Chapter 82 : Shadow Shopper

Duri and Ellie zoomed over at Taro, and Taro pointed at the floor, and all the walls and floors and ceilings around them collapsed.

Duri and Ellie began to fly, and they were hit in the back by an unseen force.

Duri yelled, "What the-?!"

Ellie replied, "What was that?!"

Taro grabbed Duri and Ellie by the throats, and started flying all over the facility, crashing through walls, ceilings, and floors.

Duri said to Ellie, "This is kind of relaxing."

Ellie responded, "Relaxing? You call this relaxing? What is wrong with you?"

"It's good to see your ass, Ellie."

"Oh NOW you say that when we're in the middle of fighting a lunatic and getting smashed through everything?"

"Yes. There a problem?"

"A ton! Oh! By the way, do you have a girlfriend?"

Duri's cheeks got red, and he answered, "Um.."

Duri and Ellie were thrown into another room, standing up on their feet almost instantly.

Ellie grabbed Duri's ear, "Well, do ya?"

Duri replied, "Yeah, I do. What, are you jealous or something?"

"I am actually. Who's the chick?"

"Why are you SO concerned?!"

Taro was walking into the room, as everything was caving in around them.

Duri asked Ellie, "Oh shit. I forgot this guy was still here. Should we kill him?"

Ellie answered, "I was just about to ask you that."

"Mmm. I'll pass. We just need to get him tied down."

"How lame."

Outside of the facility, Marshy was eating popcorn and drinking soda while all of the workers and officers and patients of the building were behind her.

One of the workers asked Marshy, "Are you sure we should let them be in there alone? You're a Host after all."

Marshy was scarfing down handfuls of popcorn, answering, "Gives Duri and Ellie time to bond a little. They haven't seen each other in years. Unless…you don't think my baby Duri can handle it?"

"N-No not at all! I'm sorry!"

Marshy smiled, "Good! You better be sorry! Oh, and uh, I'll be taking Ellie in. I've already called the other Hosts while I was scoping this place out. Where do I sign?"

"T-The adoption papers are inside of the building in the main office, in the last room."

"Cool. Be back."

"You're going in?!"

"Huh?! You didn't just ask me that."

"Sorry! I get nervous around famous people!"

"Heh."

Marshy started walking forward back to the building, still chowing down her popcorn and soda.

Back inside, Duri and Ellie and Taro fell inside of the dining room.

Taro jumped backwards, and he slammed his hand 1 inch off the ground. An invisible force and heavy vibration spreaded out, and everything in the dining room collapsed again. Everything was in slow motion, with Duri and Ellie moving really slow in the air, as Taro wasn't affected by it.

Taro looked to the left, and saw Marshy casually walking by like nothing was wrong.

Marshy said, "Make sure you don't kill him, Duri and Ellie. Byee! I'll be back!"

Duri and Ellie answered slowly, "Weee…woooont.."

Taro went to try and attack Marshy, but two shadow chains that came from Duri and Ellie caught up to him, wrapping around his neck.

Taro thought, 'They must've shot those chains way before I made a move in order for it to catch up to me. They're still strong while being inside of my zero gravity ability.'

Taro still tried to follow Marshy into the office.

Duri's hand was slowly being raised up, and he was reaching for his headband.

20 seconds later, Duri took off the headband while Ellie stared at him, and Duri immediately went into his Titan form. Everything was back in fast motion now, and Ellie dropped to the floor on her feet.

Ellie looked at Duri's Titan appearance, and said, "Oh…my…fucking shit..it's true. You really are the Angel Titan.."

Taro turned around to Duri, gritting his teeth in anger.

Marshy walked back around the area, saying, "Oiiii, I got the papers."

She saw everything that was happening, and she exclaimed, "Crap! I need more popcorn!"

Marshy dashed off, and then she came back with a bag of popcorn that was in a chip bag.

Marshy grabbed a nearby chair, and she sat down in it, crossing her leg over her left one.

"Now this is it."

Taro yelled as he pushed forward Duri with pink energy spiraling around his right hand that was pointing outward at Duri.

The walls caved in and the ceiling did as well, as Taro was getting closer.

Ellie said, "Duri. What are you waiting on? Take him down!"

Taro tried to slam his hand at Duri, but Taro's fist phased through Duri, as Duri's body became permeable like a shadow.

Taro gasped, and without turning around, Duri grabbed the back of Taro's head.

Taro gasped again, and he immediately began to calm down.

