A/N

Disclaimer: the word "Lord" in this chapter does not refer to catholic or any other religious beliefs.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------

"I have a fucking bunker."

Chosen's expression goes from confused to perplexed. "You have a what?"

"I. Have. A. Bunker. Over near one of my test stations."

"WHAT!?? AND YOU'VE NEVER TOLD ME THIS!??" Chosen stands up in a fit of conflicted emotions.

"DOES THIS MAN JUST HAVE EVERYTHING!?" Yellow yells.

"Wife him up." Victim remarks, gnawing on a slice of baguette after he puts his phone away.

Chosen scoffs and rolls his eyes while Dark looks to the side with a "Tch".

Everyone else at the dining table either looks at the two men with amusement, bewilderment, or a mixture of both.

Chosen then forcefully pushes his chair backwards and stands up, walking over to a nearby window. He peers out the window, inspecting the landscape in view, searching for any signs of life. Then, a small group of people emerge from a distant forest opening, distressed, panicked, injured and scared. "Shit..." Chosen mutters with surprise.

"What is it?" Second asks, standing up to walk over to the window as well.

"A group of survivors, over near the forest."

"Oh wow, lucky them." Dark remarks with amusement. "Not dead yet."

Chosen scowls. "You say that almost like you created the damn virus."

Now Dark scowls. "I already told you, I didn't." he says with a low and frustrated tone.

They glare at each other from across the room, uneasy tension rising once more.

"I'm seriously getting a headache from you two." Victim groans, burying his face into his hands. "One second you're flirting, the next you're fighting."

Chosen rolls his eyes at Victim's comment. "Hey Dark." he sighs.

"Yep?" Dark scoffs.

"Where's that bunker?"

//???//

"What do you mean it didn't work!?" he slams his hand down on the workbench angrily.

"R-reports say it didn't work sir." the younger boy stutters.

"Fucking elaborate. What were the reports on!?" he snarls, his voice raising.

"A-all monitored individuals w-were successfully infected, b-but turned into deformed specimens."

"What do you mean deformed?" he walks closer to the boy, scowling menacingly.

The boy takes a few steps back. "Lanky, t-terrifying, u-um." he stumbles over his words as he's backed against a wall, quivering with fear.

"I ask you to bring back results...good results..." he grins maliciously with his sharp teeth, pointy like daggers.

The boy jumps a bit as a finger-like claw grates across the stone wall next to his head. He gulps nervously. "S-sir, I can g-get the laboratory t-to look over the virus again."

"Do that, quickly. Run along now." he sneers, taking his hand away from the wall and walking out of the room with a stride.

The younger male sighs shakily with relief, catching his breath that he was apparently holding in. He leans against the wall for a minute, calming himself to the best of his ability.

A deep female voice comes from outside the room, down the hall. "You aren't scaring him again are you?" her voice sounds playful, yet serious.

"Of course not." his chuckle echoes down the hall. "He's perfectly fine.." his voice however is laced with evil.

Later that day, the younger boy goes down to the docks of the kingdom. The sky is a mixture dark greys and midnight blues. Mushrooms spread across the wooden docks and piers as the dark sea water splashes against the raised beams. People walk across the walkways, carrying cargo, fishing baskets or crates. His little footsteps are heard walking across the dock as citizens bow to him quickly when in range. He walks over to a nearby station positioned on the side of the boardwalk. A tall light green stick figure stands in the small station, ordering around workers and piloting cranes.

The younger boy approaches the man and knocks on the glass door. The man looks at him and jumps a bit, quickly opening the station door and bowing with his head. "Sir, is there something you need?"

"Order more shipments of Aster yellow flowers and nucleic acids. Pronto. We need them brought up to the main cargo bay and to the lord's castle."

"Yes, sir. Deliveries will be made as soon as possibl-"

"Now. Make them now."

"Y-yes sir. Of course." the man fumbles with the notepad in his hand and turns to the control panel in front of him inside the small station hut.

The younger male nods and continues walking down the port. He watches as workers stumble and walk around, carrying shipments and delivering orders. He tries to wave to some, but their eyes widen with fear before bowing respectfully and dashing away. He sighs with disappointment as he begins walking down a narrow pier. A few citizens are fishing off the platform, a rod at hand and a bucket on the side. He walks over to the end of the pier and slumps down onto the edge, his legs hanging off the pier. He stares at the water, the lifeless water, midnight blue and grey. Shimmers of glowing ultramarine flicker through the tips of the waves.

"What's a prestigious young man like you doing down by the docks all alone?"

The younger boy raises his head and looks behind him to see a tall pink woman. She has loose pants and a fisherman's hat, knifes hung in slots on the inside of her jacket. Yet, she seems rather kind. "Surely you have somewhere to be, have you not?"

The boy sighs and looks back at the water. "No..surprisingly." he then raises an eyebrow. "Bold of you to speak to a higher that way."

