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 Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:10 pm
Introduction/Announcements
Hello everyone out there! I've finally gotten around to it! Yep, I've finally decided to post up The Element Chronicles.
To give a short overview of it's history, the story itself was originally to be a three-book trilogy about a set of elementally gifted teenagers in the middle of a civil war. But, because of the demand and time span (I had about four months to finish it), I compacted it into one book and changed the storyline around a bit. I'm contemplating on doing a part two, though I'd prefer to have some feedback first.
Note #1: It's been pointed out that parts of this story are in first person while other parts are in third person. This is a continuity error on my part, and I intend to fix it one day.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:44 pm
Chapter I
The Mysterious Boy
A boy around the age of 16 walked in a coffee shop one night… Though the owner, Gabriel, couldn’t put his finger on what it was, he felt that something about him was a bit troubling…
Anyway, the rain was pouring pretty heavily outside and it wasn’t strange to find people piling in to get out of the rain. As long as they bought something, Gabriel didn’t mind. And like every other rainy day, the shop was pretty packed. As the mysterious boy walked in and sat down at the front bar, Gabriel eyed him suspiciously. Not even noticing, the boy simply focused his gaze on the torrential rain that was pouring down the front window of the coffee shop.
Now, Gabriel wasn’t the only one confounded by this boy’s behavior. There were also two girls sitting on opposite sides of him. One of them seemed just as creeped out by it as Gabriel was, but the other simply stared at him in awe. “2 ice teas…” The boy said without even shifting his eyes from the window. It took a few seconds for Gabriel to register what he said before he replied, “Uh…sure, of course…” Heeding his request, he took two glasses from under the counter and began cleaning them. He didn’t know exactly why he did this because his glasses were always clean…it must’ve just been a habit…
While cleaning the glasses, he kept his eye on the boy, who was currently running his hand through his hair. Gabriel guessed he was trying to dry it out. It wasn’t working though… Feeling a bit awkward, Gabriel tried to strike up a conversation. “I can’t say I’ve seen you around here before…” He asked while mixing ice tea into one of the glasses. “Around…” The boy said, finally turning his head to face me.
His eyes…they look so cold… Gabriel thought. The boy took the first glass that Gabriel had given him, grabbed a few packets of sugar from the holster next to him and dumped them into the ice tea. Taking a coffee stirrer, he vigorously began stirring the tea.
The boy drank quickly and in silence. Putting the glass down on the counter, a crack of thunder boomed through the air. In response to this, a few people jumped slightly, but nothing more. It had to have been a little more than 5 seconds before a flash of lightning illuminated the sky, city and coffee shop. The boy’s eyes darted to the window. Gabriel handed him the second glass, and he finished it in almost equal time.
After finishing it, he quickly put his money on the table. “Keep the change…” The boy said, quickly standing up. He obviously seemed to be in a hurry, and Gabriel didn’t want to stop him. There was another flash of lightning illuminating the shop once more. As if on cue, the boy pulled out what looked like a Bo Staff. Then, another boom of thunder echoed through the shop, muffling the sound of the front window shattering.
Following this, three hooded figures hopped through the opening. This took many people aback. One of the hooded figures spoke and said: “Vince…why did you leave us?” Obviously, this one was a girl. “That’s none of your concern…” Vince replied nonchalantly. “This is my life now, and I refuse to go back to the Illusica Underground…” At the sound of this, almost everyone in the shop gasped.
“You b*****d! You don’t even care do you?!” The figure on the far right yelled. This was obviously a male, and from the sound of it, he was pretty pissed. He charged at Vince, who stood with his hands at his sides, and his gaze fixed on his oncoming attacker. “You can’t beat me…you should just give up…” Vince said calmly. As he finished the statement, a flash of lightning illuminated the room once again.
His expression was so indifferent… As if he didn’t even notice what was going on… Then, as if by instinct, Vince slammed his attacker in the ribs. The attacker collapsed on the ground, heaving. Deciding to put the boy out of his misery, he kicked him once more in the side, and he lay on the ground, motionless.
He then moved his gaze onto the other two, who were frozen with fear. “Leave now…and take your friend with you…” He said, kicking the body on the ground. The two remaining figures followed his instructions, and exited as quickly as they had come, taking the body with them. He turned to Gabriel and took a wad of money out of his pockets, placing it on the counter. “That should cover the cost of the window…” He returned his Bo Staff to its original state and placed it inside his jacket, leaving quickly and quietly. Looking from the shattered glass to the people huddled in the corner; Gabriel really began to consider a new profession.
The boy’s name is Vince. Currently he’s out of a job and low on cash. Along with that, he’s on the run from his past… You see he was an elite member of a gang that exists in the Illusica Underground, otherwise known as the “Forbidden Zone.” Years ago, they used to rule the entire city. Not even the government wanted to interfere with them. But, things began to change… Vince realized that he wanted more from life…that this wasn’t what he wanted on his conscience when he died.
So, he left the gang. Of course, no one expected him to leave, nor so suddenly. Word spread about his departure and after he left, the gang itself began to fall apart. The other 3 Overlords lost their foothold of power, and utter chaos erupted. Apparently, an old friend of his, by the name of Itaku, managed to calm things down. At least, that’s what he heard.
Even so, people of the Underground still have come to look for him. They believe he’s the cause of their problems. But he refuses to go back… Sooner or later though, he’s going to have to go back and clean things up. He hoped it’d be later rather than sooner… But for now, he wants to live life as a normal person.
Sighing, Vince took the keys out for his apartment from his jacket pocket. Opening the door, he walked inside and shut it behind him. “Another day…” He said while taking off his jacket. He hung it in his closet and walked into his room and laid himself out on his bed. “Ah…” He said before dozing off to sleep…
Meanwhile, in the somewhat empty streets of Illusica, a shadowed figure could be seen darting through the streets, followed closely by a squad of police cars. “Heh…this is getting too easy…” The figure said, darting into an alley. By some weird force, the boy managed to “phase” into a wall and become invisible.
The cars whizzed past the figure, and he returned to normal, walking out of the alley as if nothing had happened. Walking down the street, he turned a corner into an abandoned neighborhood. Walking along, he reached a boarded up apartment complex. He phased through the door and found himself inside a lit room with only one other person to keep him company…
“Here’s the money…” The boy said, placing it on the table. The person, who was leaning against a wall, stood upright and walked up to the table, grabbing the money. “Good…”
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:45 pm
Chapter II
Flight of the Phantom
As the boy took the money off the table, the other boy grunted. “You’re getting a bit rusty Chase…you were behind your best by…” He paused to look at his watch. “2.57 seconds…” He said while taking the money and tossing it into a safe. “Whatever…I can still take you anytime, anyplace…” Chase said in a superior tone.
“Oh, really? Well, how about right now?” The boy challenged. “Maybe later, Lance…I’m going for a walk…” Chase said, opening the door. He walked outside and shuddered slightly from the wind, clutching his jacket closer to his body. That boy in there was Lance… No one knows his last name, and no one bothered to ask… He had grown up in this gang, and was Chase’s rival…
Chase came to the gang when he was around 10… His parents died when he was younger and he had nowhere else to go. You see, one day many years ago… A few gang members were strolling along the road, and apparently were in an opposing gang’s territory. So, either out of paranoia, or natural defense, they decided to attack the other gang.
Chase was caught in the middle of a gang fight, which soon escalated to a full-scale riot. Chase got caught in the middle of it. When he was younger, he had a “short fuse” so to speak, and was getting bashed around pretty bad. Soon, he snapped. He couldn’t exactly remember what had happened, but he could remember screaming, a flash of a violent purple light, and then standing in a circle of dead bodies.
The gang leader of the attacked gang happened to be in the area at the time and witnessed this, from a safe distance. Seeing Chase’s skills, he “adopted” him into the gang, and the rest is, as they say, history. Lance and Chase never seemed to see eye to eye, and are pretty much evenly matched, so whenever they tried to fight out their perspectives, no one won… Thus, they became rivals…
Chase had begun taking walks very often these days…and his mood changed from a temperamental, happy-go-lucky person, to solemn and wistful. He took these walks to think…at least that’s what he told himself… Truly, he took these walks to get away from his life… He’d always wondered how his life would’ve been if his parents hadn’t died… He couldn’t even remember how it happened…
As he continued his walk down the road that seemed nonexistent to him, he was snapped out of his reverie by the distant sound of hurried footsteps. As he turned the corner, he caught a glimpse of a person walking into an alley. “What do we have here?” Chase said, closely following them. At least it took his mind off of his parents…
Many possible suspects raced through his head as he followed the culprit down the street. It began to drizzle as Chase managed to cut them off at an empty intersection. “Who exactly are you?” He asked. The way the person held them self, it looked as though they were a member of another gang.
Instead of answering, they took out a lance. “So…that’s how you want it?” Chase said in a cocky tone. He unsheathed his sword from his side and smirked. “Fine by me…” He said. His opponent, whose face was concealed by the now pouring rain, and their hood, lunged at him. He sidestepped their attack and they landed a few feet behind him. Within seconds, they were both caught up in a fierce flurry of blows and dodges. One slip up by either of them would’ve cost them their life…
Chase narrowly dodged a blow to his ribs, which ended up tearing his shirt instead. I’m getting quite frustrated with this person, and they don’t even seem to be letting up! Unless… Chase thought while parrying a blow, then countering with his own. Formulating a plan in his head, he dodged another blow aimed at his right knee. Jumping back, he sprinted at his adversary.
Knocking his opponent, he drew back his sword and prepared to bring it down on his the hooded figure. Taking this opportunity, the hooded figure sideswiped Chase, who fell to the ground. “Die…” A feminine voice said from beneath her jacket. She stood up and brought down her spear on him, and it pierced straight through his chest.
As she removed her spear, a blade met her neck. “Game over…” Chase said from behind the girl. “I’d explain how it works to you…but you won’t live long enough for it to matter…” Chase said, bringing the blade deeper into her skin. The girl looked down at the body to find that it had vanished.
“So…any last words?” Chase said, baring the blade closer to a vein in her neck. “Just two…game over…” The girl said while a smirk played over her face. Within seconds, she managed to release her elbow and elbowed Chase in the stomach. He keeled over, and she slammed the butt end of her lance into his neck.
She had managed to hit a nerve, and within seconds, he was on the ground unconscious. What felt like days later, but was actually a few hours, Chase awoke to find himself slumped against a wall with a canister of gasoline in his hand. “What the…?” He said looking at the canister. Blinking a few times, things came into focus.
He looked at the sidewalk and saw orange-red lights dancing across the asphalt and cement. His neck was really hurting, his mind was a bit hazy, and he could smell smoke… Standing, he turned the corner to see his one and only home, ablaze. It was still raining, but that wasn’t enough to keep the fire at bay...