Taro explained, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just wanted to control my power! My power gets like, OUT of control when I use it sometimes."

Duri tilted his head to the right, and out of nowhere, Ellie came up behind Duri and she put the headband around his forehead. Duri was going back into his normal appearance, and he looked around.

Duri said, "I bout' killed him."

Duri let Taro go, and Taro kept going, "I-I-I left the Star realm because I heard so many great things about Earth, I thought I could control my powers easier here. Everything in the Star realm is chaos, there's nothing to help with controlling powers. I wanted to be ready just in case Zabel arrived in my home realm."

"Oi. It's gonna be rough as hell. I'm still working on gaining full 100% of my Titan form. This is the best place for it to be honest. And about Zabel, I'll kill him one day."

Duri started walking away, and Ellie started to follow.

Ellie yelled to Taro, "You're crazy!"

Taro responded, "Did you NOT hear a word I just said?!"

"I was listening!"

Duri grabbed Ellie's arm as Ellie was trying to attack Taro again. Duri dragged Ellie out, and Marshy followed.

They all were outside now, and Marshy asked the workers, "Got anyone to fix this place up?"

One of them answered, "Some of us have rebuilding powers. We'll be fine. Thanks."

Marshy threw signed papers at them, saying, "All signed."

Ellie asked, "Sooo…am I coming with you two?"

Marshy laughed, "I just adopted you, brat."

Ellie smiled, "Really?!"

Ellie hugged Marshy quickly, "Thank you, thank you! So who the hell are you, really?"

"I'm Duri's real mother."

Ellie's eyes got big, and she took a few steps back.

"Whoa..like, blood related?"

"Yes."

Ellie turned around to Duri, "Did you find anything out about your dad?"

Duri answered, "Nope. Probably never will."

"Don't be like that, birthmark boy. Have hope. Wait! So if Marshy adopted me, that means me and you are siblings?"

"Piss me off one time and I swear I'll END you."

"Yeah right! But wait, that means we can't get married. Dammittt!"

"Marriage? Why do you wanna marry me?"

"Cause you're you, that's why. And I always liked your birthmark. I wanted to have shadow babies with you, butnow that opportunity is thrown out the window, guess I'll be your big sister now."

"Oof. Nine is definitely not gonna like that."

"A number is not gonna like that we're siblings?"

"No, dumbass. Nine is a girl, a friend of mine."

"Oh you got GIRLS everywhere, don't ya, you man whore?!"

"Man whore?!"

"YES! I didn't think you'd pull a harem out of your ass!"

"I hate HAREM!"

Marshy laughed, grabbed Duri and Ellie by the back of their shirts, "Time to go. We gotta get Ellie some clothes, shoes, and other things she'll need."

Ellie asked, "Is this what you earthlings call shopping?!"

Duri rolled his eyes, "Obviously."

Ellie exclaimed to Duri, "Shut up!"

Duri answered, "You shut up, damn nerd!"

[The mall]

(35 minutes later)

Marshy, Ellie, and Duri were standing in the middle of a large mall, where it was crowded with thousands upon thousands of clothes, shoes, and other accessories. Pop music played throughout there too, coming out of hundreds of speakers scattered throughout the mall.

Ellie smiled, "Wow! This is..insane! Can I have everything?!"

Marshy replied, "You want…everything?"

"Yes!"

"The car doesn't have enough space to take everything. Pick out as much as you can hold."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. I let Duri do this a few times, and he kept creating shadow shopping carts. Just a helpful tip."

Ellie grinned, "Alright! Don't mind if I do!"

Ellie dashed away, and Marshy smirked.

Duri looked at her, "You're spoiling her."

Marshy answered, "I mean, you wouldn't want her walking around in the bloody outfit she's wearing, do you?"

"I wouldn't mind."

"Haha! You two's chemistry is something else. Though I'm surprised she knows a lot about earth."

"Back in the Shadow realm, we all heard of earth from Band and the other guardians. We somewhat admired it, a lot of us wanted to mostly compete in the tournaments, like I've told you before. Though, I'M surprised you were so quick to adopt Ellie."

"I was already prepared for it. If she's near you, she will feel better. I can see she has a short fuse, like you used to have. Well, you kinda do still have one. Her reason for coming here is so she can find YOU. You're the only one she can truly depend on. It's better for you two to be close instead of being separated again. I figure she lost her family in that attack from Zabel."

"I guess you're right. It does feel alright to see someone else of my kind."

