Chapter 16

Chapter 16

RIBERALTA, BOLIVIA
January 20, 2047

[Ryu Mitsukai (Shadow) - 20 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence (Starry) - 24 years old]
[Tezuka Kejinto (Storm) - 20 years old]

“Good luck!” Clear says cheerfully, as four men get off the helicopter. They are in the middle of a forest - full of tall and thick trees that barely cover the sunlight. Different kinds of colorful birds quickly hide inside the trees from the foreigners.

It is the perfect place to hide a base from the enemy.

“Thanks, Nova!” Sky gives her a thumb-up. “We can handle it from here!”

After the helicopter takes off, Johnny immediately sets up a link for their radio devices between four men and Zack.

“Void, can you hear us?” Johnny asks.

“I hear you loud and clear, Atom!” Zack exclaims. “Okay, I can see that you are three miles southwest of the enemy’s signal. We believe that it may be one of the Big Five’s bases. Our mission is to destroy the base, yes?”

“We are on it.” Tezuka has already started walking, almost leaving the other three men behind.

“Wait for us, Storm!” Ryu shouts angrily.

“Silent and Gravity are already on the way.” Zack informs them of Logy and Jade. “They are almost there, but they have to wait until you get there.”

“So, why split us into two teams?” Tezuka asks.

“The less number of people in a team, the less the enemy is likely to catch us.” Zack answers quickly. “Hey - Patience will pay off. Besides, Silent has the power to read the enemy’s thoughts so that he will let us know if something’s changed or if someone has caught us. It’s best that your loud thoughts don’t interrupt his concentration. Gravity, can you hear us?”

“I hear you, sir!” Jade’s voice chirps in suddenly.

“Great! We are all linked. Is Silent with you?”

“Yes. We are about 500 yards away from the base,” Jade says. “We will let you know when we get there.”

With that, the link has been cut off.

“I wonder if Midnight is ok?” Ryu asks, almost to himself.

Knapp was supposed to lead the mission, but lately he had been moping around since his wife died. Zack offered to take the lead, but it took him quite a while to convince him into letting him lead. Knapp has way too much stuff on his plate, especially with his 10-month-old daughter and newborn son who require his full attention.

“I hope this time nothing will go wrong… Right, Starry?” Tezuka asks boldly.

“Why do you always assume that I’m going to mess up?!” Sky whines. “I was the last to join the 5-U so I didn’t have as much time and training as others did!”

“First, the banana incident. Second, you couldn’t swim. Third, the enemy manipulated you,” Tezuka counts.

“You’re such an asshole!”

“Shhhhh!” Johnny shushes loudly. “You’re being immature! It’s no wonder you failed your mission every time with the S.W.S. You always fight with each other!”

Ryu sighs lightly, rubbing his throbbing forehead at how silly this situation is. He briefly adjusts his rifle on his back.

Because he almost went blind when he used aguila energy last time, he decides not to use it unless it is absolutely necessary or if it’s an emergency. He still has his aim skills, after all.

“Gravity and Silent found the base.” Zack suddenly chirps into the communication link. “They confirmed that it is indeed a base of Big Five, seeing how the enemies are walking around with the S.W.S bands around their arms.”

“S.W.S?” Tezuka asks. “Doesn’t it belong to United --”

“Someone is manipulating your entire country.” Zack interrupts him. “At least, we believe so. I’ll be sending you the coordinates of their whereabouts.”

The men open their smartwatches, each making their own hologram of the map. They easily find a red spot, marked by Zack. They immediately start going the direction to the base, which is only 2.5 miles away.

“Not so fast!” A familiar voice laughs loudly.

Tezuka quickly grabs Sky and pulls him away just in time a powerful wind gust crashes into the ground, making a tiny hole.

“W-what the hell?!” Sky cries.

“I can’t believe it…” Rin chuckles softly, using her wind energy to float in the air. “You’re really here. So, Jikan was right, after all. I’m gaining faith in her now.”

“Void, we are under attack,” Johnny says quickly. “Please tell Gravity and Silent to stand by.”

“Roger that!” Zack says.

“Why are you doing this?!” Ryu shouts at Rin. “What is so bad about this planet that you caused the countries to turn against each other?!”

Rin scoffs at Ryu’s question. “We merely fired a missile. It was the United States who declared war on the Asian countries in the first place. This proved that our leader has been right all along. Humans have fought each other for nothing… for the past thousands of years! They fight over petty things. Politics, religions, money, and hell, even food! What we need is to cleanse the world… by destroying humanity completely. With that way, we can rebuild a brand new world!”

“I don’t care about your so-called idealism! Get your butt down!” Tezuka yells. “It’s not fair that you can fly!”

“I still can’t believe the fact that… you’re still alive!” Rin points her finger at Tezuka and Ryu. “How did you escape from Hakai’s destruction? ...But that doesn’t matter anyway. You’re going to die in this place!”

As soon as she begins to make a wind gust, Ryu quickly takes advantage of her being distracted when he shoots at her with his rifle.