In the distance, he could hear sirens blaring… Just then, everything began to click…the fire, the mysterious person, the gasoline bottle… If the cops saw him like this, he’d be on the run again! The sirens were getting closer… He couldn’t think of anywhere to go… Noticing his only option, he kicked down the already weak front door of his hideout…
Walking around inside, he saw that nearly everything was charred. And the place smelled putrid… Whoever managed to burn this place was pretty sure not to leave behind any evidence… Continuing his depressed stroll, he didn’t see a single person… He hoped that they’d all gotten out…but his logic told him otherwise…
It was getting hard to breathe…and Chase was starting to cough… His eyes were stinging and began to water… He had to get out of here or he’d end up dead… Finding the back entrance, he mustered all the force he could, and kicked the door down. Walking out the back of the building, he found himself face to face with a squadron of police cars. “Oh damn….” He said.
“Hey you!” One of them yelled. Chase groaned and began sprinting the opposite way down the alley he was caught in… A few officers followed him on foot while the rest decided to take their cars… As he turned a corner, he narrowly dodged a laser that was fired at him… He turned a corner to Main Street to find that he was cut off by a group of squadron cars. There were also a few EIO (Evoria Investigation Organization) cars in there because; they were the only team to have actual hover cars… They were still prototypes of course…
“Give up, Phantom! We have you surrounded!” A man yelled through a megaphone while standing behind the open door of his FBI car. Phantom, eh? I like the sound of that… He thought. Chase smirked. “Come on, chief! If 20 of your best men couldn’t even catch me…what makes you think 70 of you will?” He said confidently. It was obvious that the EIO agent was a bit flustered by this comment, because the next thing Chase knew, he was dodging a flurry of lasers.
Finding an opening, he took it. Sprinting towards the cars, the firing began to slow…apparently some of them were fear stricken… Hopping on the hood of an EIO car, he jumped off it, landing in the very back row. Apparently this EIO agent was a rookie because when he caught a glimpse of Chase’s face, he immediately backed away. Hopping into the hover car, Chase reversed, and sped off down the street.
He needed to get to somewhere secluded…where he’d be able to take them out quickly and easily… “Old Dri’ha Bridge!” He said. The history behind that bridge went back to ancient times…but this wasn’t the time to be thinking about that now… He was being chased by half the city’s police force!
A few minutes later, they began to fire lasers at him, hoping to at least dent the car, since it didn’t have any tires to shoot, they couldn’t stop him… Swerving into a nearby junction, he drove along the highway, soon coming upon the bridge. Slowing to a stop, he got out the car and popped its hood. The rest of the force was fairly behind him, so he had just enough time to get this to work… Apparently, this hover car had an implanted timer that was used for the security system…
Now he just needed to get this right on the first try. Rewiring the circuitry, he took a little detonator out his pocket… He always carried one for emergency purposes… He hooked the detonator up to it and took the remote out his pocket.
The sirens were getting louder now…they were obviously much closer now… Minutes later, he was face to face with the squadron once more… Putting his hands up, he backed near the ledge of the bridge. “I give!” He yelled. The EIO Chief stepped out his car, and began to walk towards Chase. “Good choice…” He said smiling. One of the other officers noticed the detonator in Chase’s hands and shouted. “Chief! No!” He yelled. But by then, Chase’s finger was already on the button.
He pressed it down, and within seconds, the car had ignited. He jumped over the ledge, and into the river. Swimming to the surface, he looked up to see the flame burning, and could hear officers shouting, though he couldn’t make out what they were saying… Chuckling, he swam away from the scene, and swam until he saw the city limits sign in the distance.
Walking onto the land, he dried himself off and grunted. “Well, doesn’t look like I can stay here anymore…” He said. Seeing a motorcycle parked nearby, he managed to hotwire it and drove off into the dense forest outside Illusica.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:46 pm
Chapter III
The Rescue
It was around 10:00 at night in the beautiful town of Atera, the oceanic hub of Evoria. It had the longest river in the country running through it, which people decided to utilize as a port. As all rivers, this one led to the Ateran Sea, which led to the Evora Ocean.
Mother Nature seemed to have graced the townspeople with possibly the most beautiful scenery you’d see anywhere… But anyway, a girl named Naomi walked through the empty streets of Atera. Not a single person could be found outside, which was common in this town.
No one was ever out after 9:30. There was never an exact reason why, it just became routine after a while… Even so, Naomi couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong… As she turned a corner, she began to reflect on the day she just had… It was a bit of a dull one to say the least…
This morning, she had decided to take a detour into the city park, and had crossed paths with a strange boy. She didn’t question it earlier, but now that she thought about it…something about the boy seemed different… As hard as she tried, she couldn’t seem to place her finger on it…
After that, she arrived at her destination, her job. She worked as a waitress at the local Atera Bar and Grill. Many hours of tedious work and enduring many comments from somewhat rude customers along with the inappropriate comments from her employees, she was on her way home.
As she turned another corner, she paused abruptly, to focus her ears. Hmm…I could’ve sworn I heard footsteps… I must be overworked… Yeah…that’s it… Shrugging it off, she continued her walk home, despite the fact that she still had the feeling that something wasn’t right… After a few more blocks, she paused again.
This time she was definitely sure she was being followed… So, by instinct, she quickened her pace. After a few blocks, she finally slowed to her normal pace… Maybe she was just a bit tense…all this work on top of the stress must’ve been playing tricks on her mind… Yeah…I’m just tired is all… She finally settled down and turned another corner.
As she rounded the corner, she stood face to face with 3 older males… “Well, well…look what we have here…” The male on the far right said. “I see her…and she’s not bad…” The middle male said. “Well, miss, you walked home on the wrong night…” The male on the far left said. They began to advance on her slowly… She knew what was coming and wanted to defend herself somehow…but her body wasn’t listening to a thing her brain was saying…” They were closer now… They were actually close enough for her to smell them…
And it wasn’t a pretty smell to put it lightly… It was a mixture of bad cologne and beer along with many other things she couldn’t place her finger on… She could feel their breath now… So…this is it… She thought solemnly. Just then, a blur of colors separated her from her imminent attackers. As everything got clearer, she noticed a boy who was about her age separating her from the men…
He spoke softly. “3 against 1? That’s hardly fair…” The boy said, looking unemotionally at the males. “Wait a minute…this guy’s a teenager!” The male on the far right said. “I see that…” The middle man said. “Well, let’s take care of him and get back to business…” The male on the far right said.
They ran at the boy, who didn’t even seem to be paying attention to them. He turned to Naomi and spoke softly. “If you’re squeamish you might want to close your eyes…” He said before turning back to face them. As they came within striking distance, the boy swung his right fist once aiming it at one of their jaws, but there must’ve been at least 3 blows in that one swing because next thing she knew, they had fallen to the ground; he kicked one of them in the ribs. There was a loud crack, and lay there, motionless.
“Hmph…” He grunted, and kicked the bodies in the sides and turned to Naomi. “Be careful where you walk next time…” He said softly. And before Naomi could even ask what the boy’s name was, he was gone… Still trying to take in what had just happened, he stood still for a few minutes, looking at the bodies, then to where she last saw the boy.
After letting it soak in, she headed to her house. Meanwhile, miles away on a government facilitated island, a private was running through the satellite surveillance tapes, and came across something peculiar. After radioing his commanding officer over the intercom, he waited.
The commanding officer arrived after a few minutes later. “Uh…sir, I think you should see this…” He said showing the clip of the boy attacking the men in street, then rewinding it to show the same boy robbing the bank in Illusica and fleeing the scene. “Well, commander? What do you make of it?” The private inquired, sounding a bit curious.
“Get some of our men on him…I want him on constant surveillance, 24/7… And I want you to pull up as much information as you can on everyone in that city… If you find anything interesting, report it back to me…” He said staring at the clips that were now looping repeatedly.
“May I ask why, sir?” The private asked, intrigued by his commanding officer’s decision. He figured it was just something that the police force needed to handle and he would’ve dismissed it as something minor… But this kind of request seemed a bit much didn’t it? “It’s just an old wives tale…nothing to concern yourself with, private…” And with that, the commander dismissed the private. He needed to review this tape, and he needed to brush up on his history… “Maybe that old kook was right…” He said softly while eyeing the screen.
Meanwhile, back in the town of Atera, Naomi had finally gotten home and managed to fall asleep, though she still wondered who that kid was…and how he managed to show up at that place and time…exactly as those men came onto her… Back in the town, Chase could be seen walking along the streets.
Managing to hop the park fence, he found a somewhat comfortable bench; he curled up in its wooden structure, covered himself in his jacket and dozed off into an uneasy sleep.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:49 pm
Chapter IV
The Saga Begins…
“Man…this town is huge…” A girl said while walking through the busy afternoon streets of Illusica. Her name was Seiko. She was from a village in the northern mountains and had left to hone her skills with wind…a power she was luckily bestowed. She had been traveling or days now.
This was the second city she’d been in, and it was by far the largest. “This place is nothing like my village back home…” She said while gazing at a giant building that to be at the center of the city… On this large building was a massive TV screen. It was currently showing a clip of a high speed chase between a hover car and a large squad of police cars, and an occasional EIO agent.
After driving for about 10 minutes, the driver stopped at a highway bridge, and got out of the car. After popping the hood, and messing with the car, the police soon arrived behind him. Putting his hands up, he walked from in front of the car as if to show he gave up. But, the only thing was that he had a detonator in hand. As the captain of the squad came closer to handcuff him, he pressed the detonator.
The car blew up and as the fire died, the boy had disappeared. “Hmm…interesting…” Seiko said, continuing her stroll. Feeling thirsty, she noticed a nearby coffee shop. “I hope they’re not pricey…” She said softly before crossing the street. She reached the other side of the street without encountering any cars, and opened the door. As she took one step inside, almost all the hairs on her body stood on end.
It was as if a large pulse of electricity had surged through the room. And what was even more surprising was that as she sat down at the bar, next to Vince, the surge seemed to get stronger! Seeing a new customer, Gabriel cut his conversation with Vince short and walked over to her. “Hello! The name’s Gabriel, how may I help you?” He asked politely. Ordering a few glasses of water, she looked at the boy sitting across from her.
Vince turned his head and smiled, seeing his face; Seiko blushed slightly and quickly turned her head away from him. He’s kinda cute… She thought before turning her head back to face him. She returned the smile and spoke. “Hello. I’m Seiko.” She said, holding out her hand. Taking it, Vince returned the greeting. “The name’s Vince…” He said softly, then taking a sip from the ice tea in front of him.
