Krupczak.org - User contributions [en]

Talk:Atlantis

2008-09-29T02:25:56Z

Will:

(brandon) Hello, all accessing this web page. That means you have an account! Congrats!

Now here's a little on how to work this page. The main article page is where most of the writing will take place, where the heroic story goes on. I'll add a new link to a new page when we need it for a new chapter. Here, this page, the discussion page, is where most if not all of the discussion will take place. Now, with a couple different people talking on the same page, its difficult to tell who's who. So, when you start typing, put your name in parentheses (these things () that are really cool like I just did) and then start typing whatever you wish to type.

On this page is where we talk, about the plot, characters, and just anything in general. Another lesson.

NO INDENTING IS REQUIRED ON A WIKI. In order to start a new line, press enter twice. If you only press it once, then your line will seemingly start a line below in the edit format, but in the actual reading format it will appear as part of the original line.

That brings up something else. To edit this page, click on the little button that says edit next to the discussion button at the top of the bar once you are logged in.

Simple, right?

Now, we'll probably be talking alot, so to make sure we don't crash the page with too many entries, I'll put up a new section whenever the previous one is getting full. To edit just one section instead of the entire page (recommended if you don't want to crash you machine) click on the edit button next to the section name, again once you are logged in.

Example:

==Section 1 (example section)==

Alright.

Just a few updated ideas that I randomly came up with over the course of a couple weeks or so. Feel free to laugh at any and all of them.

1) The crew (That's Scar, Holly, and Matt) each have specialized armor sets custom-tailored for different environments, such as one for Desert-ops, one for Arctic-weather-ops, and one for Space-ops (there will probably be a scene in some part of the book where at least one of the crew will be sent on a mission to the International Space Station, which I will determine later).

The general-purpose assault armor has a hard, bullet-proof-ceramic plating shell on the torso, with similar pieces as upper arm guards, gauntlets, upper and lower leg guards, and helmet. The gauntlet has a slot that contains a medium-sized, potently lethal double-edged knife that can be ejected rapidly on a spring and then retracted with an internal mechanism (original idea comes from the PS3 game ''Assassin's Creed'') or pulled out and used manually.

Helmet has integrated HUD (heads-up display), comm. system, Friend or Foe (FOF) monitor, and Global Access Command Board (GACB) that links the individual soldier to the rest of his/her squad, regiment, brigade, etc. and lists available air, ground, and Naval support options.

Also, the Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem (WPSMS, which is an actual military technology) can monitor the vital signs of a soldier, such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, hydration and stress levels, and workload capacity, as well as automatically notify Medics and Commanders if a soldier is wounded or fatigued. Furthermore, in the book (thanks to Dr. Stephens's handiwork) the WPSMS will have a built in Morphine (a potent pain-killer drug) injector and store a small bladder of other medications according to the combat conditions that can be fed into the soldier's bloodstream.

The armor is comprised of multiple layers;

The outer shell, which is made of thin but hard and bullet-proof ceramic plates coated in "Shear-Thickening Liquid" (See Wikipedia; Liquid Armor) that is sprayed onto the plates and a special bullet/fragment proof weave of M5 Fiber that makes up the non-plated area of the armor. Also, in the middle part of the ceramic plating is a layer of Static Gel that absorbs and disperses kinetic energy from the impact of a bullet or other projectile;

Second, the power-centric layer houses a Micro Turbine fueled by a miniature fusion cell (did I mention, thanks to Dr. Stephens, Fusion power is reality?) that can supply power for up to a week of continuous use;

Third, the Thermal Micro-climate Condition Subsytem layer houses narrow tubing that can provide heating or cooling to the soldier. This is where the auto-medication-dispensers is housed.

2) The US military has their second-largest Air Force base in the Azores mountain range, which is part of Atlantis. When Atlantis resurfaces, the base rises along with Atlantis, and the US launches its first assault from up there. The Azores are on the Northern end of the island. In the war campaign, USA forces will attempt to push their way South from the Air Force base and procure a foothold at a lower elevation. At the part of the war the crew is introduced to, the Military has built three such bases, plus the already established Air Force base: A Naval base in the middle of a lake, a USMC stronghold guarding the Western frontier at the edge of the Azores, and an US Army stronghold guarding the Eastern frontier at the edge of the Azores (see map to be roughly sketched later).

3)Really, in the writing, I need to describe more thoroughly how much power a gun holds. A gun can take somebody's life, can actually ''kill'' a person, so that they aren't in the world anymore. That's a powerful piece of hardware, and I haven't emphasized that enough.

4) Some plant life includes cycads, bennettitaleans, ginkgoes, pine, and fir trees, as well as swamp cypresses.

5) One of the main SMGs used is the Pulse R71 SMG. In addition, the FN P90 USG, LWRC Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and LWRC PDC are also good candidates for weaponry used by standard infantry and vehicle crews especially.

6) Change the perspective of the combat. Nature (dinos) are in control. You just don't dispute that when you're staring down a Rex or Raptor or Dilo. You're pretty much dead. And also, Raptors are intelligent pack hunters. A classic ambush pattern would be for one to distract and cut off the path in front while two others come in from the sides, attempting to catch you unawares. If there are enough Raptors, they can use advanced tactics, such as sending two more around to the rear as backup and cut-off.

Another classic hunt-pattern would be for one or two Raptors to herd a group of people or other prey to the edge of a hill or other elevation. Post one or two Raptors at either side of the hill and post another two on top of the hill as Overwatch and backup.

Of course, no matter how smart Raptors were, they still weren't and aren't as smart as humans. When a group of soldiers is confronted with Raptors, it becomes a frantic race; flank, counter-flank, out-flank, ''kill''. Usually, Raptors still win. It might have something to do with the enormous 6 inch claws that are on each hand and foot. Or maybe its that they're abnormally strong. Being able to run as fast as a cheetah and jump 12 feet in the air might do it as well. Just a thought.

7) Atlantis is a tropical paradise, if you take away all the battle and bloodthirsty dinos. And that raises item # 8:

8) In real life, carnivores wouldn't attack every human that came their way. They'd kill their share of meat and eat it, but leave the rest for scavengers. Since they've been on the same island as humans (albiet Atlantians who are extremely gifted warriors/hunters/people in general), somewhere along the line they must have realized that people are easy to kill and eat. It's not as difficult to kill a human as it is to kill a Stegosaurus. The exception to this is a Raptor. Raptors kill for fun, just as humans do. So they ''will'' attack any human that comes their way.

9) Call signs. The military uses call signs to distinguish different squads. A couple examples: "Sierra", "Sigma", "Scarecrow", "Outlaw", "Phoenix"

10) The Atlantian's version of America's Bald Eagle is a Phoenix, which is indigenous (native) to the island. Yes, a Phoenix, like in Harry Potter. But these Phoenixes are the original pyrokinesis users. The ability to control fire started with them, and the Atlantians learned from the Phoenix how to control fire. They're limited with it, but some of their High Priests can, as well as their king, a descendant of King Minos.

Still working on what the original controllers for geo, hydro, and aerokinesis were.

11) Have an action scene on the top of a semi-truck, like in The Matrix

12) Cover art for the first book: a Phoenix, circled in gold-orange flames, with the main characters built up below and in front of it in a row, arranged according to importance. In the first book, Scarlett (whose personality is based on the delightfully cheerful Emma Reifenberger [did I spell that correctly?]) will be the main character. Scar will be in front, Holly (with the personality of the lovely Wellie Delmer) will be directly to her right, Matt (played by grumpy ol' Brandon Krupczak lol) will be on her left, Kate Alabaster (thanks to the cheery Madeline Hill) directly beside Matt, and Dr. Stephens, whom we still need a first name for (Thanks to the dedicated and impossible-to-be-mad-at-for-more-than-an-hour Stephen Borrelli), will be directly beside Holly.

In the second book, it will change, and Holly will be the main character. The cover art for this book will be the emblazoned title ''Harvest Reaper'' with a grain field under it and a squad of soldiers back-to-back with weapons facing outward in the field, with the shadowy Grim Reaper lurking beside them, unseen. This time the same row of characters is below the grain field, but this time with Holly in the center and the others arranged behind and beside her.

In the third book, I may or may not be the main character, I'm not sure. I haven't gotten around to cover art or a title for the third book, but the title will be something related to water or the Ocean if I'm gonna be the main character for that book. Cover art might be a soldier's helmet resting on the beach with blood dots next to it and the tide coming in. It might also be a rifle stuck in the sand with the helmet on top of it and the surf coming up. The rifle and helmet is the traditional grave marker for a serviceman who has died in the field and had to be buried in a hurry.

13) Certain leaves of certain trees on Atlantis can be used and digested through the appendix (just a bit of quick background, the appendix is a digestive organ that hasn't been used for centuries in humans. It is believed by scientists to have been once used to help digest leaves or other plants in the Neolithic Era [cavemen times], although now the appendix is not used for anything in the modern human.) to temporarily augment psychokinetic powers.

14) Another kind of psychokinetic power is to absorb the energy out of living organisms, like in Christopher Paolini's ''Eldest''. The restraint for this is that to absorb the energy, firstly the victim must have active psi abilities and you must enter the mind of the supposed victim. All people with psi abilities can shield their minds from mental invasion, and as such in order to absorb psi energy you would have to breech the defenses of the victim's mind.

15) The Egyptian Pyramids are actually of Atlantian design, and were built for Pharaohs as a sign of thanks for services that were delivered from Egypt to Atlantis. Also, the Pyramids were a symbol of Atlantian authority to the people of Egypt, as Atlantis was the ruler of most of the world. They had also discovered the Americas in 11,000 B.C. and the Amazons were a previously Atlantian culture. The Amazons once belonged to an Atlantian colony, but they rebelled and won independence, just like our own Revolutionary War.

16) Atlantis had colonies and military/religious outposts in most of the world. Crete was an Atlantian colony overseen by king Minos, the oracle of Delphi was an Atlantian priest, Bermuda triangle is an Atlantian military Naval outpost that exists to this day and is the explanation for so many lost ships/planes, Nazca Lines was a religious sign/gate of some kind (I'm still working on a good theory for the book on the Nazca Lines), Bimini Road was a path that led from the Bermuda Triangle to another Atlantian supply depot.

17) The "Spaceman" carving in Chichen Itza is actually a carving of an Atlantian diver

18) Atlantians invented a non-volatile and environmentally friendly power source that provides the same amount of energy as fusion (still working on the idea for what kind of power source).

19) Atlantians were extremely advanced for their time, and they invented air and marine travel. For air travel, they took their power source and combined it with glider-type craft at first to make powered gliders, and later used Titanium and Orichalcum from the ore deposits on Atlantis to make a true metal aircraft and armed it with unguided bombs made of a gun-powder like substance obtained from certain trees on Atlantis inside a hard-clay casing for the world's first bomb. They also made a sort of rifle like the early Chinese "Firesticks" that shot a variety of projectiles for the world's first single-shot rifle. On their aircraft, they made a 5-barreled version of their rifle and wired it into the nose of the aircraft, setting up an automatic projectile loader for the world's first Gatling gun. They then dominated the skies and controlled the land through this means.

Their war-subs and warships also were equipped with early cannon that fired more clay balls with the gunpowder substance inside, using their power source as a launcher. It could launch a projectile up to 2000 feet without breaking the cases of the cannon balls upon launching. They also outfitted their warships with battering rams on the prow of the ship that held the gunpowder substance in the wood that would explode upon impact with another boat. They shaped the charges by putting the sap of a certain plant in the rod at the back, so that the explosion rebounded off this hardened sap (amber) and was force out the narrow ram into the enemy boat.

The 5-barrled Gatling guns were used as well on their warships.

20) A dinosaur named Seismosaurus weighed up to 100 tons.

21) Incan pyramids were variants of Atlantian pyramids, and the designers were the Amazons. The two pyramids were similar because as mentioned before, the Amazons came out of the Atlantians.

22) Atlantian rule was overthrown for multiple reasons. Firstly, a comet impact that created what is now Hudson Bay wiped out most of the shore-dwelling, intelligent humans at around 9000 B.C. The dramatic change in climate and spin in the Earth's rotation caused a series of chain reactions that devastated the globe. Atlantis, the continent, used their power source to fuel their High Priests and give them psi energy so that they could erect massive psi-shields around the entire continent and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The continent sank beneath the sea due to inordinate amounts of volcanic and seismic activity, with only its psi-shields to protect it. The High Priests had almost been wiped out, because the psi shields they made would last for thousands of years, and they had put a ''lot'' of energy into it, and most of them had died by giving too much energy. Only one remained to teach a new generation of priests and pass the sacred secrets, etc.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dying out, the Dinosaurs all become extinct due to changing conditions. The only people to survive are the once-Atlantian colonists of Crete, now called Minoans (this is where 5th Grade at Trinity comes in handy) and the peoples in Africa at the cradle of life (which also happens to be an Atlantian colony).

As the humans re-populate the Earth as the dominant life form, the Minoans, who are now a shadow of themselves and there former power, are wiped out by a couple of factors; one, the volcanic island of Thera erupts, causing massive tsunamis, etc. (if you really want to know what happened, I can give you my Capstone presentation some time) and Crete is devastated. Years later, the Mycennaeans find the Minoan culture to have been devastated and they conquer it in its weakened state. Then they rebuild, become the Greeks, and do all that Greek stuff that we learned about in 5th grade.

Happy with my explanation of events for the book? Confusing? I'll have to call all you guys later to explain it, probably. I only understand about half of what I just wrote, and I made #22 up completely on the fly. Wow. Am I good or what?

Oh just a random note this armor I'm talking about in the first part? Yeah, its all part of the US Military's Future Force Warrior program. The armor system itself is my own idea, but I've been referencing Wikipedia (I've had a window open to it this whole time lol) and used their explanation of the Future Force Warrior to aid in my own.

Whew! That was the longest entry I've ever done! Hope you enjoy!

(brandon)

Okay, just a few more war ideas I came up with over the past night and morning. I've continued the numbering down from the entry above.

23) Troy (also known as Illia) is an Atlantian military outpost that survived to the late Greek-Bronze stages and was besieged by the Greeks.

24) Atlantians taught the early ascendants of Greeks how to use advanced weapons, armor, and advanced metal working techniques. The crown achievement was the Dendra Panoply, a suit of armor made of 15 overlapping sheets of metal, in this case bronze, that defied arrows. It is actually a real thing found by Swedish archeologists at the site of Troy.

25) Atlantians had tanks made of iron/titanium and had their early cannon and Gatling guns as armaments. The tanks had room for 10 soldiers, kind of like an armored war chariot.

26) Atlantian War Fiber, like modern Kevlar (again a real thing) that also defied arrows except at point blank range.

27) Figure-8 shaped shields with spikes on the front (see sketch, not online yet).

28) Special soldiers were incased in the Dendra Panoply armor (search for photos online at Historychannel.com) that was made of Orichalcum/Titanium

29) Dilophosaur venom was extracted and spread on swords, spears, spikes on shields, etc.

30) ancient Atlantian hand grenades, two kinds; High Explosive/Fragmentation grenades (composed of clay vessels with their gunpowder-substance on the inside) and Napalm grenades (clay vessels filled with Greek Fire).

31) Their almighty power source is a little weird. Its a giant Diamond thats like 50 cubic feet that was imbibed with vast amounts of psychological energy from a psi-well (Stonehenge) when their volcanoe erupted and for some reason forced out energy from the psi-well. Gems, especially precious ones, collect and store psi energy better than any other substance, like in Eragon/Eldest. Their mobile power sources are smaller gems that have been found and imbibed with energy from the large gem. They can then harness the power from the gem to power their technology. That one I'm a little finicky about cause it sounds great in your head but really bad on paper.

And thats all for now folks. Be sure to read my previous entry as well and tell me what you think of it.

(w, will not wellie) sorry 4 breakin ur rules or whatever Brandon. Just wanted to compliment you on the fresh start. It's actually turning out better than the first failed attempt...
...and that wasn't sarcasm!!!

What the deuce you think it's sarcasm! It's not!

It's true, we couldn't work well together. And, by the way, if you want me to make a sketch of the number 12 you can say so here... JUST A SKETCH...

And, the truth is, I miss working on Atlantis and I see actually where you were coming from more now in our first book. So, really, if you need any help...

and, also, AGAIN... about the Bermuda triangle, i was watching the history channel and they said/proved/had evidence that huge gas bubbles that rise from deep underwater (I forgot how these bubbles occured; I think it had something to do with underwater volcanoes) can sink ships... even enormous ships. And, the explanation for the downed planes near the Bermuda triangle was that the methane gas released from the bubbles got caught in the planes' engines, and since gas is flammable, well... BOOM! Not saying that you can't have an Atlantian naval base be the reason for this, but I just thought that this was interesting and you might want to know.

(brandon) Thank ya' kindly for the offer, but we're all set in that department. Thanks as well for the flammable methane gas thingy, but that's not as cool as an outpost surviving to this day. Again, thanks, but we're all set, and I don't think we need any more help. I've already got a lot of people helping.

To the rest of the peoples on this site, a little revision of a previous idea;

With the dudes in the Dendra Panoply armor? They're the royal guard dudes. For weaponry, they've got a decorative halbred (talk to me later if you don't know what that is) as a main weapon. Their secondary weapon is some kind of Submachine-gun, or SMG. Again, tell me if you don't know what that is and I'll explain later.

Ookay, these Royal Guard dudes are, duh, royal guards. They protect the palace and other important areas on Atlantis and are the most skilled of warriors. Sometimes they're deployed for battle, in which case they trade out their usual weapons for a Medium Machine Gun, or MMG. Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs) are too heavy to be carried by a person and so are mounted on vehicles and such. As it is, MMGs usually are used by two people, but these Royal Guards will be the exception cause they're awesome. Also, people, PLEASE make sure to read my previous entries cause I'm pretty sure no one has yet.

(brandon) okay, this question is to all the girls reading this. For the different books, I'd like to do a 1st Person perspective. Since I'm new to writing and I kinda suck, first person would make it a lot easier on me. If we do first person, I'd like it to follow with the main character. What that means is that in the first book, ''Phoenix Rising'', the book would be told mainly from the perspective of Scar (Emma). In the second book, ''Harvest Reaper'', the book would be told mainly from the perspective of Holly (Wellie). In the third book, not yet named, It'd be from Matt's (mine obviously) perspective. Problem is, I know nothing about writing from the perspective of a girl.

So if we were to do first person, well... It'd be weird for me, and I'd need more help from you, Emma, from you, Wellie, and from you, Madeline.

On a somewhat different track, I came up with the an extension of the 'original controller' idea. Everyone remember Poseidon, the greek god of the sea? Well, he just happened to make earthquakes as well, which would signify geokinesis. So I got to thinking, what if the original water controller is also the original Geo-controller? And the only mythic creature I could come up with for this was the Kraken, or Kracken. For the original air controller... come on, you can guess, yes, the phoenix. The phoenix will be the orignial controller (OC from now on) of fire ''and'' air.

As always, read everything above this post, etc, etc. You know the drill.

(brandon) Okay, I'm obligated to tell you, Will, that I'd love to see a little sketchy thing of item 12 on the list. It'd look very cool to see it come to life. So, eh, if you still wanted to help, you could sketch a little thingy or something. We could put it up on the main page if you wanted.

(will) that's ok, I actually don't think i have time now that the schoolyear has started (plus on the weekends, when I do have a ''little'' free time, I am probably gonna be reading Brisingr, so... sorry I said I would in the first place). Just because we aren't working on Atlantis together doesn't mean we can't be friends... just food for thought.

Talk:Atlantis

2008-07-24T00:18:44Z

Will: /* Section 1 (example section) */

(brandon) Hello, all accessing this web page. That means you have an account! Congrats!

Now here's a little on how to work this page. The main article page is where most of the writing will take place, where the heroic story goes on. I'll add a new link to a new page when we need it for a new chapter. Here, this page, the discussion page, is where most if not all of the discussion will take place. Now, with a couple different people talking on the same page, its difficult to tell who's who. So, when you start typing, put your name in parentheses (these things () that are really cool like I just did) and then start typing whatever you wish to type.

On this page is where we talk, about the plot, characters, and just anything in general. Another lesson.

NO INDENTING IS REQUIRED ON A WIKI. In order to start a new line, press enter twice. If you only press it once, then your line will seemingly start a line below in the edit format, but in the actual reading format it will appear as part of the original line.

That brings up something else. To edit this page, click on the little button that says edit next to the discussion button at the top of the bar once you are logged in.

Simple, right?

Now, we'll probably be talking alot, so to make sure we don't crash the page with too many entries, I'll put up a new section whenever the previous one is getting full. To edit just one section instead of the entire page (recommended if you don't want to crash you machine) click on the edit button next to the section name, again once you are logged in.

Example:

==Section 1 (example section)==

Alright.

Just a few updated ideas that I randomly came up with over the course of a couple weeks or so. Feel free to laugh at any and all of them.

1) The crew (That's Scar, Holly, and Matt) each have specialized armor sets custom-tailored for different environments, such as one for Desert-ops, one for Arctic-weather-ops, and one for Space-ops (there will probably be a scene in some part of the book where at least one of the crew will be sent on a mission to the International Space Station, which I will determine later).

The general-purpose assault armor has a hard, bullet-proof-ceramic plating shell on the torso, with similar pieces as upper arm guards, gauntlets, upper and lower leg guards, and helmet. The gauntlet has a slot that contains a medium-sized, potently lethal double-edged knife that can be ejected rapidly on a spring and then retracted with an internal mechanism (original idea comes from the PS3 game ''Assassin's Creed'') or pulled out and used manually.

Helmet has integrated HUD (heads-up display), comm. system, Friend or Foe (FOF) monitor, and Global Access Command Board (GACB) that links the individual soldier to the rest of his/her squad, regiment, brigade, etc. and lists available air, ground, and Naval support options.

Also, the Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem (WPSMS, which is an actual military technology) can monitor the vital signs of a soldier, such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, hydration and stress levels, and workload capacity, as well as automatically notify Medics and Commanders if a soldier is wounded or fatigued. Furthermore, in the book (thanks to Dr. Stephens's handiwork) the WPSMS will have a built in Morphine (a potent pain-killer drug) injector and store a small bladder of other medications according to the combat conditions that can be fed into the soldier's bloodstream.

The armor is comprised of multiple layers;

The outer shell, which is made of thin but hard and bullet-proof ceramic plates coated in "Shear-Thickening Liquid" (See Wikipedia; Liquid Armor) that is sprayed onto the plates and a special bullet/fragment proof weave of M5 Fiber that makes up the non-plated area of the armor;

Second, the power-centric layer houses a Micro Turbine fueled by a miniature fusion cell (did I mention, thanks to Dr. Stephens, Fusion power is reality?) that can supply power for up to a week of continuous use;

Third, the Thermal Micro-climate Condition Subsytem layer houses narrow tubing that can provide heating or cooling to the soldier. This is where the auto-medication-dispensers is housed.

2) The US military has their second-largest Air Force base in the Azores mountain range, which is part of Atlantis. When Atlantis resurfaces, the base rises along with Atlantis, and the US launches its first assault from up there. The Azores are on the Northern end of the island. In the war campaign, USA forces will attempt to push their way South from the Air Force base and procure a foothold at a lower elevation. At the part of the war the crew is introduced to, the Military has built three such bases, plus the already established Air Force base: A Naval base in the middle of a lake, a USMC stronghold guarding the Western frontier at the edge of the Azores, and an US Army stronghold guarding the Eastern frontier at the edge of the Azores (see map to be roughly sketched later).

3)Really, in the writing, I need to describe more thoroughly how much power a gun holds. A gun can take somebody's life, can actually ''kill'' a person, so that they aren't in the world anymore. That's a powerful piece of hardware, and I haven't emphasized that enough.

4) Some plant life includes cycads, bennettitaleans, ginkgoes, pine, and fir trees, as well as swamp cypresses.

5) One of the main SMGs used is the Pulse R71 SMG. In addition, the FN P90 USG, LWRC Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and LWRC PDC are also good candidates for weaponry used by standard infantry and vehicle crews especially.

6) Change the perspective of the combat. Nature (dinos) are in control. You just don't dispute that when you're staring down a Rex or Raptor or Dilo. You're pretty much dead. And also, Raptors are intelligent pack hunters. A classic ambush pattern would be for one to distract and cut off the path in front while two others come in from the sides, attempting to catch you unawares. If there are enough Raptors, they can use advanced tactics, such as sending two more around to the rear as backup and cut-off.

Another classic hunt-pattern would be for one or two Raptors to herd a group of people or other prey to the edge of a hill or other elevation. Post one or two Raptors at either side of the hill and post another two on top of the hill as Overwatch and backup.

Of course, no matter how smart Raptors were, they still weren't and aren't as smart as humans. When a group of soldiers is confronted with Raptors, it becomes a frantic race; flank, counter-flank, out-flank, ''kill''. Usually, Raptors still win. It might have something to do with the enormous 6 inch claws that are on each hand and foot. Or maybe its that they're abnormally strong. Being able to run as fast as a cheetah and jump 12 feet in the air might do it as well. Just a thought.

7) Atlantis is a tropical paradise, if you take away all the battle and bloodthirsty dinos. And that raises item # 8:

8) In real life, carnivores wouldn't attack every human that came their way. They'd kill their share of meat and eat it, but leave the rest for scavengers. Since they've been on the same island as humans (albiet Atlantians who are extremely gifted warriors/hunters/people in general), somewhere along the line they must have realized that people are easy to kill and eat. It's not as difficult to kill a human as it is to kill a Stegosaurus. The exception to this is a Raptor. Raptors kill for fun, just as humans do. So they ''will'' attack any human that comes their way.

9) Call signs. The military uses call signs to distinguish different squads. A couple examples: "Sierra", "Sigma", "Scarecrow", "Outlaw", "Phoenix"

10) The Atlantian's version of America's Bald Eagle is a Phoenix, which is indigenous (native) to the island. Yes, a Phoenix, like in Harry Potter. But these Phoenixes are the original pyrokinesis users. The ability to control fire started with them, and the Atlantians learned from the Phoenix how to control fire. They're limited with it, but some of their High Priests can, as well as their king, a descendant of King Minos.

Still working on what the original controllers for geo, hydro, and aerokinesis were.

11) Have an action scene on the top of a semi-truck, like in The Matrix

12) Cover art for the first book: a Phoenix, circled in gold-orange flames, with the main characters built up below and in front of it in a row, arranged according to importance. In the first book, Scarlett (whose personality is based on the delightfully cheerful Emma Reifenberger [did I spell that correctly?]) will be the main character. Scar will be in front, Holly (with the personality of the lovely Wellie Delmer) will be directly to her right, Matt (played by grumpy ol' Brandon Krupczak lol) will be on her left, Kate Alabaster (thanks to the cheery Madeline Hill) directly beside Matt, and Dr. Stephens, whom we still need a first name for (Thanks to the dedicated and impossible-to-be-mad-at-for-more-than-an-hour Stephen Borrelli), will be directly beside Holly.

In the second book, it will change, and Holly will be the main character. The cover art for this book will be the emblazoned title ''Harvest Reaper'' with a grain field under it and a squad of soldiers back-to-back with weapons facing outward in the field, with the shadowy Grim Reaper lurking beside them, unseen. This time the same row of characters is below the grain field, but this time with Holly in the center and the others arranged behind and beside her.

In the third book, I may or may not be the main character, I'm not sure. I haven't gotten around to cover art or a title for the third book, but the title will be something related to water or the Ocean if I'm gonna be the main character for that book. Cover art might be a soldier's helmet resting on the beach with blood dots next to it and the tide coming in. It might also be a rifle stuck in the sand with the helmet on top of it and the surf coming up. The rifle and helmet is the traditional grave marker for a serviceman who has died in the field and had to be buried in a hurry.

13) Certain leaves of certain trees on Atlantis can be used and digested through the appendix (just a bit of quick background, the appendix is a digestive organ that hasn't been used for centuries in humans. It is believed by scientists to have been once used to help digest leaves or other plants in the Neolithic Era [cavemen times], although now the appendix is not used for anything in the modern human.) to temporarily augment psychokinetic powers.

