Chapter 10
Zay and Shadow dashed in front of the orange sunset falling upon the Red Gate Bridge. They both kept track of the communication radio wristbands they wore which for the Rookie, doubled as a miniature grappling gun. Crumbling piles of debris laid around the bridge from all the terrible warfare that marched on.
The flame was lit for the Resistance, and DCP had become a war machine. "Freezie was sighted up ahead. Be careful!" Aggie said on the communicator. Zay replied, "Strange. He's nowhere to be seen." That was when a gargantuar-size metallic robot broke through from beneath the beginning of the bridge, sending Zay and Shadow to the edge of a cliff; another Death Iceball Robot was marching through! "Ah, shoot. Here we go again."
Shadow complained as the giant robot whirred its arm back, the claws spinning as Shadow quickly performed a Chaos Control to warp to its right leg as the Death Iceball Robot struck the cliffside, hoping to crush our heroes, but no luck. Zay and Shadow began running in circles around the robot, causing it to turn multiple times without sight on the enemy duo, as Shadow performed a Homing Attack directly into the cycloptic laser eye, destroying the robot's power source.
He fell backwards and onto the pavement of the Red Gate Bridge where the stretch began and collapsed down into the ocean. Zay and Shadow went to the cliffside where a pattern of large ladders and platforms went to the top where at the bottom was a sewer but with no river of sewage, yet it was damp of moisture and rainfall. "We can't keep letting these things rampage upon the land." Zay told Shadow.
He called back on the communicator when something odd seemed off on there. "We just took down another Death Iceball Robot, probably the loud boom you heard." They expected a reply from headquarters. When Zay did, it wasn't how he expected. "This is Doritotron10x, attempting to terminate 32op and Vivala. These people are traitors. *krrsh* I am not weak. *krrsh*" Whatever Zay was hearing at the moment was odd.
So far, he didn't know what to think anymore. He thought he'd already defeated Freezie back on the Death Iceball...unless it was a trap? "What's happening there? And why are you after them!?" Shadow called back there when they were confronted by Freezie, on the same mechanical bee but good as new, not a single scratch. Yet, it was still on a level of deadly. "Did you think you defeated me back on the Death Iceball?!"
He exclaimed in evil in a dark and raspy voice. "I'm going to make sure this is the true end of the Resistance, Zero. You don't need to worry about those two leaders you've followed for so long just to shut themselves down. Villains went on a hunt!" He continued as he boosted away from Zay and Shadow. "Don't waste more time, come on!"
Shadow cried to Zay, as they both began running to the mechanical bee, not long before harmful pillars of energy that zapped against the ground. The duo were sliding left and right from the lighting and managed to get close up for a Homing Attack on Freezie. Shadow hit the torso area of the mechanical flying bee as Zay jumped onto the bee and roundhouse kicked Freezie himself. He growled in pain and told Shadow, "Sooner or later, you'll wish you didn't strike this machine so much into a square blade. Just counts up to how much edge you'd have: none."
This caused Shadow to flare into a heated temper when all of a sudden, he turned into a phase Zay had never seen. He had orange eyes that shone bright and was completely covered in black ashes that were flying as he dashed on. He ended up being faster than Zay and managed to speed up behind Freezie and bumped roughly into the machine all around. After one hit, he swung around a support of the Red Gate Bridge to strike again. He did it multiple times, forcefully breaking the mechanical bee as it started spitting sparks from its exposed wiring and wireframe snapped.
Half of the head was only a red LED light with the wireframe while the other half was still normal. "Shadow, I-I've never seen you get so angry! But it doesn't matter now, this'll end it." Freezie said as he charged the bee's stinger rather forcefully at Zay and Shadow, causing Shadow to exit his new phase and knock Zay out of the way. "Have fun when everything you know is falling apart! See you in the afterlife." Freezie yelled before flying away, as smoke started forming outside of the machine, yet he still flew on. "Ugh, we can't let Freezie rampage among our Resistance!" Shadow said in frustration after letting the villain get away.
The sun was just about gone and the pitch black nightfall was starting to take over. "For some reason, I can't call back the communicator to HQ. All it shows is an SOS alert!" Zay replied, as Shadow looked at his wristband to see the SOS warning flashing in red. When the duo dashed down to headquarters, they were shocked to see a warfare of chaos rumbling on.
Aerial attack ships of the Resistance were flying around being pursued and pursuing Redemption Force silencers as one got shot down and spun around on its right wing before crashing into the building. That's when a large DCP ship with red spotlights was shining down above as the statue that represented their savior Zay collapsed. The statue of solid gold was no more, and a transport pod was lowering onto the ground with an unbelievable sight: 32 and Viv were on the enemy side.
"A pleasure for you to see our creations, Zay. We are the Redemption Rogues, and I believe you know the map to the key of unlocking Gaia and Iblis!" The duo said, as Zay noticed a cryptic aura around them. "Calm down, Zay. What you're seeing isn't real." Shadow whispered to Zay as somebody that looked like the hedgehog who turned Super snuck behind them, knocking the two out with a single roundhouse kick into their ankles. That's when the REAL 32op and Viv came out.
