A New World
This chapter is really long. And late. Sorry. It got deleted after I finished it the first time and I didn't have time to rewrite it until last week.
You know the drill: don't own the manga/anime or game.
Admittedly, exploding a fuel tank inside a cave system with him inside could now be one of the stupidest and reckless thing he's ever done.
Even when Alfred braced himself against the ledge, that didn't stop him from stumbling as the whole cavern shook when the fuel tank exploded.
Looking up, Alfred noticed a small exit revealed itself from where the debris and fuel tank had previously been. As quick as he could, Alfred hopped down from his perch. The shaking cavern had not allowed him to catch his footing when he landed, this caused him to trip over his own feet. Jumping to his feet, Alfred quickly pulled himself up onto the new ledge created by the explosive. Once he scrambled his way up, he finally noticed something important.
That exit from before?
It was slowly shrinking.
There was a boulder above it that was slowly losing its stability.
As quickly as he could, America crouched into the closing low tunnel.
One step in, he could hear and feel the walls around him vibrate and rumble
Two steps in, he could see a clear, more stable passage ahead of him.
Three steps in, his face almost slammed into the ground.
Something was wrapped around his right foot
"Ugh!" cried a voice behind him.
At this point, Alfred started lashing out blindly.
"Hey, let go!" Alfred roared, because fuck this crazy man.
Half of him was trying to crawl away from his abductor. Nails digging into the dirt and thrashing. There were more important things than Mr. Crazy right now. The cavern was still shaking. The small passage was about to collapse. As much as he kind of planned for it, America didn't plan to get crushed if he didn't need to.
The other half of Alfred was attempting to kick the shirtless man in the face.
The tussle lasted only three seconds.
Alfred's thrashing had managed to get a hit on the other man (Sadly, not the face). It caused the crazy man to simultaneously let go of Alfred's foot and throw him back.
Now free, Alfred bodily threw himself away from the unstable tiny passage.
Just in time for it to collapse behind him.
"Oh shit, that was close"
His breathing was now erratic.
His forearm and knees hurt in the familiar way of a scrape or a cut.
His puncture wound felt like it was lit on fire. Being dragged onto his stomach hadn't helped.
"Hey!" came a voice from behind the wreckage "Come back!"
America turned away from the wreckage and towards the rest of the path because, once again, fuck this crazy man.
Walking along the path only lasted a meter. More specifically, the actual path only lasted a meter. The path was flooded with water, but it looked manageable to swim through.
So, America swam.
While it was a cramped swim, he was always a good swimmer so there was nearly no problem.
Thank god, I didn't take after Artie with this
At the end of the passage was a huge enclosed cavern. To his left was a whole wall of rubbish and three fuel tanks (wow, does Mr. Crazy want this place blown up?), every so often a new piece of debris would join the wall via a steady stream of water. To his right, was a huge waterfall and a ramp. Behind said waterfall was a large comptraction connected to the ramp and a small fire pit.
The only way out was to blow stuff up again.
America couldn't take a torch directly to the fuel tank without it going out because the waterfall would simply drown the flame.
America glanced at the contraption.
He let out a large sigh, his shoulders sagging in sync and his head drooped.
This just . . . a big puzzle. Yeah. It's just a game.
Looking back up, America eyed everything critically.
I've played harder games.
It took him longer than he would have liked. But as America watched flaming crates slide down the ramp towards the wall, all he could feel was a sense of triumph.
Hopping down from his perch and into the water, America quickly braced himself on the nearby rocks.
The explosion that came next shook the very foundation of the cave.
Wooden pillars burned and collapsed.
Boulders and rocks of different sizes fell from the ceiling.
The explosion once again cleared the way to a new passage. This one, however, was different. Daylight could be seen in the distance.
This was all Alfred needed to see.
He ran through the rushing water as best as he could toward the new passage. The fastest he could manage was a slow trudging.
A rock scraped him on his right biceps.
A boulder collapsed mere feet from him.
Almost there.
As America got closer to the passage, he also rose from the water. Its original depth that reached his chest now only touched his thighs. Finally, America's feet hit solid ground.
