Post by Guardsman Patrick on Oct 12, 2006 23:24:51 GMT -5
Chapter 2: T3GM’s Beginning
On a distant island, cut off from the rest of the world, was a small city, known by many names around the world, but only by one name to the residents, a city named Andorg.
It was a wonderful place to see, constant movement, and nightlife to match. Escaping the rest of the hustling, bustling world was why tourists loved to visit. It was wonderful, but very unsafe.
Large companies ruled secret armies. There were gang fights constantly, nobody was defenseless in the city, weapons weren’t hard to find. Drug dealers ran rampant and the police officers were involved all the same, only a badge made them different from the company’s other "employees". There was no protection. Nobody was safe. Robbery, murder, rape, homicide, suicide, molestation, prostitution, drug dealing, terrorism, ransoms, kidnappings, and many more were not uncommon in the city of Andorg. You name it; it probably happened, still does, and is happening as you read these very words.
In the largest building, on the city outskirts, where the city council works tirelessly to resolve many of the city matters, problems rather, is where our story begins.
"Mr. Hughes, I assume this is an important matter," said a tall man, his thin nose held high to give an impression of superiority.
"Of course Mr. Noland, that is of course, if you don’t think the city's protection is important. Is that the case?" asked the young man sitting in the center of the small room. He was a thin, but fit young man, probably only about eighteen or nineteen years old. His eyes were deep blue, almost on the verge of teal, and his hair was brown, messy, in a neat sort of fashion.
"Don’t get testy with me boy, why I-" sneered the man, looking as sinister as he could, but to no avail. He was not a very… scary person, being smaller than most and having almost no sign of muscle at all.
"Calm yourself Noland, we do not have time for your bickering today," interrupted Brokom, with his hoarse voice, and white beard stretching down from his chin to the table he sat at. He seemed old enough to be the other two council members’ grandfather, but yet he was the only one that looked like he had any real strength.
"What exactly is your proposal Mr. Hughes?" asked the young blonde woman sitting next to Brokom, a serious look in her eye. She was the only woman on the stand. Most said she was attractive, but she wasn’t just any woman in that city, namely to say the only one that had any self respect. She knew what she was there to do, and she was doing it.
"I’m sorry for the delay Anette," replied the young man, keeping eye contact with her. "My proposal is that you gather a group of three… peace keepers to keep the city of Andorg under control, and my idea is-"
Slamming his fist on the table, Noland threw himself out of his chair. "THE CITY IS UNDER CONTROL," he roared. His pale blue eyes were wide with fury.
"I will not ask you again Noland, sit down and calm yourself", Brokom said calmly. "You cannot wriggle your way out of this one. It is true. The city is out of our hands. The authorities are not loyal. Many of the large businesses have taken control of the city. It would seem that our hope lies with those who want to help. Now, Mr. Hughes, if you would be so kind as to go on." He seemed calm, but the fire that shown in his eye showed that he wasn’t as old in spirit as he was in body.
"Thank you Mr. Brokom, now as I was saying, I will find three peace keepers to keep the city under control, a group I would like to call The 3 Gym Masters or T3GM for short. These peace keepers will find and bring down organizations that are performing illegal operations. We will keep it non-violent until they attack, and if they do, things may get ugly. We will hope that it never comes to that. We could spend millions of Andorg’s dollars to raise an army; even then it may be too late. There is always that hope though, no matter how slim, that we may be able to turn this city around before it is lost entirely. Now, if you can’t take a risk, then you can’t bring this city back. That is my proposal to you."
As he finished, the three councils turned to face each other and talked it over. It took them around an hour to discuss it. They finally turned back toward the young man.
"Mr. Hughes, your proposal has been approved, congratulations. You will receive the full support of the Andorg City Council. In order to fund your project, use may use this," Brokom held up a thin, silver card. "In case you wish to prove yourself as the rightful owner of this card, you may have it engraved later, that is, if you have a logo designed." The young man nodded. "I must warn you though, this card will be monitored, so do not think of it as free money. Any and everything that is counted as a personal investment or purchase will be deducted and charged directly toward you," said Brokom, looking pleased as he announced this. He handed the young man the card and shook his hand before he turned around to walk out.
