CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Sydney yawned and rubbed his eyes.
He had been working for the better of three days at that point and he wasn't sure if he was doing what the people that were holding him captive wanted. The only good thing about it was the fact that he was able to listen in on random conversations to see what was going on. It also helped that SpiritSaru was around to keep him from going insane though with his brain that would take a while.
He looked over the weapons that were in front of him. ID trackers, rocket launchers, blueprints for missiles, if it weren't for the fact that each of those weapons didn't have their ammunition along with them, Sydney would be afraid to even think about how he was making them even better. On the other hand, he was essentially worried about who the weapons were supposed to be used for. It couldn't be them or else they wouldn't be held captive at that point, so was there something else that they knew that was coming?
Of course they do, Sydney busied himself with a soldering iron. The government wouldn't be the government if they weren't trying to keep us all from freaking out over what they really know.
"Your government runs like that?" SpiritSaru's voice filled Sydney's head.
Yes. Sydney squinted his eyes shut as he looked over the conjoined joint that he made. The government and the president is what holds the power over the US, it's the Prime Minister in Australia. Why? Do you have something like that?
"No." Sydney pictured SpiritSaru shaking his head. "We just followed the lead of Geneva and Gattaca. Since they controlled Light and Darkness, they were the ones that essentially ruled the Element World. The only difference was that the only time that they really stepped in to make decisions was when a war would start to break out or power was starting to shift."
How could you tell if power was shifting? Sydney slowly lowered his solder iron.
"The drums. There would be a specific song that the drums would make and we would all know that something was going on. Under Geneva and Gattaca, there were those that were appointed to signaling if there was something going o that they had to report to. The people were switched out all the time. When we were back there…before we came to you guys, we heard them a lot"
Sydney slowly lifted his head, pushing his dark hair out of his face as he thought hard. SpiritSaru had said that they would be acknowledged if something was going wrong. But he then said that the same thing happened when he and the guardians were still back there, and that was when Geneva and Gattaca had already gone back to Bailey.
Sydney's mouth dropped open.
That meant that there was someone or something else that was using its power over the Element world. Someone or something that the others didn't know about….but what?
He wracked his brain as hard as he could to come up with the answer, but came up with nothing. For the first time in his life, he had been completely stumped. "SpiritSaru," he spoke out loud, causing his guardian to appear in front of him. "Can you show me anything that I need to know about?"
"I'll do my best," SpiritSaru replied. "I can't guarantee that you'll find whatever you're looking for." SpiritSaru moved his paws and tail at the same time, swishing them back and forth. As he did so, the room filled with a blue mist. The mist then formed into the shapes of him and his friends before they started to act our different scenarios and conversations that they have had over the years as their battle with Core, WingzCorp, and Halo Syndicate had gone on.
Sydney sat on his bed; his legs crossed, and held his chin in his knees as he watched years of different events fly by.
His eyebrows rose when SpiritSaru reached one from when Zhane was hell-bent on getting to Bailey:
"Whatever," Koto took out a cigarette and lit it up, blowing smoke rings into the air. "You guys are always talking, never doing. That's what makes us so different." He tilted his head down again, looking serious, his green eyes flashing. "If you would actually believe me, you would know that what WingzCorp has been doing this whole time as been trying to help you."
"Explain" Rhuben commanded.
"I can't disclose all the details-"
"When can you?" Crystal interrupted.
"But like I was saying before, we know that Halo Syndicate is up to something, we don't know exactly, but there's a way that they're going to destroy everybody in the world. Humans and Elementals alike, only they will be the ones that survive and they're going to start their own 'elemental race' when they're done. What we know is that in a year and a half this is going to happen."
"You mean in 2012?" Bailey asked, wrinkling her nose.
"That's the idea, they-"
"Stop!" Sydney cried, throwing his hands up into the air. "Stop there." SpiritSaru froze the image and Sydney looked at it intently, running everything over his head. His eyes then widened and he waved a hand, allowing SpiritSaru to take away the image. "2012….2012…" he repeated.
