Prologue:
-''Emergence''-
-Beneath Cartoon City, Montana-
-09 July 2007-
-0840 Hours-
Great Commander Alex Vaughn was awakened by swift banging on the bulkhead door leading out of his room and to the hall just outside. He groaned, sitting up in bed, looking outside the window of his room. Light was shining down through the waves of the lake he was residing beneath, casting the room in a sapphire hue as fish swam past him. He checked the clock by his bedside, almost 0900 hours...9 o'clock in the morning. The banging sounded again, and Alex, with a swear beneath his breath, climbed out of bed, stumbling towards the door, unbolting it and opening it.
Crash stood outside, the orange, bipedal bandicoot grinning widely, "Guess what Alex, got good news."
"What's going on?" the Commander asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
"Just got a call from Elliot, the flood waters have finally receded, city looks like a mess, but hey, we can finally get out of this hellhole and back to the surface, aren't you excited?"
"Real excited," he replied with a yawn.
"C'mon, the rest of Alpha's holed up in the cafeteria down the hall, we'll be waiting for you."
"Roger that," and he watched Crash take off down the hall before closing the door, rotating on his heels. His room was rather barren, with blue carpeting, blank, white walls, a television which sat upon a dresser, an Xbox 360, a small kitchen nook, and his queen-sized bed. As he dressed himself in his casual attire, he walked to the window seat directly across from the door, glancing towards the sea floor below. He had started to enjoy living here, and although he was unhappy that they could finally head back to the surface, he did not doubt that, someday at least, they'd need to come back here.
Fully dressed, he brushed his teeth, relieved himself, then headed outside his room, locking it behind him as he shoved his way down the cramped, sterile white halls. From one end of the hall to the next, there were people, families, stuffed, funneling towards the one and only access back to the surface. For months, they had been stuck in a bomb shelter beneath the lake just north of Cartoon City, just north of Club Camelot, the exclusive, Victorian-style mansion housing the military club within which Alpha Company normally lived, after a violent storm and vicious flood waters had driven them below ground. It was a good thing that the majority of the Quads were created in a middle-eastern flair, the buildings composed out of adobe, they were very resistant to shelling from enemy forces, and the young Commander highly doubted that a little storm could bring the entire city to its knees.s
It seemed to take an hour before he finally reached the open cafeteria the equivalent of a city block away from his particular apartment, and he noticed that all the shops were shut down, seemed the workers weren't even willing to set up shop one final time and were eager to leave the subterranean, sprawling complex the city's inhabitants had been driven into. The entire area reeked of sweat and body odor, mixed with stale food, and the temperature from all the bodies in one condensed area was extreme. He found the rest of Alpha Company huddled in a small corner of the cafeteria.
"So we're finally heading back up, huh?"
"Yup, I'm so excited!" Cheet, a young, male cheetah cub, replied excitedly, hopping around, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Damn, gonna miss this place."
"Well, you can stay down here if you want," Crash replied, and the others of Alpha Company nodded in agreement, "I for one, am very happy we're finally getting out of here. It was cool at first, but there's practically nothing to do down here, and it's pretty much the same shit we do when we're on the surface, only with a noticeable absence of sunlight...artificial sunlight not counted."
"This place will quickly become a ghost town once people starting heading back upstairs, I'll be damned if I'm gonna be down here, in this massive complex, all by myself."
"What's wrong? Afraid of the dark and emptiness?"
"Place may be haunted," and he shrugged, grinning widely, "You never know."
"Yeah, but the golden question, how will we even get back to the surface, you see how packed this place is? It'll take us hours just to get to the next nexus."
"Hopefully traffic starts flowing as more and more people leave...how far are we from the subway access lobby?"
"About a mile maybe just shy," Crash replied with a sigh, "We better get moving, we'll be lucky if we'll get out of here by nightfall at the rate of congestion we're having to deal with."
As it turned out, it wasn't quite as bad as Crash had predicted, but they were still shoving their way through the mass of people for a good three hours before they finally reached the massive, wide, open lobby, where they were finally allowed some freedom to move around. Fifty feet up, the gilded arches were illuminated with a half dozen massive, crystal chandeliers, and the lines at the subway terminals heading into the railcar tunnels that snaked beneath Cartoon City were not as bad as originally thought. After another hour of waiting, they were squeezed into one of the trains, packed to the point that there wasn't any room to move or sit, almost literally wall-to-wall, and Alex only hoped that no one on board got sick from the incredible, 200+ MPH speeds that the rail cars were known for flying beyond.