"…I noticed earlier..you resent her a little. Why?"

"She bullied me! And Jae had to keep defending me. I looked pitiful and weak. But now I'm different."

"It'll be alright. Just shake that shit off."

Duri and Marshy heard Ellie's voice out loud, Ellie said, "I found it first!"

Duri and Marshy looked at each other, and made their way over to Ellie.

Ellie and another girl were pulling on the same shirt, but Ellie was holding it back with one finger while the other girl used all of her might trying to pull it back with both hands, but it wouldn't budge because of Ellie.

Ellie said, "Let go! Earthling!"

"No, I found it first!"

"I looked at it first!"

"Doesn't matter!"

Ellie was slowly forming a shadow sword, saying, "Samurai blade super slicing shredder sword!"

Ellie swung at the blade at the girl; Duri came out from the side and grabbed Ellie's wrist, stopping her.

Duri said, "Ellie."

Ellie said, "Tell this bitch to let go of the shirt before I clip her!"

Duri sighed, and he looked at the other girl, and asked, "Could you let go before she goes crazy? I really don't wanna fight Ellie just to calm her down."

Ellie exclaimed, "Too late!!"

Marshy put her hand on Ellie's shoulder, saying, "Now, now. Calm down. If you fight here, you'll get in trouble and you won't be able to shop here anymore."

Ellie exclaimed, "No! I'm sorry!"

Ellie let go of the shirt, and the other girl went flying.

Ellie laughed, "Let's go look for more stuff! I'm calm now! Hopefully we won't run into any more dumbasses!"

Ellie took off jogging, and Marshy said to Duri, "Guess I have the magic touch."

"You probably used some demonic spell. But anyway, I'm gonna go look around for some stuff I can buy."

"You okay, Duri?"

"Why ask?"

"You seem down. You know you can talk to me, right?"

"I'm fine, Marshy."

Duri started walking away, and Marshy watched him.

Marshy turned around and followed Ellie. Marshy started getting a call, so she reached in her pocket to grab her phone.

Marshy pulled it out, and she was getting a call from Xenon.

Marshy answered, "Yo."

Xenon replied, "That's my line."

"You're calling because..?"

"Damn, woman. Can't a friend call?"

"Ha! I'm joking. What's up?"

"Duri's birthday is tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. And to be honest, I don't even think he knows it is. He seems like he has a lot on his mind."

"Shit I don't blame the brat. Him and his friends have been through a lot. They fucked themselves up to save us, fighting to the death just to free us from Kin."

"Yeah."

"How'd it go with meeting his shadow friend? What's her name, Ellis or something?"

"It's Ellie. And I think that's part of the reason why Duri is little off today. Duri had a best friend named Jae back when he was in the Shadow realm, and he's gotten news that Jae may be alive. Maybe it's just now hitting him a little too hard. That's big news to take in."

"I know how it is. But Duri will be fine by tomorrow morning, I got something planned."

"Deadly brutal training I suppose? Yeah, NOT happening."

"Good guess, but no. Shit I ran out of cigarettes."

"Swollen ass lungs."

"I'm still immortal, I think. Back to what I was trying to say, you said you couldn't come up with anything new to do for his 16th birthday. I got just the thing."

"Please don't let it involve a hundred people, Duri doesn't like having a lot of people at his party. Last time that happened, he threw a tantrum because people were eating his cake."

"Damn. That's kinda funny. But yeah, no, it won't involve tons of people. You'll see in the morning. I just need your cooperation. I'm about to go buy some more cigs now, so I'll fill you in some more later. See ya, Mary."

"My name is fucking Marshy! Get it right! Xenden!"

"Now that you mention it, Xenden kinda sounds cooler than Xenon."

"Get a load of this guy. Call me later."

Over on the other side of the mall, Duri had his hands in his pockets, looking down at the floor, thinking, 'I really watched him die..I watched Jae die in front of me. I even..killed the guardian who killed him. It's tearing me up inside that Jae could possibly be alive. How would I even react if I see him? What would I say? Better yet, what would Jae be like? I tried to brush these thoughts off all day, but I can't take it anymore. It's annoying, honestly.'

Just then, Duri started getting a phone call, and it was Seven calling.

Duri answered it, and Seven wanted to video chat.

Duri said, "Ew I hate video chatting. I look gross."

Duri turned on his camera, and he could see Seven in the camera as well. Seven was wearing a green face mask to help her skin, and she was laying in her bed, playing video games.