"Unbelievable! Thank you so much. I only have one question. Do you know anyone who may be good enough for the other two positions?" asked the young man, turning back.
The councils turned to each other once more, but the only exchange was the shaking of heads and closing of eyes in regret.
"I am sorry; there is no one worthy enough that we know of in the city that may be of help. I am deeply sorry we cannot help more," replied the old man, the wrinkles in his face becoming more prominent, showing his age clearly. "But, perhaps you may find them on your own. After all, you should be the one to judge whether they are worthy or not.
"I see. Well, I guess I’m off then. I will not disgrace your decision. Thank you again," added the young man, as he turned and swiftly walked away.
The doors of the building flung open revealing the quiet city limits. The trees swayed as he began to trudge though the empty forest.
"Hey, Alex, wait up!" yelled a young voice, sounding similar to the voice of the young man himself, only slightly deeper. The young man stopped and waited for his companion to catch up to him.
"I thought you were coming out the front… oh, and here’s your hot dog," said the creature landing beside Alex. He was a large dragon with white scales, shining with a strange brilliance. He was about 13 feet tall and had shining gold plates that went down his entire body, all the way to the end of his tail.
"Sorry Pairon, I was just excited about the approval and forgot," Alex replied, looking happily at his friend.
"Good going, now all we need is something to celebrate with… we can split your hot dog!" smiled Pairon who lunged for Alex’s hot dog, but missed horribly and ended up on the ground.
"Now, let’s get serious. The council couldn’t recommend anyone for the other two positions, so we will have to go searching ourselves. It might take a while, but we will find them. Next is building the tower, which will take a great deal of time. Then we will begin our mission," Alex said, as he stepped over Pairon, who was still lying face down in the dirt.
"When can we pick up the supplies?" asked Pairon, patting the dirt off and picking up his flattened hot dog.
"Yeah, I forgot, you can go pick them up now. I mean you don’t have anything else to do. Try to find them all in Chimelio, but, if they aren’t all there, Ovrindava will most likely have them," said Alex, taking a bite out of his hot dog, getting more of it on his face than in his mouth.
"How do you plan on me explaining that I have funds from the city council once I’m there? Do you plan on me just going up and requesting items that I have no way of paying for? And how will they react when they see me? I don’t want it to happen like the last time I was in town." Pairon shuddered at the recollection of his past experience. It was obviously not a happy one.
Alex pulled his new card out of his pocket. "Here’s the card they gave us to use, and nothing happened last time. Everyone is used to dragons and they won’t think anything of you. Oh, and don’t even think about buying something for yourself. The council is monitoring the card and will know everything we buy. If they tell me you bought something that isn’t meant for construction, let’s just say I won’t give you a fair head start. Got it?" questioned Alex, studying Pairon’s face for any sign of misunderstanding. There wasn’t any. It seemed strange that Alex could scare a large dragon like Pairon.
Pairon took the card and kicked off the ground and flew off without looking back. Alex continued his trek through the dead, silent woods, heading toward the clearing he would call home after the completion of the tower. He felt excitement and joy as he thought of these things, and began to run down the trail, gathering speed as the trail widened father into the deep forest.
Emerging from the woods nearly an hour later, he looked over the vast clearing, taking in the all beauty it held. He looked beyond to the shores of the gorgeous Nogard Sea, taking in everything around him, not only the deep indigo sky, but also the glistening colors of the early autumn leaves.
He walked to the beach and sat down in the soft, warm sand, gazing at the horizon with its soft shades of pink, red, orange and yellow lining the sky where the sun was slipping behind the never-ending sea. In all this, Alex felt content in his surroundings, almost… at peace.
A sudden surge of alertness flooded Alex’s mind. He stood and gaped around the area focusing where he thought the feeling had emanated. It was not a feeling that could be ignored. This was too strong to ignore.
As Alex stared, the forest began to turn black. Negative lightning flashed as a great, dark green dome rose above the treetops. It grew and grew until it covered about four acres of forest. It stopped very suddenly, collapsed in on itself, and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Alex listened to the distant rumbling as it grew louder and louder. He ducked just in time to avoid the enormous shockwave created from the force. It sliced through the air above him, letting out bursts of stray energy, like a stampede of impala running from a hungry lion. The wave was beyond horrible. It was cold, evil. It was so cold it could blister.
