Chapter 18
Operation Mouse Trap
End found himself on “The Canoe”, which was a strange two-propeller helicopter that was shaped like a large flying canoe. While munching away at the massive amounts of hydro bars and other energy giving food, he thought that must have been made by hollowing out a large tree trunk, as the interiors looked a lot like the interiors of a tree. End scrutinized every inch of the canoe, until he looked at Akira who was looking at him with his trademark straight face.
“How are you? What happened to you?” asked End.
Akira never liked to talk. And he cared even cared less about replying End as his perception of him was still that of a wimp. Sensing that End had a bucket load of questions for him, and knowing that End would pester him to no end, he transferred to End a video footage that would explain everything.
The video showed how Akira was taken away that faithful day. He was not punished, but instead, sent to the commandos of Light training course where he endured much greater hardship to be a full-fledged commando.
As the video ended, Akira turned his face away from End, uninterested to have any conversation with him. End could take a hint.
“And I miss you too.” Said End.
There was an uneasy silence.
“I wonder how this thing flies.”
Akira rolled his eyes with much impatience. He sent another video into End’s VF. This video showed how the Canoe was a flying tree trunk that had been hollowed. It is powered by emotional energy of everyone who is sitting inside it, and steered by its leader. This skill is learnt from the City of Chinooks.
After that piece of information, Akira went back into his own world again. Talking with Akira, can be likened to chatting with a pot of boiling water. It whistles for a second before returning to its eternal state of dormancy.
Apex came forth to End.
“Down here, we all go by codenames. Mine is Apex for obvious reasons. Akira here is codenamed “Samurai.”
“Its lame.” said Akira finally.
“End, you will be called Mouse.”
“Why am I Mouse?”
“Because I say so. Or would you prefer Little Cheese?”
“Mouse will do.”
“Alright , Mouse. Here’s a bit of initiation for you.” Apex transferred some date to End’s Viewfinder. “We’re going to play hide and seek. See this box,
Within these coordinates, you must hide and never let us capture you. If we capture you, we’re going to torture you until you give us the password, which is ‘Little Cheese.’ If you give that password away, you are out of the commandos course, and will be sent back to the Sphere of influence, you copy?”
End had some hesitation.
“I didn’t know that if I quit…”
“It was in the contract. I said, do you understand?”
“Yes sir. I mean Apex sir.”
“Good. You got your stuff?”
“Yes,” said an uncertain End.
“Good. Off you go.”
End had not noticed that the door was already opened. With a mighty push, Apex pushed him off the Canoe. End began falling at greats speed. He did not know what to do. As he saw the ground coming fast, he knew that if he did not think of something soon, he would die. The trees were coming in, but he still had no idea. Come on. Think! He regained some composure by remembering Mahatma’s meditation techniques. Even if death drew near, he had to be calm to find a solution out of nothingness. Focus, he told himself, focus like never before.
The pure balance of desperation and calmness drove the answer into him. It came like a lightning struck to the head.
“I thought about the person I loved most. Because in life, she is my parachute.” Were the words from Chuck.
End squeezed his eyes close as he saw that the ground was going to impact him in five seconds. His only thoughts were of ?
Strangely those five seconds seemed to last an eternity. End opened his eyes to see that he was hovering just centimeters away the ground. There was no impact, for some reason. End relaxed and he fell to the ground with a soft thud. He could not understand this. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a beer can on the ground. It was rusty, from long ago.
“Thank you Chuck,” said End as he heaved a sigh of relief. Despite his fatigue he had to work fast. He knew that the commandos would be coming any minute now, and he began to scout the place for a hiding area.
He walked for hours looking for a solid hiding place within the confines of the map, but the trees and forestation would all in open areas. He was at a loss because he could not find any place.
“This is no fun at all,” said a familiar voice. It was Apex. His commandos had already found him and had snuck up to him from nowhere.
“Well, rules are rules.”
End began to run. The commandos gave chase. End hopped and skipped over fallen tree branches and tiny rivers. He dodged trees and bushes but the commandos were relentless. Finally he came to a small cliff. All he had to do was jump over it. He summoned the courage in himself and took the leap of faith, channeling all that he had learnt from the standing Light jump to try to cover the aerial distance.
He failed.
End found himself missing the landing spot by a mile. His finger barely touched the other side. He was falling. From behind him, he felt someone grab him and put him down to safety. It was Akira.
