Disclaimer: I do not own Hero: 108.
Chapter 1:
On turtles, it didn't take long for First Squad, swiftly following Lin Chung, to reach an area near the village of Clint. From an outsider's point of view, everything seemed normal. All the villagers were working hard, farming with animals, and the small children playing with other animals or each other, laughing all the while. However, the ones from First Squad knew better.
Tension crackled in the air secretly, coming up to people in small doses. The postures of the adults were stiff, forced calm, but the children remained blissfully unaware. However, the slightly older ones had sensed the trouble in their parents, and were looking anxiously to and fro, protecting any younger siblings from straying out too far.
Up above, the sky was blue with clouds as always, but it was not to be seen under the large dark shadow that was cast on the village and a 10 mile radius around them.
"Whoa." Mighty Ray stared at the huge cloud above. "That is a big cloud." Lin Chung curled his hands into binoculars and looked up, squinting. Something like dread fluttered in his stomach. The fluttering of wings were nearly blocked out from where they were standing, but there was movement in the cloud. They weren't trying to get somewhere: They were guarding. Protecting. Or waiting for something.
It was proved right when some birds broke off from the flock and headed towards East Citadel, returning swiftly with something in their beaks or in their claws.
Lin Chung dreaded what Twin Masters could want with the different species of birds, and why they were working so well together.
From what he could see, the flocks included: Hawks, Woodpeckers, Robins, Nightingales, Parakeets and a lot more that Big Green had yet to make peace with. Seems like they wouldn't get the chance.
From Woo, First Squad had been warned about them. When they combined together to do something, they were a nearly impenetrable shield. They had been going to get the Hawks, who were known to be honourable and good allies with the Eagles that day, but it had ended badly, with Mighty Ray arguing with Hawk King.
And now, apparently, it come back to bite First Squad. Couldn't Mighty Ray have kept his mouth shut for 5 seconds?!
"I don't think that that is a cloud."
"Then what is it?" Mystique Sonia asked, shrugging. Unlike Lin Chung, she couldn't see anything than a large patch of shadows covering the sky that they were so used to. Lin Chung tilted his head as he looked back at First Squad, eyes dark with worry.
"If I'm not mistaken, I think that those are…" He looked up once again for confirmation. "Birds."
"Birds?" Jumpy asked, confused. He was not used to birds going against the animals.
Lin Chung nodded in confirmation. "Hawks, Parakeets, Nightingales, Robins, every since bird kingdom that Big Green hasn't made peace with."
Mystique Sonia's brow creased as she turned to Mighty Ray, and then smacked him with her tongue.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"We told you not to mess with the Hawks, Banana Brain, but you just had to provoke the Hawks."
"Hey! It's not my fault!" Mighty Ray protested. Lin Chung cut in.
"We need to go back to Big Green and report this."
"What can Twin Masters possibly find in birds?" Kowloon demanded. "You must have seen wrong."
"No." The First Squad leader shook his head earnestly. "No. I'm certain. Those were birds."
Eagle King, who was in the meeting, tilted his head and squawked out a question. Apetrully listened, and then translated. "Eagle King asks if the birds had any clear objective. And he doesn't think that the Hawks would help someone as deceitful as Twin Masters."
Mystique Sonia frowned. "Well, Eagle King, to answer your second question, Mighty Dork over here decided that it was a good idea to provoke Hawk King. And now look where we are."
"And to answer your first, no." Mighty Ray shook his head, sticking his tongue out at Mystique Sonia.
"No, there is." Lin Chung interrupted. "I remember a tale from when I was young. The birds can make excellent protection: A rebounding or near impenetrable shield. It can ricochet or destroy anything depending on what formation it was. They were used back then during the wartimes to transport supplies, clothes, food. Even-" He cut himself off, eyes widening. "Ammunition."
He walked out. "I need to go and check on something."
Tien Kwan was already waiting for him at the bamboo forest when he arrived, flushed and panicked. "Is it?" Lin Chung asked, not wasting any time. He forgot the greeting as he had rushed over here, and didn't care about it. Tien Kwan felt his pupil's panic rise slightly, seeking the confirmation from his master that he didn't want to receive.
His master nodded, hating to do this to his only student. "Oh yes."
Lin Chung frowned. "But Twin Masters can't possibly hope to be able to get enough ammunition to destroy Big Green, could he? If Big Green is even his target." He added, searching his master's body language once again. Tien Kwan nodded solemnly, sighing.
"I think he could, Lin Chung. He could. And if not Big Green, then what else? If he wanted to, he could have taken over Big Green already. For now, you are the only thing that's keeping him from destroying Big Green."
"Me?" Lin Chung asked, confused.
"You are the one who amuses him. He wants to see the extent of your power. But this is growing tiresome for him. So he's going to finish things and take Hidden Kingdom for his own."
"But he'll destroy Hidden Kingdom. If he destroys Big Green, he'll need to destroy a large and important section of Hidden Kingdom. Why would he do this?"
"You forget, Lin Chung." Tien Kwan tutted. "Even though he has Chaotic Energy, he knows how to use it in order to rebuild a chaotic world in place of Hidden Kingdom in order to absorb the chaos and grow stronger."
"But what can he do when he becomes stronger?" Lin Chung asked once again. "Once he tries, and we say that he succeeds, what can he do? There'll be no meaning for him. Nothing to do, just create worlds and absorb the chaotic energy until he dies out of too much."
Tien Kwan nodded, pleased at his student's thoughts. They were the ones that only some would consider and never think would happen, too foolish to see so. "I do not think he had planned ahead of time. He'll only find out when he does grow bored."
"Can we reason with him?"
Tien Kwan sighed. "Lin Chung, you have met Twin Masters' past self. "Do you really think that he will be easy to convince?"
Lin Chung sighed as well, before looking up curiously. "But so many birds? How did he get so many? I don't even remember one twentieth of them "
Tien Kwan hesitated. "Have you ever heard of the phrase cloning?" This was a delicate subject that he didn't want to bring up. It was, on all intents illegal, and would be tiring to his student, who was still not good enough to be on equal terms with Twin Masters. This was a sudden advance from what they had been learning.
The harmonic energy user nodded his grey head. "Yes. It was used to duplicate people. But because of the destruction it caused, it was soon banned. Only few know of its existence now, and because no one ever bothers to, the rule was uplifted." Realisation dawned on him. "You think that Twin Masters has cloned the birds, master?"
His master nodded. "There is a possibility." He looked at his pupil in the eye. "It is hard to learn cloning. It can take years of practice." This was an unspoken challenge. The master watch his student accept.
"We do not have years." Tien Kwan raised an eyebrow. "But we need every advantage we can have to stop him." Tien Kwan nodded.
"Very well. Meet me here tomorrow. You will be here several weeks. But a word of warning: Make sure your friends are prepared. I cannot guarantee how long it will take you to learn so, and when you can join them once again. Nor can I put a definite date for the day that Twin Masters finally decides to attack."
Lin Chung nodded, before turning around again. "Tien Kwan?" His master looked up from where he had been lost in thought. "Is it true that Twin Masters want to start a war?" His forehead was creased with worry, already stressed with the planning for the battle up ahead. But a war? This was too much. For both himself and the other people of Hidden Kingdom. He had only glimpsed a tiny part, barely scratching the surface of the damage that Twin Masters could do when he used the Sword of Darkness.
Tien Kwan sighed, not liking the answer that he would have to give Lin Chung. "Yes, my student."
AN: Hope this was satisfactory.
08/02/14 - Edited it, and now it's slightly longer, but hopefully makes more sense than the random thing I wrote before.