After a few minutes of silence, Gabriel returned with 3 waters for Seiko and a strawberry milkshake for Vince. Turning to Seiko, Gabriel smiled. “I take it you’ve met Vince…” He said. She nodded and drank some of her water. “He’s not much of a talker when you first meet him…” He said smiling. Gabriel had learned that from experience.
Ever since that day that Vince had quite literally beat up that man in his shop, he continued coming back… It soon became regular occurrence and Gabriel and Vince soon became good friends… Snapping out of his reverie, Vince returned to reality. “But he does make one good bouncer!” Gabriel said jokingly.
The only thing was that it wasn’t actually a joke… Vince probably would make a good bouncer… He was always calm and patient, and seemed even almost like a pushover…but then, he could get a bit too serious... The girl smiled and drank another glass of water. “I never did get your name…” Gabriel inquired. “It’s Seiko…I’m from a village out in the Northern Mountains…” She said.
“Oh…I’ve never actually been there…but I hear that it‘s pretty nice…” He said. Gabriel looked over at Vince. By the way he was swirling the straw in his milkshake, he apparently was caught up in another one of his memories… Seiko also seemed to notice this and was the first to speak up. “Is something wrong with him?” She asked.
Gabriel shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know…he does this periodically…I tend not to bother him until he snaps out of it…I don’t exactly understand him…and I don’t want to set him off…” He finished. Seiko nodded. I have really weird taste in men… She thought while rummaging through her pockets. After a few minutes, she’d managed to scrounge up enough money to pay for the drinks.
Seiko stood and stretched before heading for the door. Turning her head, she saw Vince still staring into his drink. “Come again!” Gabriel said smiling. Walking out of the shop, Seiko looked around for something else to do. No doubt this city was big but there was very little to do in it…
Meanwhile, Vince had finally snapped out of his stroll down memory lane… Gabriel watched him guzzle down his milkshake and seconds later, Vince placed the money on the table. “So, I guess I’ll be seeing you later?” Gabriel questioned as Vince got up. Vince nodded and put his jacket on, over his black shirt. I need to research… He thought while heading out the door.
He had walked for hours before finally finding a library… He strolled through the aisles looking for anything on the history of this continent… Maybe that’d give him answers… After hours of fruitless searching, he had finally given up. It was getting dark now anyway… Placing the books back on their original shelves, he exited the library.
The sun and the gases in the atmosphere created a hue of streaks across the distant horizon… Amidst the streaks of purple, orange, burning red, and blue, he could see the blinking lights of an airship… Airplanes had gone out of style years ago because of their limited capacity…thus, airships came into existence…not that he’d ever been on one…he’d just read about it…
As Vince strolled down the now emptying roads of Illusica…he was being closely watched by a group of government officials on the roofs of buildings… They were well camouflaged, and almost impossible to detect… Instructed to watch, they followed they’re instructions to the T. Though they didn’t expect to encounter any resistance, they were still armed…
Vince walked to the corner, and stopped suddenly. Something was there…and Vince didn’t like being followed… He closed his eyes and focused… Blocking out everything that didn’t involve whatever he was looking for… “There you are…” Vince whispered triumphantly… Turning, he thrust out his hand at a nearby roof and a bolt of electricity shot from the palm of his hand to the right corner of the roof.
As the cement crumbled, 5 men in black outfits fell off the roof and into an alley. “Feh…too easy…” He muttered. Putting his hands in his pockets, he turned the corner and continued his walk home. “Hey, you, stop!” A voice shouted from around the corner. Vince groaned and gritted his teeth. “What…” Turning around, he saw the 5 men in the same black outfits.
“We are from the Evoria Secret Military Service…and we’ve been sent to gather information …” The middle male said. Finally…something worth my time… Vince thought. Maybe now he’d be able to get more answers… “What does that have to do with me?” He asked.
“We’re not allowed to disclose that information…” A male on the far right said. “Wrong answer…” Vince said. Holding out his hand, a surge of electricity trailed through his arm and formed a plasma ball in his hand. “Now…want to try that again?” The males shuddered and chuckled nervously.
“Well, you see…” One of the men began. “Sir! We cannot tell him! Do you know what the captain will do to us?!” One of them said. Vince grunted. “I don’t have time for this…” Vince said. “How about we let you find out for yourself? You should try the library in Atera…you’ll probably find your answer there…” One of the men said. Vince grunted. “Fine…at least you respect your higher authority…” The plasma ball in his hand disappearing, Vince headed for the train station…
Buying a ticket, he sat at the loading dock…they had long since upgraded the bullet trains, making them more hi-tech… Now, they’d have to stop ever so often to perform a security check, which helped protect against threats against the country, there were also many other things which would take too much time to explain… Vince had done a lot of reading in his spare time… Thus, he also became a more of an analytical person… He was able to size up situations in an instant and never picked fight he didn’t intend to win…
With the train finally pulling into the station, Vince stood; his jacket silhouetting him against the harsh cold night, making him looks almost ominous… He boarded the brightly lit train and sat… Minutes later, he began singing softly to himself: “I synchronize and I specialize and I classify so much…don’t worry about dreaming because I don’t sleep…I wish I could have this 30 percent…maybe 50 for pleasure and skip all the rest…”
Meanwhile, Seiko, our traveling wind master had already reached Atera…and had taken refuge in a lodge… She too had been confronted by military personnel but she didn’t bother asking questions… She had a philosophy… “What’s in the past has already happened…you must look towards the future to truly shape your destiny…” At least, that’s how she thought…
Naomi, our unexpected fire-controller was sitting in her dimly lit room, studying intensely… With this part time job, she had little time to focus on her schoolwork… But she tried anyway… She wasn’t doing badly in school either… Atera had one of the most prestigious academy’s in the nation and it was very hard to get into…so considering her position…she was doing very well…
Meanwhile, our last look lies on Chase…the dark and horridly merciless member of this story… He was currently sitting on the roof of an apartment building, holding a purple ball in his ball. He had manifested this contraption from himself…for he had the power of darkness… A power he held dearly and could easily relate to…for he dealt with it every day…
Now, with all 4 of our misfits in one place, the story begins to truly unfold… Because tomorrow a tale of epic proportions would weave itself…taking along with it, Vince, Chase, Seiko and Naomi… This saga would truly shape the destiny of the world they lived in and everyone else living in it…
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:50 pm
Chapter V
Taking Your Chances
On a far off island, 5 males in black suits stood at attention in a dark room. The only light was one from a bright lamp in a far off corner. A door opened, and a beam of light shone in casting a shadow of another seemingly taller male who was walk in. His footsteps echoed off the dark walls, giving him a somewhat ominous presence.
The sergeant continued walking until he stood in the lighted section of the room. “Report!” He said in a booming and commanding voice. “Sir!” A male in the middle said. “We have located the targets!” He said in a loud voice. “And?” The sergeant inquired. “Well, unfortunately, the rookie here froze up and ended up giving more information than what was supposed to have been released…” He said.
“WHAT?!?!” The sergeant yelled in disbelief. “I should have you all demoted for this act of insubordination!” He screamed. “Did they teach you anything in training camp?!” He yelled at the rookie, who currently looked as though he were going to have a nervous breakdown. “Well, I’m sorry but he sort of threatened us…sir…” He said softly, his head drooping to the ground.
The commander groaned… “Well, now that it’s been done, there’s not much you can do about it now is there?” He said softly. “Dismissed…” He said a bit disappointed, while rubbing his temples. The privates filed out one after another… “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this…” He said slowly heading for the door. “What are you going to do sir?” A corporal said, closely following the sergeant.
“Well, by now, he probably already knows about his powers…and the history of them…and now that he knows that, who knows what he’s going to do? So, we’re probably going to have to hold them captive and run a couple tests on them…that way we can see if we can remove the DNA from them and stop this cycle…” He explained. “Or we could just capture them to keep the rest of the world safe…” The sergeant said, countering himself.
“Hmm…I guess so…” The corporal said, agreeing. Honestly, he had no idea what he was talking about…he’d probably have to do some research on this himself… “Um…sir?” The corporal questioned as they turned down another corridor. “Yes Corporal Rick?” He responded. “Well, seeing as how I’m probably going to be one to watch these people…what exactly is the story behind them?” He asked.
The sergeant laughed. “Well, they don’t exactly tell you this is in training camp, and it’s really supposed to be a secret…if it got out to the public it’d probably cause massive chaos…” The sergeant said smiling. They turned into the cafeteria and the sergeant sat a table, the corporal sitting across from him.
“You see…around 100 years ago…5 sacred stones were created by an ancient mage, each with different elements…and each placed in a country, as sort of a protective barrier…for example…” He paused to get a coffee, and coming back to his seat, he continued his tale.
“Now, these 5 stones were placed under the strongest care, guarded by spells and monsters and things of the like…but one day, a man known by the name of Alucard stumbled across these stones…” He said, pausing to take a sip from his coffee. “Now, Alucard wasn’t your normal traveler…he was actually the leader of a dark kingdom…”
He paused once more to take another sip and looked at Corporal Rick. “Are you getting this?” He said. The Corporal nodded in acknowledgement. “Well, now that he had the stones, he believed that no one could stop him…so he used these stones to command his army, and soon managed to enslave almost all of the other kingdoms in existence.”
“But, what he didn’t know, is that there were also 4 individuals who were gifted with elemental powers…no one exactly knows how these individuals came to have these powers…some say they were given to them by the gods…and some say that they got them from a second set of sacred stones…but whatever the reason, they still had the powers…”
He paused and looked at the Corporal, who seemed so focused on getting all of this; it looked as though he was on the edge of his seat… “Well, seeing that they were the only ones capable of stopping this ongoing siege of terror, they took it upon themselves to try to defeat Alucard. Now of course, they were very inexperienced and had little to no fighting abilities, and they were going to try to fight a leader of a giant army…”
“So, at their first attempt, they failed miserably…and almost ended up getting killed! Withdrawing in defeat, they decided that they needed to practice…and get a plan…” He paused and finished his coffee. His pause was so long that the Corporal couldn’t contain himself. “So, what happened next?!” He asked impatiently. “Well, after months of rigorous training and extensive planning, they finally launched another attack on Alucard.” He paused once more to see how Corporal Rick was taking it.
“After months on months of battling through his army, they finally reached Alucard himself. Now Alucard was the epitome of darkness. It took all the strength and abilities of the 4 of them to defeat him. After a long and gruesome battle, they finally managed to drive him back. Now, they were tired an exhausted and had next to no strength…”
“Summoning everything they had left, they finally defeated Alucard, once and for all…” He said finishing. “Well, what happened to them?” The corporal asked, intrigued. “Well, no one truly knows…some say they died after the battle, and some say they simply disappeared…” He said softly. “But…I don’t think that’s important…I think the more important thing is how we’re going to stop them from using their powers to threaten the world, with great power comes an even greater risk of corruption…” He said looking into his empty coffee cup.
