Chapter 18
Chapter 18
NOVEMBER 7, 2048
[Ryu Mitsukai (Shadow) - 21 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence (Starry) - 25 years old]
[Tezuka Kejinto (Storm) - 22 years old]
It has been one and half years since the Dark Team discovered that it was Leon Alvarez who had been manipulating the United States all along.
The Big Five’s goal is to wipe out the entire humanity so that they could start all over with selective people.
What they do not know is that Leon’s goal is to destroy the Earth completely because of his revenge against not only the Breakers… but also against the Double God and Fifth Universe. Leon plans to go down with them.
“Are you ok?” Rosa asks softly before she checks the clock, which says 2:44 A.M. She has recently woken up because Ryu keeps turning over and over in their bed.
“I don’t know.” Ryu turns over again so he is facing his girlfriend. “We haven’t found the leader yet… and… Tezuka is getting impatient, you know? I don’t know if it’s the dark energy that is affecting him…”
“He is angry. So are we.” Rosa caresses Ryu’s face cheek lightly. “But as long as you are here with me, that’s all I need.”
“You’ve always been so calm.” Ryu smiles at her sadly. “Compared to me… well… you know…”
“I don’t care.” Rosa giggles, as she nuzzles up against Ryu’s neck. “I love you… the way you are.”
“Marry me?” He asks suddenly.
Rosa blinks in surprise at him. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” He says hesitantly. He smacks himself in the forehead lightly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to --”
“Yes.”
“What?” This time, Ryu is surprised at Rosa’s answer.
“I’ll marry you, Ryu.” Rosa flashes a big grin on her pale face. Suddenly, she gets pushed to the bed with Ryu on the top.
“I love you.” Ryu places a light kiss on Rosa’s lips.
“I love you too.” Rosa wraps her arms around Ryu’s bare shoulders.
~*~
LATER THIS MORNING
“You could have gone easy on me!” Akane yells angrily, as she rubs her throbbing back.
“But you loved it.” Tezuka hugs Akane suddenly from behind. “I didn’t hear you complaining about it last night. It helps me to sleep well, you know?”
“Pervert.” Akane scoffs.
“You know… you could have said it quietly.” Sky scratches the back of his head with a light blush on his face.
“Guys, guys!” Jade yells, barging into the cabin room. “Report to the bridge! Clear found Leon!”
They follow him to the bridge right away. Clear, Ryu, Rosa, Logy, Knapp, Johnny, and Zack are already there.
“It turns out that Leon has been using a different name.” Clear explains. “That’s why it took so long for me to find him. Obviously, the entire United States government still thinks that Colonel Alvarez is dead. This time, everybody calls him Aaron Foley, who is the General of the First Division.”
“General? Is that even possible? How?” Tezuka starts to boom his questions.
“Please let me finish.” Clear raises her hand at Tezuka who scoffs in return. “He has three different aliases. But apparently, two of his aliases are dead because ‘they’ got busted for betraying the country or being a terrorist, so he’s only using Aaron Foley this time.”
“Does he even have a real name?” Ryu asks.
Knapp shrugs his shoulders. “The real problem is - He has been sending American soldiers to their death. That’s in California. Only 5% of them came back alive every time.”
“Why hasn’t the President done anything yet?” Sky asks.
“I believe that he doesn’t even know what Leon has been doing,” Clear says. “We are at war. Thousands of people die everyday.”
“Okay, now that we have his location, we have a new mission starting next month. That is to assassinate him,” Knapp says firmly. “In the name of all Earth citizens… We have to stop him at any cost. I’m willing to die for Earth… as well as the Fifth Universe. Are you with me?”
“Yes, sir!” The Dark Team yells.
~*~
FIVE AND HALF WEEKS LATER
DECEMBER 15, 2048
Tezuka and Ryu are feeling like they have died and gone to heaven.
Apparently, Akane and Rosa are both pregnant. At the same time. They both had morning sicknesses for the past few days, so they used the pregnancy tests together just today. They suspect they both are at five weeks.
“We’re way too young to have a baby! We are going away in two days!” Ryu exclaims anxiously. “What if we die for real?!”
“Hey, hey!” Akane snaps at him. “You better not die this time! You better come back to us alive!”
“It’s ok!” Rosa says cheerfully. “You’re trying to save the world. At least, the generations of Kejinto and Mitsukai continue, right?”
Tezuka looks away from Akane. They used condoms, right? He is so sure that he put it on back then. Did it break, then? They are not supposed to have any babies right now! At least not until the war is over.
