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Chapter 14: Subconscious Memories
Ryder stood up once more, bring his lightsaber by his side. A cut above his right eye caused blood to blur his vision. His left shoulder and back was sore from the continuous pounding it was taking from this Anakin Skywalker proxy.
'No wonder everyone feared this guy when he turned to the dark side,' thought Ryder.
Anakin said to Ryder, "You just don't know when to give up, do you?" His red eyes were burning with passion and hate.
Ryder smiled as he wiped blood out of his eye, again... "You just don't hit hard enough," replied Ryder as he ran towards Anakin.
Ryder began fiercely slashing, hoping he would land a hit somehow. He drew back his lightsaber getting ready to swing with all his strength, but he heard a voice tell him, "Be patient. Wait until you find an opening." He stopped his swing and changed to the Form Three fighting style permanently against the strong attacks that were coming at him.
He was blocking a lot more of Anakin's swings instead of being countered and then pushed back. Anakin lifted his lightsaber above his head to strike down on Ryder, but Ryder knew this was his opening. With a swift kick, Ryder landed a blow to Anakin's chest that made him slide a few yards backwards.
Anakin deactivated his lightsaber and stood up tall. His red eyes turned back to their original blue color that reminded Ryder of the ocean. The hologram disappeared as the proxy stood still.
Back to the monotonous, robotic voice, it said, "Djem Sho Training Module Number Three, complete. Final score: Anakin Skywalker with 58 wins to Ryder Jase's 1 win. Total time from first match: eight hours and thirteen minutes. Continue, or shut down?"
Ryder, bent over his knees heaving for air, smiled with satisfaction. 'Finally,' he thought. 'I finally got a single hit to land.'
Ryder stood up and wiped the sweat and blood from his face with his sleeve. The proxy restated his last sentence, "Continue, or shut down."
Ryder put his hands over his head and said to the proxy, "As if I'll go again. I might die on a legitimate note. Shut down, proxy." The proxy walked back to its charging station and hooked itself up to the charger.
Ryder walked over to his locker and opened it up. Reaching for his watch on the top shelf, he looked at the time, and it read, 'Ten forty-nine.' Ryder began to laugh a little. He found it funny how it took him over eight hours just land a single hit on the Anakin proxy. Ryder took off his shirt and walked over to the men's showers turning one of them on. He took off his remaining clothes and stepped in the hot water of the shower and began to relax.
Ryder stood in the shower for about twenty minutes before he began to shampoo his hair and bathe himself. He found out that if he activated his Force Aura while the hot water was still running, then the Aura would trap the heat, not letting him get cold when he stepped out of the shower.
He activated his Force Aura and got out of the shower to dry off. Right when Ryder finished putting on his pants and boots, a voice filled his head.
"Go ahead and make your way to my office, Ryder," said Doctor Rogers.
Ryder took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, give me a few minutes though. I'm down in the proxy training room and just got out of the shower," he said out loud forgetting that this was all in his head.
"I thought we told you to get some rest. I'm assuming that you've been down there for a few hours?" responded Doctor Rogers.
Pulling his white shirt over his head, Ryder said, "You wanted my mind clear, right? Well, now it is." Ryder put on his navy-blue gym shorts and Nike sneakers. He walked over to his locker and grabbed his gray hoodie that had a Nike swish across the front of it. He closed his locker and walked to the elevator.
The elevator's doors opened, and Ryder walked in. He pressed the button designated to floor, fifty-eight and leaned against the wall with his eyes shut.
Flashes of blue light swirled in his head as he pictured the proxy Anakin's attacks. Each attack that came his way, Ryder was trying to think of a way to either parry or dodge the attack. The image training continued all the up until the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
Doctor Rogers's office was the last door on the left side of the hallway, and in front of the door, General Rodan and General Hall were talking to one another. Ryder got out of the elevator and walked down the hallway towards the two Generals.
"I don't understand why all of this is necessary?" said Rodan.
General Hall tried to explain what was happening again, "Ryder understood that if he did this and nothing come back suspicious, then he'd be free to do whatever he wants to do. The only reason why this is going smoothly is because Ryder was the one to suggest this."
Neither of the two Generals had noticed Ryder walking down the hallway, let alone walking in-between them to get to the door. Astonished with how silent his whole presence was, General Rodan put his hand on his should and reassured Ryder that everything will be alright.
Ryder didn't feel as if he needed to say anything back, so he walked over the table that had five leather straps for his ankles, wrists, and neck. The table resembled one that was in a doctor's office. Lining the walls were chairs, and a television above the operating table.
