Chapter 16: Uncovering The Sinister Plot
Garion ran away from it all; away from Rebolto and Max, away from the pieces of the main hall. He ran through each hallway, looking at every corner with only one goal in his mind: to find his parents. His family were his only connection to his old life, and now Draktos had managed to steal that away from him as well. The two things he loved in the world were now at the hands of the most cynical man in all of existence; Garion couldn’t stand the thought of it. So he kept searching through every part of the entire palace, trying to come up with multiple possibilities as to their whereabouts as he did so: maybe Max was having hallucinations after the incident, maybe Max lost track of time and didn’t realize that Garion took Draktos down from the sky the first time, maybe his parents had gone into hiding once they had hit the ground. After about an hour of searching, he found the meteor sitting outside of the main hall of the palace, Rebolto loading Max inside of it. When they saw Garion panting and staring at the meteor, they had a long pause.
“We should go,” Rebolto told him after what seemed like hours. “Your team is waiting.”
“They’re really gone,” Garion told Rebolto but mostly himself. “He managed to take them away from me as well.”
“We can’t change the past, but we can prepare for the future. Draktos didn’t want you parents for their job on Mars. Their job would serve no use for him. He wanted them because their your parents. He’s setting the bait Garion, and you can’t eat the worm. The best thing you can do for your parents right now is figure what Draktos is planning back at the base.”
Garion reluctantly got inside the meteor as Rebolto clicked the E button. The door slammed shut and the rockets started up, the rev of the engine seeming to ease Garion’s dazed yet depressing state. The meteor roared into the sky and they were off back to Earth.
During the flight, Max pulled out something from his back pocket to show Garion.
“Here,” Max said, giving the slip of paper to him, “Draktos left this when he took your parents. I already showed Rebolto here, but I wanted to give you a little time to cool off before I showed you.”
Garion took the note from Max’s hands and read it aloud:
If you ever want to see your parents alive again, you will hand over the Time Freezer inside my old base by tonight at 8:30 P.M.
Your Loving Enemy,
Draktos
Garion crumpled the note in his hands and threw it to the ground in anger, ignoring its existence. Rebolto and Max simply stood in silence as Garion looked out the window at the never-ending vastness of space.
When the meteor touched down in what was left of Garion’s base, the team helped the three out of the meteor.
“Why do you keep disappearing like that?” Purstan asked in anger.
“First for two days, then for a week?”
“You can’t expect us to be part of a team when the leader is always trying to pull some lone wolf crap.”
“I’m sorry, guys,” Garion told them as he realized how long he was gone after the explosion, “and I know I have a lot of explaining to do. The bottom line is this, though: we’re a team from now on. Where I go, you go. No one gets left out of the loop this time.”
The team felt semi-comforted by this statement as all of them walked inside the back door of the mansion. Each person took a seat on the remains of sofas and chairs, some having to share a chair due to the lack of sitting material.
As Garion took the last seat available, he started to explain what had happened in a short summary.
“Listen,” Garion started, “we don’t have much time so I’m going to cut to the chase.”
Pointing to Max, Garion told them, “This is Nightblader. He is the protector of TLS, along with protector of the gatekeeper.”
“Now here is the deal. Nightblader was the person who made Draktos vanish into thin air, and his machine as well. Apparently when Nightblader tried to subdue Draktos, it didn’t go so well and we both ended up tied to a wall and almost getting blown to bits.”
The whole team seemed to at once gasp as Garion said this, disturbed by the fact that their leader was almost blown up.
“After our miraculous survival, which is why I was gone for so long, Rebolto took me to meet my parents after about 1 month of separation. After we talked for about a minute, Draktos decided it would be the perfect moment to swoop on down and kidnap my parents. After some fighting I thought I managed to scare him off, but that...that...horrible man managed to sweep my parents right from under my nose. Now he’s holding my parents hostage and demanding something called a Time Freezer. All we know about his plan is that it has something to do with ‘shadow storms.’ Any questions?”
The whole team, opened mouthed, didn’t know how to respond to the twisted tale of what had happened to Garion in the past week.
“Good,” Garion hurriedly responded, “now if we could just....”
“Wait a minute,” Malix interrupted him, “did you say shadow storms?”
“Yes.”
“Do you realize what those are?!”
“I was hoping one of you would know that.”
