Chapter 35: The Lost Bladers of the Ex Tracks
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Vert and Zero stood in the Silencerz headquarters not believing their eyes, Vert's dad and one of Zero's friends had been in the Silencerz the whole time. The older man motioned for them to follow him as he began walking away from the group of bladers who were taking their helmets off as well. He knew most of them, he could name them as he walked past them, on the left was Banjee, and Midori. And on the right was Aermos's friend, Tech, next to him was a guy named Dresden who had been a participant in the World Ex Race. The last person he didn't know but he knew she must have some sort of special ability to be part of this team; he gave them all cold looks as he walked by, especially Banjee who had been a really good friend of his. "So you won the Ultimate Race huh Zero." The black haired teen gave him a nod not trusting anyone but Vert in the entire base. "Thank you for collecting the Ex Bey parts for us, we need to keep them out of enemy hands. We're working on making special computer chips that can be put in cars to give them these abilities to." Vert stopped for a second and looked at the special cars that they were working on, he knew that the Ex Bey parts were trouble and needed to be returned to the Accelerons but at the moment they were outnumbered a secret military base to two racers. He could still see the golden orb in the portal which gave him an idea, if they could keep the parts together long enough for them to get into the portal, they could return the parts and escape the base. Vert had the same feeling as Zero, he only trust his friend.
"Why would you even want to recreate these powers? Zero knows first-hand that these parts can be dangerous in the wrong hands."
"That's why we need to recreate them, so we can stop the very people that want to get their hands on them." Midori and Banjee walked behind the two teens to make sure they didn't try anything to escape. They were to make sure they kept possessions of the bey and real version of the portal rings. Zero could see the Ex Bey parts in Aermos's hands as they continued to walk away from the others.
"I've got a question for all of these bladers that are on your team, how did you recruit them?" Zero stopped walked along with Vert who knew Zero needed the answer which could possibly help them in the future. Aermos laughed slightly and realized Zero knew most of the people here so he shrugged and started off.
"They recruited me and Tech first, with us they already had two extremely great bladers but they needed to have more. I mean when you have two teams that are prowling around in the Ex Tracks we'd need back up in case you guys got in our way. Before you guys had ever entered the Swamp Lands we were already in that track, we rescued Banjee while he was trapped inside of the track. Midori over there happened to be in the Storm Zone the same time you guys were in there; she was knocked off the track and should have died. What's funny is that the lightning strike that hit Akito's Ex Gear was a part from Midori's Ex Gear. And all of the Ex Tracks that you guys failed to complete were due to me; I beat up Kyoya in the Labyrinth Zone and easily beat Yukihana to goal." Zero thought about all of the Ex Tracks that everyone had been on, all of the failures that they couldn't explain, all of the disappearing symbols that they couldn't explain. He looked at Aermos once again after he looked at Midori and Banjee. "It was Tech that beat Akashi when he had almost reached the goal; I looked like the drone while Tech was the fake Akito that won the Metro Realm." Zero couldn't believe what he was hearing as he listened to his friend talk about each track his team had won/cheated their way to winning. The black haired teen hated the thought of them using camoflauge to win most of their Ex Bey parts, it wasn't as bad as what Gwen did during the Ultimate Race but it was still a form of cheating. "I guess I'll begin with what happened a few months ago."
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(A Few Months Ago)
The cool crisp air of the mountains blew through the old village kicking up dust into the air as Aermos leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the wooden railing of the shack he used to store his bey parts and Ex Gear parts. The teen watched as his friend sped through the dirt track they had made in order to practice getting better at racing on dirt. "Aww come on," The technology loving teen feel off of his gear as he cursed to himself. "Aermos, we've got to make some better parts. The dirt is messing up a few of the systems in the gear causing it to drift horribly, if we don't fix this then the next time we have a big race we might not win."
"Then fix it genius. You're the one that I go to when I need tech support. Besides you made my last gear run almost perfectly on dirt, why can't you do that for your Ex Gear to?" The teen laughed slightly as he listened to his friend tell him what to do, again. He grabbed his gear and walked over to his silver haired friend who was acting like nothing mattered to him.
"It's not that easy, your Ex Gear is made with parts that would cost regular people millions of dollars, I was lucky to even scrape together the parts needed to make your gear."
