Turning around Pb saw Reggi and B holding Axel in her arms

"YOU BASTARD!!!!!" B screamed "What the Hell did you do to him!" She screamed holding Axels limp body.

"Regi looked over B's shoulder seeing Axel in his mangled state.

"Reerm" Axel chanted before passing out.

"I'll kill you!" Regi said charging PB. Before he could reach him he was stopped by a wall of rocks.

" Reggie, you take Ax and get on out of here! I'll handle this son of a bitch!!" B said holding Axle out towards him.

"No way! You told me on the way here if all three of us combined our strength we might have a chance and now you tell me you're going to do it on your own?

B softly placed Axels body to the ground walking to Regi's side.

"We do this together!" She said readying her fists.

" …. It won't be a one-v-one battle either way!" Jeff said coming out from behind a tree.

"Reggie… Take Ax and get out of here!" B yelled

"No way! I have already abandoned one friend today" he said looking down at Axel I won't make that mistake again!

"Geoffrey Get ready for Battle!" Regi yelled

"Sir! I thought you never would have asked!" A voice replied from inside his arm.

PB and Jeff began to run towards B and Regi squaring up for the showdown.

"6! Now! grab Ax!" Regi yelled

6 jumped out from behind the trees making a go for Axels body. He reached for Axel but couldn't make it to him. It was as if some kind of invisible force had stopped him.. Almost like some kind of wind.

" What do we have here? Such evil occupying such a sacred place. It was here that people fought and died to obtain what we have today! And here you are COMMITING UNSPEAKABLE ACTS OF EVIL!"

Landing in the center of the fight was Lance Nozuka.

"Wait who's side are you on man? Get Axel and get out of here!" Reggie yelled

"Shut up! And listen very carefully, I'm only going to say this once!" Lance said eyeing the four Shifters down.

"The next person who moves, will become my opponent"

Everyone froze, confused by the intervention. B and Reggie's eyes filled with animosity at this grandstanding, as PB and Jeff were dumbfounded at the number of people who had showed up to defend Axel.

" What do you any of you care! He's an outsider, a complete loser, someone who has no future in the SPA, I'm only doing what someone else would do to him in the future I'm doing him a favor!" PB explained

Lance spun around eyeing down PB in indignation.

" Even a loser.... deserves to live... It's those who take lives willingly, those who don't understand a life's value, it is those people who deserve to die!"

Reggie and B let out a sigh, it looked like Lance was on their side after all.

" Why you little…-" Pb grunted

"PB let's leave for now" Jeff said

"What! We can take these guys!" Pb said

" That's not what I'm worried about…. how long would it take to fight them, more and more people could keep showing up! If we keep this up the next person you see could be a teacher."

PB relaxed letting go of his iron form. He seemed more wary now, like the tantrum he had been having was over. He realized Jeff was right.

"Heh you're right …." PB said scratching his head "You guys get off easy this time…. But the damage has already been done, that loser will never fight again , in his shape he'll be lucky if he ever wakes up!"

"You BASTARD I swear I'm going to kill you for this!" Reggie yelled.

"Yeh yeh get in line!" Pb said looking at Lance and B before he left with Jeff.

As soon as PB had disappeared Reggie B, 6 and Lance all crowded around Axel.

" Lance can you"

" Already on it!" He said, taking out a basic medical kit and some kind of module tablet out of his backpack.

" This will allow me to do a basic UV Scan and a look at his deep tissues! Let's see how bad the damage is…" Lance said gliding the tablet over Axel's ligaments.

Lance hadn't looked at him for more than the second before he turned off the console.

For the first time in their childhood, Reggie and B saw a look on Lance's face They had never seen before, it was sympathy… and sorrow.

The look was so unbecoming of Lance that they looked from one to the other as to who should ask the state of Axel.

Finally 6 came forward.

"What's going on, what's going on with him?" 6 asked

"His… his spinal cord…" Lance whispered.

"Yes"

"It hasn't just been broken." "Many of the vertebrae have been torn apart… his column is nearly completely shattered."

"What are you saying?" 6 asked

Lance spun around snapping at 6 " What I'm saying! Is that that in a normal case of a spine injury, We would have a disconnect between two parts of it! I'm telling you that the two parts that connected don't exist anymore! and I believe…" Lance stopped clearing his throat.

"I believe he can never get them back! They're gone!"

Shock pulsed through each of Azel's friends eyes/. It was almost like Lance has just presumed him dead.

"Well…. We can do comprehensive surgery right! They can replace parts with bio synthetic ones…" Regi said touching his robotic arm

"Whatever the case let's get him to the emergency room right away!" B said.

"That's not going to happen." Lance said "Look at him… he's an outsider from the badlands…. do you guys really think he has healthcare? You think he'll be able to get anybody to see him? Well Just waste time and…. his condition could worsen.

" Well we'll just take him somewhere he can afford we'll go to the badlands if we have…"

"There's no point! He has an expensive injury, expensive you know like probably thousands of Ether dollars! Do any of you have that kind of money?"

"His Parents?" B said.

"As of now we're his parents" Lance said remorsefully.

"So what do we do?" 6 asked

"For now all we can do is take him somewhere safe and give him the conditions a normal person with an IV would have. I have read enough to set up the necessary systems. I even have some medical equipment at my house. It is imperative we take him somewhere he can always be supervised!

" Okay let's get him to my house. My grandmother used to be in the medical field," Reggie said.

" Are you sure that's okay you haven't even consulted them yet?" Lance said

" This is the least I can do for him, most of this is actually my fault." Reggie said tearing up "Im such a big idiot.... And a coward" Reggei said crying "I should have never left you on your own!"

THUD!

" If it was anyone's fault is mine…" B said punching the ground "I turned my back on him I thought it was what's best." B said.

" Oh for the love of god shut up!" Lance screamed

"Stop whining and complaining over yourself! Are you two the ones with the shattered vertebrae!?" Lance interjected.

B and Reggie were taken aback by Lance's words. Who was this person? And why he did he have so much concern for Axel.

" Stop complaining about the past…. figure out what you can do now! He's going to wake up at some point, are you guys going to be there!?" Lance asked

" Yeah" B

" Of course!" Reggie

"Mhmmm" 6 said sobbing

" Then save your sympathy for then…. that's when he'll need it. For now be strong and let's figure out a way to get this guy to his house."

" Lance I don't know what to say man, thank you." 6 said

Lance's face went dark as he turned away from them a she recaleld a dark memory.

"Mother!!!!"

"Lance get me 10 ccs of ****""

"No need to thank me... I've just been in this situation much more than once." He said coldly