I'm not in the best of moods, but that won't stop me from making you guys smile!
Now... CHAPTAH STARTO... TOAST!
Chapter 7
Seeing Double Part 2
Sarah stared at the spot that Ray once was and began to steam.
"Calm down sweetie." Felix spoke trying to calm her down.
"You jerk! And you seriously wonder why we broke up!?"
"Didn't I cheat on you with Luke? Or was it Jeff? Mary?"
"Ass!" Sarah screamed as she stormed off with Ralph and Felix on her heels.
"I'm pretty sure I never dated anyone named Ass!" Shane shouted back as they walked off.
"You sure you're okay?" Sarah asked as she walked Ray home a week later.
It was the first time he left the house since the incident since he couldn't go to work until the ban was lifted and he didn't feel as if school was all that important now.
"Yeah... I'm just great. I've been cut off from my boyfriend by a cynical asshole so I'm just fine." Ray replied as they reached his door.
"Well... Later." Ray saluted Sarah as she left for her arcade.
As soon as she was out of sight, Ray ducked into his garage and went straight towards his work bench.
Ever since he quit the football team, Ray liked to tinker with stuff, but ever since his gauntlet got smashed, he's been trying to rebuild it, but so far he hasn't gotten any closer.
"Let's try connecting this wire to that servo... Damn! Nothing! How about this wire to this screen... No!"
Ray put the gauntlet back into the drawer and walked through the garage upstairs to his room.
"Master Sephiroth. The leader of the Legendary 5 has been unjustly terminated from his duties as per your orders. What shall I do now?" a mysterious figure inquired from the shadows while twirling a ruby ring in his fingers.
"You've done your job well. The True Master of the League shall be pleased. Here's your payment." Sephiroth replied as he threw a bag to the shrouded figure.
"I live to serve, but money's not bad either. Now for Stage 3 of my plan." Shane stated as he morphed into Ray and walked out of the mansion.
Ray was vegging out on his couch when his door got busted into.
"Prince Ray! There's trouble!" a modern-looking knight barked as he closed the door behind him.
"General Carlton! What'd I tell you about breaking down my door every time there's trouble? I gave you a key for a reason." Ray deadpanned as he went upstairs into his secret room with the general not far behind.
"What's wrong now?"
"The Royal Paladins have attacked our capital city!"
"They what?! Are you sure it was them!? They never attack unprovoked! Especially with the treaty in place!" Ray barked as he opened his holographic table map.
"Completely. Your father has asked me to come to you for our next move." Carlton informed as he set up the units on the table.
"Plan Delta 69 Omega-Xis. Move our 50 strongest paladins to the frontlines and the magic archers backing them up in the rear. Healing paladins are to be partnered with swordsman at all times for protection and to heal the swordsman's wounds when needed. Am I clear?" Ray ordered like a true leader.
"Crystal. Thank you very much." Carlton replied as he took the battle plan from off the table.
"And I want Dimitri leading the attack. He needs to let off some steam and he knows this plan by heart." Ray added before Carlton left his house.
"Why would they... This has to be an outside force toying with me. And Reggie would never..." Ray thought to himself as he dropped to his knees.
Ray may have been borderline miserable without Ralph, but Ralph felt as if he had never lost Ray.
"Can I have more candy kisses?" Ray 2 asked Ralph.
"You know you can." Ralph replied as he nipped at Ray 2's neck.
"I'm glad you're back." Ralph whispered into his ear.
"I'm glad too." Ray 2 whispered back with a sneer.
Little did anyone know that this Ray was actually Shane.
Sarah decided against visiting Fix-it Felix Jr., thinking that Felix would be too busy consoling Ralph that they wouldn't be able to get any alone time, but she did catch a distress call from Burger Time as she was walking past it.
Ray 2 was knocked out on top of a sack of potatoes while Blanka was shocking everything in sight.
"Fire Sword!" Sarah barked as she summoned the blade and slashed him 3 times in the back to get his attention, then she created a funnel of fire to knock him out.
The card that was in Blanka's back disappeared almost instantly after it appeared.
Ray 2 woke up seconds after Sarah cleared the damage.