14) Another kind of psychokinetic power is to absorb the energy out of living organisms, like in Christopher Paolini's ''Eldest''. The restraint for this is that to absorb the energy, firstly the victim must have active psi abilities and you must enter the mind of the supposed victim. All people with psi abilities can shield their minds from mental invasion, and as such in order to absorb psi energy you would have to breech the defenses of the victim's mind.

15) The Egyptian Pyramids are actually of Atlantian design, and were built for Pharaohs as a sign of thanks for services that were delivered from Egypt to Atlantis. Also, the Pyramids were a symbol of Atlantian authority to the people of Egypt, as Atlantis was the ruler of most of the world. They had also discovered the Americas in 11,000 B.C. and the Amazons were a previously Atlantian culture. The Amazons once belonged to an Atlantian colony, but they rebelled and won independence, just like our own Revolutionary War.

16) Atlantis had colonies and military/religious outposts in most of the world. Crete was an Atlantian colony overseen by king Minos, the oracle of Delphi was an Atlantian priest, Bermuda triangle is an Atlantian military Naval outpost that exists to this day and is the explanation for so many lost ships/planes, Nazca Lines was a religious sign/gate of some kind (I'm still working on a good theory for the book on the Nazca Lines), Bimini Road was a path that led from the Bermuda Triangle to another Atlantian supply depot.

17) The "Spaceman" carving in Chichen Itza is actually a carving of an Atlantian diver

18) Atlantians invented a non-volatile and environmentally friendly power source that provides the same amount of energy as fusion (still working on the idea for what kind of power source).

19) Atlantians were extremely advanced for their time, and they invented air and marine travel. For air travel, they took their power source and combined it with glider-type craft at first to make powered gliders, and later used Titanium and Orichalcum from the ore deposits on Atlantis to make a true metal aircraft and armed it with unguided bombs made of a gun-powder like substance obtained from certain trees on Atlantis inside a hard-clay casing for the world's first bomb. They also made a sort of rifle like the early Chinese "Firesticks" that shot a variety of projectiles for the world's first single-shot rifle. On their aircraft, they made a 5-barreled version of their rifle and wired it into the nose of the aircraft, setting up an automatic projectile loader for the world's first Gatling gun. They then dominated the skies and controlled the land through this means.

Their war-subs and warships also were equipped with early cannon that fired more clay balls with the gunpowder substance inside, using their power source as a launcher. It could launch a projectile up to 2000 feet without breaking the cases of the cannon balls upon launching. They also outfitted their warships with battering rams on the prow of the ship that held the gunpowder substance in the wood that would explode upon impact with another boat. They shaped the charges by putting the sap of a certain plant in the rod at the back, so that the explosion rebounded off this hardened sap (amber) and was force out the narrow ram into the enemy boat.

The 5-barrled Gatling guns were used as well on their warships.

20) A dinosaur named Seismosaurus weighed up to 100 tons.

21) Incan pyramids were variants of Atlantian pyramids, and the designers were the Amazons. The two pyramids were similar because as mentioned before, the Amazons came out of the Atlantians.

22) Atlantian rule was overthrown for multiple reasons. Firstly, a comet impact that created what is now Hudson Bay wiped out most of the shore-dwelling, intelligent humans at around 9000 B.C. The dramatic change in climate and spin in the Earth's rotation caused a series of chain reactions that devastated the globe. Atlantis, the continent, used their power source to fuel their High Priests and give them psi energy so that they could erect massive psi-shields around the entire continent and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The continent sank beneath the sea due to inordinate amounts of volcanic and seismic activity, with only its psi-shields to protect it. The High Priests had almost been wiped out, because the psi shields they made would last for thousands of years, and they had put a ''lot'' of energy into it, and most of them had died by giving too much energy. Only one remained to teach a new generation of priests and pass the sacred secrets, etc.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dying out, the Dinosaurs all become extinct due to changing conditions. The only people to survive are the once-Atlantian colonists of Crete, now called Minoans (this is where 5th Grade at Trinity comes in handy) and the peoples in Africa at the cradle of life (which also happens to be an Atlantian colony).

As the humans re-populate the Earth as the dominant life form, the Minoans, who are now a shadow of themselves and there former power, are wiped out by a couple of factors; one, the volcanic island of Thera erupts, causing massive tsunamis, etc. (if you really want to know what happened, I can give you my Capstone presentation some time) and Crete is devastated. Years later, the Mycennaeans find the Minoan culture to have been devastated and they conquer it in its weakened state. Then they rebuild, become the Greeks, and do all that Greek stuff that we learned about in 5th grade.

Happy with my explanation of events for the book? Confusing? I'll have to call all you guys later to explain it, probably. I only understand about half of what I just wrote, and I made #22 up completely on the fly. Wow. Am I good or what?

Oh just a random note this armor I'm talking about in the first part? Yeah, its all part of the US Military's Future Force Warrior program. The armor system itself is my own idea, but I've been referencing Wikipedia (I've had a window open to it this whole time lol) and used their explanation of the Future Force Warrior to aid in my own.

Whew! That was the longest entry I've ever done! Hope you enjoy!

(brandon)

Okay, just a few more war ideas I came up with over the past night and morning. I've continued the numbering down from the entry above.

23) Troy (also known as Illia) is an Atlantian military outpost that survived to the late Greek-Bronze stages and was besieged by the Greeks.

24) Atlantians taught the early ascendants of Greeks how to use advanced weapons, armor, and advanced metal working techniques. The crown achievement was the Dendra Panoply, a suit of armor made of 15 overlapping sheets of metal, in this case bronze, that defied arrows. It is actually a real thing found by Swedish archeologists at the site of Troy.

25) Atlantians had tanks made of iron/titanium and had their early cannon and Gatling guns as armaments. The tanks had room for 10 soldiers, kind of like an armored war chariot.

26) Atlantian War Fiber, like modern Kevlar (again a real thing) that also defied arrows except at point blank range.

27) Figure-8 shaped shields with spikes on the front (see sketch, not online yet).

28) Special soldiers were incased in the Dendra Panoply armor (search for photos online at Historychannel.com) that was made of Orichalcum/Titanium

29) Dilophosaur venom was extracted and spread on swords, spears, spikes on shields, etc.

30) ancient Atlantian hand grenades, two kinds; High Explosive/Fragmentation grenades (composed of clay vessels with their gunpowder-substance on the inside) and Napalm grenades (clay vessels filled with Greek Fire).

31) Their almighty power source is a little weird. Its a giant Diamond thats like 50 cubic feet that was imbibed with vast amounts of psychological energy from a psi-well (Stonehenge) when their volcanoe erupted and for some reason forced out energy from the psi-well. Gems, especially precious ones, collect and store psi energy better than any other substance, like in Eragon/Eldest. Their mobile power sources are smaller gems that have been found and imbibed with energy from the large gem. They can then harness the power from the gem to power their technology. That one I'm a little finicky about cause it sounds great in your head but really bad on paper.

And thats all for now folks. Be sure to read my previous entry as well and tell me what you think of it.

(w, will not wellie) sorry 4 breakin ur rules or whatever Brandon. Just wanted to compliment you on the fresh start. It's actually turning out better than the first failed attempt...
...and that wasn't sarcasm!!!

What the deuce you think it's sarcasm! It's not!

It's true, we couldn't work well together. And, by the way, if you want me to make a sketch of the number 12 you can say so here... JUST A SKETCH...

And, the truth is, I miss working on Atlantis and I see actually where you were coming from more now in our first book. So, really, if you need any help...

and, also, AGAIN... about the Bermuda triangle, i was watching the history channel and they said/proved/had evidence that huge gas bubbles that rise from deep underwater (I forgot how these bubbles occured; I think it had something to do with underwater volcanoes) can sink ships... even enormous ships. And, the explanation for the downed planes near the Bermuda triangle was that the methane gas released from the bubbles got caught in the planes' engines, and since gas is flammable, well... BOOM! Not saying that you can't have an Atlantian naval base be the reason for this, but I just thought that this was interesting and you might want to know.

Talk:Atlantis

2008-07-24T00:06:31Z

Will: /* Section 1 (example section) */

(brandon) Hello, all accessing this web page. That means you have an account! Congrats!

Now here's a little on how to work this page. The main article page is where most of the writing will take place, where the heroic story goes on. I'll add a new link to a new page when we need it for a new chapter. Here, this page, the discussion page, is where most if not all of the discussion will take place. Now, with a couple different people talking on the same page, its difficult to tell who's who. So, when you start typing, put your name in parentheses (these things () that are really cool like I just did) and then start typing whatever you wish to type.

On this page is where we talk, about the plot, characters, and just anything in general. Another lesson.

NO INDENTING IS REQUIRED ON A WIKI. In order to start a new line, press enter twice. If you only press it once, then your line will seemingly start a line below in the edit format, but in the actual reading format it will appear as part of the original line.

That brings up something else. To edit this page, click on the little button that says edit next to the discussion button at the top of the bar once you are logged in.

Simple, right?

Now, we'll probably be talking alot, so to make sure we don't crash the page with too many entries, I'll put up a new section whenever the previous one is getting full. To edit just one section instead of the entire page (recommended if you don't want to crash you machine) click on the edit button next to the section name, again once you are logged in.

Example:

==Section 1 (example section)==

Alright.

Just a few updated ideas that I randomly came up with over the course of a couple weeks or so. Feel free to laugh at any and all of them.

1) The crew (That's Scar, Holly, and Matt) each have specialized armor sets custom-tailored for different environments, such as one for Desert-ops, one for Arctic-weather-ops, and one for Space-ops (there will probably be a scene in some part of the book where at least one of the crew will be sent on a mission to the International Space Station, which I will determine later).

The general-purpose assault armor has a hard, bullet-proof-ceramic plating shell on the torso, with similar pieces as upper arm guards, gauntlets, upper and lower leg guards, and helmet. The gauntlet has a slot that contains a medium-sized, potently lethal double-edged knife that can be ejected rapidly on a spring and then retracted with an internal mechanism (original idea comes from the PS3 game ''Assassin's Creed'') or pulled out and used manually.

Helmet has integrated HUD (heads-up display), comm. system, Friend or Foe (FOF) monitor, and Global Access Command Board (GACB) that links the individual soldier to the rest of his/her squad, regiment, brigade, etc. and lists available air, ground, and Naval support options.

Also, the Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem (WPSMS, which is an actual military technology) can monitor the vital signs of a soldier, such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, hydration and stress levels, and workload capacity, as well as automatically notify Medics and Commanders if a soldier is wounded or fatigued. Furthermore, in the book (thanks to Dr. Stephens's handiwork) the WPSMS will have a built in Morphine (a potent pain-killer drug) injector and store a small bladder of other medications according to the combat conditions that can be fed into the soldier's bloodstream.

The armor is comprised of multiple layers;

The outer shell, which is made of thin but hard and bullet-proof ceramic plates coated in "Shear-Thickening Liquid" (See Wikipedia; Liquid Armor) that is sprayed onto the plates and a special bullet/fragment proof weave of M5 Fiber that makes up the non-plated area of the armor;

Second, the power-centric layer houses a Micro Turbine fueled by a miniature fusion cell (did I mention, thanks to Dr. Stephens, Fusion power is reality?) that can supply power for up to a week of continuous use;

Third, the Thermal Micro-climate Condition Subsytem layer houses narrow tubing that can provide heating or cooling to the soldier. This is where the auto-medication-dispensers is housed.

2) The US military has their second-largest Air Force base in the Azores mountain range, which is part of Atlantis. When Atlantis resurfaces, the base rises along with Atlantis, and the US launches its first assault from up there. The Azores are on the Northern end of the island. In the war campaign, USA forces will attempt to push their way South from the Air Force base and procure a foothold at a lower elevation. At the part of the war the crew is introduced to, the Military has built three such bases, plus the already established Air Force base: A Naval base in the middle of a lake, a USMC stronghold guarding the Western frontier at the edge of the Azores, and an US Army stronghold guarding the Eastern frontier at the edge of the Azores (see map to be roughly sketched later).

3)Really, in the writing, I need to describe more thoroughly how much power a gun holds. A gun can take somebody's life, can actually ''kill'' a person, so that they aren't in the world anymore. That's a powerful piece of hardware, and I haven't emphasized that enough.

4) Some plant life includes cycads, bennettitaleans, ginkgoes, pine, and fir trees, as well as swamp cypresses.

5) One of the main SMGs used is the Pulse R71 SMG. In addition, the FN P90 USG, LWRC Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and LWRC PDC are also good candidates for weaponry used by standard infantry and vehicle crews especially.

6) Change the perspective of the combat. Nature (dinos) are in control. You just don't dispute that when you're staring down a Rex or Raptor or Dilo. You're pretty much dead. And also, Raptors are intelligent pack hunters. A classic ambush pattern would be for one to distract and cut off the path in front while two others come in from the sides, attempting to catch you unawares. If there are enough Raptors, they can use advanced tactics, such as sending two more around to the rear as backup and cut-off.

Another classic hunt-pattern would be for one or two Raptors to herd a group of people or other prey to the edge of a hill or other elevation. Post one or two Raptors at either side of the hill and post another two on top of the hill as Overwatch and backup.

Of course, no matter how smart Raptors were, they still weren't and aren't as smart as humans. When a group of soldiers is confronted with Raptors, it becomes a frantic race; flank, counter-flank, out-flank, ''kill''. Usually, Raptors still win. It might have something to do with the enormous 6 inch claws that are on each hand and foot. Or maybe its that they're abnormally strong. Being able to run as fast as a cheetah and jump 12 feet in the air might do it as well. Just a thought.

7) Atlantis is a tropical paradise, if you take away all the battle and bloodthirsty dinos. And that raises item # 8:

8) In real life, carnivores wouldn't attack every human that came their way. They'd kill their share of meat and eat it, but leave the rest for scavengers. Since they've been on the same island as humans (albiet Atlantians who are extremely gifted warriors/hunters/people in general), somewhere along the line they must have realized that people are easy to kill and eat. It's not as difficult to kill a human as it is to kill a Stegosaurus. The exception to this is a Raptor. Raptors kill for fun, just as humans do. So they ''will'' attack any human that comes their way.

9) Call signs. The military uses call signs to distinguish different squads. A couple examples: "Sierra", "Sigma", "Scarecrow", "Outlaw", "Phoenix"

10) The Atlantian's version of America's Bald Eagle is a Phoenix, which is indigenous (native) to the island. Yes, a Phoenix, like in Harry Potter. But these Phoenixes are the original pyrokinesis users. The ability to control fire started with them, and the Atlantians learned from the Phoenix how to control fire. They're limited with it, but some of their High Priests can, as well as their king, a descendant of King Minos.

Still working on what the original controllers for geo, hydro, and aerokinesis were.

11) Have an action scene on the top of a semi-truck, like in The Matrix

12) Cover art for the first book: a Phoenix, circled in gold-orange flames, with the main characters built up below and in front of it in a row, arranged according to importance. In the first book, Scarlett (whose personality is based on the delightfully cheerful Emma Reifenberger [did I spell that correctly?]) will be the main character. Scar will be in front, Holly (with the personality of the lovely Wellie Delmer) will be directly to her right, Matt (played by grumpy ol' Brandon Krupczak lol) will be on her left, Kate Alabaster (thanks to the cheery Madeline Hill) directly beside Matt, and Dr. Stephens, whom we still need a first name for (Thanks to the dedicated and impossible-to-be-mad-at-for-more-than-an-hour Stephen Borrelli), will be directly beside Holly.

In the second book, it will change, and Holly will be the main character. The cover art for this book will be the emblazoned title ''Harvest Reaper'' with a grain field under it and a squad of soldiers back-to-back with weapons facing outward in the field, with the shadowy Grim Reaper lurking beside them, unseen. This time the same row of characters is below the grain field, but this time with Holly in the center and the others arranged behind and beside her.

In the third book, I may or may not be the main character, I'm not sure. I haven't gotten around to cover art or a title for the third book, but the title will be something related to water or the Ocean if I'm gonna be the main character for that book. Cover art might be a soldier's helmet resting on the beach with blood dots next to it and the tide coming in. It might also be a rifle stuck in the sand with the helmet on top of it and the surf coming up. The rifle and helmet is the traditional grave marker for a serviceman who has died in the field and had to be buried in a hurry.

13) Certain leaves of certain trees on Atlantis can be used and digested through the appendix (just a bit of quick background, the appendix is a digestive organ that hasn't been used for centuries in humans. It is believed by scientists to have been once used to help digest leaves or other plants in the Neolithic Era [cavemen times], although now the appendix is not used for anything in the modern human.) to temporarily augment psychokinetic powers.

14) Another kind of psychokinetic power is to absorb the energy out of living organisms, like in Christopher Paolini's ''Eldest''. The restraint for this is that to absorb the energy, firstly the victim must have active psi abilities and you must enter the mind of the supposed victim. All people with psi abilities can shield their minds from mental invasion, and as such in order to absorb psi energy you would have to breech the defenses of the victim's mind.

15) The Egyptian Pyramids are actually of Atlantian design, and were built for Pharaohs as a sign of thanks for services that were delivered from Egypt to Atlantis. Also, the Pyramids were a symbol of Atlantian authority to the people of Egypt, as Atlantis was the ruler of most of the world. They had also discovered the Americas in 11,000 B.C. and the Amazons were a previously Atlantian culture. The Amazons once belonged to an Atlantian colony, but they rebelled and won independence, just like our own Revolutionary War.

16) Atlantis had colonies and military/religious outposts in most of the world. Crete was an Atlantian colony overseen by king Minos, the oracle of Delphi was an Atlantian priest, Bermuda triangle is an Atlantian military Naval outpost that exists to this day and is the explanation for so many lost ships/planes, Nazca Lines was a religious sign/gate of some kind (I'm still working on a good theory for the book on the Nazca Lines), Bimini Road was a path that led from the Bermuda Triangle to another Atlantian supply depot.

17) The "Spaceman" carving in Chichen Itza is actually a carving of an Atlantian diver

18) Atlantians invented a non-volatile and environmentally friendly power source that provides the same amount of energy as fusion (still working on the idea for what kind of power source).

19) Atlantians were extremely advanced for their time, and they invented air and marine travel. For air travel, they took their power source and combined it with glider-type craft at first to make powered gliders, and later used Titanium and Orichalcum from the ore deposits on Atlantis to make a true metal aircraft and armed it with unguided bombs made of a gun-powder like substance obtained from certain trees on Atlantis inside a hard-clay casing for the world's first bomb. They also made a sort of rifle like the early Chinese "Firesticks" that shot a variety of projectiles for the world's first single-shot rifle. On their aircraft, they made a 5-barreled version of their rifle and wired it into the nose of the aircraft, setting up an automatic projectile loader for the world's first Gatling gun. They then dominated the skies and controlled the land through this means.

Their war-subs and warships also were equipped with early cannon that fired more clay balls with the gunpowder substance inside, using their power source as a launcher. It could launch a projectile up to 2000 feet without breaking the cases of the cannon balls upon launching. They also outfitted their warships with battering rams on the prow of the ship that held the gunpowder substance in the wood that would explode upon impact with another boat. They shaped the charges by putting the sap of a certain plant in the rod at the back, so that the explosion rebounded off this hardened sap (amber) and was force out the narrow ram into the enemy boat.

The 5-barrled Gatling guns were used as well on their warships.

20) A dinosaur named Seismosaurus weighed up to 100 tons.

21) Incan pyramids were variants of Atlantian pyramids, and the designers were the Amazons. The two pyramids were similar because as mentioned before, the Amazons came out of the Atlantians.

22) Atlantian rule was overthrown for multiple reasons. Firstly, a comet impact that created what is now Hudson Bay wiped out most of the shore-dwelling, intelligent humans at around 9000 B.C. The dramatic change in climate and spin in the Earth's rotation caused a series of chain reactions that devastated the globe. Atlantis, the continent, used their power source to fuel their High Priests and give them psi energy so that they could erect massive psi-shields around the entire continent and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The continent sank beneath the sea due to inordinate amounts of volcanic and seismic activity, with only its psi-shields to protect it. The High Priests had almost been wiped out, because the psi shields they made would last for thousands of years, and they had put a ''lot'' of energy into it, and most of them had died by giving too much energy. Only one remained to teach a new generation of priests and pass the sacred secrets, etc.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dying out, the Dinosaurs all become extinct due to changing conditions. The only people to survive are the once-Atlantian colonists of Crete, now called Minoans (this is where 5th Grade at Trinity comes in handy) and the peoples in Africa at the cradle of life (which also happens to be an Atlantian colony).

As the humans re-populate the Earth as the dominant life form, the Minoans, who are now a shadow of themselves and there former power, are wiped out by a couple of factors; one, the volcanic island of Thera erupts, causing massive tsunamis, etc. (if you really want to know what happened, I can give you my Capstone presentation some time) and Crete is devastated. Years later, the Mycennaeans find the Minoan culture to have been devastated and they conquer it in its weakened state. Then they rebuild, become the Greeks, and do all that Greek stuff that we learned about in 5th grade.

Happy with my explanation of events for the book? Confusing? I'll have to call all you guys later to explain it, probably. I only understand about half of what I just wrote, and I made #22 up completely on the fly. Wow. Am I good or what?

Oh just a random note this armor I'm talking about in the first part? Yeah, its all part of the US Military's Future Force Warrior program. The armor system itself is my own idea, but I've been referencing Wikipedia (I've had a window open to it this whole time lol) and used their explanation of the Future Force Warrior to aid in my own.

Whew! That was the longest entry I've ever done! Hope you enjoy!

(brandon)

Okay, just a few more war ideas I came up with over the past night and morning. I've continued the numbering down from the entry above.

23) Troy (also known as Illia) is an Atlantian military outpost that survived to the late Greek-Bronze stages and was besieged by the Greeks.

24) Atlantians taught the early ascendants of Greeks how to use advanced weapons, armor, and advanced metal working techniques. The crown achievement was the Dendra Panoply, a suit of armor made of 15 overlapping sheets of metal, in this case bronze, that defied arrows. It is actually a real thing found by Swedish archeologists at the site of Troy.

25) Atlantians had tanks made of iron/titanium and had their early cannon and Gatling guns as armaments. The tanks had room for 10 soldiers, kind of like an armored war chariot.

26) Atlantian War Fiber, like modern Kevlar (again a real thing) that also defied arrows except at point blank range.

27) Figure-8 shaped shields with spikes on the front (see sketch, not online yet).

28) Special soldiers were incased in the Dendra Panoply armor (search for photos online at Historychannel.com) that was made of Orichalcum/Titanium

29) Dilophosaur venom was extracted and spread on swords, spears, spikes on shields, etc.

30) ancient Atlantian hand grenades, two kinds; High Explosive/Fragmentation grenades (composed of clay vessels with their gunpowder-substance on the inside) and Napalm grenades (clay vessels filled with Greek Fire).

31) Their almighty power source is a little weird. Its a giant Diamond thats like 50 cubic feet that was imbibed with vast amounts of psychological energy from a psi-well (Stonehenge) when their volcanoe erupted and for some reason forced out energy from the psi-well. Gems, especially precious ones, collect and store psi energy better than any other substance, like in Eragon/Eldest. Their mobile power sources are smaller gems that have been found and imbibed with energy from the large gem. They can then harness the power from the gem to power their technology. That one I'm a little finicky about cause it sounds great in your head but really bad on paper.

And thats all for now folks. Be sure to read my previous entry as well and tell me what you think of it.

(w, will not wellie) sorry 4 breakin ur rules or whatever Brandon. Just wanted to compliment you on the fresh start. It's actually turning out better than the first failed attempt. It's true, we couldn't work well together. And, by the way, if you want me to make a sketch of the number 12 you can say so here... JUST A SKETCH...

...and that wasn't sarcasm!!!

What the deuce you think it's sarcasm! It's not!

And, the truth is, I miss working on Atlantis and I see actually where you were coming from more now in our first book. So, really, if you need any help...

and, also, AGAIN... about the Bermuda triangle, i was watching the history channel and they said/proved/had evidence that huge gas bubbles that rise from deep underwater (I forgot how these bubbles occured; I think it had something to do with underwater volcanoes) can sink ships... even enormous ships. And, the explanation for the downed planes near the Bermuda triangle was that the methane gas released from the bubbles got caught in the planes' engines, and since gas is flammable, well... BOOM! Not saying that you can't have an Atlantian naval base be the reason for this, but I just thought that this was interesting and you might want to know.

Talk:Atlantis

2008-07-23T21:26:34Z

Will: /* Section 1 (example section) */

(brandon) Hello, all accessing this web page. That means you have an account! Congrats!

Now here's a little on how to work this page. The main article page is where most of the writing will take place, where the heroic story goes on. I'll add a new link to a new page when we need it for a new chapter. Here, this page, the discussion page, is where most if not all of the discussion will take place. Now, with a couple different people talking on the same page, its difficult to tell who's who. So, when you start typing, put your name in parentheses (these things () that are really cool like I just did) and then start typing whatever you wish to type.

On this page is where we talk, about the plot, characters, and just anything in general. Another lesson.

NO INDENTING IS REQUIRED ON A WIKI. In order to start a new line, press enter twice. If you only press it once, then your line will seemingly start a line below in the edit format, but in the actual reading format it will appear as part of the original line.

That brings up something else. To edit this page, click on the little button that says edit next to the discussion button at the top of the bar once you are logged in.

Simple, right?

Now, we'll probably be talking alot, so to make sure we don't crash the page with too many entries, I'll put up a new section whenever the previous one is getting full. To edit just one section instead of the entire page (recommended if you don't want to crash you machine) click on the edit button next to the section name, again once you are logged in.

Example:

==Section 1 (example section)==

Alright.

Just a few updated ideas that I randomly came up with over the course of a couple weeks or so. Feel free to laugh at any and all of them.

1) The crew (That's Scar, Holly, and Matt) each have specialized armor sets custom-tailored for different environments, such as one for Desert-ops, one for Arctic-weather-ops, and one for Space-ops (there will probably be a scene in some part of the book where at least one of the crew will be sent on a mission to the International Space Station, which I will determine later).

The general-purpose assault armor has a hard, bullet-proof-ceramic plating shell on the torso, with similar pieces as upper arm guards, gauntlets, upper and lower leg guards, and helmet. The gauntlet has a slot that contains a medium-sized, potently lethal double-edged knife that can be ejected rapidly on a spring and then retracted with an internal mechanism (original idea comes from the PS3 game ''Assassin's Creed'') or pulled out and used manually.

Helmet has integrated HUD (heads-up display), comm. system, Friend or Foe (FOF) monitor, and Global Access Command Board (GACB) that links the individual soldier to the rest of his/her squad, regiment, brigade, etc. and lists available air, ground, and Naval support options.

Also, the Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem (WPSMS, which is an actual military technology) can monitor the vital signs of a soldier, such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, hydration and stress levels, and workload capacity, as well as automatically notify Medics and Commanders if a soldier is wounded or fatigued. Furthermore, in the book (thanks to Dr. Stephens's handiwork) the WPSMS will have a built in Morphine (a potent pain-killer drug) injector and store a small bladder of other medications according to the combat conditions that can be fed into the soldier's bloodstream.

The armor is comprised of multiple layers;

The outer shell, which is made of thin but hard and bullet-proof ceramic plates coated in "Shear-Thickening Liquid" (See Wikipedia; Liquid Armor) that is sprayed onto the plates and a special bullet/fragment proof weave of M5 Fiber that makes up the non-plated area of the armor;

Second, the power-centric layer houses a Micro Turbine fueled by a miniature fusion cell (did I mention, thanks to Dr. Stephens, Fusion power is reality?) that can supply power for up to a week of continuous use;

Third, the Thermal Micro-climate Condition Subsytem layer houses narrow tubing that can provide heating or cooling to the soldier. This is where the auto-medication-dispensers is housed.

