Chapter 1: Not so Regular First Meeting.
[Edited: Nov 16 '13.] by natedeanmaan from FF.net
Like all stories, this one began on a nice sunny day. Perfect for all sorts of outdoor activities, for example, spending the day in the local park and just enjoy the day away.
Everyone who did that day to the park was doing just that, enjoying the warmth the sun provided and the cool breeze of the blowing wind. Yep, today everyone was having a great and relaxing time at the park...except…
"This place is extensively massive!" thought a very tired girl walking through the park carrying her luggage: a backpack and a duffle bag; and both were very heavy.
*Sigh* "How much longer is this going to take?" She had been walking through this place for around 30 minutes in a straight line and she still hasn't found her destination.
"My legs hurt…" It didn't help that she had been carrying the luggage way before entering the place. She was regretting not calling for a taxi to drive her all the way inside the park.
"I need to rest for a while…" she said out loud before looking around for a place to rest. The search didn't last long, because nearby, there was an unoccupied bench right beside a tree, which provided a nice shade. "Ah-ha! Perfect!"
Once she placed her luggage on the bench, the girl sat next to it and rested her aching legs. "I'll just rest here for a while." She wasn't exactly in a hurry, but she always prided herself to always be on time. "Only for 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops."
She needed to meet with the park manager to discuss the reason for her visit. She was sent by the California Institute of Technology in order to research the supposed strange phenomena that plagued the park.
Apparently, there have been eye witnesses that claimed to have seen black holes and/or wormholes forming out of nowhere and without logical reason.
She didn't quite believe the stories herself, but some strange energy readings caught by satellites in space showed that there was definitely something going on here.
Though the owner of the park had given permission to the university (in exchange remuneration of course), but still, she needed to talk to the manager in charge to discuss her 'living arrangements'.
She had heard that there were living quarters for stay-in groundskeepers, so maybe she could get a room there, but she was also prepared for the possibility of having to raise a camp with several tents to serve as her mini-research lab.
Right now, it wasn't time to start worrying. She had already rehearsed what she was going to say, and prepared for any possibility she could think of to not mess this up.
All she needed to do was to relax and rest to regain enough energy to keep on her walk.
The girl took very deep breaths and tried to relax as much as possible. She had read before that deep breathing was a very common technique for relaxation that helped with aching muscles.
After the tenth breath she was sure she returned to breath normally and felt the aches in her legs fading away.
"What a nice day..." she thought while closing her eyes. "It reminds me of home."
Home, despite being just a few weeks since she traveled all the way to California, she missed her home and friends. "I wonder how everyone back at home are doing."
Surely everyone was busy doing what they loved. AJ working of the fields with her family, harvesting apples and making sweet apple cider; Rare busy with her latest designs for the summer and several customers happy with her dresses; 'shy taking care of her animal friends or probably in another rally for the protection of the environment; Dash training hard in keeping in shape for the next soccer tournament, or marathon, or any other kind of sport related event; And Pinkie…
"Isn't Pinkie living somewhere in the San Fernando Valley? I should probably visit her once I have some free time." They weren't really that far apart, a 1 to 2 hour trip. She only hoped her business here wouldn't leave her time to go and visit her friend. "Knowing her, she would throw a big party just for me."
With her eyes closed and lost in thought, the girl couldn't help but nod off and fall asleep.
"Ugh!' Mordecai complained for the tenth time that day. He was usually a laid-back guy who tried to live life as chill as possible, but right now he was irritated and driving around carelessly through the park.
Why you ask? Well, earlier today, Benson, the park manager, needed someone to deliver some kind of parcel outside of the park. Usually Benson would've sent Muscle Man or Fives, but since they were taking a lunch break, he had to delegate the task to Mordecai and Rigby. And of course, Benson had to interrupt them in the middle of their video game and tell them that he was going to fire them if they didn't do it.
Rigby, being his lazy ass self, moaned in protest and tried to slack off as always, but Mordecai, the more responsible of the two, tried to convince him to get up from the couch and help him do it.