"Did you think of something?" SpiritSaru asked, noticing the stricken expression on Sydney's face.
"There's this thing that people think that the government was behind that caused massive panic," Sydney explained quickly. "No one knows if it'll really happen, but considering everything that's been going on, I think it really will." He licked his lips. "On December 21st, 2012, it is speculated that the world is going to end. I mean, catastrophically end. If the Element world is linked into that then I think I know what's going on. The government knows that the world is going to end on that day and they know it's going to be because of an Elemental reason and since you said that there's something going on back in the Element World than it's obvious that there's something else that's there that's causing all of this. And I know of only one thing that can control light and darkness along with every other element you can think of."
"What's that?" SpiritSaru asked.
"Mother Nature," Sydney replied grimly. He turned back to the tools and equipment that was on his desk. "And if I'm right, which I hope I'm not, we're going to need more than this to stop her."
Tapeworm twitched in his sleep, he could hear a voice calling him through his dreams, like it had happened before. He could tell that it was Max, but he wasn't sure if it was going to help them figure out anything else that they needed to know.
"Tape…wake up," Max called. Tapeworm opened his eyes and spotted Max standing by his bed. She was leaning over so that his hair was tickling his face. Max smiled as she stood up straight, twisting her hair into the braided pig-tails that she was used to. "Nice to see you finally awake, sleepy head." She teased.
"What's going on?" Tapeworm looked over the room, the others were fast asleep. He briefly wondered if he was the only one that she was in communication with.
"Of course," Max looked offended. "The only other person that could see me is Sydney, considering his element is Spirits, but I'm not sure if he's managed to tap into the fact that I've been around. He's seemed sort of busy lately."
"Have you been with us since you…" Tapeworm trailed off.
"Of course," Max said with a nod. "I've been with you guys since me and Koto died and since the guardians went back to the Element World three months ago." She shook her head. "I didn't expect things to get this bad, but they might become worse if we don't try to stall things ourselves first."
"Wait a minute," Tapeworm stood up and towered over his significantly shorter girlfriend. "Does that mean that you know who's the one that's behind everything?" He reached out to grip onto her shoulders and gasped when his hands moved right through her. "Wha-?"
"Oops," Max gave a silly smile. "I forgot to make sure that I focused my energy enough so you wouldn't freak out." Her smile faded before she nodded. "But, yes, I know what's going on with everything. I couldn't tell you before, but I can now. You're not going to believe me when I do."
"I don't doubt you," Tapeworm agreed. He frowned. Would that voice come back to haunt him again? He wondered if that voice was what was the big villain that they were fighting against this whole time? It wouldn't be the first time that something like that had happened. There was always something that they didn't seem coming that came back to bite them in the ass later, so he was equipped to guess what it was.
"All right," Max reached out and took Tapeworm's hands. "Hold still."
Once again, he felt exhausted. His lids fell, he tried, in vain, to keep them open, but he couldn't help it. He had to close his eyes. When he opened them again, Max was standing in front of him and they were back in the Element World. He could hear the drums that he head the last time that they were there. Ursa appeared at his side.
"Those drums are a warning," Max said, answering his unasked question. "They are used when a battle is coming or when there's a balance shift in this world." She turned and looked hard at him. "There's been a balance shift for a long time." She paused and studied him. "Do you know what they call the name of the drums?"
"A Mystic Melody," Ursa said.
Max nodded.
Mystic Melody, huh? Tapeworm continued to listen to the drums. "You said that there was an imbalance of power?" He thought for a moment. "If they were playing since I was here last, then this has been going on for a while."
Max nodded again.
"And if Gattaca and Geneva are with Bailey….then there's something else that we didn't know about that's the real source of power over the Element World." Tapeworm looked down at his guardian. "It must have been the same person that has been taking control of our guardians when they were coming back to us." He added. Ursa let out a low growl in his throat, thinking back to the time that he had attacked Tapeworm and Bailey at his house.
