Yay! No beginning notes!
(Other than that, and a disclaimer which I've used only once before)
*Disclaimer*
The door to their room burst open. Someone leaned in agressively and shouted, "Get out of bed, soldiers! This is not a drill!" He could still barely be heard over the people running through the corridor behind him. Claus and Lucas did hear it though, but they didn't want to object. They followed the herd of people rushing through the hallways.
One thing they noticed is that none of the people in the rooms by them had on regular pigmask uniforms. They must have all been PSI users and meant to stand out by wearing different uniforms. Lucas and Claus were the only two without the uniforms that they wore, and awkwardly stood out with their shorts two-colored striped shirts.
After being shoved through the hallway by the stampede of people, they arrived at a hangar where everyone stood at attention and faced the same direction. The twins followed what seemed to be the norm for the moment.
They stood there for what seemed to be five minutes while regular pigmasks moved ammunition into planes. "Claus," Lucas said worriedly and quietly, "I think we might be.."
"I know," Claus answered, worried as well.
Someone stepped up at the front of the group. He was wearing a more decorative uniform than everyone else, probably showing a higher rank. The strange thing was that he was a boy, not much farther apart in age from Claus and Lucas.
"Claus, is that Ness?" Lucas asked noticing the way the boy walked. He started speaking, and neither of them recognized the voice "No, it isn't."
Both of their ears tuned to what he was saying, "Support squad, divide into halves and join the offensive line on the east or west side. Offensive, you do the same," he paused to think for a moment. "We need no mistakes this time. Take as many prisoners as you can. Understood."
"Yes sir!" everyone answered.
"Good." Everyone was sent to do whatever it was he just went over.
Lucas and Claus looked around in confusion, and then saw Fassad standing behind them with his pigmask bodyguards. "Good, you two are here. Come with me. You're doing something special." He brought them up to the front where the boy was speaking moments before. "General, these are the two special ones I was telling you about."
"Alright," he nodded, "What about it."
"They're not programmed," Fassad told him, "Show them how things work around here, but do not let them fight. Poor little Lucas here lost his PSI for a few days," he laughed and left them with a confirming nod from the general. Lucas was slightly put to shame when he said that.
"Thank God," he sighed, "Finally another person whose memory isn't jacked up, and isn't a jerk. Call me General Ninten if you like." He seemed nice at least, in contrast to the insensitive Fassad.
'So that's what they did,' Claus thought, "So your memory isn't? Why would you willingly help these people?"
"Hey, watch it!" he suddenly snapped, "My family has been proudly serving the pigmask army for generations now. And now I'm the general of the PSI force." His boasting also boasted his big ego. "But we need to get to work. The alarm you heard earlier was a battle alarm. That means that the enemy is advancing."
"The enemy," Claus frowned, "Right."
"Quiet," General Ninten hushed him, and returned to his explanations. "You need to get uniforms, we will do that tomorrow. Next order of business, what PSI do you use?"
"Like we'd tell you that," Claus was becoming angrier with each minute of realizing he was going against his own side in this.
"Yes you will. I have authority over you, and you will do as I say," the general scolded Claus. "Now what PSI do you use."
"I'm not telling you," Claus answered like a four year old would.
Lucas was getting nervous about what punishments they might face if Claus were to keep acting like this. "E-Excuse me sir," Lucas stuttered trying to get the general's attention. He glanced towards the blonde boy, "I'm support PSI."
"Lucas!" Claus complained, "Why would you tell him that?"
"It won't hurt anything," Lucas reasoned.
"Hah," Ninten laughed, "This boy's got some sense in him."
"At least I have more sense than you do!" Claus yelled at Ninten.
"I've had it with you!" general Ninten exploded, "Go back to your room right now." Claus got exactly the opposite of what he wanted. What he hoped to gain in from not revealing his PSI techniques was not being separated from Lucas. Claus knew that they had been separating people based on their PSI skills, and Lucas's PSI was different from his.
