large amount from it.

"What is this energy?" Shibaki asked.

"This is indeed odd... the energy of the Guardian isn't supposed to be radiating until after it's pulled out." Mathys answered, though he was slightly unsure. "Don't tell... this is just only a portion of this Guardian's..."

Suddenly, as the purple blob continued to be extracted, a large of burst of force gave out. The force nearly knocked everybody back.

"W... What the hell?! Mathys, just what's going on?!" Asa yelled through the heavy force.

"I don't know! This isn't Rob's doing! This must be the Guardian's energy!" Mathys quickly answered. "Rob, what's the status?!"

"I... It's undetermined, master, but this looks to be only half of the Guardian's energy! I'll have to use my power to..." Rob was interrupted by a sudden roar coming from the blob as it began to take a humanoid shape. A purple arm burst from the blob, then another, and then a head began to form. Red eyes glowed on it, there was no pupil or iris, just a glowing red mark over where the eyes where supposed to be.

Grant woke up in his mind. He rubbed his eyes to make sure the blur escaped his eyes. What he saw was a field of water surrounding him. He was standing on the water oddly, like he was walking on top of it. Up ahead, he noticed a row of purple gates standing in front of him. Each gate had a symbol he couldn't make out, but he figured they were numbers.

"W... Where am I?" he asked around him, hoping someone would answer him.

"W... Walk forward..." a voice said to him.

"What? Who's there?"

"Through the gates... walk through the gates... and release me..."

Grant decided to do as the voice told him and walk to the first gate. He didn't know whenever to trust the voice, but he knew he didn't have anywhere else to go. The gate was massive, it easily towered his body and he had to pivot his head straight up just to see the tip of it. He took his first step.

Suddenly, he stepped back and held his chest in pain. "W... What the hell was that?!"

"Walk through the gates... face your greatest fear... release me..."

"What? My greatest fear?" Grant knew what the voice was talking about. It was the same fear that gave him the scar on his chest. He knew all too well what caused it. "I... I can't... it's too much..."

"Bare the pain... release me..."

"I... I see... you this was the thing Rob told me about. I have to face my what was holding my Guardian back to release it. But, that memory... can I really do it?" The memory that Grant experienced was the worst. He never wanted to remember the entire event ever again. The pain he went through was too much. "I... I can't do it..." he fell to his knees.

Outside of his mind, the purple blob continued to roar. Now, it formed a mouth and began to breathe fire out of it.

"I... Is it a Fire type?" Mathys stared in question.

The purple blob noticed the shadow thorns attached it. It grabbed one of the thorns and forcibly tore it out, sending another wave of intense energy.

"Damn, this thing! It's trying to resist!" Rob forced his hand out more, pulling the blob further out of Grant's body to its upper torso. The purple blob seemingly glared at Rob and exhaled a lighting bolt out of its mouth. Quickly noticing, Rob evaded the bolt. "L... Lighting?! What type of Guardian is this?!"

"What? What's going on?" Grant sensed the pressure outside of his mind.

"Go away... leave me alone... hurry and release me!" the voice yelled.

"It must be talking to everyone outside... is it trying to resist? No... it's trying to get out by itself..."

"You must... release me on your own... you must face your fear by yourself..."

Grant understood what the voice was saying. It wanted him to face his own challenge, it didn't want the assistance of anyone else other than Grant.

"D... Damn... you better be worth the trouble..." Grant cursed to himself and stood to his legs. Taking a leap of fate, Grant dashed forward and passed the first gate. A percentage of the memory ran through his mind, it caused his scar to throb in pain, but he ignored it and continued to run forward.

"I understand... I can't be weak any longer. I have to do this on my own." he passed through the second gate. This time, the memory caused him to stop. A tear ran down his cheek.

"I have to... face my greatest fear... or I can't become strong!" he wiped the tear away and ran towards the third gate. Only two more gates stood in front of him.

The purple blob roared once again. It extended its arms out, sending out two arcs of winds to destroy two of the thorns. Grant held his chest in pain and fell over.

"Grant!" Asa stood up.

"No! Stay back!" he yelled. "I have to do this on my own! Don't interfere!" Grant picked himself up from the ground and sat back in his mind state.

Back in his mind, he had just went through the fourth gate. The result of the gate made him slightly faint and fell over to the surface of the water. He awaken again to pick himself up.

"Only one more gate... can you make it?" the voice asked him. He couldn't tell if it was mocking him or it was concern for him.