"I know you don't see yourself that way. I can tell." She sits down next to him. "So, what are you doing down here?"

"To be frank, ma'am, I'm lonely. I don't want to return to the castle because I'm too scared."

"Scared of the lord?"

He solemnly nods, staring down at the water. "You ever just feel like...maybe in another universe...life is better?" he looks up at the lady sadly. "Like, maybe I have friends, or know where I came from."

The pink lady sighs, keeping quiet for a minute. "Maybe. Maybe life would be worse."

"How could it possibly get any worse!?"

"Well...for a start, you could be poor. You could be a slave."

"At least I wouldn't be taking orders from an arrogant dictator. I basically am already a slave!"

"Bold of you to speak of the lord in such way." the lady chuckles.

"I don't care anymore! I'm sick of living like this. He's always yelling at me, ordering me around, keeping secrets from me!"

"Well...the lord always has been secretive. None of us even know where he came from, but there have been rumours."

"Like what?"

"Some say that he came from a high mountain far west. Some say he was born by god. Some say a creator named Noogai3."

"Noogai3? How do people know the name of a creator?"

"Who knows. But i heard that another one of his creations died a few months ago. He was an outcast, unknown, mysterious."

The boy sighs, shaking his head. "There's too many secrets in this kingdom. It would be better if everyone were just honest and kind!"

The lady smiles. "I like your spirit young man. You'd make a good king some day."

"Really? You think so? I don't even know if I'd want that.."

"Your path is yours to choose. It may not seem like that in this wasteland of a kingdom, but remember, that you always have a choice, and if not, there's always a reason for it."

"Even if the high lord is an arrogant prick?"

"Even if he is a bit of a dictator. Please watch your language though." the lady chuckles.

The boy then stands up from the edge of the pier, looking down at the sitting lady. "You know what, ma'am? You've inspired me. And now, I'm gonna go choose my own path, and make friends, no matter what the high lord says!" he grins

The lady smiles. "You go do that, and stay safe."

"You too! See ya!" he runs off down the docks, hurdling over crates and shoving workers past.

The pink stick woman sighs. "What an innocent young boy..." she mutters sadly.

//Outside the house//

"Hold on..." Chosen ushers for everyone to stay behind him.

The group of stick figure people walk over the large grass field, staying close to the edge of the forests surrounding. They then freeze as they see Chosen's group.

The two groups stare at each other, neither moving. Chosen narrows his eyes at person who is standing at the front of the group, the other person reciprocating the stare. Chosen thinks over his next course of action as he senses the defensiveness in the other person's stance, driven by fear. It's unclear whether the group poses danger or mercy, but The Chosen One decides to go down his best option here. He summons a flame of fire in the palm of his hand, displaying some of his power as he stares them down.

Dark remains quiet to the side, a knowing and entertained expression on his face as he watched calmly. He understands most of Chosen's thinking processes and attack strategies, being his day-to-day partner in crime so many years ago.

The other group seems to flinch and recoil as they see Chosen's fire powers. Another person from the group whispers something to the rest of them, seeming to either know something about the powerful figure, or discussing the next course of action.

Then, Second makes a decision. He pushes past Chosen and dashes out front, ignoring Chosen's worried and urgent protest. He runs up to the person in front of the group and smiles warmly, holding out his name to shake. "Hi! My name is The Second Coming but you can just call me....S-Sec.." his eyes widen as he stares up at the now looming figure. His decision apparently being rather poor..

The person, once an innocent stick figure, stares at Second with completely lifeless eyes which slowly fade to black orbs. It's limbs slowly grow and mould into large, lanky pieces and its face stretches horrifyingly. The rest of the group slowly deform the same way, gurgling noises coming from the seven of them. Mimics.

Chosen snaps and is about to fly over to Second, when Red pushes past him, sprinting at top speed over to Second and the group of infected.

"RED WAIT-" Chosen cries out, scowling.

The large creature shrieks and swings at Second, it's large claws spread out to grab at him. Second goes to run with a terrified expression but his torso is grabbed at tightly by the figure and picked up as if he weighs nothing. Second yelps and tries hitting at the hand that holds him, his breathing starting to pick up pace as he panics.

Suddenly Red dashes over and slides under the infected stick figure's legs, pulling on it's right leg as he goes past. He then jumps behind it and clings onto it's back, punching it. "Give me back my friend!!" he pulls on the back of the creature's neck.

The monster wails and stumbles, tightening it's grip on Second, making the boy yell in pain.

Chosen scowls and lights the flame in his hands, flying over to the scene. Once in range, he slams a punch into the infected's face, his eyes revving up with glowing red as he then beams a vibrant red laser across the ground from his eyes, warding off the other infected creatures. He gets slammed to the ground by the creature's free hand however. As he looks up from the ground, a hand grabs his arm and yields him up to his feet, it being Dark's hand.

"I don't need your help, y'know." Chosen lets go of Dark's hand as he stands up.

