Chapter 5 Soldiers of Darkness
While at Big Green, Xin was receiving a lecture from Apetrully.
"The animals are not our enemy." he explained, "We want to make peace with them so it can be how it was before High Roller corrupted the animals."
Xin curled his hand into a ball, "I can not forgive these animals for driving my father to his grave. I will never forgive these traitors. Never!"
"What's wrong with you?" Mighty Ray blurted out again, "High Roller is the main enemy not the animals. They were tricked by him!"
"Tricked?" Xin spat, "Those dirty monsters were bribed! After so many years of peace between the humans and animals why NOW would they think that the humans were their enemies?" his eyes weld up with tears, "It just shows that the animals never had any faith in us since the beginning."
"These animals do not understand how cunning High Roller is, even though he was just a jester." Mystique Sonia explained.
"It just takes a small amount of effort to make these animals realize that humans are their friends." Lin Chung added.
"You…" the prince snarled, "You care more about these filthy creatures than you care about restoring the proper order of the Liang Family. I should've never bothered joining Big Green." He turned ran from the group wanting to be as far away as possible.
"Xin!" Mystique Sonia called out.
Jumpy's heart sank. He has never met a human that was so angry at his kind.
Apetrully sighed, "If I knew this was going to happen, I would have never let Prince Xin join Big Green." he took a deep breath, "Hopefully by tomorrow we can help the prince return to where he and his family are hiding."
First Squad disbanded for the night. A good night sleep should be able to ease the remorse for the injured wolf.
At the middle of the night, Xin snuck out of his room, with his belongings packed and crept around Big Green to find an exit. He tiptoed through where the heroes' rooms were at, but Jumpy's keen sense of hearing caught the foot steps. He slowly then quickly opened his door and noticed the prince sneaking out. Xin saved his relationship with his teammates. Jumpy knew it was his duty to make sure the Prince does not get himself into danger and followed him.
Xin was unaware of Jumpy following him and managed to make it outside where a boat was conveniently placed. The boy jumped down to the boat and paddled away. Jumpy watched the boy drift away and tapped the water to call the Octopus King. He explained that he needed to go underwater to follow the prince without being seen by him. The king blew a bubble that worked as a helmet for Jumpy to breathe underwater. He then swam through the waters with Octopus King, following the butt of the boat.
The boat reached land. The prince hopped off it and began wandering across the land. Jumpy and the Octopus King slowly raised themselves from the waters letting the prince get the first few steps before following him.
"Thanks." the Rabbit King whispered as he popped his air bubble and slowly followed the prince.
Xin walked aimlessly through the woods. He did not know where to go or what to do.
"I know I have to overthrow High Roller." He spoke to himself.
You must become stronger… Strong enough to fight High Roller and his army of traitors…
"Yes. Yes, I know." he replied, "But where do I go?"
Live among the humans… Feed on their hatred and fear… Destroy the animals that oppress them…
The prince paused, still walking, "Where do I start?"
About to sneak into Big Green, the Zebra Brother's night as been made easier. They spotted the princess talking to herself.
"Yes!" Sparky White quietly exclaimed, "Luck is on our side!"
"We can disorient her by making her live in her darkest fear." Sparky Black replied and their Ghost Lanterns glowed.
"Let's follow her farther away from Big Green." the white zebra suggested, "We have to make sure no one can save her."
"Right." the black zebra nodded and the two followed her.
Xin noticed a trail of skulls off in the distance. Curiosity took over him and he decided to follow the skulls, not knowing that they were leading him to a pitfall. Xin fell through the sheet that looked like the ground and fell deep inside the hole. The Zebra brothers watched her plummet and realized that she was in the lair of the Soldiers of Darkness. They remembered the last time they confronted the Soldiers of Darkness, it did not end well for the Zebras. They were reluctant to jump back down, and plus the full moon was covered by clouds. They had no choice but to wait. Seconds later, they saw First Squad member, Jumpy Ghostface, going towards the princess's direction.
"If we capture him, too, we can get an even bigger reward from Master High Roller." one of them spoke.
The other nodded, but they still could not do anything until the moon exposes itself.
Jumpy found the trail of skulls and realized that if Xin meets the Soldiers of Darkness he will join them since they both hate animals. Jumpy had to go find him before Xin joins the Soldiers of Darkness.