In the end, Rigby talked him into playing their game in 'versus' mode and the loser would have to do the chore alone. Foolishly, Mordecai accepted thinking he could win, considering that Rigby has always been a lousy player. But that sneaky bastard had to cheat, making Mordecai do the chore alone.
"Damn you Rigby, you cheater..." muttered a clearly annoyed blue haired guy driving a golf cart through the park.
He wasn't angry for having to do the chore alone, the delivery was easy to accomplish on his own. He was angry at Rigby for his cheating.
But looking at the bright side he could drive the golf cart at his own leisure. Even so, Rigby was so going to get it once Mordecai made it back to the house.
"Man, I'm thirsty…" it seems his retribution against his best friend would have to wait for now, as the tall bluenette stopped at a nearby drinking fountain.
"Mmm...that's good." He said after he finished his sips. It was no soda, but it would have to do for the meantime.
As he was about to hop back into the cart, he noticed someone sitting on a park bench a few meters across from him.
It was a girl, and by what he could tell, a cute one at that. She had long blue hair, but instead of azure like his, hers was more like darkish sapphire with two long colorful streaks of violet and pink. Strangely enough, these three colors blended perfectly with each other.
As for clothes, she was wearing a light mulberry sweater vest over a long sleeved white blouse, combined with a dark blue skirt, black knee high socks and brown shoes.
She was a peculiar sight indeed. Adding to this, was the fact that she had fallen asleep while she was sitting on the bench, next to what Mordecai assumed to be her stuff.
The girl looked very peaceful, he almost didn't want to wake her up, but he couldn't leave her asleep and all alone, who knows what could happen to her. She could be attacked by a weirdo, despite it being the middle of the day.
As soon as that thought came to his mind, Mordecai noticed a shady looking guy approaching the girl from behind.
"HEY! WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU!" Mordecai yelled out trying to wake up the defenseless, unconscious girl. Luckily his yell made the girl wake up startled; unfortunately for them, the shady guy continued his mugging and took off with one of the girl's bags.
"He-hey! Thief! THIEF!" she screamed out at the rapidly retreating guy, who sped off like a devil. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, someone just stole from her and right in the middle of the day. "STOP!" She yelled again, but to no avail. It seemed that the thief was going to get away with her stuff.
Then the girl felt a very fast object pass right next to her, it was a golf cart going right after the thief!
Mordecai was really mad now. Sure he was annoyed with Rigby and his cheating, but this was a whole other level. He couldn't stand seeing scum like that steal from unsuspecting innocent people, which really pissed him off.
"You're not going to get away with this, dude!" He yelled at the surprisingly fast guy, not even the big bag seemed to be slowing him down.
The angry groundskeeper stepped on the gas pedal with all his strength, making the small engine roar like an untamed beast. It was surprising just how a few small modifications to the engine could make such a small vehicle run like a normal car.
Thanks Skips
Though the thief was unnaturally fast for a normal human being, his body couldn't keep up with the fast pace and began slowing down, making Mordecai catch up in an instant.
"Now I got you dude!" Mordecai said as he jumped out of the golf cart and tackled the thief into the grassy ground. Unfortunately for him, the added momentum from the cart made his fall a lot more painful for him and the thief.
"Ow...Bad idea…" He didn't know it would hurt this bad. All those action movies lied to him.
"Man, what the heck is your problem?" the thief shouted in anger as he stood up from the ground. "Piss off, I don't have time to deal with a loser like you!" The thief was ready to pick up the stolen goods and resume his escape, but he was intercepted by the bluenette's fist.
"So, this is what you want, eh? Well don't say I didn't give you the chance to leave." The thief said while rubbing his cheek where the groundskeeper punched him.
In the blink of an eye, the dude delivered a fast fist into Mordecai's torso, followed by a punch in the face when the tall bluenette bent down. Surprisingly, Mordecai didn't fall, instead he stood up with a serious look on his face, as if the punches hadn't affected him.
