4Well, to all my fans who have waited patiently for an update, thank you. Firstly I know its been a while and people are wondering about my DOA fan fiction, well, that's on a temporary hiatus till I get this up and running. Secondly I've had a bad writer's block, when I got the mood to write, I ended up making this. Well, this is the Soul Caliber sequel everyone wanted, enjoy it I guess.
Oh right, disclaimer, ok, first: I do not own Ben 10 or Ratchet & Clank, they belong to Man of Action and Insomniac respectively, all I do own are the characters and planets that are original, anyway...here we go!
Team Terraforce
"You wanna hear my story? Heh, alright, I'll tell you. I mean, you know my story, you saw the news and the episodes, right? You saw what we went through, but that's not enough huh? You wanna hear how we fought through all that shit, uncovered secrets better left buried, and exposed the dark side of mankind, huh? Alright, sit back and relax, because it didn't start in a arena cell, no, it started…in a simple bedroom one morning…"
Prologue: Not on Earth Anymore (Beginning)
The smell of charcoal and ashes hung in the air, a loud crash was heard through the destroyed streets, smoke rose from the crater, blocking out the green flash of energy as the occupant slowly stumbled out, the brown hair disheveled, clothes tattered and skin covered in scratches. The teen collapsed on the ground, arm outstretched, revealing a white and green futuristic watch on his wrist.
An armored boot stepped next to the watch, a gauntleted hand grabbed his wrist, hoisting up the boy's body like a war trophy. A horn blast echoed through the destroyed city, the fires of the crashed ship illuminated the man and his trophy as another horn blast echoed.
"Today…this world BURNS!" he bellowed loudly as the view shot out into the atmosphere of the planet, showing the blue planet engulfed in fire while ships were busy bombarding the surface.
I gasped from the nightmare, shuddering from it, the cold feeling of dread was clung to me like the blanket I had over my form. I panted and sighed, waiting for the feeling to pass, I felt the sunlight hit my face, checking my cell phone I saw it was 11:43 a.m. and yawned, resting my head for a few minutes as I began to come to my senses. I looked and rubbed my eyes, hearing the sounds of the TV on in the living room and figured my mom was up. Oh I never really introduced myself, name's Mark, I'm a human from Earth just like everyone else, today I was preparing to do what I normally do, the same old routine.
Sure I mean I could get a job and such, be active in my community, but what's the point? Yes I am lazy, yes I am bored and I don't want to change, I like being me, but I hate this world, its limiting, its noisy, and the people, well least from what I hear on the news, it's just messed up, I wouldn't even care if I left this rock and never came back.
Boy was I about to eat those words…
A half-an-hour later I finished my morning ritual of breakfast, brushing my teeth; I looked and turned my Xbox 360 on, smiling as I decided to kill some hours by playing some games. After loading up I looked and chose the game Bastion and smiled to myself as I began playing. After several hours of playing I was bored, logged off, probably skipping out on talking to any of my friends, then looked at the time, seeing it was three o'clock, I figured time to check our mail.
I got up, not changing out of my casual clothes; our mailbox was nearby, a few minutes out into the sunlight and a quick walk to the box and back. Simple enough, I grabbed the key, getting out, hearing my dog bark as I climbed down the stairs. "I'll be back!" I tell her as I head down the gravel walkway from our house.
I felt the humid air on my skin, pale from lack of sunlight, making me pass for white, or Arabic white, even though I'm Hispanic, everyone confused me for another nationality, must be my beard, I really should shave more often. I kept thinking, about the state of humanity, of Ben 10, the so called hero everyone talked about. I only saw bits but ever since it was revealed aliens existed, I was curious and excited, I wanted to meet some, I wanted to see their worlds, know what it was like living there. But I sighed, I can't leave this world, I got family and friends…but the temptation to ditch it all was strong.
I get my mail and sigh, no new games for me sadly, but new magazine at least, so light reading, sweet.
I look around, light clouds in the sky, the blue sky healthy despite lack of ozone layer in certain spots, hot air of summer, yeah just a typical day in the neighborhood. However, that wasn't the case, as I heard a loud humming and felt the ground shaking and heard the dogs from the neighborhood were barking. I was staring at a spaceship twenty times bigger than a three story building…with lots of weapons on its sides, hovering in the skyline, blocking out the afternoon sun.
The spaceship opened up and a few robots fell out of the hatch and onto the ground with a loud crashing sound, setting off car alarms and causing dogs to bark louder. I saw the robots transform and stand on their legs, they had crimson paint and a logo of some weird horned…thing with a 'Z' behind it. I soon saw the nearest robot's eyes glow as they looked at me. I felt nothing but dread from those cold glowing eyes, my feet were planted on the ground until one unveiled a rifle looking weapon and aimed it at me.
"Oh shit!" I yelled and dodged the laser fire and made a break for our house, since some of the robots landed outside it. I panted heavily, hot air and lack of exercise made my muscles so weak. I panted and soon saw the robots were trying to enter the neighbors' houses, all searching for something. I heard yells, but I didn't bother listening as I made my way to the front door, making sure that the doors were locked and went to turn the knob.
