It was a bitterly cold night as I rocketed on over to the entrance to Pocket D in Talos, but I felt warm inside as I eagerly looked forward to our league match scheduled for 10 pm. Our team was 6-0 and I knew that if we could get past the 5-1 team we were facing tonight, then the league title would soon be ours.
As I quickly dressed in the locker room, I considered how best to squash the run and gun team we were scheduled to face, confident in the ability of our sonic screens to handle their firepower while enabling us to easily cage their support personnel and take them out of the game.
Glancing up and seeing a worried look on one of my teammates faces, I asked what the problem was.
I just heard that their tanker is present tonight.
I looked at him in disbelief and commented, Their tanker? What good is a tanker going to do for them! Well debuff his defenses so fast itll make his head spin and then wipe the floor with him. And he sure isnt going to be able to catch any of us! What is wrong with you? Tankers are fine for facing the usual stupid villain groups who stand and fight, but theyre useless in the arena! This last with a sneer on my face as I considered most tankers slow, but tough brutes whose IQ was inversely proportional to their toughness.
This ones different, Shaun! Dont take the elf lightly! he commented with a worried look as we headed out to the arena to greet our opponents.
I dont see why hes so worried. I thought as we went down the line and sized up our opponents. There were the usual 2-3 blasters, dangerous if they could get a coordinated shot on you, but useless with all our shields, as well as the usual couple of healers and buffers. I was wondering where their tanker was when my eyes lit on the last member of their party, a little guy who couldnt be more than 42 with green hair and pointed ears, obviously the elf my teammate had mentioned.
And then he looked at me.
Suddenly I felt as if I had been dropped kicked through the goalposts of life by Statesman as a PRESENCE all out of proportion to his physical size radiated from the elf and smacked my mental shields aside as if they were silly putty. As he looked at me, not saying a word, he suddenly exploded in light as what looked like a combination of fire and energy enveloped him. Suddenly I had an overwhelming feeling of fear and dread as ice water rushed through my veins, the sort of shock you feel when you enter a bunker expecting to find minions and instead find an arch villain calmly waiting for you with his weapons loaded and aimed!
As I stared in shock at his suddenly blazing eyes, my legs trembling, I felt as if my whole life was merely an open book to him that he was reading. Then his voice spoke in my mind in a deep baritone and sounding like thunder, You are my target today and you will not get to my teammates without going through ME!
As his gaze turned away from me and I came back to my senses, feelings of shame and anger poured through me. Who did he think he was! We were the leading team in the league! Id show him who was boss! But in the back of my mind, fear lurked that perhaps we were not to be so much longer.
Neither the elf nor I were in the first match, which surprisingly we LOST 4-1 as their people all turned out to be excellent phasers, who would dematerialize at the first hit and then rematerialize in a group suddenly with everyone targeting our weakest member.
As I entered the second match, considering our options, I suddenly noticed the elf across the way. And just like that all my strategy went out the window as his incredible PRESENCE smacked me across the eyes and his voice rumbled through my mind, Remember, you are MINE! Then the gun went off, but instead of heading to my designated cage target, I suddenly found myself trembling as the elf blasted toward me at fantastic speed, his flaming sword out and blazing!
All thoughts of anything except avoiding this unusual tanker went out the window as I leaped into the air and frantically strove to break line of sight with him. But no matter how I ducked, weaved or dodged behind buildings he was right with me, his presence hammering mine as the few attacks my teammates landed on him slid off like water off a duck and his piercing gaze cut right through my shields of invisibility and tracked me with unerring precision!
My teammates were yelling in my comlink to lose the tanker and take out my target, but as much as I wanted to, every time I turned to target one of his teammates, his gaze found mine and my courage ran out of me like water down a drain.
By the time it was blessedly over, we had lost again, this time 7-2 and I was glad I wasnt in the third match!
As we stood in the observation booth watching the third match together (We lost 5-1) his aura suddenly changed and now his presence felt like that of a close friend, welcoming and accepting, which was as much a shock in its own way. (Who ever heard of a nice tanker?) Then shaking my hand at the end of the match, he looked up at me and made a comment that put it all into perspective for me.
Remember, this is only a game, no matter how exciting. What really matters is how you and I behave out in the real world. So lets use our powers to go out and help others. Then well truly be winners. Then well truly be heroes!
