Battle Heroes X Vetera: S01E03

The Story of Silas is the third episode of the Battle Heroes X Vetera series. The episode delves into the origins of Silas and many others.

The heroes' origins are revealed.

## The Episode

"Another day, another beatdown!" Zack announced as he entered through the back door of the house. He morphed back into his civilian clothing and sat on the couch in the living room. Once again, an insidious plot to control Earth had been stopped.

"Didja see my moves back there? Didja? Didja? They didn't stand a chance and I was all like 'bang bang bang bang!'" Zack heard the unmistakable hyped voice of Cloud fill the house as he entered, with Popple close behind him.

"Yes, Cloud, we saw you," Popple said. She sat down on the couch and de-morphed into her regular clothes. Cloud de-morphed as well and sat on the couch, setting up the GameCube.

The red ranger came in shortly after Popple and Cloud. Next to him was...a pink ranger?

Julius stretched his arms. "It sucks whenever we have to drop everything and stop some bad guy's world domination plan of the week."

The red and pink rangers de-morphed. Silas now stood where the red ranger once was. Julius stood next to him, but soon sat on the couch next to Zack and exhaled.

"Thanks to us, Earth is safe again." Silas turned around and began his exit.

"Hey, where're you going, man?" Zack asked.

"Roy needs me back at Earth Base for a briefing later."

"Uh-oh, is Mr. Silas Black going Hollywood on us?" Zack snarked. It was jokingly, though.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Silas replied. "Know what, I got time. Who's up for a game of Melee?"

. . .

Zack stared at the shark in the tank at the SPD base. The sea creature had a little room to swim about, so it did. It was mesmerizing to watch. Which was a good thing. Past the void infection, what kinds of worries would an apex predator have anyway?

"I wanted to ask, what's the progress on the new weapons?" Zack asked, turning around. A scientist was reading something on a holographic screen.

"Unfortunately you'll need to wait a little while longer. The void predicament forced us to divert efforts to its research."

"Damn, alright." His phone buzzed and he took it from his pocket. One new message from Cloud.

"where are you zack? silas is chilling at the house"

"im in the lab"

"with the shark aka your new best friend?"

"its not like that haha. i wanted to check in on our new weapons"

"oh yeah! once i get mine this void thing is screwed. SCREWED I TELL YOU"

Zack smiled a bit. "glad youre on our side haha"

"get over here soon ive found some chances to clown julius"

"word." Zack put away his phone and exited the SPD Earth Base. It was dark outside and the moon illuminated his path. Try as he might, his mind wandered back to Silas. Silas the red ranger. Silas the leader. Silas...the best friend.

2 Years Ago...

The weather was beautiful and Zack was loving it. He was on his way to his first day of high school. It was a totally new experience for him, but he felt like he could take it. With his friends by his side, nothing was impossible. Zack waved at neighbors across the street and they waved back. Today was going to be a great day and he knew it.

Up ahead, a moving truck was parked and furniture was being moved into a house. Looks like someone is moving into town?

"You're going straight to school, that's an order!" A gruff male voice said. It came from the house.

"Dad, we just moved here today! I'm really tired from moving and--"

"I won't be hearing anything of it! Your mother and I already set up your admission before we moved, so they'll be expecting you. Get there now!"

"Yes, sir," A black-haired teen rushed out the door and down the steps. He looked to be around Zack's age, with a black hoodie and jeans.

When the teen saw Zack, he froze. His upset face quickly changed to a casual and more cheerful one. "Sorry you had to hear that. My parents can be pretty strict."

Zack smiled. "No problem. So you're new to the neighborhood?"

"Yeah. My family just moved in from Washington 'cause my dad got promoted. Now I have to go straight to school, even though I'm really tired. What was it..." The boy sifted through his backpack and came up with a piece of paper. "The Academy."

"Hey! That's where I'm going."

"Really? Well, mind showing me the way? I have no idea which way is up around here."

The two began walking in the direction of the school.

"Oh yeah, I'm Zack by the way," He extended his hand.

Silas took his hand and they shook. "I'm Silas. Silas Black."

