IZUZUNU
Jun sat on the balcony of his house, drinking Sodizu. His house managed to survive, but it is a bit damaged with a few cracks and holes in its walls. He looks at the night sky. It's beautiful, he thought.
"I never thought about how beautiful the world is," He said to himself. The stars shine bright in the night sky.
"It is only us left in Izuzunu... Edison, Chloe, George, Mikey.. and Me. I can't believe it's been a whole week since that incident" He says to himself as tears run down. He begins to think of ways they could've won with more survivors.
Jun thinks he should go to sleep. He opens the door to his house and goes into his bedroom. He sat on his bed and drank a cup of water.
At George's house, Mikey's having a sleepover due to his treehouse being completely demolished. The country was looking even more crappy as hell.
Chloe sits on her bed, drawing a picture of Chinatown before it got ruined. Above her house was destroyed, but underground in her basement, which is the main room, was left untouched.
Edison lays on his bed with his dirty blanket covering his face, thinking about what he could've done to stop the war.
"I could've been there," He said as he pulled the blanket off his face and turned his head toward his black-painted armor: thinking about Eungi and the rest of the Izuzunians.
Jun stares at his ceiling and slowly closes his eyes.
RISE OF IZUZUNU
VOLUME 3, CHAPTER 19, THE NEW BEGINNING
THE NEXT DAY
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
An echo of voices was heard in Jun's head. It was pitch black. It was like Jun's dreams he always had every night until suddenly.
"Jun!!" Edison called out his name.
Jun finally woke up and looked around "What happened?" Jun asked.
"Wait-" Jun's eyes widened as he looked around.
Jun realizes "Trees... grass... flowers.... dirt... the sky... leaves... Why are we outside??" He shouted, sitting on the soft grass in the middle of the woods.
"We woke up at this place! We don't know what happened!" Chloe yelled as Jun quickly stood up and looked at his surroundings again in fear.
"Oh no... oh no... oh no!" Jun shouted as he kept spinning.
"Stop! Jun!" Edison grabs Jun's shoulders "It's happening again," Edison says "We've just been transported to a new area"
"No," Jun says as he looks far into the distance and spots a girl "Wait.. who's that?" Jun asked while pointing his finger toward the girl.
Everyone turned and looked. They see a girl, she's wearing all-black clothing that is made of leather. The leather jacket on her was big and puffy and her pants were also puffy.
She had short black hair that reached her shoulders only. Her eyes were brown, which meant she had to be human. "What the hell?" Jun looked confused as he politely pushed Edison's hand away and walked up to the girl.
"Um.. excuse me miss," Jun says as he slowly walks up to her. She turns around and asks where she is. She wondered the same thing as Jun.
"What? I was gonna ask you that too" He said.
"Oh? This is weird" She said "I can't remember anything... Is there something wrong with me?"
That shocked Jun and he widened his eyes again.
"You're... human.. too... right?" He asked.
"Yeah, what's the big deal?" She said.
Jun answers "Nothing... We'll explain later... What's your name?" Jun asked.
"Irene" She answered back as Jun turned around and looked at everyone "Well... I guess we got a new member"
He turns back "And last name?"
"Wong" she answered again.
Jun puts his hand out to Irene.
"What's this?" She's confused.
"Simple handshake," Jun said as they both shook hands.
"So... I guess we were put in a new place again... is this gonna keep happening?" Jun asked as he looked at the leaves on the tree.
Jun is still wearing his white and red suit that symbolizes Izuzunu, and his mask is attached to his armor on his right shoulder.
Edison wore a black hoodie and shorts, and Chloe wore a warm green sweatshirt and gray pants with a green beanie. George has a black shirt and black pants, and Mikey has an orange jacket.
"I guess they let us keep some stuff," Jun said as he looked around.
"This is the new beginning," a strange voice said behind Jun.
"What?... that voice sounds familiar," Jun says to himself as he turns around and looks behind Irene.
It was Nugget. Jun gets filled with anger as he looks at Nugget straight in the eyes. Edison knows what Jun's about to do as he runs toward Jun.
Jun speedwalks up to Nugget. Jun puts his fist out in the air and socks Nugget straight in the face.
He falls to the ground as Jun tries to get more punches in. He tries to jump onto Nugget, but Edison stops him "Jun! Stop it!" Edison shouted as he held Jun back.
