034 - A Rude Awakening

[laserkid]

The desert outside Los Angelis, California

The calm desert had little movement. No trees to rustle in the wind, and certainly no living soul bustling about. The occasional wild animal, and the sands were all that moved here, so far from civilization, and yet only a few hundred miles from Los Angelis.

Such tranquil peace is never quite to last, however. This was no exception, as a loud noise, humans might identify as a sonic boom if they were there, pierced the air like a knife through butter. Following the harbinger of its arrival, a small pod looking device came falling from the heavens, landing with a thud into the desert sand.

The pod had a technological look far more advanced then anything of earth origin. Lights on the apparent front side of the pod flickered before a hissing sound was made, opening the lid to the pod.

Revealed into the desert sunlight was a man with pitch black hair, brown eyes on blue, wrapped in a black cloak. The man was tall, but from a glance at how he filled in his cloak, he was not very big in any other areas.

He stepped out of the pod, and immediately ran his hands through the sandy ground.

“This is the land it occurred on. The soil tells me much.” He spoke harshly, yet quietly, his eyes peering into the horizon he surveyed the area.

“I have finally been freed from this curse at last. The computer was wise to wake me from my cryogenic sleep.”

He clenched his hand into a fist tightly, “Brother, it seems you have already been avenged.”

He turned and returned to his pod, “And now, I must return to exile.”

A black flame slowly crept upwards from the desert ground behind him, and a dark cackling could be heard from it, and it called, “Azrael.”

The man called Azrael turned his head quickly, but it was too late. The dark flame overcame him, filling his body with much pain.

“No! Not again! Damn you Norimano!” Azrael shouted and screamed, kicking a fit, generating a sand cloud as he did so.

All he could see, or hear went black.

“HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!” The dark flame laughed, as it set itself within the body of Azrael, a familiar target indeed.

“N… don’t celebrate yet you b..bastard!” Azrael struggled to say as he grabbed a needle out of his pocket, that glowed blue. He injected himself forcefully and quickly.

Azrael’s body began to glow a brilliant blue, and the dark flames around him subsided and sank into the ground, howling in a most excruciating tone to denote its own pain, and then was gone.

Azrael hyperventilated, “I see Lizar’s true enemy yet still lives.” He managed to wheeze out.

Managing to get to his knees Azrael yelled, “Computer! Calculate the position of the chosen one of light. Then take me to him!” Azrael said, hobbling back into his pod. A hissing sound denoted the closing of the pod door over his head, the pod then quickly levitated, floating in air, and was gone.

“It seems elders, I will have to break my exile. But the Warrior of Light must reside on Lizar.”

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One Nation Base Camp, Just Outside of Ohio

Andrew and the others had been settling into their tent, Andrew sneezed briefly.

A pair of Felinefolk, each with different colored hair approached Andrew.

Andrew raised an eyebrow but chuckled quietly, “Well, it seems Croft’s call brought many people together indeed.” He smiled warmly holding out his hand.

The blue haired Felinefolk woman just ignored it, but the red haired on walked up quickly and shook his hand, “So you’re the president of the UN huh? Must be pretty boring not really doing anything.” She said teasingly.

Andrew shrugged, “I’d rather boring then interesting any day, but things are definitely interesting today.”

Blue sighed quietly, “We’ve been asked to discuss the plan to defeat the mages with you.”

Andrew nodded, “Formal as I’d heard you were.” He smiled, “As far as the attack goes, my understanding is we’ll be going with a few picks of Croft’s. I have no idea what kind of mages we’re dealing with here, so while we attack, caution will be the absolute necessity of the day. I heard about your adventure with Mafioso’s grave. I’d expect something along those lines here.”

Red frowned, “More squids?! Great I JUST got the ink out of this!” She pouted in a playful manner.

Andrew rose an eyebrow, but kept talking, “Do whatever you need to, but we need to keep a defensive perimeter around the mages on our side.”

Blue rose an eyebrow this time, “Mages on our side?”

Andrew chuckled a bit, “Ah, I suppose you didn’t know yet. It is my understanding New Belexis is sending some mages under the command of Anwyn Ganymede to assist, due to the possibility of these mages being Mystics.”

Blue nodded quietly.

Red grinned, “So we get to see explosions on both sides. Sounds fun!”

Andrew chuckled nervously, “You two do certainly fit your reputations. At any rate, that’s all I have.”