“Tezuka?” Ryu places his hand on Tezuka’s shoulder, startling him a little bit. “Are you ok?”
“Hikyou-sama…” Tezuka suddenly speaks. “He said that our lives are in his hands… didn’t he?”
“Y-yeah, he did mention something like that,” Ryu says, trying to remember words Hikyou-sama said from one and half years ago.
“Isn’t it a coincidence that we are pregnant at the same time, right?” Rosa laughs heartily.
Why do I get a feeling that Double God has something to do with this? Tezuka thinks to himself. Finally, he says softly, “When we come back… the war will end by then.”
“Tezuka?” Ryu glances at him.
“We get rid of Leon Alvarez… then the Big Five will disband, right?” The lavender-haired man nods his head. “He was the one who started the war in the first place, right? After that, the countries will be able to clear up the confusion.”
“It won’t be easy.”
They turn to Knapp who enters the cabin room. He takes a seat on the couch and crosses his legs. “The war started 26 years ago. There is way too much damage for each country to fix.”
“Then, I will fix the mess,” Tezuka says seriously.
“How so?” Ryu raises an eyebrow.
“The Earth President hasn’t been doing a great job lately… Obviously.” Tezuka shakes his head. “He just gave up and… So, I’ll take his place.”
“You’re going to become a president?” Akane rolls her dark eyes. “You must be kidding!”
“No, I’m not. I’ll work my way up through the government. Even if I start as a Congressman’s secretary or assistant and then eventually become a president… I’m completely ok with it.”
Knapp chuckles softly. “That will be quite interesting! Let’s go to the stimulation training, should we? Ketsu and Katja are asleep right now.”
~*~
WASHINGTON, D.C.
[Ryu Mitsukai (Shadow) - 22 years old]
[Skylar Lawrence (Starry) - 26 years old]
[Tezuka Kejinto (Storm) - 22 years old]
“It’s just four of us this time?” Ryu asks after he turns on the radio link between the entire Dark Team.
“That’s right. I’m going to lead this mission,” Knapp says through the link. “The other group has their mission to do. Nova is leading them.”
“They are going to the silver home,” Sky says, referring to the silver home as White House. “We stay back and wait.”
“That sucks.” Tezuka mumbles.
“We can’t help it. We are in the middle of the city,” Ryu says. “Acting like some kind of ninja or secret agent won’t even help at all. Besides, Leon knows what we look like.”
“Is that why Atom is with us?” Tezuka jerks a thumb at Johnny who is yawning loudly.
“So - it’s Gravity and Silent who are going into the silver home.” Sky glances at the White House. He takes a picture of it, just like a tourist normally does. “We will know when they send us a signal.”
He hands a camera to Johnny. “C’mon! Take a picture of us!”
“N-no thanks.” Ryu shakes his head.
“Aw, come on! It may be the only time we ever take a picture together!” Sky whines.
“Don’t say that.” Tezuka snaps at him, as he walks toward the metal gate. “We are not going to die. Take a goddamn picture then.”
“Yaaaay!” Sky cheers loudly, as he grabs Ryu’s hand and drags him to Tezuka. “We are ready! 3...2...1....!”
The camera flashes at them as Sky and Ryu say, “cheese!”
“Satisfied?” Tezuka asks.
“Yes!” Sky exclaims in excitement. “If this is the last mission… then we will have a picture to cherish forever, right?”
“You’re leaving after… Earth is safe? When the war ends?” Ryu asks softly.
Sky smiles sadly at them. “Yes. We… The Dark Team has no business staying here any longer anyway.”
“Hi guys!” Zack yells, running toward them.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Midnight?” Ryu asks.
“He sent me over here as soon as you left Spain.” Zack laughs lightheartedly. He places his fists on his narrow hips. “I can see that everybody is here! No signal from Gravity and Silent yet?”
“Not yet.” Johnny hands the camera to Sky.
Suddenly, they are being pulled to the floor by an invisible force. Hard. They are struggling to get up, as they are trying to overcome the heavy gravity.
“5-U, we have a problem,” Knapp suddenly chirps into the link. “I need you to move onto the next task immediately.”
Nobody can even speak at all. The heavy gravity is way too much for them - way too much that it is almost crashing their bones.
“Dammit!” Tezuka yells, as he stomps his fist on the floor. His angry fist suddenly creates a black barrier with the rest of Dark Team inside, protecting themselves from the unexpected and powerful gravity.
“Is everybody ok?! What happened?” Knapp asks.
“We got caught up in... Gravity’s ability by accident.” Zack is panting heavily between a few words. “What’s going on…?”
