Chapter 13: Humble Beginnings (Part 2)
[Clock - 07:00 | 07:00 AM]
[Calendar - 15/01/2003]
[Location - Foundation Station - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey]
(Carts are counted from back to front - Cart 1 is the last one while Cart 10 is the first one and the one where the conductor stays)
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There are a few problems that come along with people. And they are called "basic needs for survival". Water, food, and shelter. The three basic things every human needs to survive and one of the rules that has followed humanity through its entire evolutionary journey.
So, as the only person there with the capability, Atlas was the one responsible for providing food, water, and shelter to the first residents of the future Croc Kingdom! 'Shelter is easy, clean drinkable water is also very easy, food might become a problem once rations run out...' With the miraculous powers of magic, Atlas was able to cast [Create or Destroy Water] to create 10 liters of clean water! Alternatively, he could also "destroy" that same amount of water too! 'It's great not being limited by what class whenever I want to learn a spell.' Normally, in the universe of Dungeons and Dragons, only Clerics and Druids can learn how to cast [Create or Destroy Water], but because he is not in that universe, he can simply do it! "Gather around, folks!" Having his wheelchair pushed by Baytor, Atlas called out to the four members of the Croc Kingdom: "Today I'll give you clean water to drink and assign you tasks, because there is nothing free in this world." Cracking his fingers and twirling them a little, Atlas was ready for the day- He looked at the four citizens, they all had shared a single cart from the train, and that made Atlas stop to think... Where would Croc Kingdom stand? It couldn't stand in an abandoned subway station, it needed a large space where he could build a beautiful city.
An underground cave.
'There might be more information about cities underground...' He made a quick search through his mental library and he quickly found a very interesting book named: [Underground Civilizations: A Guide to all the Underground Civilizations made by Dwarven, Elven, Gnomish, Human, and many otherworldly races] that had detailed information about many Civilizations across the Omniverse that were built underground. Their benefits and their conflicts, their histories and their demise. 'Okay, making an underground kingdom sounds great, but I'll need a plan to bring the kingdom to the surface or-' His mind was broken out of his deep thoughts when he noticed he was now before the four citizens! "Oh, right! So, Adolf-" he had to make himself not snort at the name "-You'll help Baytor move some things around. If its too heavy, don't touch it and let Baytor do it instead. Abigail, I will need your help with organizing the pantry in Cart 3 of... Enne, would you be a dear and make sure to warn me if we get any visitors today? I don't want to be surprised while I work on some of my little experiments." Atlas had a few ideas of what he could do today, and they were separated into a few things- First thing he wanted to get a good supply of water.
That's why he has gathered a lot of glass bottles and cleaned them with [Prestidigitation] before he moved them all with Baytor's help. He is going to fill them with water, just to have extra water just in case! As for food, Atlas was planning to spread out edible fungi, because fungi spread out really quickly and they are also nutritious! There's also the inherit need to gather medical supplies, because Atlas is not going to be the de facto healer slash doctor of the Croc Kingdom because that would be overwhelming to him- instead, he wanted to work on his own things. "Come now, Abigail... You can bring your son, but make sure he doesn't break anything." Atlas rolled away as Baytor went to help Adolf with his task of carrying the boxes of stuff the little demon had collected from the surface a week or so ago under Atlas' request, because he wanted to use the scrap materials found on trash to rebuild the entire Foundation Station's train and make it completely work once more! Atlas had a little bit of a hard time rolling into the train without Baytor's help (he has spaghetti arms, give him a break!), but once inside he turned to look at the young woman and her son, saying: "I'll be working on some things, if you need help you can call me, but try to not disturb me much... unless you want something to explode."
He wasn't sure if he would make shit explode, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right?
While they were on Cart 3- by the way, the abandoned subway train that Atlas has been using as a home for the past few days has been repaired enough that he would not hurt himself. With the help of Baytor, his (emotional) support demon, Atlas was able to add furniture that he made with the help of magic! There were shelves, bottles, boxes, and other containers and recipients all around the 10 carts of the subway train! He also completely removed the majority of the rotting and damaged seats, removed the metal poles to get more internal space (acid and fire sure are helpful with that!) and closed every hole he could find in the Carts. Cart 1 to 3 were the designed Storage Carts, with "furniture" made for storage. The pantry was now Cart 3, where all the food and non-perishables would be stored, while Cart 2 and 1 were the more general item storage. Cart 10 is where he sleeps, he has removed the chair where the conductor would sit so he could slide his own on its way and sit there to look over the panels of the subway train... The majority had been completely destroyed by what he could only assume to be a crushing weapon, [Mending] was able to repair some parts of it while [Repair] was able to also help, but in the end he still needed to know a bit about subway trains to fully repair them... It had taken Atlas about a day before, but he had measured and made suAre to remeasured the carts, and they all were exactly 10 feet (3.05 m) wide and 75 feet 6 inches (23.01 m) long.
