Chapter 13

Chapter 13

[Ryu Mitsukai - 20 years old]

AUSTIN, TEXAS

“Breakers, eh?” Ryu shakily gets up from the ground, as he wipes away tears on his face. “What is a Breaker?”

Knapp frowns in deep thoughts. He says, “There is a species that can be a threat to the universe. They take over planets and lock them up in chains. They were supposed to be extinct a long time ago, but back in the early 2000s, there were two survivors that terrorized the universe. They are called the Lockers.”

“So, that’s why our grandfather just got up and left suddenly,” Ryu rubs his chin in wonder. “Everyone was telling me that he died. So, he was the Breaker, then?”

“Yes,” Knapp gives him a small smile. “From what I know so far, the Breakers defeated the Lockers and freed all planets from chains.”

“So…” Ryu says almost hesitantly, “Are you saying that Earth is also locked up with chains? A Locker did that to this planet?”

“Yes,” Knapp says. “But the problem is, not even my team and I have the power to destroy the chains.”

“Can’t Double God do something?”

“No…” Knapp pauses briefly before he continues, “That’s why he chose you and Tezuka to help this planet. He unlocked your potential… that released your power of aguila.”

They both jump at sudden ringing coming from Knapp’s pocket.

“Sorry, sorry!” Knapp laughs lightheartedly, as he picks up his phone.

It finally makes sense. Ryu thinks to himself. The reason why Double God chose us. What Tezuka was trying to tell me back then… There’s much more than just war, isn’t it?

“Okay, I’ll be there in a few minutes!” Knapp says excitedly. He hangs up and turns to Ryu, “I’m so sorry, but I have to go.”

“W-what… you’re leaving already?” Ryu asks almost anxiously. He recently received new information from Knapp. What is he supposed to do with it?!

Knapp chuckles lightly, as he claps his hands together apologetically. “I’m so sorry! I have so little time here on Earth! My daughter was born just minutes ago, so I’m going to see her right now.”

“B-born? I have a niece now? Where is she?”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you. Or else, my own family will get killed as well… especially when they are related to you too.” Knapp smiles sadly at him. 

“I see…” Ryu says softly. I still have so many questions to ask. 

“Ryu,” Knapp says seriously all of sudden, “Take Rosa away as far as possible. Leaving the country is even better. Like I said before, your loved ones are in danger.”

“O-okay,” Ryu mumbles. “So, I guess this is goodbye, then?”

“Nah, it’s more like ‘see you later.’” Knapp flashes a big grin on his face.

“Alright, then! See you later!” Ryu grins back.

Knapp gives him a quick casual salute and then turns around to begin walking… before he remembers. “Oh! I almost forgot to tell you something very important!”

“What is it?”

“There’s a terrorist organization called the Big Five.” Knapp takes a small smart tablet out of his backpack. “This tablet has all the information on the Big Five. Recently, my team found out that they are scheming something horrible in Oma, Aomori.”

“Eh?” Ryu raises an eyebrow in confusion.

“It’s in Japan. All the way in the north,” Knapp says. “That’s all I can tell you. The tablet will tell you the rest. Okay, then! See you later!”

Before Ryu can say anything, Knapp quickly runs off with a brief hand wave.

~*~

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND
TEXAS

“Where the hell is Tezuka?!” Akane yells angrily.

Ryu flinches at Akane’s loud voice. “I’m so sorry! I had to lie so that you could come here.”

“Three hours ago, you called me and told me that Tezuka was in the hospital because he got caught up in a bomb explosion! I blasted my ass out of Washington D.C., flew to Texas, and got kidnapped by you just because you lied?!”

Ryu scratches the back of his head nervously, silently wondering how the hell Tezuka can handle a hot-tempered Chinese woman.

“But we’re going to Mexico!” Rosa says cheerfully, as if she is oblivious to Akane’s outburst. “It will be fun!”