Seven said, "Oi, Duri."

Duri answered, "Wassup?"

"You've been quiet since that Kin thing. You aight?"

"You mean 'alright?'"

"Don't make fun of my slang! It's how I talk! But you seem down, do you want me to come over and whoop your ass in this new game I just bought?"

"What game?"

"Smash Zen Warriors."

"How did you get it so early?! It's not out yet!"

"I got connections."

"Connections?!"

"Yessir."

"I need new games that aren't out yet. Tell your connections about me."

"They charge. But if I tell them you're my boyfriend, then they'll probably hook you up."

"How much do you pay?"

"I don't. I let my parents threaten them. That's when my parent's overprotective-ness comes in handy."

"Lucky."

"Ah, come on. You know damn well Marshy would do the same for you."

"I know but she might actually KILL them if they try and argue. Like, take their LIFE. Cause' when she's protecting me, she gets serious."

"Haha! Your mom is so damn cool. Oh, and I called to see how you were doing. Kazuma, Nine, Ren-Ren, Espen, Shiryu, and Jiyu's told me they've been trying to get in touch with you, and you don't seem like yourself."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not. I'll get in my Spirit of Wrath form and track you down, and beat the truth out of you."

"Oh please, like you could!"

"I can if you don't go into your Titan form!"

"I'd probably lose without it, so yeah. Shut up."

"Shut up. But, what's really wrong?"

"Obviously there is something wrong with me, but I didn't even tell Marshy."

"Guess that means I'm not getting an answer."

"Been thinking about a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff that I've tried to forget about over the past 3 days."

"Does it have something to do with Kin?"

"I related to her in a way. She just wanted to be loved despite what was going on with her. I killed her without hesitating. And then on top of that, my best friend Jae might still be alive. Oh fuck, I accidentally told you."

"So you've been putting on a normal face in front of everyone, despite you actually being down in the dumps on the inside."

"Why would I want you nerds worrying about me? And I definitely don't want Marshy worrying about me. There's just..things I can't tell her without hesitation to her face."

"You did what you had to do to save your mother and the Hosts. You did the right thing."

"I know I did. Sometimes I wish things could've gone differently."

Seven sighed, "Do you wanna meet up later tonight and talk?"

"Ehh, I'm gonna have to say no. Because um..I'm probably gonna be forced to help someone move into my house."

"WHO IS THIS SOMEONE?!" Seven started wiping the green mask off of her face. "IS IT A GIRL?!"

Duri answered, "Yes!"

"Ohhhhh so that's how it is, huh?! What's her name? Bet her name is something corny."

"Looook, it's not like that-."

Out of nowhere, Ellie was standing behind Duri, looking into the phone.

Ellie asked, "Is that your loli?"

Seven said from the phone, "Loli? Did she just call me a LOLI?!"

"Yes!"

"Is that the girl, Duri?!"

Ellie smiled, "Yeah I am that girl! I'm the one moving in with Duri and Marshy! Jealous much?"

"Duri. Explain yourself."

Duri said, "Seven, this is Ellie. She apparently survived the Shadow realm invasion with me. She came from another realm to find me, to help her find my old best friend Jae. That's IF Jae is actually alive"

Seven replied, "Sounds made up. Like some shit off those romance novel apps."

"You actually read those?!"

"N-No!"

Ellie snatched Duri's phone away, and she started running away all throughout the mall.

Ellie asked Seven, "So I got like a hundred questions! First one, did you and Duri kiss yet? Did you and Duri hold hands?! What's your full name?! Did you know I wanted Duri before I became his adopted sister?! Answer me!"

Seven replied, "Not answering. Too many words, too many questions."

"Answer me! I'll track you down!"

"Nah. Better yet, let me ask YOU something. Can I see your shadow powers?"

"That's what you're worried about?!"

"If you come from the Shadow realm, then you have shadow powers like Duri. Let me see them. Hurry."

"I have shadow powers! I'd rather perform them in attack mode, on you!"

"Oo, violent. Don't care!"

Duri was chasing Ellie through the mall, jumping over desks and clothes racks.

Ellie was trying to ask Seven more personal questions, and Duri exclaimed, "Ellie! Stop asking th-th-th-those weird ass questions! Gimme my phone!"

"Noooope!"

Duri kept chasing her, with Ellie running on walls and sliding on floors, with Duri stylishly flipping over people and shoe dressers.

Marshy sighed, saying, "Teenagers. Guess those stages are here."