AvA: Resurrection

Ch. 19 - Civil War

Chosen and Deserved looked up.

Hovering above them, wristbands on, was King.

"Since when did you have wristbands?" Deserved demanded.

"Since when did Chosen have wristbands?" King retorted, "Dark gave me these as a surprise; of course, that was three months ago."

"Why are you here?" Chosen demanded.

"Didn't you want to 'go to war'? You said that yourself three months ago; if you're wondering how I know... well, you should know that Dark added a messaging system to the ViraMorphs. I'm here to help you start the war you've desired for so long."

Chosen gritted his teeth. "Don't try to dominate the world, and there'll be no need for war."

"But that's the point: we're here just to dominate. And you won't stand a chance against us."

"And why is that?"

"You see, Dark's skills are improving; we have some 'old friends' for you to meet."

Chosen narrowed his eyes.

King thrust out his hand. A Nether portal materialized, and out stepped three sticks- three of the five sticks that had been missing the past three months.

Chosen and Deserved both felt a mental mallet slam into them as regret and confusion welled up inside them.

The three sticks were Multi, Victim, and Silverfrost.

Chosen and Deserved looked at each other.

How could they have forgotten?

Hopefully Uni had been extracted from the Void and that he and Cobalt were safe.

The moment the three had stepped out of the portal, Chosen and Deserved both knew that something was wrong: Victim and Silver, who normally couldn't fly, were now floating next to Multi without any visible support.

Chosen turned to glare at King. "What have you done to them?"

"I've done nothing," King taunted, "This is Dark's doing."

"Which is your doing as well," Chosen shouted, "Don't play games with us!"

His voice was loud enough to alert all current residents of the mansion. They gathered around the windows to watch.

"Dark merely inserted some code into them," King was saying, "Gave them the ability to fly."

"Multi can already fly," Deserved yelled, "You've done something else to them- turn them into accomplices, perhaps? Are you perhaps hoping to initiate a civil war among our team members?"

King showed them his mischievous grin. "Well, since you know everything, I guess there's no point in keeping the truth from you."

He flicked his hand. Multi, Victim, and Silver dropped down to the ground and prepared for battle: Multi summoned fire to his fists, Victim went invisible, and Silver conjured two wickedly sharp ice swords.

"Enjoy the fun," King laughed as the three sticks charged at Chosen and Deserved.

Chosen and Deserved constructed shield walls around themselves. Just before the three sticks attacked- actually two, considering the fact that Victim was invisible- a massive boulder of ice slammed into them, knocking them back several dozen feet.

Chosen and Deserved turned, surprised.

Ditzy, Plasma, Elemental, and Positive were standing in the doorway. Ditzy had her arms outstretched. She looked at Chosen, frightened yet determined. Chosen nodded at here and caught Elemental's eye. He mouthed "Find Victim." Elemental nodded, and thrust out his hands, searching.

Multi and Silver attacked; Chosen and Deserved advanced.

Chosen parried Multi's first attack and sent fire towards his face. Multi dodged, but before he could do anything, Chosen summoned more fire- as well as an addition of lightning- and hit the ground, knocking Multi off his feet. Chosen slapped Multi hard on the forehead, and he passed out. Picking Multi up, Chosen ran towards Elemental.

Silver sliced at Deserved. Deserved managed to catch the blade and melt it. Silver tried to stab Deserved, but Deserved knocked her sword hilt into her head, and she fell.

Deserved caught her and ran towards Elemental. King saw him going and shot a couple of arrows at him. Positive ran out and sent the arrows back at King.

While King was distracted, Chosen and Deserved reached Elemental, who'd managed to find and subdue Victim.

"We need to get them to Yellow," Chosen said, "He's one of the only sticks we have who can fix them."

"Right," Elemental replied as Positive returned. Taking Multi from Chosen, he set off, with Elemental, Deserved, Chosen, Ditzy, and Plasma following in order behind him.

Suddenly, Plasma yelped. Chosen, Deserved, Elemental, and Positive whirled around.

A chain of code was wrapped around Plasma's throat, and Ditzy was trying to pull her back for dear life.

Chosen scrambled over to Ditzy. Summoning his blade, he sliced through the code. Plasma was freed, but another strip of code shot over and caught Ditzy instead.

"Ditzy!" Plasma gasped, reaching out for her.

Ditzy stretched out her hand. Her fingertips brushed Plasma's.

Chosen tried to catch Ditzy, but he was too slow. King pulled her over to him as he destroyed the portal. Typing some commands into his wristband, he and Ditzy disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Chosen stared in horror at the place Ditzy had been.

He had failed to save her.

He felt like a loser.

He'd been able to save Multi, but Multi was grown up; Ditzy was a child, and a child was more important than a grownup.

And he'd failed to save her.

He fell to his knees.

Deserved walked over and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's do what we can right now. At least you managed to save Multi and Plasma; with them, it'll be easier to find Uni and Cobalt, as well as getting Ditzy back."

Chosen nodded, but he wasn't going to let go of what he'd just thought through.

He was going to learn from his mistake.

He got up and followed the others back into the house.