"By the way," Max moved up to Tapeworm's side and glared up at him. "I hope that nothing's going on between you and Bailey." She said sharply. "Because even though I'm dead, I'm still able to-"
"Relax," Tapeworm gave a small smile. "Bailey's with Cody, nothing can tear them apart, they're perfect."
Max shook her head. "Nothing's perfect," she said quietly. "Especially love. Those that seem the most perfect together usually aren't the ones that end up together." She shook her head. "The same can be said about what's going on here. There's the perfect solution to everything, but it doesn't end up being the complete answer."
"We always assume that it's the darkness that's the one behind everything," Tapeworm said slowly. "But maybe it's not…maybe it's something else that controls the darkness." He watched Max as she slowly smiled, indicating that he was on the right path. "Maybe there's something else that's been there the whole time that we didn't think of."
Max sighed and reached out, taking Tapeworm's hand in hers, holding onto it tightly. Tapeworm allowed her to lead him through the forest, Ursa was walking at their side, turning his head this way and that, watching to see if they were about to be ambushed. As they continued through the wooded area, Tapeworm could hear a low rumbling. He looked up to see dark clouds rolling in.
"Uh-oh, it looks like rain," he said worriedly.
"Mhm," Max said, dismissively, looking off into the distance. She sighed, a sigh of resolute peace.
One by one, cool drops of water fell upon their skin. As the rain and hit the ground, it steamed up around them, creating a haunting, beautiful fog. It came down harder and harder by the second.
"You know," Max said suddenly. "We've never kissed in the rain before."
Tapeworm studied her; just like any other time that he had seen her, she looked happy, but had an air of sadness in her eyes. She turned back to him and managed to smile, although her eyes didn't light up. Tapeworm placed his hand behind her neck, and he brought his head towards her. Their lips brushed tentatively, finally sinking into a kiss.
A passionate kiss.
A flash lit up the sky, and a crack of thunder echoed across the lake...it was now time to go. The wind picked up, the cool air biting at their skin.
"We should get going," Tapeworm said his arms suddenly filled with goosebumps. Max shook her head, standing still. "What's going on?" He asked her. Lighting flashed again and this time there was a loud rumbling sound. He looked around, surprised to see that even more steam was being created about them. Ursa's growling increased and he turned to his full size.
"Something is coming this way," he said.
Tapeworm took a step back, his hands glowing green.
"She wanted to meet you, to give you a message," Max said in a dull tone.
Tapeworm watched as a shadow appeared in the fog, getting bigger as it moved closer to them. As it got closer, he could make out the shape of a human. He gasped when she finally stepped into the light. She was wearing the same sort of outfit that Geneva and Gattaca did, but it looked even more extravagant. She had a large crown on her head that looked to be made out of stripped and polished bark. The bright green gem that sat in the middle of the crown gleamed even though there was poor light source. She looked at Tapeworm with a calm expression, though he could sense the power that she held inside.
"Mother Nature," Ursa gasped. "I thought she was a myth."
"I'm as real as they come," Mother Nature said with a warm smile. Behind her, humans walked out of the shadows. "I'm sure that my arbori showed you that I can easily take control of what I want." Her green eyes flashed.
Bailey opened her eyes and held her hands out palms out. Her hands started to glow a light gray color and as she held them out, little wisps of energy flowed off of her hands, twisting and twirling through the air as they headed over towards Ursa. As the two watched the wisps of energy collected into a ball and landed on Ursa's forehead as he pulled back from the wall once more, getting ready to hit his head against it. The wisps stayed on his forehead for a second and then lifted off, up into the air, something glowing inside of it. As the wisps continued to hover in the air, whatever was glowing broke apart and crumbled into dust that fell to the carpet.
Ursa let out a little whine as he slumped onto his stomach, closing his eyes. In two quick flashes, he turned into his human form and then turned into his small form.
Tapeworm quickly glowed green before hurrying over to his guardian, picking him up into his arms. "Ursa." He whispered. "Are you ok?"