He looked up and asked, "Where is everyone?"
As he finished the sentence, a door opened and out came President Reed, Doctor Roger, Doctor Rich, General Fox, and Mrs. Speaker of the House: Emma Austin. "Ah! Glad to see that you have made it on time," said Doctor Rogers as he walked over to the table with Doctor Rich following close behind him.
Peering into Ryder's eyes, Doctor Rogers began to explain the procedure. "This procedure will be over before you know it. I am going to inject you with some sleep medicine. Then, I'll go into your mind in search for answers or clues about your case."
"Let's just go ahead and start this," said Ryder in an emotionless tone. The amount of exhaustion he sustained from training made him close to a zombie. As he started to lay down, Ryder used the Force to strap himself in.
Rogers turned to Rich and said "Okay then. Rich, bring me the sleeping medicine." Dr. Rich grabbed a syringe full with a golden mixture and gave it to Doctor Rogers.
He flicked the needle and told Ryder, "This might hurt a slight bit," as he slammed the needle into Ryder's neck, injecting him with the sleep medicine.
Ryder's vision started to become blurred, and then everything turned black. Even though he was asleep, Ryder could feel Doctor Rogers wandering through his mind in search of secrets and answers.
Suddenly, Ryder's vision came back, but all he could see was Dr. Rogers's floating body mid-search in a white void. Surrounding him were a multitude of boxes, and one was labeled, 'Memories.' Ryder lifted his right hand to confirm that his body was still normal, but instead of his normal body, Ryder's body's looked blurry.
Ryder called out to the doctor, "Hey Doc! Doc!" Doctor Rogers didn't answer as he continued to rummage through old boxes that coincidentally had the word, "memories" written on the front.
Doctor Roger's pulled a metal ball out of the box of memories. This ball had a label on it that was made up of masking tape and sharpie that read, "First holocron." He tossed that aside thinking that it referred to the holocron that was opened beneath the academy. Dr. Rogers held the next ball in his hand a little bit longer. Ryder couldn't see the label, but he assumed that Doctor Roger was wondering was the memory contained.
Suddenly, Ryder's surrounding area changed from a white void to the sandy dunes and mountains of Pakistan.
The only thing in their vicinity was a small town that was around a hundred yards away from Ryder's squad. His squad consisted of three other people: Nero, Alex, and Josh. They began walking, as quietly as they could, to a house to check for ISIS soldiers that could ambush them.
They arrived at the base of the stairs that led up to the house, and Alex volunteered to check out the house first. He walked up the stairs and through the front door with his gun pointed in front of him. He scoped out the room and turned around to tell the others that the house was clear when an enemy insurgent appeared from behind a desk. It was too late for Alex as the enemy shot him in his back multiple times then ran and slammed the front door shut.
Josh's main weapon was a heavy machine gun, but he dropped it as he sprinted up the stairs in pure rage. He kicked the closed door down expecting someone to attack him. About five seconds passed before an enemy soldier jumped onto Josh and grabbed him by the neck. Josh threw the enemy off his body, but in the process of doing so, his gun slid across the room and stopped at the ISIS soldier's feet.
Josh knew that only two things could come from this situation: either he quickly dodges the bullets that his opponent would shoot at him and subsequently kill him, or he would get gunned down right where he was standing.
Ryder closed his eyes hoping that he wouldn't have to witness any of his memories that took place in Pakistan, but even with his eyes closed, he saw the memories even more vividly.
Josh jumped and rolled across the floor right before the ISIS soldier shot at where he was standing. After firing a couple rounds, the gun ran out of ammo, and the slide locked back into its open position. Josh pulled a bayonet out from his back pouch and lunged at the ISIS soldier who side stepped and avoided the attack.
They engaged in a fist fight while his target redirecting his bayonet stabs with his forearms, rendering it useless, until Josh nicked his arm. From that point on, it was a one-sided fight as Josh tore open the insurgent's face and chest with the bayonet.
Ryder had put this memory in the very far back parts of his mind for a reason. The mutilated bodied messed with his mind for a long time after that incident, and he did not like reliving it.
Doctor Rogers slowly put the orb down and mumbled a few words that Ryder couldn't make out. He continued searching for other memories, and Ryder dreaded what he might find. The next orb that he pulled out was labeled, "Gray." Curious what this meant, Doctor Rogers firmly grasped the orb and activated it.
