In the year 2090, as a young child, I lived a normal life with my father and mother but after losing my mother at a tender age, everything changed it all happened when President Thumb launched a warning nuke into the world. At eight years old, I witnessed the chaos it brought. Ten years later, in 2100, I enlisted in the military, becoming its youngest member. As I rose through the ranks, President Thumb resurfaced, fulfilling his promise made during the crisis. He announced his intention to enter cryostasis, vowing to conquer the world upon awakening. His goal was total control, believing humanity had strayed too far, becoming weak and divided due to our over-reliance on social media and disconnectedness from the world. President Thumb saw himself as the solution, intending to unite humanity forcibly by removing free will.
In the present day, I am one of the few people left in the military fighting against Thumb and his new followers. But will I succeed?
Chapter 0: Pilot
Hey Zemaku! ZEMAKU, WAKE UP!" a voice said."AHHHHHH!" I screamed before quickly gaining my composure. "Oh, hey dad.""Zemaku, you need to stop falling asleep on the job.""At least I’m not having nightmares again," I quipped back."That’s fair," my dad said.
So, when will we make it to the new hideout?" I asked."Well, the hover car should get us there in a few more hours," my dad responded."Damn, that long?" I said.Then, a few hours later, we made it to the new hideout."So, how's the member hunting going?" I asked."Not good. Thumb has gotten rid of all who openly resisted him. The general public is too afraid to fight back. He’s gained complete control. The whole world is like North Gorea, but way worse," Dad said
Oh, good, we've made it," Dad said."That's great and all, but the place looks a little run-down," I said."Well, what did you expect?" my dad groaned. "You don't just make a new base when the whole government is against you. Thumb rules all now, and he's gotten rid of President Cubacabra. Oh, and by the way, I'm Commander Bill stop calling me dad you may be my son but you gotta remember your rank," Dad complained."But Dad, all your forces have either turned against you in fear or have died," I said. "Even my best friends are gone.""Oh, um, sorry Dad... Oh, I mean, Commander Bill said I know you've mostly gotten over your mother, but are you over what happened to Brian and Serena?" Bill asked."No, just because I didn’t have a nightmare now doesn’t mean it is over. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to move on from losing Mother and my childhood friends.
Suddenly, an alarm goes off in the new but rundown base.
What is it?" I asked."Probably just a false alarm," Bill said. "We just installed this thing. I'll check just to make sure."Bill then logs into an ancient-looking computer that appears to be from the '90s but is repurposed to use Binbows 3000."Well, is it a false alarm or not?" I asked."No, it's not," Bill said. "Thumb's men are on the move, and they are taking over a nearby city that apparently gained back some control and free will.""Damn," I said and ran into the hover car, starting it up."Zemaku, it's too dangerous," Bill said."The only danger lies in letting Thumb win," I said before driving the hover car away.
I make it to my destination, and I see two of Thumb's followers terrorizing the city.
"Mwahahaha, isn’t this fun," Ren, a big buff guy with a cape, said to another shorter guy with black hair."No, Goki, it’s not fun. We are here to do Thumb's bidding. We aren’t here to have fun. You're enjoying torturing information out of the civilians about this so-called savior too much. We have a goal that we must achieve.""Oh, sorry," Goki said.I then drove in and saw that there was one person being interrogated. That one person was nothing but a small child. In disgust, I look away for a moment before silently walking up. Ren and Goki just look at me with curiosity. Ren is about to say something, but Goki interrupts."What are you doing here, stranger?" he asked. "This is none of your business. Okay, just pretend you didn’t see anything and walk away.""Walk away?" I repeated. "Why would I walk away from you? I’m here to end you.""What?" Goki said."You're nuts. Thumb's word is absolute; it takes priority over someone as pitiful as you. He has saved the world from forgetting how to be social. He’s gotten rid of all antisocial people. He’s made online discussions less toxic, and he’s also made it so that there’s world peace," Ren stated."Any attempt to change the status quo is punishable by death, if need be. And this new leader, this savior, needs to be ejected. And I don’t mean like in a cartoon. I mean he must die.""Why should he die? You can’t just force people to be social. You can’t just rule over the whole world with a singular force, a single person making every rule. Thumb is a maniac filled with bias and harmful beliefs. What makes people human are their imperfections. Removing antisocial people just isn’t entirely possible. All he’s done is force people to put on masks in fear. No one is themselves anymore. So what if there used to be toxic online discussions? People can be toxic; it’s human nature. Instead of trying to get rid of them, he should’ve educated people about it, you know, like what schools were doing for years before he was in power by telling kids about cyberbullying. And people won’t just forget how to be social. Humans are social creatures. It’s not that antisocial people or people with anxiety don’t want to talk; it’s just that they're stuck with crowds of people. They usually still have a small group of friends or will at some point make a few friends. Coming out of their shell would’ve taken time. Time that Thumb stole from them. And his stunt with nuking a certain area killed my mom while she was grocery shopping," I said, laying down my information on Ren.
