The Chaos Saga

by Samuel JT Pratley

  "My Lord, I believe that this day has not yet happened. You may very well kill this marine and Sam by the end of it," Shaun said to Chaos.

  Chaos charged at Matthew, and Osiris stepped into his path. Chaos smacked Osiris out of the way and ran until he was right in front of Matthew. Matthew tried to retreat but Chaos created a small puddle of water which Matthew tripped over.

  "You fall because of a pitiful puddle. You are a weak marine. I'm going to make this hurt," Chaos said, clenching his knuckles.

  "Not as much as I'm going to make this hurt," a voice said, following a harsh white light. Chaos reeled forward as Sam kicked him the back.

  Sam blinked in front of Chaos and began punching him in the stomach. Bringing his knee up he slammed Chaos' helmet into it. He flew at Chaos and threw him at Lachlan, who in turn threw him into the library which had already been damaged by Nathan.

  "Matthew, Jareth, go get him. I'll help Lachlan take down the last Chaos General," Sam ordered.

  "Earthen Chimera!"

  Jareth burst out of the ground and ran towards the Library.

  "Shadow Cerberus!"

  Matthew ran after him.

  Sam stopped just before he reached Lachlan because bangs could heard from the library. He turned to see Jareth and Matthew being thrown over his head. The world became darker and Sam's Elemental Blade dispersed. Suddenly Sam felt weaker. He looked up and saw a blood red moon.

  "Hahaha." Chaos come out the library laughing. "It's called a Chaos Moon, and it only occurs when three Chaos Elementals are in the same area. I don't mean three forced Chaos Elementals. I mean the element that is born from darkness. A word of advice, Samuel. Next time don't throw your Darkness Elements at me."

  Sam turned to see Jareth and Matthew rising from the ground. Matthew's fur had turned deep purple and his eyes had gone black. Jareth had reverted to his Chaos Chimera form. They both growled at Sam and got into defensive position. Sam slowly backed away but found that Chaos was behind him. He ducked under Chaos' grab but stumbled onto the ground.

  "Attack him, my pets, but don't kill him," Chaos said.

  "Yes, my Lord," Matthew replied. He ran for Sam while Jareth went underground.

  Matthew pounced and was about to land on Sam when a massive jaw of earth erupted out of the ground and grabbed Matthew. It tossed Matthew from side to side before throwing him away. The jaw came out of the ground in the form of a giant Earthen Chimera.

  "Sorry, Chaos, but I'm not one of your Chaos Generals. I fight for my brother. I fight for Sam," Jareth said. He hadn't been infected with Chaos. He'd faked it all.

  The Chaos Moon was still out even though Jareth wasn't actually a Chaos Elemental.

  "Like I said, three Chaos Elementals. Shaun, Matthew and I. That's all it takes," Chaos explained.

  "Master, might I suggest curing Matthew?" Horus said.

  "Let me handle that, Sam. You take care of Chaos," Jareth said, facing down Chaos Cerberus.

  Sam blinked out of the way of Chaos and tried to grab him while he was on the ground. He reappeared on top of a block of classrooms and looked over the school. The library and a few surrounding classrooms had been utterly annihilated by Nathan and whoever else was over there. A few trees were missing branches and the ground had been soaked and torn up from Sam and Chaos fighting.

  While taking in the sights a small grey tile flew at Sam from the ground. Chaos began ripping up the tiles that paved the central courtyard and throwing them at Sam.

  "Master, I believe that Chaos is trying to distract you."

  "Distract me from what?"

  A bullet pinged off of Horus' shoulder, nearly toppling them off of the roof. Sam turned to several Chaos Marines walking along the roof towards him.

  "The Chaos Marines behind you," Horus said.

  One of the Chaos Marines slipped off the roof and fell to the ground below, exploding into thousands of black shards and revealing to Sam that they were constructs and not real people. Sam blinked back onto the ground and shifted elements. He flung his arms and the constructs fell from the roof and exploded as they crashed to the ground.

  Sam turned and bumped into something large, hard and black. He turned to see Chaos standing behind him. Chaos kicked Sam over and onto his back, before bringing his claws up, ready to strike.

  "Time to finish it," Chaos said, preparing to slice Sam in half.