"My turn!" He quipped back before retaliating using his superior height and longer reach to deliver fast and powerful strikes to his opponent.
Although Mordecai was a very laid-back person, he had his fair share of fighting experience, mostly because Rigby got them into trouble in high school. Let's just say, he wouldn't have made it past third grade if it weren't for Mordecai.
The burglar was shocked by Mordecai's strength. How can a guy so lanky, possibly be this strong. No matter how many punches he delivered, the blue head showed no sign of pain. Was this guy even human?
What the burglar didn't know was that Mordecai really felt those punches, every single one of them. But no matter how much they hurt, he held back from showing a single sign of being in pain.
It was a psychological that really threw people out of balance, making them feel instinctively weaker and powerless against a seemingly stronger opponent. Who knew that watching documents about famous boxers one sleepless night would really pay off.
Now all that Mordecai needed was for the perfect opportunity to present itself to finish this off. He didn't have to wait much longer, since the guy was getting sloppier by the second.
"There! Right there!" he screamed in his mind when the dude threw what looked like a very avoidable punch. Regrettably, Mordecai miscalculated his distance and the punch ended up brushing his nose.
But being someone who didn't give up that easily (or at least when it wasn't work related) he continued to push forward and struck back half a second later with a powerful counter.
The exchange of blows ended with Mordecai standing over the unconscious form of the thief.
The groundskeeper walked away from the thief, who wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, picked up the duffel bag and swung it onto his shoulders. But that turned out to be a bad idea, because the bag turned out to be way heavier than it looked and with the damage he sustained in the fight, he ended up stumbling to the ground below.
"HEY! ARE YOU OKAY?" Mordecai heard a feminine voice call out for him. As he turned his head, he saw the approaching form of the girl from earlier.
Once the girl reached to where he was, she kneeled down beside him and noticed the state he was in. "You...you're bleeding!" she said with obvious shock and worry in her voice.
"Eh?" was his eloquent response. The blue head reached towards his face, but instantly removed his hand after he felt a jolt of pain originate from his nose. Then he felt a wet sensation on his hand.
It was blood. His blood.
That last punch in the face must have broken his nose or something,
"Please don't touch your nose." She kind of ordered, but it sounded more like a plea than a request. "Please let me take care of it." The girl quickly went for her bag and took out a small box with a red cross on it, A first aid kit.
Before he could ask her about it, she answered with a more calmed voice than before. "Don't worry! I know what I'm doing." She had gone to those first aid classes her friend Fluttershy insisted on everyone of her friends to take all those years ago.
Now it was time to take those lessons into practice.
With a wet wipe, she carefully cleaned off the blood right below his nose, making sure not to touch it. Once the blood was off, she examined the protuberance,
As she worked, Mordecai kept his eyes closed trying to relax his face as much as he could so he wouldn't tense it and make his injury worse.
"Hmm… it is a little swollen, but the bleeding appears to have stopped, and… the nasal spectrum doesn't seem crooked or out of place…" she relayed her observations to him. "Do you feel like fainting? Numbness in the arms? Neck pain? Blurred vision? Headache?" She shot question after question like she was reading from a checklist.
"Hmm… no, no, not really, nope and slight dizziness." He answered her questions in order, still with his eyes closed.
"It doesn't look like you have to go to the hospital." She said with a much more relaxed tone, much to the relief of the groundskeeper. "You'll have to hold some ice packs to your nose for 20 minutes for every 2 to 3 hours for a few days, and sleep facing up, but other than that, you'll be fine."
"What a relief… Thank you very…" He stopped in mid sentence when he noticed the girl looking into the first aid kit once more. "What are you…?" And once again, he didn't finish his sentence, but this time it was because of pain after she put something on his nose. "Ow! What was that for?"
"There! A nose band-aid!" She clarified for him. "Just a precaution."
"Thanks once again!" he said while finally having a clear view of her face for the very first time.
"No, thank you for getting back my bag." She replied back looking back at him.
