War of the Portal
Part 2, Chapter 1 - "Solutions"

January 15, 2005

By Alkador

The room was dark and the few candles lit did not help very much at all. The lighting was poor but that did not stop the man from writing his papers, with the sound of his pen hardly scraping the thick paper that he had gathered from the portal. But the portal did not exist anymore. Of course, it couldn’t have been just anyone that would have sealed the portal. It must have been some of the guards. The man swallowed air as he looked over his notes, his ideas and plans. Of course, there had to be someone to seal the portal which was very typical. People saving the world.
“Stupid,” The man said. He smiled at the thought of people being stupid. But very little mattered to him now. The last time he saw a person was the day the portal was sealed, the day he saw the people descend into the portal. He had to find them. He had to meet them. Of course, he thought he could find them easily since he too was very capable in the Power. But using it was slightly difficult after the sealing had occurred. It felt as if some form of buffer had been slowly spread over the portal, like butter on bread.
Little did those people know that they were not alone and that their journey had truly begun. He turned to face the man who had been speaking to him.
“What’s stupid master?” The man sitting behind him asked.
“Nothing Tom,” Said the man with a deep voice. “Please do go on.”
“Very well,” this Tom said. “As I was saying, the virus was perfect until they adapted to it. Of course, not all viruses are bad as what people believe. It seems that from we have seen, the submissions have mutated to a third level and we can only assume that they will become even stronger. More importantly the virus th–“
“Stop.” Said the man. He already knew what Tom was explaining, as it was all old news. He wanted something new, something fresh in knowledge.
“My virus is out there and I asked you to gather new knowledge on the subject. You disappoint me Tom. I think I will have to meet these people without you.” The man stood up, staring at the man, making sure that he kept a firm hold on his tongue. Say the wrong words and the man would go against him. It was an option that Tom might be willing to take if the man pressed on.
“Stay here. I shan’t be long.” The man laughed as he left the small room. Maybe he really was insane after all.

“Any luck?” Asked M-A-R-C-U-S.
“(( NOTHING ))” Replied XwaynecoltX. “I can’t see anything wrong with him.”
“Maybe we should keep him,” Suggested RedCircle.
“We could do that,” Added Recon_Rebel. “But what if he goes wild?”
“What if he doesn’t?” Thought Qwoxyl.
“I see nothing in there,” Commented Slightly_Crazy_Dude, who was assured himself it was safe.
“Well, he seems safe enough,” Smiled BonusStage. “And he could help us, I mean, find a cure.”
“He looks too cute to kill,” Randyrandy tried to touch it, but pulled his hand back at the last second.
“Oh you wimps,” RedCircle picked the baby submission up. “I’ll take care of him.”
”You always wanted a submission, didn’t you RedCircle?” Recon_Rebel’s curled, suggesting a smile.
“Sure did. Hopefully this one will be just fine. Let’s head back guys.” Slightly_Crazy_Dude said.
BonusStage moaned. "I swear SCD, that's the ten thousandth time you've said 'Let's head back'!"

The room was small, but it would have to do. The laboratory had small tubes of chemicals and compounds piled carefully on the shelves, used for the experiments that would aid them.
“Is it nearly done?” Asked Gfoxcook.
“Nearly there,” Said ramagi, who was focusing very hard with using the correct amount of chemicals. “I just have to put some Sorbic acid and a tad of Potassium benzoate.”
“Make sure you add some of this,” YoinK_VineS pointed to the test tube with blue liquid.
“Can I ask why you’re putting in food additives?” Asked Jonthomson.
“I think ramagi knows what she’s doing.” Said D0GMA, who had a new black silk cloak replacing the previous one which never seemed to wear.
“She’s really good with this stuff you know,” Smiled -Mazza-, who ensured that ramagi heard his compliment.
“Yeah, she is perfect, isn’t she?” Smiled YoinK_VineS.
“This is a laboratory,” Coughed TheJoe324, who watched ramagi mix the chemicals slowly above the Bunsen burner. “Not a flower store.”
“Roffles,” FIGMENTUM laughed at the guard’s joke. “You nearly done ramagi?”
“Just have to add a bit of this polymer and…done.”
Everyone stared at the small vial of red liquid that ramagi had produced so carefully.
“It is done. We have a cure for the virus.”