The Universal War
Chapter 8: The Battle At Jupiter
Pedestrians passed the island as normal, not realizing the shadows at their work directly in front of them. The shadows moved swiftly through the night, without even the sound of a whisper. Gliding through the air like a paper airplane, they crept along, looking for anything out of place. The doors to Garion’s base may have been locked, but no matter; all they had to do was glide in with ease, and slip through the walls by blending into them. As they melted inside the wall as gentle as the morning breeze, and reappeared on the other side as if the task was like walking, they looked around in marvel at the mansion that would soon fall.
They never looked down; never wanting to see their faceless reflection staring up at the moon, mocking them for the bright young people they used to be.
“This is hell,” they always thought, “punished by the gods and forced to work for a madman, this is what happens when you’ve been bad.”
As they moved through the night they gathered information: ventilation system in the garage leading to main hallway, a small hole near Garion’s room, etc. They continued to search throughout the whole night, their peak of fruition. As they floated past one another, Draktos stood and watched at the foot of the water facing the mansion. He too a being just a mere shadow with a cape, Draktos stared at Garion’s mansion with glee.
“Just two more days my brethren,” he whispered to the shadows, “just two more days and Garion shall die.”
The shadows whispered in excitement, in an eerie, foreign language it seemed Draktos could only understand. He simply smiled and flung a rubber-band at Garion’s mansion, the mansion that would soon tumble to the ground.
...
“Give them hell!” they shouted.
“Pull off one of his stones!”
“Break off one of his legs!”
The crowd was screaming like a herd of rhinoceros when they walked in, not even pausing to realize that the reason they were fighting just walked in the room.
“How do all of these aliens even speak English?” Garion asked as they walked into the dome to find their seats.
“Adaptation,” Purstan shouted back, “now let’s go to our ‘court-side’ seats.”
As Garion and Purstan maneuvered their way through the violent crowd, Garion noticed the similarities.
Besides the fact that it was the most high-tech stadium Garion had ever seen, the entire stadium was shaped exactly like a football field. There were rows and rows of benches stretched in a circular fashion, stretching farther than Garion could see, and these rock-aliens filled the stands, each one cheering as if their life depended on it, even throwing objects into the ring. Though there were many distinct differences as well; all the benches were a bright, new white, unstained. Each row of benches had a row of computers as well, where it seemed people could place bets on the fighting aliens. Around the area Garion noticed food stands, selling very peculiar items like a rock-squid and moon spiders; 3 for 4.68! While Garion wasn’t sure of the currency that those were for sale in, he was sure of one thing that was different, and that was everything.
“What happened to Jupiter being ‘the poorest planet?’” Garion asked sarcastically.
“Well,” Purstan responded smartly, “like I said earlier, we are trying to help Jupiter get adapted to our new technology. So, as you can see, there are definitely no complaints.”
Garion and Purstan walked through the gates standing directly in front of them as they walked in, as the two guards, immediately recognizing them, opened the gates. When Garion and Purstan got to their seats, Garion noticed that there was a large, plasma screen T.V. towards the South wall of the building. And they were right on it.
The crowd gave a standing ovation for the two, screaming as loud as they could in excitement. Garion felt the energy around him as the crowd applauded, the vibe as each person in the seemingly endless stadium stood up applauding, and it felt so good. That was the moment that Garion knew, that he was special.
As Garion and Purstan got situated, a rock alien about the size of Garion was thrown at the stone wall beside him, seemingly unconscious. Garion noticed the chunks of stone that seemed to be ripped out of his body, and looked over to the stage where he saw the individual pieces on the floor.
The crowd endlessly roared boo’s for the victor, a man two Garion’s tall, as he descended upon the two. He then bowed in their respects, gracefully.
“I am honored to be in such a noble warrior’s presence,” the alien responded in his voice almost as deep as a hard, shallow rock itself. “I hope you will pick me as your fellow teammate.”
The tall rock got up and walked toward the center of the stage, preparing for battle. His face was unreadable; his eyes, nose, and mouth emotionless; all Garion knew was that the Jupiterian was ready to kill whoever came out of the door directly in front of him.