After the first couple of stumbling steps out of the water, America managed to gain his balance as best as he could in a collapsing cave.
And took off in a sprint.
Everything was shaking and rumbling, from the walls to the floor. occasional pebbles and rocks would bounce off his body. The passage was dark, save for the exit ahead.
Alfred continued down the passage toward the light in a blind, blundering sprint. Ahead was a fork in the cave system, daylight spilled in from the left.
Almost there.
Just then, as if to spite him, the passage on the left collapsed.
Feet slid, throwing body momentum to the right passage. Arms shot up to protect his head. America's reflexes kicked in quick enough to avoid death once again.
He dashed down the new passage, his pace now slower and wearier. The roar of the earth around him was almost deafening.
Don't stop.
Alfred's breath came in pants, irregular as they were. His heart was pounding. His face was caked in a layer of dust, blood, and dirt that obscured his vision more than it already was. A now familiar searing pain was being felt in his abdomen.
Don't stop.
The earth all around Alfred shifted once again.
That was his only warning before the ceiling in front collapse taking the ground under his feet with him.
"Uaah!"
Alfred collapsed on a lower level, but his descent didn't stop there. As rocks slide down the steep and narrow chamber, so did he.
"Agh!"
In an effort to try and stop himself, Alfred attempted to use his booted feet as a makeshift anchor.
"Gah!"
This was all done in vain, though they did steer him away from the branches that rested along the walls.
Suddenly, America came to a realization he was sliding rather quickly towards a barrier. It was really just pieces of wood haphazardly placed together– definitely not something that had a chance at stopping a 177 cm (5'9.6") man going what felt like 30 mph.
In a shower of dirt and broken wood, he lands in a lower passageway. There is no time to stop and check on all his new scrapes, not when the floor was shifting so dangerously.
He scrambles away, not looking back. That doesn't stop him from both hearing and feeling the floor behind him collapsing.
As he runs, America can feel the rubble bouncing off his skin. Some are unnoteworthy and are little more than an annoyance. Others will leave a colorful bruise.
None stop his pace.
Because he can once again see distant lights.
America clambers up a slope and only has moments to register that he has to jump. The cave is still collapsing right at his heels.
He takes the leap and only barely manages to catch himself on the other side. It's a struggle to pull himself quickly, especially with the way it stretches his wound. He does so anyway.
A rock scraped on his back.
No time.
This new platform is shaking, crumbling, and shifting. There is barely any time before he has to jump again.
This time he successfully lands on his feet.
A wooden structure plummets to the bottom of the cavern to his right. America hardly notices it.
Keep going.
"Ahh!"
Alfred jumps again and this time catches himself with his upper body. At this point, he could feel his abdomen stretching the wound and tearing at the makeshift stitches painfully.
It takes a second (too slow, hurry up) to get his bearings and heave himself back on his feet. The collapsing of the whole cave system behind him is a motivator.
Back on his feet, he continues as best and quick as he can.
Go.
In front of America is only a narrow opening, no more jumping (Thank god).
Go.
He weaves past a corner and move forward into a narrow passage
Go.
Just before America could clear the route, an enormous boulder slams down in front of him on the narrow passage but it miraculously held up by cave walls. The boulder makes the only exit a low tunnel.
The only exit was slowly closing.
Shit. Go.
America, while using the momentum from his running, throws himself under the boulder. His desperate dive lands him halfway across the makeshift tunnel.
he scrambles himself away from the tunnel little by little and as quickly as possible.
. . .
Until his feet were once again grabbed.
"Agh!?"
Alfred tries to scramble away from his abductor with more urgency than before. Everything's collapsing and the ceiling to this unstable tunnel was a mere foot away from his head.
Fuck this crazy man.
Alfred twists his body around and began to flail his legs for all he was worth.
"Let go you Bastard!" Dirt fell into his mouth when he screamed this.
At this rate, the boulder was going to kill them both because this idiot won't move.
I am not going to die because someone else decides to be an idiot.
Not me, not today.
In a bout of determination and stubbornness, America wrenching one foot out of his abductors grasp. And kicked Mr. Crazy directly in the face. His abductors face snaps in one direction by the force of the kick and his hands loose from their grip on Alfred's boot.
