Chapter 8: Suffocation of Hope
"How many are there?" Cody asked into his phone as he ran through the halls with Alex trying to keep up as best he could, though Alex's lack of coordination and physical strength made him nearly trip every time he rounded the corners of this weird place.
"There appear to be a sizable force of the canine beasts. We cannot ascertain their exact number, although they have three elementals leading them."
Cody sighed knowing how bad this was. He'd never known them to attack in such a large group. Before they normally had to face only a few monsters, maybe a dark elemental if they deemed the situation important enough. Something like this was unheard of, the dark elementals hadn't made a move this bold since Anetulan's downfall.
"Any idea what they're after?"
"Not sure yet." Cody heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions echo through the phone, along with several of the monster's growls. "Hey, that was my favorite shirt!" Cody heard London scream which was followed by several explosions very close to the phone. He guessed the monster was no longer alive.
"I'm stopping by the armory to give Alex a couple guns then I'll be there to help," he said hanging up the phone, pretty sure London didn't need the distraction of a phone while fighting for her life. Then again, she had done far worse.
He still couldn't believe she once was texting Chelsea about the new Arturo Vitali clothing line while piloting a helicopter under heavy enemy fire, while doing her hair and putting on makeup. It was a miracle they made it out of there in one piece. But Cody brushed London's antics to the side, as he focused on the job at hand. He knew that even London couldn't last long against this strong of an invasion and with Zack not in any shape to fight; he had to get there soon.
After running through the many hallways that seemed to twist and turn so many ways, Alex was sure they were just going in circles. Though Cody seemed to know where they were going, so he trusted it was the right way. Though he would have liked to just stay back, he knew he couldn't. Cody needed to be there, and he wanted to do something. Even if it wasn't much, he didn't like the thought of hiding behind the elementals while they were out risking their lives. He just hoped that he wouldn't be getting in the way.
"Here we are," Cody said swiping some kind of card key and opening up a door revealing a large room of various guns and other weapons that Alex didn't know the names for. Though one in particular stood out to him.
"Why is that ak-47 pink?"
"That's Ellie for you," Cody said with a chuckle before brushing off the comment. He grabbed a couple shotguns and pistols, made sure they were loaded and handed them to Alex. "You know how these work?" Cody asked hastily as he rummaged through the extra ammo.
"Pistol yes, shotgun not so much." Alex was worried he'd be slowing Cody down too much here, and didn't want to waste more time by being taught how to use a gun.
Cody gave a quick demonstration of how to fire and reload it. He wished he had more time to go over the details, since a weapon this strong could be extremely dangerous if used improperly. But he hoped the rushed demonstration would be enough. He got out a couple grenades and flash bombs for Alex too. He knew this was dangerous; someone not accustomed to war at all was being given a bunch of weapons and told not to die. But, with such great numbers against them, they had to use every available resource, even if it was just a confused kid wanting to help. He just hoped it wouldn't cost Alex his life.
"Stay back, and don't be afraid to run," Cody instructed as they rushed to the battle.
…
Sydney and Trey made their way to the north side of their base once the alarms began going off.
"Are you okay fighting them?" Sydney asked.
"Yeah, I will be," Trey said. "Just don't underestimate them."
"I know." 'What am I getting myself into?' Sydney thought to himself.
The growl of the monsters grew louder as they passed through another corridor and peaked through the door that led outside.
Sydney readied himself, gathering light in his hand and a white glow surrounded him. He would be ready for this; they were just the same types of monsters he had battled before. Maybe more of them, maybe some elementals were with them, but he could do this. And he wasn't alone either, so he'd be fine…he hoped.
Finally, swallowing all fear away, he burst from the door, firing a lance of light into the wolves to get their attention. And just as he thought, they ran at him, a dozen at first, but he saw that was only the beginning of the invading army.
Building light up in his body, for another attack, he punched one of the creatures into the ground, his power of light turning the creature of darkness to dust. But that didn't stop the others from attacking. Though as they pounced, Sydney saw them all slow, their jumps suspended in midair for what seemed like moments. Though he knew it was only an illusion, as instead Sydney's body had sped up thanks to Trey's control over time. It was strange, even though this was far from the first time Sydney and Trey had teamed up like this, Sydney still hadn't got used to the strange feeling. Though, he pushed those thoughts aside and continued to fight, blasting two lances of light into the sides of the creatures before jumping behind them and sending an explosive sphere into the middle of the pack destroying the other ten, reducing them to nothing.
With the current threat gone, Trey released his control over the time around Sydney, knowing that the battle was far from over and he couldn't tire himself out this soon.
Sydney took the lead rushing further from the base, seeing the army on the horizon, with Trey right behind him. If they could take the fight away from the base then they could make sure no one else would get hurt. Though looking around them for the familiar sights of fire and lightning flying across the battlefield, they saw nothing, which meant they were on their own, at least for now.
"Think we should head back?" Trey asked, sensing the light elemental's fear.
"They'll be here soon," Sydney said, knowing how injured the twins were. They weren't in any condition to fight a battle like this. But, they weren't the only ones who could fight off the dark elementals. Sydney knew that he wasn't as strong as them, but with Trey by his side, he knew they could win.