"No! Let go of me! He did it! He put us here! He killed Coen and everyone else at the war!" Jun yelled out loud as he tried to stop Edison from holding him.
"You got to calm down" Edison tried to calm Jun down.
Irene stood there confused and scared at the same time "Guys... why are you guys fighting" she said, frightened.
"Nugget" Mikey says as he looks angry too "You killed a lot of people and I will never forgive you" Mikey charges at Nugget as Nugget knocks him back to the ground "I'm on your side now!" He shouted.
Jun calms down a bit and pushes Edison out of the way "What do you mean!?" He asked while shouting "Why the fuck are you on our side now!!? Huh!!? You're probably plotting something against us, huh!? With Piller and his dumb fucking crew!! You caused plenty of damage-!!" Chloe rushes to Jun and hugs him behind "Jun... stop... let him at least talk..." Chloe said.
Jun looked at Chloe and noticed her teary eyes. Jun gently removes Chloe's arms "Fine"
Nugget began talking "I don't care about being the president anymore" He said "After the war.. I went back to your country to look at the ruined town. I then felt guilty and... very bad for doing this to you guys... you know... I'm human too" He cried while looking Jun in the eyes "I thought maybe joining the Doom Brigade, would protect me from the monsters in this world... but then... they started treating me badly because I'm a human"
"Please... the Doomgaders abandoned me.." Nugget says as he falls to all fours and cries.
"I won't fight you anymore," He said "So please... take me with you guys"
The crowd goes quiet.
"Chloe's the President... so it's up to her," Jun said as everyone else turned toward Chloe.
"... Fine" She answered as Nugget became relieved.
He then apologizes for all the deaths of Izuzunu's citizens.
"Also... the Doomgaders put us here... and stole all of your belongings, including mine" Nugget looked down.
Edison turns his head around "Well... now we know why we're here... they've probably taken over our town... so in the end... we did kind of lose"
Jun walks away and heads to a nearby lake. The rest follow along and watch the view as Jun says "Well guys... I guess this is our new home"
The beautiful fields, mountains, rivers, and a lake were in view. It looked like a great place to start a town.
"This is... the new beginning... for Izuzunu" Jun said.
EVENING
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!!" Mikey shouted as he ran as fast as he could back to the new house they'd built.
"Brutes!!" Chloe screamed out as she opened the doors "Get in the house!!"
Everyone stopped what they were doing outside and began running.
Chloe shoots arrows at all the brutes chasing them "Hurry! I only have two left!" Edison notices a zombie behind the doorway "Chloe! Watch out!"
Edison shouted as she screamed. She falls to the ground while the zombie tries to bite her neck.
Irene takes out her sword made of wood and stabs into the zombie's head "You okay!? Chloe!" Irene panicked as she grabbed Chloe's hands and ran into the house.
Jun makes it to the house and holds the door open for everyone else "Hurry! Come in!" He shouted as they all ran into the house and fell to the ground, breathing heavily.
Jun shuts the door closed as the zombies try to break in. Jun locks the door with a log against the door and walks away from the door.
"That was close," Mikey said as he sighed while laying his head on the ground.
Everyone else got up "Alright guys... we should rest for tomorrow," Nugget said as he lay down on the carpet Irene built.
"Hey! That's for me!" Irene kicked Nugget's back as he quickly got up "Hey! Fine, fine, fine" He walks away.
Nugget went and sat on the floor at the corner and closed his eyes.
"Jun, I need to talk to you," Edison says as he pulls Jun aside.
"Have you been thinking about the humans in this world?" He asked Jun.
Jun is confused because Edison was never curious about how they got here.
"Yeah.. actually I've been thinking about it ever since I arrived here," Jun said "I don't know... but.. I think we were put here by our own kind.. like maybe... we were from another planet similar to this one... because... Melanie told me that she got half her memories back and that we were siblings from a planet called... Earth" Jun explained.
"Yes.. exactly like that!" Edison replied "I had visions of Earth a few days ago and... it was kind of weird"
"Yeah... I get the visions too... I always get these weird dreams, they don't last long though. But every night I only get like-.. like little pieces of them. I always feel like I'm... burning.. and tired.. and sick... and exhausted... and they keep telling me to wake up... and that we're on a... mission... a short one..." Jun explained his dreams.
"I think that's life telling you something" Edison replied as he patted Jun on the shoulders and walked away "Get some sleep, we'll need them tomorrow" Edison lays on the little carpet.
