Chapter #2- "The Chosen One"

"What do you mean...'chosen' one?"

"Young warrior...before you came, our land has been in great exile for some time. A man who goes by the name of 'Dark Lord' has ruled over us with a cruel dictatorship for over 20 years."

'Wow,' thought Jimmy. 'This game is getting good...'

"So...why hasn't anyone tried to stop him yet?"

The knight kneeled down and put his arm over his knee. "I'm afraid...he is too powerful, Chosen One. He has a whole legion ready to act at the snap of his fingers. Many have tried, yet many have failed. Even I, Christoph, the most honorable knight of Retronia, has fallen at the hands of Dark Lord."

"Retronia...that sounds like the name of my hometown, Retroville! Wierd..."

The knight notioned to come with his hand. "Come, Chosen One. We shall venture into my villiage so you shall meet the former king of our land."

"Okay, the portal is just about done recharging. In a few minutes, I'll be able to go through it."

Cindy sat down. "Hmm...I wonder where Goddard is?"

"So, uh...Goddard...you thought you could just JET IN through the house and knock over Mister Quack-Quack, huh?" Hugh held up a broken porcelain duck with it's head cracked off.

Goddard, strapped to a chair, said this on his screen: "I TOLD YOU IT WAS JIMMY'S FAULT!"

Hugh stopped pacing around the living room. "A very likely story..."

"Hugh!" Judy called from the kitchen. "Are you interrogating Jimmy's dog again!"

"No, dear!"

Goddard flared up some rockets from his paws and flew free from the chair and out the window. Hugh's jaw dropped. "No...NOOOOOO! Mister Quack-Quack, you will be AVENGED!"

Jimmy followed the knight through the wilderness until they finally arrived at the entrance of Retronia. "This is it, my lad...our sacred land of Retronia!"

Jimmy looked around at the empty villiage. Some of the buildings were a bit destroyed, and some of the concrete structures lay in ruins.

"It looks pretty beat up," said Jimmy.

Christoph put his head down and looked at the ground. "Yes...Dark Lord's army of 'Shadow Warriors' have lay waste to the place...parents hurry their kids into their cottages when strangers come, and each strange person that enters gets stoned or even killed. What used to be Electronis, the busy and bustling main town of Retronia, is nothing but a desolate wasteland now..."

"Chris...may I ask you something?"

"Yes, m'lad?"

"How come...this land has a name similar to where I live? Electron Drive is a boulevard near my neighborhood. I don't remember putting ANY of that into the game! And...how could you be here if Dark Lord killed you?"

"Well, young warrior...I'm afraid there's something you must know..."

"Okay, the portal is done recharging."

Cindy took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform. Within a few seconds, she was zapped into the game.

"You see, um..."

"Jimmy. Sorry I forgot to tell you my name. ;;"

"That's okay. Anyways, for years, we've been searching for someone who shall help us...

a good friend of mine is an alchemist. When I was slain in a violent battle with Dark Lord, he used transmutation alchemy to bring me back through the power of the Philosopher's Stone."

"I see...but what about---"

"The similar names? Listen, young Jimmy.

The reason the names of your land and my land are similar is because they're the same land."

"Yes...after my friend revived me, he also called upon the forces of the Afterlife to see into the future...he practices this kind of stuff...many people usually steer clear of him. But he succeeded. He told me of a vision he had, where a young warrior with swirly fudge-like hair would come from the future to save us all. People thought he was mad, and even I doubted him for a bit...

later that night, he tried to use alchemy again to penatrate the veil between the future and the past...but failed.

It took almost 2 months, but he was finally able to do it. We noticed you had set up a portal. We figured we could reroute that portal to send you into our past, and fortunately, my friend is very experienced in the arts of the supernatural. So...here you are. "

Jimmy stumbled backwards and almost fell, shocked. "Y...you're kidding! 0o"

Chris shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Chosen One. If you weren't here right now, then Retroville wouldn't exist. Your history said a young brown-haired kid traveled to the past to save the land of Retronia, and if I remember right, young warrior, history does not lie. And here you are, in the future, ready to do what history said you would do. It's all written in stone...the past, present and future all affect one another."

Jimmy had a puzzled look on his face, and he fell to the floor, about to pass out.

"When you finally accept reality for what it is, you can follow me to the king's lair."

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Cindy flew right out of the portal and was heading for the ground, face-first.

"Oof!"

She sat up and rubbed her eyes after the fall, then opened them. She looked around in amazement at the lush green grassland. "Wow...I guess I made it! Now to find Neutron..."

She began to walk forward, when she heard some whispering.

"Hello...? W-who's there?"

Silence.

She braced herself for a fight. "Ah, whatever...this is an RPG, so I guess I should expect these things!"

There was a dark chuckle coming from some nearby bushes. "Heh heh heh...foolish girl...we received strict orders from Dark Lord to capture the boy from the future, but seeing as how you come from the same future, I guess I can squeeze some information out of you!"

Cindy scowled. "I have no idea who you are, but if it's a fight you want, then come out of those bushes so I can kick your virtual butt!"

"Hm hm...little girl..."

A man in a black ninja suit jumped out of the bushes, holding a pair of Sai.

"This should be easy. Once I finish you off, I will then carry out the task I received from Dark Lord, and bring the bloody corpse of the boy from the future before his very throne!"

Cindy looked confused, and a bit surprised. "Wait...you mean Jimmy?"

"Jimmy, eh? So that is his name. I assume that you know the boy and is his friend, correct?"

Cindy had a funny look on her face. 'Wow,' she thought. 'Jimmy sure made this game realistic!'

Jimmy returned from a nearby outhouse after a mad session of vomiting. He wiped his mouth.

"Okay...I think I'm ready to go now...

but it's just...so hard to take in..."

Chris put his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "Don't be afraid, Chosen One. This is your destiny. If you can't realize the road that lies before you, then Retronia will cease to exist...and so will your town."

"..."