When Zack arrived at the Academy with Silas, he saw Julius and Cloud talking.

"All I'm saying, Cloud, is that now is the time to re-create ourselves. Forge new identities and become better people!"

"Julius, relax, it's just high school!" Cloud reassured him.

Zack walked over. "Cloud’s right, you know."

"Hey, Zack!" Cloud and Julius greeted him when they saw him. "I was just talking to Julius about how he needs to relax."

Zack turned to his wound up friend. "Chill out, man. Be yourself."

Julius smiled back. "Yeah, alright. You guys are probably right," He exhaled and scratched the back of his head. "Thanks. Who's this with you?"

"Guys, meet Silas. He just moved in from out of town."

"Nice to meet you!" Cloud said.

"Nice to meet Julius, I'm you!" Julius said, then groaned. "I mean, nice to meet you, I'm Julius."

Across the street, Zack could see Popple walking over to meet them. "Hey, check it out!"

Cloud saw her as well. "It'll be nice to see Popple again after a summer without her, right, Julius?" Cloud asked mischievously. Zack glanced at Julius uneasily. From as long as he could remember, Julius has been harboring feelings for Popple. Unfortunately, he's too shy to act on any of those feelings, which results in him occasionally acting weird.

Julius was giving him a little hope, however. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Cloud. That whole 'acting weird around Popple' thing is over for me. You're talking to the new Julius version 14! I'm just an average joe ready to learn!"

Popple met up with them and beamed. "Guys! Hey!" She reached out and hugged Zack, Julius and Cloud.

"Popple, meet Silas. Silas, Popple," Zack introduced.

"Nice to meet you," She said, smiling. Silas smiled as well.

The bell rang and everyone started entering the school. As they walked, Zack and Cloud looked at Julius, who had a ridiculous and goofy expression on his face. Finally, he sighed. "Alright, version 14 has been scrapped. 15 is now in beta testing."

Maybe next time, Zack thought to himself.

...

Back in the present day, Zack stood in front of his house. The lights were off in the house, but a quick trip to the backyard revealed that everyone was at Retro Boy World. He could hear their laughter. Walking to the tree, he climbed up and entered. Julius, Cloud, Popple and Silas were playing Melee. By the looks of it, Cloud had just won.

"What's up?" Zack greeted as he entered the treehouse. Cloud turned around.

Hey, Zack!" Cloud waved. "Wanna get in on this? Julius is stinking it up, as usual."

Julius huffed. "Not my fault Pichu sucks!"

"We warned you not to use him! What were your exact words again? Oh yeah, 'C'mon, give him a chance. He looks kind of cute'."

Julius scratched the back of his head and chucked sheepishly. Zack shrugged. "Nah, I'm alright." He walked over to the mini-fridge and took out a soda. Taking a sip, he sat on the couch.

"Looks like some things haven't changed, and me being the best at Melee is one of them!" Cloud celebrated.

Silas smiled. "In case you forgot, there aren't any GameCubes in space."

"Yet you can find a spaceship out there. Those aliens need to prioritize!"

"So that's where you went, huh? Outer space?" Zack asked.

"Yeah. Got transferred to another planet. Roy said they could use some help out there."

"So golden boy decided to spread his graceful light upon another group of people," Zack snidely commented. SIlas got up.

"Look, Zack, if you want me to go, I'll go."

"Great! But this time, we'll actually want you to go!"

Silas walked past Zack and exited the treehouse, leaving him with his confused teammates.

Julius rubbed his temple and got up. “Zack, two seconds? Have a seat.”

Zack rolled his eyes and sat down on the floor next to Cloud.

Julius paced the treehouse. “Whenever Silas is around, you’re always antagonizing him. Why? Is it because he got reassigned—“

“He *left* us*.* Don’t forget that,” Zack almost immediately added. This is stupid. He got up. “Look, if you want me to apologize, I’ll apologize. But this doesn’t change a thing.” Zack exited the treehouse and climbed down.

He felt like a boiling kettle full of emotion. Running his hands over his face, he began walking in the direction of Silas’ house.

