A Meeting Before the Tourney
“A tournament for real warriors!” Chuck shouted as he pulled the advertisement from the ‘quest-board’.
Could this be Chuck's chance?
His chance to finally find his place among real Warriors of the Runiverse?
His chance to display his kick-ass-kung-fu-karate in front of a crowd?
And a chance to finally spread his wings and FLYYYYY!?
(Like the giant Ostrich-Bird he knew existed {but had never actually seen})
Chuck had studied martial arts and nunchaku for years. And now... he was ready.
Ready to fight the fiercest of opponents, flip-out in front of a crowd, and win this “Black Sand” trophy. (His first real trophy, that wasn’t just for “participation”.)
His days in the Colosseum had been formative, but deep down, Chuck knew that his best fights were ahead of him. He tightened his headband, spun on his heel and set off towards the fighting arena.
As he strutted through the busy bazaar, he noticed a tree-tall Wizard wearing a blue hood and white robes, moving slowly toward him through the crowd.
He jumped into fighting-stance-five and yelled, “Whoa ser! Nobody sneaks up on Chuck!...”.
The Wizard calmly drew back his hood, to reveal a shock of red hair and a really, really, really good looking beard.
“Battle Mage Hothor of the Hills!” Chuck said in surprise “What brings you here, old friend?”
The wizard tilted his head, seemed to grow a few inches in size, and with a puzzled squint said, “I summoned you Chuck. Remember? …The letter…”
“Ooooh, yes, yes, yes, you are right!” Chuck interrupted with a laugh and an overly-obvious wink.
The letter he received weeks ago asked him to travel West, to participate in the BlackSand Tournament. At the time, Chuck was honored that Hothor had summoned him. But now that he was staring at this mountain of wizard, he was starting to regret getting involved with a ‘person of the hills' again.
“Well, Hothor my fire-bearded friend! What plans do you have for me and my filthy-familiar?”
Hothor drew in a long breath.“None, Chuck. You are a Chaos Agent…”
Chuck scoughed!
And let out a series of strange sounds like "pfftt...sssfffpttt...cgggghh..." as if to say, BRO WTF? WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT? WHY YOU GOTTA GET PERSONAL?
Patiently, Hothor continued, “...At this moment, I cannot trust my full plan to your knowledge. Please, collect your swine and accompany me to the arena”.
Chuck ran a finger and a thumb down the length of his Fu-Man-Chu.
Then he shrugged and tightened his head-band.
Blasting an obnoxiously loud “KI AYE!”, he vaulted fifteen feet into the air!
As if in slow motion, he started to turn a backflip, but his cape floated over his head and in front of his face. Chuck was now blind as he continued his descent. He flailed in the air, and yelled out “ PIGGEY SMALLS, ASSIST ME!”
Before crashing into the ground…there came a deafening “SQUEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee” as a tiny razor-back piglet came running from seemingly nowhere.
About ten paces before they connected, the warthog tripled in size! And Chuck landed comfortably on his back. With his cape still covering his head, Chuck looked in the opposite direction of Hothor and exclaimed, “Well mage. Now that Chuck and Piggey have arrived, I guarantee it won’t be BOARing! I will see YOU, at the Black Sand Tournament.``!
Hothor shook his head slowly as he watched the two morons ride off. A tinge of doubt flashed in the back of his mind. His plan was sure to produce favorable outcomes…but anytime he dealt with this particular Chaos Agent, he had to allow for results to occur outside his control.
He drew a resolute breath, set out toward the arena and was comforted by the reminder that Piggey Smalls always seemed to even the odds in Chuck’s favor. That certainly was one notorious P.I.G.
Chuck concept (with help from Waz and MJ)
Hothor (inspiration from MJ)
Entered by: 0x5263…8d93
