Alan nodded. It did make sense, he had to admit, but he never really needed one. But he never knew where he was ether...

"Alright, I got it!" He said, after a few moment of thinking it over. "N-now, come on, let's go!" He said, leading the way without waiting for Alex. Not of rudeness, of course, he just didn't realize better, Being by himself for so long made him...forgetful of being considerate of others. "Come on, hurry up!"

Okay, maybe he was just a tiny bit rude.
---
"Ooookay, got it!" Alan smiled, after drawing down a particular odd formation of rocks and bones, ones some one had likely positioned in that way for whatever reason. He had taken the map and pencil Alex had, wanting to try his hand at marking the location, and had gotten into it, having a nicely detailed map after the few hours of their journey.

"Okay, there's those bones and rocks, that big metal yellow thing, a bull...drozer? W-what over you called it, and a bunch of those broken kar things!"

Alex chuckled, kid's certainly excitable.
---
"Good job," the older man appraised. As soon as he handed Alan the map, the kid started marking down anything that stood out. He wanted to point out that there may be things that didn't have to be marked down... But he just couldn't do it. Once Alan started making the map better, his eyes just lit up. The kid was enjoying himself way to much for him to want to get in the way of that if he can help it. The boy didn't seem like the type of person who got to enjoy himself often, so the older man is not gonna get in the way of his joy. Looking at the map, he also couldn't help but be impressed. It took him weeks to get the scale right when it comes to marking things down, but the kid just seems to have a knack for it. What started out as a rather blank map that only really shows the most important landmarks and where towns were was now a great deal more detailed, and rather accurate if he said so himself. Granted, it probably would be outshone by professional mapmakers, but those types of people are so uncommon these days that it's hard to not be impressed. "Heh, you could probably be a professional mapmaker one day."

"R-really?" Alan asked, looking up, his mouth twitching before forming into a small smile. "I...t-that m-might be fun." He said, suddenly looking down, embarrassed. His face had turned red as a beat, the coloring compounded by how hot it was. "I m-mean...I'm n-not very good at i-it.....but m-maybe after w-we find Zeke." He said, putting the pen away. "I don't see anything else around, so I can sto-WAAAH"

He grabbed a hold of his vest, the wind suddenly blowing incredibly strong, far more than it should have been with no build up. "W-what's happening!?" Alan asked, his voice drowning out by the wind. He closed his eyes, the sand picking up and flowing around them. A sandstorm? No, there should have been SOME build up, Alan thought.

He reached over to grab onto Alex, when another strong gust of wind blew, his hand suddenly feeling lighter. His eyes snapped open, and he looked back, seeing the map fly away. "T-the map!" He cried out, turning around and and reaching for it.

It was only a map, but Alan had put some effort into it, so he wanted it! And he wanted to beat up the stupid wind for taking it away! And, be it his want or something else, something answered him.

A ghostly, purple humanoid shot out of him, floating over the sands at a high speed, reaching out and grabbing a hold of the map. It spun around, showing that was was simply a humanoid, transparent being, completely devoid of detail, colored purple. As through the concept of "momentum" held no meaning to the ghost, it was instantly moving back to Alan as soon as it spun around, handing him back the map.

"Yay!" Alan cheered, pocketing the map quickly. Not even a moment later, the winds and sands of the desert storm died down. "H-huh...what was t-that about?"

"Where did this wind come from?" Alex growled, suspicious, when the wind suddenly picked up. When the map got blown away, he was literally a second away from swearing about it. Alan put too much effort into that thing for him to be happy with that. However, he stopped when something suddenly shot out of Alan and grabbed it. 'What is that?' He thought to himself. When it returned the map to Alan, and the sandstorm died down, he narrowed his eyes. "Kid, keep your eyes open. I don't think that was a natural sandstorm." Glancing around, he looked for something, anything, that stood out. For example, something, or someone, who could make a fake sandstorm at will.