Claus realized there was no getting out of it without the kind of patience and reason that Lucas had. He hesitantly walked away from his brother, "Cya later."
Lucas became slightly less comfortable without Claus, even though he was bringing them more harm than good. "I'm sorry about his manners, sir. We just don't want to be here."
"I understand," Ninten nodded, "Now, you follow me, since you'll be in the support squad with me." They walked down pathways of the large hangar
Even though they had different views, Lucas still had sympathy towards Ninten. Lucas knew exactly what he and Claus were trying to fight for, and Ninten probably fought for the same thing.
"So if you're the general," Lucas addressed Ninten, "Why do you have to listen to Fassad?"
"He is the head assistant of King Porky," Ninten answered.
"Sorry for asking this, but who is King Porky?" Lucas questioned.
"He's the king of the pigmask army. We usually call him King P, since even though we love him, Porky is a weird name." They walked into what appeared to be a large flying ship. Like a space ship, but for high speed travel.
"Oh," Lucas laughed in agreement, "So what made you want to join?"
"Not much really," Ninten thought, "I guess my family. Most of my recent ancestors served, and I need to do something to look out for my family. My dad was killed early in the war, and I have a mom and two sisters to watch out for now."
"Oh," Lucas then realized that the pigmask army were real people too. They all had lives and families of their own.
To end the awkward silence between, Ninten, who was much more talkative than Lucas expect for a general, asked a question, "How'd you end up here."
"Erm," Lucas choked, "Well, Claus and I didn't have it very easy the past year. The pigmasks- I mean- sorry," Lucas was trying to be as sensitive to the general as he could.
"Go on," Ninten didn't seem to care much.
"They invaded, and our parents took our place for us when PSI users were first being drafted," Lucas continued, "Our house got burned down, and we had to live on our own for a year, traveling around and avoiding capture. We finally got caught, and us and a few others tried to fight our way out, and we lost."
"I'm sorry," Ninten seemed empathetic, "I didn't realize that's what we've been doing to people. I don't get much information besides battle wins and losses."
"I guess both of our sides are at fault. We don't always think of pigmasks as people, since they're always so cruel, and we can't see their faces."
Ninten didn't realize that their army was so unnecessarily violent towards others. "Thanks for telling me all this. I'm going to need to talk to Fassad about the destroying houses thing you told me about. I don't think that anyone should be able to take away someone's home in that manner."
They were then sitting down in the ship with half of the people using support PSI. The structure began to rumble and move forwards. "Weren't we supposed to be under attack instead of going to attack?" Lucas asked.
"They're attacking another nearby territory," the general answered.
"Why are we taking this big plane thing if they're close?"
"I'm actually not sure why we need this, but logistics aren't my thing."
People began to move around out of their seats and mingle after about two minutes. Lucas remained seated, wishing not to socialize with people. Much less brainwashed people.
He then noticed something he didn't want to see. Ness was on the ship also. "Ness?" Lucas asked. Ness turned his head towards Lucas. "Ness, please tell me you're still in there."
"Come again?" Ness asked him. His voice was about the same as it normally was.
"Did they.. you know-" Lucas was too scared to finish the question.
"I'm not sure how to answer that," Ness told him, "I've been here for months, and I have no idea who you are or what you're talking about." Ness seemed like an entirely different person. He was more short tempered- taking into account the slight edginess of his voice. He didn't even remember who Lucas was, or that they were there for one day.
Lucas looked down, "Never mind," he mumbled with a melancholy tone, "Forget I said anything."
Ninten looked over to Lucas, trying to understand his pain. It would be hard to have your best friend turn against everything that he once believed, and even harder for him to have forgotten you existed.
"Alright then. I'll see you later, maybe. I'm ready for this battle. If we win, this will be the third one in a row," Ness walked off. Lucas was left trying to comprehend what the pigmasks had done to make people like this. It seemed that they took away their souls and emotions.