The location shifted to a dark, dirt tunnel. Ryder didn't recognize where they were, but watched for details that might jog his memory. In front of him were three different tunnel entrances that he could take, but he was automatically pushed through one that had a strange marking above it. He continued through the tunnels for what seemed like thirty minutes. They passed skeletons that had become one with the tunnel walls and other strange artifacts that lined the edge of their path. They finally reached a thick stone door that had been shattered to pieces. Above the door, a message had been inscribed into the stone, but it was in a language that he couldn't read. They entered the room as a dark figured walked towards them. As he got closer, the clothes became visible. It wore the standard military combat uniform that was made up of a camo shirt and pants and combat boots. Right when the figure was about four feet away, his face became visible, and it was Ryder.
The apparition of Ryder passed Doctor Rogers and exited the room and tunnels. Doctor Rogers followed Ryder with his gaze and looked confused at the same time. The doctor took one last look around the room before the memory began to fade away.
Back in the white void that represented Ryder's mind, Doctor Rogers stood still, trying to comprehend what he had just seen. Slowly, he put the orb back into the box and continued doing the same with the other orbs. Straightening up, he turned his body in the same direction where Ryder stood. Thinking that he was looking behind him, Ryder turned and looked to see what was over there, but he didn't see anything. When Ryder turned back towards Doctor Rogers, he saw him looking up into the sky, but nothing was there.
Next, Doctor Rogers reached into the box another time. This time, he pulled out a small silver ball had, '17th Birthday' written across it in a red marker. Just like the others, Rogers gripped it tightly and activated the memory.
The scene showed Ryder looking at a tablet that showed four men staring at one. Suddenly, the lone man began powering up and then shot lightning towards the other men. Within a flash of a second, one of the men of the four, appeared behind the lone man with a red lightsaber through his chest.
The scene then showed Ryder crying as he was biting down on a piece of cloth.
The images of the scene then faded away as if it was fog being dispersed. Suddenly, Doctor Roger was gone, and everything faded back to an empty, white void.
Ryder's body ached. What just happened, he thought? He opened his eyes and saw a bright, LED light above him that immediately gave him a massive headache. He quickly turned his head to the side squinting his eyes forcefully.
Glass shattered everywhere around him, but this was the last of his worries as he barely noticed it. A surge of pain struck his entire body as he laid there helplessly.
Looking to his left, empty medical carts lined up next to him. A controller and a clock that read, 'Eight seventeen,' were on a cart next to his bed, and the controller had a red button that was labeled, 'CALL.'
He slowly reached for the button, but the pain was so intense that he decided to just lay there completely still. 'I can't do this right now,' he thought. Keeping his eyes shut, Ryder fell back into a deep sleep.
"How did all this glass break?" said a voice.
Something warm was touching his right arm and slightly shook it.
He heard, "Ryder, wake up. It's time for you to wake up."
Ryder remembered how bright the overhead light had been, so he turned to his right and opened his eyes slowly. Sensei Rodan was standing there with Doctor Rogers behind him.
"Ryder, can you hear me? You've been unconscious for three days now," explained Rodan.
Ryder opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a wheeze of air.
"It's okay, Ryder," said Doctor Rogers. "Your body took quite the physical toll during the procedure." He held up a sheet of paper that had tally marks written on it in two columns. "The cabinet voted, and they decided that you were innocent of all charges."
Ryder closed his eyes and rolled his head back to a straight position. He forgot all about his accusations. After hearing the results, Ryder wanted to scream as loud as he could.
'Why the hell did I have to do this,' thought Ryder? All this pain. His body had never hurt this much before. Anger swelled up inside of him. He remembered the other student that had called him a traitor, and that made him even more mad.
"He's grinding his teeth, Doc," said Rodan. "Is this behavior normal?"
Right after he said this, Ryder clinched his fist tightly. Rodan and Dr. Rogers gave each other concerned looks.
"This was my first time performing this procedure, but I think that he's enraged with this whole thing," explained Doctor Rogers. "Let me see if I can do anything."
He closed his eyes and began trying to get into Ryder's mind, but he was blocking him from entering it. He realized that Ryder formed a mental barrier as a way to block out anyone that tried to enter his mind. He couldn't penetrate whatever it was. "He's put up some sort of barrier that he refuses to bring down, or he might now even know that it's up," said Doc.
Sensei Rodan leaned into Ryder's ear and said, "Take deep breath, Ryder. I know you're beyond pissed, but we can't have you doing anything that will risk your safety as a soldier and student of the US."