2) The US military has their second-largest Air Force base in the Azores mountain range, which is part of Atlantis. When Atlantis resurfaces, the base rises along with Atlantis, and the US launches its first assault from up there. The Azores are on the Northern end of the island. In the war campaign, USA forces will attempt to push their way South from the Air Force base and procure a foothold at a lower elevation. At the part of the war the crew is introduced to, the Military has built three such bases, plus the already established Air Force base: A Naval base in the middle of a lake, a USMC stronghold guarding the Western frontier at the edge of the Azores, and an US Army stronghold guarding the Eastern frontier at the edge of the Azores (see map to be roughly sketched later).

3)Really, in the writing, I need to describe more thoroughly how much power a gun holds. A gun can take somebody's life, can actually ''kill'' a person, so that they aren't in the world anymore. That's a powerful piece of hardware, and I haven't emphasized that enough.

4) Some plant life includes cycads, bennettitaleans, ginkgoes, pine, and fir trees, as well as swamp cypresses.

5) One of the main SMGs used is the Pulse R71 SMG. In addition, the FN P90 USG, LWRC Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and LWRC PDC are also good candidates for weaponry used by standard infantry and vehicle crews especially.

6) Change the perspective of the combat. Nature (dinos) are in control. You just don't dispute that when you're staring down a Rex or Raptor or Dilo. You're pretty much dead. And also, Raptors are intelligent pack hunters. A classic ambush pattern would be for one to distract and cut off the path in front while two others come in from the sides, attempting to catch you unawares. If there are enough Raptors, they can use advanced tactics, such as sending two more around to the rear as backup and cut-off.

Another classic hunt-pattern would be for one or two Raptors to herd a group of people or other prey to the edge of a hill or other elevation. Post one or two Raptors at either side of the hill and post another two on top of the hill as Overwatch and backup.

Of course, no matter how smart Raptors were, they still weren't and aren't as smart as humans. When a group of soldiers is confronted with Raptors, it becomes a frantic race; flank, counter-flank, out-flank, ''kill''. Usually, Raptors still win. It might have something to do with the enormous 6 inch claws that are on each hand and foot. Or maybe its that they're abnormally strong. Being able to run as fast as a cheetah and jump 12 feet in the air might do it as well. Just a thought.

7) Atlantis is a tropical paradise, if you take away all the battle and bloodthirsty dinos. And that raises item # 8:

8) In real life, carnivores wouldn't attack every human that came their way. They'd kill their share of meat and eat it, but leave the rest for scavengers. Since they've been on the same island as humans (albiet Atlantians who are extremely gifted warriors/hunters/people in general), somewhere along the line they must have realized that people are easy to kill and eat. It's not as difficult to kill a human as it is to kill a Stegosaurus. The exception to this is a Raptor. Raptors kill for fun, just as humans do. So they ''will'' attack any human that comes their way.

9) Call signs. The military uses call signs to distinguish different squads. A couple examples: "Sierra", "Sigma", "Scarecrow", "Outlaw", "Phoenix"

10) The Atlantian's version of America's Bald Eagle is a Phoenix, which is indigenous (native) to the island. Yes, a Phoenix, like in Harry Potter. But these Phoenixes are the original pyrokinesis users. The ability to control fire started with them, and the Atlantians learned from the Phoenix how to control fire. They're limited with it, but some of their High Priests can, as well as their king, a descendant of King Minos.

Still working on what the original controllers for geo, hydro, and aerokinesis were.

11) Have an action scene on the top of a semi-truck, like in The Matrix

12) Cover art for the first book: a Phoenix, circled in gold-orange flames, with the main characters built up below and in front of it in a row, arranged according to importance. In the first book, Scarlett (whose personality is based on the delightfully cheerful Emma Reifenberger [did I spell that correctly?]) will be the main character. Scar will be in front, Holly (with the personality of the lovely Wellie Delmer) will be directly to her right, Matt (played by grumpy ol' Brandon Krupczak lol) will be on her left, Kate Alabaster (thanks to the cheery Madeline Hill) directly beside Matt, and Dr. Stephens, whom we still need a first name for (Thanks to the dedicated and impossible-to-be-mad-at-for-more-than-an-hour Stephen Borrelli), will be directly beside Holly.

In the second book, it will change, and Holly will be the main character. The cover art for this book will be the emblazoned title ''Harvest Reaper'' with a grain field under it and a squad of soldiers back-to-back with weapons facing outward in the field, with the shadowy Grim Reaper lurking beside them, unseen. This time the same row of characters is below the grain field, but this time with Holly in the center and the others arranged behind and beside her.

In the third book, I may or may not be the main character, I'm not sure. I haven't gotten around to cover art or a title for the third book, but the title will be something related to water or the Ocean if I'm gonna be the main character for that book. Cover art might be a soldier's helmet resting on the beach with blood dots next to it and the tide coming in. It might also be a rifle stuck in the sand with the helmet on top of it and the surf coming up. The rifle and helmet is the traditional grave marker for a serviceman who has died in the field and had to be buried in a hurry.

13) Certain leaves of certain trees on Atlantis can be used and digested through the appendix (just a bit of quick background, the appendix is a digestive organ that hasn't been used for centuries in humans. It is believed by scientists to have been once used to help digest leaves or other plants in the Neolithic Era [cavemen times], although now the appendix is not used for anything in the modern human.) to temporarily augment psychokinetic powers.

14) Another kind of psychokinetic power is to absorb the energy out of living organisms, like in Christopher Paolini's ''Eldest''. The restraint for this is that to absorb the energy, firstly the victim must have active psi abilities and you must enter the mind of the supposed victim. All people with psi abilities can shield their minds from mental invasion, and as such in order to absorb psi energy you would have to breech the defenses of the victim's mind.

15) The Egyptian Pyramids are actually of Atlantian design, and were built for Pharaohs as a sign of thanks for services that were delivered from Egypt to Atlantis. Also, the Pyramids were a symbol of Atlantian authority to the people of Egypt, as Atlantis was the ruler of most of the world. They had also discovered the Americas in 11,000 B.C. and the Amazons were a previously Atlantian culture. The Amazons once belonged to an Atlantian colony, but they rebelled and won independence, just like our own Revolutionary War.

16) Atlantis had colonies and military/religious outposts in most of the world. Crete was an Atlantian colony overseen by king Minos, the oracle of Delphi was an Atlantian priest, Bermuda triangle is an Atlantian military Naval outpost that exists to this day and is the explanation for so many lost ships/planes, Nazca Lines was a religious sign/gate of some kind (I'm still working on a good theory for the book on the Nazca Lines), Bimini Road was a path that led from the Bermuda Triangle to another Atlantian supply depot.

17) The "Spaceman" carving in Chichen Itza is actually a carving of an Atlantian diver

18) Atlantians invented a non-volatile and environmentally friendly power source that provides the same amount of energy as fusion (still working on the idea for what kind of power source).

19) Atlantians were extremely advanced for their time, and they invented air and marine travel. For air travel, they took their power source and combined it with glider-type craft at first to make powered gliders, and later used Titanium and Orichalcum from the ore deposits on Atlantis to make a true metal aircraft and armed it with unguided bombs made of a gun-powder like substance obtained from certain trees on Atlantis inside a hard-clay casing for the world's first bomb. They also made a sort of rifle like the early Chinese "Firesticks" that shot a variety of projectiles for the world's first single-shot rifle. On their aircraft, they made a 5-barreled version of their rifle and wired it into the nose of the aircraft, setting up an automatic projectile loader for the world's first Gatling gun. They then dominated the skies and controlled the land through this means.

Their war-subs and warships also were equipped with early cannon that fired more clay balls with the gunpowder substance inside, using their power source as a launcher. It could launch a projectile up to 2000 feet without breaking the cases of the cannon balls upon launching. They also outfitted their warships with battering rams on the prow of the ship that held the gunpowder substance in the wood that would explode upon impact with another boat. They shaped the charges by putting the sap of a certain plant in the rod at the back, so that the explosion rebounded off this hardened sap (amber) and was force out the narrow ram into the enemy boat.

The 5-barrled Gatling guns were used as well on their warships.

20) A dinosaur named Seismosaurus weighed up to 100 tons.

21) Incan pyramids were variants of Atlantian pyramids, and the designers were the Amazons. The two pyramids were similar because as mentioned before, the Amazons came out of the Atlantians.

22) Atlantian rule was overthrown for multiple reasons. Firstly, a comet impact that created what is now Hudson Bay wiped out most of the shore-dwelling, intelligent humans at around 9000 B.C. The dramatic change in climate and spin in the Earth's rotation caused a series of chain reactions that devastated the globe. Atlantis, the continent, used their power source to fuel their High Priests and give them psi energy so that they could erect massive psi-shields around the entire continent and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The continent sank beneath the sea due to inordinate amounts of volcanic and seismic activity, with only its psi-shields to protect it. The High Priests had almost been wiped out, because the psi shields they made would last for thousands of years, and they had put a ''lot'' of energy into it, and most of them had died by giving too much energy. Only one remained to teach a new generation of priests and pass the sacred secrets, etc.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dying out, the Dinosaurs all become extinct due to changing conditions. The only people to survive are the once-Atlantian colonists of Crete, now called Minoans (this is where 5th Grade at Trinity comes in handy) and the peoples in Africa at the cradle of life (which also happens to be an Atlantian colony).

As the humans re-populate the Earth as the dominant life form, the Minoans, who are now a shadow of themselves and there former power, are wiped out by a couple of factors; one, the volcanic island of Thera erupts, causing massive tsunamis, etc. (if you really want to know what happened, I can give you my Capstone presentation some time) and Crete is devastated. Years later, the Mycennaeans find the Minoan culture to have been devastated and they conquer it in its weakened state. Then they rebuild, become the Greeks, and do all that Greek stuff that we learned about in 5th grade.

Happy with my explanation of events for the book? Confusing? I'll have to call all you guys later to explain it, probably. I only understand about half of what I just wrote, and I made #22 up completely on the fly. Wow. Am I good or what?

Oh just a random note this armor I'm talking about in the first part? Yeah, its all part of the US Military's Future Force Warrior program. The armor system itself is my own idea, but I've been referencing Wikipedia (I've had a window open to it this whole time lol) and used their explanation of the Future Force Warrior to aid in my own.

Whew! That was the longest entry I've ever done! Hope you enjoy!

(brandon)

Okay, just a few more war ideas I came up with over the past night and morning. I've continued the numbering down from the entry above.

23) Troy (also known as Illia) is an Atlantian military outpost that survived to the late Greek-Bronze stages and was besieged by the Greeks.

24) Atlantians taught the early ascendants of Greeks how to use advanced weapons, armor, and advanced metal working techniques. The crown achievement was the Dendra Panoply, a suit of armor made of 15 overlapping sheets of metal, in this case bronze, that defied arrows. It is actually a real thing found by Swedish archeologists at the site of Troy.

25) Atlantians had tanks made of iron/titanium and had their early cannon and Gatling guns as armaments. The tanks had room for 10 soldiers, kind of like an armored war chariot.

26) Atlantian War Fiber, like modern Kevlar (again a real thing) that also defied arrows except at point blank range.

27) Figure-8 shaped shields with spikes on the front (see sketch, not online yet).

28) Special soldiers were incased in the Dendra Panoply armor (search for photos online at Historychannel.com) that was made of Orichalcum/Titanium

29) Dilophosaur venom was extracted and spread on swords, spears, spikes on shields, etc.

30) ancient Atlantian hand grenades, two kinds; High Explosive/Fragmentation grenades (composed of clay vessels with their gunpowder-substance on the inside) and Napalm grenades (clay vessels filled with Greek Fire).

31) Their almighty power source is a little weird. Its a giant Diamond thats like 50 cubic feet that was imbibed with vast amounts of psychological energy from a psi-well (Stonehenge) when their volcanoe erupted and for some reason forced out energy from the psi-well. Gems, especially precious ones, collect and store psi energy better than any other substance, like in Eragon/Eldest. Their mobile power sources are smaller gems that have been found and imbibed with energy from the large gem. They can then harness the power from the gem to power their technology. That one I'm a little finicky about cause it sounds great in your head but really bad on paper.

And thats all for now folks. Be sure to read my previous entry as well and tell me what you think of it.

(w, will not wellie) sorry 4 breakin ur rules or whatever Brandon. Just wanted to compliment you on the fresh start. It's actually turning out better than the first failed attempt. It's true, we couldn't work well together. And, by the way, if you want me to make a sketch of the number 12 you can say so here... JUST A SKETCH...

...and that wasn't sarcasm!!!

What the deuce you think it's sarcasm! It's not!

And, the truth is, I miss working on Atlantis and I see actually where you were coming from more now in our first book. So, really, if you need any help...

Talk:Atlantis

2008-07-23T21:21:12Z

Will: /* Section 1 (example section) */

(brandon) Hello, all accessing this web page. That means you have an account! Congrats!

Now here's a little on how to work this page. The main article page is where most of the writing will take place, where the heroic story goes on. I'll add a new link to a new page when we need it for a new chapter. Here, this page, the discussion page, is where most if not all of the discussion will take place. Now, with a couple different people talking on the same page, its difficult to tell who's who. So, when you start typing, put your name in parentheses (these things () that are really cool like I just did) and then start typing whatever you wish to type.

On this page is where we talk, about the plot, characters, and just anything in general. Another lesson.

NO INDENTING IS REQUIRED ON A WIKI. In order to start a new line, press enter twice. If you only press it once, then your line will seemingly start a line below in the edit format, but in the actual reading format it will appear as part of the original line.

That brings up something else. To edit this page, click on the little button that says edit next to the discussion button at the top of the bar once you are logged in.

Simple, right?

Now, we'll probably be talking alot, so to make sure we don't crash the page with too many entries, I'll put up a new section whenever the previous one is getting full. To edit just one section instead of the entire page (recommended if you don't want to crash you machine) click on the edit button next to the section name, again once you are logged in.

Example:

==Section 1 (example section)==

Alright.

Just a few updated ideas that I randomly came up with over the course of a couple weeks or so. Feel free to laugh at any and all of them.

1) The crew (That's Scar, Holly, and Matt) each have specialized armor sets custom-tailored for different environments, such as one for Desert-ops, one for Arctic-weather-ops, and one for Space-ops (there will probably be a scene in some part of the book where at least one of the crew will be sent on a mission to the International Space Station, which I will determine later).

The general-purpose assault armor has a hard, bullet-proof-ceramic plating shell on the torso, with similar pieces as upper arm guards, gauntlets, upper and lower leg guards, and helmet. The gauntlet has a slot that contains a medium-sized, potently lethal double-edged knife that can be ejected rapidly on a spring and then retracted with an internal mechanism (original idea comes from the PS3 game ''Assassin's Creed'') or pulled out and used manually.

Helmet has integrated HUD (heads-up display), comm. system, Friend or Foe (FOF) monitor, and Global Access Command Board (GACB) that links the individual soldier to the rest of his/her squad, regiment, brigade, etc. and lists available air, ground, and Naval support options.

Also, the Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem (WPSMS, which is an actual military technology) can monitor the vital signs of a soldier, such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, hydration and stress levels, and workload capacity, as well as automatically notify Medics and Commanders if a soldier is wounded or fatigued. Furthermore, in the book (thanks to Dr. Stephens's handiwork) the WPSMS will have a built in Morphine (a potent pain-killer drug) injector and store a small bladder of other medications according to the combat conditions that can be fed into the soldier's bloodstream.

The armor is comprised of multiple layers;

The outer shell, which is made of thin but hard and bullet-proof ceramic plates coated in "Shear-Thickening Liquid" (See Wikipedia; Liquid Armor) that is sprayed onto the plates and a special bullet/fragment proof weave of M5 Fiber that makes up the non-plated area of the armor;

Second, the power-centric layer houses a Micro Turbine fueled by a miniature fusion cell (did I mention, thanks to Dr. Stephens, Fusion power is reality?) that can supply power for up to a week of continuous use;

Third, the Thermal Micro-climate Condition Subsytem layer houses narrow tubing that can provide heating or cooling to the soldier. This is where the auto-medication-dispensers is housed.

2) The US military has their second-largest Air Force base in the Azores mountain range, which is part of Atlantis. When Atlantis resurfaces, the base rises along with Atlantis, and the US launches its first assault from up there. The Azores are on the Northern end of the island. In the war campaign, USA forces will attempt to push their way South from the Air Force base and procure a foothold at a lower elevation. At the part of the war the crew is introduced to, the Military has built three such bases, plus the already established Air Force base: A Naval base in the middle of a lake, a USMC stronghold guarding the Western frontier at the edge of the Azores, and an US Army stronghold guarding the Eastern frontier at the edge of the Azores (see map to be roughly sketched later).

3)Really, in the writing, I need to describe more thoroughly how much power a gun holds. A gun can take somebody's life, can actually ''kill'' a person, so that they aren't in the world anymore. That's a powerful piece of hardware, and I haven't emphasized that enough.

4) Some plant life includes cycads, bennettitaleans, ginkgoes, pine, and fir trees, as well as swamp cypresses.

5) One of the main SMGs used is the Pulse R71 SMG. In addition, the FN P90 USG, LWRC Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and LWRC PDC are also good candidates for weaponry used by standard infantry and vehicle crews especially.

6) Change the perspective of the combat. Nature (dinos) are in control. You just don't dispute that when you're staring down a Rex or Raptor or Dilo. You're pretty much dead. And also, Raptors are intelligent pack hunters. A classic ambush pattern would be for one to distract and cut off the path in front while two others come in from the sides, attempting to catch you unawares. If there are enough Raptors, they can use advanced tactics, such as sending two more around to the rear as backup and cut-off.

Another classic hunt-pattern would be for one or two Raptors to herd a group of people or other prey to the edge of a hill or other elevation. Post one or two Raptors at either side of the hill and post another two on top of the hill as Overwatch and backup.

Of course, no matter how smart Raptors were, they still weren't and aren't as smart as humans. When a group of soldiers is confronted with Raptors, it becomes a frantic race; flank, counter-flank, out-flank, ''kill''. Usually, Raptors still win. It might have something to do with the enormous 6 inch claws that are on each hand and foot. Or maybe its that they're abnormally strong. Being able to run as fast as a cheetah and jump 12 feet in the air might do it as well. Just a thought.

7) Atlantis is a tropical paradise, if you take away all the battle and bloodthirsty dinos. And that raises item # 8:

8) In real life, carnivores wouldn't attack every human that came their way. They'd kill their share of meat and eat it, but leave the rest for scavengers. Since they've been on the same island as humans (albiet Atlantians who are extremely gifted warriors/hunters/people in general), somewhere along the line they must have realized that people are easy to kill and eat. It's not as difficult to kill a human as it is to kill a Stegosaurus. The exception to this is a Raptor. Raptors kill for fun, just as humans do. So they ''will'' attack any human that comes their way.

9) Call signs. The military uses call signs to distinguish different squads. A couple examples: "Sierra", "Sigma", "Scarecrow", "Outlaw", "Phoenix"

10) The Atlantian's version of America's Bald Eagle is a Phoenix, which is indigenous (native) to the island. Yes, a Phoenix, like in Harry Potter. But these Phoenixes are the original pyrokinesis users. The ability to control fire started with them, and the Atlantians learned from the Phoenix how to control fire. They're limited with it, but some of their High Priests can, as well as their king, a descendant of King Minos.

Still working on what the original controllers for geo, hydro, and aerokinesis were.

11) Have an action scene on the top of a semi-truck, like in The Matrix

12) Cover art for the first book: a Phoenix, circled in gold-orange flames, with the main characters built up below and in front of it in a row, arranged according to importance. In the first book, Scarlett (whose personality is based on the delightfully cheerful Emma Reifenberger [did I spell that correctly?]) will be the main character. Scar will be in front, Holly (with the personality of the lovely Wellie Delmer) will be directly to her right, Matt (played by grumpy ol' Brandon Krupczak lol) will be on her left, Kate Alabaster (thanks to the cheery Madeline Hill) directly beside Matt, and Dr. Stephens, whom we still need a first name for (Thanks to the dedicated and impossible-to-be-mad-at-for-more-than-an-hour Stephen Borrelli), will be directly beside Holly.

In the second book, it will change, and Holly will be the main character. The cover art for this book will be the emblazoned title ''Harvest Reaper'' with a grain field under it and a squad of soldiers back-to-back with weapons facing outward in the field, with the shadowy Grim Reaper lurking beside them, unseen. This time the same row of characters is below the grain field, but this time with Holly in the center and the others arranged behind and beside her.

In the third book, I may or may not be the main character, I'm not sure. I haven't gotten around to cover art or a title for the third book, but the title will be something related to water or the Ocean if I'm gonna be the main character for that book. Cover art might be a soldier's helmet resting on the beach with blood dots next to it and the tide coming in. It might also be a rifle stuck in the sand with the helmet on top of it and the surf coming up. The rifle and helmet is the traditional grave marker for a serviceman who has died in the field and had to be buried in a hurry.

13) Certain leaves of certain trees on Atlantis can be used and digested through the appendix (just a bit of quick background, the appendix is a digestive organ that hasn't been used for centuries in humans. It is believed by scientists to have been once used to help digest leaves or other plants in the Neolithic Era [cavemen times], although now the appendix is not used for anything in the modern human.) to temporarily augment psychokinetic powers.

14) Another kind of psychokinetic power is to absorb the energy out of living organisms, like in Christopher Paolini's ''Eldest''. The restraint for this is that to absorb the energy, firstly the victim must have active psi abilities and you must enter the mind of the supposed victim. All people with psi abilities can shield their minds from mental invasion, and as such in order to absorb psi energy you would have to breech the defenses of the victim's mind.

15) The Egyptian Pyramids are actually of Atlantian design, and were built for Pharaohs as a sign of thanks for services that were delivered from Egypt to Atlantis. Also, the Pyramids were a symbol of Atlantian authority to the people of Egypt, as Atlantis was the ruler of most of the world. They had also discovered the Americas in 11,000 B.C. and the Amazons were a previously Atlantian culture. The Amazons once belonged to an Atlantian colony, but they rebelled and won independence, just like our own Revolutionary War.

16) Atlantis had colonies and military/religious outposts in most of the world. Crete was an Atlantian colony overseen by king Minos, the oracle of Delphi was an Atlantian priest, Bermuda triangle is an Atlantian military Naval outpost that exists to this day and is the explanation for so many lost ships/planes, Nazca Lines was a religious sign/gate of some kind (I'm still working on a good theory for the book on the Nazca Lines), Bimini Road was a path that led from the Bermuda Triangle to another Atlantian supply depot.

17) The "Spaceman" carving in Chichen Itza is actually a carving of an Atlantian diver

18) Atlantians invented a non-volatile and environmentally friendly power source that provides the same amount of energy as fusion (still working on the idea for what kind of power source).

19) Atlantians were extremely advanced for their time, and they invented air and marine travel. For air travel, they took their power source and combined it with glider-type craft at first to make powered gliders, and later used Titanium and Orichalcum from the ore deposits on Atlantis to make a true metal aircraft and armed it with unguided bombs made of a gun-powder like substance obtained from certain trees on Atlantis inside a hard-clay casing for the world's first bomb. They also made a sort of rifle like the early Chinese "Firesticks" that shot a variety of projectiles for the world's first single-shot rifle. On their aircraft, they made a 5-barreled version of their rifle and wired it into the nose of the aircraft, setting up an automatic projectile loader for the world's first Gatling gun. They then dominated the skies and controlled the land through this means.

Their war-subs and warships also were equipped with early cannon that fired more clay balls with the gunpowder substance inside, using their power source as a launcher. It could launch a projectile up to 2000 feet without breaking the cases of the cannon balls upon launching. They also outfitted their warships with battering rams on the prow of the ship that held the gunpowder substance in the wood that would explode upon impact with another boat. They shaped the charges by putting the sap of a certain plant in the rod at the back, so that the explosion rebounded off this hardened sap (amber) and was force out the narrow ram into the enemy boat.

The 5-barrled Gatling guns were used as well on their warships.

20) A dinosaur named Seismosaurus weighed up to 100 tons.

21) Incan pyramids were variants of Atlantian pyramids, and the designers were the Amazons. The two pyramids were similar because as mentioned before, the Amazons came out of the Atlantians.

22) Atlantian rule was overthrown for multiple reasons. Firstly, a comet impact that created what is now Hudson Bay wiped out most of the shore-dwelling, intelligent humans at around 9000 B.C. The dramatic change in climate and spin in the Earth's rotation caused a series of chain reactions that devastated the globe. Atlantis, the continent, used their power source to fuel their High Priests and give them psi energy so that they could erect massive psi-shields around the entire continent and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The continent sank beneath the sea due to inordinate amounts of volcanic and seismic activity, with only its psi-shields to protect it. The High Priests had almost been wiped out, because the psi shields they made would last for thousands of years, and they had put a ''lot'' of energy into it, and most of them had died by giving too much energy. Only one remained to teach a new generation of priests and pass the sacred secrets, etc.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dying out, the Dinosaurs all become extinct due to changing conditions. The only people to survive are the once-Atlantian colonists of Crete, now called Minoans (this is where 5th Grade at Trinity comes in handy) and the peoples in Africa at the cradle of life (which also happens to be an Atlantian colony).

As the humans re-populate the Earth as the dominant life form, the Minoans, who are now a shadow of themselves and there former power, are wiped out by a couple of factors; one, the volcanic island of Thera erupts, causing massive tsunamis, etc. (if you really want to know what happened, I can give you my Capstone presentation some time) and Crete is devastated. Years later, the Mycennaeans find the Minoan culture to have been devastated and they conquer it in its weakened state. Then they rebuild, become the Greeks, and do all that Greek stuff that we learned about in 5th grade.

Happy with my explanation of events for the book? Confusing? I'll have to call all you guys later to explain it, probably. I only understand about half of what I just wrote, and I made #22 up completely on the fly. Wow. Am I good or what?

Oh just a random note this armor I'm talking about in the first part? Yeah, its all part of the US Military's Future Force Warrior program. The armor system itself is my own idea, but I've been referencing Wikipedia (I've had a window open to it this whole time lol) and used their explanation of the Future Force Warrior to aid in my own.

Whew! That was the longest entry I've ever done! Hope you enjoy!

(brandon)

Okay, just a few more war ideas I came up with over the past night and morning. I've continued the numbering down from the entry above.

23) Troy (also known as Illia) is an Atlantian military outpost that survived to the late Greek-Bronze stages and was besieged by the Greeks.

24) Atlantians taught the early ascendants of Greeks how to use advanced weapons, armor, and advanced metal working techniques. The crown achievement was the Dendra Panoply, a suit of armor made of 15 overlapping sheets of metal, in this case bronze, that defied arrows. It is actually a real thing found by Swedish archeologists at the site of Troy.

25) Atlantians had tanks made of iron/titanium and had their early cannon and Gatling guns as armaments. The tanks had room for 10 soldiers, kind of like an armored war chariot.

26) Atlantian War Fiber, like modern Kevlar (again a real thing) that also defied arrows except at point blank range.

27) Figure-8 shaped shields with spikes on the front (see sketch, not online yet).

28) Special soldiers were incased in the Dendra Panoply armor (search for photos online at Historychannel.com) that was made of Orichalcum/Titanium

29) Dilophosaur venom was extracted and spread on swords, spears, spikes on shields, etc.

30) ancient Atlantian hand grenades, two kinds; High Explosive/Fragmentation grenades (composed of clay vessels with their gunpowder-substance on the inside) and Napalm grenades (clay vessels filled with Greek Fire).

31) Their almighty power source is a little weird. Its a giant Diamond thats like 50 cubic feet that was imbibed with vast amounts of psychological energy from a psi-well (Stonehenge) when their volcanoe erupted and for some reason forced out energy from the psi-well. Gems, especially precious ones, collect and store psi energy better than any other substance, like in Eragon/Eldest. Their mobile power sources are smaller gems that have been found and imbibed with energy from the large gem. They can then harness the power from the gem to power their technology. That one I'm a little finicky about cause it sounds great in your head but really bad on paper.

And thats all for now folks. Be sure to read my previous entry as well and tell me what you think of it.