“The only way I can think of, is to make sure no one knows of these four elementals, and that way, it won’t happen again…” He said standing. “Well, I don’t know how well that’s going to work, but I wish you luck!” The corporal said standing and preparing to leave. He didn’t want to be around in case he was going to chosen to help retrieve these elementals…
“Corporal…” The sergeant said just as he reached the door. “Yes sergeant?” He responded. “Well, seeing as how I just told you the story about The Elementals, why don’t you help me capture one of them?” He asked. Corporal groaned and sighed. “There’ll be a nice promotion in it for you…” He said in a bribing manner.
“Well, I suppose I can…but if I don’t come back…then I want you to tell my family I love them…” He said softly. “You’re not going to war…you’re going to capture a bunch of teenagers…I doubt that you’re going to die…” He said chuckling. “For my sake…I hope your right…” The corporal said softly as he exited the room.
Meanwhile, Vince could be found sitting in the library in Atera… He’d been searching for hours and had found nothing… He decided to go down one last aisle… He slowly scanned the shelves with each step trying to find what he was looking for. He picked up a suspicious looking book and turned it to the back… There was no writing… He sat down at a nearby table and began to read…
Finally! I found it! He thought excitedly. This book gave the history of the whole continent…from it’s founding to 10 years ago today… As he continued reading the book, he began to speak out loud… “About 100 or so years ago…5 stones were created to protect…” He continued reading for hours…
He was almost finished when he could hear rapid gunshots coming from outside… “What the…” He muttered, shutting the book… He left it on the desk, and headed outside… As he turned the corner, he caught sight of what appeared to be a squadron of military personnel… Vince smirked and popped his knuckles on both hands. “I’ve needed to blow off some steam anyway…”
“Well, is that him?” One of the privates said pointing to Vince down the road. Corporal Rick took out a pair of highly focused binoculars and put them on his eyes, and stared at Vince. “Yep, that’s the one…” He said smirking. Putting the binoculars away, the men took out their laser rifles, while Corporal Rick raised his hand.
“On my mark…” He said softly. “Ready…” He muttered. Guns cocked simultaneously… “Mark!” He yelled. Shots rang out simultaneously, creating a giant ringing noise in everyone’s ears… Vince smirked as the bullets came at him… Steady…He thought, with his hand at his Bo Staff. Now!
Swinging out his Bo Staff, he began to twirl it in circles rapidly. You could see the laser beams hitting the Bo Staff and immediately dissolving… As he blocked the last one, he put it away and charged at the squadron. “Recharge!” Corporal Rick yelled as Vince began advancing on them. As Vince got within 10 yards of them, they fired.
As the second round was fired, from Vince’s point of view, everything seemed to slow down… He dodged the first shot, while the second one caught his leg. “Grah! Damn!” He groaned as he fell to the ground. Holding his pained leg, he looked up to see a faint and blurry image of the squadron advancing on him… So I guess this is it… He thought…
Closing his eyes, he waited for the shot to be fired…it didn’t come…he waited a few more seconds…still nothing… Opening his eyes, he saw a long haired girl standing in front of him… She apparently seemed to be guarding him. “You want him? You gotta get through me…” She said in a determined voice. Squinting, Vince could barely make out that the girl was Seiko…
“Corporal, what should we do?” The private in front asked. “That must be one of the others…take her down…” He muttered through his binoculars. They shot another round, and the girl dodged them with ease…it was as if she wasn’t even trying… “Is that all you got?!” She yelled at them.
Just then, another person showed up next to Seiko, this one being a male. “I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to touch this woman…” He said softly. Finally, Vince was able to stand, though he was still clutching his leg. “Hmph…” He said while looking at the other two. “Sir! We’ve got three targets! Should we…” A private yelled in a com-link. “Wait…we’ve still got one more…until then, try to hold them off!” He said shouldering a laser rifle. “Fire!” He yelled once more.
Within seconds, they had let off another round of shots. “I’ll handle this.” The boy said smirking. He stretched out his hand and a dark wave of energy stood in front of them. The lasers hit it, and they disintegrated harmlessly. Just then, Naomi walked by. “What the…” She muttered while looking at them. “Hey!” She yelled as she ran to them.
“What’s going on?” She asked Vince. “Well, we’ve been cornered by the army and are obviously trying to defend ourselves…” He said clutching his leg. She nodded. “Well…” She said, clenching her hands into fists, which soon spontaneously ignited. “Mind if I help out?”
“Sir! The fourth target has arrived!” A private yelled. “Perfect…” He said smirking. He took out a two-way radio and spoke into it. “Alpha Team…fire at will…” Putting the radio away, he signaled for the men to withdraw. “Hey! It looks like they’re retreating!” Seiko said to the others. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that…” Chase said. “Listen.”
After quieting down, they focused their hearing. In the distance…they could hear a faint roaring sound as if a… “Oh…wow…” Naomi said looking up at the sky. There was an army airship flying through the air. “No way…they wouldn’t…” Vince said looking at the airship.
“What?” Seiko asked. “RUN!” Vince yelled sprinting down the road, with the others soon following… But by now, it was too late. A group of cables shot out from beneath the airship and latched into the ground. On each cable, a person in black suits slid down. As they reached the end of the cables, they took rifles out of their holsters and fired them. Each of them hit the four teens head on. “Ugh…man…what’s in that bullet?” Vince said before passing out… As his eyes closed, he caught a glimpse of the others, who also seemed to have been hit… Man…I knew I should’ve stayed in the library… He thought.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:53 pm
Chapter VI
Captured!
“Ungh…mmrpgh…wha—?” Vince said as he sat up. “Ow!” He yelled. He’d slammed his head against a wall behind him. He looked around frantically. He was locked in what appeared to be a holding cell. The others were apparently nowhere to be found. “Man…what did I get myself into?” He muttered while standing. “Heh…no problem, I can just supercharge the door and pull it off using my internal magnet!” He said smirking.
He placed his right hand on the door and concentrated. As the electricity surged into the door, he flew back, into the same wall he’d hit his head against. “Grah!” He yelled clutching the back of his head. “Damn…that hurt…” He groaned. Getting up, headed to the door. “What…is this door insulated?” He said banging on the door.
“Yep…it is…” A voice said from through the sole window in the room. Looking out of it, all he could make out was a shadow. “Who are you?” Vince asked. “I’m Sergeant Strassler of the Evorian Army…” He said through the glass. “What’d you do with the others?!” Vince yelled. “Relax…” Strassler said. “Come and see for yourself.” He continued.
Vince heard a bunch of beeping noises, and then 3 louder beeps. The door opened, and Vince could see Strassler as himself. “I figured you’d be taller…” Vince said maliciously. “I figured you’d be more muscular.” Strassler countered. “Looks can be deceiving…” Vince said.
Vince walked through the room, and saw that there were only 3 other holding cells… 1 of them had Seiko, one that darkness guy, and the last one with the girl with the flaming hands. “Well, at least you didn’t harm them…” Vince muttered. “I may be cruel…but I’m not heartless…” Strassler said.
“Besides…” He said, pausing. He went along each of the other keypads, entering random numbers and each of the other doors containing the others unlocked. “I’ve got more interesting plans for you all…” He said smiling. As the others exited their holding cells, he opened his mouth once more. “I’m going to allow you all to walk around the premises, but you are not allowed to exit the building under any circumstances…” He finished.
“So, you’re pretty much putting us on lock-down…” The other boy said. “No of course not! If I wanted to put you on lock-down, I wouldn’t have let you leave your cells!” He explained. “Good point…” The boy said, defeated. “I will see you all soon…” Strassler stated before he left.
After a few minutes of silence, Seiko was the first to speak up. “Well, standing around silent is obviously not doing us much good, I say we introduce ourselves!” She suggested. So we did. First up was the other boy.
His name was Chase. Apparently, he had the power to manipulate darkness. It suited him well too… He acted so solitary you’d think he was the son of a rock. Then there was Naomi, who controlled fire. From what Vince could tell, she seemed to be more of the conscience of the group. Finally, there was Seiko, who controlled wind. Vince had met her briefly before, but they didn’t talk much. And from what he could tell, she was more outgoing than the rest of us… She seemed to think well on her feet and was very logical.
“Well, I’m gonna go see what food they have around here… I’m starving.” Chase said. And with that, he was gone. “And I’m gonna go scope this place out…” Naomi said. Within seconds, she’d followed Chase out the door. This just left Vince and Seiko…who seemed to be staring idly into space… Not wanting to disturb her, Vince walked to the door, without saying a word.
“So, you’re going to just leave without saying anything? How rude…” Seiko said, just as Vince had reached the door. “Well, I didn’t want to disturb you so…” Vince said, stopping. “Well, it doesn’t matter now, the past is the past, you can’t change it…” She said. It seemed as though she was trying to be comforting, at least that’s what Vince thought.
“Well, I’m gonna go see if this place has a library…I need to look up some things…” Vince said before leaving. Apparently, Seiko had followed him out the door. “You mean to tell me that of all the things in this place to do, your going to go to a library?” She scoffed. “You’re really dull…” She commented. “Well, I didn’t exactly ask for your opinion.” Vince snapped back.
“Well, sorry…” Seiko said walking the other way… Vince didn’t know where the girl was going, and didn’t really care to ask either… As he came upon an elevator, he eyed the list of floors next to the up and down buttons. “Let’s see…Library…Floor 5…” He muttered. Pressing the up button, he waited for the car to come down…
As the door finally opened, 2 privates shuffled out the elevator, eyeing him strangely. “Hmph…what are you lookin’ at?” He said before entering the elevator. “Floor 5.” He said as he pressed the button. The carriage went up slowly, but in time he’d reached the 5th floor. Walking out of the elevator, he walked down what seemed like an endless corridor before he finally reached the door to the library…
Pushing open the door, a giant room with mountains of books opened up to him. It was like something you’d see in a fantasy tale… Seeing someone at the front desk, he walked over to her. She seemed about 20, and he wondered what she was doing working at a government facility…
“Uhm…excuse me, where do you keep the maps?” He inquired. “Row 12, the 8th shelf…” She said between popping the gum in her mouth. “Thanks…” He said. After reaching the 12th row, he grabbed a nearby ladder and began to scan the 8th shelf. “Come on, blueprints, they’ve got to be here somewhere…” After searching the shelf for minutes, he’d finally guessed that what he was looking for wasn’t there…
Climbing down the ladder, he sat at one of the desks. “Think, think…if you wanted to keep the blueprints to a military facility, where would you put them…” He said softly. “The sergeant’s office!” He concluded. “They’d probably keep it computerized, in this age, almost everything is…” He said. “And with it being computerized, there’s probably a pass code on it, which I’d probably have to get from him…” He muttered.