She easily dodges from the flying large bullet. “You can’t defeat me as long as you can’t fly!”

“Well, I can!” Tezuka suddenly runs toward one of the large trees. Forcing rush energy into his feet, he manages to run all the way up on the tree. As soon as he jumps off, he quickly takes out his pistol.

“Oh fu--” Rin cannot even finish her cursing when she gets hit in the shoulder by Tezuka’s perfect shot. “Ugh!”

The lavender-haired Kejinto lands his feet roughly on the ground only to fall backward due to sudden pain shooting from his feet to his back. “Argh!”

“Storm!” Sky yells in concern, rushing to Tezuka and begins to heal him.

“Why you…!” Rin hisses in pain, grabbing her bleeding shoulder. Her hand begins to glow in the green color, closing and healing her wounded shoulder immediately.

Ryu tries again, using his rifle to shoot at the female Wind Healer once again. But she quickly uses her other hand to create a powerful wind gust in order to reduce the velocity of the bullet until it falls back to the ground.

“What?!” The younger Mitsukai brother asks in surprise. That only makes Rin laugh even louder.

“You will never be able to defeat the Big Five!” Rin opens her arms widely. “You humans are worthless in the face of our Leader! Even though Double God chose you, he still granted every creature in this universe with at least one energy. That’s his downfall!”

“Why Earth, then?! What about other planets?!” Sky yells angrily.

“You really don’t know anything, do you?” Rin scoffs. “Earth is the heart of the Fifth Universe. If we destroy this planet, then what do you think will happen?”

“The entire universe collapses,” Johnny says softly. 

Tezuka asks, “Are you saying that… Double God is so close, yet so far?”

“Earth,” Rin shakes her head in shame. “I can’t believe I was born on such a worthless planet like this. But… Yes, Double God is somewhere on this planet.”

“On this planet? You locked up Earth just to make sure that Double God won’t be able to escape?” Ryu asks. “You’re going to destroy this planet just so you can kill Double God?”

“Don’t you know what will happen to the Fifth Universe if you kill Double God?” Sky asks. “Double God is the only one who has the energy source that feeds the Fifth Universe. Without him, then the entire universe will be completely annihilated!”

“Bitch!” Tezuka hisses in anger, getting up suddenly despite Sky's protests. He almost blacks out but he refuses to. “Double God that. Double God this! Who the hell cares?! You killed my father and other innocent people who weren’t involved with us at all!”

“We will replace Double God. Our Leader will be the next God in his place! Then we will recreate this world!” Rin grins widely. “The original creators of this universe were Light and Dark Gods! But then Double God killed them and took their place. The Fifth Universe accepted him just so it could survive a little bit longer!”

“D-Double God k-killed…?” Ryu is not even able to finish his question when Tezuka rushes past him suddenly.

“Brace yourselves! Rush Shock!” Tezuka yells, as he jumps a little high into the air. He makes sure to feed a sufficient amount of rush energy into his hands.

Not his feet this time.

Loud and sudden shockwave explodes, coming from his hands and expands larger and faster into the air until it reaches the speechless Wind Healer who freezes at Tezuka’s sudden new attack and knocks her back to the ground.

“My turn.” Johnny calmly walks past Tezuka who seems to be almost exhausted. With a bright yellow orb floating above his palm. He then tosses it at Rin who is still getting up. “Split.”

“Oscuro,” Tezuka says weakly, as a large dark barrier appears with only the 5-U warriors inside.

Rin widens her eyes in fear when she realizes what the orb is. “N-no! Please spare me --”

BOOM!

~*~

“Here you are!” Jade exclaims. “What took you so long? Void told us to stand by but he didn’t tell us the reason!”

“We were under attack, Gravity. We didn’t want you to abandon your own mission,” Ryu says. “But we took care of it. Starry and I will go to our destination, but for now, Storm needs to rest up a little bit. He used two energies within a short time today.”

“Two energies?”

“Rush and dark energies,” Johnny says.

“Aren’t Double and Dark Gods only ones who can use dark energy?” Jade raises an eyebrow in confusion.

“Well, Double God gave it to me, I guess.” Tezuka shrugs his shoulders carelessly. “I was hoping that I didn’t have to use my powers until we reached the leader of the Big Five.”

“Shadow can use light energy as well.” Sky adds, as he jerks a thumb at Ryu, who isn’t too concerned that he was given light energy by Double God as well.

Logy taps on Jade, getting his attention. “Isn’t it about time that we get ready soon?”

“You’re right, Silent!” Jade says almost cheerfully, as he only uses a sign of ‘right’. “Okay, let’s start!”

After Ryu and Sky leave for their destination, the rest of 5-U warriors lay down on the ground using tall grass as their advantage to hide easily.

“See their bands?” Jade hands the binoculars to Tezuka who quickly takes a look at the base.

“S.W.S.” Tezuka whispers. “I can’t believe that someone in S.W.S would betray the United States like that.”