As the energy wave dispersed on the beach Alex stood and stared at the general area it had come from. He stood petrified feeling glued to the spot.
In a single move, he leapt into the forest and ran toward the area that he felt the wave’s remnants seeping from. He ran, leapt, ducked, and dodged past trees and shrubs. There would be nothing stopping him from getting there to see if anyone needed help and if there was anything left of the area.
The area was desolate and barren. There was no sign of life. The naked trees stood motionless like they were witnesses too scared to speak of the horrible deed they’d just seen. There was nothing left of the demolished farmhouse, flattened to the ground in the center of the burnt clearing.
Alex stepped forward delicately onto the charred grass, which snapped under his feet, covered strangely enough by a thin layer of ice. He tried not to make too much noise fearing the air around him would shatter like glass if he did. Everything was burned, misshapen, and strangely frozen in the area. Nothing that survived would be recognizable.
Alex dashed straight into the wreckage, throwing aside wood and stones, trying to find anyone who might be trapped inside. There was no one. As Alex stood to walk away, he noticed a strange figure leaning against a tree only a yard or two away from the edge of the clearing
Alex rushed to the figure and saw it was a young man, bruised and tossed about. His dirty face was covered with a visor and hid the young man’s eyes completely. He too was very fit, but he was larger than Alex. He wore a strange hat that had no bill on the front. It had a golden section and a black "P" in the middle. He had brown hair that had two longer sections in the front, making him look strong and solemn.
Alex didn’t hesitate; he picked him up and put him on his shoulder. He was heavy, but that was not important. He knew he had to get him to the clearing and fast. There was not a beast in the Radong Forest that would mind having two large meals in one night.
Alex began to run, following the path he had taken from the council house. He ran at full speed to his clearing.
"It’s good seeing you awake," said Alex, staring down at the young man who was just coming around. The young man did not respond, but Alex didn’t expect him to immediately.
"There’s some beef stew on the fire whenever you’re ready to eat." The young man would not respond at all.
"So, do you have a name?" he asked, not knowing how the stranger would react to these questions.
"…call me Patrick," he finally said, turning to face Alex for the first time.
On a distant island, cut off from the rest of the world, was a small city, known by many names around the world, but only by one name to the residents, a city named Andorg.
It was a wonderful place to see, constant movement, and nightlife to match. Escaping the rest of the hustling, bustling world was why tourists loved to visit. It was wonderful, but very unsafe.
Large companies ruled secret armies. There were gang fights constantly, nobody was defenseless in the city, weapons weren’t hard to find. Drug dealers ran rampant and the police officers were involved all the same, only a badge made them different from the company’s other "employees". There was no protection. Nobody was safe. Robbery, murder, rape, homicide, suicide, molestation, prostitution, drug dealing, terrorism, ransoms, kidnappings, and many more were not uncommon in the city of Andorg. You name it; it probably happened, still does, and is happening as you read these very words.
In the largest building, on the city outskirts, where the city council works tirelessly to resolve many of the city matters, problems rather, is where our story begins.
* * *
"Mr. Hughes, I assume this is an important matter," said a tall man, his thin nose held high to give an impression of superiority.
"Of course Mr. Noland, that is of course, if you don’t think the city's protection is important. Is that the case?" asked the young man sitting in the center of the small room. He was a thin, but fit young man, probably only about eighteen or nineteen years old. His eyes were deep blue, almost on the verge of teal, and his hair was brown, messy, in a neat sort of fashion.
"Don’t get testy with me boy, why I-" sneered the man, looking as sinister as he could, but to no avail. He was not a very… scary person, being smaller than most and having almost no sign of muscle at all.
"Calm yourself Noland, we do not have time for your bickering today," interrupted Brokom, with his hoarse voice, and white beard stretching down from his chin to the table he sat at. He seemed old enough to be the other two council members’ grandfather, but yet he was the only one that looked like he had any real strength.
"What exactly is your proposal Mr. Hughes?" asked the young blonde woman sitting next to Brokom, a serious look in her eye. She was the only woman on the stand. Most said she was attractive, but she wasn’t just any woman in that city, namely to say the only one that had any self respect. She knew what she was there to do, and she was doing it.