Blue nodded, and walked off

Red chuckled, “You sure are a serious guy, no wonder your hairs turned grey so young!” She teased, before following Blue.

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A few Hours Later…

Alex was tugging on Andrew’s sleeve, “Dad can we practice yet?! You promised! I want to show everyone I can help too!”

Andrew laughed, “Alright Alex, alright. I won’t hold back then.”

Alex nodded, “Me either daddy!”

The two stepped out of the tent slowly. Those inside the tent had various minor reactions, Marcus turned to watch his relatives, Kevin didn’t even bother to look but smiled slightly. They had all seen this before. However the instant these two had stepped outside of the tent into a combat training arena just outside, it seemed like every soldier stopped their motion and gathered around the arena. Murmurs could be heard ‘That’s the legend’ ‘Oh my god its him!’ – and like phrases.

The vicinity was soon bathed in blue light emanating from a ball of blue light forming around Andrew’s hands. It was this ability that had at one time compelled Andrew to call himself Laser Kid, but that was a long time ago. Andrew began to float in mid air, power by an unknown source of flight, there was no real magical trace to sense for any magic users, and yet clearly some force was keeping him there. He then shot the light ball towards Alex – it moved quite fast, and if one wasn’t paying attention they would not notice the child’s reaction and seen only the result of it. For Alex had quickly erected a very thick wall of ice that blocked the shot from Andrew, the result was steam. The next sight was very clear however as Alex created a spear of ice out of nowhere, yet puzzlingly there was still no magical aura to be sensed. Alex hurled it towards his father, who quickly dodged the attack. However, Alex was grinning at the spear split into many parts and came back around to Andrew, and surrounded him in a casing of ice.

Some of the older soldiers gasped, as they and seen this exact scene once before, when Andrew had competed in the God of Fighters Tournament some time ago, he faced an opponent named Cyrus who had done this very same trick. But that fighter was far older then Alex is, in fact, many assumed Alex to be the son of Cyrus, because there was some resemblance. What they could not have known was that Cyrus and Alexander Lizar were one in the same, although the one they saw now was far younger. Cyrus had been a time traveler from the not so distant future who came to avert a crisis on earth that had killed his father, Andrew. That future Alex and they had called him had simply ceased to exist once his future was averted. Just like that tournament however that ice casing exploded in a brilliant flash of light, Andrew had taken to the form of a laser, and was himself emanating a very blinding blue light, he rushed towards Alex, who dodged the tackle, and Andrew returned back to normal, and smiled.

“Alex, you can do better then that son!” He said smiling entrenched so much in the battle he didn’t notice the crowd around him, which almost instantaneously gasped. This boy was the son of Andrew Lizar, no wonder he was so young and yet here. Alex laughed a bit “You fell for it dad!” He said with a smile, as Andrew looked down he had landed in an ice trap which now held his feet still.

Andrew also laughed jovially “So I did.” He said embarrassed, scratching his head, “But this battle isn’t over yet!” he smiled, and Alex returned the smile.

A blue light from underneath Andrew shattered the ice trap and he was moving free again, now taking a combinative stance. He then began to gather blue light in both hands and was slowly moving them together, at this Marcus shot his full attention over. “You idiot don’t use the Grand Laser here!” He hit his head “Such a showoff…”

And indeed Marcus was right for when Andrew clasped his hands together a gigantic beam of laser light came shooting out, and Andrew shouted, “GRAND LASER!”

Alex however was not caught unprepared for this attack and propelled an equally gigantic ball of ice towards the grand laser, which managed to trim it down somewhat, the rest of the beam he dodged, which seethed and burn into the ground behind him, but the following fire was instantly put out by Alexander using an ice sheet on the ground.

Andrew smiled “Alright Alex, I think you’re ready.” Andrew smiled and put his hands on the boy’s hair, ruffling it affectionately, Alex giggled a bit.

The crowd began cheering and Andrew then realized he’d had an audience, and instantly blushed full red.

A clapping sound also could be heard as Croft walked in “Impressive, I didn’t know you still kept up on your fighting Mr. Lizar, and I also now see why you brought such a young one with you. I hope that with your help, and that of the resistance we will be victorious.” He smiled. Andrew’s face returned to normal and he smiled, “I will make sure we find a good solution, that’s for sure.” Andrew said, still giving off the impossible quality of warmth and kindness that were above and beyond what would be considered normal.

TO BE CONTINUED…