"Ray?! What the?! How?!"
"Hey Sarah. The Council gave me my powers back."
"Hmm... Are you sure you're all right? You don't seem like Ray." Sarah said with a skeptical look on her face.
"Try me."
"Do you remember taking Ralph here for your first date?"
"How could I forget?"
"HA! Ray took Ralph on a picnic for their first date. You're not Ray!"
Ray 2 began to laugh maliciously.
"So you found me out." Ray 2 inquired as he morphed back into Shane. "Shane?!"
"Not Shane. Shane never existed. I am one without a name. Not that it'll matter where you're going." The man formerly known as Shane explained as he grabbed Sarah and a pool of darkness dragged them into its depths.
During the ordeal, a lone Codemaster just stood in the shadows and watched, too weak to help.
Ray was sitting on his couch watching television like a zombie when he heard someone bang on the door.
"Who is it?! I don't want any cookies!" Ray shouted from the couch.
"Codemaster Ray! It's an emergency!" the voice shouted back.
Ray jumped when he heard Codemaster and answered the door.
"Hey... You're that kid I tried to help a week ago!" Ray exclaimed as he stood in the doorway.
"Hello... m... my name is Justin and I need your help."
"I wish I could help, but my gauntlet's trashed." Ray explained as he walked back in the house gesturing for Justin to come in.
"I just haven't have the drive to do anything lately."
"Well the Ray I saw that day wouldn't run from a challenge! I've watched your battles for some time now and from what I saw, you can do anything you set out to do!"
"You must have some crazy respect for me to come this far... Tell me the problem." Ray replied as they both sat on the couch.
"Well, I heard that after your trial you got reinstated so I came to see if it was true when I saw another you fight Blanka."
"Another me?!"
"Yeah, but you went down pretty easily. Then almost right after you fell, Sarah came in and took down Blanka." He then explained what happened all the way up to when Sarah got sucked into the darkness.
"Shane was a cover for his real name %$#%$#."
"Did you say %$#%$#?" Ray inquired skeptically.
"Yes. His name is censored because no one knows it. If no one knows your real name, then you gain special powers. The only way to break his spell is to shout his name at him. There is a catch. Someone has to know your name or else you can't control the power." Justin took a deep breath after he finished that mouthful.
"Where's Sarah now?"
"I don't know. I only know what I know because I'm somewhat a code prodigy."
"Prodigy? Then why do you need my help. You've probably been doing this longer than me."
"Well... I'm not very confident in my skills as of now and when I was looking for you, I wanted to ask to be your student."
"Student? Well... I'll have to think about that."
"And believe it or not, Shane was somewhat right when he said you were one of The Legendary 5. That's why he wanted you gone. That and he wanted to use Ralph for some evil spell or something."
Justin tried to whisper the last part but Ray still heard it.
"WHAT?! That turd! Hand me your gauntlet."
"OK, but I don't see how this'll help."
Justin handed him his gauntlet and watched as Ray bolted for the garage.
Within minutes, Ray's gauntlet was good as new.
"Let's go. I know where he's keeping Sarah."
"Where?"
"The last place anyone would look. At the Tournament Grounds under the Master's Colosseum. We need to combine powers to get there though. My gauntlet isn't fully charged yet."
Ray and Justin held out their arms and teleported to the arena.
The guards were asleep at their post so they tiptoed right past them.
Ray found a secret door right behind a pillar in the lobby and found 2 jail cells: one that held Sarah and one that held another man.
"Sarah! Are you okay?" Ray inquired as he smashed the lock with a roundhouse kick.
"Yeah, but Shane is trying to take over your arcade."
"Shane? So that's the name he uses now. What a joke." The man said from beside them.
"What's his real name? I know you know."
"His real name is Ashton. His mom died when he was 5 which made him a timid child and I pushed him hard because of it. So he locked me up, his own father, when he became a Codemaster so he could use alias after alias and become a super being, but even with the power he was still weak. Only with the power of another could he become unstoppable."
"What do you mean by another?"
"Someone who's insanely strong, but has a good heart."
"RALPH! How much time do you think I have?"
