Chapter 23: Wasteland

Chapter 23 - Wasteland

Lucas, Kruger and Luke sit in a small warm room as they carry a discussion.

 

Luke: And that's why I joined Anti-Guardians, pretty simple.

Lucas: I see. The old District Leader was pretty tunnel visioned when it came to constructing jobs.

Kruger: I feel truly sorry that you had to resort to your predicament to try and achieve some sort of peace. It wasn't your fault.

Luke: Thanks, old man. But you don't have to be so formal.

Kruger: Please, call me Kruger.

Luke: I can't believe it's this easy to talk to you guys. I almost feel stupid.

Lucas: Please, don't. You had no way of knowing whether or not I was anything like my predecessor. 

Luke: Well, I'm glad the District Leader is someone I can actually sit down with. You're not so bad, yourself. Kruger… Er, sorry for, um, the incident.

Kruger: Water under the bridge. As long as you don't try anything like that again, of course.

 

Aura and Beast sit with each other in the front desk waiting room, winding down from the mission. Kai and Saiko play checkers on the floor, Ano and Gira nap next to each other in the 2 of 4 chairs on the left side of the room, while Hera reads a motorcycle magazine and Felt scrolls on his phone. Zeke sits with Captain Rose on the right side watching the TV installed over the receptionist desk. All the while Captain John struggles with a wrinkled dollar for the vending machine down the Hallway.

 

Kai: So… What do you think's gonna happen? With the Anti-Guardians I mean.

Saiko: District Leader Lucas is a kind and understanding man. I'm sure if they're willing to talk, things will go well.

Kai: …What do you make of the last few hours, if I can ask?

Saiko: Huh?

Kai: I mean… What do you think?

Saiko: …I guess I'm still trying to process all of it.

Kai: Keep going.

Saiko: While my sister trained me… she had it drilled into my mind that being a Guardian simply meant arresting the crooked and low lives. And tonight… We had to carefully convince people who were driven into a corner that we weren't gonna punish them for being pushed around. It just… feels like I've been told the wrong stuff.

Kai: Yeah, I feel the same way, kinda.

Saiko: What do you think?

Kai: Well…. I keep thinking about what Lewis said. How, even though I thought Guardians were awesome as a kid, I should've expected one to- um… take me and Ano away from what we were dealing with. And, like Kruger said, the fact that some Guardians are actually awful. 

Saiko: If it's any consolation. I think you and Ano shouldn't have had to have been rescued from something so awful in the first place.

Kai: Thanks. I guess we just weren't really prepared for something like this.

Saiko: Yeah…

Kai: If there's one thing… it's nice to have friends to talk to about it.

Saiko: *chuckles* Yeah, that's true.

 

Saiko moves a checker to a black square on Kai's side.

 

Saiko: And that's three to one.

Kai: Huh!?

 

Captain John walks up to the 2 and sits down on the floor with them.

 

Captain John: Guess who finally got a soda from the damn vending machine!

Saiko: I'm happy your mission was a success.

Captain John: Woah, I didn't know you knew how to tell jokes.

Kai: How did it have so much trouble reading your dollar, anyway?

Captain John: Listen, I don't need anyone barkin' at me to stop stuffing my money in my wallet again.

Saiko: Perhaps if you just folded them neatly-

Captain Rose: You're walking into a losing battle, Saiko. 

Captain John: Hey, how about you focus on the TV over there, eh?

Lucas: I see, so you think Lewis and Nilph will move ahead of schedule with their plan?

Luke: I don't see why they wouldn't. We were supposed to wait until after we made ourselves clear to the public, but I doubt Lewis would feel comfortable with anything possibly getting the jump on him.

Kruger: I can comprehend his thought process, but still… 

Lucas: Well, what matters now is-

 

A portal is formed in the room and an out of breath Ruby barges in, slamming the table.

 

Ruby: Sir Lucas, the circling areas of the city around the Capital are under attack! We tried to determine who was responsible, but… we have no idea what in the world we're looking at!!

Luke: Yep, that sure sounds like Lewis' Power.

Ruby: Who?

Lucas: A variant of Elemental; Matter Creation… He can practically create anything he wants from a weapon to a moving body. They're all limited by his amount of Aura and the actual strength of the creations. And Lewis has to strain his mind to control the creations. But Luke says he's still a formidable threat.

Kruger: We must hurry and protect the citizens, then find the 2 leaders!

Lucas: If they're acting in a wide range and numbers like this, I don't want to underestimate the situation. Ruby… escort Aura and Beast to the attack. After that… call them.

Ruby: Yes Sir!

Ruby makes a portal to downstairs where the others are and walk through with urgency.

 

Captain John: What? The city is under attack?

Ruby: Yes! Some strange mutants appeared out of nowhere and are wreaking havoc! I'll get you guys to a central position so you can go stop them!

Lucas: The attacks are happening between each compass direction! Me and Ruby will help establish a route to a safe house for all nearby citizens! The rest of you will help them get there as you take down the creations!

Everyone: Yes sir!

 

Ruby forms a portal in front of her which everyone dashes into.

 

Captain John: Saiko, you're with me! We're taking northwest! You guys take southwest!

Captain Rose: Hera, you will accompany me northeast! The rest of you will go to the southeast!

Everyone: Understood!

 

Lucas: Luke, can you-

Luke: I'm already coming, no need to ask.

 

Lucas gives a smile to this quick and confirming response.