  "I couldn't agree more. Now, Jareth!" Sam yelled.

  Whatever Jareth did to cure Matthew, it worked - the Chaos Moon disappeared and early morning light streamed into the area. Sam activated his Solid Light Armour and hovered just in front of Chaos, who seemed awestruck by the light. Sam took this advantage and created several elemental blades, which he threw into Chaos' armour.

  The armour shattered and Hayden was sent flying backwards. Sam walked over to him with several elemental blades floating around him, all pointing at Hayden's heart.

  "Go on then, finish it," Chaos taunted. "Kill us."

  "No. I won't kill you, Chaos. I want my friend back."

  Sam put his hand on Chaos' head and began streaming light into him. As Sam felt the Chaos presence leave, he saw a black shadow of a dragon escape from Hayden's body and fly off. Sam decided to not chase after Ragnarok. All he cared about was looking after Hayden.

  Matthew and Jareth, no longer in their beast forms, walked over to Sam. They saw Hayden lying on the ground and instinctively went into a defensive position.

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Guys, cool your jets. This is Hayden, not Chaos," Sam said.

  Hayden awkwardly waved at them. Sam helped Hayden up. Hayden was a bit taller then Sam but shorter then Jareth, and he had short light brown hair and quite a proportionate body. He wore tattered clothing, probably the ones he wore when Ragnarok took control of him, all those years ago.

  22: It's Not Over Yet

  "We should head back to base," Sam said. "Where's everyone else?"

  "Here comes Lachie," Matthew pointed out as Lachlan and Osiris walked up behind them.

  Anubis and Horus detached from Sam and Lachlan and began to converse with Osiris off to the side. Steven and Emily made their way over to the team.

  "Is this all of us?" Jareth asked.

  "Yep. We couldn't find Nathan anywhere so we guessed that he must have left," Steven said.

  "Let's get to base then. Everyone grab on," Sam said.

  Horus and Anubis re-fused with Sam and Lachlan while everyone grabbed various parts of Sam's body. Sam blinked them all back to base and they all headed up to the General's throne room.

  Now all of S1 stood together again. Although Matthew was leading they were all still a team. Matthew, Sam, Jareth, Lachlan, Emily and Steven all stood at attention while Hayden and Osiris stood awkwardly to the left of them. The General sat atop his throne and glared at Hayden. He then turned his attention to the marines in front of him.

  "Well done, Marines, you have accomplished that which had not been done before. You have defeated the Chaos Lord. I congratulate you all. Now Sam and Jareth, I haven't had word back from the High Council about reinstating either of you. But I am happy to have you both back safe and sound, and I'd gladly welcome you back into the marines," the General said.

  "Sir, we defeated Chaos. Shouldn't we be getting some kind of reward?" Sam asked.

  "I'm afraid not, no, but you get the satisfaction of killing the Chaos Lord."

  "You should take no satisfaction for what you have done," a voice said from behind them. They turned to see Alpha and Dialgus, both in their dragon forms, walking towards them.

  "Why are you two here?" Sam asked, stepping forward.

  "We have come to warn you about the future you have just created," Dialgus stated. "There is an enemy far greater than Chaos coming. That is all that I may offer you as far as advice goes. Be prepared."

  "Samuel, you have helped us greatly over the last few years, even if you do not realise it. You let Ragnarok escape, which we are angry for, but we are willing to forgive you if you
help us and join in on the Element War - become one of my Chosen," Alpha said, extending a paw.

  "Thanks, but no thanks. I have a team here," Sam said.

  "There may come a time when we may need of your assistance. Can we count on your help?"

  "If you ask politely, I'll consider it."

  "Farewell, Samuel, Marines. We will meet again," Alpha said, walking out and taking off.

  "Do not take this new enemy lightly. He will be the death of several of you," Dialgus said, flying off.

  "Well, now we have another enemy to fight," Steven said.

  "Yeah but we don't know when he'll show his face. For now I think you all deserve a long rest. You're all dismissed until we may need you," the General said.

  "Sir. Yes, Sir," the marines said, all coming to attention.