(w, will not wellie) sorry 4 breakin ur rules or whatever Brandon. Just wanted to compliment you on the fresh start. It's actually turning out better than the first failed attempt. It's true, we couldn't work well together. And, by the way, if you want me to make a sketch of the number 12 you can say so here... JUST A SKETCH...

...and that wasn't sarcasm!!!

What the deuce you think it's sarcasm! It's not!

Atlantis

2008-07-23T21:19:44Z

Will: /* Atlantis Teaser */

'''Book One: ''Phoenix Rising'''''

''Written by Brandon Krupczak''

''Wellie Delmer as Holly Dayne''

''Emma Reifenberger as Scarlett Miller''

''Brandon Krupczak as Matthew Kenderson''

''Madeline Hill as Kate Alabaster''

''Stephen Borrelli as Dr. Stephens''

[[Blood on the Beach]]

Hello, visitors to this site! Welcome! You may have accidentally stumbled upon a book that is under way currently. If you're here on purpose, then thank you for visiting my book-site! Below is a random chapter from the book that I display here on the front page. The link above brings you to the page that the chapter is actually housed at. Right now, there aren't actually all that many chapters to put up on the front page, so currently the only chapter is displayed here and on the linked page. If you scroll down to the very bottom, you'll find my work in progress section, where I write the next section/chapter of the book. Because I start writing completely fresh chapters, the work in progress section might end in a fragment of thought, or there might not be anything displayed there.

Please also note that none of my writing here is completed and I go back numerous times to a piece to improve it. The chapter below will be changed multiple times and improved upon, so if you read it now you might wanna check back every now and again to see if I changed anything.

==Atlantis Teaser==

"Who the heck are you?" Matthew Kenderson demanded rudely.

The two men stood out like sore thumbs against their environment. Standing on a beach in Daytona, the usual outfit was a casual shirt and swimsuit, sandals, and sunglasses. These two lacked all but the dark shades that obscured half their faces respectively. Matt shot a quick glance around him. The white-sand beach stretched down as far as he could see, interrupted by the occasional pier or jetty. Behind him was a long series of never-ending condos and hotels, following the line of the beach. Toes buried in the soft, dry sand, he saw his older half-brother, Jamie, looking curiously at him from the water.

Matt guessed he did look a little odd, talking to these two adults in designer suits. Who wore suits to a beach? Apparently these guys.

"Wouldn't you like to know," the first Suit snarled. The other one, obviously the senior from his salt-and-pepper hair and tired eyes, elbowed the first Suit.

"We're with the Homeland Logistics Division. We'd like to give you something, but you'd have to come with us to get it. Just a short walk to our car." He said smoothly, like oil, pointing over at a parking lot a good hundred yards or so away.

Matt looked at the Suit, reclined in his lounge chair, a book he hadn't read yet opened to the first page, balanced on his knee, and said flatly, "No. You think I'm stupid?"

"It's okay, see, just over to the car. Just a short little walk. I promise you won't regret it!" The second Suit said, trying to put real warmth and authority in his voice but achieving only evil-grandfather malice.

"Um, should I call a doctor?" Matt asked, fake uncertainty lacing his words. "I think you might need to be treated for sudden loss of hearing."

The Suit tried for a laugh. It sounded artificial, even to himself, so he stopped. "No, now, come along with us."

"Jamie!" Matt yelled. His brother started loping for shore as the surf crashed into him and sent sea-spray flying.

Matt only noticed the change after it happened. The two men suddenly tensed, their steel-like corded muscles hidden beneath their designer suits flexing.

"Come with us. Now."

The two men reached into their jackets, and that was when Matt knew something was wrong, very wrong. He acted instantly. Why hadn't he seen this coming? Everything about these two said, "Government Business" all over them.

Matt turned tail and ran, so fast that his chair tipped over and fell in the sand. His only desire now was to escape, but even as the two lined him up in their gun sights, he knew he wouldn't have a chance. The first shot rang out and Matt hit the dirt. The round passed directly over his head. He knew why these two wanted him. It had happened before, first in D.C. As he was walking out of his apartment, something had felt wrong. He found out what it was, five minutes later, when a man on the street had grabbed him, shoving Jamie roughly aside and dragging him away towards a discreet gray van. Why was it always gray or white? He'd only escaped because of the fountain... no. He'd promised himself he wouldn't ever do it again. Not after that.

Apparently now he wasn't needed alive.

The second shot burst forward as the firing pin struck the primer in the modified handgun, igniting a burst of gas and propelling a 9mm neuro-toxin dart at 900 fps at the intended target. This particular dart landed half a centimeter away from Matt's arm. He glanced at it once, briefly, then rolled to his right as a third and then fourth round kicked up sand. The fifth round was on its way and coming directly for him.

Nothing he could do. The dart might kill him at this range, it might not. Either way the built in auto-dispenser would inject 4cc's of a potent paralysis drug into his bloodstream, then into his nervous system, and take him down.

The round flew forward - and stuck into the edge of the pit Matt had just fallen into.

It was a shallow pit, but it served its purpose. The two Suits were momentarily taken aback, then ran forward. The first Suit strafed right to flank Matt and leave no grounds for escape. Jamie was closing, behind them now, but the second Suit turned and snapped off a quick shot at him, barely looking and not aiming anywhere near. The dart buzzed past Jamie, but he sprawled in the sand anyways, covering his head in panic. Matt grabbed a fistful of powdery white and threw it at the first Suit. Luckily the wind was working against the man and the sand flew straight into his face. He stumbled, raising an arm and lowering his defenses to wipe the grit out of his eyes, when Matt struck.

He flew out of the shallow depression, heedless of the single round fired at him from the Suit's partner before Jamie tackled him. Jamie was kinda big.

Matt launched a 360 kick as he ran forward, catching the Suit's shoulder and popping it out of the socket. The Suit blanched but dropped the clip from his gun, fumbling for another.

Matt payed him no attention. He ran directly for the waterline. He'd be safe if he could get out to sea. What he really wanted right now was to sit on this very beach with a cold drink in one hand, his now discarded and forgotten book in the other, and just relax. God knew he hadn't been able to the last month.

But nnoooo. These two ding-dongs had to just waltz in and ruin everything.

Again.

The second suit struggled out of Jamie's hold and mercilessly clocked him in the jaw with the butt of the handgun. Jamie's head whipped back as a cracking sound filled the air. Jamie's jaw.

Matt ducked and weaved as another two shots followed his path, clean misses.

Just another thirty feet! The surf seemed cruelly near and yet far at the same time. Matt cried out as a round took him directly between the shoulder blades. He maybe had twenty seconds before the drug took effect, more likely thirty, due to his... condition.

Stumbling forward with the force, stumbling but forward always, he couldn't spare his brother a glance as he was kicked again with the Suit's shoe, a plain black Loafer. With a metal toe. Jamie curled around the blow, clenching his bloody teeth.

Satisfied that Jamie wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, the second Suit spun and clicked off a shot. Another dart impacted and drove through Matt's thin T-shirt. Already he was starting to feel sluggish. The darts hurt, also, but that was distant. He could barely feel anything...

Matt sank to his knees, convulsing, and pitched forward. His head crashed into the sand. This was it. They finally had him.

The surf licked caressingly up and into Matt's face. The water gave him a surge of energy, but the shallow sea-foam didn't do much, or as much as Matt had hoped.

He tried to stand but couldn't, so he crawled on his hands and knees. With each pull forward, he felt more and more like himself again as he moved deeper and deeper into the water. Always water.

Meanwhile, Jamie had gotten back up and through sheer persistence, was wrestling the second Suit's gun out of it's owners hand.

The first suit advanced at a casual pace, believing there to be nothing abnormal with his almost-subdued quarry. Matt felt another surge of strength and power as the swell crashed over him, re-vitalizing and fresh. He dragged himself into a stooped but upright position, trudging through the deeper water. The four foot crest came up to just below his neck, and he cursed that he was only ten and still too short.

Another wave crashed over, this one larger, and he brought himself fully upright.

The first Suit paused at the edge of the water, only just sensing something wrong.

Matt felt the poison leech out of his body, slowly but surely. The Suit fired another shot, taking the time to aim. The dart buzzed straight for Matt, but was intercepted by a wave that rose opposite the riptide. An evidently random wall of water, rising up from the backwash and against the tide, catching the round and dragging it down to the sandy bottom. Matt felt the rhythmic tug of the Atlantic Ocean peeling away the toxin and augmenting his rising strength.

The Suit fired the last of his clip, then threw his gun aside and sloshed into the water after Matt.

Strike one.

The second Suit kneed Jamie between the legs, and he collapsed again, feebly grabbing at the Suit's leg. Another kick in the face served to knock him out and down, unconscious.

Strike two.

The second Suit raced towards the waterline, discarding his dart-gun and reaching for another weapon holstered to his thigh. When he brought it around, Matt knew it wouldn't fire a dart.

Strike three.

Matt grinned malevolently, feeling power surge through him. A burning, tingling sensation spread through his body, the kind he got when his legs fell asleep. Starting with his chest, channeling to his legs and head, then filling his arms. Power radiated from his hands, blue liquid-like orbs glowing from his palms.

Matt's very fiber turned blue, somehow, and a pale blue-grey mist settled over the two Suits; his targets.

The sky turned dark, instantly, with no warning. Rain pounded the beach-front, causing any heroic life guard that hadn't scattered when the two Suits brought out guns dive for shelter. One moment sunny and perfect, the next black and twisted.

Sirens wailed in the distance, and something told the few remaining people on the beach to hit the road, some forgotten animal instinct telling them to flee. One life guard grabbed Jamie and dragged him off the sand. The two Suits looked at each-other warily.

Matt tried to contain the power, but it surged through him, bursting from his hands. The sea grew choppy and treacherous.

The storm whipped the beach into a frenzy, causing a sandstorm to impact the two Suits. They were instantly soaked by the water falling from the sky and scoured continuously on any exposed skin by the sand.

Sapphire blue, water. The glowing watery energy burst forth, unable to be contained, and whipped the sea around. Matt raised his arms, not himself any longer, not able to contain... control...

With his ascending hands, a wave rose as well. Not just a wave, but a huge tidal wave, a solid wall of water, slowly gaining and rising. The tingling had turned to a burning, undefinable energy that coursed through his body, focused out his hands and down into the water.

More slick black cars rolled to a stop, right next to the two Suits on the beach. Out of the cars poured more Suits, each carrying a gun of some sort, and one a rifle. He took aim and opened fire, a three-round burst of 7.62mm ammunition that could tear a normal person apart. Matt dragged his left hand through the air, and another wave rose up, again going against the frenzied tide, and swept the bullets away. With his other hand, Matt poured more and more power into the water, the enormous tidal wave, now twenty feet high and stretching only a hundred feet wide. The water sloped down to a bare three feet at the ends.

The wall rose up and up, twenty feet, then thirty, advancing all the time to the beach. More vans pulled up on the edge of the condo-front, all marked FBI or SWAT or Daytona Police. Men in helmets and body armor slipped from the vehicles, more guns, and settled into combat positions. Until they saw the water.

Always water. The tidal wave rose up and through, passing Matt by as the source of energy, a small hole in the water opening for him and him alone. The Atlantic was left bare where the wave passed, the incredible power and sheer mass came crashing down on the beach, where thirty government Suits stood waiting for their deaths beneath the tortured, pulsing dark sky.

==Work In Progress==

Talk:Atlantis

2008-07-23T21:18:10Z

Will:

(brandon) Hello, all accessing this web page. That means you have an account! Congrats!

Now here's a little on how to work this page. The main article page is where most of the writing will take place, where the heroic story goes on. I'll add a new link to a new page when we need it for a new chapter. Here, this page, the discussion page, is where most if not all of the discussion will take place. Now, with a couple different people talking on the same page, its difficult to tell who's who. So, when you start typing, put your name in parentheses (these things () that are really cool like I just did) and then start typing whatever you wish to type.

On this page is where we talk, about the plot, characters, and just anything in general. Another lesson.

NO INDENTING IS REQUIRED ON A WIKI. In order to start a new line, press enter twice. If you only press it once, then your line will seemingly start a line below in the edit format, but in the actual reading format it will appear as part of the original line.

That brings up something else. To edit this page, click on the little button that says edit next to the discussion button at the top of the bar once you are logged in.

Simple, right?

Now, we'll probably be talking alot, so to make sure we don't crash the page with too many entries, I'll put up a new section whenever the previous one is getting full. To edit just one section instead of the entire page (recommended if you don't want to crash you machine) click on the edit button next to the section name, again once you are logged in.

Example:

==Section 1 (example section)==

Alright.

Just a few updated ideas that I randomly came up with over the course of a couple weeks or so. Feel free to laugh at any and all of them.

1) The crew (That's Scar, Holly, and Matt) each have specialized armor sets custom-tailored for different environments, such as one for Desert-ops, one for Arctic-weather-ops, and one for Space-ops (there will probably be a scene in some part of the book where at least one of the crew will be sent on a mission to the International Space Station, which I will determine later).

The general-purpose assault armor has a hard, bullet-proof-ceramic plating shell on the torso, with similar pieces as upper arm guards, gauntlets, upper and lower leg guards, and helmet. The gauntlet has a slot that contains a medium-sized, potently lethal double-edged knife that can be ejected rapidly on a spring and then retracted with an internal mechanism (original idea comes from the PS3 game ''Assassin's Creed'') or pulled out and used manually.

Helmet has integrated HUD (heads-up display), comm. system, Friend or Foe (FOF) monitor, and Global Access Command Board (GACB) that links the individual soldier to the rest of his/her squad, regiment, brigade, etc. and lists available air, ground, and Naval support options.

Also, the Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem (WPSMS, which is an actual military technology) can monitor the vital signs of a soldier, such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, hydration and stress levels, and workload capacity, as well as automatically notify Medics and Commanders if a soldier is wounded or fatigued. Furthermore, in the book (thanks to Dr. Stephens's handiwork) the WPSMS will have a built in Morphine (a potent pain-killer drug) injector and store a small bladder of other medications according to the combat conditions that can be fed into the soldier's bloodstream.

The armor is comprised of multiple layers;

The outer shell, which is made of thin but hard and bullet-proof ceramic plates coated in "Shear-Thickening Liquid" (See Wikipedia; Liquid Armor) that is sprayed onto the plates and a special bullet/fragment proof weave of M5 Fiber that makes up the non-plated area of the armor;

Second, the power-centric layer houses a Micro Turbine fueled by a miniature fusion cell (did I mention, thanks to Dr. Stephens, Fusion power is reality?) that can supply power for up to a week of continuous use;

Third, the Thermal Micro-climate Condition Subsytem layer houses narrow tubing that can provide heating or cooling to the soldier. This is where the auto-medication-dispensers is housed.

2) The US military has their second-largest Air Force base in the Azores mountain range, which is part of Atlantis. When Atlantis resurfaces, the base rises along with Atlantis, and the US launches its first assault from up there. The Azores are on the Northern end of the island. In the war campaign, USA forces will attempt to push their way South from the Air Force base and procure a foothold at a lower elevation. At the part of the war the crew is introduced to, the Military has built three such bases, plus the already established Air Force base: A Naval base in the middle of a lake, a USMC stronghold guarding the Western frontier at the edge of the Azores, and an US Army stronghold guarding the Eastern frontier at the edge of the Azores (see map to be roughly sketched later).

3)Really, in the writing, I need to describe more thoroughly how much power a gun holds. A gun can take somebody's life, can actually ''kill'' a person, so that they aren't in the world anymore. That's a powerful piece of hardware, and I haven't emphasized that enough.

4) Some plant life includes cycads, bennettitaleans, ginkgoes, pine, and fir trees, as well as swamp cypresses.

5) One of the main SMGs used is the Pulse R71 SMG. In addition, the FN P90 USG, LWRC Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and LWRC PDC are also good candidates for weaponry used by standard infantry and vehicle crews especially.

6) Change the perspective of the combat. Nature (dinos) are in control. You just don't dispute that when you're staring down a Rex or Raptor or Dilo. You're pretty much dead. And also, Raptors are intelligent pack hunters. A classic ambush pattern would be for one to distract and cut off the path in front while two others come in from the sides, attempting to catch you unawares. If there are enough Raptors, they can use advanced tactics, such as sending two more around to the rear as backup and cut-off.

Another classic hunt-pattern would be for one or two Raptors to herd a group of people or other prey to the edge of a hill or other elevation. Post one or two Raptors at either side of the hill and post another two on top of the hill as Overwatch and backup.

Of course, no matter how smart Raptors were, they still weren't and aren't as smart as humans. When a group of soldiers is confronted with Raptors, it becomes a frantic race; flank, counter-flank, out-flank, ''kill''. Usually, Raptors still win. It might have something to do with the enormous 6 inch claws that are on each hand and foot. Or maybe its that they're abnormally strong. Being able to run as fast as a cheetah and jump 12 feet in the air might do it as well. Just a thought.

7) Atlantis is a tropical paradise, if you take away all the battle and bloodthirsty dinos. And that raises item # 8:

8) In real life, carnivores wouldn't attack every human that came their way. They'd kill their share of meat and eat it, but leave the rest for scavengers. Since they've been on the same island as humans (albiet Atlantians who are extremely gifted warriors/hunters/people in general), somewhere along the line they must have realized that people are easy to kill and eat. It's not as difficult to kill a human as it is to kill a Stegosaurus. The exception to this is a Raptor. Raptors kill for fun, just as humans do. So they ''will'' attack any human that comes their way.

9) Call signs. The military uses call signs to distinguish different squads. A couple examples: "Sierra", "Sigma", "Scarecrow", "Outlaw", "Phoenix"

10) The Atlantian's version of America's Bald Eagle is a Phoenix, which is indigenous (native) to the island. Yes, a Phoenix, like in Harry Potter. But these Phoenixes are the original pyrokinesis users. The ability to control fire started with them, and the Atlantians learned from the Phoenix how to control fire. They're limited with it, but some of their High Priests can, as well as their king, a descendant of King Minos.

Still working on what the original controllers for geo, hydro, and aerokinesis were.

11) Have an action scene on the top of a semi-truck, like in The Matrix

12) Cover art for the first book: a Phoenix, circled in gold-orange flames, with the main characters built up below and in front of it in a row, arranged according to importance. In the first book, Scarlett (whose personality is based on the delightfully cheerful Emma Reifenberger [did I spell that correctly?]) will be the main character. Scar will be in front, Holly (with the personality of the lovely Wellie Delmer) will be directly to her right, Matt (played by grumpy ol' Brandon Krupczak lol) will be on her left, Kate Alabaster (thanks to the cheery Madeline Hill) directly beside Matt, and Dr. Stephens, whom we still need a first name for (Thanks to the dedicated and impossible-to-be-mad-at-for-more-than-an-hour Stephen Borrelli), will be directly beside Holly.

In the second book, it will change, and Holly will be the main character. The cover art for this book will be the emblazoned title ''Harvest Reaper'' with a grain field under it and a squad of soldiers back-to-back with weapons facing outward in the field, with the shadowy Grim Reaper lurking beside them, unseen. This time the same row of characters is below the grain field, but this time with Holly in the center and the others arranged behind and beside her.

In the third book, I may or may not be the main character, I'm not sure. I haven't gotten around to cover art or a title for the third book, but the title will be something related to water or the Ocean if I'm gonna be the main character for that book. Cover art might be a soldier's helmet resting on the beach with blood dots next to it and the tide coming in. It might also be a rifle stuck in the sand with the helmet on top of it and the surf coming up. The rifle and helmet is the traditional grave marker for a serviceman who has died in the field and had to be buried in a hurry.

13) Certain leaves of certain trees on Atlantis can be used and digested through the appendix (just a bit of quick background, the appendix is a digestive organ that hasn't been used for centuries in humans. It is believed by scientists to have been once used to help digest leaves or other plants in the Neolithic Era [cavemen times], although now the appendix is not used for anything in the modern human.) to temporarily augment psychokinetic powers.

14) Another kind of psychokinetic power is to absorb the energy out of living organisms, like in Christopher Paolini's ''Eldest''. The restraint for this is that to absorb the energy, firstly the victim must have active psi abilities and you must enter the mind of the supposed victim. All people with psi abilities can shield their minds from mental invasion, and as such in order to absorb psi energy you would have to breech the defenses of the victim's mind.

15) The Egyptian Pyramids are actually of Atlantian design, and were built for Pharaohs as a sign of thanks for services that were delivered from Egypt to Atlantis. Also, the Pyramids were a symbol of Atlantian authority to the people of Egypt, as Atlantis was the ruler of most of the world. They had also discovered the Americas in 11,000 B.C. and the Amazons were a previously Atlantian culture. The Amazons once belonged to an Atlantian colony, but they rebelled and won independence, just like our own Revolutionary War.

16) Atlantis had colonies and military/religious outposts in most of the world. Crete was an Atlantian colony overseen by king Minos, the oracle of Delphi was an Atlantian priest, Bermuda triangle is an Atlantian military Naval outpost that exists to this day and is the explanation for so many lost ships/planes, Nazca Lines was a religious sign/gate of some kind (I'm still working on a good theory for the book on the Nazca Lines), Bimini Road was a path that led from the Bermuda Triangle to another Atlantian supply depot.

17) The "Spaceman" carving in Chichen Itza is actually a carving of an Atlantian diver

18) Atlantians invented a non-volatile and environmentally friendly power source that provides the same amount of energy as fusion (still working on the idea for what kind of power source).

19) Atlantians were extremely advanced for their time, and they invented air and marine travel. For air travel, they took their power source and combined it with glider-type craft at first to make powered gliders, and later used Titanium and Orichalcum from the ore deposits on Atlantis to make a true metal aircraft and armed it with unguided bombs made of a gun-powder like substance obtained from certain trees on Atlantis inside a hard-clay casing for the world's first bomb. They also made a sort of rifle like the early Chinese "Firesticks" that shot a variety of projectiles for the world's first single-shot rifle. On their aircraft, they made a 5-barreled version of their rifle and wired it into the nose of the aircraft, setting up an automatic projectile loader for the world's first Gatling gun. They then dominated the skies and controlled the land through this means.

Their war-subs and warships also were equipped with early cannon that fired more clay balls with the gunpowder substance inside, using their power source as a launcher. It could launch a projectile up to 2000 feet without breaking the cases of the cannon balls upon launching. They also outfitted their warships with battering rams on the prow of the ship that held the gunpowder substance in the wood that would explode upon impact with another boat. They shaped the charges by putting the sap of a certain plant in the rod at the back, so that the explosion rebounded off this hardened sap (amber) and was force out the narrow ram into the enemy boat.

The 5-barrled Gatling guns were used as well on their warships.

20) A dinosaur named Seismosaurus weighed up to 100 tons.

21) Incan pyramids were variants of Atlantian pyramids, and the designers were the Amazons. The two pyramids were similar because as mentioned before, the Amazons came out of the Atlantians.

22) Atlantian rule was overthrown for multiple reasons. Firstly, a comet impact that created what is now Hudson Bay wiped out most of the shore-dwelling, intelligent humans at around 9000 B.C. The dramatic change in climate and spin in the Earth's rotation caused a series of chain reactions that devastated the globe. Atlantis, the continent, used their power source to fuel their High Priests and give them psi energy so that they could erect massive psi-shields around the entire continent and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The continent sank beneath the sea due to inordinate amounts of volcanic and seismic activity, with only its psi-shields to protect it. The High Priests had almost been wiped out, because the psi shields they made would last for thousands of years, and they had put a ''lot'' of energy into it, and most of them had died by giving too much energy. Only one remained to teach a new generation of priests and pass the sacred secrets, etc.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dying out, the Dinosaurs all become extinct due to changing conditions. The only people to survive are the once-Atlantian colonists of Crete, now called Minoans (this is where 5th Grade at Trinity comes in handy) and the peoples in Africa at the cradle of life (which also happens to be an Atlantian colony).

As the humans re-populate the Earth as the dominant life form, the Minoans, who are now a shadow of themselves and there former power, are wiped out by a couple of factors; one, the volcanic island of Thera erupts, causing massive tsunamis, etc. (if you really want to know what happened, I can give you my Capstone presentation some time) and Crete is devastated. Years later, the Mycennaeans find the Minoan culture to have been devastated and they conquer it in its weakened state. Then they rebuild, become the Greeks, and do all that Greek stuff that we learned about in 5th grade.

Happy with my explanation of events for the book? Confusing? I'll have to call all you guys later to explain it, probably. I only understand about half of what I just wrote, and I made #22 up completely on the fly. Wow. Am I good or what?

Oh just a random note this armor I'm talking about in the first part? Yeah, its all part of the US Military's Future Force Warrior program. The armor system itself is my own idea, but I've been referencing Wikipedia (I've had a window open to it this whole time lol) and used their explanation of the Future Force Warrior to aid in my own.

Whew! That was the longest entry I've ever done! Hope you enjoy!

(brandon)

Okay, just a few more war ideas I came up with over the past night and morning. I've continued the numbering down from the entry above.

23) Troy (also known as Illia) is an Atlantian military outpost that survived to the late Greek-Bronze stages and was besieged by the Greeks.

24) Atlantians taught the early ascendants of Greeks how to use advanced weapons, armor, and advanced metal working techniques. The crown achievement was the Dendra Panoply, a suit of armor made of 15 overlapping sheets of metal, in this case bronze, that defied arrows. It is actually a real thing found by Swedish archeologists at the site of Troy.

25) Atlantians had tanks made of iron/titanium and had their early cannon and Gatling guns as armaments. The tanks had room for 10 soldiers, kind of like an armored war chariot.

26) Atlantian War Fiber, like modern Kevlar (again a real thing) that also defied arrows except at point blank range.

27) Figure-8 shaped shields with spikes on the front (see sketch, not online yet).

28) Special soldiers were incased in the Dendra Panoply armor (search for photos online at Historychannel.com) that was made of Orichalcum/Titanium

29) Dilophosaur venom was extracted and spread on swords, spears, spikes on shields, etc.

30) ancient Atlantian hand grenades, two kinds; High Explosive/Fragmentation grenades (composed of clay vessels with their gunpowder-substance on the inside) and Napalm grenades (clay vessels filled with Greek Fire).

31) Their almighty power source is a little weird. Its a giant Diamond thats like 50 cubic feet that was imbibed with vast amounts of psychological energy from a psi-well (Stonehenge) when their volcanoe erupted and for some reason forced out energy from the psi-well. Gems, especially precious ones, collect and store psi energy better than any other substance, like in Eragon/Eldest. Their mobile power sources are smaller gems that have been found and imbibed with energy from the large gem. They can then harness the power from the gem to power their technology. That one I'm a little finicky about cause it sounds great in your head but really bad on paper.

And thats all for now folks. Be sure to read my previous entry as well and tell me what you think of it.

(w, will not wellie) sorry 4 breakin ur rules or whatever Brandon. Just wanted to compliment you on the fresh start. It's actually turning out better than the first failed attempt. It's true, we couldn't work well together. And, by the way, if you want me to make a sketch of the number 12 you can say so here... JUST A SKETCH...

Talk:Atlantis

2008-07-23T21:17:23Z

Will:

(brandon) Hello, all accessing this web page. That means you have an account! Congrats!

Now here's a little on how to work this page. The main article page is where most of the writing will take place, where the heroic story goes on. I'll add a new link to a new page when we need it for a new chapter. Here, this page, the discussion page, is where most if not all of the discussion will take place. Now, with a couple different people talking on the same page, its difficult to tell who's who. So, when you start typing, put your name in parentheses (these things () that are really cool like I just did) and then start typing whatever you wish to type.

On this page is where we talk, about the plot, characters, and just anything in general. Another lesson.

NO INDENTING IS REQUIRED ON A WIKI. In order to start a new line, press enter twice. If you only press it once, then your line will seemingly start a line below in the edit format, but in the actual reading format it will appear as part of the original line.

That brings up something else. To edit this page, click on the little button that says edit next to the discussion button at the top of the bar once you are logged in.

Simple, right?