"My, that's some kind of show you put on, Radkon!" The fake versions of the leaders wisped away and there stood Aloy Morningstar again. "Don't worry, we have a safe place on the far side of Summit!" She told everyone as Radkon broke out in frustration. "Gah! That blasted hedgehog! After her, she has the Chaos Emeralds!" He ordered as Zay, Shadow and Aloy fought their way through the forces that approached them. That's when the Rookie swung in and hit Radkon's aerial assault ship. "Buddy, what are you doing?" Zay shouted to him. "Get out of here. Now!"
He did what he was ordered but Redemption Force's number of soldiers grew and Ice Warriors came in. Sooner or later, the trio were surrounded and were seized. "It's finally happened!" We've got them!" Radkon cackled in victory, as the Resistance retreated away somewhere to a location of Hibernate, Summit, far away from the capital city known as Jackhammer. "Be careful with those three. They're dangerous." The soldiers ordered the hostage holders where they went aboard the prison shuttle, where the journey would start all over again.
While the shuttle was flying, Shadow or Zay refused to look at each other. They were angry over what Radkon had tricked the world into. As if stopping him with the Phantom Ruby was impossible. "I was wrong about you." Zay mumbled underneath his breath. Shadow turned around and questioned what it meant. "You knew Radkon would do such a thing." Zay replied in a louder tone. Their hands were cuffed together, so there was no way they could enter a fistfight in front of the drivers, taking them who knows where.
"The only reason you joined the Resistance was to act like you care!" Zay argued with Shadow making a simple comeback. "I only came to show you how much I DON'T care." That's when sudden fire from a Wispon struck the shuttle until one of the thrusters burst into flames. "You're ditching everyone that cares about you because of that! The one ultimate thing you really are is the ultimate jerk." Zay argued, while Shadow got angrier at the minute before he heard the thruster blow up before worrying that he couldn't warn the two that the shuttle was going down.
"Guys! The shuttle is falling, and we're all gonna die if you don't shut up!" Aloy yelled out as outside the window appeared a Resistance shuttle. "Hang in there, we're taking you back!" Viv called on the loudspeaker. Zay kicked the emergency door open as it flung outside in the air, expecting impact soon. Shadow took a few steps back and without doubt or fear, jumped across the open air and landed inside of the other shuttle, as Aloy grappled inside to there. "Come on Zay!" Shadow told his brother, beginning to feel regretful for the argument and all he said.
Zay broke his handcuffs and attacked the driver so the shuttle would crash straight down, grabbing a mysterious board before jumping. "I'll catch up with you guys at headquarters!" Zay shouted to them as he jumped out into the sky, riding the board down to the solid ground. Just as he landed, the board suddenly boosted and left a trail of blue neon behind him. "Whoa, this is a hoverboard?" Zay questioned himself as he found himself dashing down the road of Hibernate, Summit.
He swung left and right, avoiding cars and random objects around in front of him. He took a sharp turn left and suddenly found himself being pursued by a Freezie Fleet ship with a large spotlight, searching for Zay. He had to find something quick, and lucky enough he was as he took an icicle spear leaning on a wall outside of the Pizza Parlor where two Ice Warriors were chilling, confusing the two. Zay aimed carefully for the engine and swung with all his might. On impact, it struck on fire and spun it in circles down.
After the wild ride, Zay had now started his life on Redemption Force's 10 Most Wanted list, knocking whoever was at number one out of his spot. Unfortunately, the ride didn't last forever. It ended up running out of fuel, so the hoverboard was now useless until its energy gauge was refilled somehow. Zay zoomed down the roads and over to a campfire burning outside of an abandoned building, where the Resistance stood. "How'd you get here so quickly?" Marie asked Zay.
He went on to tell what happened with the Freezie Fleet searching for him and how he realized Shadow wasn't lying about the fake copies of themselves. "Which reminds me, isn't the shuttle Shadow and Aloy escaped in supposed to come anytime now?" Rah asked as Viv nodded. Zay sat down where everyone roasted marshmallows and dug around in their party size bags of Doritos, Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch.
(I know what some of y'all may be thinking. Why are they eating Doritos? It's representing themselves. Duh. Anyway, back to the story.) Zay sat and stared into the flames that burnt on when he was trapped in an illusion of Gaia and Iblis merging together. Radkon was cackling and the Resistance was dead. The two spirits morphed into Solaris, as the entire world was set ablaze and it released a gigantic roar. "Zero?" Aggie asked, interrupting Zay's frightening daydream.
"It's...it's alright." He said. "Just thinking about what the future may behold." Mustapha told Zay, "Our victory, of course!" He nodded in agreement but the daydream of the villains winning was only a blink of an eye away if a wrong step was taken. "But next time guys, don't cause us to run off like that. I mean, who knows what they would've done to them at that prison!" Rah spoke as the shuttle where Aloy and Shadow were above landed.
The door opened and they both stepped outside and over to the bonfire. "Is there enough room for us?" They asked. One thing that was in Shadow's thought was Cece. Where was she? The last time he saw her was at the brawl versus Radkon at Metropolis before he got warped with Zay in the future. Absence and Meer were both nowhere to be found, either. Rumor may have it, they're journeying on their own. But what would be good enough to take out Radkon and Blackheart?
The Phantom Ruby could counteract the activation of the Chaos Emeralds or lock a Super transformation until the power source was broken. Tomorrow was going to be a day of extreme warfare as it was the day Redemption Force's plan to release his doomsday plan was to commence. At the stroke six in the afternoon, he would drop the sun on everyone. Everyone went into their tents to get some rest, and had best wishes they would make it out alive for this one.