"Lucas," Ninten said trying to pick up on his dull emotional state, "Are you okay."
"Why would you care?" Lucas withdrew.
"I'm just trying to be friendly, and show you that we aren't bad people," he answered.
"That's exactly what I thought," Lucas scooted away from the general on the bench where others had gotten off, "And I thought you were trying to actually be a friend."
"No, I'm sorry-" Ninten followed him, "I do actually care, Lucas. And I do think we could have been friends if this war didn't happen."
"Of course," Lucas rolled his eyes, "If this war didn't happen."
In Ninten's mind, Lucas seemed to be getting very upset over being hurt by a person he just met. Ninten knew that he was terrible with words, but this seemed excessive to him. He reasoned that Claus being overly protective of himself and his brother is because Lucas was that kind of person. Sensitive and too gentle to fight for himself.
"I'm sorry," Lucas said calmly, regaining his composure, "I misinterpreted what you were saying to me before. I will go back to being one of the soldiers under your command."
This isn't what Ninten wanted either. He really did want to be Lucas's friend, but now wasn't the time to talk. Ninten was usually insensitive to other people, not understanding the way that they thought and felt. Lucas had a real mind and heart, though, and the way his PSI signals fluctuated with his emotions was too strong to ignore.
"Then, good talk," Ninten sighed shamefully and returned to himself.
A voice came from the intercom, "Arriving at destination in thirty seconds. Prepare for deployment." Everyone sat down.
Ninten stood up and went to the front of the ship, "I want six of you to stay back here and heal people who are injured on the field, and set shields and counters around the ship. The rest of you go out and support on the field. Luc-I mean-" Ninten remembered his and Lucas's conversation moments before, "New recruit, stay back here. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir!" all but Lucas shouted back. Everyone but six stayed back. Ness was one of those six.
"Go set up shields, we should be getting fired on at any time now," Ninten ordered them. They set put up a few shields of different levels, PSI shields, and a counter on the outer layer to deflect. Loud bangs started vibrating the ground.
"We are under fire, sir!" one of the six told the general.
"Wait," Ninten thought, realizing he didn't notice something vitally important, "We're over on the east side, but the sounds are coming from the east." The six people, and Lucas, gave him confused glances. Ninten pointed on a map, "We're being flanked from the east. They have another army coming at us."
"But all of our troops are headed west," another said.
"Exactly. They want us going for the bait," Ninten explained, "We're going to turn around, and go get what they want us to." Lucas made a quiet noise that sounded as if he were questioning the general. "Do you have anything to say?" Ninten asked Lucas.
"N-No," Lucas nervously answered. He knew the flaw in Ninten's plan, "Actually, yes. Wait never mind," Lucas's fickleness made the brainwashed people question his loyalty, which was hardly there.
Ninten knew why Lucas was acting this way. It was a question of his own life, his friend's life, and brother's life, or his nation's victory. Ninten went with his own gut, though. "Send the troops back the other way." A horn sounded in an odd pattern. It was some sort of code language that the army had been programmed with.
Minutes later, loud yelling came from outside on the side the army was on before. The army had been sent back long before. That meant that the other side's troops kept following. Lucas was right, but he regretted not telling Ninten or the others. He was in danger now. Then he remembered the shields were still up.
"How are the shields holding?" Ninten asked Ness.
"They seem to be in good condition, sir," Ness answered, "Counter is taking out some of their troops, but it isn't going to last much longer."
"Do you have enough energy to refresh it?"
"I don't know, sir," one of the others answered, "Shields that big take up a lot of our energy."
"I understand," Ninten seemed discouraged, "We still have the shields, though. Those should hold fine until the others can win and turn back around." Ninten almost immediately shifted gears, "How many casualties do we have?"
"We have three in the other room being healed. One reported dead," someone answered him, "The counter has killed about four of them that I can see, and I don't know how many injured."
"That seems like good numbers for now."
