Chapter 2: The Chaos Begins...
Albert and Vader made their way back through all the rooms to the elevator, and not catching any glimpse of DarkMigit. A short while later they were on the surface and heading back toward the main building. They hurriedly climbed the stairs to get up to the cantina. The place was fairly crowded. As they walked over and sat at a table in the back Vader signaled the guard in the corner to come over.
"Will you please see if you can find Shadow?" asked Vader
"Yes sir," said the soldier before turning and walking away rather quickly.
"So you were going to tell me what I need to know," said Vader looking over the table at Albert.
"Yes," said Albert
But before Albert could begin Li and Xuilinc came in and sat down with them.
"Hi Vader and Albert," said Xuilinc looking at each of them respectively.
"Wasup?" Said Vader.
"We aren't the Gundam pilots here," said Li
"Oh yeah" said Vader looking around, "Where are those guys anyway?"
"Nobody really knows," replied Xuilinc
"True, true" said Vader
"Stop it already!" said Albert a bit frustrated.
"Yeah. You were going to say something," said Vader
Albert let out a sigh before responding, "Yes I was."
"And it is?" said Vader
"It is of great importance! I guess it couldn't hurt if they heard it too," said Albert motioning in the direction of Xuilinc and Li, "It is about that sphere, Vader."
"This one?" said Vader pulling the crystal sphere from his pocket.
"Yes. That one," said Albert, "Shadow and I both believe that that crystal belongs to an ancient legend."
"You mean this one?" said Vader still holding out the sphere.
"Yes! That one," replied Albert, "Now do you want to hear about the legend or not?"
"Oh! It's beautiful. Where did you get it?" Xuilinc was asking Vader.
"We found in a secret lair that D'artagnan built below this building," said Vader
"Cool. Anything else down there?" asked Li enthusiastically.
"Nope. The place had already been raided by some smugglers," said Vader
"That stinks," said Li
"Yeah. The place was supposed to have experimental weapons," said Vader
Just then the soldier from before returned and stood attentively at the table.
"Yes?" asked Vader
"Sir. Shadow has left the planet," said the soldier
"Did he take the Phantom?" asked Vader
"No sir. The Phantom is still in orbit," said the soldier
"That's all," said Vader.
After the soldier had gone back to his post Li looked at his father and said, "I could have told you that."
"Told me what?" asked Vader
"That Shadow left," said Li, "I passed him at the fighter bay. He took his prototype Vertigo fighter,"
"Really?" said Vader a bit surprised, "I didn't think that it was ready yet."
"Well, now that you mention it, he did have to kick it several time to start it" said Li.
"Ahem," Albert was clearing his throat
"Oh yeah...." said Vader quickly, "The legend."
"Yes. Well, as you know, Chaos is a skill handed down from generation to generation. But it is said that long ago six men began Chaos by drawing power from six crystal spheres. These spheres were the origin of Chaos, and it power source. The spheres each held an enormous, nearly unlimited amount of power. They have mostly been forgotten, just like the art of Chaos itself. But a few still know the legend today; some believing, others not," said Albert
"Ok. So why is this so important?" asked Vader
"If they have appeared, here, then imagine what people could do with them in their grasp," said Albert.
"What? Aren't they only useful if you know chaos?" asked Vader.
"Uh...." Albert stuttered for a second, "No," but Albert continued, "Those are other legends for other days."
"Oh. Okay, this is bad then." Said Vader starting to get up from the table.
"How do we know that anybody is even after them?" asked Li.
"Well, there has been a sudden rise in smuggling activity in certain channels," said Vader.
"So I'll tell Wolf and Fett to go check things out," said Li.
"Sounds good to me," said Vader as he walked away from the table.
The three who were left sat and looked at each other for a second.
"Well.... I've got to go talk to Wolf," said Li before getting up and starting to walk away.
But Albert got up and stopped him. He looked at him solemnly and said, "Tell him to be careful. We can give up one or two of the spheres."
"What do you mean we can give up one or two?" said Li exasperatedly
"Never mind. Just tell them that," said Albert.
"Okay. Whatever," answered Li as he left the cantina.
"Well. I should be going too," said Xuilinc
"Ok then. See you guys later," said Albert as he was left standing there alone.
