MullenGuard the Kings return.

Skate

They arrived in a skate park with trash all over the ramps, graffiti all over the floor and walls.  A yellow sign was hung on the fence gate that read “No trespassing.” they went through a hole in the gate G made a circle around her feet and Joseph looked around to see if anyone was watching, no one was.

    “Oh this brings back memories.” G said. She looked over at a ramp that was littered with graffiti.  “Hey look there, that’s the ramp where I almost broke my arm.” 

    “Oh yeah, why was that?” Joseph asked.  “Oh yeah, you were trying to show up Jason for calling you a wimpy girl and couldn’t perform a flip.”

    “And I did, I performed a flip on a skateboard...then fell off of my board while rolling on the ground.” G ran over to the ramp and grabbed a stick she found on the ground.  “I, G the terrible, challenge you king Joseph to a joust, we shall fight for the land, the victor gets the kingdom!” Joseph laughed, ran towards the ramp across from G and grabbed a stick.

    “I accept your challenge, G the terrible.” said Joseph.  “But you’ll never take my land!” they both screamed and charged down towards each other, their sticks smacked as they struck each other’s weapon, G swung low and Joseph jumped high, he landed on his feet and tried to smack her on the head, she blocked, slapped his foot and rolled on the ground to get out of his range.

    “Missed me, king!” she said.  She grabbed another stick and threw it like a spear, Joseph turned around and dogged the stick, but when he faced G again he didn’t see an abandoned skate park, he saw a medieval war zone, there were arrows flying across the air, the ground had flames on it, there were men shouting in battle.  

    Joseph looked in front of him and saw a man wearing dark armor, a dark golden crown and a black sword.  Joseph looked down and saw he was wearing golden armor and had a sword with some foren writing on the blade.

    “Come on, king.” said the man wearing black armor.  “Show me what you’ve got.” he came running over towards Joseph, he swung high and Joseph blocked the attack, the man tried to kick him down, Joseph jumped back, swung his sword to the right.  Joseph couldn’t believe what he was doing, he was fighting like a skilled swordsman. He fought for his life, he smacked the sword out of the man’s hand, performed a front flip and landed behind him, he turned around and pointed his sword at the man.

The man turned back into G, the war zone was a skate park again and the sword was a stick.

“Dude.  you’ve been holding out on me, where did you learn those kickass moves?” G asked.

“I don’t know...but it’s like I knew it all along.” Joseph said still in shock of what he did.

“Hey! What are you kids doing here!?!” shouted a guard.  They both looked at the man and they ran off, G made it through the gate hole but Joseph tripped on some trash, he got back up and ran towards the gate, but the hole was missing.

“Where’s the hole? It’s gone.” Joseph said.  G came running back and tried to tear the gate with her hands.  

“What now?” she asked.  

“Don’t move!” shouted the guard.

“G, run.  You have a family to go to tomorrow you can’t get in trouble, I’ll take the fall, just go.” Joseph said.

“I’m not leaving without you.” G said.

“Not the right time to be a hero, just get your ass moving!” Joseph said, G ran for it, he turned around and saw that the guard was right there in front of his face.  

“Now, tell me why you are here, young man.” asked the guard, he was a hefty asain man wearing a night guard uniform.  “This is private property.” 

“Yes I know, but I asked my friend if she’d like to come to where we first met because she’s gonna leave tomorrow and I didn’t want our last moments to suck.” Joseph said.

“That’s a kind gesture, young man.  Now I should bring you in or send you home with an ankle bracelet on you.  But I’m impressed by your kindness, your leadership, and your skills on the battlefield.” said the guard.  Joseph looked both shocked and slightly embarrassed. “So I’ll let you go free.” the guard grabbed the gate and it opened, the hole reappeared, Joseph didn’t second guess it he ran out the gate and straight towards the orphanage.  “Until next time, my king.” said the guard.

Back at the orphanage, Joseph climbed in through the window that lead to the play room for the smaller children.  He closed the window and tiptoed through the room, the lights came on and there was Crystal.

“Mr. Joseph...care to explain why you went out so late?” she asked.

“Um...I was trying to get some M&M’s but they only had Skittles so I had to run before the going got tough.” Joseph said.

“Many things you are, Joe.  An orphan, a strong kid, kind heart yes.  But a good liar that you are not.” Crystal said.  “I’ve already dismissed G to her room to finish packing her things before she leaves, now I advise you to get to your room and get some rest...because your punishment will come in the morning.”  Joseph walked upstairs and into his room took his shoes off and his hoodie and went to sleep.

Joseph was dreaming of a faraway place, where trees grew high and there was beautiful nature all around, but then he saw two people.

Sitting on the grass was a grown man and a small boy, the man was wearing what looked like a black cape with purple inside of it, medieval chainmail armor with a strange symbol in the center of the armor, he had a long brown beard and hair.  The young boy looked kinda like Joseph when he was young, but it couldn’t have been, this is just a dream.  

“Now son, can you tell me what a Tigerog is?” asked the man, he had a strong low Irish accent, he sounded a little like the Lion from Narnia.  

“A Tigerog is a creature that’s a mix of a Tiger and a dog, green fur, shape changers, and they are loyal to those who treat them with respect and have the longest memory in the world, they never forget anything.” said the boy.

“Very good my son, these lessons must always stay in your head if you’re going to be king one day.” said the man.

“But why don’t you teach me these things when I’m older?” the boy asked.

“Because son, it’s better to learn when the mind is young and the heart is pure.” said the man, Joseph felt something after that was said, he knew he had heard that before, but he couldn’t remember where he heard it.  Suddenly a small girl flew through the sky, she had what looked like fly wings, she landed on the ground and tackled the small boy.

“Gotcha prince!” she said.  The two were rolling around on the ground as the man laughed at the two.

“Father help me!” cried the boy as he laughed.

“Some battles you have to fight yourself son, ahahaha.” said the man.  His laughter echoed through the whole area, the grass turned dark and ash began to fall from the sky, the trees burst into flames as the grass died and the three figures vanished in the flames.  There was a voice that echoed through the sky and shook the ground.  

“The time is now, come back home my son.” it was the voice of the man.  The ground around Joseph began to shake. “Your people need you, it’s time to return home.” 

Joseph looked down and saw that the ground began to spin around in a vortex and he was sucked down into the ground.  He immediately woke up to the morning sky, Scotty was over his bed shaking him.

“Oh good, youwa awake,” he said.  “G is about to weave, you should say goodbye to heah.” Joseph got up, grabbed his shoes and hoodie and rushed down stairs.