2 Years Ago...

Zack was with Silas and the others in the city. They were giving him a tour around and showing him the sights. Currently, Zack and Silas were crossing the street with drinks in cup holders. They had offered to pick up some drinks from a convenience store while the others waited. Across the street, Julius, Cloud and Popple were sitting on a bench.

"So Silas, how does this city compare to Seattle?" Zack asked.

Silas laughed. "Hate to break it to you, Zack, but nothing can compare to Seattle!"

"Alright, that's fair enough," Zack agreed. "That first day of school, was everything alright with your dad and stuff?"

Silas shrugged. "Yeah, things were fine. We argue a lot about stuff, mostly my future. I wanna make a difference in the world. Try to make things better for everyone. Meanwhile, he wants me to be realistic about my life."

They met up with the others and gave them their drinks.

"Alright, guys, how about a toast?" Zack asked. "To Silas! May your time here be just as good as where you were before. The others raised their drinks. "To Silas!" Silas smiled. "You guys are the best!"

Just as he said that, a massive shadow engulfed them.

"Hey, guys, is it just me or has the Thanksgiving parade started 2 months early?" Cloud enquired.

They all looked up and saw that above them, a massive spaceship of some sort was flying over the city. They had never seen anything like it before.

"I...don't think that's a parade float, Cloud," Popple responded.

Other people in the city stopped what they were doing to look up at the sky. The spaceship floated overhead harmlessly. Suddenly, a purple beam of light travelled from the ship to the ground. In an instant, what appeared to be robots exited the beam of light. They had a humanoid form with a metallic body. The head was emotionless save for two bright red eyes forever cast in a glare. Their most distinguishing feature was the swirling mass of purple light in their stomachs. More and more beams of lights came from the ship and more robots arrived. As soon as they were on the ground, they began advancing on the citizens of the city. People screamed as they were grabbed or forced out of their cars and dragged into groups, which the robotic creatures herded away. Everyone was scattered in the chaos.

The five teens started to flee the scene, but one of the creatures stepped in their path and they quickly ran in the other direction.

"This is unreal!" Cloud yelled over the pandemonium. "It's like an alien invasion or something!"

"We can't run forever! We have to do something!" Julius yelled.

The teens turned a corner and Silas noticed that they were about to run past an alleyway. "Quick, in here!"

Everyone ran in and Silas pointed to a dumpster. "We gotta hide in here!" He lifted the lid and revealed the inside, which was grimy looking and filled with bags.

"Aw, man! It smells awful in there! Like cottage cheese that died in the cottage!" Julius complained, holding his nose.

"We got no choice, Julius! This could be our only shot at not getting yanked!" Zack explained, climbing in. He was followed by Cloud, Popple, Julius, and finally Silas, who closed the lid and sent them into the dark.

Cloud's voice filled the dumpster. "HEY HEY HEY! Whoever's finger that is, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but now is not the time. Wait, that's my finger.....awkward."

The teens could hear footsteps coming from outside. It sounded like a metal hammer hitting the pavement.

"Cloud, shhhhh!" Everyone hissed at him. The footsteps became louder, then silent. After an extremely tense 10 seconds, the footsteps faded away.

"Whew! I think it's gone! Time to get out!" Julius said.

"Not quite. I think we should stay here for now," Silas suggested. The others whispered in agreement. So they waited...and waited. It didn't seem like anything was changing outside. Although there was less screaming and yelling, which wasn't exactly a good thing, metallic footsteps were still audible. But then something else came up. It sounded like a radio being tuned.

"Hello? Hello, is anyone out there?" A gruff male voice was heard saying.

"Hey, that sounds like a human!" Cloud said.

"Hold on, Cloud," Zack warned. "It might be a trap. Notice the other sounds that were made before."

Popple pondered this. "True. I'll peek out to see." She fumbled about in the dark, searching for the lid. Eventually, she got it and lifted it up slightly, allowing a little light to get in. What she saw wasn't any human, but what looked to be a robot. This one was different, however. Its body was made of a jet black metal with a sword on its hip.

"Guys, it's another one of those robots!" She reported.