Rodan looked at Rogers like he was asking what he should do, but Doctor Roger only stared at Ryder. Sensei Rodan looked back at Ryder and said, "Use the anger you have right now in your training. Don't forget that you can access new techniques and knowledge in the academy. Don't throw that away."
'If there is one thing that Ryder will listen to, its logic,' thought Rodan.
The tension in the air eased as Ryder relaxed his fists. Sensei Rodan released a deep breath and turned to Doctor Rogers, but he was bent over and looked like he was in pain.
"Doctor, are you okay," asked Rodan?
Doctor Rogers looked up at Ryder while hunched over. A sharp pain filled his lungs that made it hard to breath. "Yeah, it's just a side effect from the procedure," screeched out Dr. Rogers.
The pain slowly eased away, and he stood up. "We should let him be for a little bit. The pain should ease within three hours, and he will be back to his normal self," said Doctor Rogers. He turned and walked out of the room and left Sensei Rodan next to Ryder's bed. Rodan put his hand on Ryder's shoulder and told him to get well quickly, then left.
Rodan was walking down the hallway that lead to the hanger when he saw Nero at the end of the hallway. Having to face one of Ryder's friends was the last thing on his agenda because he didn't know if he was allowed to disclose any information about Ryder and his procedure. Nero saw him before Rodan could do anything to avoid talking to him.
He ran down the hallway yelling out, "General! I know y'all have him somewhere! Let me talk to him!" Nero, being one of Ryder's close friends, had searched everywhere for Ryder with no luck in finding him. The rumors that were going around only fueled his desire to try and find him. Nero was out of breath with his hands on his knees in-front of Rodan.
"Stop worrying," Rodan finally said. "You will see him soon."
He brushed by Nero, and Nero yelled, "That doesn't answer shit!"
Rodan had already used his key card to get into the hanger and boarded a ship before Nero was able to input his information and get into the hanger. 'Finally,' he thought. 'Maybe, I'll actually be able to think now.'
On both ships, the main talk was if Ryder was a traitor or not. Since no one had seen or heard from him, suspicion that the rumor was true only rose. Zakee was walking into the Dining Hall with Clayton when he heard someone say that the reason Ryder was missing was due to the President sending him back to Earth to return to ISIS.
Zakee was tired of all this talk, especially since it was all speculation. He turned toward the person that was talking about Ryder and lashed out saying, "Shut the hell up! To think that Ryder is a traitor is absurd. If he was one, then we wouldn't have made it off Earth in the first place!" The guy that was talking about Ryder didn't respond, so Zakee scoffed at him and went to get his food.
Hearing a lot of people talk bad about his best friend rubbed him the wrong way. He sat down with his tray and began eating the pork roast and mashed potatoes that were cooked for dinner.
Zakee liked eating dinner towards the end of their designated eating time for the main purpose of peace and quiet. This served as a good time to read a book or just run through his thoughts. He couldn't help to have second thoughts about Ryder too. He was his best friend, but there were a lot of coincidences and unknown facts about him that left most people in the dark. Zakee decided not to worry about Ryder and just finish eating, so he reached into his backpack and pulled out his first archive book. The title read, "Summoning Contracts." He shoved a mouthful of mashed potatoes into his mouth as he flipped open the book to chapter one.
The chapter opened up by reading, "The Summoning Technique is a space-time ninjutsu that allows the user to transport animals or people across long distances instantly and use blood as a sacrifice." He flipped the page and continued reading. "Before an animal summoning can be performed, a prospective summoner must first sign a contract with a given species."
The booked then listed out a number of animals that a summoner may sign a contract with. "A list of possible summons includes: toads, snakes, slugs, dogs, wolves, hawks, sharks, tortoises, bugs, monkeys, ravens, and many more. Rare summons includes: chimera animals, dragons, salamanders, foxes, and tigers." Zakee stopped reading and began to think of which animal he wanted to sign a contract with. There were individual perks to every animal. Their chakra natures were different and some of them even possessed abilities that hadn't been discovered before. What animal am I the most similar, he thought? After reading the strengths and weaknesses of all the animals, he narrowed his choices down. He chose to narrow down the contracts to wolves, dragons, foxes, and tigers.
Wolves were masters of speed, perceptiveness, and stalking. Like dogs, their sense of smell, hearing, and sight were incredible. Their heightened senses attracted Zakee the most because of their usefulness in sneak missions.
Tigers were the same as wolves; except tigers were far stronger than wolves. Tigers were even a little faster too. The only problem with signing a contract with tigers is the incredible physical training that the signer must undergo.