"I’m sorry for the delay Anette," replied the young man, keeping eye contact with her. "My proposal is that you gather a group of three… peace keepers to keep the city of Andorg under control, and my idea is-"
Slamming his fist on the table, Noland threw himself out of his chair. "THE CITY IS UNDER CONTROL," he roared. His pale blue eyes were wide with fury.
"I will not ask you again Noland, sit down and calm yourself", Brokom said calmly. "You cannot wriggle your way out of this one. It is true. The city is out of our hands. The authorities are not loyal. Many of the large businesses have taken control of the city. It would seem that our hope lies with those who want to help. Now, Mr. Hughes, if you would be so kind as to go on." He seemed calm, but the fire that shown in his eye showed that he wasn’t as old in spirit as he was in body.
"Thank you Mr. Brokom, now as I was saying, I will find three peace keepers to keep the city under control, a group I would like to call The 3 Gym Masters or T3GM for short. These peace keepers will find and bring down organizations that are performing illegal operations. We will keep it non-violent until they attack, and if they do, things may get ugly. We will hope that it never comes to that. We could spend millions of Andorg’s dollars to raise an army; even then it may be too late. There is always that hope though, no matter how slim, that we may be able to turn this city around before it is lost entirely. Now, if you can’t take a risk, then you can’t bring this city back. That is my proposal to you."
As he finished, the three councils turned to face each other and talked it over. It took them around an hour to discuss it. They finally turned back toward the young man.
"Mr. Hughes, your proposal has been approved, congratulations. You will receive the full support of the Andorg City Council. In order to fund your project, use may use this," Brokom held up a thin, silver card. "In case you wish to prove yourself as the rightful owner of this card, you may have it engraved later, that is, if you have a logo designed." The young man nodded. "I must warn you though, this card will be monitored, so do not think of it as free money. Any and everything that is counted as a personal investment or purchase will be deducted and charged directly toward you," said Brokom, looking pleased as he announced this. He handed the young man the card and shook his hand before he turned around to walk out.
"Unbelievable! Thank you so much. I only have one question. Do you know anyone who may be good enough for the other two positions?" asked the young man, turning back.
The councils turned to each other once more, but the only exchange was the shaking of heads and closing of eyes in regret.
"I am sorry; there is no one worthy enough that we know of in the city that may be of help. I am deeply sorry we cannot help more," replied the old man, the wrinkles in his face becoming more prominent, showing his age clearly. "But, perhaps you may find them on your own. After all, you should be the one to judge whether they are worthy or not.
"I see. Well, I guess I’m off then. I will not disgrace your decision. Thank you again," added the young man, as he turned and swiftly walked away.
The doors of the building flung open revealing the quiet city limits. The trees swayed as he began to trudge though the empty forest.
"Hey, Alex, wait up!" yelled a young voice, sounding similar to the voice of the young man himself, only slightly deeper. The young man stopped and waited for his companion to catch up to him.
"I thought you were coming out the front… oh, and here’s your hot dog," said the creature landing beside Alex. He was a large dragon with white scales, shining with a strange brilliance. He was about 13 feet tall and had shining gold plates that went down his entire body, all the way to the end of his tail.
"Sorry Pairon, I was just excited about the approval and forgot," Alex replied, looking happily at his friend.
"Good going, now all we need is something to celebrate with… we can split your hot dog!" smiled Pairon who lunged for Alex’s hot dog, but missed horribly and ended up on the ground.
"Now, let’s get serious. The council couldn’t recommend anyone for the other two positions, so we will have to go searching ourselves. It might take a while, but we will find them. Next is building the tower, which will take a great deal of time. Then we will begin our mission," Alex said, as he stepped over Pairon, who was still lying face down in the dirt.
"When can we pick up the supplies?" asked Pairon, patting the dirt off and picking up his flattened hot dog.
"Yeah, I forgot, you can go pick them up now. I mean you don’t have anything else to do. Try to find them all in Chimelio, but, if they aren’t all there, Ovrindava will most likely have them," said Alex, taking a bite out of his hot dog, getting more of it on his face than in his mouth.