They approached the black creatures, over a hundred of them with a human in the middle of them. Sydney took a step back, not recognizing the elemental commanding them. He had seen Ryo and Syndrome before (luckily never having to fight them) but this one was new. This one was a female, long black hair tied up in a ponytail that hung over her shoulder and her scantily clad outfit did not leave much to the imagination. Normally he would have wanted to go ask her out, but at a time like this, he figured that would not go over well.
"Who is that?" Sydney whispered.
"Rebecca," Trey said, "She was Anetulan's greatest dark elemental, but she vanished right before I joined you guys. I'd never known her to be a part of the offensive missions though."
"So, she's strong?"
"Yeah."
Sydney gulped but didn't have time to retreat as she turned and spotted the two. With a razor-sharp gaze she stared at them, a devilish grin spreading across her lips.
Brushing any common sense or fear away, Sydney ran right at her, determined to shake his body from the chills that ran down his spine.
If Trey objected to this attack he didn't say anything as the light elemental felt his body accelerating as the blinding white light encompasses his body. The creatures of darkness saw him coming and rushed at him, but he focused more energy into his white aura and many of the wolves faded to nothing as Sydney approached them.
Sydney smiled, seeing how much stronger he had become, and with his best friend fighting alongside him, there was no way he could lose.
He pulled his fist back, focusing his aura of light into his hand as much as possible, determined to end this with a single blow. Somewhere inside he knew he should be afraid, that this was stupid, possibly even suicidal, but with the light radiating from him, all he knew was courage. He brought his fist forward, ready to crush her face with it, but before he could strike, his fist was caught with her hand, the force of the impact not even moving Rebecca.
"You're quite impressive, little one," she said and the courage the light gave Sydney faded away.
Before he could figure out what happened, she aimed a foot for his stomach, and even with his body accelerated from Trey, he couldn't block it in time and was thrown back several feet with what was sure to be a massive bruise. Sydney closed his eyes from the pain and shock of the attack, trying to regain his bearings.
"Sydney look out!" Trey shouted, and his eyes flashed open, seeing the sky full of lances of water. Sydney quickly got to his feet and dodged the attack just before they collided into the ground, creating a nice sized hole with their force. But they did not stop there, the water reformed and rocketed after Sydney again.
He held his arms up, trying to protect himself, but before the attack hit it vanished.
Sydney sighed as he shot a smile at his friend. Trey's control over space and time had saved him once again.
The redirected attack appeared right above Rebecca and descended upon her, sending her to the ground and leaving her quite wet and even angrier than before. Pulling the water around her and from the air, she stood up, setting her sights on the bigger threat of the two. Massive spheres of water began filling the air, and soon turned into a vortex which engulfed Sydney and Trey.
Sydney looked around, seeing no opening from the torrent of raging water. He ran to Trey, knowing that an attack was coming and that they had to be together if they were to survive.
Just as Sydney thought, the prison of water shot at them, the pillars of water tearing through the air. Sydney harnessed his power as much as he could, creating a shield of light all around the two of them. The water broke against the light, harmlessly falling to the ground.
"So, instead of using your power to get out of my prison, you choose instead to defend against it," Rebecca noted. "You have so little confidence in your abilities that you rely on another to give you the power to win."
"That's not it!" Sydney shouted, though he knew he wasn't nearly as strong without Trey. "I won't let anyone hurt my friends."
"You actually consider him a friend? Are you so naïve to trust someone like that, especially considering his past?"
"I don't care where he came from, only that he's on our side now." Sydney wanted to punch Rebecca even more than before. Though he knew his powers were nearing their limit. Shielding both him and Trey from that attack wasn't easy and perhaps he should have taken that time to strike, letting his friend fall.
But he wouldn't sacrifice a friend just to possibly gain an advantage.
"Dark elementals cannot change so easily," Rebecca said eying Trey. "You would do well to remember this young one."
Sydney charged at Rebecca again, but as he did so, he saw several streams of water rush past him. He turned behind him and saw Trey surrounded by the water, drowning him.
"Son of Ryo, your strength is nothing compared to mine," she shouted at Trey.
Trey began coughing, his arms flinging wildly as his lungs caved air. Sydney, knowing that the only way to save his friend was to make Rebecca lose control of the water, ran at her again, and away from his friend. He fired several lances at her, but a dark wall formed in front of the water elemental which dissipated the light.
Sydney then felt his throat being grabbed and looked down to see a dark chain surrounding him. Before he could process what was happening he was being held up in the air, his breaths becoming shorter and harder. He looked down, seeing Rebecca hold the other end of the chain as he helplessly struggled to break free.
"Your futile resistance is over," was the last thing Sydney heard before he lost consciousness from loss of oxygen.
A/N: Yay action chapters!
You might have noticed that I put this chapter out a bit early, and that's because I've decided to update 3 chapters for the start of September instead of only 1 so I don't have to space out the battle so much. And sorry if you were wanting to see Alex and the twins battle here, but as I started to write about Sydney and Trey, I really wanted them to have their own chapter where I could show them better.
Please review and I'll see you next week!
And thanks to WoundedHearts and Snap for betaing as always.