Jun stood there. He held his head for a bit. He remembered what Melanie told him the other day.
"You're my brother!" Her words spoke.
Jun laid on the carpet and began to sleep. Nugget didn't get a carpet because he was an ex-Doomgader. Irene suddenly throws a carpet to his lap. Nugget looked at Irene as she smiled and showed him a thumbs-up. She made another one for him.
Nugget smiled and held a thumbs up as well.
TWO MONTHS AGO, BEGINNING OF IZUZUNU, EUNGI'S VILLAGE
"Hey," Jun called her out.
It was Vonda when he first met her at the village "Yeah?"
"So... these brutes... do they only come out at night? Or can they come out in the daytime?" Jun asked.
"Zombies at night, the rest is anytime" She answered.
"Okay... and are kalkruts even brutes if they can speak and read like us?" He asked.
She began explaining "Yes... every single kalkrut in this world is filled with evil. All they do is raid, kill, hurt, and steal... it's what they do to deserve to be a part of the brutes"
"So.. that's it, huh?" Jun said, "So do we know any information about the kalkruts and their little organization?"
"They... they're called doomgaders, well that's what we call them. Their name is Doom Brigade. They have different types groups in their team" Vonda explained "Archerers, use the bow and arrow to fight, Axers use axes, Sworders use swords, of course, kalrhinos are the brutes they ride on to take them a place to place, the kalruts are little creatures that the mindmaster can summon, and last but not least, the mindmasters.. they can use their minds to summon the kalruts and manipulate a shard... we don't know what the shards are, but the mindmaster can generate it all around their body and shoot them toward anyone.... that's all we know"
Jun was surprised. He was speechless and had nothing to say.
"Start your own village," She says to Jun.
"What?" Jun asked.
"Start your own village.. soon turn it into a kingdom... one day, if my village burns to the ground, we'll come straight to you"
Jun was again surprised "How do I do that??"
"Just do it," She says.
"I need your help with something," A girl says to Vonda, walking into her house without permission.
"What is it?" Vonda asked. She walked toward the shelf and grabbed an axe "Sorry, I need it" She laughed nervously and walked out of the house.
"Hey, so what's your village's name?" Jun asked.
"Izu Village" She answered "This village has stood here for a few decades and never changed"
"Wow, that's a long time," Jun said.
"Yeah... I lived here my whole life... So I'm gonna protect Izu with my life" Vonda says.
"Izu... huh?" Jun said.
HOURS INTO SLEEPING, PRESENT DAY
A few hours later "BANG!!" Someone is banging on the door.
Everyone quickly woke up and stared at the door "What the hell was that!?" Mikey shouted. The door kept banging as Jun sat there, breathing heavily from the banging door.
Suddenly "Please!! Help me!!" Everyone ran to the door and Jun quickly opened it. A girl... she was frightened and her clothes were almost torn apart.
A few minutes later after giving her water and a new set of clothing, Edison finally asks her what her name is.
"My name is... Evelyn" She said as she calmed down from all the panicking.
"What happened out there?" Jun asked.
"There were... a lot of monsters.. but... when I woke up... I was afraid" She said.
"What happened? Why were you afraid?" Chloe asks.
"I couldn't... remember anything"
Jun and Edison looked at each other "Another human" They both said.
"Well.. you're safe with us... I'll explain everything to you tomorrow" Jun said as he walked to the door and sat there, going to sleep.
Everyone else does the same, except for Mikey.
"You look.. familiar... have I seen you somewhere before?" He asked Evelyn.
She replied "No? I don't know. I don't think I remember meeting you somewhere"
Mikey with a confused look said "Okay.." As he went back to sleep.
Evelyn is with Irene as they share the carpet together.
From the windows... a group stared into the house. A group of teenagers stood there watching them sleep "I guess they're sleeping" someone spoke.
He kind of looked like the leader of this... gang.
"We'll say hi to them soon" He chuckled.
"Yes... and we'll have a lot of fun with them" His smile widened
"So what's even the plan?" The other guy asked.
The leader looked at them "We'll see what catches up to my mind by then... Let's leave before we get caught"
They back away from the window "I'll come for you guys later" The leader says.
The group leaves as they dash towards the shadows of the trees created by the moonlight.
They disappeared and were nowhere to be found.
TO BE CONTINUED..