This gave a lot of internal space to work with once he had wiped them clean of seat, bars, and holes! He didn't change much about the ceiling, the upper portion was not that bad after all! Cart 4 to 8 were empty carts, while Cart 9 was his designed "experimenting" cart, where he started to collect and store things he wanted to experiment with. As to roll from cart to cart, the doors that separated carts had to be removed- Thank God, wait, no! Thank Satan Baytor could vomit this pale white liquid that crystallized into a thin sheet that cracked under the slightest pressure! Breaking down an automatic metal door attached to a train was never easier, and he didn't even have to use acid! By patching the gaps with some metal sheets, Atlas could roll from cart to cart until he got to his destination- now, Cart 9 and 10 were the only ones with doors, and although they were not automatic they served as good doors! With a good use of his newly learned [Control Electricity] cantrip, Atlas was able to send a small shocking wave of electricity through the newly repaired door (literally repaired it yesterday, he was ready to just destroy it because it was getting annoying to have Baytor open and close it for him) that opened it with a clicking sound.
Once inside, Atlas sighed- "Okay..." Looking around Cart 9, it wasn't that different from the other ones. Sure, it had a lot of simple shelves with empty glass bottles (If you're wondering how he has so many glass bottles, Baytor found a lot of broken glass bottles and brought to him, so he repaired them wit [Mending]) ready to be filled with his crazy ideas. With a flip of a switch inside his mind, Atlas opened a new book that he had been reading... "[Concoctions and Potions: A Basic Guide to brew, screw, and create something new, by Potion Magus Archonis Vanagard Vess], huh? Let's see what yoy have in store for me..."
If this was an animated show, you'd see the atmosphere grow darker as lightning shot in the background soon being accompanied by thunder, as Atlas prepared to dive into his alchemical studies.
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[Clock - 14:22 | 02:22 PM]
[Calender - 16/01/2003]
[Location - Cart 9, Foundation Station - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey, USA]
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[<Lightning Flashes in the background>]
[<Thunder echoes>]
[<Ominous winds rush by>]
"I've made it..." Proudly grinning in his e̶v̶i̶l̶ l̶a̶y̶er cart, t̶h̶e̶ e̶v̶i̶l̶ w̶i̶z̶a̶r̶d̶ Atlas couldn't help but laugh: "Ahahaha! YES! I'VE MADE IT-" The shocking radioactive green liquid in the clear glass bottle that he was holding seemed to bubble and pop, giving an even greater ominous vibe to it: "-here you, kiddo." Without hesitation, he turned around as if the dramatics had never happened and simply smiled as he gave the bottle to Abigail's son, the little boy named Adam. "Now, don't drink it too much and share a bit of it with your mother." Turning around, he continued his work as flame flickered on his fingertip and he lowered it beneath a beaker that Baytor had specially stolen for him- or rather, he had his new contracted guy steal it... It was a whole story that was, honestly, something Atlas found funny and sad at the same time.
"Thanks Mr. Jester!" Turning around and left the room (the door opened as a small spark of electricity touched its side) with a huge smile on his face.
Now that he has created his past life's favorite evil potion (read: mountain dew radioactive) he can focus on the real potions and other magical items-
"Sir!" Rushing in came Enne, the tall woman looked a bit nervous as she said: "We got new recruits incoming!" Oh, she has really bought the whole "you're the first of the future military of the Croc Kingdom, be a proud guard!" shit that he had told her, huh?
-or not. "Very well, take me to there so I might greet them. New people means new mouths to feed, and new hands to work... Especially after Adolf informed me that the tunnel of this train ends up in a natural underground cavern." Atlas was so excited when Adolf told him that that he abandoned his workings with potions and went to investigate it, and although he didn't have a clear measurement of the entire cave, he reckons it would be big enough for the startings of the Croc Kingdom! He already has begun the repairing of the train he lived in and has spoken to Baytor about making rails, so they can bring the train to the cave and have it as a moving base of operations that can enter and leave the cave whenever. "So, how many people are joining us this time?"
"Sir, I counted 6 people."
"Do they all have the badge showing?"
"Yes sir, they do."
"Very well, good work."
Nodding, Enne kept kept quiet through their whole journey from Cart 9 to Cart 1 and out of the train. Once out, the very first thing that he sees is Adam and another child speaking to each other, and he feels sadness for the fact that another small child had to go through such hardship as living in the streets... He looked out and saw the other five new members (six with the child), and they were all teens, none can be older than 18. "So, hello-" Clapping, Atlas assumed his persona of Jester of the Croc King and took on the whimsical attitude (after all, who would think the little guy who jokes all the time can kill you faster than you can blink?) "-and welcome to Foundation Station, please keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times as I take you to the underground Croc Kingdom. My name is Atlas and I'm the Jester, if you known who I am then you're pretty aware that I am the second in command here while big dick croc is the ruler..." Without letting them have a chance to speak, he made a few questions to try and overwhelm them while also analyzing their reactions- when you're either overwhelmed or caught off guard, your true face is revealed! And... he also has Baytor on the sideline watching the kids too, reading their souls.
That's something demons can do, after all you can't tempt a mortal without knowing what they want, right?
"So, name? Age? Height? Gender? Favorite color? Name of best friend's second cousin's neighbor dog's favorite chew toy? Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? How many names do you wish to be called? And, are you able to properly function as a human being?" As soon as he finished saying all that, he casted [Message] to Baytor and whispered: "Did you get anything on them?"
"[Baytor (Neutral): I am Baytor... (As far as I can see, they're not that corrupt... I see some petty sins here, and the one in the middle killed someone, but it was to save his friends, so the sin's not that bad.)]"
Good enough!