I'M SORRYYYYYYY. But I was on a cruise ship with no Wifi…for three days.

I tried to make it up. What do you think?

Kirisaki

I could see everything happening. I could feel and hear everything around me. But I wasn't doing anything.

Since when could I grip such a huge sword with one hand? Carrying the blue Coy soldier strained me, but this sword felt weightless, almost like nothing.

I somehow lifted my sword and pointed it at the Coy-tanks.

"Listen up, you assholes! You all got a date with death today!" that was me shouting!

"This ends now!" I shouted again.

"Kirisaki!".

I couldn't even control my own eyes, but I could tell that was Feldt screaming my name.

Beyond my own control, I descended down onto the battlefield.

Feldt

"Is he insane?" Violet was nearly jumping out of her armor.

"Probably," Jake muttered. "Even though he is powerful, I don't think that he can take all of those tanks,"

"But how did he get another form?" Mitch asked.

"Good ques-" I was cut off when Kirisaki slashed a wide crescent in the air in front of him. A huge arc of energy leapt from the blade, and cut through the Coy-tanks.

Their remains detonated shortly after.

"Daaaamn," Mitch said, while Jake whistled.

My mind was spinning. How was Kirisaki so powerful? New armor? New weapon?

He slowly walked into the midst of enemies, beam bolts bouncing harmlessly off of him.

Kirisaki

What was going on? I was just strolling through the Coy-tanks, swinging my huge sword and launching energy waves through them. Talk about monstrous.

You are sooo weak.

It was the ghostly voice!

Yeah, I'm the ghostly voice. My name is Shadow. I'm your alter ego.

I began to communicate with Shadow.

Alter ego?

Let me take care of these enemies, first.

My arms went into a swinging frenzy, and remains of Coy-tanks detonated left and right.

Slash. Boom. Hack. Boom.

Feldt

I watched Kirisaki literally wipe the floor with the Coy. Not a single one could destroy him. Every bullet was nothing, and their armor couldn't stand up to the huge blade, or the energy wave.

In five minutes, he had destroyed all but about fifty units. They all surrounded him, gatling guns bristling.

Kirisaki slammed his sword into the ground, and the Coy-tanks were lifted high into the air, shortly falling to their demise afterwards.

It was like doomsday had just occurred for the Coy. Their remains littered the battlefield, flaming and billowing smoke.

Kirisaki hovered above the battlefield, looking like a murderous demon…even more so when his eyes flashed a bloody red.

Then, he collapsed.

Kirisaki

I slowly opened my heavy eyelids, struggling to keep them open, before I managed to completely wake up.

I could tell that I was somewhere in the base. The hum of machinery and voices outside gave it away.

I was obviously in a hospital room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all painted white. A large screen in front of the bed monitored my heart rate, and other things. Alice was sitting at a desk to my left, furiously scribbling down notes on a pad.

She looked over.

"Oh, good! You're awake!" she stood up and walked over.

"What happened?" I managed to cough out, before massaging my dry-and sore - throat.

As she handed me a cup of water, Alice pushed a button next to the screen. "This happened,"

The screen began running a mission recording of what happened. There was me, in black armor, swinging a massive sword like a maniac at the Coy-tanks. The unit ID monitor showed tons of Coy-tanks – serial number C-T – popping up as DISABLED.

I watched in awe as I took out pretty much an entire army effortlessly. It was just like an old video dad showed me – from Team Fortress 2, when the Heavy first used Ubercharge. The enemy soldiers pretty much all fell over at once.

"…" I stared at the screen.

"I know, right?" Alice said, turning back to me. "Anyways, you took out all of the enemy forces. You then fainted. Jake and Mitch hauled you back into the launch bay, and carried you all the way here,"

My mind played through what had happened – Rogue, Shadow, everything.

"Get the General," I said flatly.

"Already on his way," Alice replied.

As I waited for Zandervelt, I tried communicating with Shadow.

Hey, Shadow?

What?

It worked!

Who are you really?

I'm basically what you get when someone like you comes in contact with someone like Rogue. I'm your power.

My power?

Yes. Your power has another side-effect to it: you have an alter ego. That's me. The ego reflects you, and your power. Rogue also has an ego.

Rogue said he's my twin brother, and my brother that was never born.

That's because he's a biologically-made carbon clone of you.

He's a clone?

