User blog:Kwiksilver/Destination 3000 - Part 2

James woke up.

He was tied to a chair in a dimly lit room. The ropes were uncomfortably tight. A lone lightbulb hung from the ceiling. James realised that his satchel was missing, along with his Vortex Manipulator.

"Finally, he's awake," said a voice. "Let's interrogate him, we've been waiting long enough already."

Gareth came out of the shadows, his flippers crossed. Luke also materialized, with a green penguin following him that had attacked James before.

"Where am I?" asked James. "Who are you? Where's my stuff?"

"We're asking the questions, buddy," said Gareth. "First, who's side are you on? Are you with Roulain, or are you from Ternville?"

"Don't be stupid, Gar," said the green penguin, "Ternville's hovering over Trans-Antarctica. If anybody left the city, they'd be blasted by Roulain's missiles."

"Ternville?" said James, "I'm no tern. Why would I be there?"

The green penguin turned to Luke. "What is wrong with this guy? Everybody knows Ternville's the HQ for the Resistance. Almost no terns there now."

"Gotta remember, new era, new rules," muttered James to himself. "Who's Roulain?" he asked Luke.

"What did you just say?" asked Luke, his eyes fixed on James. "New era?"

James was silent.

"It all checks out," said Luke, turning to Gareth and the green penguin. "Time traveler. His funny watch is a Vortex Manipulator, I recognise it from the history books."

"And I'm not with that Roulain guy, whoever he is!" said James, frustrated, "Just untie me!"

"Why should we?" said Luke, "I know myself that time travelers can be good or bad. How do I know you're not Roulain's henchman?

"Hey, look what I found," said the green penguin. He held up a small card. It was James' Bureau of Fiction ID.

Luke snatched the card and scrutinized it in the dim light. "The Bureau was just a legend...long ago, five creatures controlled this world. Apparently, our ancestors worked for them."

"I know, I do," snapped James. "Isn't this enough to let me go?

"Gareth, untie him," said Luke, still looking at the card. He flipped it over.

Gareth eyed James suspiciously, but untied him.

There was a long silence. Gareth and James stared at each other, until the green penguin coughed. They both looked at him.

"Um..my name's Jack Hochstadt. Just if you wanted to know."

"Hochstadt? As in Swiss Ninja Hochstadt?" asked James.

"Yeah," said Jack, fidgeting, "Apparently my family controlled a great empire centuries ago. It collapsed due to Swiss Ninja's debt. Now, I help out Luke and the Resistance against Roulain."

"So you're Swiss Ninja's descendant? What about you, Gareth?"

"I'm descended from Tails4000 or something," said Gareth, his flippers crossed. "Legends say he was a great warrior. I inherit my strength from him."

"I'd like you better if you inherited his goofiness," said James. He still didn't trust Gareth.

"And Luke?" continued James.

"We're not sure," said Jack. He glanced at Luke, who was now shaking James' ID. "He never speaks about it, but before Roulain took over he was the judge at the New South Pole Council. Maybe he's the kid of some rich penguins, but you wouldn't think it if you knew him."

"Putting him aside for a minute, who's this Roulain guy?" asked James. He was eager to find out why the girl had mistaken him for Roulain.

"Roulain was chief of police about five years ago," said Luke, coming towards them. "Back then, SPC was the most beautiful place you could ever imagine. It was clean, great and crime-free."

"However, this meant Roulain, being chief of police, had no job. So, he started to bribe criminals to starting crime so he could arrest them. By arresting them, he would get paid, then the criminal would mysteriously "escape" overnight. Nobody except the police knew about it, and they were all with Roulain. He had, and still has a terrible temper. Many a brave penguin have quailed before him. So, the racket continued."

"Eventually, the South Pole Council caught wind of the scheme via spies they had in the police HQ. They took Roulain to court, but since he hid his tracks so well nobody could pin anything on him. I managed to get him demoted to a normal officer, but the crimes still continued. Soon, Roulain was a respected name in the underworld."

"Weird factories, not approved by the Council, suddenly popped up in the residential districts, and started polluting the air. The people of the city all became sick, and since they weren't used to pollution they all thought they had a deadly ailment. They wouldn't listen to the Council, thought us fools for saying they'd get used to the smog. And that's when Roulain came."

"He claimed it was us, the Council, who had approved the factories, and only he held the answer. The people rose up against us, making Roulain king over South Pole City and the South Pole Council was dismissed and went into hiding. Under Roulain, things went from bad to worse. He started recruiting citizens by force into an army, which he used to conquer the surrounding states. All except Ternville fell, becoming slaves to Roulain the dictator."

"Next, he built more factories and demolished the housing sector. Jobs became scarce, and Antarctica was plunged into famine. UnitedTerra shut its borders to the refugees from the USA, not trusting anybody. And so, things eventually degenerated to what it is now. The law is corrupt, the resistance is few in number, and we've all but given up hope of salvation."

"But this can't happen," said James, "My book is relative to time and space, it denied what you said!"

"Go on, check it," said Luke sadly, holding the book to James. He scanned the 31st Century page.

''Antarctica is under dictatorial rule by Roulain, ex-police chief of South Pole City. Everyone is practically a slave, and almost no resistance exists. HELP!''

"No," said James, his eyes wide, "This isn't supposed to happen! Time must be righted. And you know what, Luke?"

"What?"

"I'll help you do it. Come on, there's no time to lose!"

Luke smiled as he watched James etch diagrams enthusiastically into his notebook. He turned to Gareth.

"What did I tell you? He's a true battler, this guy!"

"Hmph," grumbled Gareth.

TO BE CONTINUED!