As soon as I touched the doorknob I heard a loud beep and got flung back by a force of wind that sent me flying and crashing into a tree. I gasped and crumbled, back hurting, the pain…god it hurts so much! "C…Chris! M…Mom! Mommy!" I called, childhood antics flashing and taking over, my right arm felt like it burned, something was wedged into parts of my body, I can't see too well. I saw a silhouette of someone, something human shaped coming close to me, it looked at me, my eyes watered in pain, I couldn't see well, but I saw one thing.
A pair of yellow eyes stared blankly at me, they seemed…familiar almost.
"Sleep…sleep little pup…" the eyes spoke before something smashed against my face and I blacked out.
"Take them all, burn the house…"
"No, this wasn't part of the deal!"
"It is now…"
The sounds of buzzing electronics were heard as soon as the boy slipping into consciousness. Everything was black; the sounds of welding, buzzing, zapping, drilling and clanking were heard. A few voices are heard and soon something appeared on a monitor, it was a face, but it was hard to tell what it was. The monitor moved down to show some sort of material for something.
A click and a wince of pain caused a groan of pain to escape from the helmet, with the voices all frantically yelling and a fourth yelling and screaming in pain from something. A beeping sound repeatedly pulsed, going faster and faster as the boy looked around, scared. He called out names, he called for his family, anyone to help, he said things, called them monsters, asking where he was. The boy suddenly felt something injected inside of him and he calmed down. He soon heard another voice, faint, but it was definitely English.
"Easy there! We need the boy alive, we can't have him die on his first day now can we?" the voice asked in a soft tone as the monitor went black. The boy soon felt metal being placed on his body, followed by a tingling feeling before he was put to sleep.
Mark's POV
I soon began to regain consciousness after my "experimentation" and soon I saw something flash on my screen…wait, what? I was looking through an orange tinted visor and looked at my hands, they were metal, and I was wearing some kind of body suit or armor that was dark blue and grey, I saw my helmet in a reflection and it looked…well…human looking, kinda like a gladiator helmet and hid my face behind a tinted visor.
Sweet this is just like a video game!
I soon heard a buzzing sound in my helmet, god that noise! Make it top! I yelled and banged on it to try and turn it off; instead I heard someone's voice.
"Mar...K…Mark…Mark, can you hear me?" the voice asked through the static.
"Joseph? Joe is that you?" I asked frantically, grateful for the familiar voice of my friend.
"Good, I got through to you, listen, we got abducted by some guys working for a game called Dreadzone Z, it's apparently this illegal underground gladiator game were people fight each other to survive, seems like some other people got abducted and are coming to you as we speak," Joseph explained. I was going to ask Joseph what was going on when two small pillars of light appeared beside me.
I looked to my right and saw a tall figure wearing black and red body armor like mine, only his helmet looked like a Spartan helmet and it had a red visor. The pillar of light to my left faded and I saw someone wearing dark yellow and green armor and he looked like he had the same helmet like mine.
"What—what the hell?! Where are we? Who are you two?" one of the men in the armor asked me and the other guy.
"Wait a minute…Zach? Is that you?" I asked the boy in the black and red armor, astounded.
The man stopped and stared at me, then looked me over and, if the visor wasn't tinted, I could've sworn he was grinning. "Mark? Dude, what happened, and when did we get this cool looking armor?" Zach asked while looking over his armor.
"Don't know, but who are you?" I asked the guy on my left.
"Mark, it's me, John, remember?" the man stated.
"Ooh…hey dude," I said casually after realizing my mistake. How can I be so casual right now? Well…I play a lot of video games, so this kind of shit isn't new to me, I've seen it so many times to other people…and now I'm living it…mother fuck I am screwed.
"Where are we?" John asked me once I snapped back to reality.
"I don't know, but I know one thing: We're not on Earth anymore," I muttered obviously.
"You're on Dreadzone Z, the most popular gladiatorial sport in the entire sector," a voice responded to John's question. A large monitor flew in front of the three and soon the monitor turned on. On the screen was a man that looked much like a lion, with a large dark gold mane with black lines in them, beady black eyes, and fur on his face, muzzle and paws, which only had three fingers, odd yet cool. He was wearing a red, orange and mahogany suit with the same logo I saw on the robots on his left breast pocket and a nametag that read "Director" on the right.
"Welcome contestants of Earth, I am the Director of Dreadzone Z, Alistair Blackwell, and I am here to welcome you, along with your team, to Dreadzone Z. Here you and your team shall fight to the death against a horde of other gladiators from this side of the galaxy to the next, if you survive and defeat my personal Exterminators and my army of robots and killer aliens, you might be able to go home in glory, if not…well, we'll be sure to have a moment of silence in your honor," Alistair explained in an obnoxious yet gentle tone to his voice.
Somehow, I highly think they want us dead. The screen shut off and before us was a large arena like area.