Akane rubs her throbbing forehead. “I’m going back!”

“W-wait!” Ryu cries. “You will die before you even make it back! I don’t know what they will do to you, but I think Tezuka would appreciate it if his wife was still alive instead of being dead…”

“So, there’s something going on with that corrupted secret squad, eh?” Akane places her hands on her small hips with a loud sigh. “Fine. I’ll go to Mexico. But seriously though…”

She points her angry finger at a small boat parked on the shore. “Why the hell are we riding that instead of flying or driving?!”

“I just have to make sure that they won’t find you…” Ryu chuckles nervously. “With this way, they will think that you are still in the United States.”

“Aren’t you coming?” Akane frowns.

“I’m sorry but I have to go,” Ryu smiles sadly. “Don’t come back to the United States, okay? When I’m ready, I’ll come and find you.”

“B-but what if I get lost…?” Rosa asks, still with a heavy French accent.

“That’s good. They will never guess where you will be.” Ryu chuckles softly, as he caresses Rosa’s face cheek. “Akane will be with you, ok?”

Rosa gives him a light nod.

Before Ryu knows it, she quickly gives him a light kiss on his lips. After she pulls away, Ryu just stares at her in both disbelief and confusion.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake! She likes you!” Akane throws up her hands in the air. Then, she mumbles to himself, “What a naive Asian guy!”

Blushing, Rosa finds the ground more interesting, as she rubs the tip of her foot on the ground shyly. Soon, she feels Ryu’s rough hand on her chin, pulling her head towards him.

They kiss again.

~*~

[Garnet Stone (Dove) - 25 years old]
[Tezuka Kejinto (Falcon) - 20 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence (Nightingale) - 24 years old]

OMA, AOMORI
JAPAN

After getting dropped off from the helicopter at the shore just outside the fishing village, Tezuka, Sky, and Garnet gather together quickly.

“Okay, quick instruction for our mission,” Tezuka says hurriedly, as he turns on the military tablet, which shows the map of Oma. “Dove, you go to the tallest building you can find and hide there until I give the signal. Nightingale will be with you as a watchout.”

“You always run off alone, Falcon.” Lt. Colonel Medina gives a light sigh through the radio. “What are you trying to do? You know it won’t impress Eagle.”

“I’ve been training for years, Hummingbird!” Tezuka snaps. “We are here for nuclear missiles, aren’t we? The enemy has been hiding them on one of their fleets near the nuclear plant. We can finally catch them in the act! Then we will finally know who started the war in the first place.”

Suddenly, Garnet just falls over to the ground, to much confusion of two American soldiers.

“D-Dove?” Sky asks softly, as he reaches out his hand for Garnet only to discover her blood leaking onto the wet rocky floor. 

“We’re under attack!” Tezuka yells, as he gets up faster than they can say ‘Sunny Wing Squad.’

“W-wait! What about her?!” Sky quickly places his hands on Garnet’s head, where the blood was coming from. His hands are glowing in a very bright green aura. “I’m trying to save her life!”

“We don’t have time! What if they get you next?!” Tezuka grabs Sky’s arm harshly, pulling him away from Garnet. “She’s gone either way!”

“Uh-uh, not so fast!”

Tezuka and Sky both whip their heads toward a voice, which is so, so familiar to them.

“It’s you again!” Tezuka says angrily, giving Jikan an angry glare.

“Ah, that’s correct. You’re still alive. I went back a year.” Jikan chuckles softly. “It doesn’t matter! You’ll either die today or in a year!”

“He… He is going to die…?” Sky asks in surprise.

“Oh, whoops!” Jikan laughs out loud. “We are here to finish you off here for good!”

“That’s enough.” Kasai places his hand on Jikan’s shoulder. “In this time period, I was supposed to be killed by a sniper… It’s a good thing that we got the sniper, didn’t we?”