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"Silence," Ren said. "Lord Thumbs' laws are absolute. No one bad-talks him and his noble goal and gets away with it!" Ren shouted before lunging at me with some sorta plasblade—a plasblade is a sword whose blade is made from plasma. It’s a very dangerous weapon from an ancient civilization.Ren tries to strike me, but I use my energy barrier, a barrier that’s powered by the energy I emit from my aura. Then, I counterattack by shooting my laser gun, but Ren dodges it.
And I’ll say it again: Thumbs' power is absolute. He is justice. He is in the right. He’s always been in the right," Ren said."No, he’s not!" I yelled. "He killed hundreds of innocent people in his reign, all to gain control because of his belief that humanity had gone astray. Well, wake up! Humanity hadn’t gone astray; they evolved, they adapted. We would’ve never forgotten how to be social. He shouldn’t try to control the world just because a few bad apples exist. By trying to remove the problem, all he did was make the people he saw as a problem hide in the shadows.""That’s enough," Ren said before using the plasblade and cutting a bit through my shirt, giving a part of my chest burns. I screamed in pain before regaining my composure."Why are you trying so hard to plead your case? Why are you trying to make me believe in Thumbs' goal?" I asked.
"Because I want to believe Thumb is right, no, I know that Thumb's right," Ren says, seemingly unsure of himself."No, you're not sure of it. I wasn't sure of it, but now I know you're also not sure whether or not Thumb is right. Well, like I keep saying, he's in the wrong," Ren then pauses for a moment, looks at me, I then look back at him, and I nod."I see now. I didn’t want to believe what Thumb... no, what I was doing was wrong. I wanted badly to believe in Thumb's goal, but now I see that I was wrong about Thumb," Ren says suddenly. Goki's face turns into anger and disgust, and he begins to speak."So, Ren, Thumb's most devoted follower, turns out to not be so devoted after all," Goki says.
Goki then just holds out his hand. It has a weird apparatus around his wrist. He holds out his hand, and a strange red aura begins to surround his arm before being concentrated into an energy ball. This strange device seems to let one manifest their body's aura into power. Goki then launches it at Ren, but Ren uses his plasma blade to knock it away from him."Back me up, Ren!" shouted Goki. "He's not to be underestimated. He's more powerful than any of us.""Got it," I said. Ren and I lunge towards Goki. I fire a laser from my laser gun, but it wasn't enough. Goki hits me on the back of my head with his shoulder, knocking me out. Ren tries to strike Goki with his plasma sword, but it wasn't enough, and Goki deflects it with an energy shield.
As I regained consciousness, the scene before me was a blur of movement and chaos. Goki and Ren were locked in a fierce battle, each wielding their respective powers with determination. Despite being outnumbered, Ren fought with a newfound resolve, fueled by his realization of Thumb's tyranny. Struggling to my feet, I shook off the dizziness, my mind racing with thoughts of what to do next. I had to fight apart while innocent lives hung in the balance. With determination coursing through my veins, I joined the fray, my laser gun at the ready."Ren, stop!" I shouted, trying to break through their intense focus on each other. "We need to put an end to this madness!"Ren glanced in my direction, his eyes reflecting a mix of determination and uncertainty. "Zemaku... you're right," he muttered, his grip on the plasblade faltering for a moment. "We need to finish this together," Ren said. We both looked at each other and nodded. We then lunged at Goki with seemingly a new plan, despite not really having spoken about it to each other. I lunged towards Goki, getting ready to aim my laser gun, but I stopped right as it was about to fire, and Ren sneaked up to Goki, dealing the finishing blow.After Goki was defeated, Ren and I looked at each other and smiled."So now what?" Ren asked. "Where do we go from here?""Well, since you betrayed Thumb, you can't go back with him. Let's team up.""Sure," Ren said. And so, Ren and I walked towards the hover car so that we could go back to the base together, having a new member of the resistance against Thumb.