The reason he's so powerful is because he's not a human. He doesn't feed from an energy core, because he doesn't need to. His power's ego was artificially manufactured. I'll explain everything when the General gets here.

The metal door hissed open, and Zandervelt strode through.

"You alright?" he asked seriously.

"General," I answered. "I apparently have an alter ego,"

"Eh?"

"I trust him, because he's spilling loads of valuable information. I'll let him talk,"

The stage is yours.

Thanks.

I felt my mind sink back a bit, and control was handed over to Shadow.

"Hello, General Alexander Zandervelt," I said (?). "My name is Shadow, and I am Kirisaki's alter ego,"

"How do I know that Kirisaki's not making some joke?"

"You don't," I felt Shadow pull my lips into a smile. "But you now know that the Coy will attack different points around the world,"

"What?" Zandervelt stiffened.

"I estimate about…five days. Get that teleporter of yours ready," and with that, Shadow handed control back over.

Zandervelt and I just locked eyes. This was serious. I was shocked, as well.

"We'll see whether it's true or not…" he muttered.

"In five days," I finished.

"Don't worry. I believe you," he said. "Is he ready to go?" he turned to Alice.

Checking the monitor screen, she said, "his pulse and temperature are all normal, and no injuries have been sustained. He's good,"

I hopped off of the bed and slipped on my shoes, which had been placed at the side. The General then opened the door, and I followed him out.

"We have to get down to the lab," Zandervelt said. "Dr. Hall says it's something important,"

"It always is something important," I pointed out.

"True,"

The Lab

Everyone else was waiting for us. Displayed on the projector were three figures – my normal armor, the black armor, and the armor with the huge sword.

"Good. You're here," Dr. Hall shuffled over to the projector.

"We now have come to an issue regarding the forms that Kirisaki has discovered," he started. "It seems that he has unlocked three, so far. The first is his 'normal' armor – the red one. Although it is very effective against normal Coy and Elite Coy, it didn't prove effective against the larger one, which attacked the hospital district in Beijing. However, when Kirisaki's armor was deactivated from extensive injuries, the black armor activated. This form was much quicker, and gave him new abilities such as the 'particle teleportation.' It also presented him with new armament – two blades of lightning-like energy,"

"And lastly, the form that was just unlocked,"

"It seems that this form only gives him a new sword, the ability to launch waves of energy, and an 'earthquake' attack,"

I suddenly felt Shadow take over.

"Oi, Doc," Shadow said.

"Doc?" Feldt whispered to Zandervelt.

He put a hand in front of me. "Everyone, Kirisaki has…an alter ego. He says that the Coy will attack points around the world. Whether this is true or not, we don't know…but we will,"

"So, let me explain," Shadow said, a little annoyed.

"The first form Kirisaki has is the one that can be automatically tapped into. This is the weakest of the three. The second is usable via a system called: Blazing Crimson,"

"Blazing Crimson…" Dr. Hall muttered, scribbling down notes on a pad.

"When this system is activated, the energy core goes into an 'extreme performance' mode. Particles are created and dispersed at a speed three times faster than normal. This lets you become faster, stronger, and have heightened reflexes, along with many enhancing abilities,"

"So…how do you use this system?" asked Dr. Hall.

"Easy. Just shout Blazing Crimson," Shadow said blankly.

"Anyway, about the last form. That's really reserved for me. Oh, and I'm Shadow. Now, anyway, Kirisaki and I technically share a body, and a mind. In fact, he's awake just now, except not controlling his movements. I can takeover mid-battle and change to this form. Then, I wreak havoc,"

"I think wreak havoc is a little of an understatement," Jake muttered.

"I agree," Mitch piped up.

"Yeah! You obliterated a whole army!" Violet said, still amazed.

"Kirisaki…" Feldt whispered.

Oi, Shadow. She's worried.

Yeah. I'll give you some time, later.

"The rest of you only have two forms. If you really want to see what it's like, I advise you do that soon. You never know what could happen next,"

"…Right," Dr. Hall said slowly. "Now, onto the real important matter at hand,"

Shadow handed back control. I shook my head, and nudged Zandervelt. "I'm back,"

"Good,"

"We've managed to successfully overcome the energy problem. By using the gauntlets, we were able to drastically improve the energy-using properties. We can soon install the teleporter, and now we can improve and change your weapons,"

"Which means that you five have homework," Zandervelt smiled.