"I... I'm going to go through that... gate..." he breath heavily. He noticed there were tears flowing down his face as well as sweat. The scar continued to throb in pain, this time more intensely. "I can't give up... I said I was going to get stronger... and by my name I'm going to do it!"

He wiped the tears and sweat off his face and slowly approached the last gate. Fear struck his heart. Even without walking through the gate, he was already feeling the effect on his body. The worst part of the dreadful memory would soon play again. He wanted to just go around the gate, but he knew if he did, he wouldn't become stronger.

The first step... a surge of pain soared through his body, forcing him to stop and slowly breathe.

The second step... he was slightly pushed back, but he held his ground to take another step.

The third step... he nearly fell over due to the intense pain.

The fourth step... this time, he fell to his knees. More of his tears were falling into water. In front of him, he saw a purple ball floating above the water. It had a horn on top of it.

"That's... my Guardian?" he wiped the tears to see it clearly.

"Release me... hurry..." he heard the same voice coming from the purple floating ball. This time the voice was a bit clearer. He could tell it had an upbeat tone to it. Grant picked himself up again to continue walking.

The fifth step... he slightly vomited.

The sixth step... the seventh step... the eight step... his consciousness was fading. The scar was now throbbing continually. He fell into the surface of the water once again. He could see the purple ball floating just two steps ahead of him.

"It's almost over... the worst is over. Now you will experience the last moments of the memory. I'm surprised you were able to make it through five steps. I'm almost impressed."

Grant slightly chuckled. "The worst? Nah, the worst is still there."

The ninth step... the pain was gone, but he was far from relief. Tears continued to flow out of his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

The same horn appeared on the back of the purple blob. Rob pulled his left arm and sent two shadows to restrain the arms of the blob.

"This thing is acting like a wild beast. I don't know if I hold him for much longer unless Grant can pull his Guardian out in time." Rob informed the others.

"Why is it trying to resist so much? Does it not want to come out?" Asa asked.

"No, I think it wants Grant to pull it out himself." Mathys realized.

"What?"

"Think about it. If it didn't want to come out, it would've attack Grant by now. However, as you can see, Grant is unharmed and it only attacked Rob and the shadows. Plus, take to account what Grant said earlier. He said he had to do this on his own. His Guardian is testing his resolve." Mathys turned to his Guardian. "Rob! Let go of him!"

"What?! Are you sure, master?! It might..." Rob was stunned by his master's order.

"Just do it. Grant has everything else under control. Unless you want another lighting bolt shot at you, that is."

Rob sighed. "Yes, master. If this is want you wish." he covered his eye with his headband and released his control on the shadows. The blob noticed the shadows fading and calmed down, lessening its energy output.

"I can't believe that work..." Asa said.

"It's all up to Grant now." Mathys exhaled his cigarette's smoke. "He better not screw up, otherwise I'm going to punch that idiot."

He was ready for the final step. He raised his foot and placed it back down, taking his final step. The gates shattered like glass. The shattered pieces fell into the water below, falling into the deep abyss to never be seen again.

"My... so you done it. Congrats." the voice sounded sarcastic.

Grant grabbed the horn of the ball and smirked, though he wasn't smirking because he was happy. He was smirking because of how stupid he was back then. "The worst part of that memory... was realizing how stupid I was. I shouldn't have never left the house that night. I didn't think about my decisions while I bleeding to death and only wished I was going to live. Then, I woke up in the hospital and saw my sister. She was crying and saying that she was sorry that she allowed me to get hurt. That was the worst part of my memory... seeing my sister cry for my dumb mistake. That's why I want to get stronger... so I won't have to see her cry for me again like that."

He wiped the tears and held the horn in both of his hand. "I swear... if you're not a hot chick when I pull you out of here... I'm going to be so freaking pissed!"

The voice chuckled. "I could say the same thing."

He woke up out of his mind and breathed heavily. The massive energy of the blob had subsided.

"Grant!" Asa ran to her brother. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I... I'm fine... just a bit tired." he said.

"So did it work?" Mathys asked him. His cigarette had already run out, but he still had it in his mouth.

"I think so... do you see it anywhere?" Grant looked around.

He heard a loud yawn behind him. "Finally! That took to damn long! I've been sleeping for how knows how long!" the same voice yelled out. Everybody looked up to see who the voice belonged to.

Floating above Grant's head like a ghost was a muscular purple figure with no legs, the bottom of its torso was sticking out of Grant's back. It had dark purple skin, red eyes that had no iris or pupil, and a purple horn sticking out of its back. It didn't look anything at all like a human. It didn't have a mouth, nose, hair, or even ears.