Now, we'll probably be talking alot, so to make sure we don't crash the page with too many entries, I'll put up a new section whenever the previous one is getting full. To edit just one section instead of the entire page (recommended if you don't want to crash you machine) click on the edit button next to the section name, again once you are logged in.

Example:

==Section 1 (example section)==

Alright.

Just a few updated ideas that I randomly came up with over the course of a couple weeks or so. Feel free to laugh at any and all of them.

1) The crew (That's Scar, Holly, and Matt) each have specialized armor sets custom-tailored for different environments, such as one for Desert-ops, one for Arctic-weather-ops, and one for Space-ops (there will probably be a scene in some part of the book where at least one of the crew will be sent on a mission to the International Space Station, which I will determine later).

The general-purpose assault armor has a hard, bullet-proof-ceramic plating shell on the torso, with similar pieces as upper arm guards, gauntlets, upper and lower leg guards, and helmet. The gauntlet has a slot that contains a medium-sized, potently lethal double-edged knife that can be ejected rapidly on a spring and then retracted with an internal mechanism (original idea comes from the PS3 game ''Assassin's Creed'') or pulled out and used manually.

Helmet has integrated HUD (heads-up display), comm. system, Friend or Foe (FOF) monitor, and Global Access Command Board (GACB) that links the individual soldier to the rest of his/her squad, regiment, brigade, etc. and lists available air, ground, and Naval support options.

Also, the Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem (WPSMS, which is an actual military technology) can monitor the vital signs of a soldier, such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, hydration and stress levels, and workload capacity, as well as automatically notify Medics and Commanders if a soldier is wounded or fatigued. Furthermore, in the book (thanks to Dr. Stephens's handiwork) the WPSMS will have a built in Morphine (a potent pain-killer drug) injector and store a small bladder of other medications according to the combat conditions that can be fed into the soldier's bloodstream.

The armor is comprised of multiple layers;

The outer shell, which is made of thin but hard and bullet-proof ceramic plates coated in "Shear-Thickening Liquid" (See Wikipedia; Liquid Armor) that is sprayed onto the plates and a special bullet/fragment proof weave of M5 Fiber that makes up the non-plated area of the armor;

Second, the power-centric layer houses a Micro Turbine fueled by a miniature fusion cell (did I mention, thanks to Dr. Stephens, Fusion power is reality?) that can supply power for up to a week of continuous use;

Third, the Thermal Micro-climate Condition Subsytem layer houses narrow tubing that can provide heating or cooling to the soldier. This is where the auto-medication-dispensers is housed.

2) The US military has their second-largest Air Force base in the Azores mountain range, which is part of Atlantis. When Atlantis resurfaces, the base rises along with Atlantis, and the US launches its first assault from up there. The Azores are on the Northern end of the island. In the war campaign, USA forces will attempt to push their way South from the Air Force base and procure a foothold at a lower elevation. At the part of the war the crew is introduced to, the Military has built three such bases, plus the already established Air Force base: A Naval base in the middle of a lake, a USMC stronghold guarding the Western frontier at the edge of the Azores, and an US Army stronghold guarding the Eastern frontier at the edge of the Azores (see map to be roughly sketched later).

3)Really, in the writing, I need to describe more thoroughly how much power a gun holds. A gun can take somebody's life, can actually ''kill'' a person, so that they aren't in the world anymore. That's a powerful piece of hardware, and I haven't emphasized that enough.

4) Some plant life includes cycads, bennettitaleans, ginkgoes, pine, and fir trees, as well as swamp cypresses.

5) One of the main SMGs used is the Pulse R71 SMG. In addition, the FN P90 USG, LWRC Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and LWRC PDC are also good candidates for weaponry used by standard infantry and vehicle crews especially.

6) Change the perspective of the combat. Nature (dinos) are in control. You just don't dispute that when you're staring down a Rex or Raptor or Dilo. You're pretty much dead. And also, Raptors are intelligent pack hunters. A classic ambush pattern would be for one to distract and cut off the path in front while two others come in from the sides, attempting to catch you unawares. If there are enough Raptors, they can use advanced tactics, such as sending two more around to the rear as backup and cut-off.

Another classic hunt-pattern would be for one or two Raptors to herd a group of people or other prey to the edge of a hill or other elevation. Post one or two Raptors at either side of the hill and post another two on top of the hill as Overwatch and backup.

Of course, no matter how smart Raptors were, they still weren't and aren't as smart as humans. When a group of soldiers is confronted with Raptors, it becomes a frantic race; flank, counter-flank, out-flank, ''kill''. Usually, Raptors still win. It might have something to do with the enormous 6 inch claws that are on each hand and foot. Or maybe its that they're abnormally strong. Being able to run as fast as a cheetah and jump 12 feet in the air might do it as well. Just a thought.

7) Atlantis is a tropical paradise, if you take away all the battle and bloodthirsty dinos. And that raises item # 8:

8) In real life, carnivores wouldn't attack every human that came their way. They'd kill their share of meat and eat it, but leave the rest for scavengers. Since they've been on the same island as humans (albiet Atlantians who are extremely gifted warriors/hunters/people in general), somewhere along the line they must have realized that people are easy to kill and eat. It's not as difficult to kill a human as it is to kill a Stegosaurus. The exception to this is a Raptor. Raptors kill for fun, just as humans do. So they ''will'' attack any human that comes their way.

9) Call signs. The military uses call signs to distinguish different squads. A couple examples: "Sierra", "Sigma", "Scarecrow", "Outlaw", "Phoenix"

10) The Atlantian's version of America's Bald Eagle is a Phoenix, which is indigenous (native) to the island. Yes, a Phoenix, like in Harry Potter. But these Phoenixes are the original pyrokinesis users. The ability to control fire started with them, and the Atlantians learned from the Phoenix how to control fire. They're limited with it, but some of their High Priests can, as well as their king, a descendant of King Minos.

Still working on what the original controllers for geo, hydro, and aerokinesis were.

11) Have an action scene on the top of a semi-truck, like in The Matrix

12) Cover art for the first book: a Phoenix, circled in gold-orange flames, with the main characters built up below and in front of it in a row, arranged according to importance. In the first book, Scarlett (whose personality is based on the delightfully cheerful Emma Reifenberger [did I spell that correctly?]) will be the main character. Scar will be in front, Holly (with the personality of the lovely Wellie Delmer) will be directly to her right, Matt (played by grumpy ol' Brandon Krupczak lol) will be on her left, Kate Alabaster (thanks to the cheery Madeline Hill) directly beside Matt, and Dr. Stephens, whom we still need a first name for (Thanks to the dedicated and impossible-to-be-mad-at-for-more-than-an-hour Stephen Borrelli), will be directly beside Holly.

In the second book, it will change, and Holly will be the main character. The cover art for this book will be the emblazoned title ''Harvest Reaper'' with a grain field under it and a squad of soldiers back-to-back with weapons facing outward in the field, with the shadowy Grim Reaper lurking beside them, unseen. This time the same row of characters is below the grain field, but this time with Holly in the center and the others arranged behind and beside her.

In the third book, I may or may not be the main character, I'm not sure. I haven't gotten around to cover art or a title for the third book, but the title will be something related to water or the Ocean if I'm gonna be the main character for that book. Cover art might be a soldier's helmet resting on the beach with blood dots next to it and the tide coming in. It might also be a rifle stuck in the sand with the helmet on top of it and the surf coming up. The rifle and helmet is the traditional grave marker for a serviceman who has died in the field and had to be buried in a hurry.

13) Certain leaves of certain trees on Atlantis can be used and digested through the appendix (just a bit of quick background, the appendix is a digestive organ that hasn't been used for centuries in humans. It is believed by scientists to have been once used to help digest leaves or other plants in the Neolithic Era [cavemen times], although now the appendix is not used for anything in the modern human.) to temporarily augment psychokinetic powers.

14) Another kind of psychokinetic power is to absorb the energy out of living organisms, like in Christopher Paolini's ''Eldest''. The restraint for this is that to absorb the energy, firstly the victim must have active psi abilities and you must enter the mind of the supposed victim. All people with psi abilities can shield their minds from mental invasion, and as such in order to absorb psi energy you would have to breech the defenses of the victim's mind.

15) The Egyptian Pyramids are actually of Atlantian design, and were built for Pharaohs as a sign of thanks for services that were delivered from Egypt to Atlantis. Also, the Pyramids were a symbol of Atlantian authority to the people of Egypt, as Atlantis was the ruler of most of the world. They had also discovered the Americas in 11,000 B.C. and the Amazons were a previously Atlantian culture. The Amazons once belonged to an Atlantian colony, but they rebelled and won independence, just like our own Revolutionary War.

16) Atlantis had colonies and military/religious outposts in most of the world. Crete was an Atlantian colony overseen by king Minos, the oracle of Delphi was an Atlantian priest, Bermuda triangle is an Atlantian military Naval outpost that exists to this day and is the explanation for so many lost ships/planes, Nazca Lines was a religious sign/gate of some kind (I'm still working on a good theory for the book on the Nazca Lines), Bimini Road was a path that led from the Bermuda Triangle to another Atlantian supply depot.

17) The "Spaceman" carving in Chichen Itza is actually a carving of an Atlantian diver

18) Atlantians invented a non-volatile and environmentally friendly power source that provides the same amount of energy as fusion (still working on the idea for what kind of power source).

19) Atlantians were extremely advanced for their time, and they invented air and marine travel. For air travel, they took their power source and combined it with glider-type craft at first to make powered gliders, and later used Titanium and Orichalcum from the ore deposits on Atlantis to make a true metal aircraft and armed it with unguided bombs made of a gun-powder like substance obtained from certain trees on Atlantis inside a hard-clay casing for the world's first bomb. They also made a sort of rifle like the early Chinese "Firesticks" that shot a variety of projectiles for the world's first single-shot rifle. On their aircraft, they made a 5-barreled version of their rifle and wired it into the nose of the aircraft, setting up an automatic projectile loader for the world's first Gatling gun. They then dominated the skies and controlled the land through this means.

Their war-subs and warships also were equipped with early cannon that fired more clay balls with the gunpowder substance inside, using their power source as a launcher. It could launch a projectile up to 2000 feet without breaking the cases of the cannon balls upon launching. They also outfitted their warships with battering rams on the prow of the ship that held the gunpowder substance in the wood that would explode upon impact with another boat. They shaped the charges by putting the sap of a certain plant in the rod at the back, so that the explosion rebounded off this hardened sap (amber) and was force out the narrow ram into the enemy boat.

The 5-barrled Gatling guns were used as well on their warships.

20) A dinosaur named Seismosaurus weighed up to 100 tons.

21) Incan pyramids were variants of Atlantian pyramids, and the designers were the Amazons. The two pyramids were similar because as mentioned before, the Amazons came out of the Atlantians.

22) Atlantian rule was overthrown for multiple reasons. Firstly, a comet impact that created what is now Hudson Bay wiped out most of the shore-dwelling, intelligent humans at around 9000 B.C. The dramatic change in climate and spin in the Earth's rotation caused a series of chain reactions that devastated the globe. Atlantis, the continent, used their power source to fuel their High Priests and give them psi energy so that they could erect massive psi-shields around the entire continent and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The continent sank beneath the sea due to inordinate amounts of volcanic and seismic activity, with only its psi-shields to protect it. The High Priests had almost been wiped out, because the psi shields they made would last for thousands of years, and they had put a ''lot'' of energy into it, and most of them had died by giving too much energy. Only one remained to teach a new generation of priests and pass the sacred secrets, etc.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dying out, the Dinosaurs all become extinct due to changing conditions. The only people to survive are the once-Atlantian colonists of Crete, now called Minoans (this is where 5th Grade at Trinity comes in handy) and the peoples in Africa at the cradle of life (which also happens to be an Atlantian colony).

As the humans re-populate the Earth as the dominant life form, the Minoans, who are now a shadow of themselves and there former power, are wiped out by a couple of factors; one, the volcanic island of Thera erupts, causing massive tsunamis, etc. (if you really want to know what happened, I can give you my Capstone presentation some time) and Crete is devastated. Years later, the Mycennaeans find the Minoan culture to have been devastated and they conquer it in its weakened state. Then they rebuild, become the Greeks, and do all that Greek stuff that we learned about in 5th grade.

Happy with my explanation of events for the book? Confusing? I'll have to call all you guys later to explain it, probably. I only understand about half of what I just wrote, and I made #22 up completely on the fly. Wow. Am I good or what?

Oh just a random note this armor I'm talking about in the first part? Yeah, its all part of the US Military's Future Force Warrior program. The armor system itself is my own idea, but I've been referencing Wikipedia (I've had a window open to it this whole time lol) and used their explanation of the Future Force Warrior to aid in my own.

Whew! That was the longest entry I've ever done! Hope you enjoy!

(brandon)

Okay, just a few more war ideas I came up with over the past night and morning. I've continued the numbering down from the entry above.

23) Troy (also known as Illia) is an Atlantian military outpost that survived to the late Greek-Bronze stages and was besieged by the Greeks.

24) Atlantians taught the early ascendants of Greeks how to use advanced weapons, armor, and advanced metal working techniques. The crown achievement was the Dendra Panoply, a suit of armor made of 15 overlapping sheets of metal, in this case bronze, that defied arrows. It is actually a real thing found by Swedish archeologists at the site of Troy.

25) Atlantians had tanks made of iron/titanium and had their early cannon and Gatling guns as armaments. The tanks had room for 10 soldiers, kind of like an armored war chariot.

26) Atlantian War Fiber, like modern Kevlar (again a real thing) that also defied arrows except at point blank range.

27) Figure-8 shaped shields with spikes on the front (see sketch, not online yet).

28) Special soldiers were incased in the Dendra Panoply armor (search for photos online at Historychannel.com) that was made of Orichalcum/Titanium

29) Dilophosaur venom was extracted and spread on swords, spears, spikes on shields, etc.

30) ancient Atlantian hand grenades, two kinds; High Explosive/Fragmentation grenades (composed of clay vessels with their gunpowder-substance on the inside) and Napalm grenades (clay vessels filled with Greek Fire).

31) Their almighty power source is a little weird. Its a giant Diamond thats like 50 cubic feet that was imbibed with vast amounts of psychological energy from a psi-well (Stonehenge) when their volcanoe erupted and for some reason forced out energy from the psi-well. Gems, especially precious ones, collect and store psi energy better than any other substance, like in Eragon/Eldest. Their mobile power sources are smaller gems that have been found and imbibed with energy from the large gem. They can then harness the power from the gem to power their technology. That one I'm a little finicky about cause it sounds great in your head but really bad on paper.

And thats all for now folks. Be sure to read my previous entry as well and tell me what you think of it.

(w, will not wellie) sorry 4 breakin ur rules or whatever Brandon. Just wanted to compliment you on the fresh start. It's actually turning out better than the first failed attempt. It's true, we couldn't work well together. And, by the way, if you want me to make a sketch of the number 12. JUST A SKETCH...

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-29T02:29:49Z

Will:

==summary of our phone discussion:==

1. highway stations- mini bunkers on the side of the highway, disguised as tiny hills conceal unmanned mini helicopters, probe droids, mine detector-and-destroyer mini tanks, and all of these are controlled by laptops. there is a communications array on each one so that they can be cleared to shoot the crap out of enemy vehicles. there are upgraded police cars and policemen and a stinger missile/ chain gun turret.
2. police gauntlet- includes switchblade mechanized knife thingie that pops out, laser, small chainsaw (jango fett), grappling hook, mechanized, about as thin as a rubber band, and holographic popup computer with mini cell phone keyboard, webcam, and usb port.
3. police belt- includes grenades, detpacks, poison pills, med pack, ammo, and gun holsters.
4. police guns- MP5k, Sig Sauer P22, Nightstick/billy club
5. police cars- chevy camaro w/ .30 cal machine gun, side grill-mounted Stinger missiles, oil slick, spike tread deployment system, smoke screen, gps, in-car computer and surveillance systems.

==Section 1==
(Brandon) First off, HA HA! No school on thursday, no school on thurday, yeah! :-)
Second, DONT COLOR THE MAP IN YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF U HAVE ALREADY, I hate to do this to you, but you might have to re draw it.
OK, reason behind this, I was in school today completely out of it because I was obsessing over how bad Atlantis and its culture currently is, when in Social Studies we watched a movie on the seven Wonders of Rome (e.g. Circus Maximus, Trajan's Forum, the Colosseum, etc). It was then I realized instead of a primitive hunter-gatherer culture, the Atlantians should have a highly developed culture similar to that of Greece in the time of Plato. Of course, the few thousand years since them wouldn't have been spent wholly idle. They would have advanced catapults and bows, steel weaponry, and many other ingenious improvements. Therefore, I propose we take Mt. Tyrannosaurus completely off the map, and replace it with some architectural wonder. It could be like the Parthenon but have a couple of its own unique add ons, or like the colosseum, again with its own add ons

(w) ok, im not in a very atlantisy mood right now, so i don't really know what to say to that except for that it's a great idea. i definitely think that atlantians should have an advanced culture and a "wonder" with like amazing weapons and stuff (ill talk more about that later). but, as with every idea, there are some problems and questions. 1: if the Atlantians survived underwater all that time with just gas to keep them alive, how did they develop their culture? 2: how did the atlantians "breed" when they were just being preserved? 3: i didn't think there was any gunpowder on Atlantis. 4: the whole Mount Tyrannosaurus thing is just so awesome with like the helicopter pad inside/ under the volcano and like the troops and artillery and council and all this stuff that just makes it like the landmark death star for the bad guys. i mean, how could you take that out? that would make it much worse. however, i have an idea to fix this. how about we have the atlantian "wonder" on the atlantis plain right to the north of Mt. Tyrannosaurus and have some sort of communication between the two via the Atlantis Strait. because the wonder, what ever it is, would be sort of like the atlantian main base and headquarters and all and like have mt. tyrannosaurus be the middle eastern headquarters and the council where all the generals and queen rex meet would be in mt. tyrannosaurus. anyway, here are some of the atlantian's "inventions": giant triple crossbow, fire arrow explosives, fire arrow explosive launchers that have multiple fire arrow explosives in them, steel battle tanks with tons of high- power munitions and ballistas and stuff in them, battle tower- similar to romans, more high- powered crossbows so that it combines the sheer power of a bow and arrow or a ballista with the easy-to-use, transportability of a crossbow, better armor, some awesome throwing knives so that no matter where you hit the enemy, he is always dead/ wounded, not just hit with the hilt. final invention: they would make amazing advances in technology and invent like spedometers and all of these modern things. also, i can't believe i spent all that time talking about the weapons because if the Atlantians were improving and inventing at the rate of the greek guys, then they would've been that advanced in like 100 years. by now they would probably be much more advanced than we are.

(brandon) yeah, ur right, we need to keep Mt. Tyrannosaurus. However, how about it is their 'double-secret-classified' main base, and the 'Wonder' is just a decoy main base? It would still be a large HQ, just not ''the'' main base. I'm struggling to think wat kind of wonder it would be.
OK, second, uhhh, I really am trying to figure out a plausible way in which the Atlantians could have survived. I'll get back to u on that one. However, it should be such that they were unable to move or something, and they were all perfectly preserved. Atlantis resurfaces, and they 'wake up', with exactly the same stuff as they had before they sunk (e.g., they would have made all of those advanced weapons and stuff before the sunk). As far as more advancements, they should have a ton of economical as well as military advancements. I really want to make this place mysterious, so that the reader will be shown examples of a different world, without being able to know everything about the place, which strips away the mystery. I don't know if they should invent speedometers, but they should invent some kind of advanced transportation, and much better warships. Definately no cars or anything remotely like them, but how about some kind of war-saddle for a Dinosaur? that would be cool. They would also have regular travelling saddles for the Dinosaurs. Their favorite mount should be the Raptor, as long as they hang on tight. For warfare, they should have gigantic troop-carrying saddles for Diplodicus, where they can just like, sling it over, buckle it on, and just hang on to the holds. They could also have a war saddle for it, like some kinda platform on it's back, and maybe on at the top of its head (remembering that Diplodicus was physically unable to lift it's neck above it's shoulder) for a scout or lookout.
Next, I never said that Atlantians would have gunpowder. How about they have some kind of other powder which functions almost exactly the same as gunpowder except better? It could be like, waterproof or something. But they could make it out of the plants on the island. Oh, also, the atlantians wouldn't have developed their culture while they were underwater. They would be somewhere, just like, sleeping.
I gotta go, I'll type later.

(Brandon) KK, im back (no dugh). OK, main question of this post is: what will the wonder be and where will it be??? We can't have it in the middle of the plains. We need to have it at the heart of some giant city. I also think we're gonna have to make Atlantis bigger (at least on the map) Maybe we could have it be three different rings, all looking like they fit together, kinda like the modern continents. Sorry, but we are gonna have to redraw ''all'' of the maps. There is no choice. Atlantians need to have the most land of any country on Atlantis, and the current terrain ain't gonna cut it. The current stuff we have drawn will be the middle and inner rings of Atlantis, the island with Mt. Tyrannosaurus being the inner ring. Everything else can be the same except that we need to add more land around the current. However, we can keep your map that you just drew, and make it a close up of the inner two rings. we should also have a final map that is a close up of just the island with Mt. Tyrannosaurus on it. No, there is no room for debate here, I am saying that it ''needs'' this, and that this is final. So again, don't even talk to me about the word no for the next couple days.
Anyways, the outer ring of Atlantis should be completly rain forrest except on the coast, and the rain forrest will be too dense and dangerous for any country because Dinosaurs, Atlantians, and other dangers lurk within. Therefore, all of the Outer Ring that is controlled by countries other than Atlantis will be on the coast. OK, NOW im out of ideas. Your turn. I still don't know where or what the Wonder of Atlantis will be, OHHHHOHOHOHOHOh, I just got a new idea. How about each Atlantian city has a capitol (just like the U.S.A.!), and the capitol is like, where all of the important stuff is, and each of the cities has a wonder, and in the city at the bottom of Mt. Tyrannosaurus the wonder is the big one we are talking about, but all of the other cities have smaller wonders. Yeah. OK. There. Thats my idea. woo hoo. I still don't know what the big wonder will be, and all of the smaller wonders will be different. Yay. OK, i'll type more later

(w) all right. YESSIR! i WILL make the map as you say, SIR! as for the oohhoohoo rainforest SOOOOOO dangerous thing, well... LOL! all right, so the forest is too big and dense for vehicles, and so there are dangerous things in the forest that try to attack you, and all of that spooky stuff, and so no regular soldiers can go in there because they will be eaten alive, and maybe Tom and matt and gang could survive in there (and tom eventually in the story WILL have to) but otherwise on everything else great ideas. and we will have the rainforest thing. anyway, i dont know what the wonder is gonna be, but i know it will be really mechanical and stuff and have a lot of machines in it and it will be a big building. by the way, PPPPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEE respond to my previous entry!!! it is DIRE!!!

(b) Good, I'm glad you don't have any objections to my new and improved Atlantis map. As I told you on the phone, I already responded to your previous entry. We REALLLLLLLLLYYYYY REALLY REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYY need to decide what the wonder will be. Yes, ok, now, for the rainforest thing, Tom, Matt, Holly, and Scarlett should all go in their as a group doing something or other, along with 20 other American soldiers. The 20 soldiers should like, all get killed in the rain forest, but of course, the gang would survive, just to show you how awesomely awesome and good they are. Yes. Anyways, those 20 guys get killed, and about an hour later after the last guy gets killed, the gang makes it to their rendezvous point that they had decided on earlier that reinforcements would be their. It would be a clearing, and so a Assault Heli Plane would have landed there, and, now, this is the part I need your help with. Either the gang finds a totally alive, thriving outpost there (consisting of the Americans on the Heliplane) complete with C-towers, a makeshift barrier made of interlocking boughs (big, thick branches) running the entire perimeter of the camp, and men going about their duties in the camp, ''or'' a completely deserted base with all of the above except for men. Which one? both would be awesome. But I think I want a deserted one more, that way the gang can like, come over the wall, be extremely confused, and go searching the camp, when the attackers; a wild band of Velociraptors, appear out of no where, and like, maybe there could be 5 guys or something left with Tom and the gang from the original party, and then they get completely pwned by the wild Raptors. HELP ME DECIDE! Anyways moving on, their ultimate goal in the rain forest should be to find the guru. Tom will meet the guru, learn some stuff, and then get called away because Queen Rex (or, whoever is incharge, because we're getting rid of Queen Rex as a leader, but keeping her as a Dinosaur) has called the ultimatum. Then, Tom and the gang departs the Guru's home, goes into battle, etc, Tom gets injured again, and Matt takes him back to the Guru's (both because Tom has sworn to return as his training is not done and because the Guru is also a healer). Then Matt leaves to help Holly and Scarlett, and Tom is left by himself at the Guru's where he learns the deepest, darkest secrets of chi, unfit for the rest of the gang, and then he goes back and does some serious pwning on the battefield with his new powers, but saving the final, most awesome one for his most difficult enemy. KK, ur turn to type again. OH, by the way, TYPE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AT ANY GIVEN TIME! I love to read what you've written

==Section 2==
(brandon) Dang, Halloween was AWESOME!!! We need to do that like, every year.
Anyways, results of our abbreviated talk of the Atlantian wonder:

-Wide and tall
-completely public, no military (except for security)
-gardens, baths, library, business rooms (conference rooms, etc)
-location (???)

Thats all we talked about!?! Wow, that was a waste. Anyways, I have a suggestion

Maybe the wonder could also be like, a school or something?
And also for the smaller wonders at each city, maybe we shouldn't do that, and just have them have a capitol building in every city that has like, a library, a business section, and houses the mayor of the city. Anyways, yeah, all that, DONT FORGET TO READ MY ENTRIES ABOVE THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SPENT A LONG LONG, LONG TIME ON THE ONE ABOVE THIS ONE, SO READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, now, we also need to do flashbacks of Matt, Scarlett, and Holly's lives before the war (you know, like the one with Tom, etc,). I also want to write another battle scene!! Let's hurry it up with the end of the currrent story and get to another action scene!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm gonna do that right now.

(b) Oh, I have an idea! OK, how about Dr. Shang (in some point of the second book) somehow turns like half the American army on Tom and the gang, convincing them that they are bad guys, etc. The reader will know they really aren't etc, and they will get mad at Dr. Shang. Anyways the soldiers will attack Tom, and then he has to completely pwn them otherwise die. Yay. At some other point in the story Tom convinces the army that Dr. Shang is the bad guy, and then everything returns to normal (as normal as normal can be when you are on the island of Atlantis and weird, bloodthirsty dinosaurs are hunting you down)

(w) awesome ideas on everything!!! i have no objections, and i'll get started on a cross- section of the wonder. and i'm not sure if the school thing was a good idea, but we'll talk about that later. sry, gtg.

(w) all right. i just cannot stand this whole picking on Tom thing. i mean, like, scarlett, holly, and sort of matt are all picking on tom and it gets old. they're all friends, and all though holly has some attitude and scarlett is totally hot, it's not like they spend like 10 minutes making fun of tom. i mean, it's ok to make fun of him like one sentence while catching up on everything, but spending the whole time bullying tom and then just go straight to catching up on things?! plus, even if you DID get away with making scarlett or holly that "mean", the other one wouldn't just be a clone! no offense, but holly's "jokester" thing wasn't really funny at all. in fact, it was almost as bad as some fourth grade jokes. anyway, we can catch up on this one later. see ya!

(b) Okay, okay, I get it! I was trying to have it be a certain kind of teasing thing (like a sibling relationship sort of), and be completely humorous, not bullying. I guess I didn't get that point across. Anyways, we can re-write it however you want, cause I am completely out of ideas!
See ya l8r g8r (lol)

(w) hahahaha. anyway, i know u were trying to have it be a sibling teasing sort of thing, but that's older siblings who do that. the gang are FRIENDS. (plus, all of that wasn't that funny. even MY sister's teasings are funny).
P.S. what the mmmph is "18r g8r"?