"Homework?" we all asked simultaneously – and incredulously.

"You have to come up with new weapons – in order to increase your survivability on the battlefield. We'll have Lieutenant Slash fill you in,"

The Lieutenant stepped forwards, and looked down at a data pad.

"Kirisaki, consider adding some wrist-mounted gauntlets with guns, because your only long-range weapons are your 'tears.' Feldt, we think that you should redesign your wrist-mounted cannons so that one can create a beam saber. Mitch, your weapons should be smaller…a lot. Violet, your new rifles should be able to combine, so you can use a rifle and saber at the same time. And Jake, your rifle should be able to snipe and use rapid-fire,"

We all saluted. "Yes, sir!"

As we walked to our rooms together, Jake smirked and said, "Lucky for me, Cherudim's rifle just does that,"

"I thought my bazookas were small enough for their firepower…" Mitch sighed.

"How about I just give myself double-barreled pistols?" Violet asked.

Feldt pulled me aside.

"An alter ego? Is this for real?" she whispered, her eyes watery.

I slowly nodded.

She looked down at the ground, and clutched my arm.

"It's alright," I whispered softly, taking her hand in mine. "He's pretty nice,"

Damn right, I am!

My Room

We were all using our laptops, and drawing designs on a piece of paper besides us. Feldt and I lay on my bed, using my Mac. Violet and Jake sat together on the floor, and Mitch sat at the desk.

We had already come up with our designs. Feldt and I had the same. Increasing the number of barrels from two to three, we decided to have the middle one create a beam saber. My original sabers were still active, but this would increase my slash-and-hack capability. Jake was directly pulling off of Cherudim's rifle design. Violet had drawn two pistols – they literally had no barrel, but looked just like a USP.45 with a flashlight attachment. The handles were at ninety-degree angles, and the left pistol's grip could fold back and fit into a slot in the right pistol, which would then turn them into a larger pistol with an increased power rating. I'm pretty sure her inspiration was something called Strike Freedom. Mitch had now combined his weapons and made them a bit shorter, while the power rating was the same. They could separate back to the classic bazookas, but would normally be combined.

Personally, I think that the new sabers will let us have overkill, but…

Hey, it's good enough.

Shadow had been 'talking' to me the whole time, and I often got distracted.

Lieutenant Slash came to check up on us, and looked at all of our designs.

"Not bad," he said. "I'll show them to the doc. Now, the General wants to see you all. We're heading to the lab,"

"Right!" We all stood up, and left the room.

Zandervelt was waiting at the lab, with Dr. Hall at his side. Lieutenant Slash handed over the designs to Dr. Hall, who nodded approvingly.

"We'll have the design team turn them into actual blueprints. Good work,"

We all grinned happily.

"Now, about Shadow's information…" Zandervelt turned to the projector, which brought up a glowing cyan map of the Earth.

Five points were marked with a white dot. A small circle emanated from them every few seconds.

"Five cities: Washington D.C. America. Paris, France. Agra, India. Salisbury, England. And…"

"Beijing, China,"

"Home?" Jake was nearly hypnotized.

"Shunyi…" I whispered.

"What about them?" Violet asked.

"Nothing…on the outside," Dr. Hall said darkly.

Eh? Shadow woke up.

I think you were right…

"But underground these cities, we've noticed massive power spikes that have grown stable. This isn't some natural seismic activity…"

Dr. Hall put on a grim face. "The Coy are doing something,"

"What?" I was shocked.

Shadow took over.

"See, I told you," he said through me. "You have to get those civilians out of there. Now. Haul ass. Got it?"

Zandervelt stiffened, then immediately opened a COM to the base's command center.

"This is Zandervelt. Put out an evacuation order immediately for Washington D.C., Paris, Agra, Salisbury, Beijing, and any other cities extremely close by. The Coy are beneath the cities. We have to get them out,"

"Roger," the operator said, and the channel was cut.

Zandervelt looked at me…or at Shadow.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"The design team needs to hurry. We need those new weapons, fast. And if you're going to use the blazing crimson anytime soon, do it before the attack starts,"

"Right. You're all dismissed," he turned to Dr. Hall, and Shadow gave back control.

What will they do?

Just wait and see.

Just to clarify, italicized , text is Shadow. Italicized and underlined is Kirisaki.

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like my writing really sux lately.

-starforcebigbang