 

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Several people run from the few blue and purple humanoids that are causing destruction. Some of them have the same tentacles Lewis had on his shoulders for their arms, the others have giant blades for their arms. They frantically charge any property to destroy. The remaining Anti-Guardians watch as they stand on top of a store.

 

Lewis: Yes! Yes! Tear it all to pieces! Show them this is what being complacent leads to!

Shawn: Y'know, you could totally just use those 2 building sized mutants to get the job done and level the Capital.

Lewis: That's not the plan! We're gonna cause enough destruction to show we're serious, and get that District Leader to drop out!

Terra: I still can't believe I let myself lose to those… pacifists!

Shawn: I don't know… I kinda feel bad for doing this after I kinda said we'd leave peacefully.

Nilph: That was for the fight at the time… this is simply different.

Shawn: If we're really supposed to back up the mutants when the Guardians get here, it's gonna be a real shame we lost Keith.

Nilph: I'm personally glad he's gone. While I'm not happy about his capture, we only hired him for the extra muscle. He had no real place in our actual cause.

Terra: I'll admit, the extra muscle probably would've come in handy for tonight.

Lewis: …It looks like you guys are about to prove that!

Shawn: Huh?

 

Within Lewis' closed eyes, he sees through the eyes of several of the creations at once. And he can see some of Aura and Beast engaging in multiple of them.

 

Lewis: Terra! You can take Shawn and go southeast from here, you'll find those guys you want a rematch with. Nilph, give em' the armor!

Nilph: Right!

 

Nilph raises his arm to them, and gives them crystalized armor for their limbs and stomach.

 

Terra: Thanks, Nilph! Let's go Shawn.

Shawn: Wait, what about you guys?

Lewis: We're heading in the opposite direction. Nilph, let's go!

 

Lewis sprouts wings from his shoulders and Nilph hops on his back. Everyone rolls out.

Captain John charges in and swings his sword, sending various stars at the mutants, causing them to get blown to the floor.

 

Captain John: Hey! Get the cotton out of your ears! The safe zone's that way! Get movin'!

 

The people dash by the 2 Guardians in combat.

A mutant swings its blade down at Saiko, who dodges and gets behind the muranu, quickly Threading just under the mutant's elbow and yanks the whole blade back into the mutant's shoulder. It starts dissolving, but she quickly kicks the strand of Thread and uses that force to swing the mutant into another. Getting them both. She quickly Threads the ankle of a mutant coming from behind with a big hammer for a fist and pulls it to trip them. She then Threads a piece of debris not too far and slams it into the mutant's head.

Saiko: They're going down with relative ease. But I'm still reaching exhaustion this fast?

Captain John: If I were to guess, it's because you changed your fighting style a bit so you're more involved in the field with your body.

 

A blade mutant jumps up from behind her and Captain  John uses the flat side to slam it into the ground.

 

Captain John: if you're gonna spice up what your sister taught you, try making an Aura Skill.

Saiko: An Aura Skill? Do you really think I can pull one off?

Captain John: I don't see why not. It's basically coming up with a special move that takes some of your Aura. You just gotta do one that fits with how you use your Power, considering your, um, condition.

Saiko: I see. I don't believe I've ever seen my sister use one. Thread Power is supposed to give the user the ability to craft any weapon from Thread, so I just have to think of how I can use plain Thread, unlike her-

Captain John: Don't think about your sis. Just focus on what you can do.

 

Saiko takes this in, and focuses on her Thread and starts trying to form a shape, it falls apart onto her hand and she retries a few times until she gets the idea to let the Thread tangle up into a web form and leaves a string of Thread at the bottom. She swings it at full force with the web growing from Aura enhancement and visually controls the edges of the web enclosing a few of the mutants, trapping them.

 

Saiko: I… think I did it! 

 

A blade mutant starts cutting through the net, but Captain John quickly dashes over and slashes through them. Taking care of the remaining mutants in the area.

 

Captain John: Using Aura Skills requires the right place, the right time and the right chance. It'll become secondhand nature in no time. But most importantly, you gotta name it.

Saiko: Name it, huh? …Thread Aura Skill; Binding Force?

Captain John: Good one. Alright, gimme a sec.

 

Captain John stabs his sword into the ground.

 

Captain John: To anyone still in the area, hurry up and follow us! We'll take you to the safe point!

Ano freezes a mutant in its entirety as Zeke chucks a bolt, piercing through its head.

 

Ano: It's so much easier to just freeze the whole body. Sucks I can't just do it with anyone we fight. But these aren't real people, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Zeke: You don't freeze people because it's a huge risk right?

Ano: Yeah, I'd rather not kill anyone when I'm supposed to be a Guardian.

Kai: Yeah… that's what we are, Guardians. And we're gonna keep everyone safe and get the other mutants!

 

Ano and Zeke look at each other confused for a second, but look back over to Kai and agree.

Lewis and Nilph quickly land across from the 3.

 

Kai: You guys!

Lewis: Heya, runt! We're gonna make this fast!

Nilph: I'm sorry, but prepare yourself! 

 

Zeke steps in front of Kai and Ano prepares to send a flash of ice. Kai taps something on his phone and then holds his fist into the air. All 3 ready to fight.

 

Suddenly a portal opens behind them, and Lucas and Luke walk through. Everyone drops their fighting position at the shock of their appearance.

 

Lucas: I don't suppose introductions are necessary?

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