The Chaos Saga

by Samuel JT Pratley

  A missile was fired from the depths of the army. It flew above the marines and surpassed the shield. It hit the central spire, causing debris to fall upon the marines situated below it.

  "Sam, some have breached the spire. Get up here and defend the Commander," Doc yelled at the marines through the comms.

  "Chris! Lachlan, Jareth and I will head up to the spire. Can you take over commanding my team?"

  "Sure thing. Just make sure the Commander survives this, Sam."

  "Hoorah!" Sam said as he, Jareth and Lachlan passed back through the gate and into the main building of the base. They hurried as fast as they could up the spire, killing Chaos Marines as they went. They finally reached the Commander's throne room. He was nowhere to be seen. In fact, there was no one in the room.

  "What the hell? Where's the Commander?" Sam said, still puffing from the long run up the stairs.

  A dark purple and black portal opened up at the other end of the room. The marines readied their weapons and the base Commander stepped through slowly, one foot at a time, before he collapsed in a lifeless heap. A hulk of a human stepped through after the Commander, wearing a pitch black and purple armour that made it look a lot bulkier than a normal human. It towered over the marines.

  "Who are you and why are you here?" Sam asked.

  "I am the Chaos Lord, Chaos - Master of Darkness and Banisher of Light. I have come with my army to extinguish all light from this unholy universe," it said in an unnaturally deep voice.

  "Do you think we can take him?" Lachlan asked Sam.

  "I don't know. Jareth, can you go beast mode and get behind Chaos?"

  Jareth gave a nod and activated his beast mode. He began to run toward Chaos and jump over him, but Chaos was taller then they'd thought. Chaos grabbed Jareth's tail and swung him around a few times before throwing him out of one of the many windows of the throne room.

  "Jareth, are you okay?" Sam asked through the comms. There was no response.

  "Sam, I can take him if you want to check on Jareth."

  "No, Jareth can take care of himself."

  They both rushed towards Chaos, who just grabbed Lachlan's head and held him above the ground. Chaos kicked Sam in the stomach and threw Lachlan after him. Chaos' gauntlets had scythe-like claws on each finger. He ran towards the marines who were still scrambling to get up. He swiped at Lachlan, who responded by going invisible and ducking out of the way. Chaos put a foot on Sam's stomach to keep him from moving. He looked around to see where Lachlan had gone and then turned back to Sam, who was still under his foot. Chaos readied his claws for another swipe but Lachlan slashed his own thunder claws, scratching Chaos and allowing Sam to fire three nails into Chaos' chest. Chaos stepped back from the attacks and pulled the nails from his chest. They exploded in his hands.

  Sam and Lachlan regrouped away from Chaos.

  "How are we gonna take this guy down?"

  "I don't think we can. Maybe if we weaken him enough he'll retreat."

  They both rushed Chaos again, avoiding his claws. Lachlan managed to get on his back and stab him a few times with his thunder claws. Sam revved his Gatling guns and fired at the hulk. Their bullets bounced off the armour harmlessly. Chaos managed to grab Lachlan from his back and throw him against a wall.

  "I've recorded enough data on the two of you and I will be back to finish you off eventually," Chaos said as he opened a portal behind him. He scooped up the dead Base Commander and ran through the portal with the Commander under his arm.

  2: The New General

  Sam helped Lachlan up just as Doc ran into the room.

  "Where's the Commander?" he asked.

  "Chaos took him back through a portal, but the Commander was dead by then anyway," Sam said with his head down.

  "So now who's gonna run the base?"

  "Malcolm can. He was offered to take over the base when the Commander retired and I guess that this kinda counts as retiring," Sam said as Lachlan fell back onto the ground.

  "I'll go call Pike then. You two just stay here," Doc said, leaving the room.

  Sam and Lachlan were both breathing hard, exhausted after the battle.

  "What did he mean by 'collecting data on us'?" asked Lachlan in between breaths.

  "I don't know but if he can kill the Commander and defeat the three of us then we're gonna have to get a lot stronger if we're ever gonna face him again. Oh wow, did he do something to us? I've never been this tired after a battle."

  "Me, neither."