Brendan spoke up in a deep, depressing voice, the subject seeming to be to hard to put into words.
“A shadow storm,” Brendan started, “is practically the end of life on a planet.”
Garion gulped, but motioned towards Brendan to continue on.
“It all starts with the first drop,” Brendan continued, “falling slowly onto the ground, the planet in mass pandemonium afterwards. After the storm follows in simply with heavy rain, except this isn’t no ordinary rain. Each drop of this storm is like pure acid; it melts through whatever it touches. There are no safe places to hide, and nothing that can prevent it’s destructive power. There is no material strong enough in the entire universe that could even hope to prevent the horrendous storm.”
Garion, scared half to death, managed to ask, “So how could Draktos use this to his advantage?”
“From the time of the first drop falling onto the ground and the rest of the drops following the first one, the shadows gain unlimited power, and unlimited strength. Not only that, they also become unstoppably invisible during that time, so that there is no chance of their death. The first drop acts like a never-ending source of fuel to their bodies, it being the most powerful. The drops preceding this one drains out that fuel, and causes the first drop to blend in with the rest. Luckily though, this period only lasts for a few seconds, and is useless without a....”
“Time Freezer,” Garion finished in a whisper.
“Many shadows have tried to find this technology after they found out the connection,” Brendan told him, “and it seems that Draktos believes you have it.”
Garion stood there in awe. His whole planet was about to be wiped out by a storm no matter what he did, but if he didn’t give Draktos the Time Freezer his parents are as good as dead. He was in a deadlock.
“There is another part to the shadow storms that you may find useful,” Brendan continued. “Legend has it that the shadow storms were created long ago by an infant who was born at the precise moment the first drop of the first shadow storm hit the ground of Garlock. Ever since then, this man seemed to have some sort of special power inside him, since this infant was the sola survivor of the Garlock Shadow Storm, seeming to be protected by some sort of shield. If you can manage to find that person and learn his secrets, you may have a shot against Draktos.”
Max raised his hand into the air, an embarrassed look on his face.
“That would be me,” Max told the team.
Out of the entire team, Brendan looked the most startled, the man in the legend seeming to be just purely a legend. Even though he just told Garion to search for him, that was just to lift up his spirits. He never expected the sole survivor of a shadow storm to be right in front of him.
“How?” Brendan asked.
“When you said that stuff,?
?? Garion started, “back at your base. About how shadow storms were the reason you were born. Max, are you really this guy?”
“I guess it’s time to share my story,” Max realized out loud. “Well, I should start by telling you that I’m not from this planet. I came from a planet called Garlock, if you haven’t already figured that out. Garlock was created when Pluto froze up.”
“Wait a second, Pluto was once warm?” Nirem asked, trying to recall his mental notes from all of his science and social studies classes, but nothing jogged his memory.
“Yeah, but then an ice comet hit it,” Max said. “Anyway, the Plutonian's fled Pluto and found another planet with no life on it. The Plutonian's figured that the inhabitants of the planet must have evacuated or something, so they claimed that planet as their own and named it Garlock—after their chief leader, Garlock.”
“Only about 500 years after the people of Garlock settled down though, strange raindrops started to fall out of the sky, destroying everything in sight. These raindrops didn’t only disintegrate through structures, they disintegrated through people. I was born at the beginning of it, as this gentleman mentioned, right as the first drop fell onto Garlock. My parents, both killed in the storm, tried to get me to as safe of a place as they could when the storm hit. Immediately after birth, as the hospital staff, along with the rest of the hospital, started to die, my parents tried to bring me out into a bunker they knew was built long ago. They only made it halfway there, though. By that time, they both dropped dead onto the ground as I started to scream and cry as loud as possible. After all, I was only 15 minutes old.”
“Though suddenly, I realized that I wasn’t dying at all. To the contrary, some sort of shield was enveloped around me, protecting me from the sinister raindrops above. I don’t exactly remember if the shield was visible or not, but, whatever it was, it saved me from the storm that killed my planet along with my people.”
“After the storm was over and the planet was literally destroyed, I ended up wandering around in space for about 6 months until a nearby spaceship found me and picked me up. Realizing that I looked exactly like a human, they drove me to Earth and left me there for adoption. Ever since then, all I’ve known is that, from what appeared to be your God Shabithi, I’ve been destined to protect the oncoming gatekeeper.”