“He got caught by Leon, but Silent managed to get away. We need to start now!” Knapp yells. “Before Leon gets away! We have to capture him no matter what!”
Before they even make a step into the property of the White House, they get blown away from an sudden explosion, which annihilates the White House completely.
The citizens nearby are screaming and running away as far as possible from the damaged area.
“I can’t hold the barrier any longer.” Tezuka hisses in exhaustion. Immediately afterward, the barrier disappears into the air. They brace themselves for the heavy gravity, but they realize that the gravity is back to normal. They cough loudly due to the fumes from the explosion.
“So, it’s you after all.” Hakai steps out of the smoke. His entire body is glowing dangerously in a yellow aura. “We knew that you were coming. You’re going to die… this time for real!”
“Why you…!” Ryu says angrily, as he is about to make a step.
“Hey, hey!” Hakai chuckles softly. “If you move, then your friend dies!”
Leon steps out of the smoke with his gun pointing at the back of Jade’s head. “Hello again… Tezuka… Ryu… Sky.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Jade shakes his head. “It’s not like you need me at all.”
“You idiot!” Zack yells worriedly. “You can’t die like this!”
“It’s my fault that I get caught.” Jade smiles sadly at him. “Please… please tell Midnight I’m sorry.”
“No!” Zack screams in terror, as he is watching Leon triggering his pistol. He yells suddenly, “Switch!”
Before the entire Dark Team, including Jade, even realizes what just happens, Zack has used his power to switch himself with Jade just in time Leon fires his pistol.
Jade widens his hazel eyes in shock, watching Zack collapsing to the ground lifelessly with a large open wound on the back of his head with blood flowing freely out. He screams, “ZAAAAAACK!!!”
“Split!” Johnny tosses a bright yellow orb at Leon and Hakai. “Run!”
“Lampara!” Ryu quickly creates a flickering white barrier, protecting the entire Dark Team from Johnny’s exploding energy.
“Let’s just go!” Tezuka grabs the petrified Jade and tosses him on his back, as if he is giving him a fireman's carry.
“What about Zack -- I mean, Void!” Sky cries, running along with the Dark Team.
“No, no, no!” Jade is sobbing loudly, as he keeps hitting Tezuka’s shoulder. “We can’t leave Zack behind! We have to go back!”
“Well, suit yourself!” Tezuka stops suddenly and throws Jade at the ground. “Zack saved your ass! If you go back and die, then his sacrifice would be in vain!”
“Shut up!” Jade shouts back. “He was your mentor! Don’t you care about him?!”
Tezuka clenches his jaw in anger. He is about to say but then he spots one certain person heading this way faster and faster.
“Here he comes!” Sky shouts in panic. “What do we do?! He will kill us all!”
Leon is floating just above the ground with his hands behind his back. He asks calmly, “Thought you could get away from us?”
Hakai laughs loudly as he appears out of air. “So, who is the next to die? Or maybe… you can die together at the same time?!”
“Hold on, Hakai.” Leon smirks lightly, as he checks his watch. “It’s almost time. I would like for them to witness the Fall of the Moon.”
“F-Fall?” Tezuka asks.
“This is the year when the moon is the closest to Earth.” Leon calmly reaches out his hand. “I will send the chains to the moon…”
“Then pull it towards us! And then, there goes… BOOM!” Hakai laughs loudly.
“Jikan should be here soon… Meanwhile… please keep them busy.” Leon swiftly flies into the sky.
“Since when can he fly?!” Tezuka yells angrily.
“He has always been able to fly.” Hakai scoffs at him, as he is slowly disappearing into the air. “He has the power of hawk, see?”
“Not so fast!” Using aguila energy in his eyes, Ryu fires his pistol at Hakai, but he misses when Hakai becomes invisible completely. “Goddammit!”
Tezuka runs past Ryu fast, using rush energy into his feet. “Rush Shock!” He stops fast and quickly opens his arms with his hands at either of his side. He sends a powerful shockwave all over the area. He is silently praying that Hakai gets hit.
“Ow!” Hakai cries, as he crashes into the ground after being sent by the shockwave.
“Gravity x5!” Jade yells angrily, as he slams his hands on the ground, sending some kind of dark purple energy across the field until it reaches Hakai.
Hakai begins screaming in pain, as he feels his own bones breaking into pieces. He manages to yell, even with powerful gravity as his entire body is beginning to flash. “S-son of a bitch!!! You all die!!”
“Oh fuck!” Sky cries. “He’s going to blow up! Hurry, make barriers or something like that!”
