Marble town was a lonely town where people lived side by side, the houses were joined together in rows, it was built this way by the people so that no one would feel isolated or left out of the small town.
"Mom, I'm heading to school!" Frank yelled inside the house as soon as he got to the stairs leading down.
That was one of the features of the houses in Marble town, you had to climb about ten steps before getting to someone's doorstep.
"Have you taken your lunch?"
A middle-aged woman came out of the house with a paper bag filled with food in her hands.
"I told you, mom, I can manage with the cafeteria food?" Frank said, sounding annoyed.
His mum always took up the task of making lunch for him before he left for school, but Frank felt like his mum shouldn't stress herself since they had food in their cafeteria.
"Oh, so you prefer the nonsense over my food now?"
"No, I didn't say that," Frank said. "Ahh just give it to me."
He collected the bag from her mother who showed her appreciation with a smile.
"I love you," Jessica said, kissing her son on the cheek.
"I love you too mum," Frank said and quickly ran off to school.
Frank entered the classroom, he was always on time as most of his classmates and their teacher wasn't in class yet.
"Always early Blondie." Frank turned to find the last person he wanted to see this morning.
Christiana was Frank's classmate who loved teasing and making fun of him, he wasn't by any means short or small but the girl just sees him as the best to catch some joke with.
"You know you are also blonde and also come early," Frank said.
"So?"
"I think you should rephrase your words to yourself."
"Yeah, like you can make me." She said walking off to her seat.
Unfortunately for Frank, the one person who happened to be his problem had a seat in front of him.
'Here we go again.'
Frank walked to his seat and dropped his bag there.
"Where are you going blondie?"
"I've told you my name is Frank and wherever I'm going is none of your business," Frank said and marched towards the door but he was stopped by someone.
"Franko what's up," Carl said, hitting Frank on his shoulder.
Carl was Luis' best friend, but when looking at these two you wouldn't think they belong together.
Frank the brilliant one who is loved by almost all the teachers and Carl the strong and tall one who seems to use his brain less often.
But somehow they managed to end up together and bonded well, something brought them together and that was their love for football.
Carl the great defensive rock and Frank the master between the sticks.
"I'm okay," Frank replied, rubbing his shoulder.
'That really hurt.'
"Where are you heading to?"
"I need to head to the bathroom, I'll be back," Frank said, running into the hallway.
*****
The bell for lunch break was heard as the students started to exit the class.
Frank was heading to the cafeteria along with Carl who couldn't stop looking at the bag he was holding.
"Is that your mum's cupcakes in there?" Carl asked.
"Yeah, I guess…"
Before he could finish his sentence Carl had grabbed the bag and taken a seat in the cafeteria.
He tore the bag up and stuffed one of the cupcakes into his mouth.
"Wow, your mom's cupcakes are the best," Carl said with her mouthful. "Don't ever think of coming to school without these."
"Yeah, but it takes time and someone has to wake up early to make them," Frank said.
"Then wake up early and, no, make sure she wakes up early to make them," Carl said.
Frank shook his head, there was no need to explain to him, it's not like he's going to understand.
"Are you ready for today's training?" Carl asked.
"Yes, you?"
Carl nodded as his eyes glanced at the last cupcake on the table which belonged to Frank.
"Ahhh just take it," Frank said, already aware of what he was about to ask.
After having their lunch the duo headed to the pitch where they would be having their training.
The pitch was divided into two parts for the training, the male football team, and the female football team.
The girls weren't on the pitch yet but the boys were going to start with their normal drills.
After that they moved on to the shooting practice with Frank between the sticks, the ball was placed a little bit away from the eighteen-yard box and all the players were asked to try and score Frank from there.
He was able to stop all the balls except the one coming from their star striker.
Finally, it was time for Carl to take his own shot.
"You have to be fast for this one Franko!"
"I know!" Frank said, pulling his gloves down to make them feel comfortable on his hands.
Carl took a few steps backward and then came forward, released his foot towards the ball and it came flying towards Frank's goal post, heading for the high angle.
Frank was fast on his feet and dived towards the ball, it was only with the tips of his fingers that he was able to push the ball away from the goal post and over the bar.
"Woa!" Carl screamed as he shook his head.
The coach blew his whistle and began to clap his hands as he approached Frank.
"You are getting better Mr. Hart, keep this up and we will win the school inter trophy for the second time in a row." Mr. Lewis said.