"Yeah, yeah, tell you what. There's a junk yard in the nearby city, maybe we could go by there and pick up a few parts from the rusted cars. Most of the cars in there are nice any way, I'm sure if you take apart some of their engines you can make some better parts for your Ex Gear." Tech thought about this for a second and thought about how hard it was to gather parts in their small village, even finding a common Ex Gear frame would be difficult for them. A trip to the city would take them a day or so, he figured they would need to know exactly what they were going to need before the left. His attention was soon drawn to a man wearing a special military outfit. "Hello gentlemen, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."
"Depends on whose asking."
"The person that's asking is a person that can get both of you high end Ex Gear parts for free."
"Keep talking."
"Let's take this inside, this is only meant for you two. We don't need any unnecessary people bothering us." Walking up the stairs with a brief case in hand, the older man followed both teens into their small house that wasn't far from their Ex Gear shack. He looked around inside to see it wasn't that bad of a living space,they had a flat screen TV in the living room with specially handmade speakers. In the kitchen were the usually everyday items you would find, and glancing to the right he could see a room that looked like it could be used for making Ex Gears. The man closed the blinds in the kitchen and turned on a light so they could see well. He tossed a file onto the table and watched as a few pictures slid out with some information on the people in the picture. Aermos looked at it for a second and picked up a photo of a girl with purple hair. "We've been keeping an eye on these bladers for a while and we've reason to believe they've found special parts that will allow people special abilities." The silver haired teen studied the photo a little closer and then looked at the other three pictures that were lying on the table.
"That girl was kind of cute, who are these bladers anyway?"
"Their names are Midori, Banjee Castillo, Brain Kadeem, and Tezuka." He moved the information of the bladers closer to Aermos so he could read them, Tech seemed to know who they were but didn't say anything since this seemed to be more for Aermos then for him. "These bladers were recently recruited by Tez to race onto these special Ex Tracks that seem to hold some very powerful items at the end of the track. We need powerful bladers to help us and you two seem to be the only bladers that aren't friends with Tez. We've tried to find other bladers but they won't trust us since we're from the military."
"Seems fine to me, Tech what do you think?"
"We could really use the parts, and if we're getting a chance to race on Ex Tracks no one's ever seen before, this could really help us become even better Ex Bladers." Aermos smiled and thought this over a bit. On the up side he could get all these new parts for free, on the down side if he did decided to help this man there's no telling what they could force him to do for the military afterword. He nodded and looked at the information on some of the other bladers. "We're going to need a team though. Depending on who Tez recruits to help him out we might be dealing with bladers that are just as strong as the world champion herself. What's your name Mr. Mystery Man?"
"Jack. That's all you need to know about me though. We can't get you a team. That will be something you'll have to do by yourself."
"Can we have any person join our team?"
"You can have anyone join your team. Now let me explain how this will work. Tez already has a fully functional portal that opens the Ex Track, just like Gwen, the other blader were trying to stop. Our portal is only functional for half an hour, at any moment after that it will explode. You'll have to be quick in order to beat these tracks." Tech shook his head and noticed a major problem with what Jack was telling them, he wanted them to complete Ex Tracks they had never seen before in under half an hour. That was a task that while not impossible, was going to be even more difficult than they thought. "We have an advantage though, while were working on our fully functional portal that our spy is helping us obtain, you can use the current portal to race on the Ex Tracks before they actually open up. This will give you time to study the track, figure out its weakness, and find any bladers that might be trapped on this track. Will you help us?"
"We're in. Just promise me one thing though."
"And what is that?"
"That once this is all over I can still race on these tracks as much as I want."
"You have yourself a deal. Now let's get going, you're first assignment is to help us finish our portal." Tech looked outside to see a car had pulled up in front of their house, he laughed to himself noticing that they were expecting them to agree to help then. He looked at Aermos who had put all of the pictures and papers back into the file, the teen grabbed his jacket and zipped it up before walking to the door with Jack. "You won't need your Ex Gear; we're going to make you a special one once we get to the base." Aermos nodded and turned off the radio that had been playing since they had walked into the house. He closed the door behind Jack and locked it before slipping the key into his pocket. The two teens sat in the car not long after that and said their goodbyes to their village before they were taken to who knows where.