The robot put its hands up. "It's okay, I know you must be afraid after what's been going on. You can trust me."

Slowly, the teens crawled out of the dumpster. Once out, they looked awe-struck at the robot. Getting a closer look however revealed that it wasn't a robot at all, rather someone in black armor. In a flash of light, the helmet disappared, revealing the face of an older man with gray hair and a beard.

They all took a step back. "This day keeps getting weirder and weirder..." Julius said.

"Who...or what are you?" Silas asked.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Roy. I am the Commander of the Earth Branch of SPD."

"SPD?"

"Space Patrol Delta, an interplanetary law enforcement organization that keeps peace over areas of space. Unfortunately, there are some who don't seem to want peace as much as we do. One of those people came here today."

"You know who brought those robots to the city?" Zack questioned.

"No, but we will soon. Right now, our rangers are going after the robots who've been kidnapping civilians off the streets. You five are currently the only ones not captured or holed up somewhere."

Roy paused. "One moment." He withdrew a phone-shaped object from his pocket, opened it, and put it to his ear. "Yes, how is the evacuation going? Good I hope. I found five civilians hiding, can you bring...they're putting up more of a fight than expected? Hmph......is that so?" He looked up to the sky. "Alright, keep on fighting and don't let up. I'm on my way. Roy out." He closed the object and put it away. "It seems that the shuttle is moving towards downtown. I need to get eyes out there, but everyone's occupied trying to rescue hostages."

"How about letting us help out?" Silas offered. All eyes moved to him.

Roy shook his head. "No," He responded firmly. "I'm not going to put civilians in harm's way. As...displeasing as the smell of it should be, the best thing you five can do is get back to hiding in the dumpster."

Julius could be heard groaning. Silas didn't back down. "C'mon, you need bodies out there. If what you said about most people being hostages or hiding is correct, we're the only ones free!"

Roy contemplated this, looking at the teens. Silas' eyes were filled with steely determination. "Brave," Roy noted. "But what do your friends think of doing this?"

Silas turned back to the others. "Guys, what do you think?"

The first one to respond was Julius. "Us? Going out there? It'd be crazy to do that!"

Cloud nodded in agreement. "As much as I like excitement and stuff, I don't know about this one."

"We'll just get in the way of things," Popple added.

Silas sighed. "You guys are right to feel that way..." He turned back to Roy. "...But I'm still going out there."

What Zack said next shocked everyone. "I think we should do it, guys."

"WHAT?!" Julius, Cloud and Popple exclaimed.

He stepped forward and put a hand on Silas' shoulder. "Hell yeah, it's gonna be dangerous out there, but if we can make a difference by going out there, I'm up to the task. I'm with Silas. You're not doing this alone." Silas nodded to Zack in appreciation. Julius, Cloud, and Popple remained where they were, still on the fence regarding the decision. After a long pause of consideration, Cloud stepped forward as well. "It'd really suck if one of my best friends and my new best friend got hurt! Let's do this."

Popple finally stepped forward. "Me too."

Julius was the last one standing. He looked at the dumpster, then at the others. "I'm not going back in there." He took a deep breath, then stood with the others. "What do we have to do?"

Roy was all business. "As of now, you five have been deputized as temporary rangers. Obviously, you'll be needing a change in clothing." He brought out his phone-like object again and spoke into it. "I need five morphers brought to my location."

Shortly after the call, trash and other small objects on the ground began whirling about. The heroes looked up to see a small aircraft hovering above them.

"You might want to take a step back," Roy suggested. Everyone stepped back. An opening in the aircraft opened up and a small silver metallic box dropped from it and landed on the ground before them. The aircraft then departed.

Roy walked to the box and opened it, revealing five more phone-like objects like the one he had.

"Wait, are those phones?!" Cloud asked giddily.

"Not exactly. They're called Delta Morphers, and they allow you to transform into armored forms like mine," Roy explained. "Each of you take one and click on the 'change' tab."

The teens each took a morpher and one by one, they clicked on the tab. In bright flashes of light, they changed forms. They were no longer in their regular clothes, but the colored armor of a ranger.

