Age of Cataphracts Forever, ended, for now.

"It is the past. compared to our present and future, it has no time line, merely Cataphracts. And that is enough for my purpose. I am a teller of tales, a weaver of the imagination. Gather, my children and I shall tell you of a strange thing, a strange tale. Just after the third Cataphract, ours being the eighth. And it is a story you should remember."

The entire continent, that we knew at the time, was under Kun's sway. The Montag-lords slumbered, the Tarag were content to squabble among themselves. The Ash-men raided not so often and the fairies kept to themselves. We, the noble humans, traded and grew rich under the empire of Kun. Then, those who were under the lands that were once Toosh, the technology kingdom, came up with a new toy. And what a toy!

It was what we call a Data-integration unit now, but then they called it Age of Cataphracts Forever, and it was popular. Some hated it, but most loved it. Soon, it became the number one thing that people loved to do and watch. It was called a real time strategy game. The object was to, among other things, defeat the enemy. This was the most popular thing, but the Emperor of Kun, not wanting it, but not wanting to risk his empire's displeasure, banned all other types of it.

In Age of Cataphracts Forever one could choose one of four species, then choose from further civilizations, each having bonuses and benefits that others have. One of the best units that had range to it was called the longbow. Because there was only ancient or modern modes, they choose ancient or modern warfare.

One of the greatest strategists of the age, until the fourth Cataphract, was a young man named High Lord, his real name is forgotten. It is found and lost throughout history. But he is not the only character, his love, Alexandra, and his prot̮̩̉̉g̮̩̉̉, Zalm, all three are very prominent figures for that time.

"Now my children, you know what you need to know to understand the story, but I tire, so, tomorrow I shall begin what you clamored for. No! No, do not be sad, I have yet years in me, and you shall hear what you wanted to hear. A good story. For I am a weaver of legends!"

"Now, my children, to begin the tale."

(Alright, dear readers, it is time for a change in perspective.)

High Lord walked down the boulevard, quite defeated. every job opportunity, every chance he looked at, everything that is expected to earn money, was closed to him. It was his father's fault. His father was High Lord Whatchamacallit of Thoosh's army of DOOM, all hail, yadda yadda, to give his full title. And as such, he had led a resistance against the People of Kun that ultimately failed. He found himself, slightly dejected, in the rain, and miserable. Going on near by was a Age of Cataphracts Forever contest. Feeling unexpectedly drawn in, he entered.

"Welcome, dude, to the Age o' Catties for-like-ever man!"

"Thanks man, tis a hard time for a dude like myself, so unrighteously."

"I hear ya man, its a problem with them Peeps of Kun dude! Any-like-way, would ya watch or compete? Cummon!"

"Which one gets me fed?"

"Well... Man, if you wanna compete, there is a small prize, like, 900 righteous tooshies!" (Tooshy is Toosh's monetary unit)

"Fine! Sign up a righteous man! And -like - where do I go?"

"Well, I think you wanna... let me see... Ah! That's the way man! Alright! we got a righteous even number!"

High lord, feeling a little uneasy, hoped for a tutorial round first.

"Okay playing Dudes and Dudettes! You are all here today to play Age O' Catties! Now, we, as per our awesome instructions, have a tutorial round. I know some of the dudes here are good players, but we got some noobies. And they deserve a good run before the pawners start pawning!

Alright! Everyone to their stations, like now!"

High Lord, still off-balance, got in a two on two battle.

"YO! I think its time! Time to Pawn! My righteous name's Alexandra, And I'm your teammate! So lets - like - go!

There was a loading screen, he chose full human random as his civilization and everyone started at once.

"Greetings, you have chosen the civilization of Kun."

"Argh! nooooo!"

"Unfortunately you cannot rechoose. The Kun special ability may be only used once per turn. Because this is a modern map, it will be 20 tank units. We are glad for your participation in Age of Cataphracts forever. The game begins now."

He felt himself land in a field, he was by a big building. Some villagers came to him and greeted him in the Kun way then showed him how to work the scrolls that controlled the people and buildings. That aside, he felt that he could do this so, he began to build.

This is the outline of his base. 3 outer perimeter electric fence,then there was a hill where he put infantry and various vehicles, anti-tank and aircraft. After this were tanks and and an airfield. Because he had a town hall right in a corner, he could see his enemy from a distance. Alexandra, who had chosen directly, had the Toosh tech bonus, all things metal get attack, def and speed bonuses, except for more flesh and blood soldiers, who got plenty of minuses.