(b) ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE missing school!
But enough of that. first off, l8r g8r means later gator. I thought it would be funny (sorta) because you are a bulldogs fan.
Anyways, yes I know they are friends.
How's it going with your wonder drawing? Plus, what are we going to call it? It's gettin kinda stupid just saying 'the wonder' all the time, and I feel like if I mention it in public people will look at me like "wat the ____"
Not that they wouldn't do that anyways if I did say the name. Oh well though.
I've been trying to read Eldest alot on an 'appreciative level' but I just keep getting sucked into the story and can't focus on the good parts, I just read it.
And, How's it going at Westminster? At trinity, things suck cause I've got this student-parent tour thing that is getting me stressed out, multiple tests that are really hard to study for, tours of different schools, AND, to top it off, everyone in the grade thinks that I like Caroline!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OSBNFJSDF:SDF :KLJNBVC:KJSDFLKJSDFLSKEFJ:LKSDJ:LSKDFKSJEFD:LSKEJF:KJSDHFV:LKJSDFAJ{:KSJDAFlkaJSDFJILUrf. bleh.
Everyone like is keeping secrets from me :(, telling the rest of the school, things like that, and I am SO mad.
But enough of me. WOW i have been writing way too much on the wiki. Your never gonna respond to all of this. oh well. Please ''try''. Anyways I think the story is comin along great

See ya l8r

(w) all right, to make ya feel all warm and fuzzy inside, i'll respond. yeah, i'm surprised at how well the story is comin along, but if there's one thing i've learned from my "experience" is this. when you're "ahead of the game", the worst thing you can do is get lazy. then all you've worked for is lost. you have to keep going at the same pace no matter what to succeed. enough of the teary- eyed pep talks, let's get going. yeah, that REALLY sucks that everyone is tellin secrets about you. here's my advice for your life in general at trinity. the best thing to do about caroline, is since we know she likes u, just be open that u like caroline. i think, after all this time, the best thing to do is just to start openly telling people that u like her and hanging out with her, because eventually, they will get bored of this piece of gossip and everything will be better. just suck it up and ask her out or something just to get people to stop talking about it. i know u're already with elizabeth, but there's nothing we can do about that because you're the one who got yourself into this (not necessarily, but, you get the point). as for the student parent tour thing, don't worry about it and just focus on getting that westminster application done and being all nice and bright and shiny in the interview. dont worry about the tests or anything. just try and relax and take one thing at a time. (THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T STAY AT TRINITY FOR SIXTH GRADE!!!!). plus, once u get that caroline thing settled, maybe the secrets will die down or something, because i'm guessing if no one's telling u, that it's about u. when i was at my final days at trinity, i didn't worry about the last Israelites unit or anything, and i didn't worry about all the $H!# that mrs. burris was givin me, and now i am perfectly happy at westminster. i know how stressful trinity is, and i am really sorry u have to deal with it (believe me, i've experienced trinity's worst firsthand). anyway, westminster rocks. i am doing well in my classes, really like the schedule (we have PE four days a week), and my main friends are Pablo Luna, William Makepeace, and Matthew Clark. all right i gotta go. i hope u have fun at disney world!

(P) Hi from Phil !!!!!!!!
(P) Go Holly with the pancor Jackhammer!!!!!

==Section 3==
(B, REALLY ANNOYED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
OK, first off, WHOOAA, slow up, I do NOT like Caroline. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, (ETC)............
Second, PANCORS ROCK!!! Thankyou Matthew for that contribution.
Third, Atlantis. I found out why the XM8 was trashed. According to Chase, it was even less reliable than the M-16 A3 (the military's current assault rifle), which I find hard to believe, because as u probably know, the M16 jams so much! Anyways, Disney should be fun. We're going to Magic Kingdom ''and'' MGM. LUCKY US!!! My god, being in Florida is awesome. Again, I'm feeling like we need to emphasize the 'Paradise' of Atlantis. I've gotta go now, but keep on comin with the postings, cause I've got internet acess, and I have my tablet (yes, the school one!)

OMG! the page is saying its too long and there's a data base error. I'm gonna delete some of our earlier postings.

(w) all right. first off. who the f*** is Phil? i mean if that isn't u, I'm glad we have fans already, but wow. anyway, second off- XM8. 1- chase isn't reliable, even tho he is a complete airsoft fanatic beast megalomaniac. 2- by the time the book comes out, there will be somethin better than the XM8. plus, i REALLY like the SCAR much better than the XM8 anyway. if you go to http://www.discovery.com/futureweapons
then you can probably find something on there like a submachine gun or something that really rocks. (the military has adopted the FN SCAR and is making it their current assault rifle, or at least that's what i saw the guys using in Transformers, along with Mechim Milkor MK8's [those revolver grenade launchers]). third off, hey, i was just tryin to help out with the whole Caroline and trinity depressing-ness scene. fourth, i completely finished the T- Rex drawing with one of the surrounding volcanoes around Mt. Tyrannosaurus, Lake Treachery, and the palm tree beachy southern coast of the Atlantis strait in the background. There was an awesome Chinook circling in the background. fifth, i started on a new map, this time using a MUCH bigger piece of paper and i didn't do much because we still need to discuss the wonder, which is coming up. sixth, i just got an amazing idea which is JUST what we need for the mystery of Atlantis. '''YOU MUST READ THESE NEXT FEW LINES!!! THESE LINES MIGHT BE THE MOST IMPORTANT YET!!!''' all right. this is going to tie in the mystery of how to defeat Queen Rex, the mystery of how the Atlantians survived, and what the wonder will be. building suspense... building... building... all right, here goes: in the beginning, Atlantians were having a golden age. their trade with other countries flourished, and they discovered that the Chinese had invented a seismometer, which could detect earthquakes. since both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were caused by plates shifting, the Atlantians knew from their seismometer that the plates were about to take a major shift that was going to cause a volcanic eruption. they made several highly advanced scientific researches, and they concluded that the island of atlantis was going to sink for a LOOOONG period of time, possibly forever. they knew their only chance of survival was to create a way to survive underwater. but how??? this is the answer: when Queen Rex was being born, its egg fell into a volcano that had unknown powers (it was later discovered that there was a HUGE psi dwelling in this volcano). therefore, queen rex had marvelous energy placed within her at an early age. thousands of years later, the Atlantians harnessed this power and created a sort of giant psi glove underwater near the island of Atlantis. this psi glove took psi energy from the air and converted it into a HUGE pocket of air. The Atlantians created a floating underwater palace that used this pocket of air to keep the Atlantians alive. The Atlantian civilization survived under water but had limited resources underwater so they could not advance technologically. Like I said, the underwater palace was HUGE and had a ton of floors and maze- like passageways. this is the "wonder". but now i know what it should be called: "The Underwater Asylum", or "The Underwater Labyrinth". (labyrinth means maze, just in case you didn't know). anyway, what do you think of my idea?
i think it's brilliant.

(b) I just have one thing to say: perfect. perfect perfect perfect perfect.
Second, Phil is Matthew. He just logged on as himself and added a random comment.
Third, yes! Disney was awesome.

(w) all right. bfor u update it again, i got an idea. the way to defeat queen rex is this: in the Underwater Asylum, the psi pocket of air is being fed by an enormous ball of energy that was taken from the T- Rex. there is like a special chamber or something in the Underwater Asylum (we can abbreviate it as U.A. now) that holds this ball of energy. the only way to defeat Queen Rex is to destroy that ball of energy. There will be a battle held by aircraft carriers and other marine troops between the U.S. and Great Britain vs. and Atlantian and Iraqi forces. this will be centered around the U.A., both for strategic position and for the ball of energy. this battle will also have some land troops that will fight underwater. this is going to be a MAJOR battle. anyway, ur turn.

(b) good idea with all that, and I agree that the only way to kill her is to destroy the energy, but as far as the battle, it will be the U.S.A. and England attacking together the Atlantian defenders, because no Iraqis would be allowed in that part. The Atlantians would still have guns and stuff. Anyways Atlantians defending, U.S.A. and England attacking from one side, but also, on the other side of the UA will be Russia and China, and on another side will be North Korea, and the last one will be Germany or something. Sweet. Cool okay now your idea with the psi air bubble thing was perfect, but it fails to mention how they resurfaced. And instead of an air-bubble, it should be a psi shield (yes, those exist. They're kinda like the psi ball, but they are wider and usually flat. Same basic principle though, psi barrier, doesn't let anything through [unless it's overpowered]). The psi pocket thing can still exist, but instead of making just a little bubble (okay, maybe a HUGE little bubble) it can make an enormous shield that will serve the same purpose as the bubble but will be stronger. It will still be able to hold air of course. Anyways for the how they got to the surface, well, I'm workin on it.

(b) ughh I finally figured out why I couldn't e-mail Elizabeth! Her dad's e-mail used to be bandrews@bellsouth.net, but then it changed to bennyandrews@bellsouth.net and she told me, so it's not her fault.for a while I sent e-mail to that adress, but then I stopped sending for a while and I forgot the actual one and started e-mailing at the first incorrect adress. LOL. Anyways now I have sent her an e-mail, and I'll probably call her soon. So their's that anvil off my chest. Now for Atlantis. I started the prologue chapter, but right now it's dreadfully short
lol I wanna make a fan site page for Atlantis where they can make suggestions and say how awesome the book is :-} and their favorite and least favorite parts.

(w) dude, if we're gonna do the fan site, then we have to tell a bunch of people who might be interested in it and it could have a chance of spreading and, hopefully, eventually, we would get a lot of comments. all right. u just keep workin on the prologue and we can discuss it over the phone or something and we NEED to have a sleepover this coming weekend! we'll also discuss the things i didn't cover with my idea. we don't need the psi pocket thing, i just didn't really know what to call it. and by the way, why can't the Iraqis fight for the UA?
seeya

==Section 4==

(b)Srry, but I'm going rock climbing this weekend, and I won't get back til sunday, when my grandparents are coming over, so we can't do it then, but how about the weekend after this weekend (24th and 25th)? Yeah, I should work on spreading the word, and the Iraqis can't fight in the UA because it will be sacred, only Atlantian citizens (or soldiers) can go in it, etc. OH< I just got a great idea: HOMELAND INVASION! Don Don DON! Russian battle groups attack New York City, New York. By battle groups, I mean a whole fleet of ships including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (the kind we use) or two, Destroyers, Cruisers, Torpedo boats, Battleships, Patrol boats, Supply ships, minesweepers, Submarines, and of course life boats. Airplanes and helicopters on the Aircraft Carrier will be hard, because I don't know of many Russian planes. Oh well it'll be so cool, and like, you can draw a picture of the Statue of Liberty with Russian men swarming around it, russian helis zipping past, etc, and like, the destroyers and battleships bombarding the coast, and American snipers up in the torch of the Statue of Liberty and picking off random loser Russians on the ground. They might even have an AA trooper and an AT trooper (anti tank) up their as well, and for accuracy, the AT trooper will have to have a tomahawk missile launcher (Long ranged ballistic rocket) or that new one that we keep mentioning but I always forget its name. Okay cool. Here's my list of ideas I got at Disney World:

-Fight as smaller teams of men (don't stand in the middle of a horde and lay out clips and clips

-Tom will be more quiet and patient by the end of book 1

-We should describe the confusion of a battle

-In public, the gang should communicate telepathically

-Some Atlantians should be separate and not involved in the war (neutral)

-Atlantians should have a complex government (democracy?)

-Atlantian leaders should host feasts and entertainment for Atlantian people

-New beginning, rainy,stormy scene, Tom getting prepped for battle (Yes, he's Tom, but he's yet to get his powers, which make him who he is later in the story. At the very beginning, he's just a jumpy 18 yr old who somehow got sucked into the military and is a general for some reason)

-Prologue (I'm writing it, check it out sometime)

-Emphasize Tom's Raptor vision (regular really good 20/10 vision normally until he wants to focus on something, bringing it into focus and razor sharp detail) (this is only after his transformation)

-Emphasize Tom's like of extremely rare meat (as in bloodier than normal, like a French steak)

-The guru teaches tom to control the air inside someone's body, making them do what he wants like a puppet

And I also have this: I was wondering what made pyrokenesis create fire, and it stumped me, but then I asked myself 'what makes fire'? That was easy. The most simple way is to cause something to heat up with friction, and eventually get flames. Another way is to strike flint with a blade. You get sparks, which can cause a fire. Also, cheating, there's a way to do it electrically: have propane or some other flammable gas running, and then press a button that causes the electric starter to do something or other that makes a spark. So now your really confused, why does that matter? Well, I figured out that Pyrokenesis is actually using geokenesis or telekenesis to cause a spark and then control the spark with Pyrokenesis. You can make the spark expand, multiply, shrink, etc. But in order to get the spark, you have to either use some kenesis to cause a spark and then control the spark, or if you have some other means to get flames going and then control it from there. Cool huh? What's really cool though is if your trapped, surrounded or something, and your about to light like, oh i dunno, a jet boil (which has an electric starter) and the people say "Freeze! You're surrounded, if you make one move, you're dead! So you can't reach for a gun, or even a stick on the ground, and all you have is kenesis? wat do u do???? I'll tell u. U could either just spin around and blast them with some other kenesis, or you could click the starter button on the jet boil that creates a little tiny spark that u can then spin around with and blast them with fire. Much more satisfying than tossing them up in the air or against a tree or rock.
Also don't forget to read my entry above this one

(w) i read ur prologue so far. GrEaT! aWEsOme! except for this: i really hate all of the stuff about they called it a 'barrel', i mean i no that that's what the raptors do, but anyway, we'll talk about it later bcuz i can't really explain it. seeya!

(b) the prologue is now done! I've started on chp 1, and it's pretty awesome so far. Well, I'm gonna keep typing.

(b) YESSSSSS! Elizabeth answered my E-mail. Well, her dad did, and he's gonna e-mail me Elizabeth's e-mail. SWEET!
:-)

(w) finally! that rocks! now, for my relationship... o lord...

(b) lol

(b) I think we should get rid of a major component of the guns here, just saying 'assault rifle' or 'handgun' most of the time, and only using the actual names sparingly. Lots of people don't care, instead looking down on the knowledge, and I've gotten multiple complaints (from my Mom especially) about the attention to the names. :~0

(w) ya, i definitely agree. although, on like those cross- sections books with all of this stuff that the nerds will be reading, we should have the specific type of gun. I am not going to update the new part of the first chapter at all because it is SO FREAKING AWESOME!!!! it sorta reminds me of a less- intense version of Normandy and D- Day (you still need to convince your parents to let you see "Saving Private Ryan"- it's about D- Day and it has probably the best action in a movie besides the Bourne series, although it's extremely gory). I updated the prologue, if slightly.
it's practically perfect in every way! ;) :| :0 :(

(b) ARGHGHHGHGHHGGHHGHGH!!!!!!!! ITS AK-74!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT AK-47!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The AK-74 is the advanced version. DON'T CHANGE THAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(w) who gives a ....

(w) plus, I never changed anything to do with guns

(b) kk srry. Must've been the computer auto change thingamajigy. Did u know, the computer thinks that thingamajig is a real word! LOL! anyways, I've got to come to ur house this weekend. We've got a lot of story work to do.

(b) im gonna wait to do the next part cause I've got company over and I don't want to do the next part with company (read it to find out why)instead i'll do the flashback of Matt (ya know, in chp 2, flashbacks)

(b) Thanksgiving was AWESOME!!!!!!!! I had lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing (stuffing, whatever), a little bit of rutabaga, and sweet potatoes :-d

(b) grrr i can't focus right now (need to play video games.)

(w) i read the WHOLE story. it was pretty good, and there were a few things we can improve on, but i just don't feel like doing them right now cause i'm so sleepy ;alkjdf;lajfdasjfd `10ppujfkjki8476*(*Y^*^^&$ujwa3nu
arrgh i can't think of anything worthwhile to say...
what happened to all those long entries that we used to do...
how's it goin with the fan page? we REALLY need to start one. anyway, seeya tomorrow, keep me updated w/ elizabeth

==Section 5==

(w) kk i've decided to sum up all of our previous conversation so that YOU can delete all the previous stuff:

1. just say "assault rifle" or "handgun" rather than explain which type (explaining type takes off from action adrenaline)

2.ur ideas over Disney trip:
- guru teaches tom to control the air inside someone's body, making tom able to control them like a puppet
- emphasize tom's preference of bloody/ rare meat because of the velociraptor DNA injected, and emphasize tom's raptor vision (like an eagle's, but better)
- Atlantians- have a complex gov. (democracy?), some are neutral (not in war, ex: citizens), leaders should host feasts and festivals for the people
- describe confusion of battle, army is divided into squads, tom and gang communicates telepathically in public, tom will be more quiet, patient, mature, and confident by the end of book 1, and this will increase over all 3 books

3. Russians will attack New York City- with all sorts of vehicles and ships and such, and the U.S. will have plenty of snipers and anti- tank soldiers on EVERY rooftop- includes the close-to-being downfall of statue of liberty

4. my "HUGE" idea, explaining mystery of atlantis and other stuff for the most part:

-i completely finished the T- Rex drawing with one of the surrounding volcanoes around Mt. Tyrannosaurus, Lake Treachery, and the palm tree beachy southern coast of the Atlantis strait in the background. There was an awesome Chinook circling in the background

-i started on a new map, this time using a MUCH bigger piece of paper and it has Diplodicus, Raptor, T- Rex, triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Tylosaurus, and Plesiosaurus breeding grounds, and lots of other stuff

-this is going to tie in the mystery of how to defeat Queen Rex, the mystery of how the Atlantians survived, and what the wonder will be. in the beginning, Atlantians were having a golden age. their trade with other countries flourished, and they discovered that the Chinese had invented a seismometer, which could detect earthquakes. since both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were caused by plates shifting, the Atlantians knew from their seismometer that the plates were about to take a major shift that was going to cause a volcanic eruption. they made several highly advanced scientific researches, and they concluded that the island of atlantis was going to sink for a LOOOONG period of time, possibly forever. they knew their only chance of survival was to create a way to survive underwater. but how??? this is the answer: when Queen Rex was being born, its egg fell into Mt. Tyrannosaurus that had unknown powers (it was later discovered that there was a HUGE psi dwelling in this volcano, and Mt. Tyrannosaurus was named this because Queen Rex's egg fell into it). therefore, queen rex had marvelous energy placed within her at an early age. thousands of years later, the Atlantians harnessed this power and put it in some sort of machine mechanism that converted it into a giant psi shield underwater near the island of Atlantis. this psi shield made a large clearing of oxygen in its center. The Atlantians built a floating underwater palace that used this pocket of air to keep the Atlantians alive. The Atlantian civilization survived under water but had limited resources underwater so they could not advance technologically. Like I said, the underwater palace was HUGE and had a ton of floors and maze- like passageways. this is the "wonder". it is called the Underwater Asylum

-the U.S. and Great Britain will fight the Atlantians in a sea battle for the Underwater Asylum, where the U.S. (meaning tom or someone from the gang or all of the gang) will attempt to destroy the chamber that holds Queen Rex's power. if they destroy it, Queen Rex will be a normal dinosaur who they can destroy. the atlantians control Queen Rex only because they control her power and they can kill her at any second

5. don't pick on tom (he's sensitive) hint hint ;) wink wink ;) nod nod

6. Dr. Shang (in some point of the second book) somehow turns half the American army on Tom and the gang, convincing them that they are bad guys, etc. The reader will know they really aren't etc, and they will get mad at Dr. Shang. Anyways the soldiers will attack Tom, and then he has to completely pwn them otherwise die. At some other point in the story Tom convinces the army that Dr. Shang is the bad guy, and then everything returns to normal

7. Tom, Matt, Holly, and Scarlett should all go in there as a group doing something or other, along with 20 other American soldiers. The 20 soldiers should like, all get killed in the rain forest, but of course, the gang would survive, just to show you how awesomely awesome and good they are. Yes. Anyways, those 20 guys get killed, and about an hour later after the last guy gets killed, the gang makes it to their rendezvous point that they had decided on earlier that reinforcements would be their. It would be a clearing, and so a Assault Heli Plane would have landed there, and, now, this is the part I need your help with. Either the gang finds a totally alive, thriving outpost there (consisting of the Americans on the Heliplane) complete with C-towers, a makeshift barrier made of interlocking boughs (big, thick branches) running the entire perimeter of the camp, and men going about their duties in the camp, ''or'' a completely deserted base with all of the above except for men. I think I want a deserted one more, that way the gang can like, come over the wall, be extremely confused, and go searching the camp, when the attackers; a wild band of Velociraptors, appear out of no where, and like, maybe there could be 5 guys or something left with Tom and the gang from the original party, and then they get completely pwned by the wild Raptors. HELP ME DECIDE! Anyways moving on, their ultimate goal in the rain forest should be to find the guru. Tom will meet the guru, learn some stuff, and then get called away because Queen Rex (or, whoever is incharge, because we're getting rid of Queen Rex as a leader, but keeping her as a Dinosaur) has called the ultimatum. Then, Tom and the gang departs the Guru's home, goes into an enormous battle, etc, Tom gets injured again, and Matt takes him back to the Guru's (both because Tom has sworn to return as his training is not done and because the Guru is also a healer). Then Matt leaves to help Holly and Scarlett, and Tom is left by himself at the Guru's where he learns the deepest, darkest secrets of chi, unfit for the rest of the gang, and then he goes back and does some serious pwning on the battefield with his new powers, but saving the final, most awesome one for his most difficult enemy.

8. bunkers, border bunkers, and police vehicles:

-the police have awesome different colored cars that are either black and blue or white and blue- the lowest- ranking policemen get a black ford mustang (if u don't no wat that is, just search on Google), the middle-ranking and best policemen have a choice from a chevy camaro or a dodge charger (both being 2008). all of these vehicles will be equipped with: .30 cal machine gun, side grill-mounted Stinger missiles, oil slick, spike tread deployment system, smoke screen, gps, and in-car computer and surveillance systems.

-police gauntlet- includes switchblade mechanized knife thingie that pops out, laser, small chainsaw (jango fett), grappling hook, mechanized, about as thin as a rubber band, and holographic popup computer with mini cell phone keyboard, webcam, and usb port.

-police belt- includes grenades, detpacks, poison pills, med pack, ammo, and gun holsters.

-highway stations- mini bunkers on the side of the highway, disguised as tiny hills host a stinger missile/ chain gun turret, 1 predator drone (the thing in transformers that helped blow up the scorpion thing), two Police Motorbikes (blue and white or blue and black siren- equipped assault recon motorbikes), and ''maybe'' one police car. there is a communications array on each one so that they can be cleared to shoot the crap out of enemy vehicles. they are every like 50 miles or something i don't remember what.

- border bunker- a bunch of howitzers and machine guns on top of a fortress- like thing that hosts some two man helicopters, maybe one assault heli-plane, some abrams tanks, a predator drone, a C-130, two to four heavily equipped police cars, and maybe like 6 Police Motorbikes. these are on crucial country borders

9. plot needs to be more frequent and interesting (interesting meaning that it would involve drama, love, and suspense).

10. i wrote an awesome excerpt here it is:

Suddenly there was an explosion that rung through Tom's ears, and the police cars' flaming fragments were rolling side over side. Tom instinctively ducked for cover. He was crouching beside a beaten up green Honda Accord, and knew his only chance was to get to his car without being seen. He heard heavy footsteps approaching and what sounded like ammo clanking around, but couldn't tell whether it was coming from the left or the right. He made a guess. His car was straight ahead of him. If he could just make a quick dash... Everything seemed to flash before his eyes; the blur of the various cars seemed to come at him faster than thought. Something dropped with a metallic thud to the ground. Tom could hear confused shouts echoing behind him. A barbaric war cry rang out over the parking lot. Tom ignored it, sprinting on. All he could think about was getting to his car. Bullets ricocheted off of his car due to the reinforced steel and bulletproof windows. 5 more yards to go. 4. 3. 2. 1. Tom leaped into the silver Aston Martin DBs with relief. Most people would say that Tom was in an impossible situation. About 20 Iraqis trailed him, 6 with Stinger missiles. Tom saw it through attentive eyes. The Iraqis hesitated, then slowly raised their missile launchers. As they started to load the explosive warheads, Tom made his move. "''I wonder what these Iraqis enjoy on their bread more: olive oil or butter? Hmmmm, let's think about that. Olive oil it is then,''" Tom thought. He sprayed about 12 of the Iraqis with oil slick. "Happy birthday!" he yelled out the window and chucked a match onto one of the Iraqis. It was a chain reaction. The Iraqis' high-pitched screams of agony were muffled as Tom's engine roared to life. He sped forward, turning and skidding at the last second, coming around 180 with the hood of the car facing the remaining cowering Iraqis. Pressing a concealed button, two secret panels slid aside, revealing two menacing chain guns. Tom opened fire. The chain guns roared as they spat out .35 cal bullets at the helpless Iraqi soldiers. The results were predictable. Swerving again, he changed direction, speeding through a side road as he felt the sheer power of his 705 horsepower V12 engine encased in the car. Tom knew that it wouldn't be long before he "served his next customer". He was right. About 1200 yards away, 6 Humvees menacingly engaged pursuit.

'''OK THAT PRETTY MUCH COVERS IT!!!!!!'''

==Section 6==

(b) yeah it pretty much does. However, the police cars don't need oil slick and spike tred deployment and smoke screens and all that junk. Police cars ''chase'' the bad guys, not run away from them.

(w) correction: police cars don't need oil slick and smoke screens and all that junk EXCEPT FOR: the spike tread deployment. why?
1. the police were the first to use them
2. police cars have had them even before they were upgraded in our story (they have them now, just not automated deployment)
3. they had them in my video game (need for speed hot pursuit 2)
4. it's really useful in a roadblock to stop suspect vehicles
5. doughnut- eating policemen are lazy- they don't want to have to chase the car they're chasing

(b) Kk i'm doing the next part of the story I don't think anyone will look over my shoulder to see what I'm typing (I'm in the basement with my tablet, no one's gonna just walk down and say 'Hey, Brandon, whatcha typing?')

(b) I would like to announce the GRAND OPENING of the Atlantis fan page. To see it, type in 'Atlantian fans' into the search box.

(w) type 'Atlantis fans' into what search box?

(b) ok I'm only going to say it once: idiot. The search box that says 'search' above it? Ya know? The one that you type "ATLANTIS!" Into to get to this page? DUGH!

OK now I have said it.

(w)kk. oh right!!! i forgot to tell u! in case u hadn't already known, the 7th Alex Rider book came out. it's called "Alex Rider: Snakehead" ! it's sooooo awesome! anyway, i'm almost done anyway. see ya!

(w)delete the previous stuff that i covered in my long entry. i'm serious

(b) Hey! It's been so long since I've had time to work on ATLANTIS!

But now I can. So, first off,

I came up with an idea for a semi-pretty funny joke in the car. Actually Grant gave me the idea when he farted, and I was sitting next to him on my laptop, and after he farted I said, "Hope my laptop doesn't short out." then cracked up. lol :) Okay, so maybe it's not that funny, but it's a start. Anyways the gang should be somewhere and Holly's on a laptop and someone farts (probably Matt) and Holly says I hope the laptop doesn't short. yay. Okay... um, I'm gonna type some more of the story now.

(w) maybe, we'll see. are u gonna put all my pictures on there, like the one of matt?
also that simile about the dust devils needs to change. anyway, seeya

(b)Hey Will, I just took the SSAT today. I can't believe I was stressed out about it! It was so easy, I think I aced the entire thing. Woo Hoo! Anyways, Atlantis. I think the story's coming along great! We definitely need more humor, umm... that's about it.

(w) good! i remember that the SSAT wasn't that hard, only that it took, like, 7 hours. anyway, i read what u wrote on the story, and i only had to edit 2 words. i just got an idea. u know how in republic commando how there are those wussy droids that fly into and if you don't shoot them down they latch on to you and you have to keep clicking to get them off? well, i just thought of something: how about in the story there is some thing (robot, creature, whatever, we'll think of that later)that grabs onto like Matt or some main character, and Tom tries to shoot it off and it doesn't blow up or die or whatever and jumps off of Matt. Tom doesn't react, so he shoots Matt. The "thing" is on the ground and Tom says in a fit of rage, "Try that again you bas****!" and absolutely pwns the thing. Before the reader can be satisfied, they remember that Matt is injured and bleeding on the ground, and that's when Tom is all, "Are you all right?" and all that crap (i am too tired to thing of anything less cheesy right now) and it's all dramatic. OK that's about it.