Albert then decided to walk from the cantina to the garden. He was still bothered by something. Just walking in the garden he thought to himself suddenly, "I should go tell my peers what has happened." With that he left the garden...
That night was a hard one for Vader. It hadn't been this bad for some time. He couldn't sleep. All the events of the day were bothering him. What was worse was that he felt something. He felt a certain, weak disturbance in the force. It was as if something was trying to hide itself. Something... familiar? With these thought Vader got out of bed and walked out onto the balcony just down the corridor.
He stepped out into the cool, night air. He walked over to the railing and just stood, looking up at the stars.
"How?" he wondered to himself before saying aloud, "I wonder"
"How what?" a voice rang from behind him.
But without turning around Vader answered him.
"Hello son. Couldn't you sleep either?" he asked
"No. I couldn't sleep at all," said Li walking up to stand beside his father.
"Then did you feel it too?" asked Vader still not facing his son.
"Feel what?" asked Li turning to look at Vader.
"Never mind," said Vader still looking at the stars, "So why are you out here?"
"I told you. I couldn't sleep," answered Li calmly
"But why couldn't you sleep?" asked Vader
"Because of everything. Everything that I heard," answered Li, "It just raises so many questions. So many of them unanswered by Albert."
"Probably because he doesn't know," replied Vader
"But it makes me think" said Li carefully thinking through each word before saying it, "Think that...."
"If Shadow were here he could tell us?" said Vader finishing Li's sentence.
"Yes," was all Li said in response.
"We must be prepared to never know what is happening," said Vader suddenly breaking the short silence.
"What?" asked Li rather surprised by his fathers comment, "That's not something you would normally say."
"No it isn't," responded Vader, "We can help battle whatever comes, but we must find the enemy first."
"And for that we rely on Shadow!" said Li
"And Albert," said Vader turning away from the railing and walking back inside, "Yes. We must wait for them."
The next morning began as usual. They all woke up, ate breakfast, and wandered around doing nothing. Vader and Li played some more DOOM II on the network, and everybody else just went to the pool.
But Vader was still curious about that disturbance that he had felt the last night. It was bothering him. He knew that he had felt that presence before. But who was it?
"Who could it be?" said Vader to himself while shaking his head, "I know I've felt that before!"
But Vader didn't have much time to think about it. He had engagements to attend, celebrations to party at, and a government to put back together.
"This is getting WAY too stressful for me," said Vader walking up to his office.
"Yo. Vader!" a voice came from behind.
Vader Turned around to greet whomever it was.
"Yo Duo! Wasup?" said Vader
"Let's not start that again" said Duo, "But I was wondering if you had seen Annabelle."
But a voice could be heard ringing clearly throughout the entire building now, a scream of terror and anguish.
"HELP ME!" yelled the voice.
"HIDE ME NOW!" it said, as it got closer.
The screaming and yelling continued as the voice got closer and closer. Eventually a shadow could be seen on the floor in front of Vader and Duo. It was coming toward them. Then it emerged around the corner screaming, "HELP ME!"
It was Heero, and he was carrying a newspaper.
"Dude..... wasup?" said Duo.
Heero stopped yelling for a second to say, "Please let's not do that again."
"Why are you screaming like that?" asked Vader.
"Look at this!" said Heero in a frightened voice as he pointed to an article on the front page.
"Yeah. So someone broke out. Big deal," said Duo.
"Don't you remember who was there?!" said Heero shocked.
"Oh.... This is going to make things really bad around here," said Duo with sudden recognition.
"So," said Vader followed shortly by, "Oh...."
Then Heero began to scream again while running away down the hall, "SHE'S COMING!"
"So Reelena is coming," said Duo turning to look at Vader
"I need a vacation," said Vader continuing to walk to his office, leaving Duo standing there.
After a while Vader turned a corner and was all alone again. Then it hit him.
"That's who I felt!" exclaimed Vader suddenly and picking up a faster pace, "But Shadow was supposed to have destroyed him."
Vader stopped and stood for a while.
"Then this whole crystal thing could get very complicated," said Vader seriously, "With Barney involved."
Vader finally made it too his office, working on all the papers that had piled up since that morning. But it was still almost impossible for him to concentrate. The whole matter bothered him. It didn't help to think that besides there being powerful crystals out there possibly being used to construct a weapon to destroy him, that Barney was out there and most likely helping it.