Alan whimpered something, getting behind Alex and grabbing his coat, looking out from behind him. He gulped, shaking as he looked around, trying to see something. All he saw was sand and

Wait a minute, there was more than sand around, wasn't there? "U-uuhh, Alex...I-I'm scared." He muttered, holding close to the other man. He looked around a bit more, noticing something. Some sort of distortion in the air. "H-hey, Al-"

Suddenly, the distortion appeared to shoot forward, a hot blast of wind slamming into Alan and throwing him back. "OWOWOWOWOW" He complained, holding his face and standing up. "W-what was that?" he cried, feeling someone grab his shoulder. He whipped around, face turning right with fear as he looked up, seeing a man covered with scars, with a brown buzzcut, looking down at him, covered in a heavy brown cloak.

The man raised a hand, a distortion forming between him and Alan, blasting Alan away, landing him next to Alex.

"Money. Supplies. Now." The man said, holding a hand out, a distortion in the air appearing in front of it.

Alex glared at the guy, feeling his temper starting to flare up. This guy, he's beating on a kid. And now he has the gall to demand their food, supplies, and money? So far, this guy seems to use hot air a lot, literally. So, it's unlikely a projectile attack will be much use against him. If so... Then he's going to have to use more physical methods. "How about 'hell no'," he stated, his nuke appearing. The gun glistened in the sun as he twirled it, before he swung it to the side as a large blade formed around the barrel. If he can get in close enough, he might be able to get in a good shot or two, but only if he catches the guy off guard. Being able to toss around wind with enough force to knock someone around... What an annoying enemy. Luckily, the guy's attacks are generally hot enough that they're easy to see if you look for the distortions it creates.

"Fine." The man said, many, MANY distortions filling the air around him, all shooting forward at the same time.

The blasts shot forward, all of the strikes spaced and aimed in ways that gave incredibly little space to dodge, but if Alex was clever, he could make it through with little damage. The problem being, of course, Alan, who was holding onto Alex so tightly his hands were turning red. "Aaaa! A-Alex, do s-something!" He cried, closing his eyes, tears flowing down his face. The wind was forcing the tears to move, wiping across his face. The hot winds, tears, and sand all hitting his face like a warm, wet and violent wave, filling him with misery and irritation.

But, part of him felt calm, hopeful. He trusted Alex, to get them out of this. And part of him knew this was a test for Alex, to see if he was truly trustworthy, reliable. The young boy didn't know it, but inside, below the misery and irritation, and below the hope, was a prt of him, judging Alex.

Alex laid a hand down on Alan's shoulder, a comforting gesture as he watched the attack. The guy's not giving him a lot of room to work with, and if he would be using most of what little room he had to make sure the kid stayed safe. If he wasn't stuck in this attack's crosshair with him, the older man could get through this with relative ease. However, this just means he'll have to focus more. And so, he closed his eyes. Listening... Listening... There!
(Wild ARMS 5 OST - When the Heart Ignites)
Shifting his arm to wrap around Alan, he charged straight into the attack. Slamming a foot down as an anchor, he changed directions to dive into an opening. Sure he got clipped in the shoulder, but Alan was left relatively unscathed. Bringing down his foot again, he spun in place to swing the kid out of the way of a distortion that tried to blindside him, slashing with his blade with enough force to kick up enough of a gust to disrupt the attack. Kicking behind him, he pushed himself towards the man bringing down the sword. After his swing, he smirked and unmade the blade so that he can point the barrel at the man and shoot a couple blades. While he might not have had enough time to aim for something vital and keep up the pace, he still had the time to aim for the guy's legs. After that, he leapt away before the man could counterattack.

"H-huh?" Alan grapsed when Alex grabbed him, jumping out of the way.

"WAAAAH!"
He grabbed tightly onto the older man as he jumped around, trying not to let go, when he saw an opening. WHen he spun around, Alan let go of him, using the momentum to fly out of the area the syker was attacker. "Beh." He grumbled, standing up after getting a moutful of sand when he crashed into the ground, face first.

He turned around, cheering for Alex when he saw him get up to the man. "Gooo Alex!" He cheered, through it was a rather weak one, laced with fear.

The man jumped back when Alex swung at him, a look of surprise crossing his face when the blade was unmade and the knives were launched. He had two choices, and ether one was risky.

So, he took both choices at once.

Two distortions appeared in front of him, each one firing off. One hit the blades, knocking them off their path, and the second one hitting him and throwing him back, in case even a single blade made it through. A single one dude, causing Alan to take notice.

"H-hey, Alex!" He called out. "K-Keep on firing a-at him!"