  Epilogue

  Everyone had gone home after a quick debrief, and Steven and Emily went back to being Kingdom Defenders, leaving Sam and Matthew alone at the base with Chris and the General.

  "It'll be weird not having Chaos to fight," Sam said.

  "Oh, don't worry, Sam. There will always be more enemies to fight, plus you could always help Omega in the Element Wars," the General replied.

  "Can't the enemy wait a few weeks? We all need a break," Chris added.

  "Well, then, let's head home. You coming Sam?" the General asked.

  "Yes, Sir."

  The four of them walked through the grassy field leading to Matthew's house. Chris and Malcolm walked up front while Sam and Matthew trailed behind. Matthew ran ahead and said something to his father and brother that Sam couldn't hear. Malcolm turned and began to talk into his comms. Matthew ran back to Sam.

  "There's something I want us to do. Can you come back in a few hours?" Matthew asked.

  "Sure. Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Sam asked back.

  "Nope, not yet."

  "Okay, see ya soon," Sam said, blinking away.

  Sam blinked back to Matthew's place a few hours later and found Lachlan, Steven, Hayden, Jareth, Emily, Chris and Malcolm all standing to the right of where he stood. Matthew stood a few feet away from Sam in his Cerberus Armour. One cannon and one blade.

  Matthew pointed his cannon at Sam and said, "Sam, I challenge you to fight for the leadership role of S1. It's about time we settle who leads this rabble once and for all."

  "I've been waiting for this day for a long time, Matt. I accept your challenge. Golden Defended Armour Activate!"

  Sam and Matthew ran straight for each other before Sam flew up high and threw his chakrams at Matthew. Matthew created a portal and stepped through it just as the chakrams were about to hit him.

  Sam surveyed the area, trying to find where Matthew had gone. He was met by a blast to the back and he began to fall. He saw Matthew fall past him with his arms close to his side to increase the speed at which he was falling. Matthew opened two more portals, fell through the first and came out the second. He switched to both cannons and began firing them at the descending Sam, the blasts chipping away at Sam as he fell.

  Sam righted himself and flew low across the ground. There he found Matthew stepping through yet another portal. Sam stood in the middle of the field, trying to figure out Matthew's next move. Several portals opened up around Sam and three dogs stepped through them. Each dog looked like a smaller version of Cerberus, with black fur and yellow eyes, except these ones only had one head.

  The dogs growled at Sam as they began to circle him. Each one had a menacing look on its face. The dogs each pounced at Sam, one at a time. As each one passed him, Sam used his chakrams to slice them up, causing them to burst into a cloud of darkness. As each one fell, more took its place. Sam sliced each one until there were three left. Those three all pounced at Sam at the same time. Sam ducked underneath them and was met by Shadow Cerberus standing behind him.

  Cerberus tried to bite Sam but he blocked the attack by switching to a Defence Mode, bringing up his trident and getting it wedged in the mouths of Cerberus. Sam jumped on top of Cerberus with one hand still wrapped around his trident. Cerberus began to thrash about, trying to throw Sam off him. Cerberus split back into the three dogs, two of which grabbed either end of Sam's trident while the third stared him down, snarling, ready to strike.

  "Master, might I suggest…" Horus began.

  "Shut it, Horus. I want this to be purely between me and Matt. I don't want any of your help," Sam said, trying to figure out what to do.

  "As you wish, Master."

  The third dog jumped at Sam, causing him to switch modes once more. Sam quickly brought his chakrams around and sliced all three dogs at once. As the dogs died, something slammed into Sam's back that threw him forward. He turned over and found Cerberus pinning him down, all three heads snarling at him.

  "You've gotten good, Matthew," Sam said, trying to escape.

  "I had to. With you out of the picture for a few months, someone had to take charge of the team. I took that time to train with Dad, while you were off fighting for Chaos," all three heads yelled.

  "I wasn't fighting for Chaos. I was undercover, trying to get to Jareth. Now I'm here and I'm willing to take back the leadership role."

  "You're going to have to take it from me."

  "That's the plan."

  Sam blinked out of Matthew's grip. Blinking above Matthew, Sam slammed his trident into the back of Matthew's middle head, causing him to fall. Sam stood atop Matthew and twisted his trident in his hands so that he was ready to stab it into Matthew's head. Matthew switched from Shadow Cerberus to his Cerberus Armour, becoming smaller and causing Sam to fall a few feet. When he got up he found Matthew standing above him with his cannon pointed at Sam's face.

