Mortiferous Arcadia: Chapter 3 - Part 2

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean there exists an island. Ruled by a powerful sorcerer who calls himself, Master Voluminous. The island boasts its own race of people, away from the eyes of the rest of the world. Master Voluminous' power here is nearly unlimited and for unknown reasons, he hosts a contest and offers to give the winner their one true desire. In order to win, they must find the key to Voluminous' castle and then they must find the castle, all staying ahead of the competition, the ecosystem and, heaven forbid, the locals. Welcome to a world of beauty and mania. Welcome to MORTIFEROUS ARCADIA!!!

Roger slowly gets up, wishing he hadn't,

"Guh, hangovers..." he mutters. As a professional wrestler, who believes in maintaining character in public, he drinks a lot. Now, while excessive alcohol consumption is irresponsible, dangerous and unhealthy for most human beings, Roger is different. The "Drunken Daredevil" is a superhero whose physical attributes are augmented the drunker he becomes.
It also makes him more likely to do crazy stunts that the Psycho Style audience adores. He might be immune to liver damage and violent mood swings, but even he has his limits and hangovers still hit him in the mornings. He looks at his surroundings, a white, sandy beach borders the ocean. He turns to the left and sees a nothing, but trees, hiding everything, but the sound of the wilderness. He curses himself, "God, Evans, what've you gotten yourself into?"

"You and me both man," A young, tenor voice says behind him. Roger turns to face Terenz, "Uh, hey..." Is all he can say in response, wondering if he finally drank too much. The pterodactyl extends a hand in greeting, 

"Name's, Terenz," He says, "Terenz 'Terodactyl," Thinking he'll snap out of it eventually, he shakes the anthropomorphic pterosaur's hand and smiles, "Roger Evans," He turns back to the jungle, "So, do you live around here?"

Terenz follows his gaze shaking his head, "Nope, woke up on this beach, same as you,"

"So, does anyone want to explain what is going on?" They turn to see Emiyo standing with her arms crossed behind them, looking from roger to Terenz, her eyebrow raised not in confusion, but in authoritative expectation. It is quite intimidating, and Roger has stood across the ring from monsters and sociopaths, who get paid to intimidate and pummel you. Terenz being the Junior High loser that he is, falters much quicker,

"N-no idea, Ma'am," He says nervously, "I just woke up and here we are,"

"In my experience, that explanation is not satisfactory," She says with a solemn expression, but her voice is low and dangerous. All three are suddenly alerted to the sound of deep growling. Spike stalks toward the group, teeth bared, head low and hair standing on end, making him appear larger,

"Does he belong to you?" Emiyo asks, turning to Roger, "Call him off or I'll put him down,"

"Hey, I'm a total cat person," He responds, raising his hands in defence. At the sound of the word "Cat", Spike growls even more aggressively,

"I don't think he likes that word very much," Terenz comments, eyeing the snarling German Shepherd nervously, despite the fact that he is a prehistoric flying reptile.

"What?" Roger asks, "Cat?" Spike growls and crouches, preparing to leap at him for saying the offensive word, Emiyo takes a few cautious steps back. Not so much in fear, but in curious anticipation. There is a hint of rabid verocity in the dog's eyes and yet, a strange intelligence. Decades of prison life, gives her a sense of familiarity in the dog's eyes, "Whoa, boy," Roger says, he's had his fair share of dangerous dog debacles. You have not had a childhood, unless you've been chased by a dog at least once. Spike lunges at Roger, but is savagely kicked aside, before the two-time World Champion can make any kind of defensive or evasive maneuver. Spike hits the ground with a yelp and immediately gets back to his feet, shaken, but unharmed and strangely, no longer hostile. He looks back at the group and tilts his head quizzically, as if he did not just try to rip a man's throat out. 

"Hey, thanks man," Roger says, placing a hand on Vatour's shoulder, "But I could've handled it,"

The vigilante simply turns his head in his direction, his skull mask hiding any emotion, "...Noted..." Is all he says, "That was sick!" CJ yells, "You were like here..." He gestures to where he was standing, "... and then you were like... POW!" He makes a punching movement and then laughs, "That was epic, Man," 

"Who else is out here?" Roger asks, exasperatedly looking around. 

"I'd say i's just us," CJ says,

Roger nods, "Okay, cool. Now exactly is "us"?"

"That remains to be seen, Mr. Evans." Comes a voice from all around.

Roger rubs his forehead, "I must still be drunk. I'm hearing voices," 

"While that might be true," Emiko says, "I can hear it too,"

"Yeah," CJ says, "Me too,"

"As... do I..." says Vatour, Terenz nods fearfully and Spike sits up, ears pricked up.

"Good, everyone's wide awake," the voice says, "Now, I'm sure this is all disorienting, so first let me introduce myself. I am Master Voluminous,"

As with the other group there is collective gasp shared by Roger, Terenz and CJ. Spike stands up, Vatour tilts his head and Emiyo's eyes widen,

"Good, good. You remember. Well, now that, that's out of the way, let's get down to the business at hand. First, welcome to my Mortiferous Arcadia,"

"Your what?" Roger, Terenz and CJ ask in unison.