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(Silencerz HQ)
They walked into a futuristic base that seemed like it couldn't be real; scientists were dressed in silver/white suits with their faces covered by weird looking gas masks. The base was huge to say the least; the portal could be seen in another room, it was purple and in the shape of a giant ring. Aermos whistled as he looked around, "Damn this place is huge." Jack walked next to him and put on his helmet, he pointed to the helmet that Aermos was given; he motioned for him to put it on. The teen shrugged and put the helmet on his head. "Any reason why we need to have this helmet on?"
"It makes our voices sound different to other peoples while making sure anyone else that's trying to talk to each other sound different. Let's start making your new Ex Gear. We've developed a specially made smart metal that will form an Ex Gear frame and parts specifically for you to use, and if anyone else happens to use it, the gear will become suited for them as well. Now please step on this platform right here." Jack pointed to the slightly elevated platform that was in front of him, there were two tanks filled with a silver liquid substance that Aermos assumed was the smart metal. He took a few steps onto the platform and could see a few Ex Gear parts next to him; the teen glanced at the silver liquid in one of the tanks and noticed it was being let out onto the platform. "Jump up now." Aermos nodded and did as he was told, as he did so an Ex Gear formed under his feet which cause him to now hover in the air. He smiled and looked at the silver/white Ex Gear.
"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen. I mean an Ex Gear just materialized right under me! Tell me that's not cool!"
"It's cool, but that's just the start of what we can do for you. Why don't you test out the Ex Gear on the next track that opens up?" Aermos stepped off the platform and smiled as he looked at his new Ex Gear, he looked up to see Tech stepping on the platform next. His friend looked around and then jumped into the air to have the rest of the silver liquid form an Ex Gear under his feet. "Aermos, forget the junk yard I think this Ex Gear will do just fine for me." The teen laughed and did a few tricks with his Ex Gear while waiting to hear what Jack had to say next.
"I'm glad you to like these Ex Gears. Now I need you two to be serious when racing on these Ex Tracks. I don't want anyone knowing who you are. That's why you're in these silver and white suits, they will help camoflauge you while on the Ex Tracks. You can also camoflauge yourself to look like a drone or one of the other bladers you saw on the Ex Tracks." Aermos quickly transformed into Kadeem to see if Jack was really telling the truth, he then transformed into Banjee, and then into Midori, he looked down at his Ex Gear to see it also changed to fit the one the blader used. He transformed back into his self once he was done examining the Ex Gear.
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(Present Time)
Zero thought about the story he had been told and shook his head understanding why Aermos had been called in. He was the only blader that could rival anyone in the world; he could go toe to toe with Charlotte herself and possibly win. Aermos was the only strong blader that never wanted to enter tournaments; instead he took to the Underground arenas and became a legend there. Aermos began to push Zero into a room but was stopped by a girl with purple hair; she gave him a cold look and slammed her fist into his face causing the teen to fall to the ground. "The hell is wrong with you!"
"Come on you two let's get out of here now!" Zero smiled when he saw Midori grabbing her guitar, he knew he had friends that would never stab him in the back but he never expected one of those friends to be Midori. She had helped him out during the World Race and was now helping him escape the Silencerz. The three teens ran passed a few scientists that tried to capture them, Midori swung her guitar at Tech who ducked and fell backwards. Zero saw Banjee looked at him for a second and look away not wanting to escape with them, the teen knew that the King of Ex Blading through the jungle had his reasons for staying. "Zero, I'm riding with Vert, you take your Ex Gear and escape through the portal!" The teen gave his friend a nod and jumped onto his Ex Gear while Vert grabbed the Ex Bey parts. Midori took them from Vert and put them in his car before climbing in herself, Vert got into the driver's seat while quickly moving the door down into its closed position. He stepped on the gas pedal and quickly sped off through the base trying to find a way out, Midori pointed to the portal that wasn't far from where they were at. "I dunno what's going to happen if we go through that portal again, but anything beats this place!" Vert smiled and hit a red button next to his emergency break, the next thing Midori knew, the car was surrounded in a blue flame as the car reached three hundred miles an hour. Zero attempted to do the same but was knocked of course due to Aermos slamming his Ex Gear into his.