“I am disappointed Samurai. You should have let him fall to break his leg, before we do the damage. Now that you didn’t, we have to beat him up harder.” Apex and his commandos grabbed hold of End and began to hit him as promised. End was beaten up until he could not stand.
“Seeing that we are ahead of schedule, I am going to go back to base, and come back out here in three days time. We will give you a little head start. But the next time I catch you, I won’t have to beat you up anymore. We’re going to send you straight to the Sphere of influence due to immediate failure.”
“You never mentioned that before.” Said End.
Apex motioned for Akira to go forward. Akira was reluctant but he went forward and gave End one more kick in the gut.
“Let’s go!” said Apex as the commandos went into cloaking mode, and disappeared like ninjas. As everyone turned away, no one saw that when Akira kicked End, he had dropped an additional five more hydro-bars on the ground. When the commandos were gone, End reached into his back pocket to recharge his energy. As he did, a note fell out. End checked that there was no one in the proximity before he had the courage to read the note.
“Think outside the box.” Was the note from Akira.
For the next few days, End finally learned to fear the rain. Rain kept him cold, and his hunger made it worse. Together, rain and the hunger took turns in tearing down his mental resistance to the cold. He had tried his best to ration the food he had, but it was still not enough. He kept repeating the words “Think outside the box.” These were perhaps his final clue to survival but he couldn’t understand it for the longest time.
Finally, after two and a half days, only half a day to his eventual capture, something struck his head. He saw a large ant crawling beside him. He used his finger to draw a box around the ant. The ant checked his boundaries, before crawling out of the box. End drew a box around him once more, and the ant stopped to check his options before exiting the perimeters of the box again. Finally, when End drew a box with a really deep drain around the ant, the ant pondered for some moments, before digging underground and popping up outside the box.
It was only then that End finally understood what it meant. End looked carefully at his viewfinder, and found a good coordinate in the forest that they could not find him.
“Think outside the box.” Said End.
After a total of five days, Apex and his men still could not find End. Apex finally shouted out in frustration on the sixth day.
“Alright. Forget it, use the tracking device.”
“But sir, he has passed your test
.”
“Well, yes, but we have to get him right?”
End popped up from behind a bush and put a sharp object to Apex’s neck.
“I’m right here.”
Apex was taken by surprise. He applauded End.
“Where did you get the commandos’ cloaking uniform?”
“I took it from the Canoe when you were not looking.”
“So you knew how I was going to test you?”
“I sensed it from your emotions.”
“Well done. These are the hallmarks of a good commando. Meet me at these coordinates for your inauguration in one hour. Akira, I need you, come.”
There was something in Akira’s eyes that showed that he was secretly beginning to have a slightly better impression of End by the tiniest of bits. End could feel it. Akira was still a very proud person and no emotions of his leaked easily. Akira gave End a slight nod of acknowledgement of his abilities and left with Apex. That was all End needed.
Less than an hour later, End had arrived at the location. It was a run-down warehouse. There was nobody there, but End was pretty sure it was because everyone was invisible.
“I haven’t thank you.”
“And neither have I.”
End heard the voice of two familiar people. To his horror, it was Hoofhearted and Dr Lecter. They took off their cloaking uniform.
“Endy!” exclaimed Hoofhearted Jr with happiness.
“What is this?” said End. Hoofhearted Jr looked End up and down. The was a rage that was burning in his heart for what End had done.
“What have I ever done to you, that made you stab a knife into my back and disrespect me in such a way?” said Hoofhearted Jr, “You think it’s fun to make films about other people don’t you?”
Dr Lecter tried to calm Hoofhearted Jr down, but it was clear that Hoofhearted Jr was becoming too emotional.
“My own father, the man who has never laid a finger on me all his life, gave me a slap to the face. Oh, and he also casted me out of the city. He sent me away, can you believe it? My own father? For this little thing I did?”
Hoofhearted Jr walked over and gave End a slap on the face.
“I’ll leave eventually, but not before I have my fun with you. Welcome to the Mousetrap Den!”
The commandos of Light began to turn off their cloaking device and appear one by one around End. All at once, about thirty commandoes came forth and started beating him. Apex sent End a roundhouse kick that sent him crashing into a wall. End coughed from the impact to his chest.