That gave America enough time to lunges out of the way of the boulder.
It takes him a second to get back up on his feet and continue running but that doesn't stop him from hearing it.
"Ugh, Ugh, AHH!"
Fucker got what he deserved after what he did to Steph.
At this point, the scramble with Mr. Crazy left Alfred out of breath. His huffing now seemed to morph into a wheezing, but there's no time to catch his breath as the ceiling collapses from above and the walls began to cave in from all sides.
SHIT!
FUCK!
All too soon does America need to make another desperate lunge across a gap, this one significantly wider than the ones before.
"Ahhh!"
Alfred doesn't land on anything flat this time. No, what he lands on is a slope that has him sliding down it.
The rocks bounce off slope hitting him do not help him, whatsoever. Nonetheless, Alfred gropes at any surface as he slides, but he still can't get a grip.
For a horrifying second, America feels his body slip from the rocks. He somehow manages to hang on to the edge of the slope.
And in an another bout of energy (self-preservation, really), he pulls himself up and uses the ledge a springboard to start his crawl to freedom.
In the distance, he could see daylight once again.
America was tired, hungry, thirsty, and hurt.
But nothing was going to stop him now that he was so close.
Alfred's arms and legs were moving at a fast pace clamber.
All around, he could both feel and hear the cave finally giving in on itself. Rocks ricocheted from different directions to another.
None of this slowed America down.
What did was a boulder heading right for him.
SHIT!
Keeping one hand lodged in its spot as an anchor in the steep slope, America threw himself away from the falling boulder.
Alfred returned to his crawl, now more frantically than before.
Almost there!
His knees and elbows hurt.
Shit.
His abdomen felt like it could literally be killing him.
Fuck.
But that doesn't matter because he is almost there!
Alfred continues his scrambling uphill, much less coordinated as he nears the exit.
Only then does it process that the light is getting smaller.
SHIT!
Ever so slowly another boulder (fuck these rocks) was closing the exit.
GO!
A rock hit his foot. It doesn't matter. His already limited sight gets worse as the only source of light narrows.
GO!
Alfred loses his balance for a millisecond- wasted time. He can only see the exit, everything else is black.
GO!
America hates the dark.
Everything hurts.
His legs, arms, back and stomach.
Most of all his eyes.
"Nugh!" America breaches the surface of the once cave like a whale. He is gasping for air like one, too.
He drags his body a couple feet away from the hole he popped out from (like a fucking daisy).
Alfred then looks up. Not much can be seen from his spot on the ground. That doesn't matter because right now even in his spot, Alfred could see the sky.
Still gasping, he finally lets himself drop his head onto the ground.
He had been down in that cave system for hours. If he wasn't so happy to seen the sky, he would be cursing it. It was just too bright for his eyes right now.
So that's where the current superpower is, on the floor with his head tucked into his arms.
If asked America could honestly say that he don't even know how long laid there.
5 minutes?
30 minutes?
Not long enough in his opinion.
Grunting, America rose from the ground. His body once again reminded him of how everything hurt.
His shoulder and back were probably covered in bruises. The puncture wound from before probably looks awful now. He felt light-headed.
It doesn't matter. It'll be healed in an hour.
Alfred took a few stumbled steps, only to fall after the first five.
"Ah . . ." wincing he once again rose from ground much more slowly and carefully than his other attempt.
Finally, Alfred makes it to the edge, the edge of a cliff he realizes belatedly. He can see the beach and the ocean that touches it.
More importantly, America also sees enormous jagged rocks that have done an impressive job of collecting a ship graveyard. Ships from different eras, both modern and old litter the beach as far as Alfred could see. Not only that, there are just as many skeletons of planes that are scattered here and there. From Cargos to Fighters
Damn, that's a lot of shit.
Where am I?
Thinking back, America tried to backtrack his memory. With the force of the numerous boulders America has almost been crushed by today, a thought hit him
Where are the others?
I hope you guys liked this because it was such a pain to rewrite it all over after doing it once. If you have time please send feedback.