Feeling good that he was able to figure that much out by himself, he left the library, he was soon back downstairs in his holding cell. Minutes later, the others came in, followed by Strassler. “Well, I suppose that’s long enough…now follow me…” He said in a gruff tone.
He led them down the hall and into a giant dome… It looked like a coliseum… “Now, wait here…” Walking out of the room, we stood for about 10 minutes. “What do you suppose he wants with us?” Vince asked. “I dunno…but this is a military base…so it’d be smart to be on your guard…” Chase commented. Minutes passed, they were wondering how long they were going to stand there before something happened. Soon, they heard a rumbling from deep in one of the gates in the dome…
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:54 pm
Chapter VII
The Escape Plan
The rumbling soon grew louder…within minutes; it was like listening to a jet plane take off right in front of your face…the noise was deafening… The crowd of them covered their ears, the noise being too much to bear… Moments later, a pair of red eyes came from a door directly in front of them… “Good luck…” A voice said over the intercom…
The rumbling stopped, and all the 4 of them could do was stare at the red eyes, as if they knew something they didn’t… Minutes later, a deep growling could be heard, and the group finally got the hint… But, by now, the abomination had already readied itself… Within seconds, a giant brown blur launched itself out of the corridor, teeth gnashing and a piercing cry filling the room.
“MOVE!” Vince yelled. Obviously, this was the only logical explanation, as the monster could’ve easily crushed any of them with a simple swipe of what apparently looked like a claw… The 4 of them jumped out of the way, barely missing the claws of the monstrosity. Vince pulled his Bo Staff from his coat, while Seiko pulled a bow from her side. “I guess we’re supposed to take it out?” Vince said, stating the obvious.
The monster turned at the sound of his voice, and lunged at him. “Whoa!” He yelled, rolling out of its path. The monster missed barely, and stood, listening intently. It can’t see…but that must mean his hearing is excellent… Vince thought analytically. “******** this!” Chase yelled. A black blur, with apparently a red topped head charged at the blind monstrosity, and it turned.
“No!” Naomi yelled, running after him. Vince groaned. We obviously have to learn the basics of teamwork… He thought. Chase charged at the monster, only to be flung to the side by a swipe of its claws, sending him careening into a wall. He lay motionless… Naomi gasped in terror, and immediately ran to his aide… “Well, looks like we’re gonna have to get rid of this thing…” Vince said in as soft a voice he could manage… But this didn’t work… Apparently, the thing’s hearing was beyond excellent, apparently at near super-human…
It charged at Vince, this time in an attempt to knock him out… Even at his high speed, he knew he’d never be able to out run it…and it was now too close to dodge… Holding out his bow staff, he charged at the monster, at least hoping to find a way to defeat it… But, before he even came within striking range, an arrow stuck itself in the monster’s side, and it fell over, screeching. Staring around in confusion and bewilderment, he looked to see where the source was… He turned to see Seiko, holding her bow out, smirking. “Heh…nice shot…” He complimented.
He turned to see that Chase had finally come around, but he was bruised pretty badly… The monster lay, writhing… Vince knew this was far from over, and he motioned for the others to brace for another attack. If we move, it’ll be able to hear us…and if we don’t, we’ll just be at a standoff…there’s got to be a way to beat it… He thought. The monster finally succeeded in ripping out the arrow from its body, even though, it still had a large gash on itself…
The monster stood, its breathing irregular. We can’t just stand here…there must be a way to beat it… He thought. Turning he saw Seiko, who was apparently formulating her own plot… She raised her hand at Vince, motioning for him to move back slowly… Then, she apparently wanted Naomi and Chase to slowly edge around it’s back… Well, it’s better than sitting here and doing nothing… Amazingly, the monster hadn’t picked up on their movements, and Seiko loaded another arrow into her bow.
Next, she motioned for Chase to start running away from the monster… Hesitant at first, he finally accepted it and began to move quickly. The monster turned, running after Chase. Seiko let go of the arrow, sending it shooting right for the monster. It missed, but apparently, the monster turned, distracted by the arrow shooting past him. Finally getting the idea, Vince and Naomi charged at monster.
Since it had turned, Vince clipped it on its hind legs using his Bo Staff, and Naomi sent a searing hot punch straight for it’s face. Hitting it directly, the monster screamed, writhing uncontrollably. Chase turned and decided to get in a hit of his own. He charged at the monster, still being a fair distance away… He pulled out a sword, which soon was enveloped in a black hue, and cut straight through its leg, blood spattering everywhere.
“SHREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAA!” Was all you could hear for the next few minutes. The monster screamed at the top of its lungs, writhing around on its back, now only having three legs to swing wildly. Minutes later, the monster finally stopped, motionless and not breathing… Standing, breathless, exhausted, and some bruised, the four of them lay sprawled out on the ground. Soon, Strassler walked in, clapping.
“Not bad…it seems I was right…” He said, looking from the four of them to the now dead creature. “Well, I suppose that’ll be enough for today…” He said, turning. He disappeared out of the coliseum minutes later, leaving the others to catch their breath. Hours later, the others were back in their holding cells… Vince however was busy toiling away…
Of course they were allowed to walk about, but they just didn’t have the energy for it… Vince looked at his watch ever so often… 9:30 He thought, busy counting the seconds as they passed. 10:30 He continued. 11:30. Standing, he looked around his little cell… He didn’t know what that general planned to do with the four of them, but he sure didn’t want to wait and find out. Donning his jacket, he left the Bo Staff on his bed, walking out…
This shouldn’t take long… He thought, looking at the door… Swiftly and silently, the 16 year old left his cell. He walked into the main room, looking at the others… They all apparently seemed to be asleep, exhausted from the earlier battle… He didn’t bother waking them up; he could handle this on his own… Leaving the main room, he realized how dark the outer hallways were at night, the only light being from the moon that shone in from the windows…
He never actually knew where Strassler’s room was, and he considered it a miracle that he was able to find it in such a short amount of time… But apparently, that was where his luck ran out… The door was locked… And to make matter’s even worse; someone was coming down the third floor corridor that he was on… The footsteps were distant, but there was surely someone coming…
He had minimal time to figure out the key code for the computerized lock… “6-5-3-1-2…” A voice said behind him. Turning, he caught sight of Seiko. Half scared to death, he gasped when he saw her. “How’d you get out here?” He whispered, trying to regain his bearings. The footsteps were getting louder… “I followed you…” She said smugly. Pressing in the code she’d told him, a little green light blinked, and you heard a soft clicking noise…
The footsteps were louder now…you could see the shadow of the looming person being cast on the floor… Quickly getting inside, the two of them stood in the room, Vince shutting the door softly behind him. “Well, there’s the computer…now we just need the access code to get to the file…” He said sitting down at the desk. “Well, Miss Genius Leader Girl…got any ideas on this one?” He said staring at the screen that prompted them to enter a pass code.
“Not really…” She said pacing the room silently. “If this is his computer alone, then he’d have to have it written down somewhere in case he forgot it… So we should probably search his room…” She deduced. “Does it seem like we have time for that?!” He whispered a tone of anger in his voice. “Well, I don’t see you coming up with anything…” She snapped back. Beaten, Vince decided to take Seiko’s advice.
They searched the room for hours, finding nothing but old reports on element sightings, strange occurrences, and the occasional terrorist attack. “Wow…should we be flattered or scared? This guy seems really interested in us…” Vince said jokingly. Seiko, who was more serious, simply disregarded his comment. “Wait…I think I found something…” She said, holding up a small index card…
Vince plopped it into the office chair, hands hovering over the keyboard. “Let’s give it a go then…” He said staring at the screen. “7…e…12…t…w…a…z…9.” She said reading off the card… Entering it slowly, a bar came up onto the black screen, the words “Processing…” appearing above it. “We’re in!” He said grinning. After a few minutes worth of clicking and typing from the keyboard, he’d found what he was looking for.
Printing it out, he heard more footsteps coming down the hall… These sounded louder and fast-paced, and we could hear keys jingling… “C’mon…hurry…” He said to the paper that was now printing out the machine. Seconds later, the doorknob began to turn slightly. “Got it!” he whispered. Moments later, Strassler entered his office. He stopped to examine the room…
Something isn’t right… He thought. Staring around the room, he finally realized it. “The window…” He said snapping his fingers. Walking to the open window, he shut it tightly before going back to his seat. Meanwhile, Seiko and Vince stood against the outside wall of the building, still as statues. “Is it safe to move yet?” She asked out the corner of her mouth. “Let the searchlights go around one more time…” He said softly. Seconds later, 2 beams of lights crossed each other… “Now!” He whispered.
They darted along the wall and paused as the searchlights crossed in front of them. They began moving again and moments later, arrived at the entrance… Stealthily, the two managed to get back to the cell rooms… Sitting down on his bed, Vince looked at his watch. “2 AM…” He said softly…
Taking the folded sheet of paper out his pocket, he examined it closely, trying to find any way they could sneak out of here... Tiring himself out, he sighed, falling onto the bed. He was asleep before he even hit his pillow.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:56 pm
Chapter VIII
The Escape
About a year or so had passed since the capturing of the four elementalists… And even with all that time, Vince still hadn’t been able to figure out a way to escape from this place… The security around here just seemed to get tighter and tighter with each passing day.
And today, Vince didn’t expect things to be any different. Strassler would come in, greet them, send them of to breakfast, get them afterwards to run a couple of tests, give them a few hours to themselves, then lunch, more tests, send them to their cells and bring them dinner.
Vince of course, was the first to wake up, and as usual, you could find him studying that blueprint and whittling away hours trying to figure out how to get this right… Hearing a slight rap on the door, Vince was torn away from the blueprint. Standing, he sighed, rubbing his head.
“Who’s there?” He said, walking up to the door. “It’s Seiko…are you coming out for breakfast?” She asked a tone of concern in her voice. “Maybe later…” He said, walking away from the door. “What are you doing in there anyway?” She asked. “Thinking of ways to make you moan my name…” He said jokingly. She scoffed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you meant that…” He didn’t respond.
Hours later, it finally hit him. Stuffing this paper back in his pocket, he headed for lunch. Sitting down at a table with the others, he began to eat. “So…what is it that you’ve been working on in there anyway?” Chase asked, biting into his sandwich. “This…” He said, taking a map out of his pocket and flailing it around.
He unfolded it and placed it on the table. “It’s a map…” Naomi said. “Yes…but it’s a special map…” He said taking out a pencil. “To be more specific…the blueprint of this very building.” He continued. “So?” They said in unison, still sounding confused. “I’m planning a way for us to break out of here…” He said in a hushed voice. “Are you insane?! Do you not see the security on this place?!” Seiko whispered.