“The Mouse trap den is where the commandos torture the new recruits, after they have been caught in the reconnaissance training. Thankfully, Apex and I go way back. You may have kicked me out of the City of Lions, but before I go, I am going to kick the living lights out of you. Maybe, I might even considering ending your life.”
Hoofhearted Jr came forth and gave End a punch but his hand hurt. He stepped aside and looked at Apex. Apex always knew that Hoofhearted Jr could be a little wimpy.
“Well, carry on!” he commanded Apex.
Apex gave End another massive knockout punch that floored him. End fell to the ground, almost not seeing the room clearly any longer. Hoofhearted Jr pulled End’s head up.
“Remember that silly story that Uncle E told us about a time traveller?” asked Hoofhearted Jr. Dr Lecter came over and gave End another kick out of frustration.
“I dug up some confidential files of yours” Said Dr Lecter. He projected a film on to a wall. The footage was very vivid and unclear and looked a lot like a movie from a bootleg DVD. Then the pictures became clear, but it still contained its occasional scratches. When the visuals became clear, End saw the Librarian. He was wearing much dirtier clothes that seemed to hint that he had long been surviving in a empty barren wasteland. The Librarian was doing a self-recording. The date was set as Year 3090.
“I feel no joy in creating this Viewfinder. I mean, what’s the use? Who would ever receive this piece of recording? There is no one else.”
“The Librarian is the time traveller? What happened to the world?” asked End.
“Shh! Don’t talk during a movie.” Said Hoofhearted.
A great sense of moodiness came over the Librarian and he switched off his recording. When it came back on again, it was a different day.
“I have a new name for myself. I decided to call myself Diecreation, having brought the end to all of creation. I found that my name also meant ‘The Day of Creation’ in Latin. How ironic. Me? The day of creation. Fantastic. Just fantastic!”
The Librarian began clapping. Then he clapped louder. He was clearly made insane after all his years in solitude and loneliness. The video switched to another place where the Librarian was looking out into the distance. Even the skies looked grey as if a nuclear war had destroyed all that was once beautiful about earth. For this portion, the Librarian spoke with a much calmer voice, a rarity. He also seemed a little drunk.
“Everyday for seventy years, I kept my nightmares inside my new creation, the viewfinder. But whether it was in my sleep or even in broad daylight, the guilt of destroying the world never left me. I had no idea that the reaction the Sphere would have with me would result in that explosion that killed every human being on the planet. I hate myself, and I am lonelier than the word lonely can describe. I have been working everyday, studying science so that I may restore the world. For some reason I have not killed myself. Perhaps, the more purpose a person has, the longer he wants to live.”
The video jumped to another location, this time, it looked like the interior of a café. There was an unusual amount of dark rings around the eyes of the Librarian as he spoke. He seemed tired and full of negative emotions.
“Prolonged usage of the Viewfinder can cause extreme depression when negative energy is used for killing. I had to kill that wild beast, and with that kill I felt a terrible feeling in my gut. Dark Rooms must be set up to absorb the negative emotions used during killing. If not, the result could be catastrophic. I must never forget to use the dark rooms again.”
The Librarian played another small video of himself going crazy after killing a large bear, and ending the lives of some innocent deers that were running around the city.
Then the video switched to another place, outdoors. The background is unclear. We see the Librarian once more, in a different set of clothes. A terrible weather seemed to brew in the skies behind him. He was shouting as a typhoon swirled with danger behind him.
“It’s all my fault that the world ended! Ninety years the earth punished me by leaving me in this loneliness. And now, with the new emerging patterns from the sky, it threatens to tear itself apart.” said the Librarian, then he laughed. He was now a maniac depressive.
“Time. Maybe it’s the only solution. But it’s so unthinkable. Time? Time! Ridiculous, but possible. And perhaps my only answer.”
The Librarian suddenly went violent and threw his old looking viewfinder to the ground. The video went out. When it came back on again, it was a different day.
“Today marks an important day. I have invented a time machine. If I can go back and stop myself from facing the Sphere, none of this would have happened. The only problem was the power required to charge up the machine, is equivalent to that of an exploding star. I will never be able to find that kind of power.”
The Librarian sulked again. He fell down to the ground, a man with no hope. The video changed once more. This time, it showed the Librarian on the ground, laid down, tired, drinking alcohol and being merry.
