The CoDas: Reboot [By Hex]

Chapter 42: Dummy

The world was falling apart, parts of destroyed buildings laid out across the broken concrete ground. Balls of fire fell from the clouds and showered upon the Earth. False Zack stood among all of the chaos, soaking everything in.

Zack's eyes were soft, almost dull as if he was in a trance. The screams of the people echoed through the burning lands, pleading for help and crying in agony. They were first faint, unnoticeable but soon Zack could feel overwhelmed as the screams became louder and louder. 

Till his whole mind was covered in the screams of the people. His eyelids became baggy and rough, he was tired. His teeth jammed against one another as he fell to his knees and covered his ears, the screams were still loud. He tried to shout in order to drown out the sound but he could not speak, only listen. Shadowy hands erupted from the floor and slowly crawled their way around Zack's body as he continued to drown out the screams. 

"Hey! Mascot!"

Zack's eyelids slowly cracked open, his reality coming back to him. He looked to see where the sound came from, only to find Johnny beside him. 

"Must've had a nice dream, hmm?" Johnny snickered, "Glad you liked our 'bedrooms'. Now come on, Edwin wants me to let you practice in our underground sewers." 

Zack looked around to see a darkly lit room with multiple tools and gears laying about, around the random tools are placed mattresses on the floor, an improvised bedroom. 

"Why do I need to practice, If I'm able to defeat Edwin, then I should be trained enough to take care of myself."

"You are quite talented in your combat capabilities," Johnny acknowledged, "but you need a little bit more experience, Edwin only wishes for you to unlock your full potential. I highly advise you to follow what he suggests, it's better to not complicated everything. Also, let's be real here, no one expected much from you, not even Edwin so when you fought against him you really caught all of us unguarded."

Zack gave a stern look at Edwin before answering, "Fine, I'll follow you."

"Although before we can even start your training, how about we gather some more dummies for training."

"Don't you have the money and resources to buy them?"

"Buy?" Johnny chuckled, "the type of dummies we use are too valuable to be bought through mere nickels and paper. You have to hunt them."

"Hunt?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Distant Storm Arc: Dummy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zack and Emily sat in a tranquil room, the tables were placed in a circle with a separate table elevated above the others. Other than Emily and Zack, sat other CoDas of high ranking as only mumbles and whispers passed around the room. Zack had tiresome eyes, even though he was just a spirit he looked like he needed some sleep. Emily watched over him, glancing a few times to ensure that he is calm and does not lash out like he did to Nathan. Zack placed his elbows on the table and leaned his head on his hands, giving small groans of pain as if he had a headache. 

Sorry, Zack, I wish I could ease the pain.
For reasons unknown, Emily couldn't access Zack's mind and therefore couldn't restrict his pain or the memories, something beyond her understanding was preventing her. All she could do was look after him and make sure it doesn't get worse.