Somewhere on the city's outskirts, On the road in the side of row of pylons and surrounded by nothing but crop fields. Toga rides his bike with Ocy hitched in the back. Today is a clear, warm day with an orange-tinged sky; this is a sign that it is getting close to sunset.
While Toga pedals the bike cheerfully, Ocy is enjoying the view though she keeps looking at the artifact strung on her neck with a concerned look.
On the other side of the road, there is an enormous, dilapidated billboard with the words "Garden Corp" scrawled across it in large, rusty letters.
Ocy tugged Toga's back. "Mr. Toga Satria, thank you very much. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Truly."
Toga's grin spread across his face. "No problemo, your highness. Helping you out was an honor for me."
"Um... Could you please just call me Ocy? A little off-putting to address me as your highness."
"Alright," Toga nods. "Then I shall, Lord Ocy," he said with conviction.
"But that's..."
Toga clenched his fist, eyes closed, and with determination, he shouted, "No. Lord Ocy won't do. You need a bigger name, a more majestic name! People will be brought to their knees by the majesty of the name! I shall call you..."
"You know what, let's stick with Lord Ocy," in panic, Ocy shouted.
"You sure?"
"YES."
Their long journey continues... The question is, however, where?
Let's go back to a couple of hours ago…
Early afternoon, back in the alley.
Toga faces a strange girl named Ocy with her odd request about saving the world from a bringer of disaster. Toga tilts his head and squints. He was more than a little offended, to say the least.
"Excuse me?" Toga gnarled.
Ocy answered, "Yes, saving the world. Ocy is on a mission," as she affirmed by displaying an artifact on her neck. It was shaped like an ape statue. It is necessary "to prevent this artifact from ending up in the wrong hands."
Toga tucked his arm and nodded sarcastically. "So, how do you 'secure' the artifact?"
"Ocy needs to reach a gardener. Grampa, the Kurcaci tribe's chief, claimed that their people knew how to permanently seal it."
"Huh-uh... I see." Toga nodded, and he placed his hands on his hip. "You're done?"
Ocy is confused, watching Toga frown at her.
"See, kid, using my name-calling as the 'Bringer of Disasters' in your role-play wasn't very creative; it hurts, you know? But, I admit your conviction to your character is good." Toga exclaimed, "Look at you, that make-up, ears, and eyes... girl, that's so convincing."
Ocy was startled when Toga attempted to touch her ear, and she quickly retreated. "Please, do not touch Ocy's ears."
Toga shook his head and said, "Alright, nothing to do here anymore. I should go home, and…" he sniffed his body. "Ugh, get a bath. A lot of baths."
As Toga procced to walk away, Ocy puts her arm up while chanting a spell. A magic circle is drawn from her fingertip. A school of fairy-sized mermaids jumped out of the magic circle, swimming around Toga.
While Toga is startled, the mermaids transform into water and surround him. For several minutes, they spun him like a washing machine, thoroughly cleaning every inch of his body. Every speck of dirt, dead skin, and sweat is cleaned.
Ocy clapped her hand when she'd had enough. Neither the magic circle nor the mermaids remained after their dispersal. Toga landed in clean conditions and also, surprisingly, smelled like flowers.
Ocy, with a big smile on her face, "Now Ocy has cleaned you. Listen, would you please?"
Toga looks at his body and turns to Ocy, who innocently stares at him.
"Okay. But could you answer my yes and no questions first?"
"Sure."
"That was magic?"
"Yes."
"This is not role-playing?"
"Yes."
"Is that a cosplay?"
"Cosplay?"
"Oh," Toga's eyes widened, "Could you give me 30 seconds?" he asked. I won't be going anywhere. I will stand here with my mind."
"Okay, Ocy's going to be patient."
Toga proceeded to internally scream inside his mind for 30 seconds and blew his mind with an imaginary nuke.
"Okay, I'm done, and so is my sanity, hehe." Toga seems calm on the outside, at least. "So, where were we?"
Ocy pulls a piece of paper with an address written on it, "Grampa gave Ocy this. The gardener's hub, according to him, is here. I'm hoping you can help me find my way there."
As soon as Toga saw the address, he knew right away that it was the warehouse of Garden Corp. "That's a bit far. I don't think I could help you, girl..." He looks at Ocy, showing his unwillingness.
Even so, Ocy persisted. She reached a pouch out of her pocket and then handed it over to Toga.
"Ocy will pay you. Please, I beg of you."
In his hand, Toga weighed the pouch, which he found to be surprisingly heavy for such a small bag. Slowly, he pulled the string to open it and saw... A dazzling golden shine from a pile of gold coins!
Toga began to shiver as soon as he opened his eyes. He is speechless, his mind goes blank, and his legs turn to jelly. Toga took the initiative to take one coin and bite it like how athlete bites their gold medal to test the authenticity of gold,
CLACK!
Yes. It was genuine gold, not a fake.
Ocy pulled on Toga's sleeve. "Ocy willing to pay you more if the sums are lacking," she offered another pouch of gold.
Toga let out a scream.
Shouted like a girl, startled Ocy with a high-pitched scream.