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Zero slammed into a door causing it to open for him as he sped down a hallway, the teen looked over his shoulder to see Aermos not far behind him. He was closing in on the teen fast and Zero was running out of options. Zero sighed and looked down at his Nitrox Afterburner button; the teen didn't want to use it yet but knew he was running out of time. "Forget it!" Aermos slammed his Ex Gear into Zero's once again causing the gear to scrape against the wall as they continued to race through the hallway; they made a sharp turn next while still trying to beat on another. "You can't escape me Zero!" Zero spun around and slammed his foot as hard as he could into Aermos' stomach causing the teen to fly into a wall. The rival fell to the ground and watched as Zero flew towards another wall; the teen smiled and looked down at the bey part he had managed to stash in his sleeve. Before the two teens had been captured, Zero had managed to take one of the Ex Bey parts that he could use just in case something went bad. He quickly added the part onto his bey and launched it forward, his bey began to glow a slight greenish color before he, along with his bey, disappeared from sight. Aermos stood up and realized what Zero had done; he had taken the Warped Space Ex Part so he could escape the base.
"Ow….. You're going to pay for that Zero." The teen smiled slightly and leaned against the wall wondering where his friend might end up. His attention was drawn to some tapping his shoulder; he looked over to see a girl with black hair and looked to be Chinese.
"We need to follow Vert and Zero."
"Agreed."
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Madoka and Tez sat on his Ex Gear waiting for the others to arrive and pick them up. Midnight had to keep an eye on Karma to make sure she didn't try to escape, which she wasn't going to let happen since she knew exactly where the Silencerz base was, or she should anyway. Midnight frowned a bit and turned towards Karma who was looking at the sun rise. "Spill it Karma. Where are Vert and Zero?"
"How the hell should I know? They went through the portal didn't they? For all we know that could be racing through the Ex Tracks again." She kicked a few rocks that were next to her feet while she thought about how to get back to the others. A faint smile appeared on her face as she thought of two people that would come to get her if she did end up being stuck with these guys. "If I had to guess they are most likely in the Storm Zone right now."
"And if they aren't?"
"Then they're probably dead. I mean that car doesn't have unlimited gas, and Zero can only stay awake so long while racing. I mean how much energy do you think he's used up since he's been awake, I'm sure he will eventually collapse from exhaustion."
"Karma, can you tell us about the Silencerz team? I mean who exactly are they? Do they have anything to do with the bladers that we lost way back then?" Karma starred at her for a second and realized that they did deserve to know the truth; she had put them through a lot of pain making them think that some of their friends had been killed on the Ex Tracks. She thought for a while and sat down on the Ex Gear which was floating in the air. "Do you really want to know? I know everything that's happened since the first track Tez had everyone enter in."
"You guys have been fighting us since then?"
"Well not exactly…. We… Well….. I guess I'll go back to the beginning. Where it all began." In the distance a giant cloud of dust could be seen getting closer to them, Midnight squinted her eyes to see it was a giant green truck, when the truck got closer she could see that it was the Sweeper that the others had taken from the lab. Next to the giant truck were two cars, she guessed it was the two guys that had helped Vert fight off the drones. Madoka smiled slightly when she thought about seeing Kyoya again, it had been a while since she had seen him but to her it felt like more than a year had passed. She looked over at Karma who was still taking to Midnight; the brunette teen listened closely to what Karma was saying. "After Gwen had taken the original bey of power from its resting place in Ex City….."
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In a random part of California, Zero appeared in the sky above a small cliff side. The teen flew over the edge as his Acceleron clothes turned back into his original clothes. He was now in a half black/white jacket with his t-shirt and blue jeans, the teen fell off of his Ex Gear causing him to roll down the hill. The black haired teen continued to roll down the hill for a while before finally hitting soft dark green grass at the bottom; he looked around and grabbed his Ex Gear which had deactivated itself to protect itself from the fall. A smile formed on Zero's face when he saw the Gear hadn't gotten a single scratch on it. "Scrim Corporation." He thought to himself as his eyes began to close, the sun was setting and he had been through so much in the last few hours. The teen shielded his eyes from the sun when he saw someone riding a horse over to him. He could hear a Southern American accent from the person that was talking to him.
"Well look what the cow dragged in."
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Sorry this isn't as long as the last chapter but The Ultimate Race was specially made for people that read my stuff in five minutes and I'm not going to point them out….. (RinnyEjito12.) But you have to admit, splitting that chapter into two parts would be disrespecting the awesomeness that IS a race the Ultimate and AWESOME! Now my question here is, does learning about the Ex Tracks that opened before the Storm Zone interest anyone? Who's ready to find out how each of these bladers joined the Silencerz?
Next Chapter: The Swamp Lands