2 Chapter 2- A New World

The Rising of the Attack Helicopter

Chapter 2 – A New World

Author's Note: Hope you are enjoying the story so far! Also sorry for the exposition, one more chapter of world building and we'll finally have some faster pacing and actual fights!

David and the other summoned individuals attentively listened to the king.

The king continued his speech, in a commanding tone.

"I am the king of Melromarc, Aultcray Melromarc XXXII. Heroes, name yourselves."

What a strange name, David thought. Also, 32 is quite a big number. This royal dynasty must have been around for quite a while.

The man with the shield promptly responded.

"Amaki Ren, sixteen years old, high schooler."

The blonde man with the spear replied as well.

"I'm Kitamura Motoyasu. Twenty-one, and a college student."

Well, if I'm ever going to be released from here, might as well tell him who I really am, David thought. Hopefully that would dissuade him from hurting me. There is no way the U.S. government wouldn't make a fuss over the disappearance of their most important aeronautical scientist.

"I suppose I'm up next." David stated.

"My name is David McDonnell, former Major in the United States Air Force. Currently, I am working for the McDonnell Douglas aerospace firm, and I hail from the United States of America. Please, could you direct me towards the nearest embassy so I could return home as soon as possible?"

"Do not fret. I will address your concerns in an instant." Aultcray responded calmly.

"And lastly, me. I'm…" The man in the shield attempted to introduce himself.

But Aultcray cut him off.

"I see. Ren, Motoyasu and David, huh?"

"Y-Yo, King, aren't you forgetting me?" The man with the shield interjected.

"Hmm? Oh, forgive me." Aultcray responded, seemingly apologetic.

David couldn't help but correct the man with the shield's careless gaffe.

"Yo, King?" David questioned. "You must not be so disrespectful. Although this is a foreign land, we must still retain our civility."

"Should I call him His Highness, then?" The man with the shield respectfully apologized.

"That's too formal, though." David replied considerately. "King is fine."

David concluded his sentence as he swept his eyes across the room. He saw many people dressed as if they were reenacting a renaissance fair at a costume convention. Quite a strange sight, David muttered to himself. These people must not be caught up with the times. Nowadays, all royalty and nobility wear classy suits and ties, not laughably outdated outfits.

"Well, whatever works." The man with the shield continued. "My name is Iwatani Naofumi. I'm twenty, and a college student."

The king, seemingly annoyed, resumed his speech.

"My country, Melromarc, and the entire world is headed towards destruction."

The king proceeded to inform the group that the world has an ominous prophecy which indicates that "Waves will lead the world to ruin." Several waves appear in the world which bring about calamities. Unless something is done to stop the calamities, the world will end. Each country in the world has an ancient draconic hourglass which can accurately predict the arrival of the Waves. The first Wave struck before the summoning, and local forces managed to ward it off, albeit with high casualties. The following waves will be more potent though. Now, less than a month remained until the next Wave struck.

"We underestimated the waves." King Aultcray said forlornly. "After experiencing them, we concluded that only the Four Cardinal Heroes could counter them. And so, we summoned you four."

What is this insane man talking about! David thought. I've never heard of anything called a wave, and I doubt the president has a dragon hourglass indicating chaos located in the Oval Office.

As David was struggling to grasp what the hell was going on, Ren decided to speak.

"We get the gist of it now. Anyway, surely you didn't summon us expecting us to save you for free."

A man wearing a purple tunic responded.

"Of course, once you repel all the Waves, we shall reward you handsomely."

Motoyasu nodded in glee, a smirk forming on his face.

"We'll work with you provided you don't betray us." Said Ren.

David was completely dumbfounded. What were these people talking about? How did the other two heroes treat this situation this normally? Well, might as well just say yes, David reasoned. Just say yes and escape as soon as we were let out the door. This king is deluded beyond reason.

"R-Right!" shouted Naofumi.

"Heroes, you should all check your statuses." Stated Aultcray seriously.

"Wait, what's a status?" Naofumi and David asked in unison.

"Uh, what's wrong with you guys?" Ren said, in a belittling manner." It should have been the first thing you noticed in this world. Don't you see an icon in the corner of your field of vision?"

"You're right, I see a picture floating about." David said, seeming quite concerned.

"You're right. There it is." Naofumi replied.

"Try focusing on it." Ren spoke.

David stared at the strange floating picture, and what resulted befuddled him. What appeared to be a colorful data sheet was floating between his own two hands! There was strange data written all over it.

David looked over his shoulder, but there was no projector to be seen. How could this be possible? This is unachievable by current technology, he thought. Could we really be in another world? Impossible!

Anyways, what gobbledygook was even written on this sheet? Level? Bow Hero? What the hell?

"What. Is. This." David spoke menacingly, all traces of respect vanishing in that instant.

The king replied as if nothing happened.

"Status magic, an ability exclusive to the heroes."

"So, what do we do?" David inquired.

The king responded in an authoritative manner.

"You must leave on an adventure, to develop and upgrade the legendary weapons that you have equipped."

Legendary weapon? Upgrade? What? David pondered. His confusion was immeasurable. Legendary weapon as in Excalibur and the Longinus that pierced Jesus?

Before David could fully grasp the situation, Motoyasu interjected.

"Couldn't we just wield other weapons until these are usable?"

Wanting to just leave the castle to figure out more about his situation, David offered a reasonable reply.

"We'll figure that out as we go. Anyway, it looks like we ought to train ourselves. Off we go!"

"Then, the four of us should form a party to level up!" Naofumi exclaimed.