  "I win," Matthew said.

  "But I thought you wanted me to lead the team."

  "No. I wanted an official battle to decide who should lead them. And now that we've finished, I have a team to lead, whether you're in it or not," Matthew said, walking off.

  "You haven't changed one bit over the years, Matt," Sam said, standing up. "You're still that little boy who cried when he found out he was a Dark Elemental. Then you left the team just because Jareth picked a fight with you. And now look at you - you're walking away from a real challenge. You've always been a wuss, Matthew. Being a leader won't change that," Sam taunted.

  "I've beaten you, Sam. Accept it."

  "While the chakrams still spin at my side, I will not accept defeat at the hands of you," Sam said, spinning his chakrams at his side.

  "Well, then, I guess I'll have to stop those chakrams, won't I."

  "Holy shit, these guys are getting serious," Lachlan said from the sidelines.

  "When did Matt learn these new powers?" Steven asked.

  "He's been training with me between missions and gearing up for this fight ever since Sam stopped doing missions last year. He's come really far. I'm actually quite proud of him," Malcolm said, watching his son fight.

  "How far are they going to take this fight? Aren't we afraid that they'll seriously injure each other?" Emily asked.

  "Sam won't let it get that far. And Matthew doesn't want to go that far. He told me he doesn't want to win this fight. He just wants to prove to himself that he can survive a battle with someone like Sam. He's been hurting ever since Jareth attacked him a few years back and he really wanted to get stronger. He needs this to prove to himself that he can fight with the big leagues," Malcolm explained.

  "I think Matthew's come the furthest in this team and he deserves to lead you, but if Sam wins then I'm okay with that, because it means that your team has some hard hitters. Either way I think that your team will have a good leader at its head and an even better second in command. Both Sam and Matthew should be proud of what they've accomplished over the years. I know I am," Malcolm continued.

  Matthew fired both cannons at Sam several times, but Sam dodged each blast as he flew low across the ground, trying to reach Matthew. Matthew stopped firing and switched to both blades. He charged at
Sam and they met head on. Sam held his trident in front him blocking both of Matthew's blades.

  Sam thought of a really risky move but at that point he was willing to try anything to secure his leadership role. He felt time slow as he let go of his trident and brought his body around while switching to attack mode. His trident connected with his butt, forming his tail, while his lower half became wings. Sam continued swinging his body around. He brought his chakrams around, each one fending off one of Matthew's blades. Sam finished the attack by flipping backwards, bringing his tail up and slicing a gash into Matthew's chest plate. This all happened in a matter of milliseconds.

  Matthew stumbled back and examined his chest plate. The cut hadn't gone through to his skin but still left a giant gap.

  "That was risky, but it paid off," Sam said.

  "How did it pay off? I'm still standing, you only damaged my armour not me."

  "Just watch," Sam said tauntingly.

  Sam threw his chakrams at Matthew, who blocked the first of them by slicing and hitting it away. He swung at the second one but the blade passed harmlessly through it like it was made of ... Light! Matthew quickly brought his blades up to stop the real chakram from hitting the cut on his chest.

  As the chakram ground away at Matthew's blade, Sam recalled the other one and ran at him. Sam swung at Matthew, hoping to finish it. However Matthew retracted one of his blades and grabbed the chakram while it was still spinning. The chakram ground away at his gauntlet and caused a little blood spill but Matthew managed to swing the chakram around and block Sam's attack.

  Sam and Matthew fought it out with the two chakrams. Matthew managed to hit the chakram out of Sam's hand and go in for a swipe at Sam's throat. Sam blinked out of the way and then blinked in front of Matthew. He grabbed the chakram and sent lightning through it. Matthew fell onto one knee as the lightning coursed through his body, and he let go of the chakram. Sam brought the weapon up and sliced a cut across Matthew's cheek. Matthew retaliated by switching to a cannon and firing it at Sam's stomach, launching him away and cracking his armour. Sam threw his chakram at Matthew, narrowly cutting his upper arm.