(b) sweet idea, but without the cursing. Maybe if it's in the second book we can have language, but otherwise we can have the first couple letters and then have him cut off somehow, I don't know. You know, he'd be like "Try it again you bas..." and then something would happen. Lol i dont know. Anyways, how did ur drawing of the Russians attacking New York City go?
Keep the magazine as long as u like, and if u want to u can subscribe for ur own 'monthly copies'! yay!

==Section 7==

(w) i know. we should have him be like, "try that again you bas..." and then matt groans in pain, and then tom pwns the thing and so on. anyway, gtg.

(b) OK some big news first: This weekend I'll be in Conneticut (for a wedding.) Second, you know that song in ALex Rider right after Ian Rider gets killed? the one that starts out 'you and I...'? Well, I'm obsessed with that song, and I figured out the name: the name of the song is 'blame'. On youtube, just type it in and u can listen to it. The three minute one, not the Alex Rider cut. Sweet gotta go.

(b) Big NEWS! I came up with the perfect way that Atlantis was submerged, along with every other advanced civilization of that time. So a giant meteor is hurtling threw space, picks up radiation from a star, and becomes a comet. Then slingshotting around a planet the size of Saturn, it speeds ahead to the milky way, gets caught in Jupiter's gravity, and hurtles to Earth at breakneck speeds. Then it charges into what is now Hudson Bay, causing a giant ash cloud to rise up around the Earth except part of Atlantis because of the air currents. The comet strike causes a tremendous cascade of tsunamis, gigantically high, that crashes onto the shores of North America all along the coast, wiping out the more advanced sea-going nations but leaving the cro-magna men in the inland areas. Atlantian generals realize what is coming and desperately search ways to exist, and they figure out that only part of Atlantis can be saved (because Atlantis extends much farther, in fact from the middle of the Atlantic to about 100 miles of the North American coast as well as 80 miles from the African and European coasts): the part whose wind currents blow the ash away. There's a scene where the main Atlantian generals are conversing, and they say like, "we've lost contact with our sister nations the..." and then he lists a couple other highly advanced civilizations that spawned from Atlantis. Anyways, all the main generals evacuate to the three rings of Atlantis, and they await the end of the known world lol. Oh yeah, just a random note, the people all around the world co-exist with Dinosaurs. The same comet that we're talking about here also wiped out the Dinos. Anyways, so then it tells of how the main peice of the comet hits in hudson bay, but then smaller chunks of it that have broken off speed towards the other coast, and yada yada, everyone except some of the cave-men and the three main rings of Atlantis dies. Eventually some of the cro magna men cautiously return to the coast, now about a mile further up on shore than before, and then resume thriving and prospering, later evolving into Homosapians (us). Now, the three inner rings of Atlantis slowly decline when they are under water, until eventually they get back to the surface as a result of an unforseen earthquake, much reduced. That was like their dark ages, where centuries of knowledge went down the drain and they lived almost like their primitive cousins on shore had years before. Anyways, much more to say on that, and I'm writing the part right now. It'll be the prologue for book two.

==Section 8==

(b) more big news, This page will soon be only a teaser for Atlantis. I plan to move all the other chapters to separate pages with chp 1 and the prologue on one page, chapter 2 on another, chp 3 on another, etc etc. Anyways, this page will have illustrations and a teaser, then a link to the other chapters. Also, I'm going to make a page for the Atlantian Conspiracy. Same rules apply there, to get to the Atlantian Conspiracy page, just type in Atlantis conspiracy.

(w)cool! that helped! i put the excerpt on the Atlantian Conspiracy page because there wasn't anything else on there. also, on your "big news", i didn't really understand that, and nice idea and all, but before we put that into the story we have to talk about that in person. The whole "mixing up evolution" thing just kinda gets on my nerves.

(b) Okay, to keep it simple, Basically a freak of nature comet plunges into Earth after slingshotting around Jupiter's gravitational pull. The comet crashes into what is now Hudson Bay, causing massive Tsunamis when it hits the water. The tsunamis sweep over the land, and since they're like 10 miles high, when they come crashing down they obliterate all of the civilizations on the coasts of land. The impact wobbles Earth, making the poles slide two degrees. This causes Earthquake after Earthquake and tons of volcanoe eruptions. The comet's impact also sends up a huge dust cloud that blocks the sun from the entire world. This comet happens to be the same comet/meteor that wipes out the Dinosaurs. Yes, that's right, the coastal civilizations (and the Atlantians) lived in harmony with Dinosaurs.

So we've got a bunch of different super-advanced civilizations all living on the coast of the world's land masses, and cave-men living inland in the mountains. All the advanced civilizations are in contact with each other. Now, Atlantis realizes that it's about to be inundated and they search for a way to survive. Eventually they realize that the only space on Atlantis (because remember, at this point Atlantis is much more than the three rings) that has a chance of surviving is the three rings. Now, we use your plan saying they create that massive psi-shield around the three rings, and then they are swept underwater. Meanwhile the rest of Atlantis drowns. Yay. So in the same instance, most highly evolved societies are wiped out along with the dinosaurs (except on the three rings of Atlantis). Now, since Atlantis is underwater, they fall into a period of technological, economical, and military decline. They used to have gunpowder type stuff, 'flame blowers' that shot bursts of flame kind of like a blowtorch. But eventually they lose all of that.

While Atlantis is underwater, the cave-men in the hills gradually come down from the mountains to the sea where they find no remnants of anyone. They start advancing while Atlantis declines, and eventually they evolve into us: Homosapians. Cool huh?

Basicallyer than that, you know the meteor/comet that wiped out the dinosaurs? this is the same comet, except that Earth is now also populated with humans, highly advanced humans who are wiped out when the comet arrives along with the dinosaurs. Except one little chunk of land that used to be a continent: The three rings of Atlantis. When all is said and done, huge comet wipes out most of Earth in a freak of nature moment, kills most species, only part of Atlantis and the cave-men inland survive. OOO-Kay, now, heh heh, Cool right?

(w) ooooooooookaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy, weellllll on that note, i will try to get this right. because of the meteor, the atlantians are the last humans on earth. they descend beneath the sea thanks to my idea (yay me :) ),and there are cavemen on earth. the cavemen eventually evolve into homosapiens... but that doesn't make sense cause what happened to all the history between when atlantis went underwater and now???????????? sorry, but what the heck happened between the ancient Greek times and 2010???? plus, cavemen can't evolve into humans that fast.

(b) okay like we said, the meteor hit ''9,000 years ago.'' Everything in between the meteor impact and 2015 (the story's going to take place in 2015, not 2010)still happens, I just didn't include all that. I'm going to type more story.

(b) Hey, thought you'd find this pretty cool:
Liquid armor. It's bullet proof, knife proof, fragment proof, and basically anything that hits it proof. Basically, liquid armor is a chemical that you soak your close in, then if something hits you, like a bullet, the liquid around that area you were hit instantly freezes over, becoming exceptionally hard, like a diamond.Simply, When you soak your close, its not hard. But when something like a bullet or a kife or even a fist hits you it turns hard. Cool huh? But here's the kicker: it's so much better than kevlar. Why? Because kevlar is bullet proof, but not knife proof. Liquid armor is. Also, kevlar takes up lots of space. Not liquid armor. It's absorbed into your clothes.
Oh yeah, and in addition to all that, after the energy is dispersed, it turns back to a liquid that is dissolved in your clothes. AWESOME!

Hey don't forget to e-mail me that assassin cars page we made that also has the ARMPS thing on it. Or was it ARMPIS?

(w) just updating here. yeah that liquid armor thing is FLIPPIN AWESOME!!! (by the way, how do you beat it? i guess some forms of psychokenesis might work. u could use hydro kenesis and put it on yourself instead.) the only weakness/ drawback i can think of about it would be, what is it made of? could it harm the person wearing it like sulphuric acid? anyway, just tryin' to think of at least SOMETHING wrong with it.
on another note, the ARMPS thing is on my dad's computer, so he'd have to email it to me first. (i think it is ARMPS, but the military calls it armpits, anyway we'll find out when we get the email).
finally, here is a summed up version of what we talked/argued/screamed/death-threated about on the phone:

Tom needs an "alter ego", or someone the complete opposite of him. since i know you don't like the phrase "alter ego", we're calling him a nemesis. He looks nothing like Tom, but he is young (we didn't say he was young when we talked, but who wants an old bearded 40 year old fatbutt?). He radiates evil, both in his cockiness and smooth rasp (yes, i know smooth rasp is an oxymoron, but i can't describe it: it's sorta like Voldemort but more humanlike). He and Tom are equal in strength, but Tom has the "light side" on him. The nemesis has a little bit more raw power, and a little less mercy. The nemesis (sorry, but he'll have to have a real name even if we do refer to him sometimes in the story as Tom's "nemesis") completely pwns Tom in their first fight, and the nemesis walks away and leaves hundreds of Atlantian officers behind to kill Tom, but of course the gang quickly "takes care" of them. Then, the second time the two meet, they're completely equal for a ton of hand-to-hand combat and telekinesis and stuff, and then the nemesis takes a huge striking blow on Tom that weakens Tom and stuff and Tom's lying on the ground. Right when Tom is about to be killed by the nemesis, he sort of "grows up" and has like a super powerful rage and COMPLETELY PWNS the nemesis. The nemesis is lying there on the ground, almost dead, and is like, "You wouldn't do this to me Tom. You have mercy. Please!! Please!!" Then Tom pauses and says something like, "No mercy for the pitiful." or something better and more catchy and intimidating, and stabs his nemesis with his knuckle knife/katana and just leaves it there.
One question: should the nemesis be related to Tom to make it more dramatic? or would that be copying star wars and eragon? If so, we need to have a chapter somewhere in the beginning of the first or second book where Dr. Shang or queen rex or somebody really powerful takes Tom's relative and makes him really powerful, and is like, "Hail (nemesis's new name)!"

do you agree with all of this? reply.

==Section 9==

(w) hey brandon! merry christmas! i think in atlantian fans and our future blog, we should have special christmas updates/ issues, where we reveal some cool stuff. we should also remember the day when we put the wiki up and have "anniversaries" and stuff to make the blog more interesting. i got bioshock for christmas, among other things (Georgia bulldogs hoodie and hat & tons of legos). i haven't installed it, but i'm sure it will be awesome. tell me when you've seen Elizabeth.

(w) man i cant' wait till our sleepover tomorrow we get to play call of duty 4 and MOH airborne and BioShock even though i have it and maybe ghost recon and probably resistance and i'll bring my futureweapons and deep ocean discs and we'll talk about the stuff that we normally talk about. *wow* sorry i just had a hyper streak. c ya!

(w) YOU MAY FIND THIS ENTRY TO BE AS IMPORTANT OR MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE U.A. THING DEPENDING ON IF YOU ACCEPT MY ADVICE!!! ok, so i just remembered what one adept author, i think it was Will Hobbs, said about writing. He said that a lot of times instead of just saying, (for example), "The pain was so intense all other thoughts were blacked out," write about how Tom didn't care about the war, Atlantians, or death. That enforces the thought that "the pain is so great that all other thoughts were blacked out". You make the reader feel the same way so that it's more interesting and intense. You could do the same thing with any other intense emotion or feeling (ex: fear, love, anger, etc.).
One thing that i came up with is this: instead of saying, "The soldiers wrought havoc with the flamethrowers," say, "The soldiers' flamethrowers caused a chain reaction of spreading fire that elicited screams of agony from the Atlantians." In other words, don't just say stuff, but use imagery to convey meaning. Just a suggestion, i mean by all means you don't have to accept it.

On a different note, am I allowed to keep doing the Atlantis thing with you or do you think you've gotten out of me all that you can and it's time for me to stop? i want to keep going, but i'm sure you could find someone better than me. if you want to keep doing this with me, respond to all the entries above that you haven't responded to yet.

p.s. if you think i haven't come up with hardly any ideas or contributed very much at all to atlantis, than just look at my entry above some ways that summed up what we did before that. i will list all of the contributions i had in that: my excerpt, the HUGE U.A. thing, we both together came up with the highway bunkers, border bunkers, and police cars/stuff, plot needs to be more frequent/interesting (love/drama/suspense). that is it, but all of my other various contributions: thing about nemesis (i came up with it in the first place, then you set me on the right track cause i was getting cheesy, then i put some extra stuff on the wiki that was all me), I drew the map, I drew all of those illustrations and am quitting the current ones that i'm drawing because i don't know if you will use my new ones anyway, advice about writing enhancers (imagery/emotionally connecting the reader to the story), you propped me by saying, "we should have this three-wheel thing" and i said "no" and you said "yes" so then i came up with the ARMPS thing and you helped me a little bit with the technical names for stuff, idea with Tom saving Matt from the robot but robot makes Tom accidentally shoot Matt and there is drama and such, and probably much more from the previous discussion page that you deleted everything from (in the beginning).

My point is:

THIS WHOLE TIME I'VE BEEN CONTRIBUTING A LOT TO ATLANTIS AND COUPLED WITH THE FACT THAT I'VE ALSO GOT OTHER STUFF TO DO IN LIFE THAT'S PRETTY DANG GOOD AND I WAS THERE FROM THE START SO NO ONE ELSE WOULD KNOW THE STORY AS WELL AS ME (BESIDES YOU)!!!! IF YOU DO GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO ALL THE WORK, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO THAT BUT I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE AND I WANT TO STAY FRIENDS WITH YOU, BUT WHO CARES ABOUT ME?

Also, i hadn't realized that the discussion page was competitive to see who could contribute the most. i just had the p.s. part of this entry so that you wouldn't think i was just sitting on my bum all day.

(b) lol
**sigh** yes, you can keep working with me. I thought we'd straightened that out? Oh well anyways, that thing with the 'Soldier's flamethrowers elicitied screams of agony' is way too cheesy and too complex to describe that. I mean, come on, elicit? I'm not saying that guy was wrong and I agree we should do that 'he didn't care about' thing, but we have to keep it simple. Keep in mind our readers aren't gonna be impressed by 'big words' like ''elicit''.

OK, this is gonna sound completely crazy, you're probably going to say "No _____ way!", and part of me says it can't happen, but how about:

Unicorns? Yes, no, maybe so?

I know it sounds completely stupid and cheesy, but maybe not Atlantis but maybe one of the other civilizations of that time? I'm not trying to make this a story about enchanted forests and talking animals and all, but, I mean, there's something just plain thrilling about mythical horses decked out in shiny armor with knights riding on their backs. Also, maybe instead of or in addition to Unicorns, there can be knights riding on lions and rhinos? I saw it in a flash game I played and it was awesome. I mean, wouldn't it just be awesome to be being totally owned and then you're all huddled in a mob with like 20 others from your team and you're about to die and then the cavalry finally arives? Now imagine if that cavalry had claws and teeth? Or if that cavalry was huge and bulky ''and'' fast and had a horn on the top of it's snout? And in the case of a Unicorn, they'd be a lot smarter than regular horses and have freaking ''horns'' on their head. Well, ''a'' freaking horn on their head. Just like Rhinos except not as stupid and not as bulky. Well, that's my idea for today. Just keep it in mind, and I think it's a great idea, maybe not unicorns, but definately trained cavalry of lions and rhinos. Maybe not even during the time of Atlantis. Maybe long after, and we just mention them when like some random noob excavating for fossils finds the remains of an army and that army had men riding on animals, then we could say (or some guy would make an inferance or something) that they learned about training and riding animals from the Atlantians? because, remember, Atlantians trained and rode dinos. Just chew that thought around a little and get back to me on it.

==Section 10==

(b) hey check your e-mail. I sent you a photo of what I think Atlantis underwater should look like. It explains everything in the e-mail.

Oh yeah, also:

Happy New Year's Eve!

(w)whoa i've got a lot to respond to. OOooooookaaaaaaaay. here we go. i saw the Atlantis underwater thing and it's great. however, a little confusion. is it supposed to be atlantis or is it supposed to be the UA?
anyway, thanks for letting me keep working on atlantis. got a little carried away there on my previous entry.
also, for the unicorns thing. i barely didn't say, "NO _______ WAY". however, i see where you are going with it.
i know exactly what is going through your mind and what is driving you to say things about unicorns. let me explain to YOU what is going through YOUR head (yes, i know that's kind of ironic). there are two types of fighting videogames. the less common one is the melee/ medieval/ sword and shield bow and arrow kind of thing (example: Lord of the Rings, Rome: total war, Medieval: total war, etc.). the more common one is the shoot 'em up kind of thing (example, tons of them: Call of Duty, Ghost Recon, etc.times 30,000). and there are a rare few out there that are both (again, example: that strategy game that i forgot where you can be at any time). Each category has its appeals. the modern thing is all cool technology and guns and stuff. the medieval thing is cool because of how cool the individual units and and stuff are. like, in lord of the rings, you get excited at the dwarf axe throwers and the elves and rhino riders and how cool they all are. and then you get the magic and stuff and it's all glowing and it's really fun. you get my point. medieval stuff is fun. yes, i think that the Atlantians should definitely have rhinos and ride on them. especially the officers. but the unicorns? if you want unicorns, you should write another story that's just medieval. otherwise, i'm really sorry, but that would be too cheesy.
verdict: rhinos= OK, unicorns= sorry, but no
also, i got the flamethrower thing from Anthony Horowitz's style of writing. re-read his books and you'll see a lot of that. see ya.

(w) i forgot. what were we gonna do for the matt flashback?

(w)cool! i read your comments on my illustrations and that makes me feel good (although, the "Apache Longbow" is actually a Bell-Huey Supercobra but we don't have to tell them that).

i'm ALMOST finished with the Statue of Liberty scene and am starting on some new airplanes and helicopters, aircraft carriers and other vehicles! i am all of the sudden really excited and eager to illustrate (strange and unusual for me, isn't it?), so i'll be seein' ya.

oh, by the way, how's your other life going? you know, trinity and friends, applying for schools, Elizabeth and Caroline and such? seeya

(b) Hey!
New weapon suggestions instead of the MP5K for the police. You know on Future weapons the PSD, or Personal Security Detail weapon? It's perfect for law enforcement of World War Three, because it's more than just a simple handgun and much better than the MP5k. Go onto future weapons and look in the season three armory. it's number 9 on the list thing it rocks! Oh yeah, by the way it's a carbine, so it's not like the police are going to become Elite Paratroopers or Marines or something. Carbines are awesome. Okay, now for like the secret service or VIP protection police, I suggest the PDW, because it's a small carbine as well that has more stopping power and punctures most body armor like a knife through butter than the PDS, while maintaining compactness. It's top o' the line. C00L!
Now for S.W.A.T. They should use the Kinetic Energy weapon (also on future weapons, it's number five.) as their main anti-terrorist weapon. OOh, also (i just got this idea), all the police should be armed with a kinetic energy handgun, using the same system as the current one except in a handgun form. That way Tom can steal the police loser's gun during the part before he goes to the training camp with the shopping mall shooting spree thing. Anyway, its really cool it doesn't shoot bullets instead it shoots dum-dumb bullets which are made of rubber and are ment to incapacitate. Awesome. Cool. Sweet Awesome Cool. Cool. Sweet. Sweet cool awesome awesome sweet cool sweet. Bleh. Oh no! I've been spending way too much time around you! lol jk. Oh and for the vehicle crews and stuff, their weapons should be the Micro Tavor compact SMG. it's perfect for a vehicle crew (says so on future weapons, it's # 15). Sweet. Oh no not again!
Okay I'm just gonna go now... bye

(w) good guns but i have 1 suggestion: someone gets a G36 because personally, G36's are my absolute favorite and they rock and look cool. also, a P90 would be awesome.

sweet awesome cool. cool. cool. awesome sweet cool cool awesome sweet sweet awesome cool. awesome awesome. sweet sweet. cool awesome sweet.

SWEET FRICKEN AWESOME FRICKEN COOL! NOW I'LL SHUT UP!!! YAY!

oh i am reading this book based on tom clancy's concept but written by someone else, and it's called Splinter Cell fallout and it's AWESOME!! it's about the most elite spy in the world named Sam Fisher whose technology and gadgets makes Alex Rider and James Bond gadgets look like legos and toys. it's really awesome, and even though at some parts it can go on and on with stuff you don't really care about, it has some of the coolest action i've ever read and kinda reminds me of your writing (the only difference is that Fisher has much better technology).

about the technology, i will put in a couple of excerpts from the book that illustrate SOME of his technology. first excerpt about his combat and diving suit:

"Fisher was biased, he knew, since the thing had saved his life more times than he could count, but as far as he was concerned, his tac suit-officially, the Mark V tactical operations suit- was as close to magic as DARPA (the Pentagon's equivalent of James Bond's Q division) had ever come. A one-piece black coverall festooned with the various pouches, pockets, and harness attachments needed to carry all his equipment, the tac suit's interior was fitted with the latest generation Gore-Tex while its exterior was made up of Kevlar and Dragon Skin, the world's first "move when you move" body armor. Dragon Skin could stop shrapnel and any bullet short of a sniper's high-powered penetrator round. The Gore-Tex was designed to maintain Fisher's core body temperature and could do so down to ten degrees and as high as one hundred ten. The truly magical part was the camouflage system. The outer Kevlar layer was impregnated with a substance codenamed Cygnus, after the first officially identified black hole. The liquid polymer fiber was matte-black and micro-roughened so as to trap and diffuse- if only for a fraction of a second- light particles. It wasn't invisibility per se, but Fisher had found that the shadows had seemed much deeper while he was wearing the tac suit. Completing the camouflage was the use of disruptive patterning through the odd placement of pockets and pouches, all of which were different sizes and shapes. In low-light conditions, the human eye was drawn to movement, color difference and geometric form. Of the three, form was the most challenging problem, so by rearranging and resizing the pouches, the outline of the body becomes fuzzy."

here's the second excerpt about his weapons:

"Weapons check. His loadout for this mission was standard: a 5.72mm/anesthetic dart pistol with a twenty-round magazine and muzzle noise/flash suppressor; fragmentations and disruption grenades; a genuine Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife; and finally the 5.56mm SC-20K AR assault rifle, another gift from DARPA. The SC-20, chambered for a 5.56mm bullpup round, was a marvel of versatility and compactness. Equipped with a flash/sound suppressor with a 97 percent effective acoustic dampener,
when fired, the SC-20 emitted a sound no louder than a tennis ball being thrown into a down pillow. What truly made the SC-20 special, however, was its modular design. With its subbarrel mounted launcher,

that's all the typing i am gonna do today, so ill see ya.

==Section 11==

(b) that is dang cool. I've heard of the SC-20 now that I think of it. Oh yeah! it was in my Small Arms book. Sweet! It's an awesome gun. Okay now down to business. I had the most awesome revelation in the half-sleep that comes before sleep. I was laying in bed and just randomly letting my mind wander... and I started thinking about Stonehenge. Nothing new right? Well, as I was puzzling over its meaning:

Can you feel my vibes yet? come on, take a guess!

Yes, that's right, what if the Atlantians made Stonehenge...?

AWESOME sweet awesom cool etc.

But even awesomer (if that's even a word, I don't think it is) is what purpose I came up with for it. Stonehenge is an awesome, ancient psi gate. I'll repeat. A psi gate. Containing unbelievable power. After the cataclysmic event of the meteor, the few surviving Atlantians erected giant stone psi gates containing HUGE deposits of psi energy. They also taught the cave men basic skills, trying to educate them so they could advance and rebuild their civilizations. Okay I'm out of ideas I'll write more later.

(w) thats a good idea with stonehenge, but can we think of something cooler and more surprising than a psi gate (maybe)?

nice idea

(b) gee thanks. Okay notice: STOP INDENTING! No indents. Just leave it like it is normally. The page keeps getting elongated because when you indent that stupid box thing comes up and instead of going to the next line it just continues on for ever and ever.

(w) ya i fixed 1 of the indenting thingies. ill stop (i didn't know i was doing it and i was like, "why is that frigin' box comin' up again?"). that was a really nice idea with stonehenge! i meant it when i said it the first time, but i just didn't like the psi gate thing. I have an idea tho. how about there is somethin like u no, a underground temple or somethin archaeological like that, that used to be one of the Atlantians' cities, and the entrance is through stonehenge. u may think it's stupid, but it's the best i could come up with. i finished a couple of drawings. w/ the statue of liberty thing, i just gotta color it.

(b) Great idea! Yeah i just said stonehenge as a psi gate cause I was being lazy and couldn't come up with anything better at the time. But to get to the underground city, you have to do something on some specific day of the year at a specific time involving some sort of psi power. Oh yeah which reminds me...

Did the Atlantians have psi powers at one time or another? That would be awesome if they used to then after being underwater all those years, they sort of lost the ability... Remember in Artemis Fowl the Lost Colony of the demon dudes? When Artemis and Holly and everybody else's brains are connected Artemis digs around and finds that humans used to have magic but then forgot about it because they were needing it less and less. It would be kind of like that.

Oh yeah and one more thing for now: The Bermuda Triangle. Atlantis. Link????

What should the Atlantians have to do with the Bermuda Triangle? What's their involvement with that and the Bahama Quadrangle or whatever? Cool idea eh?

Talk to ya later

(w)thanx i was afraid you'd say it was some stupid thingie. whatever. awesome. sweet. cool. sweet cool awesome. cool awes- oh $&@#ing shut up will!!!!!!! see ya, and please do me a favor and don't completely take out my excerpt.

==Section 12==

(w) OK i am just gonna say this about the whole us working together on Atlantis thing. all right. so, recently, we've had more than two pretty big arguments where, yes, both of us were being obnoxious. I brought this up because recently i looked on the wiki and realized just how far we've come and how from a reader's point of view, this story is completely awesome with all the illustrations and discussion pages and everything. this is why i realize we can't stop doing Atlantis and our little petty arguments shouldn't even come close to stopping this- partner and friend-ship. Here's my solution: i do artwork and come up with excerpts for the story, and when you ask me to, introduce a character and do a description. i can do a little patching up with grammar and stuff, and with your approval, (if the story needs it)improve the flow of the story. When i come over to your house and vice versa, we can come up with ideas. i will not reject any of your ideas but i will simply throw stuff out there to make your ideas as good as possible. I'm gonna say that my excerpts can be altered in any way possible to make them better, and you don't have to use all of them. if you don't use one, simply use it to potentially give you ideas. The main thing is, i wanna keep doing Atlantis with you and i wanna stay your friend, and to do that we gotta severely reduce the number of arguments. (*and for future reference, if you think something that i did is sucky, just go ahead and tell me so we can fix it early on*)

(w) sry before u can respond a few thoughts came to me, so i better put them down. 1st of all, i just realized something. we need to think more in depth of who is on the enemy's side. Since there have been rumors buzzing around about tensions rising between the US and Korea. Since the Korean war never really was resolved... you catching on to me? Also, since China most likely is the nation that poses the biggest threat... before i tell u what i'm getting at, one more: Russia has long been US's rival ever since the beginning of the Cold War with the space race and everything. I know all of these but Korea we've talked about before, but i still haven't told u the point of all of this. Here it is: if you think about it, the only reason why we're still in the middle east is because it's not a fair fight. Yes, the US has all of the best weapons and technology in the world, but that doesn't do squat when who soldiers think is random citizens pops out and mows them down with AK-47s and for your sake i'll say AK-74s too. it's not like the middle east has the most soldiers, and by far it doesn't have the best equipment, but it does have the tactical upper hand. In Russia's case, however, they rival the US in all of those categories (of course we're still better), and for all we know they might want revenge on the US after the cold war (we're also not sure about their current leader and what his intentions are, i forgot his name). And China, for all we know they might want to take over the whole world! they've by far got the most potential troop number, considering their population. so what i'm saying here is that the three nations with the most true power are, (besides the US and Great Britain)China, Russia, and Korea. The middle east (Iraq, Iran, etc.)

anyway, don't respond yet cause i gotta go. anyway, ill see u later

(b) Yes, I see your point. In case I haven't made this clear (in the book), Russia has been building a war machine far more advanced than any we have. The Cold War was just a distraction so they could conduct tests and whatnot on it without being discovered. It is an awesome thing, and they have awesome technology and stuff and their guns and equipment is as good as the USA's. So, in conclusion, Russia is the biggest threat, then Iraq, then China, then Korea. The reason China is not first or second is because, although yes, they have the most quantity of troops, they're not exactly the brightest or the most expensively furnished. Remember, the economy of China is all but dead. They've got so many people, and thats their #1 advantage over us. However, their workmanship is rather shoddy, and their tanks and stuff are no where near ours. Instead of having assault rifles like us, a Chinese soldier might have a bolt-action rifle and a bayonet. Their tech. still hasn't evolved much from WWII. So now, in WWIII, they're a little behind. Their tactics are simply overwhelming numbers. Get enough losers toting high-powered rifles, and you can put the hurt in the dirt. Now, the reason Iraq is second, because like you said, they're really good at popping up out of nowhere and ambushes and stuff. They're also familiar with Urban warfare. Of course, our troops are good at that too, but the layout of the cities they usually fight in is alien, where as the Iraqis know exactly where the good sniping spots are, best choke points, etc. Okay. now korea, yeah they're pretty good, but you see why they're fourth. cool.