“Hello there!” Hakai appears out of thin air with his open arms. He then bows his head lower to his waist. “It's a real pleasure to meet you! I had seen you back then… in France, but we haven’t properly introduced yet. My name is Hakai.”

“And, I’m Rin,” A tall woman with short brown hair and dark eyes jumps from nothing but sky and lands gracefully onto the rocky floor. “Looks like you are outnumbered compared to us, eh?”

“Hummingbird, we request for immediate aid,” Tezuka says into his microphone. “Dove was shot in the head and was instantly killed.”

“Here they come!” Sky cries, catching Tezuka’s attention as Kasai charges toward them fast with flames coming off his feet.

“Hummingbird, are you there?!” Tezuka yells in desperation. Nobody, not even Colonel Alvarez, is answering him. “What’s going on?!”

“Run!” Sky cries, as he quickly takes the hand of Tezuka who is still fussing over no responses from their bosses through the tiny device in his ear.

“Not so fast!” Rin laughs loudly. She quickly uses some kind of shockwave in her feet that shoots herself through the air easily. She lands safely on the edge of the beach in front of the American soldiers who stop running for their lives.

“Eh?! S-she is so fast!” Sky cries once again. “Does she have the same power as you do?”

“Hold on me as tight as you can!” Tezuka yells, taking Sky’s hand. He is feeding his rush energy into his feet fast. “There’s still an escape route! Brace yourself!”

As soon as he runs, he is completely gone from Rin’s sight, which catches her guard off completely.

“Eh? Where’d they go?!” She turns her head right and left wildly, furiously trying to find where they ran off to.

“It’s ok. I know all of the timelines that I had visited,” Jikan laughs lightly. “Kasai, create the earth wall over there near that tall structure with vertically-written Japanese words. They are heading for the Oma Port so that they can flee to Hokkaido in the north, where they will then be taken away by an American helicopter.”

“Isn’t that like a mile away?” Hakai asks.

“I can do that,” Kasai slams one of his hands on the rocks and pebbles. With his earth energy, a wider, taller, and thicker wall, compared to the weaker one back in France, is being shot up from the soil just past the structure.

Tezuka stops suddenly, making Sky both yelp and cry in surprise before they can crash into the hardened wall. “I can run over the wall!”

Suddenly, the earth wall bursts into larger flames.

“Shit!” Tezuka quickly leaps backward while still holding Sky’s back shirt, nearly choking him. He turns to Kasai’s loud laughter, as the flame man approaches them calmly.

“Did you seriously think you could escape us when we have a time traveler on our side?” Kasai asks. He creates two large fireballs floating above his palms. “This time, it’s the end of your foolish American wars! Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I and II, Cold War, War with Iraq, and Volesmash War…! When will you ever stop fighting?!”

“We have a reason for every war!” Tezuka yells back. “We were trying to defend ourselves!”

“Have you ever thought of protecting Earth itself, not your country?” Hakai scoffs after coming to Kasai’s side. “Have you ever negotiated with any of those countries before starting the wars, eh?”

“We never started any wars!” To Tezuka’s surprise, it’s Sky who shouts back this time. “We had to fight back!”

“A terrorist attacks your country, and then you fight back because of where they come from? Ha! That’s why the countries are still divided for the last thousands of years. They always fight each other instead of keeping watch on other planets out there. We were not prepared when Planet Volesmash attacked us. We should be united!” Rin says. “We should be ruled under the same idealism!”

“No,” Tezuka says with a scowl on his face. “We might have started off a little very slow back then… but even with the countless numbers of our ideas and values, we have our own rights as human beings! Every country should be able to govern itself. I believe that Earth is trapped in chains because of our ignorance. Yes, we declared war on the enemy without even finding out who attacked us and how they did so. But that’s the reason why we needed to protect ourselves from another terrible attack. The west coast was already wiped out, so how in the hell would you know anyway?”

“You punks!” Kasai laughs loudly, as he pulls his hands with fireballs back. “Either way, you die!”