A shattering came from outside. A large meteorite came crashing through the ceiling and smashed through the floor of the ship. Everyone managed to avoid it, though. Everyone looked around, confused. Then it dawned on them; the shields were broken. PK Starstorm was powerful enough to go through every shield at once as soon as the counter broke.
"Recall the troops!" Ninten commanded, "If they can get here soon enough, we'll be able to escape before we all die." Through a window, Lucas saw the troops running back after a loud siren sang through the air. The people who were closest to the other army's east side were getting slaughtered from behind. It was disgusting. Lucas gagged as he saw horrors that he never wanted to see.
"Lucas! Move!" Ninten shouted at him. Lucas turned around just in time to see a net flying towards his body. He instinctively launched PK Love to deflect it, and it worked. But the enemy was on board now. They had no way of escaping. Another thing was also made clear. They wanted captives. "We need to go, now."
"But what about the rest of them?" Lucas asked.
"They're mostly gone now," Ninten answered, "Most of them will make it back before we can get off the ground." Ninten went to the captain of the ship and helped set up a few things. "I know Fassad told me to not let you fight, Lucas. But we need you."
"I can't," Lucas told him, "They're-"
"No Lucas," Ninten was in a dead serious tone, "These are much more savage than your people. Did you see what they were doing to us?"
Ninten seemed right, as much as Lucas didn't want to accept it. Lucas didn't fall for 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' cliche, because it wasn't true. After a moment of thinking, Lucas blasted a PK Love out of the ship at the other side, injuring several. One by one, pigmask PSI users climbed on board. There were about twenty still trying to survive. Lucas found it in himself to use another PK Love. Fifteen still outside, and another PK Love being hurled across the battlefield gave five more the chance to enter. Lucas then felt something hard hit the back of his head. Everything went dark.
Claus was lying in bed, muttering to himself, "Stupid pigmasks giving stupid children command over their stupid army." Claus was referring to Ninten, who impatiently dismissed him from battle. Claus knew he deserved it under the circumstances, but he didn't see it necessary to reveal his abilities to the enemy. A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. He thought it was Lucas, "Come in."
It wasn't Lucas–– it was Ninten. He was all scratched and bruised. He stood as if his leg were broken. "Claus, please," Ninten breathed heavily and tiredly, "Listen to me."
Claus realized something was wrong. He noticed that the army was back from battle, and Lucas was not here yet. "Where's Lucas?" Claus asked with an angering voice.
"We were being tricked, and we were all on the ship," Ninten explained.
"What happened to him!?" Claus yelled.
"Please, Claus, calm down. We were fighting back as hard as we could, and he's the only reason that most of the army returned," Ninten tried to tell him, "Lucas was captured by savages."
"Our country is not savages," Claus told him, "And you better get Lucas back before I become one."
"No, it wasn't your country," Ninten told him. Claus sat down, trying to take in the fact that Lucas was a prisoner. "But I realized something, also. The pigmask army is not right either." Claus looked up, confused on why someone who seemed so dedicated would change his mind. "We've destroyed so many people's lives; their homes, their families, and their relationships. I want to fix that."
This chapter was a bit hard to write because I tried to get a perfect picture of the scene between Ninten, Ness, and Lucas on the ship-thing (I must have written and rewritten it three times, and I still don't think it's perfect). I don't think it worked as well as I hoped. I'm also a bit lacking in military vocabulary, and that made it a bit more difficult. Also it was weird and awkward referring to Ninten as the general.
Reviews/comments/criticism is/are VERY appreciated. It makes me feel good when I see someone likes what I'm working on here, and I also like seeing people tell me 'Okay, this is what you need to work on,' followed then by me actually striving to make it better.
I should be able to write faster now, since I know what I want to happen for practically the rest of the story. I expected this to have a poorly developed plot at the beginning, but at about chapter three I thought 'I need to get my act together. I'll pre-plan EVERYTHING now.' So yeah. Hopefully I can get a new chapter up twice a week.