  "Hey, Lachlan. I saw how you fought Chaos. Have you ever thought about ranking up to the S1 rank?"

  "You mean, coming onto your team?"

  "Yeah."

  "I've never thought about it. I'm quite happy with where I am now, but I'll give it some thought."

  Sam and Lachlan rested for a while on the floor of the throne room before Jareth's voice came over the comms.

  "Hey, don't worry about me, Sam. I'm just fine."

  "Oh sorry, J. Other things were going on up here," Sam said, shaking his head and laughing towards Lachlan.

  Pike's team landed a few hours after the battle with Chaos. Sam, Lachlan and Jareth were in the med bay, recovering from the battle. Sam fared a lot better than Lachlan, who had a broken arm. Sam had walked away with only a few cuts and bruises.

  Pike walked into the med bay, followed by Malcolm.

  "Well, well, how are my two favourite marines doing? I'd hate to see what the other guy looks like."

  "Not too good, it seems, Pike. And the other guy - he was Chaos."

  "The Chaos Lord?"

  "Yeah, that's the one."

  "Good God, it's a lucky thing that you survived."

  "So Malcolm, are you looking forward to being the new Base Commander?"

  "Aye?"

  "Doc didn't tell you?" Sam looked at Pike.

  "Ahh, he just said to come the base urgently."

  "What happened to the Commander?"

  "He's dead. Chaos killed him before we arrived."

  Malcolm and Pike exchanged a look of dread.

  "That means that I'm to take over."

  "Yep."

  "Good luck with that," Pike said, patting his team mate on the shoulder.

  Once Sam and Lachlan were both able to walk, they headed up to the throne room with Pike and Malcolm. Malcolm reluctantly took his seat. As he sat down, his hands and legs became clamped to the chair and an armour began to engulf his body. The armour was silver in colour with black highlights through the joints. Its helmet had no visible face and it carried a fierce quadrant (four pronged trident). A long red cape flowed behind the armour.

  "How does it feel, Commander?" Sam asked.

  "He's not a Commander. He's a general. He was a higher rank than the Commander when he took over the base so even though Malcolm was a higher rank, Blake still became the Base Commander," Pike explained.

  "Oh. So, what? Now we call him the Base General?"

  "The Great General," Malcolm exclaimed as he stood up. "As my first act as the Great General, I think it's time for you to rank up, Lachlan."

  "Me?" Lachlan asked, pointing at himself.

  "Yes, you. Now kneel."

  Lachlan bent down onto one leg and the General walked over to him. He placed his quadrant on Lachlan's shoulder. "Lachlan, I hereby bestow upon you the Rank of S1. Sam will now be your leader. You will follow his every order, and live and serve him until you die."

  "I, Lachlan, will now and until I die, serve under Sam's every word and order. I will fight alongside him until my dying breath," Lachlan replied, looking over to Sam, his new leader.

  3: The First Loss

  Sam, Cheyenne, Peter, Matt, Jareth and Lachlan were all sitting in their now bigger room, waiting for any new Chaos Marine attacks. Lachlan had been given an armour gauntlet but hadn't used it yet. Doc's face appeared on Sam's bed screen.

  "What's up, Doc? Ha ha - see what I did there?" Sam joked, without any response.

  "There are Chaos Marine attacks goin
g down on Earth, all of which are centred in Dunedin, in your school."

  "Oh, crud. Okay. I guess we'll head down there and see what we can do about it. Sam, over and out."

  "Over and out?" Lachlan asked.

  "What? I'm trying something new."

  "It doesn't work. Let's just go down there and kick some Chaos Marine ass."

  They teleported down into the central courtyard of the school Sam, Lachlan and Matt attended. Chaos Marines were everywhere but they weren't doing anything. It was like they were waiting for the marines. Luckily there was no sign of Chaos.

  Everyone except Lachlan and Peter had activated their armours before they had arrived. Peter didn't have any armours except his default terminator armour, and Lachlan hadn't used his new one yet.

  "C'mon, newbie. Let's see this new armour," Sam said to Lachlan.