"One moment, heroes!" The man in the purple tunic interrupted. "You will each recruit and adventure separately. It is said that the legendary weapons repel one another by nature. If you work together, it apparently hinders their development."

David jolted back in shock as English text shone before his very eyes, apparently confirming what the man had just told them.

Was he tested upon by Soviet spies? How else would such strange occurrences appear?

Anyway, no time to ponder that.

The king was about to finish his speech.

"The sun is about to set. Rest up tonight and set forth tomorrow. Meanwhile, we'll gather the best of the best to form your parties."

At least the terminology 'party' was quite understandable to David. That probably meant a group of people working together for a common goal. Or did it? David could only guess.

Just then, a maid wearing an orange corset spoke respectfully towards the heroes.

"We've prepared rooms for you. Please come this way."

As David had nothing better to do, and he didn't want to be out at night, he had no choice but to oblige. After all, if the king had wanted them dead, they'd be dead in an instant. What use would a bow be? He'd never shot an arrow in his life.

David and the others sat in a lavish guest room; their stomachs satisfied after a scrumptious meal.

The food was strange, but it tasted good regardless. Anyways, was it wise to eat from here anyways? Well, better eat than die of hunger, anyways.

After a brief period of silence, Ren brought about a question.

"Isn't this kind of like a game?"

Motoyasu promptly responded.

"It is a game. It's exactly like Emerald Online."

What is a game? David thought. Like a board game? And what is Emerald Online? He'd never heard of that in his life. Maybe it's a popular game in Japan where these other summoned people were from apparently. And what did online mean? Maybe it meant a tightrope?

As David was trying to figure things out in his head, Ren responded.

"Huh? What's that game?"

Motoyasu answered in disbelief.

"Are you serious? It's super famous!"

David had to know what they were talking about.

"What are you talking about? Emerald Online? Is that a Japanese exclusive board game? I heard you guys were rebuilding your industry after the war, so maybe that was a new game you guys came up with?"

"War?" All three men asked in unison.

"You mean you don't know what the war is? That's impossible. Judging by your ages, your fathers probably served in the war. Hell, Japan was firebombed into ruins by legions of B-29s.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Ren. "There hasn't been a war in Japan since World War 2! Only our grandfathers were probably affected by that, and our fathers certainly weren't."

"Something's weird." Said Motoyasu. "Things aren't adding up."

"I agree." Said David, Ren and Naofumi."

"How do you not know what Emerald Online is? It's one of the most famous games in the world right now?" Motoyasu questioned.

"The most popular games out right now are Monopoly, Sorry, Clue and Risk. Never heard nothing about Emerald Online." David replied quite naturally.

"Monopoly? Sorry? Clue? Risk? Those haven't been popular since the 70s." Ren exclaimed.

"What do you mean by 70s? It's only the 1960s right now. How would you know if something falls out of favor in the future?" David pressed on.

That seemed to shock the three Japanese heroes.

"WHAT!!!!"

"Impossible."

"It's the 2010s for us!"

"2010s! That's 50 years in the future. Has time travel been invented or something? You must be pulling my leg." David screamed in a disbelieving voice.

"No. You must be lying. There's no way you're from the 60s. We're all from the 2010s!" The other three heroes shouted back.

"Boys, Boys. We must compose ourselves. There are inconsistencies in our stories. Something isn't right here, and we have to add up all our information to make out what's happening at the moment!" Naofumi suggested.

"I agree." Said David.

"Me too." Said Ren.

"Me three." Said Motoyasu.

"Who's the person on the thousand-yen bill?" Asked Motoyasu.

"One."

"Two."

"Yawara Gotaro!"

"Yuda Masato!"

"Noguchi Hideyo!"

"Us Americans don't use yen so Benjamin Franklin on the hundred!"

"WHO!?"

The bombardment of questions ensued, a barrage from all angles.

"Which country got the most gold medals at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games?"

"Your favorite celebrities?"

"Which countries won World War 2?"

"Does the Soviet Union exist?"

After an hour, all four men were exhausted and terribly confused.

"Well, it seems we're all from different versions of earth. At least the victors of World War 2 were the same each time."

"Looks like it. These planets sound nothing alike."

"Are you guys really telling the truth? David asked. This seems quite outlandish." He heard of parallel worlds before, but they were mostly theories proposed by the most insane of scientists. No one really believed in them.

But maybe, David could consider that he was in a different world. After all, the Soviets were developing even more advanced technology by the day. Who knows what they had in their possession?

"Yep." Ren replied, sounding quite insulted.

"So, there are parallel worlds out there too, huh?" questioned Naofumi.

"If I can take what you guys have said as the truth, maybe so." David replied.

"I thought we might just be from different eras, but I guess not, if they're so different." Said Motoyasu.

"Agreed. In no universe should the Vatican City have won the most gold medals at the Olympics, but it seems divine intervention is really true!" chucked Ren.

"I can't believe you guys really have such advanced technology in your era. It seems quite unbelievable. Did humanity really land a man on the moon?" David said." I must inform President Johnson of this as soon as I get back."

"Well, it's getting late. I've had enough information and weirdness for one day, and I still don't understand what a game is. We have to get prepared for tomorrow. Good night to you all." David muttered sleepily. It was already midnight and he hadn't slept for 26 hours at this point, due to his top-secret project."

David hit the pillow to get himself some shut eye. He fell asleep in an instant.

The other heroes followed soon after.

Chapter 3 out soon! Hopefully with more action and less dialogue.