“Sorry but I ran out of light energy!” Ryu says in worry.
“Same here!” Tezuka says, as he watches Hakai going into some kind of supernova-like mode. “We have to run!”
It’s too late for them. Hakai has already blown himself up into a large explosion, which can reach up to one mile, destroying every single inch of the area.
~*~
“R...Ryu? Ryu!”
Ryu opens his dark eyes and moans in pain. His body hurts all over. “S-Sky? What happened?”
“Thank goodness you’re alive!” Sky sighs in exhaustion. “I’ve been looking for you and the others everywhere!”
Ryu glances around at a different area, which only consists of tall buildings and streets. “Did we get sent flying all the way here?”
“Yes…” Sky says softly and looks up at the blue sky. “Hakai killed himself. His power of destruction ran dry, and… it took his life.”
“How did we survive?” Ryu asks.
Sky frowns at the question. “I have no idea.”
Ryu turns on the communication link. “Shadow here. Is anybody alive?”
“I am,” Jade mumbles tiredly.
“Me too.” Johnny gives an exhausted sigh.
“What the hell just happened?” Tezuka asks, trying to put on a strong tone, but Ryu can tell that he’s very exhausted as well.
“We don’t know… Starry is with me.” Ryu scratches the back of his head. “We meet at the Capitol, okay?”
After turning off the link, he turns to Sky who has his sight set on the sky for some reason. “Sky, are you ok?”
“T-t-th-the moon…!” Sky stammers, as he points his finger at the blue sky. Ryu follows him until he spots something huge trying to pierce through the atmosphere.
“What in the world…!” Ryu asks, startled by the sight.
“We are too late…! Jikan was right after all. The Fall of the Moon is going to destroy the entire planet!” Sky cries.
“We have to get to the Capitol as fast as we can!” Ryu shouts.
~*~
Just as they get to the Capitol, Tezuka gasps suddenly and collapses to his knees grabbing his chest.
“Tezuka!” Sky cries in concern, as he starts healing him right away. But for some reason, he has not found anything wrong with him.
“Midnight! Something is happening to Tezuka!” Johnny shouts into the radio. After he receives no response. “Midnight? Knapp? Are you there? Nova? Clear?”
“Goddammit! The moon is interrupting the radio frequency!” Jade throws his ear plug device at the floor out of anger.
“Tezuka, please stay awake.” Sky pleads, as he watches Tezuka lowering himself to the floor. The lavender-haired man finds himself going out and into consciousness.
“T-the m-moon,” Tezuka mumbles quietly, trying so hard to keep his blue eyes open. His usual light tan face is turning paler and paler. “D-da-dark…”
“The moon? Is it doing something to you?” Ryu asks, as he kneels next to Tezuka and takes hold of his hand.
“Gravity times 1/2!” Jade yells, as he points his palms at the moon, sending his enormous dark purple energy all over it.
Yet, the moon is still coming closer and closer to the Earth.
“Times ¼! … 1/16!” Jade closes his eyes tightly, as tears stream down his face. He cannot bear watching the very planet that supports the life of the Fifth Universe… die. That fucking Locker! “Just go back into orbit, goddammit!”
More and more lightning bolts spark around in the darkening sky until they get to the level where they can reach the ground. They start with the buildings… then, trees and plants… and then, the people who have not found any shelters yet.
The speed of wind has been increasing and increasing every second.
“Guys!” Logy yells, running as fast as he can toward the rest of Dark Team. “We have to get out of here!”
“Logy! Can you read Tezuka’s mind or something like that?! I can heal him then!” Sky cries, completely forgetting to use sign language out of panic.
Luckily, Logy understands what he was trying to ask, so he hastily places his hand on Tezuka’s sweating forehead. He shakes his head sadly. “He’s dying. I can’t read his thoughts very well.”
“How is it even possible? He looked fine when we met up!” Ryu cries. “Is it a heart attack? Stroke?”
“His heart is completely fine. I checked it,” Sky mumbles. “He was saying something about the moon.”
“The moon is affecting him, then?” Jade asks. “How?”
“Lampara!” Ryu yells, as he creates a bright light barrier around Tezuka’s shaking body. “I hope that protects him from the moon doing… something to him.”
“How do we stop it?” Sky glances back up at the roaring moon. “We don’t have much time. Only if… only if… Double God is here!”
“Double God cannot exist without Dark and Light Gods.” Johnny grabs Sky’s shirt harshly. “Are you asking that he risks his life if he comes out here without them?!”