“The machine only permits me to go back to 2965, a day after the birth of the City of Lions. The way we, mankind, has done things is wrong. I am going back to build an arts school. I will teach the younger version of myself the art of managing my emotions and using this power of the light properly and wisely. I will teach the world, so that there will be no other kid that destroys the world like I did. No more suffering. No more wars, pain, and more wars. Who am I kidding? Can I reall
y do all that? Hahah! Cheers!”
The video does a quick cut to another place. This particular area looked like a soccer field.
“I only have one chance to try this. The earth is finally about to die because of the power I unleashed. When the earth finally tears itself apart, the energy it produces will be sufficient to power up the device. When I get back, I have to arrive earlier. I have to set up that LightCatching school, I have to teach myself to harness my power. I cannot allow the world to end by me ever again.
The Librarian spoke with a burst of confidence, only for it to dissipate into despair once more. His emotional state was unstable.
“But how can I save the world from myself?” asked the Librarian. He then went into a frenzy as he could not recall his own name. “How do I save myself when I cannot remember my own name? What is my name? Oh no! No! No! No! No! My name! I need my name. Ah! I need a video playback. I need to find it.”
The Librarian scrolled through a folder of past videos, and he finally found a video of himself.
“There you are. My name is…”
The video then cut into the Destiny rewriting chamber. It was End seated in the room. As the Sphere of Influence was switched on, this time, there was no interference from Snakeskin and the process was allowed to continue. The result was an amazing blast of white light so bright that the full spectrums of colors could be seen from it. When the white light cleared, End was kneeling down in the middle of an enormous crater and nothing was left of all the human beings on the planet. He screamed in agony having destroyed the entire world.
End saw the footage with great fear.
“My name is End.” Said the Librarian, and the video ended.
“These are all lies!” shouted End.
“I heard your conversation with Beef so I cross-checked some data. Did you know what happened to poor Beef when your future you arrived?” said Dr Lecter. He played a video from his VF.
The video had a split screen that showed End on one side and Beef on the other. Dr Lecter explained the video.
“We don’t exactly know how time works, but it seems that on January 1st 3013, when you didn’t face the sphere as you were destined to, the time construct of the world changed, and Beef’s life changed forever.” Said Dr Lecter.
“There were several other cases of people claiming that their lives were suddenly different!” said Hoofhearted Jr.
“I wonder if my life changed?” laughed Apex.
“If mine did, I thank you End.” Said Hoofhearted Jr.
“I guess you finally found what you were really good at End, what you were made to do,” said Dr Lecter. He took a moment to savor the delight of announcing something like a grand revelation.
“You were made to destroy the world.”
End shook his head. The truth is making the world spin around him. He couldn’t believe it. He was always a person so full of criticism for himself. With this newfound knowledge, he found new reason to doubt himself once more. All these years of being called a good for nothing, and now this? A great fear weighed on his shoulders that everyday of his life, he would carry a burden of being the one who destroys the world.
“I couldn’t have done that. That just isn’t me.”
“Your future self came back in time, but ended up turning into Dark. Sooner or later, one day, you will become Dark. You will cause another Dark Monday incident. Come to think of it, you are the reason why the ILC became militarized!” said Hoofhearted Jr.
“No.” denied End verbally, but in his heart the truth is sinking in. He was the villain in this story and he couldn’t believe it. He wanted so much to be a good person. But he remembered that on that faithful day when he hit Beef, he could feel the tremendous amount of negative energy building up inside himself. This pure destructive energy was what he feared, and for now knew that he probably still could not control. So yes, he denied this truth with all his heart, but deep inside, he knew that Hoofhearted Jr was absolutely right.
“Whatever the case, you must be destroyed. And I am going to be the hero who destroys you. After I kill you, I will be forever known as the man who saved the world,” smiled Hoofhearted Jr.
“We are framing you for the murder of Akira. You killed him after you went crazy and AWOL,” said Dr Lecter.
“Where is Akira?” asked Hoofhearted Jr.
“Dead.” said Apex.
End felt the sad loss of Akira. There was so much weighing on his mind and soul now.
“In the line of duty, we had to kill you in order to stop you from further chaos.” Said Hoofhearted Jr. He used a Laser attachment on his photon rifle and aimed a shot at End’s forehead. The laser-guiding device found a nice spot in the middle of End’s forehead.
“Don’t you think you should die? I mean seriously.” Said Hoofhearted Jr. Dr Lecter stopped Hoofhearted Jr for a second.
“May I?” asked Dr Lecter.