"How do you plan on me explaining that I have funds from the city council once I’m there? Do you plan on me just going up and requesting items that I have no way of paying for? And how will they react when they see me? I don’t want it to happen like the last time I was in town." Pairon shuddered at the recollection of his past experience. It was obviously not a happy one.
Alex pulled his new card out of his pocket. "Here’s the card they gave us to use, and nothing happened last time. Everyone is used to dragons and they won’t think anything of you. Oh, and don’t even think about buying something for yourself. The council is monitoring the card and will know everything we buy. If they tell me you bought something that isn’t meant for construction, let’s just say I won’t give you a fair head start. Got it?" questioned Alex, studying Pairon’s face for any sign of misunderstanding. There wasn’t any. It seemed strange that Alex could scare a large dragon like Pairon.
Pairon took the card and kicked off the ground and flew off without looking back. Alex continued his trek through the dead, silent woods, heading toward the clearing he would call home after the completion of the tower. He felt excitement and joy as he thought of these things, and began to run down the trail, gathering speed as the trail widened father into the deep forest.
Emerging from the woods nearly an hour later, he looked over the vast clearing, taking in the all beauty it held. He looked beyond to the shores of the gorgeous Nogard Sea, taking in everything around him, not only the deep indigo sky, but also the glistening colors of the early autumn leaves.
He walked to the beach and sat down in the soft, warm sand, gazing at the horizon with its soft shades of pink, red, orange and yellow lining the sky where the sun was slipping behind the never-ending sea. In all this, Alex felt content in his surroundings, almost… at peace.
A sudden surge of alertness flooded Alex’s mind. He stood and gaped around the area focusing where he thought the feeling had emanated. It was not a feeling that could be ignored. This was too strong to ignore.
As Alex stared, the forest began to turn black. Negative lightning flashed as a great, dark green dome rose above the treetops. It grew and grew until it covered about four acres of forest. It stopped very suddenly, collapsed in on itself, and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Alex listened to the distant rumbling as it grew louder and louder. He ducked just in time to avoid the enormous shockwave created from the force. It sliced through the air above him, letting out bursts of stray energy, like a stampede of impala running from a hungry lion. The wave was beyond horrible. It was cold, evil. It was so cold it could blister.
As the energy wave dispersed on the beach Alex stood and stared at the general area it had come from. He stood petrified feeling glued to the spot.
In a single move, he leapt into the forest and ran toward the area that he felt the wave’s remnants seeping from. He ran, leapt, ducked, and dodged past trees and shrubs. There would be nothing stopping him from getting there to see if anyone needed help and if there was anything left of the area.
The area was desolate and barren. There was no sign of life. The naked trees stood motionless like they were witnesses too scared to speak of the horrible deed they’d just seen. There was nothing left of the demolished farmhouse, flattened to the ground in the center of the burnt clearing.
Alex stepped forward delicately onto the charred grass, which snapped under his feet, covered strangely enough by a thin layer of ice. He tried not to make too much noise fearing the air around him would shatter like glass if he did. Everything was burned, misshapen, and strangely frozen in the area. Nothing that survived would be recognizable.
Alex dashed straight into the wreckage, throwing aside wood and stones, trying to find anyone who might be trapped inside. There was no one. As Alex stood to walk away, he noticed a strange figure leaning against a tree only a yard or two away from the edge of the clearing
Alex rushed to the figure and saw it was a young man, bruised and tossed about. His dirty face was covered with a visor and hid the young man’s eyes completely. He too was very fit, but he was larger than Alex. He wore a strange hat that had no bill on the front. It had a golden section and a black "P" in the middle. He had brown hair that had two longer sections in the front, making him look strong and solemn.
Alex didn’t hesitate; he picked him up and put him on his shoulder. He was heavy, but that was not important. He knew he had to get him to the clearing and fast. There was not a beast in the Radong Forest that would mind having two large meals in one night.
Alex began to run, following the path he had taken from the council house. He ran at full speed to his clearing.
* * *
"It’s good seeing you awake," said Alex, staring down at the young man who was just coming around. The young man did not respond, but Alex didn’t expect him to immediately.
"There’s some beef stew on the fire whenever you’re ready to eat." The young man would not respond at all.
"So, do you have a name?" he asked, not knowing how the stranger would react to these questions.
"…call me Patrick," he finally said, turning to face Alex for the first time.