As Xin finally hit the bottom, he stood up weakly and glanced around at his surroundings. It was dark and barely lit from the blue flames of the candles. Men from the shadows walked up to the boy about to attack, but realized that it was just a human boy.
"Kid, what are you doing here?" one of them asked.
"I fell in." Xin got up on his feet, "Who are you?"
"We are the Soldiers of Darkness. Come with us and we'll tell you more." another one explained.
Xin was still curious and decided to follow these men deeper into the caves. They stopped in his huge room that was much brighter than the room he fell into. There was a larger, bearded man behind a podium and he seemed to be the leader of these Soldiers of Darkness.
"I AM THE COMMANDER OF DARKNESS!" he screamed out, blowing out half of the candles with his voice, "WHO ARE YOU?"
"M-My name is Liang Xin. I fell in here by accident. I'm sorry if I bothered you." he bowed.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" the commander screamed into the air, blowing out the rest of the candles, then started to scream in fear, "Scary darkness! Scary! Scary!"
One of his men lighted the candle on top of the commander's head and then the rest of the candles on the stands. Xin was puzzled. They are called the Soldiers of Darkness and their leader is nyctophobic. It was pretty ironic, the prince thought.
The commander hopped down his stand and walked up to the boy, "You shouldn't be walking around here at this time of night. Animals will attack you and throw you into the darkness."
"I'm not afraid of filthy animals. I exist to punish them." Xin said with spite.
The commander grinned, "Say, kid, why don't you join us? We seem to be fighting for the same cause."
These men prefer fighting animals over befriending them… We should join their ranks…
"Alright." Xin grinned.
The commander gave Xin the uniform to match his men, "Wear this, kid. I'll make you look threatening and help you blend in the darkness."
"Yes, sir." the boy took the clothes.
"You came just in time too. We were about to infiltrate Flamingo Castle and kidnap the flamingos there." he grinned, "Get changed and we'll go head off."
Xin smiled, "Yes, sir!" he ran off to get changed.
Jumpy found the hole and realized that since the hole was uncovered, Xin must have fallen in. He immediately jumped down, and confronted the Soldiers of Darkness. He then saw Xin in their uniform.
"Xin! Don't do this!" Jumpy almost begged.
"An animal?" the Commander snarled, "GET HIM!"
Xin obeyed his new commander and started fighting Jumpy with his blades.
"Xin, stop! We're teammates!" Jumpy dodged his attacks along with the swords from the other members of the Soldiers of Darkness.
Xin snarled and attacked viciously at the rabbit king.
ATTACK THE RABBIT!… SHOW HIM NO MERCY!…
When the full moon was finally uncovered, the Zebra brothers created ghostly minions from their lanterns and sent them inside. When they dropped in, they noticed that Jumpy was fighting with the Princess and the Soldiers of Darkness. The battle caught the attention of everyone and they did not notice that the ghostly minions were blocking all the exits. When the commander finally noticed the ghosts, he became terrified because these could only exist because of the Zebra Brothers.
"Soldiers of Darkness! Let's get out of here!" the commander screamed and started running off.
"What?" Xin was shocked.
COWARDS!… IS THERE NO MAN WITH COURAGE?… PATHETIC!…
The Soldiers of Darkness tried to escape but all exits were blocked. The Zebra Brothers descended down into the pit.
"There you are, Prince!" one of the brothers exclaimed.
"We have orders from Master High Roller to bring you to him!" the other added.
Xin stepped back, "High Roller found me?"
They called you a prince… High Roller must think you are really a prince…
"Surrender now!" the brothers commanded.
"Never!" Xin shouted and launched towards them to attack them.
The brothers used their minions to stop him. Jumpy felt that it was his duty to make sure the Zebra Brothers do not capture Xin. He threw grenades at the zebras, but the minions got in the way. He used his jump rope to get near Xin and protect him.
"What are you doing?" Xin asked with a small hint of spite.
"I'm protecting you." Jumpy explained, "That's what friends do."
Xin stared at the rabbit, "Protecting me?"
A rabbit can not protect you…
Xin ignored Jumpy's words and headed straight for the Zebra Brothers. The two lanterns kissed which formed a large bright aura. The essence from the lanterns touched the prince and he felt like he was being taken to another world.
