Chapter 84: The Great Speedster War Part 5: The Speedster Storm
Future Romaine's POV
"Now that we're here, hopefully we can turn the tides of the war." Donte said, brushing off his hands
"Definitely, though how did you guys get pass the wall so fast?" I responded
"We ran over it, duh."
"Taylor, you and Alpha hold off the golems, Delta and I will take on Zero."
After she nodded her head, Taylor worked with the other Alpha speedsters to take out the remaining 4 golems.
The four of us left here stood side-by-side, staring down the menace that killed our mothers.
"You guys ready for this?" I asked them
"As ready as I'll ever be." Donte answered
The four of us engaged our lightning cloaks and charged straight for him.
Without making any unnecessary movements, Black Zero flawlessly dodged all of our attacks; even countering most of them.
"Can't land a hit on this dude." Donte stressed
"Don't let up, keep bombarding him with attacks and we'll get through to him." I advised
"Easier said than done!" Shante commented, hurling a bolt of lightning at him
Zero created an afterimage, easily dodging the attack.
"You've got to be kidding me." I thought out loud
"Donte and Shante! Twin burst bolt, try it." Melany suggested
Donte and Shante jumped backwards to gain distance between them and Zero, then threw forward a lightning bolt made of their combined energies.
"Twin Burst Bolt!" They shouted
Again without dismay, Black Zero was able to dodge the attack.
-"Romaine, not good."- Cas came in, -"The Marauders are over powering the heroes, Malcom isn't able to maintain the barrier for much longer. If we don't stop them now, then the city will be in grave danger."-
"Damnit. We have to retreat." I told the others, "We need to go support the other teams with eliminating the Marauders."
"As you wish Captain." Donte affirmed, racing away followed by the others
"I'll handle you later." I said to Zero
~~~~~~~
Though we fought long and hard, the wall still fell, and some of the Marauders made it into the city. When we'd finally defeated the Marauders, there was unbelievable damage done to the city's infrastructure.
"That took way longer than expected." Jayden commented
"Cas, are there any more?" I questioned
-"There are a few dozen scattered throughout the city."-
"Kirk, you and Charlie go clear out the rest of the Marauders." I commanded
"What now boss?" Samuel questioned
"There's only one opponent left standing." I stated, looking past the field covered in bodies and staring Zero in the eyes, "This is it everyone. The final front against Black Zero. It's all or nothing now."
"We defeated over 7,000 of his goons, compared to that this should be easy." Jayden stated
"Rookie mistake underestimating Black Zero." Donte corrected, "He's nothing short of the devil himself. I wouldn't be surprised if he was several times more difficult to beat."
Yet again Zero broke out into laughter, this time more untamed.
"You've finally done it." he spoke, "You've finally gotten every last one. Fools."
Zero raised the Philosophers' Stone in the air, which caused it to start glowing very brightly.
All the corpses begun withering to ash, with some sort of essence coming out of them. The essences went towards Zero and was sucked into the Philosophers' Stone.
"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Melany questioned
"That bastard's absorbing his minions." I gritted my teeth
The skies turned even darker, and were completely covered with black thunderclouds. The clouds continuously released lightning all over the field.
"Did he just create...a storm?" Samuel questioned
A flash of black lightning struck Black Zero, making all of us reactively cover our eyes.
When we looked back at him, the Philosophers' Stone was no longer in his hand, instead it was now embedded in his forehead.
-"He somehow managed to merge with the Philosophers' Stone."- Cas informed us
"This can't be anything good." Sam pointed out
"So it's basically a new form? Should we give it a name then?" Donte questioned
"You can't be serious." I mumbled, remembering that at the end of the day he's still a child at heart
"Well I guess since he looks even darker now we could call him Vanta Black Zero?" Melany suggested
"You too Mel?" I sighed
"Call him what you want, he's still the guy that wants to kill all of us." Sam noted
"All you weaklings succeeded in doing was furthering my plan!" Zero belted, "Now that I've merged with the Philosophers' Stone, witness the fruit of my creation; The Speedster Storm!"
"The...Speedster...Storm?" Taylor questioned
This is definitely no good. It looks like all along he intended for us to beat his Marauders just so he'd be able to absorb their energy after.
"All of New Montego Bay, and the entire world along with you, WILL PERISH!!!" Vanta-Black Zero's voice echoed throughout the entire field as he shoved forward his hand
The storm raged and black lightning was shot out everywhere starting at Zero's position then swept across the field.
"Cas." I called, pressing on my ear piece, "I don't want any non-speedsters to cross beyond this point, keep them on the sidelines and out of the range of the storm."
-"Understood."-
"As for everyone here, I want every high level speedster to initiate your lightning cloaks, those who can't should stay back."
As instructed, the experienced speedsters donned their lightning cloaks, including myself.
"If we want to get to Zero we're gonna need to get through that storm." I stated
"I get that," Jayden said, "But how the hell are we going to fight a storm."
"We just need to break through it and not get hit."
"Easier said than done." Donte pointed out, "But I agree. It's our only option if we want any chance at getting to him in time."
"Follow my lead." I guided, running into the storm
"You heard him Delta!" Donte shouted, "Follow after the Commander!"
We tried maneuvering through the storm, though every step we took was a risk in and of itself; the lightning raging from the storm was too unpredictable to actually dodge, and I'll admit I sustained a few hits too.
Immediately I had to strafe to the right, barely dodging a lightning bolt hurled by Vanta Zero. It still grazed my chest though, completely ripping through my lightning cloak and tearing my suit.
"Damnit." I grunted
"Any direct hit might as well kill us." Donte commented
"Maybe there's another way around the storm." Taylor suggested
Zero then clenched his fingers, seemingly causing a dark mist to spread around us.
We were now basically completely surrounded by the storm; in any direction we turned there was nothing in sight other than the indefinite mist. And on top of that I couldn't tell which direction I was facing; and I could tell that the others were having the same problem.
"Oh what is it now?" Sam questioned
"We're trapped inside the storm itself." Donte analyzed, "He must've extended its reach from just the skies to all around us. I can bet that if we tried to escape the boundaries would shock us with the same type of lightning."
"It's always one thing after the other with this guy." Jayden whined
"Allow me to introduce you to Black Zero." I dismissed
Just then a bolt of lightning came towards us from outside the perimeter of the storm.
Those of us in its path were barely able to dodge it.
"Zero must've thrown that." I stated, "Cas, can we get a read on him?"
There was no response. The storm itself must be disrupting our communication channels.
"Damn. Cut off from the outside." I muttered
"I can't sense him out there either." Donte added
Another lightning bolt was then thrown from a completely different point of entry. Not only did it catch us off-guard, but it struck Taylor directly.
"Taylor no!" I screamed after her
Her body was completely singed, all that was left behind was her half-burnt skeleton.
"What in the hell!" Jayden exasperated, "This guy's insane!"
Damnit. This didn't have to happen... If I didn't give Taylor her position then she wouldn't have been caught up in this...
"Romaine." Donte called, "We need to stay focused. More might be coming."
"You're right." I agreed, "Everyone be on your guard. Expect an attack from any direction!"