Just as he tosses the fireballs, he feels a sudden pain in his left shoulder, which causes his attack to miss the American soldiers easily.

“W-what was that?!” Jikan yells angrily. “Is there a sniper?! Why didn’t you kill him?!”

“You never told us that there would be a second sniper!” Rin yells in anger. “You were the one who said that Kasai would be killed  --”

Kasai gives a loud sudden gasp, as he quickly grabs his chest. Much blood is bursting out of his chest. He collapses to his knees with more blood coming out of his mouth before falling to the floor unconscious.

“W-what is going on?” Sky almost stammers. “Who shot him?”

Hakai yelps in pain when another bullet hits his leg.

“Take cover!” Rin grabs Hakai and quickly uses an unknown power, which only Double God knows, to launch themselves through the air until they get behind one of the old and poorly structured houses. “I’m healing you. After that… you know what to do, right?”

“Yes.” Hakai hisses in pain.

Tezuka catches something lurking in the corner of his left eye, so he turns to another old, small house, which is about to fall apart, just sitting on the beach.

He widens his blue eyes in shock when he spots a dark figure in the hooded black cloak holding a pistol and hiding behind the old house. There are two white glowing eyes under the hood. The appearance does not surprise him, but what surprises him the most is the long distance between the cloaked person and the foes. 

It cannot be possible. How in the world did he successfully hit the enemy that far... unless…!

He is about to open his mouth when the cloaked person places a forefinger on his lips, signaling him not to say anything at all.

The sun slowly rises from the ocean, brightening everywhere in the area. Because of it, one huge number and one huge letter reveal themselves on the back of the stranger’s cloak, painted in white.

“5-U?” Tezuka asks himself.

“What?” Sky glances at Tezuka in confusion until he realizes that Tezuka has been staring at the hidden stranger.

“That son of a bitch!” Hakai yells angrily, already standing on both of his feet. Somehow, his leg has been healed completely, but what worries his own allies the most is that his whole body is glowing in black energy. “Another sniper?! How?!”

“Shit! He’s going to blow up!” Rin quickly grabs Jikan’s hand. She is creating another wind gust below her feet. “We have to get out of here!”

Before Sky and Tezuka realize what exactly is happening, all they can do is to watch several rays of light coming from Hakai’s body until he blows up into a huge explosion, which destroys everything within a half-mile range of diameter. 

“Falcon?!” Sky cries, as Tezuka suddenly runs off in super speed just right before they get dragged into the bright explosion.

~*~

“Falcon! Falcon!”

Upon hearing his codename, Tezuka opens his blue eyes to find himself lying on the sandy floor in the middle of the beach. Moaning in pain, he tries to sit up slowly. Suddenly, he feels nauseous. 

“Falcon, what did you do?”

“Nightingale?” Tezuka asks weakly when he recognizes his partner’s voice. “Wha… what do you mean?”

“You created some kind of dark barrier! You saved our lives from being caught up in the enemy’s explosion!” Sky exclaims almost anxiously. He glances around. “But I think they are hiding somewhere. We have to get out of here. I gotta heal you fast. You’re bleeding to death. It’s a good thing they somehow missed your lung, eh?”

Tezuka does not realize that his left chest has an open wound, letting blood run freely down his uniform. He figures out that a big debris from the explosion must have flown through his chest, especially when his wound is this huge.

He yelps in pain when Sky suddenly places his green-glowing hand on the wound area. “Warn me next time, will you?!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Sky gives a soft light-hearted chuckle.

“Not so fast!”

Suddenly, Sky stops healing Tezuka’s wound, which is still halfway closed. He widens his bright blue eyes in shock. “No…” He says softly.

“How did you manage to survive Hakai’s destruction energy?!” Jikan yells angrily, her hand pointing at Sky. She clenches her hand into a fist, making Sky both cough and choke somehow. “You should have died, Tezuka Kejinto! You, with blonde hair, kill him!”