“Well, of course, but did any of you take the time to notice this vent?” He said, pointing the pencil tip to an air vent in the room where their cells were kept… They nodded, completely focused on his blueprint. “Well, the vent leads to the furnace room where all the other vents meet…then…if you look here…” He paused, using his finger to circle the little hole in the corner of the room. “It’s latched shut now, and it’s got keycard access so we’ll have to get one from one of the personnel.” He said pausing.
They simply stared at him, waiting to see what else he had to say. “That latch opens and leads to a series of underground tunnels, which are here…” He stopped, pointing a rectangle with dotted lines underneath the latch… “That takes you to drainage outlet near the airship hangar…” He paused. “Then comes the hard part…” He was interrupted by Seiko. “The hard part?! This whole thing is insane! Do you have any idea of the time frame we’re going to need to pull this off?!” She yelled. “Exactly 13 minutes and 7 seconds per person.” He answered. “Though it may take more time for Chase and Naomi, as they aren’t really quick with their feet…” He finished.
“But don’t worry, I’ve got it all planned out. We’ll just have the quicker people go first to guide the others, then we’ll just snag an airship and fly outta here, hoping we don’t get caught in any interference.” He said, leaning back in his chair, a smug grin on his face. “It all goes down tonight…” He said standing. And with that, he left them to themselves. “He really has to find better things to do with our time…” Chase said shaking his head.
“He should hire a hooker…” Naomi said smiling. Seiko simply blushed. Naomi had caught of this, but simply ignored it…she‘d bring it up with her later… Meanwhile, Vince walked the halls, trying to find a rookie officer to snag a keycard from… He walked the same corridor at least 6 times before finally seeing one coming down a hall…
Now he hadn’t exactly planned this out and the guy was walking pretty fast… So he did what all great warriors do in a time of trouble. Improvise! He walked slowly, soon meeting up with the rookie. Apparently, it must’ve been his first day because he had his keycard quite literally hanging out his pocket! He snagged it quickly and briskly walked down the hall.
He walked back into his cell, checking his watch… It was about 4 PM, and they had about 2 hours before dinner… Walking over to the vent, he saw that it was screwed in… “Grr…gotta think…think…” He needed to find something to unscrew it… After pacing for a few minutes, he finally figured it out. “Duh!” He said, feeling stupid. Placing a finger on the screw, he sent a jolt of electricity through it.
Pulling his finger back away from the screw, it soon unscrewed following the magnetic pull from his finger. He did this with the other three screws and soon the vent cover fell off, clanging on the floor. Well, that should be enough…hopefully we can all fit through it… He thought. Sitting on his little bed, he waited until Strassler finally came in, followed by the others… They looked at him and he simply gave them a thumbs-up.
Looking at his watch, it beeped twice. 6:00 PM. He thought. Strassler motioned for Vince to leave his cell, and he followed them down a hall. “Well, I hope you all had a good day…” Strassler said, turning his head to look at them. None of them answered… He’d led them to a gym-like room, having a bunch of exercising equipment. “You guys just run wild…I’ll be tracking your progress from another room… I’ll be back in about an hour or so to let you out…
So, about an hour later, he’d come back to tell them their results… Vince had done the best in the speed area, Chase did the best in strength, Naomi doing the best in endurance and Seiko the best in stamina. “Well, I suppose you all are free to go…I will see you tomorrow morning!” He said opening the door.
He let them out, and they quickly headed for their cells. “Are you all ready?” Vince asked as they stood around in front of the opened vent. “As ready as we’ll ever be…” Chase said with his hands in his pockets. Vince looked at his watch… “7:58 PM…” He said softly. “2 minutes till show time…” He finished.
His watch beeped, which it did every hour… “Go!” He yelled. Hopping into the air vent, Vince crawled forward, trying to recall where the blueprint told him to go… He came to a 4-way intersection, and turned to see Seiko, Chase and Naomi following behind him, in that order. He turned left and continued crawling, trying to minimize the amount of noise he made. They came to a drop, and he groaned.
Climbing as close to the edge as possible, he turned to Seiko. “Seiko…give me your hand…” He said softly. “Wh—why?” She asked, stuttering. “Just trust me…” He said smiling. “Uh…okay…” He took her hand, and slowly lowered himself down the drop in the vent.
“How much longer do we have to go?” Chase asked, impatiently. “Quit your complaining…we’re almost there…” Vince said. They continued crawling, until they finally reached another vent. “Here we go!” He said grinning. Putting his hand on the vent, he charged the metal, and pushed it off the wall with ease.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:03 pm
Chapter IX
Heading for the Underground
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Chase yelled, lunging for the controls. “This isn’t a submarine!” He continued. “Lay off!” Vince yelled to Chase. “We’re not going to die…I know what I’m doing…” He said calmly. “Watch.” He reassured them. They had now come within 40 yards of the ocean, whose waves were raging from an oncoming storm.
“Yah!” He yelled, pulling up on the throttle. You could hear a sort of crack and a loud whirring noise coming from outside and the ship pulled up, barely missing the ocean. Hearing a splash, the others looked to see 3 of the enemy airships crashing into the ocean. “Looks like we’re home free.” Vince said, turning. “So, where are we headed?” Naomi asked.
“Well, I’m headed for home, I don’t know about you guys…” Vince said shrugging. “So that’s it? We just go our separate ways?” Seiko asked. “Tch…fine with me…” Chase said leaning back into the chair. “Well, I’ve got something I need to take care of…and I wouldn’t want you getting involved…” Vince said, staring into the distance, looking for any signs of land.
“And what would that be?” Naomi asked. “It’s personal…” He said, still staring into the distance. The ship fell silent for awhile, causing Vince to lose track of time. Even so, it wasn’t long before he spotted a flickering light in the distance. Looking at the radar, he deduced that it was getting interference, because it was completely blank. “Looks like we’ve hit land… He said, straining to find the same flickering light.
Soon, the ship had flown over a brightly lit city. “Looks like we’ve hit Illusica too…I’ve never seen such a bright place…” Vince said smirking. So…where are we gonna park this thing?” Chase questioned. “Keep your pants on…I’m working on it…” Vince said, lost in though. We could just land at a HUB but that’d require sneaking past the guards…I’m pretty sure that they’ve been enlightened on our breakout…
So, unless they magically became invisible, that wouldn’t work. Vince sighed. “Well, this one’s got me stumped.” He said to the others. Then, to their surprise, a voice sounded over the intercom. “This is Kyle, air traffic control for the Illusica Military HUB. Flight Six-Zero-Three-Dash-One, you are clear to land.” And with that, the intercom simply shut off.
“Well, doesn’t look we’ve got much of a choice now, eh?” Chase said in his usual nonchalant tone. Moments later, the ship had landed on a giant runway, on the east side of the city. “Well, let’s go!” Vince said hurriedly. He stood up, stretching with the others soon standing up after him. As they headed for the door, Vince noticed something odd. “Hey look what I’ve found…” He said finding a hatch next to the door. Opening it, he found that it held four pilot suits. “Well, looks like we lucked out… Vince said smirking.
They slipped on the pilot suits, and began walking casually off the ship. As they entered the main building, they received a salute from a few people, and then continued walking down an innumerable amount of steps. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they finally had reached the main entrance. Vince walked through the metal detectors first, and of course they went off.
“Excuse me sir…could you remove all metal objects that you have on your person?” A male security guard said. Vince sighed, placing his right hand inside his suit. Wait for it… He thought. “Sir, could you remove all the metal objects that you have on you?” The security guard said, getting impatient. After a few minutes, the guard opened his mouth to speak again. “Sir—.” He said. Now! “RUN!” He yelled to the others.
Pulling his arm out his jacket, he yelled. “Hrah!” The guard simply stared in awe at the electricity surging into his palm. Vince slammed his hand into the guard’s face. There was a momentary scream from the guard, and then silence. He fell to the ground, twitching, and barely conscious.
Vince could hear the sound of footsteps coming and immediately got the hint. He sprinted through the metal detector and out into the crowded streets. The others were way ahead of them, but he didn’t know where they went… He groaned as he walked through the streets. I’ve got to find them…
Walking some more, he plopped down on a bench, his heads in his hands. “Hey!” He heard a voice yell. He didn’t bother looking up because he thought his mind was just playing with him again… “Hey!” The voice yelled again. This time, he looked up. Down the street, he caught sight of Seiko waving at him…
Well, that saved me a waste of energy… He thought smiling. Standing, he put his hands in his jacket pocket. Minutes later, he had reunited with them. “So, since Vince brought us here…where are we going?” Seiko asked, rocking back and forth. “I told you, this is a personal problem, you don’t need to get involved…”
“Look here.” Seiko said, grabbing Vince by his jacket collar. “We’ve spent 1 year in a damn military complex, we’re practically on the run from the government, and you mean to tell me that you won’t allow us to help you? Well, you’re going to accept our help, like it or not…” She said letting him go. “You wouldn’t hit me…wait no, you couldn’t hit me…” Vince said calmly.
“Is that so?” She said glaring at him. “Yes, it is…and if you want to prove me wrong, then do it…” Seiko raised her fist, preparing to hit him. Chase and Naomi simply stood watching. After standing for what felt like 10 minutes, Seiko lowered her fist. “I thought so…” He said smiling. “Now come on, I’ve got to visit someone.” He said walking down the street.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Gabriel’s Coffee Shop. “Why are we visiting Gabriel?” Seiko asked. “I’ve got a few questions to ask him.” Vince said opening the door. The four of them walked in, the bells signaling their entrance. Gabriel stood at the counter, along with a new face sitting on one of the barstools. Gabriel looked up and saw Vince, and the others.
“Well, if it isn’t Vince and Seiko…and—?” He paused at the sight of the other two. “Naomi…” Naomi said politely. “Chase…” He said, arms folded. “And who’s the new girl?” Vince said pointing to the girl sitting on the barstool. “Oh, she’s my new assistant…I needed help around the place…more people have started coming in recently…” He explained while wiping down a glass.
The girl stood and bowed politely. “The name’s Mizuki…” She said smiling. “So…what brings you back to the shop?” Gabriel wondered. “Well, I was wondering if you’ve heard anything about the Underground…” He said. “Well, actually I’ve heard a couple things about it from a few friends…they say something big is going on down there…” He said tossing a used rag into the garbage.
“They didn’t tell you what kind of something did they?” Vince asked. “Well, no, I don’t think any of them are that close to anyone down there…” He said. “Well, alright then, we’ll be seeing you…” He said to them. “Where are you going?” He asked. “The Underground…” He said.