Christiana had entered in time to witness Frank's great save and they were chattering among themselves now.
"I wish he was in the female team." One of the girls said.
This was enough to spark up a reaction in Christiana who was the female team goalkeeper.
"What did you say?" She asked looking at the girl her eyes screaming murder.
"It was just a statement Christi you are good too." The girl said, smiling nervously.
Before Christiana could do anything she ran off with her friends to the other side of the pitch.
With a sigh, Christiana turned to look at Frank who was now surrounded by his teammates.
'You are good, but don't expect me to tell you that.' She thought before walking off to join her teammates.
The boys' team was cheerful as Coach Lewis had just given them good news.
"I can't wait for tomorrow," Carl said to Frank.
"It's just a hike through the woods," Frank said.
"And heck it's going to be a fun one."
"Let's wait for tomorrow and see."
Luis said, looking off towards the girls' side of the pitch.
Everyone in the boys' football team was happy and couldn't wait for coach Lewis to arrive so that they would head out for their hike through the woods.They were allowed to skip class today for the hike which was also a part of physical training for the team.While they were waiting for Coach Lewis on the pitch Frank was having a little chat with his best friend and they were talking about what they thought the hike was going to be like."Do you know what makes a hike really worth it?" Carl asked."Sightseeing," Frank answered."No silly, the delicious goodies you bring along."'Of course, it had to be food.' Frank thought."Hope you brought those delicious cupcakes with you?""Yes," Frank said pulling the rope on his backpack."Hey, I think Coach Lewis is coming." One of the students said.
Frank felt like he was in a dream, his best friend who he had been conversing with since today had suddenly been swallowed by the ground, but how was that even possible? It looked bizarre to see the ground suddenly open up and then seal back up as nothing happened."No, no, no!!" Frank kept hitting the ground."Hey calm down or you are going to attract everyone here," Christiana said."How do you want me to calm down when Carl just got swallowed by the ground?""I'm just saying crying won't cut anything."Frank gave her a scornful look, even in times like this she was finding means to annoy him."How can nature be so harsh?" Frank cried."Why did it have to be Carl?""What happened to Carl now?"Frank brought his ears closer to the ground thinking that was where Carl's voice was coming from."Idiot
Marble Town had gone from a peaceful and lonely town into a desolate town where people were afraid of going out to do anything.But it wasn't just Marble town, the whole world was in this state but Marble town was in the worst state among all other towns and cities due to it being the place where the problem emanated from.Houses had been destroyed with dangerous beasts now roaming the streets of Marble town.Many had lost their lives during the attack, they would have all lost their lives if it weren't for the arrival of the soldiers from Tron Ville's capital.To kill the beasts they needed to shoot it as many times as possible so it would be an understatement to say that the guns were making little effect.The soldiers couldn't really do much but they managed to buy some time to enable the people to flee to safety.The people had relocated to another
Frank managed to get a shot eye after going through a series of thoughts in his mind. He woke up the next morning to the scent of a nice meal, it didn't take him long to discover where the scent was coming from as it was strong on his nose.He got up to see his mom already having her breakfast while his own was on the floor."You woke up just in time for your breakfast," Jessica said.Frank looked at the food on the floor and the one that his mother was eating, it looked nothing like what the soldiers managed to serve them here and that scent he had not perceived for a week now."Did you make this mom?" Frank asked although he already knew the answer."Yes," She nodded. "David helped me get some foodstuffs for me after I told him that the food we got here wasn't good for my condition."David was the soldier who had helped them the day his mother got hur
There was only one person who Frank believed could get him out of the current situation he was in now but when he searched through the soldiers present there with his eyes David was nowhere to be found.The slap had immediately subdued the zeal Frank had to prove any resistance and Arnold who had seen his mate receive couldn't see himself putting up any form of resistance.Frank wanted to scream, maybe David would hear him from the other side of the camp and come save him but one thing was keeping him from doing that and that was because he doubted that David might be able to do anything.If he remembered correctly David was only a sergeant while the man holding his arm had just referred to one of the soldiers there as a lieutenant.Frank, Arnold, and the other kids who the soldiers had with them had no choice but to go along with what the soldiers had planned for them.The
The beast was running towards the group without slowing down but Roger wasn't going to shoot as he quickly went into the van's front seat to get something.Don shot and shot but the beast jumped from side to side avoiding every bullet, soon the other soldiers joined in and with their combined effort were able to get shots on target on the beast but it still wasn't enough to stop the beast as it continued running forward without slowing down."Are you guys stupid? If you don't shoot that thing then you'll all die!" One of the soldiers turned to the kids to say this but still, it wasn't enough to make them do anything."How come all the kids here are cowards? I wasn't this cowardly as a child." The soldier grumbled as he continued shooting at the beast.With the beast getting closer now the soldiers continued shooting until when they pulled the trigger and nothing happened."