“N-no!” Sky takes his blade out of the holder strapped to his leg. He raises his knife up in the air, about to strike down Tezuka. “Wh-what are you doing to me?!”

Jikan gives out a loud laugh. “Not only can I travel through time, but I can also manipulate anyone at my own will! What I’m doing to you is called manipulating energy! Did you know that every person in the world has one or two special powers? They have been granted by God himself ever since the beginning of time! However…”

Tezuka hisses in pain, closing his eyes, awaiting his death.

“Unlike us, our leader has five powers, granted by the mighty Double God! He is the world’s most powerful man! He plans to create a whole new world! This planet has been tainted by thousands of years of wars! It must be crushed into pieces, freeing itself! That’s when the Fall of the Moon comes into the picture…!”

“We refuse to allow you to do such a thing!” Sky shouts, much to his own surprise that he can manage to talk even while his body is being manipulated by the time traveller. “The Fall of the Moon? Yeah right! Like that will happen!”

Jikan scoffs at him. “I saw it. I was there to witness the Fall of the Moon! Even if you don’t die today, you will all die sooner or later! That is the wrath of God for what humanity did to this planet!”

“Why you…!” Tezuka coughs painfully.

“Well done, Jikan!” Rin laughs out loud after coming out of the hiding place behind one of the old houses. “Say, since you already know what happened in this time period, don’t you know where the other sniper is?”

Meanwhile, the black-cloaked man shakes his head, making most of the sand fall off his body. He coughs lightly before he gets up from the floor easily.

It is a good thing that he already knew about Hakai’s most powerful energy before he came here. But he did not expect that Hakai would use it so soon. He managed to dive into one of tiny alleys between several old houses, but that did not stop Hakai’s destruction energy from annihilating the houses completely, tossing him into the air fast.

He wipes his shoulders with his hand. He is about to use aguila energy again to determine how far he has flown from the explosion when he hears a loud laughter above.

“There you are, Cloaked Sniper!” Rin laughs, hovering in the air by using her wind energy in her feet. “You quite took us by surprise! We had no idea that there was another sniper here! At least that proved that Jikan’s prediction and power of time traveling was true, after all. I didn’t believe her at first though.”

Her cheerful face suddenly turns into an angry one as she is making two tiny yet powerful wind gusts above both of her palms, “I’ll make sure that your grave is right here!”

The sniper freezes at the sight of Rin’s wind attacks. He does not know why he has frozen up even though he is trying to make his legs move but for some reason he is just standing there, speechless and in shock.

Just right before the wind attacks are a few inches away from the sniper, he has to do something.

He shouts in panic and swings one of his arms through the air, creating a bright orb of light, which then thrusts through the wind gusts easily, annihilating them completely.

“What?!” Rin cries. She tries to move out of the orb’s way, but it is way too fast for her. It crashes her, knocking her out completely. She falls out of the sky and crashes into the beach floor.

The cloaked man is panting heavily, with his hood down revealing that he is Ryu Mitsukai. He hasn’t put down his hand yet. He has no idea what the hell just happened.

He quickly turns to where he senses another powerful presence suddenly. It feels so familiar but he hasn’t had any slightest idea what it is at all.

Is it another power that has been granted by Double God?

He spots a flickering dark barrier just fifty feet away. He quickly gets up and begins running as fast as he can towards it.

When he gets there, he stops, being completely speechless once again. He is not sure if he is imagining but what he is seeing is that Tezuka, holding his hands up in the air, has created a large black barrier around himself and Sky. 

Sky’s blade is just an inch away from Tezuka’s chest. “Falcon…” He says almost breathlessly with tears sliding down his face and drops his blade. “Your… You managed to stop her from manipulating me…”

“That dark power…!” Jikan almost growls angrily. “When did you get it?! I traveled through time further and further in the past just to make sure that you never get the powers of Double God!”

