Here is the next chapter!
Enjoy.
"Good, you're awake."
El'kek grunted at the voice and blearily opened his eyes. He regretted it the moment he did, as the motion triggered a headache that nearly made him pass out again. Only leaning back against the ship wall kept him upright.
"You got hit pretty hard huh? Nice work Sakura."
"Like I would do any less."
"Haha no, no you would not."
El'kek could hear the amusement at his current state dripping from their words, and annoyance welled inside. He only got knocked out because he was cuffed and outnumbered. He glanced at El'sen's wrists. Now it seemed that he was the only one who remained chained.
"Tell me Puddle, who was in command of your station?" The traitor asked.
El'kek kept his mouth closed. Even though he hated the Bastard, he wouldn't give him away to a traitor. Hands slipped through his hair jerking his head back, the force strong enough that his eyes watered.
"Not going to answer?"
He remained silent and turned his attention to the nearby window, staring out at the distant stars. A strike hit him square on the cheek. Then another, and another. Still he kept quiet. The only sounds present were the heavy beating of his heart and the pounding of his head. He would not speak.
For the good of the El'os.
Out of the corner of his eye he watched the woman stand and stare at him. With a heavy sigh she spoke.
"Sakura, go to the cargo area."
"What? Why?" The ant who was lounging in a flight chair abruptly stood.
"Do as I say."
"I want to hear what he has to say. I'm not going." She crossed her arms.
"Sakura, please."
"…Fine. But if you can't get him to talk I will come back in and do it myself."
"Door Unlocking."
As soon as the door slid shut the atmosphere changed. El'sen unholstered the gun and turned the barrel back towards the left. She walked with slow steps, stopping directly in his view so the only thing he could see was the color red. Unwillingly his pulse quickened.
"I can see it, you know. Your desire to be a martyr for the cause." She spoke softly, her mouth twisting into a sneer at the end. "But death is not something that will come to you, my fellow El'os. Shall I show you why I say we are monsters?"
El'kek didn't get a moment to respond before one of his legs was pulled out straight on the floor. Pressing a button on the side of the gun El'sen placed the barrel against his ankle. His mouth went dry. No matter how many simulations he went through in training, he knew it would pale in comparison to the real thing. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
But the searing pain never came.
Slightly opening one eyelid El'kek watched the woman hurriedly walk to the control panel. A red light flashed in the center. She pressed it.
"Attention all El'os. P-1 has fallen. I repeat, P-1 has fallen. Retreat to Origin. I repeat, retreat to Origin. Retreat. I repeat, retreat. For the good of the El'os."
No…
"No, No, No, NO!" El'kek screamed out, struggling to stand, only to fall. It's over.
All over.
"Door Unlocking."
Steps quickly burst through the opening.
"What was that message? What did it mean? Inner? Inner!" He watched as the ant rushed to the collapsed woman, prying her hands from the console and holding them in her arms.
"The First Pillar, the first world we ever colonized, has fallen. The pride of the El'os has been destroyed." El'sen choked out.
"That's not good, is it?"
"No, it means we lost."
The tides of the millennium long war had officially turned.
.
It was deafening, the silence.
Sakura held Inner in her arms, as she looked back out into the black expanse. It was hard for her to understand the magnitude of the message. She hasn't even see her whole world, yet the El'os had already spread out to countless others. And now, after seeing how the El'os lived herself, it was hard to believe there were beings out there that were stronger than them, beings that could annihilate them. But one thing Sakura did understand and had experience with, was fighting in a disadvantage position.
Nothing was over until she was dead.
"So, what's the plan now Inner?" She asked.
"El'kek, we can't let them get a hold of the transmat stations. If we want even a sliver of a chance, that technology can't fall into their hands. What are the odds that the Council will stop their operations?" Inner asked quietly.
The El'os let out a dry laugh.
"They will never stop. Why do you think I got thrown into that cell in the first place? I know a loss when I see one." He said.
'What he says is true, and is something I will have to address. From now on you are on you're own.'
'Hey wait a minute! You can't just leave like that!'
Sakura waited for the voice to respond but was left with silence. She swallowed a few choice words and brought her focus back to the issue at hand. If they won't stop their operations on their own…
"Then we have to make them stop." Sakura stated.
"Oh? Do you have any bright ideas we haven't thought of little ant?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"I find destroying things help fix a lot of my problems. Why don't I show you?"
Sakura moved to stand but Inner pulled her back down.
"We did manage to hack one of the transmission stations before I got arrested. Though we couldn't do anything else because we didn't have the up-to-date ciphers." Inner looked at El'kek.
"But you do, don't you?"
El'kek looked at the pair, confliction evident on his face.
