The Legend of Josh
[Chapter 1: Right from Wrong]
“What does it mean for be right or wrong?”
“When im scavenge for food, Im steal for people. It that right or wrong?”
“Im just try to live, but people say it bad. But no, Im Josh, Im make things right for this time.”
Josh pondered this question over and over. It’s not everyday he exercises his brain like this, but today was different. He was going to make a change. A change for Rex.
Josh stumbled around the dim streets of Abyssnia, under the slight tinge of lamps and the faint glow of neon signs. Usually this time of the year is lively, but hardly anyone can speak. He slid into the stall of a 24 hour food stand. It was all robots… well mostly robots, but at this time there was a 0% chance of encountering another icon. But just to make sure, he tidied his brown hair and resisted the slouching of his malnourished yellow form.
He slid a few counterfeit coins in the machine. Genius, he thought to himself. Josh waited, and waited. Until.
The Robot turned red! The alarm went off, and Josh immediately was sent hurdling across the street. The blast sword? No, that would attract too much unwanted attention. Ask for help? Clearly no. Shut it off? He didn’t know how to. Bins and alleys he went, Josh did the only sensible thing: flee.
Soon Josh found himself under an overpass. A temporary shelter. What did he have at this point? Maybe a map, a few credits, and a couple scraps to his name. His identity was compromised. Glacier 15 people are supposed to exist, yet here he stood, his story yet to be told.
Footsteps.
“Dam Hater!”
Josh panicked. This was it. This was the end. Maybe if he died on his own terms he wouldn’t be experimented on. Maybe-
“I’m not going to hurt you. I am friendly.”
Josh looked up. It was a metallic figure, with tubes running down his sides. His orange energy-powered glow felt straight out of a sci-fi battlefield. Yet, Josh couldn’t help but feel his friendly demeanor.
“I’m Refender. I know people like you, cause I was once like you.”
“Then, who are I?” Josh replied.
“You’re unwanted, a misfit perhaps. You have no power and yet you want to change the world.”
“But, im what can ive even do about it…”
“All things come with balance. Refense, is an ideology of balance. The offense represents aggression, the danger. It represents your violence, your outburst. Defense represents your passiveness. Your inaction, or fear of action. Refense seeks the balance of these two.”
Josh stares blankly at this metallic object. It is almost like Refender established a neural connection to his innermost thoughts.
“Someone you know?” Refender said.
“Rex… His name are Rex…”
“Listen, tonight, nobody knows this conversation happened. It is just between me and you. I am looking for members to start an organization… A movement if you will. Remember the ideology of Refense.”
Refense, the balance between offense and defense.
The metallic figure disappeared into the shadows, somewhere beyond the trash bins and neon lights. Abyssnia was intricate in that way. One moment you’re trying to find food, and the next, someone recruiting you to their cause.
Right versus wrong.
Josh thought to himself. The answer was in front of him.
“Refense.”
The balance of right and wrong.
The next morning, Josh woke up to the sounds of bustling streets and the evening bickering over void fuel prices. The evening was harsh, doubled from his previous day headache and the unfiltered reign of the sun. His clothes were musty, dirty, and skin rashed. But he could not shake off what felt like his destiny.
Where are we meet again? He are not telled me where, so im am not know.
“Balance…” Josh muttered to himself.
To find Refender again, one must seek balance. The most balanced place in the world.
3/13/107
It’s been nearly a week since the encounter with Refender. Over the hills of a green prairie, Josh ever so slowly inches away from Abyssnia city, fading into the background haze of the atmosphere. And yet, while so helpless and frail, Josh trudges along.
“Are the balanced place… the place are… The middle… the middle of the world…”
Josh pauses for a second, before sitting down on the grassy fields. Its different, for once there are no overbearing structures, or the gradual destruction of nature in place of technology.
“Are the place… the place are the voidland, is stop next to a desert. But am hunger…”
Josh unsheaths his blast sword. At the sight of a rabbit hopping across. The sheer power radiating from the sword is much for Josh to handle. But he manages to lift it over his head.
“Am sorry, buny…”
Josh unleashes the power of the blast sword, with pure energy rippling throughout the entire field. A shockwave unearths the grass around him, as the blast vaporizes the bunny and everything past it. Josh stumbles back, hurt by the oppressive recoil from the sword’s power.
“Argh, where buny?” Josh looks down, blankly staring at his two cube hands.
“Mine power, no… I are strong… They are know that… Im are the one… Im will change world for my better.”
Josh glaces up at the crater, then lifting his chin up to the sky
“Rex… Your are understand… My fury is not for the revenge… It not for Justice… It for…”
In the distance, the silhouette of Josh contrasts against the sunset and he treads on, with newfound conviction.
“Myself”
3/15/107
“Im think about Refender…” Josh murmurs to himself, “But how are I am going be the balance?” Josh clenches his fists. “It not me, it not my rage. Not… Im are powerful… but are use for good?”
Josh looks at the map once again, marking the locations and landmarks with a red pen. Hes approaching what looks to be a giant cliff in the distance, with purple spikes jutting out of its ridges.
“The voidlands… and are on the left…” Josh sees a smoggy backdrop against a green marsh, factories sprawling into the terrain.
“It are be close.” Josh exclaims, before hearing the sound of an engine in the distance. “Damn Haters…”
Josh takes cover behind a boulder, digging his heels into the grassy turf as the buggy drives by. Yet, the buggy stops.
“Damn Haters…”
Two armed Xender soldiers step out, before pivoting in Josh’s Direction.
“We know you’re there. Surrender now or face the consequences!”