"I didn't mean it, Master Tapeworm," Ursa whispered back, his eyes opening slowly. "Something was taking me over."
"It's alright, it wasn't your fault." Tapeworm replied with a small smile.
"You're the one that took him over!" Tapeworm cried, his eyes widening. "And the others too, you're the one that was trying to keep them from coming back to us." His hands clenched into fists and they glowed a brighter green. Mother Nature seemed the least bit distressed. "Why?"
"This has been planned for years," Mother Nature said in a deliberately slow voice. "Nothing's going to stand in my way now, not those that I'm supposed to have control over." Her smiled dropped, her calm exterior cracking. "That's why they all had to come back. I couldn't have them ruin my plans. There's not much time left…"
Tapeworm clenched his teeth together. Everything was answered for him now, who they were going against, what had been taking the guardians over. This was who they were trying to defeat over the past six or seven years. All of those other things were just pawns that got in the way and distracted them from the big event. Part of him wanted to congratulate her having lied in wait to utilize her powers when she needed it, but the other part was beyond pissed. They had seen families get torn apart and people die all for something that they didn't have to worry about. If they had known that this was going to happen, then maybe the Jacksons' parents, Crystal's mother, Max, and Koto wouldn't have died. Then maybe WingzCorp wouldn't have been made. Then maybe Halo Syndicate wouldn't have happened. Then maybe Mother Nature wouldn't have sat back and watched as Gattaca used his powers for evil.
"My son and daughter had done all that they needed to do to keep peace around the Element World," Mother Nature continued. "But they didn't know that there are some things that you can't anticipate." She shook her head. "You can't stop me, no one can."
"What about the Stones?" Tapeworm asked. "They can give us more increased power."
"Even if you could get all of the stones in your possession, you still won't be able to defeat me," Mother Nature said, sounding disappointed. "There will be too much doubt and fear that will course through your veins. The prophecy won't come true."
"You don't know that," Tapeworm spat. He moved his arms in a circle and the trees around him uprooted themselves and were thrown towards Mother Nature.
Mother Nature raised a hand, glowing green, and the trees disintegrated before they even touched her. Tapeworm watched in shock before he felt himself get lifted off of his feet and was thrown to the ground. Ursa hurried over to his master. He hesitated, not sure if he should attack Mother Nature. He had seen her power and didn't think that he would stand an iota of a chance against her.
"Oh, but I do," Mother Nature confirmed. "You might as well sit back and wait for the end, it's coming soon. You're not going to be able to stop me." She then narrowed her eyes while she looked hard at him. He could hear her voice in his head, though her lips didn't move. "If you leave I will find you. If you die I will follow you. You're not going to get rid of me."
Tapeworm gasped.
Tapeworm gasped and his eyes shot open. He sat up, knocking Cody off of his side, jostling him awake. He looked around the room to see that everyone else was still asleep; Patrick and Aaron were leaning against Crystal's side as they slept, Bailey was leaning on Cody, who had been leaning on Tapeworm, and Zack had been in another corner of the room, he had fallen asleep with his arm extended, his hand clenched tight.
"What?" Cody was alarmed. "What's going on?"
"Shh," Tapeworm shushed him. "Don't wake everyone else up, not yet. I need to think." He put his hands into his bushy hair, willing everything to come back to him. It was a flash of information; it gave him a headache almost immediately.
"Tape, what'd you dream about?" Cody asked, immediately sensing what was wrong. "You know that dreams are really important with us, what was it?"
"If my dream is of any indication," Tapeworm looked at his watch, looking specifically at the date. "We don't have much time left…only about a week and a half tops. By those means…we're in trouble."
A/N: I purposefully didn't tell you guys that the reveal of the antagonist of the story was going to be so soon, because I wanted to keep it a surprise. I had looked at something I mentioned back in Mystic Melody and decided to make it the plot point for this story in a unique way. Did any of you guys guess it before I said anything?
I'll update again soon.
Cheers,
-Riles