"…I do. I also have a remote station set up we could access to get them, though we would have to go get my things that were confiscated at the Academy. Those idiots couldn't break through my protections even if they tried for centuries, so the session should still be active."
This time Inner did let her stand up.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sakura held out her fist to Inner.
"Sha?" Inner asked.
Sakura smiled.
"Na'rro."
El'kek looked at the pair in disgust before sighing.
"For the good of the El'os."
.
"When I see Sensei again I am going to give him a piece of my mind. I can't believe he just left us like that!"
Naruto spoke as he and the rest of the team hopped from building to building, and for once Sasuke actually agreed with him. After bringing them back to Konoha, Kakashi just up and left them alone with barely a word. Now it was up to him to make sure the idiot and Tsunade made it to the Chunin Exams in one piece. If they didn't arrive soon they would be late, and there was no way in hell he would ever want to be compared to Kakashi, so they had to hurry.
"Do you remember what we told you?" Sasuke asked the older woman. Tsunade rolled her eyes and slapped him on the back of the head.
"Brat, I've been a shinobi longer than you've been alive. I think I can handle this."
The broken trees they left behind at their previous camp would beg to differ, but Sasuke wasn't planning on eating dirt again anytime soon. He could keep his mouth shut, unlike a certain someone…
"We can't make any mistakes Granny, who knows what would happen. Shall we go over it one more time?" Naruto asked.
"Naruto I swear, if you ask me that one more time I will rip your head off."
Naruto blanched and quickly ran to his right side, leaving Sasuke trapped in the middle.
He sighed, oh did he have a bad feeling about this.
After a couple more minutes of building hopping they arrived at the exam site and quickly headed in. Immediately he could tell something was off. His eyes drifted to the far wall.
Genjutsu, a weak genjutsu at that.
"Ugh, I'm not dealing with this shit, let's go brats." Tsunade said, already moving to walk past the group huddled around a classroom door.
Sasuke hummed in agreement and moved to follow with Naruto a step behind.
"Excuse me."
The trio stopped.
"My name's Rock Lee. Your name's Sakura, right?"
Sasuke glanced at Naruto and saw him looking back in confusion, though his eyes did have a hint of wariness in them. How did he know Sakura's name? Was this part of the plot?
"Please go out with me! I'll protect you until I die!"
Sasuke felt the blood drain from his face and quickly went to stand in front of Tsunade. He wasn't quite sure how she would react to something like this, but with the way they were helping her practice Sakura's character he knew it wouldn't be good. He could only hope no blood was shed.
"Hey! Who do you think you are talking to our Sakura-chan?" Naruto's face lost all of it's anger the moment he turned back to look at him. He moved his head subtly, before facing front to confront this 'Rock Lee' person. Not wasting a moment Sasuke pushed Tsunade to keep walking, but she refused to move.
"You think I, a Haruno, need your protection?" As soon as Sasuke heard those words, he knew.
Ah, it's over.
He quickly tugged Naruto away to safety. 'Haruno Sakura' was in control now, and there was nothing they could do about it.
The two watched the confrontation that would lead Rock Lee to his inevitable demise.
"Yes! You're an angel! Sakura, love!" He winked and blew a heart at her.
"Oh, he's so dead." Naruto murmured.
Sasuke could only nod in agreement.
Tsunade reached out her hand to catch the heart and smiled. A second later she crushed it in her hand, letting the powder drift to the floor. In a flash she was in front of the boy and punched him straight into the wall.
She turned around and smirked at her teammates.
"Let's go."
The three left the onlookers in stunned silence.
"Granny, you know you will have to teach Sakura-chan how to do that now, right?"
"Oh shut it, brat."
.
"Hey Sasuke, do you see Ino's team? We should meet with her and catch her up on things." Sasuke opened his eyes at Naruto's question and surveyed the area from his corner of the room. After a short perusal he spotted them, and waved them over.
"Ah, they are on their way now."
Yamanaka stopped in front of Tsunade and smirked.
"Glad to see you didn't die Haruno."
"Like I would, Ino." Tsunade smirked back.
Yamanaka froze and looked at her hard. A second later she was trying to stab Tsunade in the neck. Sasuke cursed and jumped in the fray, Naruto already summoning clones to hold Tsunade back. He agreed with that decision. While Rock Lee was a nobody, Sakura would kill them if they let Yamanaka die.
"Who are you and what have you done with Sakura?" Ino yelled from the confines of her teammates arms.
"Ino stop! We will explain everything!" Naruto pleaded.
"You better talk, now."
Sasuke sighed, he knew this wouldn't go well.
Sakura and Inner try to prevent a complete genocide, and the boys try to protect everyone from Tsunade. Life sure is tough for Team Seven.
Short note today, but as usual the next chapter will be out sometime on a Sunday in the future. The update note from the last chapter still applies.
Thanks for reading!