"Eh, I don't care. You need me more than you think." Dark summons his fire and flies into the air, charging at the swarm of infected.

Chosen raises an eyebrow at Dark, questioning not only Dark's cocky ass but himself as well. He looks over to see everyone now fighting the infected, Green tackling one, Dark summoning electricity blasts, Blue and Yellow fighting together, Red and Second alongside each other. Chosen sometimes questions how these teenagers are so brave, and are not traumatised.

Green freezes when he's about to be swung at by a long, lanky grey arm, but is quickly swept aside by Purple. He looks up at the other boy to realise he's leaning in Purple's arms.

"You alright?" Purple lets go of Green, focused on the fighting, his eyes sharp and watching any movements.

Green stares at Purple, a blush growing on his cheeks.

Purple glances at Green and raises an eyebrow. "You good?" he also becomes a tad flustered as he notices Green's flushing.

Green then smiles confidently and his eyes relax. "Yeah, I'm good. You?" he walks past, going back to the fight.

A half smile creeps onto Purple's face as his mood is slightly lifted by Green. He shakes it off and looks back towards the commotion. His expression darkens and the mind of Purple fills with thoughts, thoughts that he would rather not think about. The question remains, is that what happened to his dad? Does MT now look like that? Purple gulps and his eyebrows furrow, his eyes quivering slightly. "W-we need to get out of here." he utters to himself.

Dark grunts as he's thrown to the side by a long, lanky violet arm. He sneers and summons a large electrical fire ball in his hand, propelling it at the creature. The violet infected individual wails with a shriek and stumbles backwards. It then poses an angry stance towards Dark, growling lowly.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be huh?" Dark grins maliciously. "You wanna tussle? We can tussle." he laughs and blasts off towards the creature.

Chosen ignores Dark's maniacal laughter in the background and instead focuses on keeping everyone safe. He studies his surroundings closely as everything is moving quite quickly. The colour gang work together to try and take down the group of infected but aren't succeeding, Victim is trying to wrangle one of them down with a long lasso from his belt, Dark is just being his chaotic self and throwing attack after attack at the lost souls while laughing daringly. This isn't working.

Chosen groans with annoyance and then flies into the air. He speeds around a swinging arm and an airborne Red, before he reaches Dark. As he zooms past he scoops up Dark by wrapping an arm around his waist and flying off.

Dark flinches as he's suddenly carried through the air underneath Chosen's arm. "Hey!" he scowls, struggling around to get out of Chosens grip. "I was tryna fight! Let me go!" he growls and thrashes around.

Chosen rolls his eyes and scoffs. "Shut up and stay still." he retorts.

Dark goes quiet, pouting. "Hmph."

Chosen lands on the ground with some distance from the fight, dropping Dark on the ground carelessly. Dark yelps and grumbles, getting off the ground and standing next to Chosen. "So lik-"

"This isn't working. We're gonna tire out before we beat these things. We have no information about how to defeat infected or even cure them so there's no use in staying here, so we should get to the bunker." Chosen says, staring at the fight scene.

Dark listens to Chosen, staring at him. He then pouts with disappointment. "Are you kidding me!? I nearly had it! I was gonna go like POW and SHWUSH and explosion!"

Chosen cracks a smile and snorts slightly, watching Dark ramble in his silly way. He then brushes it off and returns to a serious attitude. "Okay, you go grab Green, Red, Yellow and Vic. I'll go get Blue, Second and Purple."

"WHY DO I HAVE TO CARRY MOR-"

"Go." Chosen takes off, flying towards the battle scene.

Dark sighs with frustration and takes off as well with his fire in his hands, flying towards the others. He swerves around the group and then winds up a large blast of fire and electricity in his hands, the matter forming a large energy blast ball. He then swings the powerful blast towards the group of beasts, just missing by a metre or two on purpose. The piercing sounds of the infected's shrieks fill the air as they stumble around. The bright sound of a laser beam pierces through the ruckus, two red beams striking a line through the dust and commotion. Blasts go off in different directions as distractions, Chosen and Dark swooping around like hidden danger, too fast to be caught.

Suddenly a strong arm wraps around Second and hoists him into the air. Second clings onto whatever just picked him up, before raising his line of sight to see his older figure flying him through the air. Second smiles brightly, his eyes sparkling as he looks up at Chosen. He then gets a look of determination on his face. Second knows the drill. He grabs onto Chosen's ankle, hanging in the air as Chosen flies with the fire from his two hands. The both of them then circle back around into the fight.

One or two minutes later, and they're all flying through the air like a rope. Second holds onto Chosen, Blue holds onto Second, and Purple holds onto Blue. While over to the right in the air, Victim holds onto Dark, Red holds onto Victim, Green holds onto Red, and Yellow holds onto Green. Dark scowls with a tense expression as he does his best to drag four stick figures through the air.

"Hey Dark?"

"Yeah Red?"

There's a pause. "What the actual fuck were those creepy as-"