Powers of Double God? Ryu thinks to himself. He looks at his own hand. Then, that light power too…?

“Just die, dammit!” Jikan yells, as she takes out her own magnum. Before she is able to fire, her weapon gets knocked away by a firing bullet from Ryu’s pistol. “Ow!”

With his white-glowing eyes, Ryu is about to fire again when Hakai suddenly appears and grabs Jikan.

“We have to retreat! They are way too dangerous for us! We have caused enough damage here anyway! Just go back further into the past and kill them in France!” Hakai yells, as he makes himself and Jikan vanish into thin air.

~*~

None of them have spoken to each other since the battle has ended. Not even one word.

Sky has been healing Tezuka’s wound for the past five minutes. Finally, he breaks the silence as he glances around at the area. “This is terrible. If the Japanese government has ever found out about this area…!”

“Eagle will figure it out,” Tezuka snaps at him. “We still have to find one of those fleets. We can’t fail the mission yet.”

“You will never find it,” Ryu says softly.

“Excuse me?”

Ryu makes a gesture for taking the ear plugs out by pointing his finger at one of his own ears. He continues after Tezuka and Sky do so, “Eagle… No… Colonel Leon Alvarez is behind everything. We believe that he is the one who started the Nuclear War. That’s why he sent you here as soldiers from United States in order for Japan to blame our country --”

“No!” Tezuka suddenly yells. “There’s no fucking way he is scheming against us!”

“How is it that those same people that we saw back in France appeared again today?!” Ryu yells back. “I didn’t even believe them until I saw these people today!”

“Hold on! Who are ‘these people’ that you are talking about?” Sky asks.

Ryu gives a light sigh before he explains, “Those people are part of the terrorist organization called the Big Five. They were here to destroy this area completely so that the world would know that the United States attacked Japan mercilessly. I tried to stop them, but I didn’t think that one of them would use destruction energy so soon. But, we still have a chance to stop the war! We know where their bases are! So far I know of - Their bases are in five countries. South Korea, Japan, Germany, Bolivia, and…” He shakes his head furiously and continues, “United States.”

“That’s enough,” Tezuka snaps before he places his device back into his ear. “Hummingbird, are you there? We really need your next direct order as soon as possible.”

Ryu snatches Tezuka’s device and throws it into the ocean. “Can’t you just see around?! The attack within Japan can drag other countries into war against the United States!”

“You think I don’t know?!”

“Guys, guys! Please calm down!” Sky tries to get in between two soldiers who are trying to get into their faces. 

The fight between Ryu and Tezuka is about to break out just when they hear a small helicopter coming closer and faster. When it gets closer to the ocean, the soldiers realize that it has the same symbol as Ryu’s hooded cloak does: 5-U.

Tezuka and Sky quickly place their hands on their weapon holders until they recognize a certain person getting off the helicopter.

“Sergeant Kyota?!”

“Hiya!” Sergeant Zack Kyota says cheerfully, waving his hand. “Come on! We have to get out of here before they realize that you are still alive!”

“Hold on a second! W-what is going on?!” Tezuka asks.

“We are part of a secret organization that not even the United States government knows about. It’s called 5-U." Ryu walks past the surprised American soldier. “I was as surprised as you were when I found out that he had been working under 5-U for the last six years.”

“We are not joining you,” Tezuka snaps. “If we do, then we will be considered traitors in the eyes of the United States!”

Zack smiles sadly at him. “Even if Colonel Alvarez plans to kill you?”

“Yes. And no, he won’t kill me. If he is, then he will have to die first!”

“I didn’t want to have to tell you right now, but it looks like I have no choice…” Zack stares at Tezuka. “Your father… General Starke Kejinto was found dead in his office. He was shot in the head. Everyone thought he committed suicide, but we know better. He was killed by the Big Five.”

The lavender-haired American soldier widens his icy blue eyes in shock.