“Of course my friend,” laughed Hoofhearted Jr, as he lowered his laser device.
Dr Lecter walked up to End.
“You love her don’t you? Doesn’t your heart beat faster each time you think of her? Let’s see how much faster it can beat?”
Dr Lecter’s special ability with his VF extended beyond that of saving lives. As he touched End’s chest, he made End’s heartbeat accelerate. End felt a tremendous strain on his chest. He began to feel the weakness in his knees as he clutched his chest and began to bent down.
“Alright, enough! Stop toying with him. We have to settle this quickly!” shouted Hoofhearted Jr.
“You promised me time with him, you said we could kill him tomorrow!”
“No, we do it now.”
“Absolutely not!” retaliated Dr Lecter.
As the two quarreled, those last words that Dr Lecter said about ? entered End’s mind. He allowed that thought to linger for the longest time. A strong energy was building inside him. It was an idea planted in his head, a decision he had made long before. End remembered that he promised ? that they will always be together. And he was a man of his word.
“I said, we will to kill him tomorrow.” Said Dr Lecter, but Hoofhearted Jr fired a shot at End. As he did, a sense of defiance came from End’s heart because he remembered that he still had to protect ?. The Light from the laser went straight at End, but when it came close to his forehead, it deviated around it.
“First law, Emo-Light does not have to travel in a straight line.” Said End.
Hoofhearted Jr was stunned. End found additional strength as he shoved the commandos and ran forward. He grabbed Hoofhearted Jr by the throat just as Apex defended that strike by throwing End against a wall. End hit his head hard and was fast becoming unconscious. Apex walked over.
“Let’s end it quickly. I need to be that hero soon.” Said Hoofhearted Jr.
Apex took out a sharp knife powered by a layer of light from the viewfinder. He looked at Hoofhearted Jr.
“With your permission, I will cut deep into your heart. It will be and deadly, and very painful.”
“Painful is good.” Said Dr Lecter.
Hoofhearted Jr nodded. Apex readied himself. End felt the knife come close. His mind was in a dire state but if he had learnt anything in the ILC, it was survival. He was trapped with nowhere to run, but still he refused to die. With one final mental scream, he let out a burst of light. It was a quick flash, kind of like a signal beacon.
“That did nothing.” Said Hoofhearted Jr, expecting some kind of energy blast from him.
Just then, a wall exploded, pushing the Apex aside. It was Snakeskin.
“That did something.” Said Snakeskin. That signal beacon was all he needed to find End. He was smoking his usual fake cigarette. Apex got back on his feet like a cat. He smiled at the prospect of a hand-to-hand combat with Snakeskin.
“I have longed for this day.” Said Apex, “I just want to let you know how much it is an honor for me to be the one who finally kills you in battle.”
Apex lunged a complica
ted attack.
Snakeskin broke his neck in less than a second.
The rest of the commandoes were silent. They had expected a prolonged fight between the number one and number two Light commando in their entire battalion. No one knew that their standards were so far apart. Snakeskin lit another one of his famous electronic fake cigarettes, as he perched himself on a metal railing. With his one good eye left, he looked at the rest of the commandos wondering who would be silly enough to try next. He looked stylish with that pose, and would have made it on any fashion magazine’s front cover, if that fake cigarette didn’t make that funny deflated balloon sound each time you blew into it.
As the commandos were all struck into inaction, Akira came out of nowhere and unleashed his sword of light to slice through three of the commandos’ photon powered sub-machine guns. Before they knew what hit them, he had already knocked them all out with one kick.
End didn’t even have time to digest everything. It all looked like a well-choreographed fight sequence, and suddenly the tables have turned.
Hoofhearted Jr began shivering. He took many steps backwards.
“You don’t know who my father is.” Said Hoofhearted Jr.
“Neither do you.” Said Snakeskin.
Hoofhearted Jr pointed his laser guided photon rifle at Snakeskin. Snakeskin saw the laser light shining on his chest but walked forward. Without warning, Hoofhearted Jr fired. Snakeskin dodged the bullet, and took only three steps to get close enough to him to break his neck.
Dr Lecter saw the impending danger of Snakeskin and activated something with his VF. He induced an instant heart attack in himself and died. Snakeskin checked his pulse. Dr Lecter was dead. Snakeskin looked at End.
“The City is in danger,” said Snakeskin in his usual cool voice, “I need your help.”