Cloud was the first to examine his new changes. "Oooo...." He looked at his arms and legs, which were now encased in blue armor. "Cool duds!" He looked around at the others. "Zack, how do I look?"

Zack was also examining himself, but looked up at the blue ranger. "Looking good, man. Seems like I'm the green one."

Silas flexed a little and glanced at Zack and Cloud. "Red's for me." The three boys looked at the other two people in armor. There was a yellow one and a pink one.

Cloud stroked his chin. "Who's who?"

The yellow one raised their hand. "Popple here!" The four now looked at the pink ranger, who could only be...

"Julius? Is that you?" Zack asked. In the background, Cloud was having a laugh in the background.

"Who else could it be, man?" Julius answered in his pink armor. He sighed and looked at Roy. "Don't you have any other colors? Like maybe an orange or something?"

"Doesn't matter," Roy quickly responded. "Let me give you a quick explanation. The armor you have on will protect you if you get into harm's way. They grant you increased strength, speed, and durability. However, these ones all come with a 1 hour time limit, more than enough time for you to follow that space shuttle and report back to me with the 'phone' option." Roy's helmet returned and he turned in the direction of the alley's entrance. "Good luck." He exited the alleyway and departed. The five deputized rangers looked at each other.

"Enhanced strength, he said?" Cloud said, looking at the dumpster. He walked to it and reared back, throwing a punch. The strike hit the dumpster and left a small mark where his fist was. "Awesome! I'm like, a superhero or something!"

Silas stretched his legs and looked up to see a fire escape above him. "You heard the man, we have to follow the spaceship and investigate where it's going." He bent his knees and leapt high into the air, grabbing onto the lowest part. Silas swung himself up with ease and climbed up the rest of the way. The others followed him up and they all stood side by side on the roof, watching the space shuttle advance on the skyscrapers in the distance.

Back in the present day, Zack stood in front of SIlas' house. He could still remember that first day he had met him. With a reluctant sigh, he knocked on the door. A few moments later, his mother opened the door.

"Oh, Zack!" She said ecstatically when she saw him. She threw her arms out and embraced him. "I haven't seen you in a while! How has everything been?"

"Yes, he just came back from the foreign exchange a few days ago. I'll go get him." She went back inside and called for Silas. When the door opened again, it was Silas standing in it.

"Hey, Zack. What's up?" He asked uneasily.

"Relax, I'm not here to tear into you," Zack said. He noticed Silas relax a little. "I came to...apologize for earlier."

A small smile grew on Silas' face. "It's okay, man. I know that things between us were rough before I left."

"How was it out there, anyway? How many criminals did you bag?"

"Bagged them by the dozen. That was part of it, but it was mostly about what I've always been talking about. Making a difference, trying to change the world for the better."

Now a smile was creeping back up on Zack's face.

"Listen, I hope things can go back to the way things were, with us as friends again. Anytime you wanna talk, we can talk about Carol--"

As if a switch had been flipped, Zack's smile immediately vanished. "Let's not talk about her, alright?" He shoved his hands in his pocket. "I said what I came here to say. I gotta go."

"Zack, wait!" Silas said, but Zack was already rushing away. *Don't think about her don't think about her don't think about her.*

When he got back to the house, Julius and Cloud were saying goodbye to Popple as she walked across the street to her house. When they saw him, they waved.

"Hey, Zack! How did it go with Silas?" Julius said.

Their expressions quickly changed to concern when they saw Zack's face, which was uncharacteristically shook. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

Popple walked over to him. "Is everything alright, Zack?" She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Zack shook his head and shifted back to his usual demeanor. "I'm fine, Popple." He turned around and looked at Julius. "Hey, Julius! Now that we're all here, wanna talk to us about how you thought Popple said c--"

Julius freaked out. "Dah....dah...dah.....dah.." He fidgeted and looked around himself nervously. "Uh...goo-gah??"

While Cloud was laughing and a red-faced Popple marched up to him with her book in hand, Zack walked past the stupefied Julius and entered the house, shutting the door behind him.