  Lachlan activated his new armour. It was a large purple armour with glistening metallic grey claws that extended from oversized gauntlets. The amour had a wolf's head as its helmet and continued its wolf theme with another wolf's head on its stomach. There was a coat of arms of the marine corps on each gauntlet. A long red cape fluttered behind the armour.

  "I like this," Lachlan said, sounding happy with how his new armour looked.

  Sam was the first to make a move on the Chaos Marines that surrounded them. He and Matt both fired their gatlers, killing several Chaos Marines. Jareth activated his beast mode and began to attack while Lachlan and Cheyenne sliced away at the Chaos Marines. Peter was having difficulty. Most of the Chaos Marines were melee specialists. Peter wasn't so he spent most of the time running away and setting explosive traps for them to run over.

  A loud thud came from the far side of the courtyard and Sam could see that Chaos had arrived. Sam couldn't tell who he was before the armour activated because he hadn't taken the time to look around and see who was in the crowd that surrounded them. Chaos made a slow walk over to the marines, as his Chaos Marines retreated behind him. Chaos flexed his claws, ready for a kill. Peter was distracted by some Chaos Marines and happened to run right past Chaos. Chaos grabbed him by one arm and dangled the marine in front of him before plunging his claws through Peter's abdomen.

  "No! Peter!" Matt yelled.

  "Everyone head back inside. It's gonna get messy and we don't want your weak innocent eyes getting more corrupt from seeing death," Sam yelled to all of the high school kids watching the fight. They all ran back to class to let the marines finish their job. Matt was on his knees. He'd just lost his best friend.

  "Jareth, stay with Matt. If you need to take him to the library, we can handle this without him," Sam said to his brother. "Cheyenne, Lachlan, we can't let this guy leave here without the proper punishment."

  "Right," they both said together.

  Lachlan and Cheyenne ran for Chaos while Sam held back, firing nails at the Chaos Marines.

  "Psst. Hey marine, I have an idea on how to defeat this guy," a voice said from behind Sam. Sam turned to see a boy behind him, roughly the same height as himself but just a little bit chubbier with dark blonde hair.

  "Leave now, student, before any harm can come to you," Sam said in his best acting voice.

  "Why? I'm not in any danger here."

  "Just leave."

  "But I know how to defeat this guy."

  Sam sighed and glanced over to Lachlan and Cheyenne, both of whom weren't having the best of luck fighting Chaos.

  "Alright, fine. How do I take this guy down?"

  "There's a kink on the back of his armour. It's small but not unseeable. If you managed to fire a nail in it, it'd deal some serious damage."

  "I'll try it. Thanks. Now get back to class." The boy ran off.

  Sam took the guy's advice and ran behind Chaos, who was distracted by Lachlan and Cheyenne. He got behind Chaos and began scanning him for any weak points. To Sam's disbelief the kid was right. Between the two shoulder plates was a tiny gap just big enough for a nail to get through. Sam fired three nails into Chaos' back through the gap. The explosions pushed Chaos forward and onto his stomach. The marines quickly ran over to him and poised their weapons.

  "Leave and never come back," Sam offered to the Chaos Lord.

  "Ha, you stupid marines. You'll all fall under the Chaos rule eventually, or you'll all die, just like your friend over there."

  A swirling purple and black portal appeared under Chaos and he disappeared through it. Sam looked over to Matt, who was still in a slump.

  "I'm sorry, Matt. I'm so sorry," Sam whispered to himself.

  4: The Newbie

  The next few weeks were hard for everyone, especially Matt. The loss of Peter was heartbreaking.

  Sam had signed up for Stage Challenge, which was a song and dance event his school competed in every two years. It was a sunny weekend morning and Sam was in the art room, helping out with the stage props. Sam had only joined the back stage crew because the boy who told him how to defeat Chaos was there. They were both working on the black and silver fern backdrop.

  "Can you stop staring at me, please?" the boy asked, aware of Sam's gaze.

  "Oh sorry. I'm just ... it's weird … I'm Sam," he said, holding out his hand for a handshake.

  "I'm Matthew," the boy replied. "You seem familiar. Have we met before?" Matthew continued.