All of a sudden, time seemed to have stopped the exact moment their eyes met. Clear blue met moderate violet in a moment which lasted mere seconds, but it felt like hours between the two. Their eyes moved away from each other and took in the features of the person in front of them.
Mordecai had already seen her from afar and called her cute, but now that he got a good look at her, he realized that his description came up short. She was more than cute, she was really pretty. No, gorgeous.
At the same time, she too was taking a good look at him.
He had two-toned hair, azure over black roots, a very peculiar combination of colors that blended perfectly. And despite his injury, she could tell that he had a very boyish face, making him look young, but still handsome.
She also noticed the way he was dressed: A blue and white hoodie over a plain white t-shirt, black cargo pants and blue sneakers. It reminded her of the the way many guys dress up in High School. Like a Skater Boy, or something similar.
After a few more seconds of silence, they both realized that they were staring at each other and looked away to the side.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to stare." The flustered girl apologized still looking away, and with a small tint of red on her cheeks.
"No problem…" replied the equally flustered man as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm glad you patched me up, I really do want to go to the hospital." Mordecai said the first thing that came to his mind. He really wasn't sure what to say, but he didn't want to fall into an awkward silence either.
"It's the least I could do after you retrieved my bag…" She began saying, but she slightly trailed off when she saw the state he was in. His hands looked hurt and bruises were beginning to appear.
"You shouldn't have bothered…" She whispered with a down look on her face. It was her fault he was in pain right now.
"Hey, hey, don't be sad! It's not your fault! It was his." The groundskeeper said looking at the thief still on the grass. "I can't stand guys like that. Glad I could teach him a lesson. Now he'll have to think twice before trying to steal from a cute girl again."
The girl couldn't help but blush at that last part. "Did… did he just call me cute?" No guy has ever called her that since she broke up with her first and last boyfriend, Flash.
The blue haired guy then stood up from the ground, showing how tall he really was. He was 6'4" tall (1.95 m), a whole foot (30 cm) taller than her.
Come on, lets get out of here." He suggested, as he bent down and picked up the heavy bag for her. "Where are you headed? Maybe I can take you there." God, the bag sure was heavy! How could she be carrying it all by herself?
"Hmm… I'm supposed to meet with the park manager… Do you know where I can find him?" She explained still surprised at his full height. She had never been near a person this tall before.
"The park manager?" Mordecai thought out loud for a second. "Oh, you mean Benson! Yeah, I know him. He's my boss." Oh crap! Benson! He was going to be so angry at him for taking so long to return from his chore.
"Really? That's great! Could you take me to him, I need to speak to him." She couldn't believe her luck. Not only did he help her by stopping the thief, but he could also help her get to her destination.
"Yeah, just let me get the golf cart and I'll… WHAT THE H!" Mordecai yelled when he saw what happened to the cart after he jumped out of it. Apparently, the golf cart continued its path and with no one behind the wheel, it ended up flipping upside down and rolled over crashing into a tree.
If Benson wasn't going to fire him before, now he was surely going to do so once he sees the state the cart is in.
Mordecai turned his head and saw the girl looking at him with eagerness in her eyes. Sighing in defeat, Mordecai walked towards the cart and turned it back up.
He couldn't escape from this or try to get the golf cart fixed now. He had to take her to see Benson. The groundskeeper only hoped that his boss would be lenient with him.
After setting the duffel bag on the back seat, followed by the backpack, Mordecai sat on the driver seat, while the girl sat next to him as his copilot.
"Thank you for everything you have done for me, Mr…" The girl began thanking him, only to realize that she didn't know his name.
Catching on quickly, Mordecai turned towards her and introduced himself. "Oh, yeah! The name's Quintel. Mordecai Jay Quintel. Just call me Mordecai, everyone else does." Really, it would be weird if someone called him Mr. Quintel or something. That was his father, not him.
"My name is Tara. Tara Sparkle, but my friends call me Twilight." She introduced herself too.
"Nice to meet you Twilight."
"Nice to meet you too Mordecai!"