A Tankers Presence
By Dr. Ken Johnston, a.k.a. The Rejoicer
It was a bitterly cold night as I rocketed on over to the entrance to Pocket D in Talos, but I felt warm inside as I eagerly looked forward to our league match scheduled for 10 pm. Our team was 6-0 and I knew that if we could get past the 5-1 team we were facing tonight, then the league title would soon be ours.
As I quickly dressed in the locker room, I considered how best to squash the run and gun team we were scheduled to face, confident in the ability of our sonic screens to handle their firepower while enabling us to easily cage their support personnel and take them out of the game.
Glancing up and seeing a worried look on one of my teammates faces, I asked what the problem was.
I just heard that their tanker is present tonight.
I looked at him in disbelief and commented, Their tanker? What good is a tanker going to do for them! Well debuff his defenses so fast itll make his head spin and then wipe the floor with him. And he sure isnt going to be able to catch any of us! What is wrong with you? Tankers are fine for facing the usual stupid villain groups who stand and fight, but theyre useless in the arena! This last with a sneer on my face as I considered most tankers slow, but tough brutes whose IQ was inversely proportional to their toughness.
This ones different, Shaun! Dont take the elf lightly! he commented with a worried look as we headed out to the arena to greet our opponents.
I dont see why hes so worried. I thought as we went down the line and sized up our opponents. There were the usual 2-3 blasters, dangerous if they could get a coordinated shot on you, but useless with all our shields, as well as the usual couple of healers and buffers. I was wondering where their tanker was when my eyes lit on the last member of their party, a little guy who couldnt be more than 42 with green hair and pointed ears, obviously the elf my teammate had mentioned.
And then he looked at me.
Suddenly I felt as if I had been dropped kicked through the goalposts of life by Statesman as a PRESENCE all out of proportion to his physical size radiated from the elf and smacked my mental shields aside as if they were silly putty. As he looked at me, not saying a word, he suddenly exploded in light as what looked like a combination of fire and energy enveloped him. Suddenly I had an overwhelming feeling of fear and dread as ice water rushed through my veins, the sort of shock you feel when you enter a bunker expecting to find minions and instead find an arch villain calmly waiting for you with his weapons loaded and aimed!
As I stared in shock at his suddenly blazing eyes, my legs trembling, I felt as if my whole life was merely an open book to him that he was reading. Then his voice spoke in my mind in a deep baritone and sounding like thunder, You are my target today and you will not get to my teammates without going through ME!
As his gaze turned away from me and I came back to my senses, feelings of shame and anger poured through me. Who did he think he was! We were the leading team in the league! Id show him who was boss! But in the back of my mind, fear lurked that perhaps we were not to be so much longer.
Neither the elf nor I were in the first match, which surprisingly we LOST 4-1 as their people all turned out to be excellent phasers, who would dematerialize at the first hit and then rematerialize in a group suddenly with everyone targeting our weakest member.
As I entered the second match, considering our options, I suddenly noticed the elf across the way. And just like that all my strategy went out the window as his incredible PRESENCE smacked me across the eyes and his voice rumbled through my mind, Remember, you are MINE! Then the gun went off, but instead of heading to my designated cage target, I suddenly found myself trembling as the elf blasted toward me at fantastic speed, his flaming sword out and blazing!
All thoughts of anything except avoiding this unusual tanker went out the window as I leaped into the air and frantically strove to break line of sight with him. But no matter how I ducked, weaved or dodged behind buildings he was right with me, his presence hammering mine as the few attacks my teammates landed on him slid off like water off a duck and his piercing gaze cut right through my shields of invisibility and tracked me with unerring precision!
My teammates were yelling in my comlink to lose the tanker and take out my target, but as much as I wanted to, every time I turned to target one of his teammates, his gaze found mine and my courage ran out of me like water down a drain.
By the time it was blessedly over, we had lost again, this time 7-2 and I was glad I wasnt in the third match!
As we stood in the observation booth watching the third match together (We lost 5-1) his aura suddenly changed and now his presence felt like that of a close friend, welcoming and accepting, which was as much a shock in its own way. (Who ever heard of a nice tanker?) Then shaking my hand at the end of the match, he looked up at me and made a comment that put it all into perspective for me.
Remember, this is only a game, no matter how exciting. What really matters is how you and I behave out in the real world. So lets use our powers to go out and help others. Then well truly be winners. Then well truly be heroes!