"This is a practice arena to hone your skills before you can fight in the Battledome, also, check out your weapons," Joseph instructed. I looked at my hands and saw that I was holding a pair of pistols that were red and orange and black that looked like they didn't need a cartridge for ammo. I soon realized these pistols were called the Dual Vipers (according to what my visor had said when it looked over the weapons…and the fact it had the name pained on the hilts of the guns) and twirled them (to the best of my ability, which wasn't that good). Zach was holding a huge gun that looked like it could demo an entire room in seconds the Magma Cannon while John was holding a futuristic wrench…wow, looking at what we Humans have to work within the wrench department, we're basically hillbillies to these guys.
"Aww man, I wanted the pistols," Zach whined when he saw me holding the Dual Vipers.
"How about we trade?"
"Deal," he said and we switched guns.
"Oh yeah, I feel the power," I grinned and cocked the Magma Cannon wickedly.
"Come on you three, you need to finish the Qualifier course in time if you want us to survive out here so we can get back home!" Joseph said through the intercom in our helmets. Wait…then that the hell are we doing here?!
"Heh, right, let's go!" I smirked and ran ahead with the others following, excited and feeling adrenaline coursing in my veins. I jumped and suddenly did a flip as I landed on a ledge in front of me that lead to another floor.
"Wow, looks like these suits can enhance our bodies to inhuman levels," I stated as the others came up beside me.
"Dude these suits are awesome!" John said enthusiastically and punched a hole in the wall, leaving a dent in it.
"Come on, let's go blow up stuff," Zach said and ran ahead of us. I sighed and followed him, but I felt adrenaline rush into my body as some robots, who I think were the training dummies, popped up from some sort of transporter and aimed their guns at us. My visor suddenly lit up and soon started scanning them, the schematics and portfolio appeared for the robots, labeling them "DZZ- Strikers".
"Oh shit, watch out!" I yelled and ran for cover as the robots shot at us. Zach however fired his Dual Vipers at the robots and after a few shots they were nothing but scrap metal.
"Nice one!" I yelled as Zach twirled the guns.
"I love these things," he said with a grin as bolts came and went inside his suit. I grinned and saw some more enemies before us, deciding to test out some skills in FPS games I've played, I pulled out the Magma cannon and let loose. Streams of the energy from the weapon shot out of the gun and at the groups of enemies, destroying a few of them in one shot.
I looked at the Magma cannon and marveled at its raw destructive power and soon saw a meter on the right side of my screen appear and saw it was rising in numbers and it had a bolt icon next to it.
"Those bolts act as currency here, you can use them to buy weapons and ammo, and upgrades as well, and they can also be exchanged for other forms of currency, like credits" Joseph explained to us. Looking at the bolt counter on my HUD, I had the idea of converting this into money, figuring they might fetch a price back home, maybe even be able to help my family.
"Thanks for the tip Joe," I said. The three of us continued through a tunnel and soon ended up in some kind of arena that had a roof, a large monitor on the wall with the Dreadzone Z logo and some barricades, some kind of teleporter in the corner, and some weird crates that were dark yellow. Before I could say anything, some more DZZ-Strikers popped up along with some weird floating ball things with orange dots on the plating.
The balls opened up and soon razor blades appeared from the compartments and they zoomed at us. I shot some more rounds with my Magma Cannon while Zach fired the Dual Vipers in conjunction. The balls soon exploded from the combined firepower, while the strikers all shot at us, some damaged from the magma cannon blasts, and a few got their heads popped off by the Dual vipers. In a matter of minutes the entire group of robots were gone and bolts were coming into our suits, raising our bolt meters like crazy.
"I must say I'm impressed with you humans," Alistair said as he popped up on the monitor on the wall, freaking us all out.
"By now you probably noticed the Dreadlock collars on your necks, unless you were too stupid to notice until now," Alistair mumbled, "These collars are put there so we can be able to keep you all in check, if you decide to go against the rules of Dreadzone Z, you will receive a 'mildly' painful shock," Alistair said. We then saw two robots, one of them muttering "God this sucks…" before getting shocked and landing on the floor.
Oh my god...this is wrong…
"If you should prove annoying or worse, boring to audience members, the collars will also explode to appeal to viewers," Alistair said. The robot next to the one that got shocked waved at us before its head got blown up by the collar and fell to the ground headless.
The three of us were, needless to say, shocked by this. So if I complain on air I get blown up, if I'm boring I blow up, if I disobey then I get shocked and possibly blown up later or worse…yeah we're screwed. "Now then, since you three survived the training course, you can now go and meet up with your little friends, if you manage to survive the qualifying round of Dreadzone Z, then we might have use of you, if not…well you know," Alistair grinned at us and the screen returned to the logo.
"Man, this both rocks and sucks," John said when Blackwell vanished from the screen.
"Come on, let's go meet with Joseph and the others and find out what the fuck is going on," I said and looked around for a teleporter. I soon found one at the right corner of the area and we walked towards it. As soon as we stepped on it we were suddenly engulfed by light and I knew we were being transported to where Joseph and the others were.
I hope finding them we can all escape this hellhole intact, or…at least most of us.
Well, there we go, first chapter, after so much preparing, I'm finally posting this, I still got the rest of the story penned in advanced, just let me re-edit it and I'll get them posted soon. Anyway to all my fans, thanks for the patience, I hope this story becomes your favorite.