"What's up." it raised a hand in greeting and spoke with a deep upbeat tone out of its unseeable mouth.

"W... What the... Who are you?" Grant stared in shock.

"Who do you think I am?! I'm your Guardian, duh!"

"T... This is the same thing that broke my shadows? I am... a bit underwhelmed." Rob said.

"Well, not all Guardians are human... or mammal I should say." Tina said.

"Well, like his master, he's an oddball." Shibaki joked.

"I haven't been here for a minute... and you guys are already insulting me!" Grant's Guardian cried.

"Hmm... maybe Saturn and Gale know something about him. Let's try it out, Shibaki." Asa said.

"Fine..." Shibaki agreed.

Asa, by swiping her hand across space in front of her, and Shibaki, by raising her hand to the sky, summoned their Guardians. Saturn appeared from a warp hole of space as Gale appeared in a small gust of wind.

"You called for us, master?" Saturn asked his master.

"Saturn, do you know anything about Grant's Guardian." she asked him.

"Ah, I see he has finally summoned him. I'm afraid I have no memory of his Guardian unfortunately."

"Neither do I, but it is nice to make your acquaintance, Guardian of Grant Mikami." Gale answered as well and bowed in greeting to Grant's Guardian.

"I guess I could get to this dump." Grant's Guardian stretched. "So, what's my name?"

"Huh?" Grant finally got out of his trance.

"My name! I want a name! It was damn hard for me to get out, so I want a name so I don't go through that crap again!"

"Hmph, might call you "Bossy"... though I want to see what you can do first."

"Hmph! Why didn't you just say you? If you wanted to see my awesomeness, then I'll gladly do so!" his Guardian boasted. He turned around to a training doll. "Watch this! Fire!" his horn began to glow red. His skin turned deep red. A ball of roaring flames erupted in his hand, he threw at the training doll, completely knocking it off its stand.

"W... Whoa..." Grant and the others stared in amazement.

"That's not all! Electricity!" his horn began to glow yellow and his skin turned deep yellow. Electricity surged from his head. A hole opened under his eyes, which I assume is his mouth, and shot a lighting bolt from it. It struck the training doll, leaving a massive dent on its chest.

"T... Two elements?" Saturn was shocked.

"If you think that's it... then think again! Steel!" his horn shined gray and his skin turned deep gray. His formed his right hand into a ball of steel and punched the training doll, nearing crushing it into the ground and opening a hole in the chest area.

Afterwards, he laughed loudly. "That's right! I'm awesome! You can start praising me now!"

"A Guardian that can use more than a single element in succession... what is he?" Rob stared in amazement.

"This is even rarer than Saturn's power over space. Can a Guardian truly posses such power?" Gale thought to herself.

Suddenly, Grant's Guardian fell to the ground.

"W... What the hell?! Are you okay?" Grant ran to his Guardian's side.

"I... forgot that my power has a drawback..." he weakly responded. "It takes a lot of energy to change between forms... and I can't use more than three forms in a row... otherwise I'll run out of energy..."

"Shouldn't you have thought of that before you done it?" Lola said.

"Alright, I thought of a name for you." Grant said.

"Really? That was quicker than I thought..."

"You shall be called... Maruchi!" his Guardian punched him in the face. "Ow! What did you do that for?!"

"That is a lame ass name! I refused to be called by such ridiculousness!" his Guardian was deeply angered.

"Hey, it fits! It's means multi in English!"

"I don't give a damn! Call me something else!"

"No!"

"That's it! I call for a resign! Someone give a pen!"

"I call for a resign because I don't work with a whinny Guardian like you!"

"And I don't want to work with a wussy auto-Beta like you!"

Mathys sighed at the two arguing and lit another cigarette. "Well, good luck to him I guess. At least he got a Guardian out of this." Asa slightly jabbed him on his side. "Hey, girly! What was that for?!"

"Just take it as a thanks. That's for helping my brother... so thanks." Asa slightly blushed.

"Please... if I want a thanks, then how about some skin?" Asa prepared to throw a punch at him. "Easy, easy! I was just joking!"

Tina laughed at seeing the four argue with one another. "I guess it was right for me to let him join after all."

"Things are going to get out of hand, aren't they?" Shibaki asked her.

"Yeah... but it's a lot better than nothing happening at all. Say, Lola, how about introducing your Guardian now?" Tina turned to her.

"Um... perhaps another time. My Guardian is kinda shy..." Lola looked away, as if in shame.

End of chapter