“Ladies and gentleman,” the announcer said loud into the microphone in his deep, rock hard voice, “if you haven’t noticed, we have a special appearance from the contest holders themselves!”
The crowd roared in excitement, some of them even standing up again. Garion simply waved to the people.
“And they came just in time, because this is our FINAL BATTLE!”
The crowd continued to scream and roar, almost fainting at the sound of the announcer’s words.
“I guess we’re a little late,” Garion whispered to Purstan.
“Tonight’s contestants are: Tyrone, the crusher of the competition!”
The crowd booed at the sound of his name, the tall rock that Garion talked to getting ready for battle as the name was said, cracking his knuckles like fighters did on Earth. Garion was amazed at the alien’s adaptation skills.
“Also, our last competitor, Jordan, the destroyer of souls!”
The crowd roared and screamed in excitement as the doors in front of Tyrone opened. Smoke seemed to cover the competitor’s entrance, so Tyrone waited, keeping his eye out for anything suspicious. But when the smoke cleared, there was no one there.
Tyrone started to move close to the door, keeping his guard up. When he was inches away from the smoke screen door, he stopped. Tyrone turned around rapidly, but saw nothing. Suddenly, Jordan jumped on Tyrone’s back from behind the door, pushing him to the ground. His body hit the ground with a hard thud like an earthquake, as Jordan got up from Tyrone’s back. Before Tyrone could react, Jordan then continued to kick him rapidly, starting to knock off chunks of stone from his body.
Jordan then grabbed Tyrone by two loose stones, and threw him against the wall right beside Garion. As the wall started to give away with all the cracks and dents it sustained from that hit, Jordan was ready to charge.
It was in his eyes; the goals, the anger, everything boiled up as Jordan ran screaming across the room, ready for his belly flop.
Garion watched intensely as Tyrone gasped in pain, seemingly giving up as he attempted to crawl toward the other side of the ring. Then his eyes met Garion, and he rolled out of the way of Jordan’s belly flop as he hit the ground with a thud as well.
Before Jordan could react, Tyrone was already on him, ripping off loose stones from his body and chucking them back at Jordan. Jordan then tripped Tyrone with his leg and attempted to get on top of him, but as Jordan jumped into the air to land on Tyrone, he grabbed Jordan by his two already loose shoulders and head-butted him, sending him too the floor. But Jordan wasn’t done yet.
Jordan got up from the other side of the ring with the smoke screen doors, as Tyrone got up as well. They both looked each other dead in the eyes, ready to put all of their anger into one punch, Jordan seeming the more enraged of the two.
He ran tackling for Tyrone but, in one quick motion Tyrone moved out of the way and tripped Jordan with his leg, as Jordan fell to the floor again. Jordan got up this time, furious. He then started to attempt to punch Tyrone several times, but he simply dodged or blocked each punch, and returned it with ones te
n times harder. Every punch Tyrone happened to fail dodging or blocking he took as a lesson to himself, applying the skills he learned seconds later, and Garion noticed this. Jordan tried to throw one more punch at Tyrone, but he caught the punch with his hands and squeezed it.
“Get out,” Tyrone said calmly.
Tyrone head-butted Jordan, and he fell to the ground with one more grand thud. Tyrone walked over to Jordan’s body and reached into his chest, pulling out his center stone. The crowd fell silent as he took the stone, and held it up. He then crushed it with his hands.
The crowd, with a sudden change of heart, erupted in applause and cheers. Rocks fell down from the audience as a sign of thanks, and Garion simply stared at Tyrone and smiled. Getting up, Garion walked over to Tyrone in the center of the stage, and stared at him intently as Tyrone returned his glance. They were both studying each other, knowing that they were soon to be work companions, day dreaming about their experiences together. The crowd quieted down as Garion started to speak.
“Tyrone,” Garion started, “I may have just gotten here but after seeing you put it up with Jordan for what felt like hours, fall back down but then get back up, combating strength with wits, I can say only one thing.”
Garion started to walk away from Tyrone, motioning for Purstan to follow him. The crowd started to worry and Tyrone started to sulk as the gates were opened and Garion walked outside.