Now, across the map, was a man who had chosen Tarag. His ally was the Ta.

"When's me army? Noti (obscene Tarag word)! I told you to answer me!"

The Tarag are evil, not over intelligent, but enough to understand and use technology, even if they can't make it. They are black, having [bleep]es all over their bodies, These are their weapons because it protects them from weak sword blows and the biggest [bleep]es can sever a human's head with one blow. The leaders always have the biggest [bleep]es.

"My cruel matser, we are almost done! Spare yur angryness for the barbaric himans!"

"Good! Belch! Hmmm that was good araw Meat! Lets go! Summon the Horde!."

The Tarag horde came to him calling for the blood of their enemies. He then used the Tarag special ability, battle roar. It can be used multiple times and doubled attack but halved defense each time. He used it around five times.

"Let us Kill!" And they charged across the map, straight for High Lord.

High Lord saw them coming. "Serious Mode!!!"

"Okay! his main army is coming, Bombers! attack his base! Tanks! begin fire! Infantry! wait until they are in range! Continue the massing of troops!"

Later the Battle begins!!

He sent word to Alexandra, they would keep them up front and have Alexandra and her troops charge in. He realized that she might not be able to there was another player, but the Tarag rushers were a big threat.

He found it surprisingly easy, the Tarag didn't seem to notice that he was bombing their base at all but kept charging. The Tanks opened fire. Then the infantry, but there were a great number left. When they reached the electric fence, he leaned over to his commander and asked what the special ability was.

"The Cataphract, 20 units of any kind, besides air or sea, powered up, but with a lesser defense."

"Very well, call it! I want 20 Kun tanks now!"

The tanks came, using the hill as a bonus to attack, they were able to cut down on the Horde. The report came back that all the base was destroyed, and not one bit of resistance. The Tarag continued to press, finally piercing to rows of electric fences. Alexandra and her army of technology infused individuals sandwiched them between the anvil and hammer. The Tarag defeated, they merely had to double team the Ta player.

The Toosh special ability is to infuse infantry, tanks, etc with technology, to make them faster, more powerful or more defensive. In this case, Alexandra had even infused herself, getting a large arm blaster, the rest of her army were given attack boosting upgrades.

The Ta special ability was a random unit generator, but only with infantry. The infantry was given a random method, with random armor. For example, it could give a soldier with a machine gun on a motorcycle (still counts as infantry) and the next time, it give a foot soldier, with no protective clothes, firing a rocket launcher.

The Ta user had an army ready, High Lord had focused on light, fast tanks and Alexandra her soldiers, both having some air support. The Ta player, was a very experienced player by the name of Rantin, a champion level player.

Intresting, I like it. But uh, I don't know if you know this, but Montag means in German, Monday. Again good story. Nice beginning.

Really? I don't know German so, thats a weird coincidence.

Anyway, I might post again tonight or might not... Glad you liked it!

And as a champion level player, he could choose a prize at the end, some advantage to be used in championship games such as this. What he chose was the ability to control the Ta special technology. Indeed, he based his winning strategy on this benefit. He watched emotionless as his ally was destroyed.

" The Noob, gg" He finally said, he was riding one of the motorcycles that sometimes came with he Ta special infantry. "You! Take your troops and do damage, we are not here to destroy, merely to see. Use your shotguns to hurt that Toosh player, then come back, leaving a clear trail, I will await you back at camp!" The unit in question nodded and waved his shotgun. The similar troops came in behind him and they drove in, blasting at any infantry they saw. Alexandra took a hit, it didn't really hurt, but was very uncomfortable, nearly kicked her back into reality, but she kept in. Meanwhile, High Lord maneuvered his tanks to block the way of escape, the motorcycle troopers finished their loop then headed back, only to be met with he guns of High Lord.

"You alright? go back and gather an army, I got a good amount to come with me, lend me a few of your air bombers and I'll hold him off for a while!"

"Yeah man! Don't worry, its only a superficial wound! Dude! hang Tight!"

"Hmmm, you! take 5 of the tanks and go ahead, You! You! Thats right both you! Take 5 tanks each and go to the sides! Only attack if I signal, if we retreat, cover us! Lets go!"

Rantin, very displeased at his riders destruction, but at the same time, pleased with their successes, decided to wait for him to come a bit too close to his town before going out to meet him. Summoning what riders he had left, and putting the artillery he had at ready behind some buildings, he waited.