[ System Active ][ You have obtained the wonder system ]Frank had to rub his eyes just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.[ Profile ][ Name: Frank Hart ][ Wonder warrior grade: none ][ Level: 01][ 3/10 HP ][ 0/100 EXP ][ Stats ][ Strength: 3 ][ Endurance: 4 ][ Dexterity: 7 ][ You are in a critical condition ][ Drawing energy from heart for emergency healing ]At this moment Frank felt a stinging pain in his heart, he wanted to scream as loud as he could but he didn't want to draw the attention of the beasts.[ Heart energy: 50/100 ][ Condition has been restored to normal ][ 10/10 HP ]&n
Frank had different thoughts running in his mind of what might have happened to Arnold, did he run away? But that wouldn't be possible given that the whole area was a wasteland and he would get caught by a beast. Was he carried away by a beast? That he wasn't sure of but it didn't look like any of the beasts had escaped. Maybe he was torn to shreds, this was the most possible to be the case given that his body couldn't be found anywhere around the area. While Frank was in the middle of his thoughts he began to hear slight metallic sounds coming from the van. He slowly walked to the van and was standing in front of the back door now. He was still hearing the sound but it sounded like whatever that was inside was trying to adjust its position rather than looking for a way out. He had an idea who or what was in there as he placed his hands on the door but he just wis
"I know what I saw Frank and I am very sure that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me," Christiana said moving closer to him."You didn't see anything, I just threw the watch up and it fell back to the floor," Frank said, picking up his watch and strapping it back to his wrist.Christiana didn't say anything again as she stood over him with a warm expression on her face."What, why did you come back?" Frank said raising his head to look at her before bringing it down again."Frank," Christiana called."Yeah.""You said we're family now right?" Christiana said."Yeah, we are," Frank said with a nod."Okay," Christiana said as she sat beside him on the bench. "And family shouldn't keep secrets from one another right?""Ugh….. sometimes they do," Frank said. "Wait, is this about the watch?""I know what I saw Frank and I also know when people are lying." She said,"No, you don't," Frank said."You were one of the few boys in our class that didn't have a problem looking me in the face," C
Frank walked into their apartment with Arnold to see his mother sitting on her bed."Hi, Mom," Frank said."Hi honey Christiana came in a few minutes ago, she said you guys were walking slow," Jessica said."She said that?" Frank said, turning his gaze to the door to their room."Yeah, and she looked really upset. Did you guys do anything to upset her?" Jessica asked."No mom, I don't think I did anything to upset her," Frank said."You didn't? I wonder what she's upset about then." Jessica said."Don't worry mom, I'll go ask her," Frank said heading towards the door."You haven't told me how your first day at the academy was," Jessica said."It was great mom," Frank said quickly entering the room.He left the door open for Arnold who had entered the room a few seconds after him.The blonde haired teenager scanned the room with his eyes but there was no sign of Christiana but that was no problem because he knew where she was.He slowly opened the door leading to the balcony to see her
Frank was quite bummed that he had been so unfortunate to make such a small sound after he had put in so much effort.'All that and I still did the poorest.' Frank thought, staring at his legs.[ Superspeed deactivated ]"What happened man? You were doing so well until the last part." Carl said after Frank had walked back to them."I slipped, that's what happened," Frank said with a low tone."You sure did," Christiana said with a smirk on her face."Don't worry man you'll make up for it in the next round," Carl said, patting him on his shoulder."I think that will be the final round for your test." Lieutenant Kate said."Oh, there's no next round," Carl said as he slowly removed his hand from Frank's shoulder."Now it's time to give you your different rank badges and your development watch." Lieutenant Kate said as the pendulum and the disc slowly began to return from where they came from.Two boxes rose beside her on each side after she had taken a few steps back.She picked up her
The second test looked pretty harder than the first one but it was nowhere near its complexity.Carl had just completed the second test with a loud bang and a compliment from Kate. Now that he had been the first to try it out as a demonstration, Kate began to call out the rest of the students from the list she had in her hands now.The students being called out were finding it difficult to push the pendulum, those who managed to get it to the pendulum were only able to make tiny clang sounds while a few of them had given up on the way.There were still some who had managed to create reasonable bangs but they still weren't up to the one Carl had created."How heavy is that thing?" Frank asked."Really heavy and that's why they are making mistakes," Carl said."What do you mean?" Christiana asked."They are trying to use all their strength at the beginning instead of slowly pushing it with little strength and then increasing it when they get close to the disc," Carl explained."I don't