“Forgotten died because of them,” Johnny says angrily, referring ‘Forgotten’ as to Danielle Medina. “We have to find out who the leader is.”

“Someone is thinking… the leader is in the room - third floor.” Logy points at one of the broken windows. “In… room 315. It’s…” He pauses briefly, trying to read an enemy’s thoughts. “It’s his office. The leader’s office.”

“That’s perfect! We can capture the leader and then blow up this base!” Zack exclaims excitedly. “It’s like killing two birds with one stone.”

“5-U, we are at our position.” Sky chirps into their communication link. “Shadow is set and ready.”

“That was quick, Starry,” Jade says. “Storm, will you be ok?”

“Yes, let’s just get on with this mission.” Tezuka answers, trying not to sound tired. He gets up with Johnny.

“I will let you know if Logy hears something important from the enemy’s thoughts.” Jade gives him a thumb-up. “Good luck! Don’t forget to wait for my signal!”

Tezuka and Johnny walk down the hill until they stop in the shadows of the jungle trees, waiting patiently for Jade’s signal.

“Gravity x2,” Jade says in an eerie calm manner despite his loud and cheerful attitude, reaching his hands out. His hands begin to glow in the black and purple color.

“Hey, do you feel anything?” one of the men asks the second one. They have been walking around the base for the past half hour.

“No, why --”

Suddenly, they fall hard to the ground. One of them manages to hit the ground with his own face. After a few seconds, they black out after feeling the effects of heavy gravity pulling down their weights.

“Let’s go!” Johnny yells.

“Oscuro.” Tezuka forms a smaller dark barrier only made for two people. “Get in! Hurry before I run out of dark energy!”

Johnny quickly gets into the dark ball, and they make their quick moves toward the old three-story building, passing the fallen enemies.

“We’re in, Gravity,” Johnny says after getting inside with Tezuka who is still struggling to hold onto his dark energy.

“Ok, you’re good to go, Storm!” Jade exclaims after he dismisses his gravity energy. 

“5-U.” Ryu chirps into the link. “I can see the office, but nobody is there. I’m still ready to go. I am awaiting your signal, Gravity.”

“Roger that, Shadow!” Jade says.

Tezuka and Johnny make their way through several hallways until they reach the stairs to the third floor. The men they passed are still unconscious, thanks to the power of Jade’s gravity.

“I see someone in the office!” Ryu exclaims. “He looks to be… walking around?”

“How did he manage to avoid my gravity energy?” Jade asks, almost to himself.

“We are at the door to the office. Shadow, please stand by until I say so,” Tezuka says. He and Johnny are at either side of the door, their pistols already out of their holsters. “Charging in… 3, 2, 1!”

He quickly kicks the door open and runs into the room followed by Johnny, pointing his pistol at a man with black and grayish hair standing with his back facing. “Freeze!”

“So, you’re finally here,” the man says calmly, which Tezuka and Johnny find so strange. He is about to get shot, for Double God’s sake! “Tezuka Kejinto, isn’t it?”

Tezuka narrows his blue eyes in anger. “Who told you my name?! Was it Rin? Jikan? Or Hakai?”

“You ask too many questions.” The man chuckles softly, as he turns around to face them. “It’s nice to see you again, Falcon.”

Tezuka widens his eyes in shock when he recognizes him right away. He slowly puts his pistol down, but still holding it in his hands. “C-Colonel Alvarez? Why are you here?”

“Shoot, Shadow!” Johnny yells in panic.

Suddenly, a faint glowing barrier flickers around Colonel Alvarez, protecting him from a flying large bullet --

No, not only it protects him, but also literally reflects the bullet back to where it comes from.

Colonel Alvarez is still having his hands behind his own back, as if nothing is intimidating him at all. He glances at the window briefly. “Ryu Mitsukai, isn’t it? He’s here, after all… too bad, he’s as good as dead.”

“Void! Shadow has been hit!” Sky cries in panic. “I’m trying to heal him, but he won’t stop bleeding!”

“My name is Leon Alvarez, the leader of Big Five,” Leon finally moves his hands back to the front and then takes his black gloves off calmly. “Now that you know who I truly am, you have to die today.”

“Ta-da!”

Tezuka and Johnny quickly turn to the door where Jikan has been hiding behind all along. But, that is the biggest mistake they have ever made.

Due to their distraction, Leon takes his pistol out of his desk drawer and fires it at one of the 5-U warriors.

“You Earthlings are so fragile. You die all the time. You start the fights faster than you can say ‘Double God’. Speaking of which, I can’t really see why Double God chose you. As Jikan told me before, this planet has thousands of years worth of wars. That’s even more than Planet Volesmash.”

Tezuka opens his mouth, but no words come out of it. He still cannot get over the shock he’s feeling. He has trusted this man ever since he joined the S.W.S. At least, until just now.

He collapses to the floor only to realize that the growing pond of blood is his own. He has been shot in the back.

What a fucking coward. He thinks to himself angrily before he falls into unconsciousness.