The world was black, in fact he was in a dungeon with no windows. His hands were bound above his head, and jerked about trying to get free. Then a light from the doorway appeared. He squinted his eyes from the brightness but noticed that High Roller was walking from that doorway towards him.
"Get away from me, you toad!" he spat backing up against the wall.
"Oh, Princess Qiao." he cooed, "I've been waiting for you."
"No! NO!" she screamed, and screamed in reality as well. The Zebra brothers took this chance to bind her up and throw her in a cage as she mentally fought with High Roller.
Jumpy saw what the brothers did, and tried to make his way towards Xin, but these minions would not stop coming. He created a force field with his jump rope and bulldozed down the minions to get to the escaping Zebra brothers.
While Jumpy fought off the minions, Xin was trying to fight off High Roller.
"Stop it! Get off me!" she screamed.
He laughed maniacally about to touch something that was never suppose to be touch till he was pulled off by a tall white figure and then thrown across the room where he faded away. The scenery changed and now she was in a white room that seemed to be infinitely wide
She looked up at the figure, "Sima?" His pale white face smiled warmly at her, "Sima!" she ran over to hug him for saving her life. She glanced up to him. He had a handsome, masculine face, and his eyes were just like hers: jade green. His long flowing white hair floated in the air as if he was a celestial being. His clothing was pure white and all together with his beautiful face, he was like an angel.
Those zebras made you relive your nightmare… Awaken and take your revenge on them…
Xin was able to wake up from the nightmare thanks to her inner voice. However the nightmare of reality was not yet over. She is stuck in a metal cage being carried away. She then noticed and watched Jumpy fight off the minions still trying to rescue her.
"Jumpy is still trying to save me?" she asked herself.
Jumpy continued ramming down the minions with his force field and rammed into the brothers. The impact made their lanterns break and all the minions disappeared. The zebras, seeing that they are powerless, ran off to escape. The Soldiers of Darkness, who were once cowering in fear of the ghostly minions, chased after the zebras once they figured that they were powerless. Jumpy opened Xin's cage and helped him out of it.
"Jumpy…" the prince was speechless. An animal saved his life, even though he was so cruel and cold to them.
"I've made peace with the humans. I'm sorry if I hurt you." he spoke.
Xin paused and then gave Jumpy a great big hug, "No, I should be sorry. I'm so sorry for being blinded by my own hatred."
"I forgive you." the rabbit hugged back.
No… Do not believe… It is a trick!
He ignored the voice and walked back to Big Green hand in hand with the Rabbit King.
The zebras, defeated and beat up, returned to High Roller, who was snoring on his empty bed. The two were afraid to wake him up to bad news.
"Maybe, we should tell him tomorrow." Sparky White whispered.
"We're still going to get skinned." his brother whined, "Maybe if we tell him right now, he'll be too tired to punish us."
"Th-then you wake him up." the white zebra nudged his brother.
"I don't wanna. You do it." Sparky Black pushed his brother back.
"You do it." Sparky White shoved.
"No, you do it!" Sparky Black shoved back.
Eventually they became louder and continuously shoved each other to the point where they were being pushed back against walls. High Roller clenched his eyes and violently threw his pillow at the two nuisance.
"SHUT UP!" he screamed, "I HOPE YOU'RE HERE TO TELL ME SHE'S WAITING FOR ME OUTSIDE THIS ROOM, BECAUSE IF SHE'S NOT, I'LL TURN YOU TWO INTO GLUE!"
Both zebras turned ghostly white, knowing that they failed to capture her. "We're sorry, Master High Roller. The Rabbit King got in the way." Sparky Black spoke in a soft voice.
"We almost had her." Sparky White added.
They watched their master steam to the point where his whole face was red and hot steam shot out of his ears. He jumped off his bed and held out his hands to strangle the two.
"WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY!" the two cried holding onto one another.
High Roller gripped their necks, trying to choke them, but, he stopped and released them, "I'm too tired to kill you two right now. You're very lucky today." He crawled back into bed, "NOW, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
The two scrambled out of his room, unable to scream for their lives after being so frightened. High Roller pulled a pillow towards his body, hugging and stroking it. He smiled from ear to ear imagining the pillow to be Qiao. He kissed the pillow and drifted to sleep.