"You might be too late now... Just like me." Ray booked it towards Fix-it Felix leaving everyone else in the dust.
"Hey Ralph? I wanna give you something." Ray 2 said as he pulled out a ring.
"What's this, Ray?" Ralph inquired as he put it on.
"The key to my victory!" Ashton shouted as the ring began to glow.
"Rays of sunshine disperse and clouds of darkness arise! Give me the strength of 1,000,000 guys!" Ashton chanted as he jumped into Ralph's body.
Ralph's red hair and overalls became pitch-black and he was surrounded by a dark aura.
"RALPH!" Ray shouted as he entered the hut.
"Ralph no longer exists! It's Shadow Wrecker now!" Ralph said in a dark, twisted voice.
"Let him go, Ashton!"
"What?! How do you know my name?!"
"You can thank my new student Justin! Now LET HIM GO!"
"No dice! You'll just have to defeat me!"
"Fine then! Codemaster! I'm gonna wreck it!" Ray's armor appeared as he ran outside.
"How'd you get your powers back?!"
"I'm not just a warrior! Thunderblade!" Ray charged Shadow Wrecker and began slashing at him repeatedly, but nothing happened.
"That tickles! I'm too powerful to defeat now!"
"Get out of my boyfriend! Wow that sounded wrong... Code Change! Wreck-it Ralph!" The transformation started, but stopped almost as suddenly.
"Huh?! Why didn't it work?!"
"As long as I control Ralph's body, you can't access his code."
"What am I supposed to do?" Ray dropped his blade and fell to his knees.
"I can't win... I'm... I'm sorry."
"Well if you're not gonna attack!" Shadow Wrecker taunted as he began rapidly punching Ray, but none of the hits hurt as much as his heart did.
Shadow Wrecker uppercutted Ray into the building and he coded-out.
"He's gone. I wasn't strong enough." Ray mumbled as he stood up.
"I NEED TO BE STRONGER!" Ray began to charge up energy which went straight to his gauntlet.
The blank card in his box started to glow as well.
"Use the power your ancestors have granted you! Activate X-Mode!" Codemaster X's voice echoed in his head.
"Let's go! X Mode Activate!" He swiped the card in his gauntlet and crushed it turning it into code.
The code became an X that wrapped around Ray. His armor was the same except for 3 giant X's on his fists and his chest.
He pulled out a yellow card from his box and swiped it through the slot.
"X Drive! Thunder Essence!" He crushed the card in his hand and surged electricity.
"What's going on?! You can't be one of The Legendary 5! YOU CAN'T!"
"Well... I am. THUNDERFORCE!" He barked as Ray shot a huge ray of energy at Shadow Wrecker and exorcised Ashton from Ralph's body.
"Ralph!" Ray shouted as he ran up to his boyfriend.
"Ugh... Ray? What happened?"
"Shane aka Ashton took over your body after pretending to be me. You've made out with him all week I bet."
"What!? Ugh! I'm sorry. He had me fooled."
"It's okay, Ralphy. It's all okay now." Ray whispered as he hugged Ralph tightly.
"Ashton!" The Council shouted as they entered the game.
"You have used your powers to warp the minds of everyone and take the Number 1 Codemaster spot. Not only that, but you have betrayed us and sold our technology and secrets to the League of Shadows. You are hereby banned from the arcades and can never return!" The council said in unison as they annihilated Ashton's gauntlet.
"Ahahahahah! You think you've won! The League has already crossed the border between this world and earth because of me! I'll be back! Count on it!" Ashton howled as a pool of dark energy swallowed him up.
"Ray Hagane... You have saved the arcade for now. We thank you."
"No problem."
"And seeing as you've defeated the Number 1 Codemaster twice, you are now the official Number 1 Codemaster."
"A say what now?" Ray inquired as he passed out in Ralph's arms.
Everyone's mouth dropped at this statement.
"WHAAAAAAAT?!"
End of the chapter! Cliffhanger FTW! Next Chapter Soon!
Preview: Ray's become the Number 1 Codemaster after defeating Shadow Wrecker, Justin transfers to Litwak's to train under Ray, and the League of Shadows gets an official new member! STAY TUNED!