  "I don't think so. Why'd you sign up for Stage Challenge?" Sam asked, quickly changing the subject.

  "Ugh, my mum is best friends with the teacher who runs it here and my family have been coming here to help ever since my brother started school here two years ago. What about you?"

  "Me … oh uh … I don't know. For fun, I guess."

  Matthew laughed at Sam's response.

  "What's so funny?"

  "Why would anyone want to do something for school on the weekends and the holidays and say that they're doing it for fun?" Matthew asked still laughing.

  "I … have my reasons."

  "Ha ha. You're cool, Sam. I like you." Sam was surprised at what Matthew had just said, and sat there, staring at Matthew. "You're staring again."

  "Oh, sorry." Sam put his head down and continued to paint the massive black polystyrene boards.

  It was time for a break and everyone had gathered in the other art room for lunch. Six other boys were there. Some were older and some were the same age as Sam and Matthew. A scattering of parents were there as well. The teacher walked in with a large packet of fish and chips, which didn't last long with eight hungry boys scoffing away at it. Lunch was done and everyone had free time before they got back to work on the props. Matthew and Sam were sitting at one of the benches in the main courtyard of the school. Matthew had a sketch pad out and was drawing something but Sam couldn't see what it was.

  "Did you hear about the guy that got murdered here a few weeks ago?" Matthew asked. Sam just grunted in response. He didn't really want to talk about his dead friend. "I heard he wasn't even a student of this school."

  "Can we change subject? He was … someone I knew," Sam said, bowing his head.

  "Oh, sorry, I didn't know."

  "Meh, it's okay. So what are you into, Matthew? What do you do for fun?"

  "I draw, although not very well, and I paint. That's about it."

  "Can I see your drawing?" Sam asked and Matthew flipped his book around to reveal an amazing drawing of a bird - a Tui. "Wow, it's beautiful."

  "Really? Thanks. I come from an artsy family and it's hard to get compliments from people who are better than you at things."

  "Oh, I know how that feels. Trust me when I say there are a lot people who expect me to do well."

  "At school?"

  "Nah, just in general. You wouldn't understand."

  "Oh."

  The two boys sat there in silence for a minute or two.

  "How'd you know about Chaos' weakness?"

  "Sorry, what?" Matthew said, clearly distracted by his drawing.

  "Oh, uhh, nothing."

  "Sam! Matthew! It's time," the teacher's voice
said from behind them, and the boys went inside to finish their job. The next few hours were filled with work that kept both boys busy and away from each other.

  The day was coming to a close, the sun was going down and everyone was packing up for the day.

  "Same time tomorrow, Miss?" Sam asked as he slung his bag over his shoulder, readying himself to leave.

  "No, not tomorrow. We'll meet up in a few weeks and hopefully finish everything."

  "Okay, see ya then, Miss."

  "Bye, Sam."

  Sam ran out the door and found Matthew standing, waiting for him.

  "Are you leaving, Sam?"

  "Yeah, Miss says that we're done for the day."

  "Will I see you again?"

  "What? Of course. We'll see each other around school."

  "Okay cool, see ya then."

  "Bye."

  Sam walked past Matthew and around to where no-one could see him. He then messaged the Base and was teleported up to find Lachlan waiting for him. They walked through the base, talking.

  "So, how was your day at school?"

  "Shut up, Lachlan."

  "Did you find the boy from before?"

  "You mean Matthew? Yeah, I found him."

  "What're you gonna do with him?"

  "Recruit him."

  "Recruit him?" Lachlan stopped in his tracks looking at Sam with a worried look.

  "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

  "Nothing. So, then, what are you doing here at base?"

  "I'm getting the gauntlet that was meant for Peter."

  "For what? To give it to Matthew?"

  "Exactly."

  "Good luck with that, Sam."

  "Thanks," Sam said as they parted ways.

  Sam ran up to the command centre to find Doc.

  "Hey, Doc. Where's the gauntlet that was made for Peter?" Sam asked, running into the command centre.

  "It's umm … why?"

  "I'm wanting to recruit someone."

  "And you're sure you want to give them Peter's gauntlet?"

  "Yeah."

  "What would Matt say?"