Before Garion walked outside though, he turned around and asked, “Are you coming or not?”
The crowd applauded in excitement again, as Tyrone eagerly follow them outside of the stadium, his face full of glee.
“I did it,” he thought. “I took down the strongest in our planet, and I beat him. I actually did it. Now it’s time to take down Draktos once and for all. I will avenge you, my family.”
He bowed again before walking outside with Garion and Purstan.
As they walked towards the meteor in the deep, rocky desert, the once buff Tyrone acted like an obsessed fan meeting his idol for the first time.
“So,” Tyrone started, a big grin on his face, “where are we going now? Are we going to meet the rest of the team? When are we fighting Draktos?”
“Slow down, buddy,” Purstan cut him off, “our goal is NOT to run into Draktos until we have a plan. Yes, we are going to meet the rest of the team. Where to, Garion?”
“Why me?” Garion asked.
“Because you’re the gatekeeper,” Purstan sarcastically responded, “and you can check if Rebolto called you.”
Garion pulled out his new phone, or, as they call it, “Communication device,” and stared at it. It wasn’t even human-like; it was just a simple screen, no thinner then a piece of paper. When touched though, the screen changed like magic. After a few numerous taps on the phone to get to the video chat screen, Garion video-conferenced Rebolto.
“How’d it go in Jupiter?” Rebolto asked.
Garion turned the communication device towards Tyrone, who curiously looked at the phone, wondering what he should do. Garion turned the communication device back to himself.
“Perfect,” Rebolto responded. “We are currently sending your whole team back to your base, but there is one that you will need to pick up, since they are not responding. Your first stop: Saturn. I’ll meet you at your base, which, by the way, I heard about. We are going to have a serious talk about what you told Granger back at that mansion.”
“Listen, Rebolto....” Garion started, but the screen clicked off, and Garion stuck the phone into his tentacles (his unlimited pocket) in sadness.
“What did he say?” Purstan asked.
“Well,” Garion started, “besides the fact that we got busted for telling Granger we’re aliens, he said we have to go pick up a teammate from Saturn that isn’t responding to Rebolto’s calls.”
Purstan simply looked away from Garion, and cursed under his breath. Tyrone kept walking, being careful not to question anything.
When they arrived at the meteor, Garion started to notice life on this planet. He saw the rocks go back to their homes, the kids playing on the street with rocks they found on the ground. He looked all around and realized something; these aren’t aliens. They’re just like us: they have a society, a home, a family, and they shouldn’t be treated as such. As Garion looked around at all the happy and eccentric faces, he noticed Tyrone following his glance.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” Tyrone told Garion as he watched the children run and play. “All of these people, free to live and play. It’s such a happy time.”
“And,” Garion responded, still watching the children, “if we want to keep it like that we have to kill him.”
Tyrone nodded, and they both walked onto the meteor’s sliding door, Purstan inside waiting for them.
Garion started carefully looking for the S button, but as he looked around he noticed something very peculiar.
There were buttons underneath the nine scratched out, except they seemed to have been torn off. The light color of the walls made the dark, scratched out buttons stand out more easily, and Garion started to notice different letters: Q, T, Y, P. So many different letters, but they were all torn out and scratched off. Not wanting to bother Purstan with anymore questions, he clicked the S button and they were off to Saturn.
The journey was longer then the Jupiter trip, but only by an hour. Throughout the trip Garion constantly looked out the window, holding in his excitement for Saturn. Purstan fiddled with his communication device, while Tyrone sat and thought.
“I’ve never been to Earth,” Tyrone suddenly spoke.
Both Garion and Purstan looked at Tyrone, it being the first time he has spoken since the coliseum.
“It sounds beautiful, by the way I’ve heard of it. Is it that great?”
“Yeah,” Garion responded, “yeah, it’s...a piece of work, that’s what it is.”
Then they started to talk, all three of them; about life, Draktos, their families. Purstan shared his story as well, something even Garion hasn’t heard yet.