Inside Toga's mind, his logic has just got an uppercut by his greed and exploded to pieces. Sanity and reason are done, buried deep, 6 feet under. Toga's legs gave out, and he fell to his knees.
Toga groveled and cried, "YOUR HIGHNESS! YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND. HOW I CAN SERVE YOU!"
"Wait, what?" Ocy is baffled.
As a result, Toga rode his bike with Ocy to the location where they could find a gardener. Ride along a long road from the middle of the city to the middle of nowhere,
and finally…
Toga said as he parked his bike, "We're here.
In the dead of night, Toga and Ocy made their way to the front of an abandoned warehouse. Only the moonlight and a nearby street lamp pierced the darkness. Garden Corp's rusted billboard stands out against the partially collapsed perimeter wall and the overgrown vegetation that has nearly completely obscured everything.
"Are you sure?" asked Ocy.
"Come on," said Toga, pulling Ocy through the broken gate. "Unless Lord Ocy got a wrong address," he added.
They entered and saw the warehouse was still standing, albeit unmaintained. Before they walked inside looking for gardeners, Ocy flicked his hand and made an orb of light for a light source.
They're looking around the warehouse. Unfortunately, after hours of searching, there's nothing inside but empty crates, racks, and rusty crane pulleys. Nothing indicated that the location had been used in years.
"Has Lord Ocy discovered anything?"
Ocy sighed and looked disappointed as he sat on the crate. "Did Grandpa send Ocy to the wrong address?"
Toga is perplexed and feels sorry for Ocy. He sat and reassured her, "No need to worry, Lord. Maybe they were here but moved out somewhere else. Have you seen this place? It is a long way from anywhere. no public transport, no mini markets, and look," Toga showed his phone, "No internet."
"Internet?"
"My lord didn't know about the internet?"
Ocy's brow furrowed. "Yes, should Ocy know?"
"No, I wouldn't say that." As useful as it is, it tends to corrupt your mind and character," Toga admitted.
Ocy chuckled and said, "So strange."
They're laughing together. Ocy is finally in a good mood.
Toga pats her back gently. "All right, let's take a look around for any leads we can find. "Perhaps they left something behind if they were here."
Ocy nodded, "Okay."
They stood up and started to search again. While walking around the warehouse, Toga accidentally caught a glimpse at Ocy's artifact and felt something strange about it. As if the ape statue looked back at him. Curiosity surrounded his mind, so he asked,
"May I ask, what's 'the Bringer of Disaster'?"
Ocy came to a halt and took a position facing away from Toga. She fell silent for a moment before answering, "It's… a name of a raksasa."
"A raksasa?"
Turning around, Ocy faces Toga. She started explaining, "Raksasa is the name of a giant's tribe. Unlike other giants, raksasa has godly mystical prowess no mortal could rival, even gods hesitant to challenge them,
"One lived among the tribe who is both powerful and chaotic. One who buried an ocean and flooded the mountains only for enjoyment. One who is called the Bringer of Disaster."
Toga raised his eyebrow. "That sounds... ugly."
"It is… My ancestors sealed him away in the spirit realm to spare mortal realms from the terror. But unfortunately, it was never a permanent solution."
Toga gazed in awe as Ocy held out the artifact in her hand.
"Every prison has its lock, and this is what's keeping him in the spirit realm for thousands of years."
Toga is taking a closer look at the artifact. Hairline cracks in the green rock ape statue emit tiny green sparks.
"So, if this 'lock' broke, Sangkong will be free?"
"Yes, he shall return to the mortal realm once more and bring great catastrophes…." Ocy tucked the artifact into her arms. "This was our sacred duty for hundreds of generations to keep it safe."
Toga tucked his arms. "Then, why risk bringing it to earth-realm? I mean, it seems like you guys have done a good job protecting it so far, didn't you?"
"Well, we did," Ocy says, scratching her chin. "Not without setback."
Ocy sighed, "We're not a strong tribe, and our numbers have been depleted over the years. That is why we've been searching for a long-term solution."
Toga nodded. "It would be a huge relief if this gardener could give you one, wouldn't it?"
"Haha, yes." Ocy chuckled.
Ocy suddenly comes upon realization. She freezes in place as she stares at Toga, her brow furrowed. She tried to remember the whole conversation she had just had with Toga and found something amiss. There's something that shouldn't be said.
Ocy asked, "Mr. Toga Satria… How do you know the real name of 'The Bringer of Disaster' is Sangkong? I never told you."
Toga raises his eyebrows. "You didn't?"
Upon realizing Toga's eyes had turned green and glowed with green light, Ocy's mouth dropped open.
Terrified, Ocy took a step back. Toga quickly followed and attempted to grab Ocy. Before Ocy could react as Toga's hands were about to touch her and her artifact, a blinding light shone thru between the gap of the warehouse's roof….,
KABOOM!!
Suddenly, from the sky, a massive light beam struck the warehouse, setting it ablaze.
Engulfed everything in the fire, melted the steel beam, and blasted them away. Black smoke rises from where the warehouse is. As it spread, the blaze destroyed everything in its path.
In the curtain of fire and smoke, a white cape fluttered. The knight climbed to his knees and leaned his sledgehammer on his shoulder as his shiny steel armor reflected the roaring fire.
The hero has arrived.
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