“What for?” He asked. “I’ve got something to take care of…and I have a feeling that if I don’t do it now…we might be too late…” Vince said. “We? You mean those guys are going with you?” Gabriel asked. “Do they know anything about The Underground?” He continued. “I doubt it, but they insisted on it…and now that I think about it…I’m going to need all the help I can get…”
“Well, I wish you guys luck, though I’m not exactly sure how well that’s going to work…” Gabriel said. “Heh…thanks for the sentiment…” Vince said. He headed pit the door, with the others soon following suit. They headed down the street silently, and soon one of them spoke.
“So, what’s the story behind this whole Underground place you’ve been talking about?” Seiko asked. Vince sighed… Do I have to tell you all everything?” He asked. “Well, it’s good to know what I’m up against…” She said. Vince sighed. “Well, if you must know… It used to be the headquarters for a gang, placed in The Forbidden Zone…which is pretty much self-explanatory…no one goes there unless they want a death wish…” He said.
“We used to rule the whole town… Not a single person ever messed with us…we commanded respect, and we’d better have gotten it… Or else…” He continued. “Wait…we? You’re in this gang?” She questioned. “Well, no, not anymore…I quit…a long time ago…” He said. “Oh…so, why are you going back?” She asked. “Well, as I said before, I’ve got some business to handle…” He finished. “And that’s all I’m telling you…nothing more…” He said.
She fell silent, and minutes later, they came to a stop. “See that?” Vince pointed to a giant building that towered over the rest. “That’s where we’re going…” He said sighing. “Whoa…that place is huge…” Chase said. “You mean we’ve got to go up against all that?” Naomi said. “Yeah…do you guys wanna back out?” Vince asked. “Hell no! This’ll be awesome…” Chase said smirking.
“Heh…well, we better get going then…” Vince said to the others. They nodded, and followed him into the maze of buildings.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:05 pm
Chapter X
Separated
“Man…how long have we been walking? I could’ve sworn we passed that building already…” Chase said looking at a run down building, “And where are all the people? This place seems deserted…” Naomi said scanning the area. Vince had been walking these past few hours in silence, but finally decided to speak up. “Not many people live on the outskirts; there was never really a reason why, that’s just how it is…” He said as they continued walking.
As they continued, Naomi felt eyes watching her… “Is it just me or is someone watching us?” She asked. As they passed an alley, Seiko turned to see a group of eyes watching her. “Who are they?” Seiko asked. “They’re probably just kids…probably just kids who ran away from home…” Vince said as he continued walking. “So, how much longer until we get there?” Chase asked. “A few minutes…” Vince said.
And he held to true to that, because less than 3 minutes later, they arrived at the front of the abandoned building. “What’s this place called anyway?” Chase said. “I’d like to know what terrain I’m up against…” He finished. “Hell’s Fortress…” Vince said softly. “You all sure you want to go? This is your last chance to back out…” He commented. No one seemed to back down.
“All right…let’s go…” He said. Pushing open the door, and they walked in. “Wow…look at all the statues…” Naomi said admiringly. She was referring to the statues placed precariously “Wait…” He said softly. “Get down!” He yelled. Almost immediately, spears flew at them in all directions. They ducked down just barely, the spears barely missing their hairs.
“So, it seems The Lightning Overlord has returned…” A voice said. “Who’s that?” Seiko said, her voice quivering. Vince stood with his hands in his pockets. “Show yourself…” He said. From the other side of the room, a man at about the age of 18 stepped out. “Wait…that can’t be…Shiro?!” Vince yelled. After walking closer, he became more visible.
He stood at about Vince’s height, and had spiky black hair, a white button-up shirt on, and a pair of black jeans, and tattered Nike shoes. “The one and only!” He said grinning. “Shiro!” He said hugging him. “How’ve you been man?” He asked, ruffling up the Shiro’s hair. “I’m doing alright, I see you’ve bought some friends…” He said grinning. “Yeah, there here to help me…” He said.
“Oh really? You mean you’re not here to stay?” He questioned. Vince shook his head. “When I left, I left for good, I just came back to take care of some unfinished business…” He said with a hint of remorse in his voice. “Wait…you mean you’re here about Itaku?” Shiro asked. Vince nodded.
“Man, that’s a really big job…are you sure you four can handle it?” Shiro asked. “Well, I think a navigator or something might help…I mean, it has been a while…” Vince responded. “Well, I’ll be glad to help! I’ve never been too fond of Itaku’s decisions anyway…” He said, giving them a thumbs-up. “Who is this guy?” Chase asked the others…
Naomi and Seiko shrugged. Vince turned, overhearing his question. “Remember how Shiro said that I was an Overlord?” The others nodded. “Well, there were four of them, and Shiro was one of them… He uses a halberd, and his speed with it is unimaginable…his opponents always ended up so bad, it was as if their bodies were destroyed beyond repair by his technique…so he soon came to be called: “The Invisible Destroyer.” He said.
“Wow…was he that good?” Naomi asked. Vince nodded. “Well, enough with the introductions, let’s get going!” He said in a peppy voice. As they headed for the second floor, something caught them off guard… A smokescreen ball came down the steps, and immediately set off. Each of them coughed repeatedly, and when the smoke cleared, Vince found himself alone.
Chase was on the third floor. He didn’t need the others anyway…he was pretty sure he could’ve taken these people by himself… But still, that navigator guy would’ve been pretty useful right now… He
“Oh great…we get a navigator, then I end up by myself…that was a waste of time…” Vince complained. He looked around just in case he saw any of the others… But the search proved fruitless. “Well, if I stand around here, I won’t get anything done…I better get moving…” Vince said. And with that, he headed for the second floor…
Somewhere on a lower level, Seiko and Naomi and found themselves tied up in an empty room. “Ugh…how’d I get here?” Seiko said rubbing her head. Trying to move her leg, she found that she’d been chained to the floor. “Damn it…this is just great...” She said, blowing a few strands of hair out of her face. “How’re we going to get out of this one?” Naomi asked, staring at the ceiling… “I guess Vince really did mean there was no turning back once you got in…” She said softly.
Meanwhile, hundreds of feet below, in the abandoned underground garbage facility, 4 people sat around a group of computer screens… Each was monitoring the newcomers into the Fortress. “It seems the Lightning Overlord has returned…” A male voice commented. “I don’t see what the big deal is…” A deeper voice said. “You don’t understand the power that one holds…it’s unfathomable…” The male voice said.
“It’s true…” A boy said from the entrance to the garbage facility. He walked in, and the others seemed to turn at his arrival. “How are my loyal comrades doing today? I take it the smokescreen plan went off without a hitch?” He said. A feminine voice spoke up. “Of course Itaku…what would expect from us?” Itaku smiled. “You shouldn’t brag Sakura…” He commented.
“Well, either way, I get the Lightning Lord, I want to see what the hype is all about…” A voice said. “Well, you can have him if you want Trey…but if he mauls you and takes off your other arm, then don’t expect me to make you another one…” Itaku said. Trey grunted. “Heh…if he’s that good, then I most definitely want to face him…”
Itaku smiled. “Well, this is just step one to our future…soon we’ll be able to live freely…and we won’t be barred down by those at the top of Hell’s Fortress…” He commented. “Isn’t that right Neimi?” Itaku asked. A girl sitting on a crate smiled. “You can bet that…” She said softly.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:10 pm
Chapter XI
Return of the Lightning Overlord
“Well, guys…what do you say we test these five some more?” Itaku said, sitting in his chair in front of a group of computers. “I’m in…” Trey said. “But remember, I get the Lightning Lord.” He said standing, and cracking his knuckles. “Sure…I owe Chase a good fight anyway…” Lance said smirking and adjusting his headband. “Well, I suppose someone’s got to test the girls…” Neimi said. “You in Sakura?” She asked. Sakura nodded.
“Well, I suppose I’ll take the Navigator…” Itaku said smiling. “What about me—?” A voice said from the corner. A boy walked out, grinning. “Ah…Zuri…glad you could make it!” Itaku said smiling. “Wouldn’t miss it!” He said grinning. “What’s this talk about a Navigator?” Zuri asked, popping a few joints in his fingers. “Well, it seems as though Shiro has teamed up with our new friends…” Itaku responded.
“Well, me and Shiro go way back, it’ll be good to catch up with him…” He said smiling. “Well, that settles it…meanwhile, I’ll be taking five…until then my comrades…” He said smiling. He walked through a nearby doorway, and laid himself out on a mat, falling asleep. The others soon exited the room, each headed for their respective battles…
Vince groaned as he climbed another flight of steps. “Damn it…it’s like the higher I go, the bigger these floors get…” He muttered. Just then, he could hear something distant… It wasn’t talking, but it was something… More like singing… As he continued walking, the singing got louder. Man…that’s really getting on my nerves… He thought.
Also seconds later, he could hear a distant whizzing. Dodging to the left, a knife sliced into his clothes, barely. “What the he—?” He turned around to see a large group of people staring down at him from a raised platform. They were singing softly. “Where the hell did all these people come from?” He said, looking at his torn clothes.
He smirked. “Well, there are a lot of ‘em…” Soon, sparks began emanating around his body. “But nowhere near enough to take me down…” He said. Soon, a select few charged at him.
Somewhere beneath his floor, Shiro could hear loud thudding coming from above him. “Looks like I’ve found Vince.” He said chuckling. He sprinted up the steps, and saw Vince fighting off a large group of people. He smirked, grabbing his halberd off his back. “Need some help?” Shiro asked, a grin playing on his face.
“I thought all these guys had going for them was volume!” He said dodging another blow. He sliced one set down and hopped over a couple, landing next to Vince. “These are creations of Itaku’s…” He said blocking an attack. “Creations?” Vince asked, knocking out another person. “Well, not really creations…” He said.
“They’re more like…enhanced…” He said smiling. “What do you mean by that?” He said, knocking back another set. “Well, you know how your able to use your electricity right?” He asked, kneeing another person in the chest. “Yeah…” He said, pushing off Shiro and knocked back a couple people.
“Well, the only reason you’re able to do that is because you’re able to awaken your dormant genes…” He said. “Itaku’s managed to tap into that power with his computer, enhancing these fighters…” He said knocking out another set. “Well, we can talk about that later…but first…let’s end this…” Vince said, spitting on the ground. “You might want to step back…” Vince muttered.
”Eh?” Shiro said, a surprised look on his face. “Well, okay…” Vince said, holding his arms out, in the direction of the people still standing on the upper level. Moments later, balls of plasma formed in his hand. They slowly floated into the air, and he smirked. “Bang.” He said. Seconds later, a large yellow flash filled the room, and all the people lay there, unconscious. After removing his hands from his eyes, Shiro gasped.
“What’d you do?” Shiro asked, slightly astounded. “Just knocked ‘em unconscious for a bit…they’ll wake up soon enough…” He said, grinning. Shiro stood, mouth agape. Wow…I guess the Lightning Lord really has returned… He thought. “Well, we’d better find the others…” He said walking off to the stairwell.