“A couple of years back,” Purstan started, “I was playing with my friends while my mom watched me from our house. My dad was in Uranus for a business trip.”
Garion and Tyrone watched intensely, as Purstan caught a tear falling out of his eye.
“One day, I get news. Just a rumor, but news. News that something happened to Uranus.”
He caught another tear.
“Obviously, I was scared. My dad was on Uranus. Uranus was on my mind constantly, when he would be coming home. The business trip was supposed to be three days, and it took three weeks for me to find out that the entire planet of Uranus had been wiped out by some dark force. It only took me a couple of minutes from there for me to figure out it was Draktos, slowly leeching his way into our solar system.”
Purstan tried to catch the next tears, but they just kept streaming down his face.
“Draktos killed my dad and, not only that, I used to live on Uranus. All my relatives were on Uranus. Now all I have left is my mom, who is constantly paranoid that Venus is next.”
Purstan sniveled, and continued.
“I just don’t get it,” Purstan asked, “what did we ever do? So I investigated. After a little bit of digging, I found out why Draktos wants you dead.”
To this Garion leaned in closely, listening intensely.
“It’s something that people like to call TLS, The Lone System. Legend has it that long ago, when the universe was created, the creator made a boundary, a wall protecting this galaxy from outer dark forces, making the planets inside this line the ideal place to set up life. The shield extends throughout the Milky Way galaxy, but as time passed the shield has deteriorated. It has shrunken so much, being pushed by so many dark forces that the line only now extends in our solar system. Even now, Draktos is still able to destroy planets just outside the core of the TLS, our solar system.”
Garion and Tyrone just sat there listening, not
a blink out of their eyes.
“But the creator knew he had to entrust the power of gatekeeper, the person who keeps this boundary active, to somebody. A special somebody. Someone who would defeat the dark forces and withstand the evil. You are the gatekeeper, Garion.”
Garion took in all of this information, still trying to process his role in all of this. Then he asked the big question:
“So they weren’t kidding when the Council of Mars told me that the fate of the universe rests in my hands. But how has the TLS shrunken that much, even after all of this time?”
“Mix in natural falling asteroids with Draktos’ failed attempts, and you have a shrinking TLS. The outskirts seemed to be simply a shield for the shield, though. The real TLS, as I said earlier, seems to lie this Solar System.”
“So then how did Draktos manage to get inside the TLS to begin with?”
“I have no idea. The fact that Draktos enters the TLS specifically to find you could mean that he’s known how to all along, and that he has just been waiting for the right time to use his trick.”
“Wait a second, when the attack at Steven Park High School occurred, Draktos seemed weak. He not only had to takeover our janitor’s body, but he also had to take over our teacher’s, killing them both in the process. That doesn’t sound like someone who had a method to get inside the TLS.”
“Maybe,” Purstan thought out loud, “just maybe, Draktos didn’t have a plan. He couldn’t get into the TLS. Maybe when the Gatekeeper, you, were born, maybe he triggered some sort of force, allowing Draktos, and only Draktos, to enter the TLS.”
“But why? My goal is to keep Draktos out of the TLS.”
“Maybe this is how your god, Shabithi, wanted it to be. Maybe Shabithi wanted you two to have this final showdown to determine the fate of all the shadows.”
“So if I die then the TLS....”
Purstan nodded, and the engine started to slow down.
“Lets go,” said Tyrone. “The quicker we get back to Earth, the quicker we kill the man that killed my family.”
Tyrone, obviously being the most excited yet nervous one, was the first to open the door.
The cold air rushed through the meteor, the chilling feeling filling the room since all three of them forgot to put on their planetary suits. It felt like the entire North Pole had been thrown like a snowball right into their faces, as they combated the tyranny of the air. Though they had other things to worry about, as well.
The wind that followed the cold air rushed in the meteor as well, pulling on anything near it. One by one objects began to fly out of the meteor as the vicious wind tore the meteor apart, and sucked Tyrone out of it like a vacuum.
Garion grabbed for the nearest object, being a the closet door handle that decided not to pray victim to the despicable wind. Purstan grabbed for the other door handle, clinging onto it for dear life.