After only ten to twenty minutes inside of the rail car, it finally came to a stop at a junction, emptying its load before quickly speeding off, heading back towards the underground complex they had been residing in. As they walked across the the platform, heading up several flights of stairs, they emerged onto the still damp streets of Cartoon City's Town Square, still a couple of miles out from the road heading into the military district of the city, where Club Camelot resided. They flagged one of the many buses operating, climbed on and were soon deposited on the asphalt road running parallel along Club Camelot's right-hand side. They crossed the street, finding shelter beneath the palm trees, still appearing healthy, following the newly-paved asphalt road running parallel to the military club's front, following the ten foot tall, three foot-thick stone walls, and to the large, beautifully crafted, wrought-iron gate heading into the compound, wide open.
They stepped through the walls, finding themselves on the paved brick path that headed to the marble stairs at the base of the double doors opening into Club Camelot's lobby. At the midpoint of the break path between the gates and the stairs, the path branched into two separate paths that circled around a triple basin, stone fountain, with a statue depicting an attacking western dragon crafted from obsidian fixed atop it, its open mouth spewing the water that filled the fountain, before converging again to finish the approach to the club. The brick path was lined with beautiful oak benches and hedgerows, unkempt after months of neglect. Hedgerows dotted the large lawn of the club within its walls. The building itself was a deep purple, modeled after the Victorian-style mansions of old, ten stories tall. However, heading inside revealed the building's secret. The lobby dominated most of the building, reaching all the way to the exposed rafters of the rooftop, with wood flooring and oak paneling. A brilliant red, indoor rollercoaster took up most of the room, fixed atop a dip in the floor, surrounded by stone, knee-high fencing and hedgerows, enclosing a pool. There were several restaurants and bar storefronts along the perimeter of the lobby, except for the immediate left of the door, which opened out into an enclosed, artificial forest, where the dragons of visiting dragonriders were known to rest at.
At the far end of the lobby, near the upper right-hand corner facing inside was a hall leading to the rotunda of the military club, ten stories tall, housing the rooms of the club's residents. Usually temporary, like a hotel, except for Alpha Company. One floor beneath ground level marked the floor of the rotunda, with cream-colored ceramic tiling and several more recreational storefronts, a pool hall, a concert hall, a spa and an arcade, and a training grounds. Alex led Alpha Company to the opposite end of the rotunda, calling the glass elevator, with supporting beams painted gold. It opened up, allowing them entry, and Alex placed a key he wore around his neck into a special slot at the top of the car, turning the key to the left and pressing a usually-locked button, taking them up to the top floor, just beneath the glass dome...the penthouse floor.
The dome depicted a dragon attacking a castle and its surrounding village, the glass stained yellow to depict twilight, and was illuminated 24/7 by directional lights hidden in a trench at the base of the dome. Upon emerging onto the penthouse floor, the permanent living quarters for Alpha Company, and Alpha Company alone, and a temporary living quarters for any special guests or VIPs, they stepped out, overjoyed to be home again. The penthouse floor consisted of five suites, Suite 1 was the largest, holding over thirty different rooms and even built out over the lawn, as were all suites, constantly expanding as more and more members joined. Four halls set in each of the cardinal directions led to public balconies, and each suite had its own private balcony, except for Suite 1, in which all rooms facing out had private balconies. The hall facing west opened into a large deck, holding a mini bar, a pool, and a hot tub, as well as a concert stage and an outdoor entertainment system. Between the hall and Suite 1 was a private observatory, usually locked. As they entered the modest living room of Suite 1, each member of Alpha Company was overjoyed to finally be back home, heading to their respective rooms to unpack the minimal belongings they had brought with them when the storm threatened to drive everyone below ground.
Alex immediately made his way to his private, covered balcony, overlooking the northern half of the city and stretching out into the pastures to the north of the city. Ahead and to the left of his view of the city lay the massive lake they had been living beneath, and from this height, he could just barely make out the small island, called Teardrop Isle in honor of the small island of the same name that was positioned to the northeast of Martaan, the home of the dragons and one of their greatest assets. Teardrop Isle here in Cartoon City was an entirely forested, island and nature preserve, and he could just barely make out the highest point of the Flight of the Phoenix, a steel rollercoaster that encircled the theme park located in the direct center of the island.
Home, sweet home... Alex thought to himself with a sigh, I forgot how wonderful it was to be back here...
He smiled widely as the cool air blew across his face before finally returning into his room, closing the screen door, but leaving the sliding glass door open, enjoying the sounds of the nature as he unpacked and cleaned up.