Meanwhile, a few levels down, Seiko and Naomi sat, chained up in a room. You could hear distant walking outside. Just then, a little eyehole opened in the door, 2 pairs of eyes looked in. “Well, it looks like the lovely ladies are up…” The first male said. “Yeah…we’d better get them to Itaku…he said to bring them to him immediately…” The second male said. “I know, I know, I’m just going to have a little fun with them first…” He said, a malicious tone in his voice.
The second male sighed, as he opened the door. “As much as I enjoy hearing a compliment like lovely…I must say that coming from a face like that…it sounds a bit repulsive…” Seiko said, a smile playing across her face. “Why you little...” The man said. “Here they come Naomi…I’m sure you can handle him…” Seiko whispered. Naomi nodded.
The male advanced on them, and Naomi concentrated… Minutes later, Naomi had managed to melt through the shackles. She kneed the man between the legs, and he collapsed on the ground, clutching his groin, moaning in pain. She then freed Seiko and they sprinted past the second male and down the hall.
“Wait, if you could do that, why didn’t you do it earlier?” Seiko asked. “I dunno, just never crossed my mind…” She said smiling. “Well, where do you think the others are? I mean…we don’t exactly know where we’re going…” Just then, they heard a distant noise…
“Wait a second…” Seiko said, holding out her hand to stop Naomi. “I heard something…” She muttered. The noise came again…but this time, it seemed louder… Seiko braced herself. And within seconds, to Seiko and Naomi’s surprise, someone had managed to create a hole in the wall. Rubble and dust scattered everywhere and you could hear coughing.
“I told you we should have taken the door!” A feminine voice said. “Well, what’s done is done, so you might as well deal with it…” A second voice said. Seiko grunted. “Reveal yourselves.” Seiko said. Minutes later, the dust cleared, revealing two girls.
“Heh…I get the sassy one…” Sakura said. “Fine, you get your way…again…” Neimi muttered. “The name’s Sakura…” She said, untying her hair. “And I’m Neimi…” Said the second girl, who was currently putting on fingerless gloves. “So, what exactly do you want?” Naomi asked.
“Well, we’re not really allowed to say…” Neimi said, stretching. “Come on, let’s get this over with…I’m getting hungry…” Sakura said, pulling a string from a reel that was under her sleeve. “Fine by me…” Neimi said. “What the hell are they doing?” Naomi asked. Seiko grunted. “Well, it’s obvious they want to fight…” Seiko said.
Naomi sighed. “It’s never easy is it?” Naomi asked. Minutes later, Sakura had attacked Seiko, while Neimi was after Naomi. Seiko blocked each attack, with seconds to spare… Naomi was barely holding her own, as Neimi punched and kicked her way down the hall. Seiko had managed to lose her footing, and slipped.
Taking this opportunity, Sakura wrapped two strings around her legs. She tugged on them, and caused her to fall. She then aimed for her face. “That’s enough…” Neimi said to Sakura. Neimi herself managed to get Naomi against a wall, holding her by her neck. “He didn’t say to kill them…” She continued.
Sakura scoffed. “You’ve always got to ruin my fun…” She said. “Well, either way, I’m following orders…” She said letting go of Naomi. “I don’t see why Vince brought these two along anyway…they seem pretty weak…” Sakura said. “Well, let’s worry about that later…don’t want to rub in the shame now do we?” Neimi said.
Sakura scoffed again. “Whatever…” And with that, she walked off, through the same hole they had created, with Neimi following her. Seiko groaned, rubbing her leg. “Man…that’s some powerful weapon she’s got…” Seiko muttered. Neimi rubbed her neck. “Well, that other one wasn’t a walk in the park either…”
Straining, Seiko managed to stand. “Well, we better find the others…” She groaned. “Are you sure? Can you walk?” Neimi asked. Seiko nodded. “I’ll manage.”
A few floors above them, Chase strolled idly, not really caring where he was. Well, this place is big…I’ll give them that… He thought. Just then, he paused. Someone’s close… He closed his eyes and focused. He couldn’t hear anything, not counting the fact that he was breathing.
I know I’m not imagining it…there’s someone here… He thought. Just then, he heard it again, it was faint, and very quick, but someone was close. He unsheathed his sword, and looked around. “Show yourself…” He said. “I see your skills haven’t changed a bit…” Lance said. “No…it couldn’t be…”
“That’s right…” Lance said, stepping out of the shadows. “Surprised to see me?” He asked, an odd smile on his face, his arms stretched to either side of him. “Well, yeah, what are you doing here?” He asked. “Well, once the place burned down…I didn’t really have anywhere to go, and you weren’t around…” He stopped.
“So, as I was strolling through town, I accidentally stumbled into someone else’s turf…some gang by the name of “The Junkies” or something… So, there was this fight, of course not a single guy scratched me…” He stopped, sounding a little confident. “I’d expect nothing less…” Chase said grinning. “Well, as it turns out this guy by the name of Itaku was apparently their leader and after watching my ‘performance’ as he called it, he requested I join up with him.”
Chase nodded. “And you accepted?” He asked, though he felt a little dumb asking. “Of course! I didn’t have anywhere else to go…and to make things more interesting, he said I’d meet an old friend of mine…” He paused. “Now by some strange miracle, or possibly just coincidence, I ran into you…” He said.
“So, what now?” Chase asked. “Well, I don’t find it fair that you just left us like that…and you weren’t even there when we needed you…you never were…” He said, a tone of anger in his voice. “But Lance…” Chase said. “Shut up…I don’t want to hear your lies anymore…that’s all you ever did…get angry and make excuses…well you know what? I’m sick of it…and I’m sick of you…so get ready to die!” He shouted.
Unsheathing a katana, he lunged at Chase, swinging rapidly. He parried each blow barely. “Lance, stop! We don’t need to fight!” Chase yelled, jumping onto a nearby rafter. Lance didn’t even seem to hear him. He just continued attacking relentlessly.
Chase parried and attempted to sideswipe Lance. He dodged it and sliced at Chase’s arm with Chase dodging, only having seconds to spare. He rolled back, taking the defensive again. Using his free arm, Chase knocked Lance back off the rafter, and he rolled down a corridor.
He waited momentarily, to see if Lance would return…but he didn’t… Chase sighed. “Man…that took a lot out of me…” He said gasping. “Guess I better find the others…” He told himself, hopping off the rafter. He landed on the floor, and headed down a corridor.
Meanwhile, back at the garbage facility, Itaku had finally woken up. He walked into the main room, soon greeted by Lance. “So…how’d your little encounter go?” He asked, sitting down in front a row of computers. “Well, he got the best of me to say the least…” He muttered. Itaku snickered. “Well, I suppose we should see how the others are doing…” He said. He typed something into the sole keyboard on his desk, and various screens blinked.
Four screens flickered and each had a different person on them. One showed Vince, one with Seiko, one with Naomi and one with Chase. “What do you say we have a little fun?” Itaku said to Lance. “You’re the boss…” He said leaning against a nearby wall, nursing a few wounds.
A few floors above them, Vince walked into a peculiar room… It was oddly pitch black…yet it seemed he knew exactly where he was going… “Nice to see you again Vince…” A voice echoed. “Who are you?” He asked in return. “What a shame…you don’t remember me?” He asked.
“Obviously not, or I wouldn’t have asked the question…” Suddenly, you could hear footsteps… They echoed loudly, making it seem as though they came from everywhere… A male stepped into view minutes later, and Vince gasped. “No…you can’t be you…” Vince said, a tone of disbelief in his voice.
“Well, that didn’t make much sense…how can I not be me?” The male asked. He was actually very tall, standing about 6’1” and had a sort of mean disposition. “But…I mean you died…” Vince said, at a loss for better words. “But…if I’m dead…how can I be here?” He asked. “It just doesn’t make sense…I watched you—.” Vince paused. “Oh…you mean…this?” The male said, waving a hand.
Moments later, a screen appeared in front of them, and on it, was Vince, and another male, who looked exactly like the one in front of him. They were surrounded by other people, and looked pretty exhausted. Soon, a sort of movie began playing. “Come on…is this the best you got?” The male said, heaving.
“Kazu…don’t anger them…” Vince said heaving. “Oh come on…we’ve handled worse than this…” He said flashing Vince a grin. “Oh yeah…well then take this!” One male charged at Kazu, and literally swung a pipe into his head. A large crack was heard, and Kazu fell to the ground motionless. Moments later, a loud scream could be heard, and the screen faded out…
“So…is that what you meant?” Kazu asked, looking at Vince. Vince gulped. “Yeah…” He muttered. “So, you also know that it was your fault that I died.” Kazu retorted. “What?! How is it my fault?” He yelled. “Well, you could’ve moved to protect me from the blow…but instead you watched frozen in fear…” He said.
Vince didn’t even respond. It was true… He’d lost countless friends to his fear… He could hear their voices in his head. C’mon Vince! Let’s go! He clenched his fists… Vince…we’re friends right? His breathing became erratic. Vince…help…me… His teeth were getting clenched. No…not anymore…I won’t be held back by fear… He was near his breaking point…
No…I can’t return back to my old self… He contradicted. But all those people died…because of my fear… He was having an internal battle…and to be honest, his current side wasn’t winning. “Vince…you know it was your fault…you just need to accept it…” Kazu said.
Vince began shaking… “Your lying…” He muttered. “Lying…” He repeated, his voice getting louder. “Lying…” He said, getting louder. “Lying…” He said, his voice near screaming. “It’s a lie!” He yelled. Electricity crackled around his body, and soon the room began to shake violently. Within minutes, a crack of thunder could be heard overhead, and a bolt of lightning erupted from the sky, engulfing Vince.
Miles away, Gabriel stood at his bar counter, wiping down a glass. “There goes another lightning bolt…” Mizuki said looking out the window, which was covered in rain. “It’s being called there…” Gabriel muttered. Mizuki turned. “Huh…how do you know?” She asked.
“Let’s just say…I’ve done my homework…” He said putting down the glass. “You think we should close up?” Mizuki asked. “Yeah…doesn’t look like this is business weather…” He said. Mizuki walked to the door, changing the sign to closed, while Gabriel stacked up the barstools…
“Welcome back…Lightning Overlord.” Kazu said, a smirk playing across his face. Vince stood; his hair now an odd bluish-yellow tint, his black shirt slightly torn, and his jeans ripped. “I think you might want these…” Kazu said, handing him a tattered suitcase. Vince opened the suitcase, a set of clothes inside. “Heh…thanks...” He said, his voice slightly eerie…
“Whoa…” Lance said looking on the screen. “What was that?” He asked Itaku. “That…was the Lightning Overlord…reborn…” He muttered.
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