“Tyrone!” Garion shouted. “Tyrone!” “Answer me!”
“We have to close the door!” Purstan shouted over the wind.
“Not without Tyrone!” Garion screamed.
“We have to close the door! We can chase after Tyrone later, let’s not end up like him!”
Purstan reached for the door. But Garion extended his tentacles, pulling Purstan back. He saw a hand.
A rocky hand. Then another. The unique pattern of rock Garion had been staring at the whole flight was much different then the space rocks floating by. He knew, from the texture of the rocks, the cracks on the hands, that Tyrone was clinging on for dear life. The smile on Garion’s face was indescribable.
“Push!” Garion screamed.
“How do you expect him to do that with all this wind?!” Purstan shouted even louder through fear.
Though, like a dog to its owner, sure enough Tyrone’s hands started to struggle, some of it even crumbling away. He pushed harder and harder, the stress on his hands evident, until his face was visible in sight, resisting the strain.
Tyrone then with one mighty motion jumped inside the meteor, and clung on to a piece of rope Garion had thrown him from the closet. Garion struggled to hold on.
“The button!” Garion screamed. “Click the button!”
With a click of the nearest button Tyrone could find marked to close the vessel, he hit it with all his might, and the door to the meteor shut, Tyrone barely making his legs inside.
The three fell to the ground from the lack of wind, and stood there panting. Garion and Purstan were panting half the might of Tyrone though, breathing louder then an elephant, not even to make out part of a word. After five minutes of gasping, Garion stopped panting while Tyrone continued, and he raced up to the window.
“What the hell was that?!” Purstan yelled when he stopped panting moments after Garion.
“It’s gone,” Garion screamed, “it’s gone, it’s gone!”
“Are you sure we are even at the right place?” Purstan asked in anger.
Garion opened the window, and his fears were confirmed.
“Purstan,” Garion asked calmly, “you know how you said that the core of the TLS lies in this Solar System?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, the core is starting to deteriorate.”
Purstan ran towards the window and looked outside, gasping at the sight of what was once Saturn. The chunks of the planet floated around in the endless void of space, only bits and pieces of the planets remaining at the initial sight of it. What once seemed to be a lively planet was now just chunks and rocks floating in space like someone forgot to take out the trash. It was awful. Garion could still see marks on these asteroids, almost like bite-marks. It seemed as though hoards of shadows had simply flown to the planet and devoured it up for energy.
“Just like Uranus,” Purstan made out.
“How could this be, though?” Garion questioned himself. “How is the core deteriorating?”
“The TLS has been around for millennia without a slight ripple in the core,” Purstan whispered while still staring out of the window, “and now the core deteriorates right as the Gatekeeper is born.”
Purstan then turned towards Garion, saying, “Before the Gatekeeper, the TLS had no weaknesses. It could not be broken.”
Purstan looked back out of the window, continuing, “But now, the core deteriorates. You being born, Garion, somehow weakened the TLS, exposing it’s one true weakness. Somehow, the power that needed to be inside you was so great that that power had to be taken away from the TLS, shrinking it dramatically. Did you know what was inside the core of the TLS, Garion?”
Purstan looked back towards Garion, tears streaming down his face, and whispered, “My father.”
Purstan charged towards Garion at full speed, punching him straight in the face and knocking him to the ground. Purstan then bent over Garion in anger, throwing each punch for a memory him and his dad could have had. He continued to punch Garion in the face out of anger, spilling all of his emotions from his dad’s death since the incident.
“I never had a father!” Purstan screamed. “I never had a father, because of you!”
Tyrone finally got up, after all of his breath was regained, and grabbed Purstan off the floor. Purstan spastically resisted Tyrone’s firm grasp, but knew there was nothing that he could do about it.
Once Purstan had calmed down, Tyrone set him on the ground.
“We have to get back to the base,” Tyrone said, still out of breath, “before anything else happens.”
Garion got up, managed a quick, fierce glance at Purstan, and then walked over to the control panel. He clicked the Earth button, and the meteor was off. The three sat back on the floor for less then a minute, before having a good three hour rest.