Suddenly, from above, he heard the distinct sound of falling bombs. To prevent collateral damage, he had his troops engage the waiting tanks of High Lord. It went evenly for a bit, when from the left and right came shell fire from the tanks, forcing the troops of Rantin to fight on three sides, with bombs falling. Due to pure strength of coolness and strategy, he was able to retreat in an orderly fashion into the buildings, then beyond.

Alexandra, during this time, had joined, with a great number of attack boosted infantry, but High Lord and her agreed that she was to keep a few units with him, but take the rest of her force behind the city, then attack Rantin from behind. This was all done neatly.

Rantin, boxed in in a maneuver that he recognized the pure genius of, admitted that he could not win and resigned.

It was a long championship, but High Lord never felt it, cutting through opposing armies, out thinking, out maneuvering his opponents. He felt alive. He now knew what his father knew, his feelings, his thought patterns...

"Now, my most terrible opponent dude! I didn't even have to go into serious mode! Time to lose, man!"

A rush, an artillery barrage and its all over.

He got out of the game pod, feeling very braced after his victory, went over to the scoreboard. To his surprise, he saw that Alexandra was in the final round, the last round.

Alexandra came up to him, a grin plastered all over her face. "Dude, you got some serious thrill issues, always the Kun light tank strategy, why not try some righteous new moves? See yah in 5, when you will face my fabby new strategy! Bwa ha ha ha! Thats a superific laugh!"

She left without High Lord giving a parting shot. He quietly got a drink. For anyone to look at him, you would see a 23 year old, looking slightly bored and with a look on his face that appeared without thought. In his head, he was going over everything that he knew about Alexandra's field tactics, then he slowed down, he actually had the advantage over the units that Toosh had if he used him right. And there was no doubt, his strategic thinking was unmatched!

A klaxon sounded the final battle, and that the contestants where to go to the relevant pods. "Its time for the Final battle! This has been a far out tourny! And the battles been fierce and Righteous! Begin!" The announcer pushed a button and Alexandra and High Lord were rushed in to the game.

"Integrate." Whispered them both. Losing themselves to that Digital World.

Upon reaching the battlefield, High Lord immediately went into serious mode, rushing the building of electric fences and barracks and such to an impressive speed. Then he realized something, on the roster, Alexandra was playing as the Montag specie, north civilization. This changed his strategy, this was the first time he had fought a Montag civilization user.

He quickly diversified his units, in order to be ready for an assault... which was not long in coming.

Suddenly, the soldier to the left fell with a great knife in the back, He quickly grabbed the primary weapon and gathered his men around him. Another soldier fell, this time he saw what it was, his designated commander told him.

"Sir, that's a Montag Elite level ninja, the special unit of the Montag is limited to four of a certain type of ninja, then three, two, ad lastly the one, and that one is equivalent in power to a tank!"

Another infantry man fell to the ninja, suddenly, High Lord had an idea.

"Grenades! All over the place now!!!!" He knew that the grenades only affected building and units of another player, that ninja was toast. The blast threw a lot of debris and such into the air, including the Ninja!

"All units, fire at it! I don't want one drop of blood to fall unmolested!" The ninja's eyes widened, then it disappeared. The soldiers, very much afraid and bewildered, almost panicked when the ninja appeared in their midst. Firing wildly they targeted the unit, spraying the surrounding area with lead. "Heh, nubs, game ends now!." the ninja appeared in front of High Lord. "Snap!!!!" He dived out of the way, firing at the ninja with the bazooka. Taking the soldier in front of it in the blast.

"Leader? Hah! you killed your own units!" the ninja appeared with a knife to his throat. Gulping against his will, he saw the unit he called Commander Striker moving to take him out using a sniper. He was able to stick his thumb out to approve. "... and if any of you make a move to engage me I'll kill your precious leader! Be lucky I was just sent to capture him alive!!!" Blam! The ninja was down!

The soldiers rushed to catch High Lord before he collapsed. He awoke a second later. "Is the army ready?" "We have 50 tanks and 100 infantry ready my lord. But are you able to lead?" "Yes! She pays for this! CATAPHRACT!!!!!" The twenty tank units came without a moments hesitation. The rest of the army mingled and soon the infantry were using the tanks as weapon platforms and transportation.

The army went into the center and saw that Alexandra was waiting for them, and they took off to fight them head on!

Then, before they were in firing range, a great black web started to appear on the sky and a great army appeared.

"HA HA! It is I! the Hackzors! Hacker extraordinary!"

