Elementals: A New Era: Book One

Chapter Eleven

"So," Zero exclaimed as he walked into the Command Center. "Do either of you wanna explain what you were doing there?" He looked at the two Wolves in front of him. "Hmm? Volt? Jinx?"
"We don't have to answer to you, pipsqueak," Voltier began as he tried to walk past him. "Tsubaki is the leader here, if I'm gonna talk to anyone its-"
"Tsubaki's dead," Zero spoke bluntly, turning to face the Wolf.
"Wait what?" Jinx asked, clearly upset. "No, we saw him this morning, what happened?"
"Tsubaki... he... no..." Voltier began to spiral. "First Ash... now Tsubaki... i... he... no..."
"Volt..." Jinx tried to calm him down.
"I can't... I gotta..." Volt walked to the door as it whooshed open, revealing an older man. "Cody... Tsubaki..." the Wolf collapsed into tears in the man's arms.
"I know, Volt," Mathison began as he knelt down to comfort the Wolf. "Let's go and see him, okay?"
"Y-yeah."
The two of them left, leaving Zero to turn back at Jinx, the Wolf staring at him intensely.
"So what-?"
"What happened?" Jinx asked bluntly. "We saw him at the memorial, he was fine. What happened?!" Jinx snarled.
"He gave up," Andrew turned in his chair and looked at them.
"He what?" Jinx turned back to look at the man.
"He lay down at the foot of the statue and let his Powers go. From what we can gather, he passed as soon as Stacey finished her speech. King wanted us to revive him, have Braxton use his Powers, but we knew that's not what Tsubaki wanted."
"And how would you know what Tsubaki wanted? You don't know him."
"I knew him well enough. I've read the mission reports, I've seen the footage from the basin, I know everything."
"That's... not enough to just let him..." Jinx shook his head and took a deep breath before looking at Andrew with a smile. "I'm sorry. Tsubaki was one of my closest and longest friends, I am upset he's gone, but I also know that he wouldn't give up if it wasn't Time. So you're in charge now, Zero?"
"Yeah, since you and Volt disappeared. This has basically been my team for a while now, Tsubaki watched over us and taught us things but never went on missions. Speaking of, what were you doing working for Vision?"
"Whoa whoa whoa, working for Vision?" Jinx scowled at the accusation.
"That's who ordered the TF Juice you and Volt were guarding."
"We... we didn't know that. We've done that run every week for months now, that was the first time we've been attacked."
"How do you not know who you were working for?" Andrew asked.
"Well... see... Volt, Pitch, and I are kinda... Elementals Fur Hire, we work for people who pay us. We didn't want to work for D.A.R.E anymore, but we wanted to still do work, so this was the only way."
"You're mercenaries?!" Zero exclaimed.
"Okay, I can see how that might come across but... yeah I guess so. Sorry."
"Well you're back here now, so you can help us fix things," Zero scolded the Wolf.
"How are we going to fix it?"
"We don't have much time," Zero began. "Now that they have the TF Juice, they can unleash a massive attack on us. We need to strike first."
"That's a big risk," Andrew chimed in. "If citizens know we're going to attack the Undercity, there may be riots."
"There's also those in support of an attack," Zero rebutted.
"We should not be attacking anyone. We'll be no better than them."
"So we just stand around and wait for them to attack us?"
"We don't have to kill anyone," Jinx interjected. "We could go down there, find the Juice and destroy it."
"And if they use it?"
"That's why we have you, your Powers will stop any Powered person from hurting us."
"I like this plan," Andrew added. "We should bring the rest of the team in and discuss it."
"What about Luke?" Zero asked.
"He needs his rest and recovery. He's got some serious frostbite all over his body, he shouldn't be on this mission if it's gonna happen soon. Zero, can you go and find King and Mari? Jinx will be with me, we'll stop by and chat to Volt, and maybe you can convince Braxton back into the field."
Andrew stood with a nod and exited the room, followed by the old Ice Wolf.
"Andrew, what's happened in the last fifteen years?" Jinx asked as they walked. "Why are all these kids running around with Powers?"
"We aren't entirely sure, but we've guessed that because of Sky's Element being infused in every living thing, that children have started being born with access to their Source."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Jinx asked as they entered the elevator.
"Of course it is, that's why we're still in the job. We have to find the Elementals as they come into their Powers, teach them, train them, make sure they don't hurt people with them."
"What's the rate at?"
"Not sure, we hope it's about one in every five thousand, but there could be more. We don't even know how many the Undercity have."
The two of them entered the floor with the large open area in the center, it was lined with grass and had several wooden benches surrounding a pond. At the center of the pond sat a small island with a single tree growing on it, at the tree's base sat three plaques. They crossed the stone bridges and found Voltier and Cody, the man had taken his coat off and now wore a flannel shirt and skinny jeans.
"Hey dad," Andrew said as they approached.
"Andrew, come to remember?"
"Andrew?" Voltier took his gaze off the stone in front of him to look at the fat man. "Little Rew? You've really grown up." The Wolf approached him and rubbed his head on Andrew's belly. "And grown out, heheh."
Andrew rubbed the Wolf's head and smiled. "It's been a long time since you saved me from those cages when Ruin attacked. I wouldn't be here without you."
"Tsubaki's really gone, huh?" Jinx walked past them and examined the stone plaques.
One read "Asher. Drago-Wolf. Fire Elemental." Another read "Sky. Snow Leopard. Energy Elemental." And the final read "Tsubaki. Wolf. Air Elemental."
"The three heroes of D.A.R.E," Cody spoke, looking over them.
"We're the only ones left," Volt walked over to Jinx. "How did that ever happen?"
"We were always bailing Tsubaki and Asher out, until we couldn't."
"Now you have the chance to carry on their legacy," Andrew started. "We go down into the Undercity, and destroy whatever TF Juice they have, before they can attack us with it."
Voltier looked at Jinx for a moment, as if thinking. "You want us to help?" Volt asked.
"It'd be nice to have two of the strongest Elementals on our side again."
"Three," Jinx smiled.
"Three?"
"Yeah," Volt looked back at his shadow. "There's three of us here."
From his shadow appeared two large round balls of bright yellow, they blinked a moment before looking up at Jinx and Voltier. Jinx nodded and the shadow began to rise and form a small fox-like body with large ears, the Darkness faded away and revealed a dark blue Fennec with black stripes and swirls along its back.
"Hi," the Fennec spoke with a high pitched voice.
"This is Pitch," Jinx explained. "She's been with us for a few years now, a great addition. Portals us to where we need to go, and hides in our shadows during fights."
"I don't like hurting people," Pitch explained, her ears twitching.
"It'd be nice to have someone able to Portal everyone out of danger if it's needed," Andrew smiled.
"What happened to Anarchy? And the Dutchies?" Volt asked.
"We haven't seen them since they left to fix their religion," Cody explained. "About as long as you guys have been gone."
"Oh shit. Well if we're gonna do this, then count me in," Voltier smiled.
"Me too," Pitch squealed and laughed.
"I guess I don't have a choice," Jinx began. "But we gotta see Brax before we go."
"Agreed," Andrew nodded. "Dad, if you wanna take Volt and Pitch up the Command Center, Zero might be there with the others. Jinx and I will grab Braxton and meet you there."
"Sounds like a plan. See you soon son."