"I just got done with a big war and fulfilling a prophecy...." he said with a yawn, "Don't I get a break anymore. It used to be that after a fanfic saga I got a break with a nonsense saga. Like the whole "Untold Saga". Geeze."
Then the door opened suddenly and slammed against the wall. Standing behind the open door was Albert, looking very worried.
"I've just come back," he said, "And I have bad news."
"Really. I never would have guessed," said Vader.
"Yes. It is true that the crystals are here and within a persons reach," said Albert
"And I already know that a certain someone is alive again," said Vader as he passed Albert and went down the hall.
"That's right," said Albert, "Behmiel has escaped death."
Vader stopped in the hall and tuned to face Albert.
"Behmiel?" said Vader.
"Yes," responded Albert, "Apparently he had a clone waiting and was able to possess it."
"Oh. So that was the disturbance I felt," said Vader, "But I could have sworn that I felt Barney's presence."
"No," said Albert quite assuredly, "He's gone forever."
"So its Behmiel," said Vader
"Confusing the Dark Side is," came Yoda's voice from behind Albert.
Yoda walked up to the two and continued, "Remember that Vader. The Dark Side always confuses. Deceives it does."
"Yes. Your right," said Vader who was now thinking of Behmiel constructing some awful weapon.
"So anyway," said Albert, "We need to get moving soon if we're going to find those other five spheres."
"What?" said Vader
"Well...." Albert continued, "The only way to keep them from getting them is to get them first."
"I guess your right," said Vader now walking down toward the cantina.
"So we should leave first thing tomorrow," said Albert, "I've already had Fett and Wolf looking into it. Their bounty hunter friends have provided some useful leads."
"Good. Then we will leave first thing tomorrow," repeated Vader.
"Then there's another matter that must be settled tonight," said Albert
"Which is?" said Vader waiting for a response.
"Who is going to go," said Albert slowly, "We can't take everyone after all."
"I guess your right," said Vader, "But it would be much more comforting to have more people."
"Yes it would," said Albert, "But it would also tip off our enemies."
"So with Shadow gone," Vader began, "That leaves us with me, you, Li, Xuilinc, Sakura, and "
"Vader. Slow down. There is still plenty of time to choose," said Albert.
"Your right," said Vader, "And I'm sure it will be easier after a good dinner."
"That's the spirit!" said Albert.
So they both continued to a restaurant on the first floor of the school. They got some seats and ordered their dinners. After that they started to talk about who should go and who should stay.
"I think Li should go," said Vader
"Yes, but what about his business here?" said Albert.
"He won't mind," said Vader who was quite sure of himself, "I think he'd be glad to get away for a bit."
"True," admitted Albert, "But then what about Luke?"
"Luke would be good to have along," said Vader while nodding his head, "But he has a lot to deal with here at the school."
"Well," said Albert, "This is difficult. There are a limited number of choices."
"What about Xuilinc? "said Vader suddenly.
"Are you sure?" asked Albert, "I mean do you think she's strong enough?"
"Sure," said Vader, "We're just doing some hunting for some crystals that are probably just sitting in temples somewhere."
"I wouldn't put it that way," said Albert, "There are others looking for them. And you will be dealing with bounty hunters and the like."
"Its not that big a deal," said Vader, "We'll just go talk to the bounty hunters, with Fett's and Wolf's help. And if something gets started we'll just fight out way out of it."
"Its not so much the fighting that worries me," said Albert, "Can they be trusted? They might just as easily send you into a trap for our enemies."
"Then I just have one question for you," said Vader, "What else are we supposed to do."
"Okay. Good point," said Albert, "So it will be me, you, Li, and Xuilinc."
"You?" said Vader leaning closer to Albert wondering if he had heard right.
"Yes," said Albert, "After all I have been given some information of the location of the first and second spheres."
"You have?" said Vader
"Yes," responded Albert, "But we will need to rely on the bounty hunters and smugglers for the others."
"Sounds good," said Vader
"So then tomorrow we leave?" asked Albert
"Tomorrow we leave," said Vader.
"Then we shall go tell the others and get a good nights sleep," said Albert
"Yes," said Vader, "But why do I feel like the chaos is just beginning?"