“N-no, but…” Sky cannot stop fresh tears from coming out of his blue eyes. “W-what are we supposed to do? Knapp doesn’t even have his powers anymore… What will happen to us… to everyone here?”
“The Locker,” Ryu says. “We have to find him… and make him stop the Fall of the Moon!”
“Fools.” Jikan comes out of the portal suddenly. She laughs loudly when she spots the weakened Tezuka. “That is perfect! You’re in such a shameful state!”
“You bitch!” Jade yells angrily. “It’s because of you…! You traveled back in time and helped the Big Five… by telling them the future! You killed Zack!”
“Oh, boo-hoo.” Jikan mocks him. She shrugs her shoulders carelessly. “With or without the Fall of the Moon… Earth is doomed either way! This is the best solution that we have for this Earth… that is to rebuild the entire race!”
“Leon has been lying to you! He intends to destroy this world completely!” Ryu shouts almost desperately. “If you go into the future… then you’ll see that you cannot trust him anymore!”
“Fine.” Jikan smirks. “That’s what I’m planning to do anyway. Have fun in Hell!” She waves her hand and then blows a kiss at the Dark Team before she gets through her time portal.
The ground begins to shake more and more violently until the point where everyone cannot stand still at all.
“U-ugh…” Tezuka begins to shift a little bit, as he opens his tired eyes. Suddenly, he gasps loudly, as if he has a huge need for air to inhale, and arches his body.
“Tezuka!” Ryu cries. “Are you ok?!”
Tezuka carefully sits up and looks at his hands. “My dark energy… The moon was absorbing it… but it came back somehow?”
“Dark and light energies recover pretty fast,” Johnny says. “That is the power of the Gods.”
“W-wait…! If you have dark and light energies… then you can call Double God… somehow!” Sky exclaims anxiously only to receive ‘are-you-fucking-kidding’ looks from the Dark Team. He sighs lightly. “Just a suggestion.”
“Actually…” Ryu rubs his chin thoughtfully. “I suppose we can try that… Besides, we don’t have any other ideas anyway.”
“Do you even know how to call him?” Tezuka raises an eyebrow. Realization hits him suddenly, “Double God… has said something to me when I first met him three years ago…”
“What?” Jade asks.
“Hope of Earth will bring us peace. Faith of Heaven and Hell will end all of suffering and torture. Bravery of Angels will protect the people of the universe. Love of Light and Darkness will bring me back.” Tezuka restates what Double God said back then. “That’s what he told me. Maybe… we can use it to summon him!”
“You’re amazing.” Ryu chuckles softly. “You and your ability to memorize!”
They take each other’s hands tightly and close their eyes, as they repeat Double God’s statement one more time.
Their eyes snap open. Tezuka’s eyes are black while Ryu’s are white, which freak Sky and others out pretty much.
They gasp lightly, as they feel… something taking all of their dark and light energies but they don’t feel like dying at all.
Two orbs of light and darkness come out of their chests suddenly and then merge into one orb, which then launches itself into the dark sky.
The Dark Team is staring, in amazement, at the bright orb of both light and darkness flying fast toward the falling moon.
The moon is already burning up, trying to get through Earth’s atmosphere and sending powerful shockwaves all over the blue planet.
As soon as the orb gets to the atmosphere, it stops suddenly just below the burning moon, revealing itself to be a man. Tiny sparkling orbs of light and darkness are falling off His body.
No, it cannot be a man.
“W-what the hell is going on?” Ryu is trembling. “Are we looking at the same person…? Has he been freed, after all?”
Despite harsh and strong gusts from the Fall of the Moon, the green-eyed godly figure with a pair of wings made out of black and white feathers is hovering calmly in the air, as if he is waiting for something.
Finally, the moon begins to break through the atmosphere, but He doesn’t even react to it at all.
“Restore,” He says calmly, putting up His hands in the air. As soon as the moon lands on His hands, it sends another sudden and powerful shockwave all over the red sky one more time.
Then, He just casually lets it go, even though the Dark Team is freaking out, but the moon is just hovering in the sky. It covers nearly the entire sky, completely blocking out the sunlight.
He is still glancing at the sky, as if He is seeing something else. He looks like He wants to do something, but cannot.
Then, He lightly pushes the moon, which then slowly moves out of Earth’s atmosphere, back into its own orbit.
That is the amazing power of Double God.
He then turns back to the Earth and waves His hand, releasing a large wave of some kind of sparkling dust. “Heal.”
Every wounded citizen suddenly feels much better and gets up easily from the ground. Dark Team feels that their energies have been restored completely.
With that, He just disappears into the air.
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