"I saw it," Alex said, nodding slightly. Dashing to the side, he brought out the nuke and fired four times in succession. Bringing a hand down to use as a springboard, he launched himself into the opposite direction to fire three more. He rolled to a stop, aiming carefully to fire two final blades. These last two blades were aimed for the head and the back of the guy's leg. Namely, for major arteries. Basically, he was forcing the guy to have to keep moving, and screwing up his focus. Especially for when the older man himself charged in at an angle to swing the rapidly forming sword-blade again, and then chaining with a steel-tipped boot aimed at the guy's skull.

Alan watched closely, seeing which blades went through and which ones didn't, trying to figure out how the ones that did were different. replaying the images of them passing through the distortions over and over in his mind, he tried to pierce together SOMETHING that would tell him the answer.

"..W-wait..." He mutter, getting an idea. But how could he test it, He had nothing that could...wait, that map! But, it would involve the map getting destroyed, and he felt himself hesitating. He had put effort into it, and maybe he could prove it some other way.


Back at the fight, the man was now on the defensive, deflecting the blades and dodging any that got through. His breathing was getting heavy, and his movements sluggish. It was due to this that when the sword slashed at him, he slashed him across the stomach, stumbling him back. but, this got him out of the way of the kick, which was all he need for a blast to hit Alex directly in the chest, throwing him back into the air.

The man smirked, raising his finger and snapping, distortions complete surrounding Alex, each one shooting off at the same time, somehow causing an explosion that threw Alex even higher into the air.

"ALEX!" Alan screamed, his eyes opening. When he saw the man get hurt, something clicked, and he knew what he had to do. he charged forward, taking out the map and unfolding it. He waited until the man shot a blast at him, and held the map up.

It teared through the map and slammed into Alan's chest, causing him to fall back a few feet unto the hot sand. Without pausing, he stood up, looking at the map. There was a perfect hole in it, as he thought there was going to be, but he noticed something else. On the ground, there was a piece of paper, in a circle. A part of the map.

Not just any part, but the part that would have gone in the center of the area of the map that had been destroyed. Bot he and the attacker stared at the attack, both grasping for breath, weakened by the fight due to their lack of physical prowess.

But the difference was clear. Alan was smiling.

"Alex! The center of the distortions! Hi-"

Another blast hit him, right on the head. It caused him to hit the ground, sand filling his mouth and covering face, and knocking him out.

"Hey, ass," Alex growled. When the man looked, he'd see the older man getting up, only looking slightly battered. As if he was only punched a bunch of times, not blasted with a wind-based explosion. He fixed a glare on the guy. "You're. Dead."
(Wild ARMS 5 OST - The Road to Tomorrow Follows Behind You)
Slowly walking forward, he aimed at the man. He fired first at the man's limbs, and waited until the distortions started to form. Putting a hand on the revolving chamber, he muttered two words. "Pierce Horizonte." Swiping the palm of his hand across the chamber, the revolving mechanism spun at violent speeds. The wind started to distort around Alex, as swords appeared out of nowhere and hovered in a circle around him. Pointing the gun skywards, he waited. Spiraling into the chamber, the wind pulled in the swords as they shattered. "Adios!" Aiming at the center of the distortion, he fired. Dust shot out of the barrel, and reformed into the shape of a large blade with streams of shards spinning around it. It went through the distortion unhindered, and roared towards the man. If he tried to dodge, he'd find the blade changing directions, aiming straight for his heart.

The man grasped, jumping up, forming a distortion right below him. Using it, he shot himself upwards, thinking that that would allow him to escape the attack.

Imagine his surprise, then, when the blades shot upwards, piercing through his chest like it was paper.

He fell to to the ground with a wet thud, turning the sand below him red with blood. Within seconds, he was dead.

----

"Urrgh...Guhh..." Alan moaned, opening his eyes. What happened? He was talking to Alex when he something hit him, felt like a brick. "oowwww." He said, trying to move his arm to grab his head, noticing he couldn't.

Alex had Alan's arm around his neck, grabbing onto them and carrying the boy. "H-hey, Alex." Alan moaned. "W-what happened? M-my head hurts."

