Chapter 5-Another Doppelganger! All Hope is Lost!?
So far, the plan was working okay. So far.
Asch and Luke had traveled to opposite ends of the planet to execute it. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Van to get in place.
Earlier in the week, Spinoza had come up with a plan that would cause the least amount of trouble. He decided that Asch and Luke each needed to go to either the Radiation or Absorption Gate, where they would wait for Van to meet them. After Van was at one of the gates, whoever was at that gate with him would need to cause him to free Lorelei, then throw him into the gate, providing the planet with the jump start of Seventh Fonons that it needed to get things going and get the Seventh Fonon back into facilitation.
In theory, it should work, but a plan of this scale had never been tested before.
And so it went that Asch and Luke stood at their respective gates, waiting for Van to show up, so that they could save the world.
(Asch, is Van there yet?) Luke closed his eyes and connected with his perfect isofon.
(Stop asking, idiot, if he was you would be the first to know!)
(Sorry.)
They had been waiting for hours. It didn't help that they didn't know how Spinoza was going to get Van to go to the gates, much less which gate he would go to. It was times like these that made Luke feel like acting petulant, like the long-haired version would. Of course, he couldn't, because that was the old Luke, and—
"It's good to see you again, Luke." Luke looked up to see Van walking towards him casually. "I thought I would find you here. Spinoza told me that you were still considering restarting the Planet Storm. You are such a fool."
"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about! This is what is best for Auldrant, and I'm going to make sure it happens!" Luke drew his sword from the sheath behind him.
"You intend to fight me? Alone? Nobody will save you if you lose, Luke."
"I won't lose."
Van laughed as he drew his sword. "Then we shall see…"
(Asch, Van's here! We are about to fight!)
(What are you talking about you stupid replica! He can't be there, he's here!)
Asch gripped his sword tighter where he stood, facing Van. Or was it Van? Luke said that Van was at the Radiation Gate. But here he was, standing at the Absorption Gate.
(No, he's here, I'm fighting him right now!)
Asch parried the blow that Van nearly landed on him. He jumped into the air and sank his blade into Van's arm when he landed. Van roared, but chased Asch relentlessly nonetheless. He swung his sword once, twice, three times, landing a blow on Asch's side. The thick armor prevented him from being cut, but it hurt anyways.
Asch jumped back from Van, out of breath.
"Are you really Van, or is this a ruse!?"
Whoever it was that was attacking Asch hadn't spoken a word since they had begun battling. In fact, he hadn't spoken a word at all. He just walked up to Asch and began attacking him.
(Asch! What's going on?)
(Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate!)
"Luke! Your fighting is careless. Do you want to die?" Van swung at Luke, blocked at the last second carelessly, allowing his sword to graze Luke's arm. Luke yelped, but began assaulting Van. He ran at him, sword raised, and swung, but Van jumped out of the way. When Luke turned around, he was greeted by a beam of light, and was blasted backwards against the pedestal. Van approached him and pointed his sword at Luke's neck.
"Any last words, foolish replica Luke?"
(Asch, he got me…)
(No! Wait! Don't give up yet!)
Asch landed the final blow on the man he was fighting, causing him to fall to the ground at Asch's feet. After a moment, the man started to fade away.
(I was fighting a replica, Luke! He must have gone after you thinking that you would be an easier target! You have to be careful, I'll be there as soon as I can!)
Asch turned around and ran towards the ramp. He stopped short when a well placed shot scored his arm, though. Looking up, he spotted Legretta
"It's over, Asch!" Legretta jumped down and landed in front of him, followed by Sync.
"There's nothing you can do now but cooperate! Don't give us any trouble!" Sync waved his hand and Asch's arms were bound behind his back.
(Luke, Legretta and Sync have me! I guess I won't be there after all.)
(What!? This is bad, we may die here. Wait…I know!)
Luke looked up at Van and began to laugh. "We did it, Master, we caught the renegade Asch. It's just as I planned with Spinoza. Everything is working great."
Van looked puzzled, but a look of satisfaction donned on his face. "I'm proud of you, Luke, that was a very conniving thing to do. I'm surprised…but still proud." Van extended his hand and pulled Luke up.
"We need to get to the Absorption Gate, where they are holding Asch."
"Yes, it is only a matter of time before he overpowers them. That man is resilient."
(Luke, what are you doing!?)
(Play along. We'll be out of this in no time…)