"Fatal... paradise..." Vatour says, "Carry on... What must we do....?" The question is directed at the wizard, 

"I agree," Emiko says, she is too old for theatrics, "If you have a task, that we need to complete before we can see you, then get to it!"

After a bit of silence the Master sighs, "Very well. I'll make it simple. Survive, navigate, fight, possibly kill, locate castle. Understood?"

"Woah, hold on a sec!" Terenz yells in protest, "Nobody said anything about killing!"

"Wrong..." Vatour says, his deep, dead voice sends a chill up the seventh grader's spine, 

"The wizard did... just now..."

"Hey, am all about extreme," CJ admits, "But to take another man or woman's life? Tha's a 100 steps too far, Man"

"With luck it probably won't come to that," Roger says, reassuringly, Voluminous' disembodied chuckle is suddenly heard,

"Luck, Mr. Evans, is a hilariously dangerous and unpredictable ally, but you are right. As I said, killing is optional. You'd be better suited devising methods of survival, rather than trying to off each other. To the left and right, there is a supply shed for each of you. Help yourselves to what's inside,"

"Thees ees crazy," CJ says and all of a sudden he feels childlike jubilation and sprints to his shed, "I love it!"

Spike runs in the same direction, which could be easily disregarded as 'dumb animal instinct', if not for the fact that not only does stop in front of the shack with his name on it and successfully opens the door on his first try, despite not having opposable thumbs. 

"I'd be wierded out, if it weren't for the talking pterodactyl," He gestures towards Terenz,

"Hey, how do you think I feel?" He asks, flustered,

"I've never seen your species before in my life,"

Voluminous chuckles, "Oh, this is going to be such a joy to watch. By the way, your little group is in only half the full cast. On the other side of the island, six more freaks are being told this exact same thing,"

"Freaks?" The group angrily says in unison.

"I didn't sign up to be a clown in your circus, Wizard!" Emiyo snaps.

"Life is a circus, Mrs. Toh," Voluminous says, solemnly, "I wish you all good luck and remember, only one of you will make it to my castle,"

They no longer feel his presence. Spike walks out of his shed now wearing a backpack modified for dogs. He gives the others a saddened look and runs into the forest. CJ comes out on a Mountain Bike, wearing a backpack with a skateboard attached to it, 

" 'Ey, I was thinking," He says,

"Maybe we work together. You know, until-"

"We find the castle?" Terenz finishes his sentence, but with obvious skepticism, "Then what? Race to the door? Battle to the death?" He takes his own backpack filled with food and a bow and arrows set, "I don't think so. I'm staying as far away from you people as possible," 

"Out of curiosity," Emiko says, wrapping her hands in tape, "How do you intend to do so?"

Terenz raises an eyebrow, 

"Seriously?" He spreads his wings to their full width, "Is that even a question?" With that he launches himself into the air and soars over the forest yelling, "Later, lamoes!"

"That confidence didn't exist a few seconds ago," Emiyo sighs and shakes her head, "He won't last,"

Vatour's walks towards the forest holding only a long machete, he stops and turns his head slightly, "That wish... is mine..." He says, "Feel free... to die," In the blink of an eye, he's gone.

"Likeable chap, isn't he?" Roger says, turning to CJ, "I appreciate the offer, but I'm not too fond of team ups. 20+ years of professional wrestling and I've seen and felt more betrayals than I'd care to remember," 

"Wait, isn't wrestling supposed to be fake?" CJ asks, he gets a roundhouse kick to face for his ignorant question,

"DID THAT F***ING FEEL FAKE?!" Roger yells, he's never let anyone get away with saying that insulting phrase, without losing a few teeth,

"No," CJ groans, spitting out such, "Definitely not," After a few deep breaths Roger picks up the rest of his supplies, which include a Singapore cane, flasks of Underworld (his favourite alcoholic drink) and a barbed wire bat and leaves without another word. 

"Guess I on my own then," CJ says, wiping his mouth, Emiyo offers him a hand, which he accepts, "Thanks,"

"I didn't get your name," She says,

"Crisanto Joel Navarro," he says, "But everyone calls me CJ,"

"Not a fan of nicknames," She says, "I hope you don't mind if I call you by your first name. I'm Emiyo Toh. You may call me Emiyo,"

" 'Ey, I don' mind," CJ shrugs.

"I decided to take you up on your offer," She says, "At least until I get the lay of the land. Should you try anything funny, I'll make sure you can never walk again, let alone ride a bike or skate board,"

The matter-of-fact manner of speech, makes her all the more intimidating. CJ does kickflips off of skyscrapers, deals with abusive cops and fights with gangbangers, but he isn't about to make an enemy of the only person who will work with him,

"Whatever you say," He mounts the bicycle, "Hop on,"

"Shouldn't we devise a plan of some sort?" She asks folding picking up her bag full of assorted stabbing weapons. CJ laughs, "Lady, my plans involve doing sometheeng exciting and life-threatening, no' always in that order,"

"Foolish youth," She mutters, shaking her head, "Alright, let's go,"