The fox was described as the perfect silent assassin. Foxes are able to silently sneak up on someone without being noticed. Their senses were the best out of all the animals, and their agility was incredible.
However, Dragons were the most badass in Zakee's opinion due to them only being a part of fictional stories. Their skills included flying, breathing fire, and an unparalleled healing ability. The fire would mesh well with my wind jutsus, he thought. His train of thought was interrupted when Sensei Rodan walked into the Dining Hall. He walked over to the counter and grabbed a granola bar then headed to the table Zakee was sitting at.
"Care to shed some light on all the rumors going around," asked Zakee? He was a little frustrated with how Rodan wouldn't previously say anything about Ryder. It was all "confidential" according to Rodan and the other Generals.
Sensei Rodan sat down and tore open his granola bar wrapper as he exhaled deeply.
"So?" said Ziggy a little more aggravated. There still wasn't an answer.
Rodan took a bite out of his chocolate chip bar and leaned back in his chair. Looking up into his eyes, he said the last thing Ziggy wanted to hear. "Funny how I came over to this dining hall to avoid all these questions, but it seems like I can't escape everyone."
The same piercing look was still in Zakee's eyes, so he continued. "They're true."
Ziggy lowered his head into his hands and almost began to say something, but he was cut off by Rodan. "Three days ago, we performed a procedure on him that sent Doctor Rogers into his mind. Doc would read his memories, and if they had to do with anything relating to the war, his application process, or his time before the academy, then they were projected onto a screen for all of us to see. Of course, there was a group of us that didn't want this to happen, but there were also many generals that thought he was the mole, so we went on with the procedure." Rodan stopped to take another bite of his bar.
Taking his head out of his hands, he looked up at Rodan and asked, "So, what were the results?"
Rodan swallowed and continued describing what happened. "The procedure took a little more than an hour, but all the memories disproved the rumors. In other words, none of the rumors were true, and everyone acknowledged that." He paused to let Ziggy catch his breath.
"However, he has been in a bed since then, and is in incredible pain. Doctor Rogers told me that the pain should go away after three hours, and it has been one and a half since I left his bed."
Zakee's face lit up as a big grin came across his face. He stood up and walked in a circle to spend some pent-up energy. "Thank God," he said. "I was actually getting a little worried about him. People were saying that y'all had already sent him back to Earth!"
Ziggy sat back down and put his hands over his head releasing a big sigh of relief. Rodan sat quietly, letting Ziggy express how he was feeling at the moment.
Rodan looked down at the book that was open and in-front of Zakee. He noticed that it had a lot of animals listed on one side, and their description was right next to them. 'He's thinking of signing a summoning contract,' he thought.
"So, now that you know how Ryder is doing, you can focus one-hundred percent on your training, right?" Rodan said this hoping that Ziggy would tell him what animal he wanted to sign a contract with.
"You're damn right about that," he replied looking down at his book. "How do I go about signing a contract with one of these animals?" asked Zakee.
A soft smile appeared on Rodan's face. "You have to go to where they are located and convince them to let you sign a contract with them. A lot of their locations are unknown to us right now."
Ziggy was nodding slowly, still starring at the animals on the pages.
"Did you know that if they think you are capable enough, then they will let you train to become a sage?" asked Rodan. He knew Ziggy's answer by the blank look on his face.
"Sage mode is a state someone can achieve by blending their own chakra with nature energy. That creates sage chakra. It opens up new strengths and techniques that no ordinary person can learn. For example, at Mount Myoboku, the toads can train you to become their sage. This will lead to a dramatic increase in strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, and durability."
Rodan paused to see if Ziggy had any questions.
Zakee looked up at his Sensei and asked, "Which one of these could I become a sage in?"
Sensei Rodan grabbed the book and turned it to where he could read the pages. After a minute of analyzing the animals, he said, "If I'm not mistaken. You can become a sage with any of these animals."
Without hesitation, Ziggy pointed at the dragon. "I want to sign a contract with the dragons."
Since Zakee already wanted to learn the Dragon-Fist Technique, Rodan assumed that he was going to choose the dragon. "Well, you'll have to do some research to sign with them because we do not have a contract of theirs. I'd check the archive and learn about them if I were you."
Once Rodan finished, Zakee said, "Okay! Thanks!" as he vanished, only leaving a cloud of smoke behind him.
Sensei Rodan chuckled a little and said, "Well, well. Seems like he's getting the hang of shadow clones."
Comment to let me know what you thought of the chapter or what will happen next! Until next time!
~Aldon