Edit:

I appologize for my previous comment, I had not read enough to pass judgement. But you do have a capitalization error in the second sentence. After seeing that, plus the intentional stupidity of internet (is it?) dialogue, made me judge you unfairly. I'll read the rest later.

I'm sorry, but you are going to have to tell me where, I mean, is it with language (People talking) or written? (descriptions etc) because what separates the nations in my world is how they talk... exp. the Zai have a great speech impediment that makes them pronounce "N" "naga" and endings with a hard consonant (t etc.) with an ee (spelt Y) sound... so if its the language, I can't correct that without changing my world a bit.

The hacker, Hackzors, had a great army, but he was too far away to attack. Alexandra and High lord immediately called a truce to fight this new threat, The Montags quietly and quickly lined themselves up, all of them slightly different, yet identical. High Lord's troops gathered around the tanks, a few that were made to have rocket launchers stationed themselves on top of the larger tanks, using them as platforms.

They had to wait, meanwhile, High Lord had some artillery pieces made and quietly put outside Alexandra's town, he had others, the majority come to his lines. Alexandra also had some Artillery units and she had planes as well, mingling with the ones already there under High Lord.

They still waited, the Montags, dark, quiet, each one's uniform or hair a little different, but the same. Dark black hair, hanging over whiteless eyes, penetrating, yet calm, as if looking to death with a quiet resignment. Not looking either way, they just stood, complete military fashion, waiting.

High Lord's troops were the same, yet different, they talked and acted like a soldier of Kun would before an upcoming battle. One was doing magic tricks for the benefit for those around him, another told a funny story to the people around her. But they were all alert, even more than the Montags, all the distraction was just to waste time, time was never an issue in Kun.

Eventually the Hackzors came into range of the artillery. High Lord called out, "Open fire!"

Hackzors was prepared, as soon as he saw the artillery was nearing range he scattered his troops into a very loose formation. Though he lost a couple units, not a big dent was made in his numbers. Hackzors called his men to charge! Discharging their weapons they ran uphill. This was what Alexandra and High Lord were waiting for. Attacking units had bonus on hills while those below them weakened a bit. The Montag foot soldiers charged down, the Kun infantry went at an angle and hit the Hackzors' troops from the front and side. Meanwhile, High Lord and Alexandra sent their planes and bombed the heavy field pieces that had lined up to attack the top of the hill...

The planes were shot down by anti-aircraft guns hiding behind the hill, Hackzors knew that he had lost the minute that happened, but he had one more trick up his sleeve, only to discover he couldn't move!

"Whats happening?... Can't move an inch!"

"Hacker Hackzors! Your digital soul is required of you!" A warrior came out, obviously from Kun because of the flag draped around his shoulders, He weilded a big sword. "The data police have you caught, it will be seconds before they log you off!" He turned to Alexandra and High Lord, whose troops were wondering where the enemy went. "Forgive the interruption. You are comig with me hacker!" The pair disappeared.

ALexandra and High Lord turned to each other. "Okay! Fight! Charge" "Destroy them!"

Then it all turned to black and they found themselves in the real world.

"Its a draw!"

"Okay! Peoples, we gotten ourselves some really fabby players! give a hand for ... High Lord? and Alexandra!!!"

The watching crowd cheered as they came up, High Lord found words first. "What is this?!?! Why have you dudes logged us off! I had her in my righteous palm!"

"Sorry dude, but rules say that draws occur when.... *eh-hem*, either an impasse is reached or when a hacker tries to take the game for his own unrighteous self, those are the rules, bud. Sorry, Lets let the pretty lady go first!!! awright!"

Alexandra, however, had accepted it, and took the 800 tooshies. High Lord got his pick of a bonus he can use at odd times. He chose bagpipe music, which gave a slight attack bonus to his troops. He then left, pulling himself through the crowds and stood outside, surprised and blinking in the morning sun.

"Hmmm... I guess its your first tournament, my little dude." Alexandra came up next to him. "Why so bummed? You've jumped from unknown to known, with an awesome reward! Why so downed?"

"I don't feel like it was a win."

"Oh [garden tool] [garden tool]! What's this, so glum you talk like an unrighteous dude of Kun! Well, I'll give you this." He felt something slip into his pocket and knew what it was immediately.

"Thats not very..."

"heh! who says its all of it! I want some too! You really, shouldn't assume I'll be all awesome enough to let you have it all? You are so naive. Far out! see your dude self around! Hey what's your name." She had gone down the street a bit when she asked for his name. But he had already turned his back. She knew they would meet again.