"The guy smacked you in the head with a sudden burst of wind while you were talking," Alex replied. Letting him down, the older man held onto his hand in case he still needed help standing. "I took him down afterwards." What he didn't mention was that he found no nukes on the guy, which could only mean one thing. A Syker. The guy was one of the kinds of jackasses that gives Sykers a bad name. He probably was on some kind of power-high, and thought that he could walk up to anyone and threaten them into handing over everything they had, and that he could easily beat them if they tried to fight back. He probably wasn't expecting to encounter a nuke user that had the skills to overwhelm a Syker or two, which is how the guy found himself killed by Alex. "So, you alright?"

Alan nodded, grabbing his head. "Yeah, I'm...ow." He said, closing his eyes in pain. "I've been b-better." He admitted, frowning. he had to admit, he was glad he and Alex made out of it with nothing ore than him having a headache, and...

He knew he could trust Alex now, that the older man was reliable, which made him smile. A sense of relief washed over the boy, as he looked up at the older man, deciding to ask him something.

"What's a syker?"

For years, people had called him that, used that as a reason to hate the boy. But...he never knew why, or what a syker was. And he was too afraid to ask, because people ether already hated him for being one, or he was afraid that they would hate him when he find out. But, Alex....Alan knew he was different, so he felt safe asking.

When Alan asked what a Syker was, Alex was understandably surprised. At least, until he remembered the fact that the kid wasn't exactly confident. So, the kid was hated without even knowing why? "A Syker?" He started. "Well, you know how nukes give a person powers?" To demonstrate, he had his nuke appear and showed it to the kid. "Well, a Syker is someone who is born with powers similar to a nuke, except they're often stronger. Most people assume these powers make a Syker something less then human... In my opinion they're dead wrong and the people who actually act on that irrational hatred are asses. In my opinion, powers or no, Sykers are also human. If having powers makes a Syker inhuman, couldn't one argue the same about nuke users, after all?" Despite the fact it wasn't necessary, he added the last sentence just to illustrate the flaws in the usual argument about Sykers.

Alan listened, nodding his head. So...a human nuke? That mad sense to Alan, why people would be hateful of sykers. But, he figured Alex had a point, why not hate Nuke users as well? Granted, Alan sure some people did, but most people, he noticed, were fine with them. Why was that?

But, he had to wonder something else. If sykers were just people with powers, but they didn't need nukes...then...

"What's the point of this?" Alan asked, holding out his hand, a sword appearing in it. It was about 32 inches long, and rather ride, atleast half a foot wide. The handle was on the left side of the blade, with the right part running down a bit more, forming a sort of hand guard. A nuke, a powerful weapon. Being held by a scared kid.

"Feels like...h-having a nuke is useless then."

Alex blinked at the sight. The kid... He's a Syker that has a nuke. There's only one way to say this. "Kid, you won the freaking lottery," he said. Noticing the confusion on Alan's face, he elaborated. "See, normally the powers of a Syker are incompatible with a nuke, which would make a nuke useless to them even if they get their hands on one. I once heard a rumor that said that Sykers sometimes become nukes when they die, so that could probably be a reason. There's a one in a million chance of a Syker being compatible with a nuke, like you. This means that not only do you have your own powers, you have the powers of that nuke in your hand," he explained.

Alan looked over the sword, unsummoning it. "I...g-guess that's nice." He said, a small smile on his face. "I d-don't need it through..a-and I dodn't really want it." he admitted. "I really d-don't like f-fighting." He said, not expecting Alex to be surprised. After all, his reaction after he woke up back in the trade house should have been enough for that.

After a bit more walking, Alan suddenly looked up, a look of disappointment crossing his face. "Oh y-yeah...the map." he said, his head dropping as he sighed. "I',m sorry about that, I-I needed something to test m-y idea out, through." He said, upset at himself for losing it. "...D-Do you have any other paper?" He asked, a smile suddenly appearing on his face. "I can make a new one, y-yeah!"

Alex smiled a little at that, kid might have a lot of power at his fingertips but it's definitely not going to his head. That's good. When Alan apologized about the map, he shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, reaching into his bag at his last question to pull out another piece of parchment. "I brought a back-up, since I figured it would be easy to lose something made of paper in the middle of the desert." Handing the paper over to the kid, he then pulled out his extra writing implements as the ones Alan was using earlier sort of disappeared in the scuffle. When he unrolled it, the paper was shown to have a map that was just as bare-bones as the previous one started out as.