“How do you remember all of this?” Rebolto asked in awe. “After all, you were only an infant.”
“The man that rescued me told the parts of the story he had gathered up to my foster parents once I was adopted, having them tell me when the time was right. It took a little convincing, but eventually everything worked out. That’s not the real point, though.”
“So what is the point, then?” Garion asked, still amazed at Max’s tale.
“The point is that I found out, through a little research that I can not only survive shadow storms, I can predict them as well.”
“Wait,” Rebolto intervened with shock, “how?”
“What’s so surprising?” Garion asked in confusion.
“Shadow storms are unpredictable,” Rebolto explained. “They appear at random anywhere in the universe. We actually don’t know about shadow storms until they are reported usually during the beginning of the storm.”
“So how can you detect them?” Garion asked Max.
“It’s my blood,” Max explained. “Apparently when I was born that first drop fused inside me, it’s composure and structure being infected inside my blood. So, to track shadow storms, I simply take a blood sample of mine and enter it into a personal handmade machine I made that uses probes I sent throughout space to look for shadow storms. If I find any, I immediately help evacuate the entire planet.”
“Why didn’t you report to Earth about the shadow storm approaching us?” Garion asked.
“I had it in my notes, which Draktos took, but I didn’t know how to inform Earth about this oncoming catastrophe. After all, they are the most clueless planet when it comes to outer space.”
“Well,” Garion nervously responded, “I wouldn’t say the most clueless....”
Max looked at Garion with a stern face, then he changed the subject.
“Well, in that case we’re glad to have you as a valuable resource,” Garion politely said. “Our main goal right now should be to figure out what Draktos is planning. Using all the information we know so far, we should start by....”
Suddenly, Rebolto’s wristwatch started to beep.
“I have to take this.”
He walked away from the talkative group towards a corner of the room, but that didn’t stop the group from silencing to listen in on Rebolto’s call.
“Are you sure?” Garion heard Rebolto murmur, although he knew they were all glancing down at him.
“Well, how come you didn’t stop him then? I don’t care how big of an army they have, or that our palace was just attacked, we should have been prepared!”
With that he slammed off the wrist watch in anger, and looked back towards the team.
“I would try to avoid the topic, but you would all just ask about it anyway. So here it is: When Draktos snagged your parents after he disappeared, he also managed to steal one of our valuables as he left. It is a teleportation device, creating a portal from one location to the other. Any ideas on why he would need something like that?”
“My question to you Rebolto,” Garion said with rage, sick and tired of the constant thought on his mind, “was how did he know where to find this device? How does he know what the Time Freezer is? How does he manage to get all of this information on us, right under our noses?”
“Are you accusing me of something?!”
“Damn right I am!”
The two men then got in a heavily worded fight, accusing each other of multiple felonies. The team were just innocent bystanders as Garion and Rebolto dueled it out, hitting each other with every insult available. It almost seemed as though they were about to get physical at one point, which is when Purstan finally stepped in.
“Guys, guys,” Purstan calmed them down. “We can’t be accusing each other of crimes at a time like this. This world is about to end by a ruthless storm we cannot stop, along with an evil, cynical mastermind who seeks to use this storm for his own nefarious purposes, and you two are accusing each other of spying?”
“I guess you’re right,” Rebolto admitted. “We have much bigger things to worry about then pesky suspicions.”
Garion, still keeping a close eye on Rebolto, agreed to the plan, “We’ll continue with what we were doing before Rebolto got his call on his wristwatch, which was figuring out Draktos’ plan based on the knowledge we have. So, any ideas? How about you, Brendan? You seem to be the wise one when it comes to these type of things.”
“I’m drawing a blank as well,” Brendan responded. “All I can conclude is that Draktos wants to use the energy in this shadow storm for something, and it has something to do with his first plan back in the Bermuda Triangle.”
“Well,” Tyrone offered, speaking up for the first time in a while, “let’s gather what we know. Draktos wants to block out the sun. Draktos has a machine that can do this. Draktos wants to use the power of the shadow storms to his advantage, particularly the part about the shadows gaining unlimited strength for about a second’s worth of time.”
“Which is why he wants the Time Freezer,” Garion realized, his parents still in his mind.
“See,” Tyrone continued, “now we’re getting somewhere. Now all we need to figure out is how infinite energy and blocking out the sun relate to destroying the TLS. Also, what the hell is the teleportation device for?”