Even Kate seemed surprised by how Frank had only taken twenty seconds to finish the course."Are you sure you didn't make any mistakes with the button?" Kate asked."No, that's the accurate time," Josh said.Everyone stared at Frank as he walked back to his spot and the stares were making him a little uncomfortable."I just destroyed your time record," Frank said, looking directly into Christian's eyes."I'm not the one with the time record," Christiana said. "Have you forgotten about princess Rapunzel?"It was at that moment that Frank looked in her direction and caught her looking in their direction but she had turned away quickly."Yeah," Frank said."When did you become so fast?" Carl asked."I don't know, maybe during my frequent runs away from beasts," Frank said."You were so fast the discs hadn't even gotten that close when you ran past them," Carl said."Stop praising him Carl, I can feel his head inflating from here," Christiana said.'I guess she'll never stop teasing me.'
"Well, that was a second slower than the last time I did this." Lieutenant Kate said as she walked back to the kids. "A second slower?" One of the students said as she couldn't imagine how someone could finish the obstacle course faster. "So who would like to go first?" Kate asked, looking at the different faces of her students who numbered up to sixty. A boy eventually raised his hand and was immediately asked to come up by Kate. "What's your name?" Kate asked. "It's Kyle." The boy said with a timid look. "Ok, let's see how you do Kyle." Kyle stepped up to the starting place and immediately after he was given the signal to start, he took off. Maneuvering the rocks was a little tricky for him as it was taking him time to move from one rock to the other. By the time he had gotten to the platform he was already panting but he kept running to get a good time record. He really should have waited to catch his breath a little because immediately he jumped and grabbed the rope, he lo
Frank had taken a good look at the general yesterday and seeing him now still in the same uniform didn't make identifying him any hard for him.The general stepped forward and Glik moved back to stand behind him."Welcome the young people of Tron Ville." The general said. "You were all called here this morning because of the threat that still lurks around our walls."Up till today no one knows the cause of all these beast rampages or where they came from but Phoenix is trying their best to get to the bottom of it and so are we."The beast rampage started about three weeks ago and since then the military of Tron Ville had been doing their best to make sure that we saved as many lives as possible.""No, you weren't!" A man screamed from the second line which was close to Frank's line. "If you had really tried your best to save as many lives as possible then our children, my child wouldn't have been sent out to fight beasts."The man sounded like he was about to break down in tears now.
The night sky shone as bright as ever as numerous stars filled it up, it was quite a nice view if you were closer and the three friends could say the same as they watched from the porch Christiana had discovered earlier today."It's really nice to be away from all the beasts and commotion for a while," Carl said.He was standing between Frank and Christiana while holding the metal bars in front of the porch."Yeah, but we all know this is temporary," Frank said."What do you mean?" Christiana asked as she turned her gaze to Frank."Those beasts are still out there occupying our continent, one day we will have to fight back," Frank said."Yeah but you know Tron Ville can't do that alone even with the help of all the underaged kids here," Christiana said."I don't think Tron Ville is the only continent affected by this apocalypse," Frank said."What makes you so sure of that?" Christiana said."Can't you see it? Since the apocalypse started, even the good continent we share boundaries h
When Frank saw the gate and large walls he never expected what he was seeing now, what he expected to see was a little place with few buildings where they would be staying but what he was seeing now was a very big city, a city six times larger than Marble town.Well-built roads ran across the streets with large storey building apartments lined up on both sides a little closer to the walls, then there were other taller buildings deep in the city and then the tallest building was the farthest from them."What is this place?" Christiana asked with an amazed tone as she stopped beside Frank."That's the Citon we have always been told about," Frank said."Alright everyone quickly move in so that these gates can be shut," Devon said.Everyone did as they were told as Frank helped his limping mother to enter the city as fast as possible, after everyone had gotten inside the vans were driven in and the gates were automatically shut.Everyone quickly turned at the sound of a roaring engine as