“Maybe it’s not blocking out the sun that Draktos is worried about,” Mason pitched in. “I mean, the whole point of him blocking out the sun was to gain infinite power. Why would he need infinite power from blocking out the sun though, if he already gets that from the shadow storm?”
Mason paused for a minute, and then added, “What did you say his
machine was made out of again, Garion?”
“It seemed to be pure dark energy.”
“Maybe he’s trying to mix the two. Maybe, just maybe, Draktos, is trying to create some combination of dark energy and shadow storms to take out the TLS.”
“And he’s using the teleportation device to teleport whatever beam he’s shooting into the TLS!”
“Of course,” Rebolto realized. “That’s horribly genius. He’s molding the power of the shadow storms into a pure beam of dark energy that can be shot at the TLS, causing it to break and for his army of shadows to pour into this galaxy. Not only that, because he shot a concentrated beam of a shadow storm at the TLS to break it, all the shadows would be subject to the rays of this beam, causing them to have these infinite powers as well. So once he conquers this galaxy, he will have the technology to conquer the next one. And the next one. And the next one.”
“And he’s using the Time Freezer to gain infinite power so nobody can stop him!” Garion realized again, continuing to think about his parents.
“The plan is foolproof,” Rebolto told them, “besides the fact that we know about it. We cannot let Draktos get away with such a plan, and we must act fast. Max, when did you say the shadow storm was going to strike?”
“Sometime around the next week,” he told them.
“Then we must act fast. Some sort of planetary evacuation is in order. We cannot just leave Earth in the dark about something this big. We will announce our existence to the world tomorrow.”
“When we first arrived in Manhattan though, you said....”
“I don’t care what I once said, this is what I’m saying now. We will tell them about us, one way or the other. Now, we have more concerns we have to deal with tonight. Particularly about your parents, Garion.”
“We have to get them back,” Garion urged.
“I agree,” Rebolto agreed, “but, as you already pointed out, we cannot just give Draktos the Time Freezer. There has to be another way we can make the drop-off and catch him in the act.”
“There isn’t,” Max pointed out, “Draktos took my suit, remember?”
The whole team, remembering the super sonic speed powers of Nightblader’s suit, realized this in sadness as they knew that there would be no way that they could intercept that fast of a drop off.
“So,” Tyrone sadly asked, “we’re just going to let them take it?”
“We could give them a fake Time Freezer,” Garion offered, “or place a bug on the real one. We could even mess with the wiring on the real one so that it doesn’t work.”
“You and I both know that Draktos would have thought of that,” Rebolto pointed out. “At the speeds he would be going, Draktos would have dropped off your parents, ran to test the machine, then ran back and stolen back your parents before we could count to ten.”
“We can’t just give him technology like this,” Mason declared, “it’s mad!”
“We have no other choice,” Garion finally realized.
“Well, we could always....”
“No. Never. There is no way in hell I’m losing my parents, and I don’t care if I have to fight every one of you for it. There’s no other choice, like I said. All we can do is plan for Draktos’ major plan, and find a way to prevent it.”
So Garion watched as the meteor that came to deliver the Time Freezer arrived, and he helped Rebolto load the heavy machine outside of the delivery meteor, right before it flew away. He glanced at the machine. It was no bigger then the size of Draktos’ old machine, except it was completely different in every way. The machine was simply a giant, metallic ball propped up on two stands; one on the bottom and one on the top (both made out of metal). The stand on the bottom also had a control panel, where the device can be configured. The control panel was filled with confusing yet colorful buttons, each one seeming to perform an intricate task. Even Nirem, being great with computers back in high school (a time that seemed as distant to him as his youth), couldn’t even begin to comprehend this intricate keyboard, staring at its immense detail.
Garion helped Rebolto search for a tunnel leading to Draktos’ underground base (remembering where the ambush had came from) and, once they found it, the two men lifted the surprisingly heavy contraption into the tunnel and towards what seemed to be the main gathering area of the base, a podium in the front of the stage.
The two men then watched in sadness as a quick flash of light appeared for a brief second, and then was gone. Garion ran to his parents, crying as he did so, being so happy to be in their presence. Rebolto, on the other hand, stared at the spot where the Time Freezer used to be, despair reeking over his face.