(w) I agree. anyway, another thing. the US's biggest ally is Great Britain. Great Britain's greatest ally, besides the US, is Australia and vice versa. So, even though we said Japan would take over Australia, I think with the US's help along with GB's help, Australia would remain independent. Instead, I think Korea should take over Japan.

GUESS WHAATTT???? I JUST DREW THE THE MOST AWESOME F-22 Raptor EVER!!!!!

i saw your snowman on the main page it's amazZZZzzzZzing except for it has a kinda ugly hat on

(w) you have got to get republic commando for pc for ur birthday! plllleeeeaaaaassssseeeee! get it so we can play multiplayer (if u do get it, when u do play multiplayer, press "connect to ip" and log in to ur gamespy account

(b) Hey, guess what

I had this stunning idea. A role model almost. You know how Tom lacks any real character tributes and stuff like that? Well, I have a role model for him to be like. Don't complain, it's an amazing idea.

Okay, I want Tom to be like a younger Dirk Pitt, from the Clive Cussler series. And if you think that's stupid, reserve your judgement until you've actually read one of the books. Next time you come over, I'll loan you one of them, one of my favorites, and we can see if you like the idea or not.

Till then, Bye!

(b)kk, saw ur previous entry about the shadowing thing (then erased it lol)

Anyways, came up with some new ideas

The Elite Marines (paratroopers) will be called Helljumpers, in honor of Halo. Cool idea huh? I love the idea.

Another idea, is Tom and the crew are in some huge battle and Tom has to lead the Army as the feild commander, and the U.S. is getting pwned, then Tom rallies them and says like, "Tonight, we dine in ****" Just like King Leonidas

ANOTHER idea: The crew is out on a joint strike operation, and they need callsigns (codenames), and Tom's codename is "Leonidas". Matt's could be like "Knocknock" or something, Scarlett's would be "Red Falcon" or something stupid, and Holly's would be something like "Jingle Bell" or something. I don't know. Just that Tom's has to be Leonidas and that I ''have to have to have to'' see the movie 300. Notice that all these ideas sparked with one idea from reading one book? Cool huh?!? Well, okay, I got the tonight we dine in **** part from a game at Borders, but, you know, same basic principle. The idea that that could be part of Atlantis came from the Halo book. I swear, that book is awesome. I also came up with another minor idea that Tom should completely pown and all, but some other officer doesn't think it's morally correct and thinks that the whole Psi program is stupid, but you, the reader know otherwise and so get completely mad at him, but then he realizes in the end that Tom is one helluva soldier.

==Section 13==

(w)i have an idea: don't u think it'd be cool if the U.S. had some sort of souped Humvee sized vehicle that was somewhat similar to the Warthog in Halo? (would that be considered an APC? if so, we could add it to our list of APCs.)

three more things:

1. what is the chapter that u and liz are gonna write? tell me ALL (*sigh*) about it

2. i think on the atlantian fans page, we should either create a link to the list of all the vehicles of atlantis on a different website and stuff, or we should write them all down on the fan page.

3. what is Dirk Pitt like? describe him to me.

(b) Okay I came up with an awesome battle scene idea. First let me give ya a little background. The future of agriculture is Hydro and Aeroponics, or growing plants with nutrient rich air/water. The idea is awesome, and since the nutrients are all provided for the plant, the plant doesn't have to search much for them and instead can devote its energy to making the food. It makes the process up to ten times faster and since there is no soil bacteria in the water, it is more resistent to disease. What's really cool is that the amount of nutrients and/or water can be altered to alter the taste of the plant. It's really cool it's already being used by NASA. Anyways the point is that I came up with the idea that the Facilities use Hydroponics to grow food instead of planting in the soil. Furthermore, I want Tom to have some kind of battle in Facility 1's Hydroponics room. Maybe he like goes back with a squad under orders to attempt to clean out resistance and recapture the base. I loooove the idea. Okay I'm gonna update chapter 4 now.

(B) okay I've got the greatest idea probably that we've come up with in the past like four months! My dad dragged me to this lego competition thing at Georgia Tech (oops probably shouldn't use that name if I want u to agree) and he just ''had'' to give me and Mr. Gallop, one of our neighbors who was with us, a tour of the campus. So I was walking along feeling all bored and junk when out of the blue (even though I wasn't listening) I hear Mr. Gallop just mention Dinosaur. He was probably talking about a headache or something but it sparked an idea. I was so bored I started imagining that I was a Marine walking through contested hostile territory, except that the hostiles were Dinosaurs. So I pretended that I was with a squad and junk and that a T-Rex came around a corner and we blasted it, but it ate a couple of our guys, etc, then we ran into a pack of Raptors and yada yada yada. Hey, I was bored. '''Anyways, down to the point.''' I said to myself somewhere along my little day dream: Atlantis???

And pretty soon I started thinking. Huge dinosaurs running across to me to slash me apart on the island of atlantis, and where was I? A HUGE big Head Quartersy type place. So what was my next thought? I thought: 'Hey, that sounds kinda like a facility! Oh my gosh! How about Facility 2????!!!??? It was brilliant. BRILLIANT I SAY, BRILLIANT!!!!!! Anyways, the reason it has to be facility 2 and not facility 1, is because we've pretty much already just established in the story that facility 1 is simply a great slab of reinforced concrete surrounded by really tall walls. So, to fix that problem, I thought that maybe since Facility 1 is, after all, Facility 1, that must mean it came first, before the other Facilities! So now the reason why Facility 2 and 3 can be a college-like campus is that Facility 1 was the original prototype, and after they found out that more buildings works better than one huge one, they made the other two like a college. BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIA- you get the point. Anyways, it would only take a few minutes for you or I to touch up the opening scenes introducing Facility 2 and the following to make it so that Tom has existed like that in Facility 2 and its not some random change that happens mid-paragraph instantaneously. It wouldn't take too long. However, I don't feel like doing it just now, so maybe tomorrow morning or something.

(w) i c where u r going with the first entry. that would be awesome. the plant room thing would have big containers of water and technical sciency chemically lab stuff all over the place. it would be a bunch of different fairly small rooms of this stuff. the bunch of plant rooms would be adjacent to the reactor room with power, energy, and batteryish stuff, and there would be a battle throughout the rooms with raptors and special recon Russian units (new idea i came up with, tell u in the next paragraph). Tom and elite soldiers would be rolling and ducking and stuff and about 4 times tom would flank a unit and bop them on the side of the head with a shotgun or something; they would die.
anyways, the special recon Russian units: they would have clothing like that TAC suit i was telling u about (remember, the Sam Fisher suit with camouflage and a buncha other stuff that goes underwater). it would be black, with pockets holding grenades and various tactical equipment, and gun holsters on their quadriceps (like in my drawing of tom) and back. their whole body suit would have a red Russian insignia on where the chest pocket would be. as for their heads, they are bare and can be equipped with a NV goggles and infrared and thermal headsets kind of thing. On their back holster, they usually carry a RPG missile launcher, and they carry a G36C as their main assault weapon and two Desert Eagles on their leg holsters. '''These units kind of look like those black-clad units in COD4 with RPGs on ther back and everything. Maybe those were SEALs; i dont know.''' These elite units can apply to the US army too, it's just sort of a general unit. however, the Russians need an elite unit to couple their barely-superior technology.
now, about the college thing. remember how i was telling you about my hard-to-explain idea about what facility 2 would look like? screw that idea. There would be a bunch of college-looking buildings that look like Georgia Tech, except they would be a lot bigger and where there was brick there would now be steel. surrounding them, there would be mounted turrets or autoguns. there would be missile launcher stations and a bunch of big buildings housing vehicles. there would be one big building that would be in the center and would, among other things, carry out orders through telecomm.

anyway, i'm outta ideas. see ya hopefully on saturday.

==Section 14==

(b) okay, I love all the ideas, but your recon units need a bit of work. First of all, we're so dumb. What kind of loser unit would carry around so many ---- types of guns? Two desert eagles? Come on, I thought we had gotten past the whole Neo-Matrix type cheap crap last month. And news flash: RPGs are from the soviet era. They suck. Now, if you want ''recon'' units to have a portable missile launcher, give 'em a ZUEZ anti-armor PMP (Portable Missile Platform). They're SWEET. I was playing GRAW (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter) and part of the mission was to take out this stolen M1 Abrams and I didn't have any anti-armor but then a blackhawk landed on the roof of the building I was in and some random noob computer AI dude told me to resupply at the Black hawk. O M G.

It was amazing. GRAW is so much fun it's all about the tactics and cool stuff and it rocks and blah and- I'm getting ahead of myself.

First off, the ZUEZ thing rocks. It took out the Abrams 1 shot. Second, there's a new rifle that we haven't heard of, not the SCAR or the XM8, its like the CZ2100 or something. I dunno. I'll write it down the next time I play GRAW. It rocks, it's got a 50 round clip, amazingly accurate for an assault rifle when it has optical enhancement sighting (fancy terms for a scope, instead of just aiming through the iron-sights.). Bullpup design, completely amazing and pretty light as well. Now, second part of this, the XM8, that means X for experimental, the M-8 part is the name of the gun. X is unneeded. I know this because when I was playing GRAW I saw a gun labeled M8 assault rifle and it had the exact shape of an XM8. So, actually, XM8s are called M8s. The gun still rocks, I gave it to one of my squad mates and he pwned with it, killing like 5 of the 8 guys in an area when I wasn't around, meanwhile the two squad members beside him (one with a SCAR-Heavy and one w/ a sniper) only killed three between them. In fairness to the sniper (who only killed one), it was a close quarters battle and snipers are relatively usless in the real world at close range, even if they aren't in most run and gun vid games. Anyways, unfortunately I started thinking the guy was a superhero with the gun and I told him to attack this group of three enemies, but I didn't see the guys flanking to his left. He died. But even and M8 compact has its limits. Which brings up another thing.

There are many versions of the M8, as you probably know. there's the assault rifle, the LMG, the sniper, and of course, the compact thing that my guy had. It pwns!!! but whats even better is that the M8 compact can be equipped as a secondary weapon, so the next level I had myself equipped with the CZ2100 or whatever and an M8 compact. The only guy in my squad whom I didn't equip a M8 to was my sniper cause he was packing heavy enough already. Too bad really, he could have used the extra firepower over the GIB handgun. Which is yet another thing (I'm taking up the whole page here). New military '''handguns''' we will use in Atlantis include:

M9

Glock 18

Sig Sauer P22

USP

all awesome handguns.

Let me know if there's anything I left out in my loooooonnnnnggg entry and if there's anything that confuses you.

(B)Okay little update on the weapons: first and formost, the CZ2100 thing I mentioned is actually the MR-C. No idea where the HECK I came up with CZ2100. oh well. Secondly (this is pathetic on my part), the GIB is actually the Glock 8. lol. In GRAW they title it 'Gl8' and the font is really weird so I couldn't tell the difference between an L and a 1 and an I or an 8 versus a B. Pathetic I know but whatever. Everything else is a-okay, the M8 carbine is awesome!

(w)ok first of all, that was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG entry for something that wasn't that necessary. cool with the handguns, but explaining GUNS in a HUGE page????? anyway, about my recon unit, remember those units in COD4 with the black suits and the pockets and everything and the NV etc. goggles? they sometimes carried RPGs on their backs... THAT's what i want the recon units to look like, but modified with the latest technology. Now, I understand that RPGs ''are'' outdated, but they're still awesomely capable weapons. But, since u gave me an obviously cooler rocket launcher, we'll use the ZUEZ AA (anti-armor). however, the javelin rocket launcher is completely frickin awesome, so we'll have a debate about which one they use. and about the cheap neo-matrix stuff, i never said anything about it being neo-matrixy. However, i see how some of those guns up there would be cooler (but not necessarily better) than a Desert Eagle. (let's just suppose we agreed on the USP for their handgun). Ask yourself this: is a G36C, a USP ''handgun'', and a javelin/ ZUEZ AA really a TON of weapons? i mean, awesome elite soldiers (like angel squadron)have a lot of awesome weapons. and these soldiers will be russia's most elite soldiers to go with their awesome technology. ALSO, LET'S HAVE THESE SOLDIERS '''JUST''' BE RUSSIA'S. even if u dont want them to have the rocket launcher, u can still arm them with russia's best training making them always extremely deadly, 6 frag grenades, a G36C, and a USP or 2 and make them completely awesome soldiers. anyway, about your chapter 7 thing, we'll talk about that later, but overall nice work! ill help out on the weekend (U '''HAVE''' TO COME OVER THIS WEEKEND, I DONT CARE IF YOU'RE NOT IN THE MOOD).

hey, by the way i read what u updated of chap. 7, and its GREAT!!!!!!! i updated it a ''little bit'' and did a little bit more of a description of Angel Squadron.

==Section 15==

(b) ''perfect''. You're great at the description thing. I just don't have the patience. That and it takes so long to come up with the fricken stuff to write that the writer gets a ''completely'' different view of the time passing than the reader. As a result, it is really necessary for you to go back and review my writing. So at least you're not ''completely'' worthless ;).

Anyways, the problem with a Desert Eagle besides them being extremely heavy is that they've only got seven shots a clip, and while in games seven is enough, they're not accurate enough to safely have seven rounds. Sure, if they were accurate as snipers, maybe we could consider them. But, think about it. They've already got a ZEUS AA rocket (which is no lightweight, and the Javelin's only worse), a fricken Assault rifle (which is also not the lightest thing in the world) ''and'' six fricken grenades! Add two desert eagles, those guys would barely be able to move. Just think about the weight! I mean, Desert eagles weigh nine pounds! Almost the same as toting along a whole other assault rifle! Rethinking about wieght, I had to take away Tom's handgun in Chapter 7, so now he just has a katana, an Assault rifle (which I think should be the MR-C or whatever), an SMG, and grenades. Pay attention to the 'Just' in that sentence. Oh, and a Wakazashi for Tom? No way! He just needs a sword thats not too reminiscent of an English broadsword, not to go totally Japanese on us! We've already got one of those, namely Shang. Oh yeah and I updated chapter 7 some more. Its becoming totally awesome again. Sweet. See ya tomorrow (2-24-08).

(b) Hey so for base defense and all that, we don't have much heavy artillery. I mean, we've got these stupid 'Autoguns' and we firstly never explain what they are or any of that stuff, we've got men with guns, and we've got the walls themselves. thats it. However, thinking military again (*inhale* haaaaaa, just like old times), I've devised a completely new exterior defensive line (make that a couple new defensive lines, inside and out). Oh yeah, and thats another thing. We say that the facilities have indoor security, and then never mention them. So, here goes nothing.

EXTERIOR FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE: About 1/2 a mile outside the facility walls should be a ring of small bunker defensive networks, almost like a border bunker except smaller and camouflaged and with more focus on an artillery cannon in its center. These bunkers would have trenches along their perimeter and be completely camouflaged, with some kind of artillery cannon at its center mounted on the roof with like two autoguns on each side of the main cannon kinda like on a tank you know they've got the cannon, and then they've got the machine gun off to the side? So imagine for a moment a cannon. Facing outward towards the trees. just sitting. Its got a barrel and then the main rectangular base thing the barrels stick into? Now imagine on top of the base thing a camera. Just a camera. Thats all. Okay, wimpy right? now imagine that camera has a small, minute chain gun on either side of the lens. Totally sweet right? well, the camera-thing-with-the-small-chain-guns-on-either-side-of-the-lens-thing is an autogun. Cool idea? Have I lost you yet? Now imagine that autogun off to one side of the large cannon but still facing the same direction instead of having the autogun perfectly centered.

Now imagine another autogun on the opposite side of the barrel from the first autogun, and you have my idea. So, recap: first exterior LOD (line of defense) is a bunker, and the bunker has trenches running on the perimeter, and is basically a concrete block with the autogun-cannon mix on top of it and walls around that for men to duck behind. You've got my Dbunkers (Defense bunkers). Like the idea with having a C-tower for every Heli-plane base, except instead of a tower its a bunker, and there's a ring of them around the facility, all identical. Oh, awesome idea.

The Dbunkers should be connected by underground tunnels, so that if one's about to be overrun then its neighbor can dispatch reinforcements. They should be about a quarter mile apart. Now, if we really wanted an unbreakable line, we could have a series of BDC-towers (heavier base defense versions of the c-towers that have two stories instead of one, BDC stands for 'base defense collapsable) connected by rope bridges that are about 20 ft off the ground that string between the neighboring BDC towers and the neighboring Dbunkers. And in cases of different terrain, like, a mountain pass, the bunkers would be set up to take full advantage. For instance, if there's a mountain pass, two Dbunkers could guard either side of it and channel enemies into the one narrow path, and they could have traps and stuff set up to block the path with large boulders and could have land mines set up inside the pass. Also, there could be outposts meant to be built on the side of a mountain that have larger artillery cannons without autoguns and have special areas set up for snipers and lookouts. Maybe that should be an entirely different outpost. We should call it an LSO, for lookout-sniper-outpost.

So, thats the first line of defense. After an invading army gets past those (which would take some doing) they have to meet the second line of defense which is:

Traps and minefields and such set up along the way to the facility that can randomly and completely decimate battalions unlucky enough to get caught up in them. Doesn't require much explanation. Just large clusters of mines and such that blow up when you touch them. Simple enough, right?

Third line of defense is the large trench running the length of the perimeter of the facility itself. The trench could have small little dugouts with MG nests set up (dugouts like in baseball, where the teams are, half above ground half below? Same idea). The trench would be about chest height for the average 6 foot 1 or 2 inch soldier. Of course, some may be taller or shorter, but too bad for them. Shrimps, stand on your toes or stand on a bucket of ammo. Biggies, hunch over. Don't get shot. Dugh.

Now, we come to the wall. Currently, our wall is just a series of concrete slabs that are really thick. Reinforced with titanium and all that. Completely worthless except to prevent people from just marching in. Now, imagine the walls have artillery guns set up within them, and that inside the facility there's a platform for gunners to get in the gun? and imagine two rows of that on the wall, plus the awesome bunkers I have devised for the top. Already completely own. Now, these WBs I have thought of (Wall Bunkers, of course,) are just little buildings (almost) that are slightly taller than the wall spaced evenly around the top, with mortars and MG nests set up inside. Great ideas so far. Now, that's pretty much it for exterior defense unless you think we need another one.

Interior defenses. Autoguns that deploy from the ceiling and security checkpoints at every level after leaving the staircase/elevator. Okay, to rephrase that so you can understand, to get to the next floor, you'd have to take an elevator or use the staircase right? Now, have security checkpoints guarding each area directly after the elevator/staircase that cuts the them off from the rest of the floor, and minimize the number of elevator and staircase landings, instead having all the elevators be in one lobby-area upon arrival and have maybe two or four staircases that run up the entire building, and its almost impossible to get by. Unless you take care of a room with guards in it and an autogun or two hanging from the ceiling and a really big red button that releases sleeping gas into the elevator/staircase landings. Just in case you get past that, the hallways will have autoguns mounted on the ceilings every couple yards or so. Did I leave anything out? any room for improvement? Alas, the only flaw that I see in the system is a central core that controls all the autoguns. One off button, and the entire facility is without autoguns. *hint* *hint* *wink* *wink* *cough* *cough* *nod* *nod* whatever *coughDR.SHANGcough*'

==Section 16==

(b) okay, after my lengthy entry there, I started to re-read some of the stuff before this. Remember the entry about the wonder thing? probably not. But the UA is the wonder, right? We need to make it more wondery. like, have it be the capitol of Atlantis civilization. Atlantis is a powerful word, and we've pretty much done nothing so far except demote them in the face of villiany and humiliation and suckishness. I propose we make the Atlantians far more capable warriors. And another thing. We keep on talking about how the Raptors were probably the smartest animals on the planet besides us. We don't portray them like that at the moment. We need to start doing that. But I have a fix for the reason behind all the bad Raptors junk. They've been 'trained' and their eggs were like, taken, so they didn't see their parents or anything and so have almost no instinctual knowledge on how to fight, how to work as a team, and all that. So, Tom meats up with a pack of wild Raptors at some point in the jungle and is completely surprised by their ferocity and skill and intelligence. Now, back to the defensive thing. I hope you understood most of that and just tell me if you didn't.

In the defensive thing, I completely neglected air and sea attacks. I just did it for land. Okay, here it goes.

Exterior LOD #1 AA defense will be a Metal Storm battery. The Dbunkers should have Metal Storms somewhere. That would chew right through aircraft, especially with the 40mm grenade ammunition. So, thats that for LOD 1.

LOD 2 is just mines. That has no AA.

LOD 3 is the trench. again, no AA

LOD 4 is the wall. Metal Storm batteries on top as well as a point laser defense system on top of the tallest building in whatever facility it's at. The laser fires a electronic disruption system at aircraft, causing them to lose control, as well as being able to switch to heat, which can disrupt a missile or other projectile. We ought to have some SAMs along the way as well (surface to air missile)

Now, against sea invasion, we only have to worry about Facility 3, as it is the one next to water. Facility 3 is the same as Facility 2 in terms of building layout. Same land and air LODs and everything. But the Facility is built right on the beach of the saltwater river/strait thing. Against ships, they've got Sea mines, and Patrol Boats of course. The patrol boats are armed with twin Typhoon 7.62mm MGs, a Naval Artillery gun, and of course, small arms (Guns carried by men). If all that doesn't work, there's always the two to three battle ready attack fleets stationed there consisting of Destroyers, Cruisers, Carriers, Minesweepers, Patrol boats, and Subs. Also, all of the Facilities have air cover, mostly consisting of pairs of Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) on patrol.

Which reminds me. The Facilities need to have their own airfields. and we need to emphasize their roles as Research Facilities.

The airfields have all kinds of junk. JSFs, F22s, F18 super hornets, Apache/Cobra attack helis, Chinooks, Blackhawks, F117 Stealth fighters, Stealth Bombers (B52 or B22s or whatever they are, the flying wing thing we were talking about), Heli-Planes (which we should actually make the V22 ospreys instead of a vague, generic name like 'Heli Plane'), hovercraft, and UCAVs. I probably left something out just remind me. Oh, and the garages? Yeah. They should be Motor Pools, not garages. My fault. They've got Strykers, ARM/ARMPS, Humvees, Field Ambulances, uhh, I know I missed something. We've gotta come up with more land vehicles. Hmm. Maybe mobile artillery platforms, or exploration somethings. I dunno. Whatever.

(brandon) Chapter 7 is finally over!!! Now, for Chapter 8, we need a good title. Get back to ya later on that. SOrry if I just interupted you message.

(brandon) Hey noticed you haven't put anything up for a while... hope I'm not interupting urs or anything. I just came up with an awesome idea. We probably would have thought of it sooner or later because it's needed, so you really can't say yes or no, but I thought of it sooner. Without further ado, I suggest an Atlantian language.

Cool idea or Cool Idea? I was at the beach in St. Augustine just randomly making patterns in the sand when I accidently made the Atlantian 'A'. you know, the 'A' without the horizontal line connecting the two vertical ones? I also came up with an Atlantian 'E', 'I', 'O', and 'U', though I forgot all of them except A and E. But we can rethink them. But anyways, thats my idea for today.

(w)good idea about the Atlantian alphabet, but i thought it would be identical to the Greek alphabet.
(alpha, beta, chi, delta, epsilon, gamma, etc.) so unless u tweaked the alphabet from the Greek alphabet, then sorry, i cant allow u cool idea. =|

you know what i am thinking? compare the Halo transportation (warthog, pelican, Scorpion tank, Longsword, etc, etc.) to transportation now (Humvee, chinook, f22 raptor, JSF, etc.). Ask yourself, WHICH IS COOLER? and i would say the Halo stuff. That is making me think, maybe we should keep the coolest and very best of the current vehicles and ditch the rest (humvee, chinook, which aren't very cool) and make our own. Think how cool we could make our own version of the Halo warthog or pelican or something. If u give me ur permission, i am going to start drawing sketches.

Brandon) hey yeah cool idea, I definitely think there is a better thing than the humvee, but the Chinook is pretty cool, right? Whatever. And keep in mind that Atlantis came before Greece. I'll tell you more next time I see u. I came up with an idea-ish kinda thing for ''Atlantis: The Game''. Not ''Atlantis: The Game, Boots of a Hero'', just ''Atlantis: The Game''. Actually, a major, major, backbone-spinal cord foundation kind of idea. Again, more later.

I'm tired right now, really really tired (after watching a movie for a while lol) and I don't feel like typing so I'll write more later, see ya

(brandon) Hmm. I was doing the thing for Atlantis the Game and I was thinking. Maybe Scarlett or Matt should use Hydrokenesis instead of both using fire? The more I think of it the more I realize Matt's personality isn't really fiery, its more cool, collected and unshakeable. Maybe Matt should use Water instead of fire.

==Section 17==

(w) yeah, matt would definitely be the one with the hydrokenesis.

(brandon) yeah I thought so. Now we have all the main elements; fire, water, earth, and air/wind/whatever. I can't remember if the last one was air or wind. It was on this trivia thing and now I forgot. Anyways, in an effort to help distinguish personalities, we should base each character's personality on someone in real life. I'd be Matt of course, Tom would be a mix of you and Dirk Pitt, Holly would be you know who, and Scarlett would be Elizabeth. Anyways, speaking of you know who, we just got back from Twin Lakes and I asked her to the dance ;p! Lol. She made me spell out exactly what I wanted to ask. At first I just asked, "So, I was just wondering, uh, if you'd like to come to the dance with me?" and then she goes, "Yeah, sure! Wait, what do you mean, 'go to the dance'?" I inwardly groaned and repeated, "Oh, well, I was just wondering if you'd, you know, like to come to the dance and be my partner." And of course I turned kinda red, but then she goes, "Yeah, that would be cool." lol. I probably deserved that I made her wait until Twin Lakes when like four other people asked way before that. Whatever though.

(brandon) Twin lakes was so much fun! You really missed out. It's probably like the only reason to have stayed at Trinity in 6th Grade. So after lunch that day (when I asked) we went and did all these awesome activities. We had bike riding on forrest trails (and my bike chain fell off! I had to fix it myself because Ms. Berry didn't know how!) which was a lot of fun, then we had this blind tug thing, where we had to fit this elastic band around a can of water that they called 'toxic waste' (which, of course, Ta'Neal actually thought was toxic waste for real) by pulling on these ropes that were attached to it. The only catch was that the partners holding the ropes were blindfolded, and the only ones who weren't didn't have the ropes. that was fun. Then we had canoeing, which was almost no fun at all because for some odd reason Johvonn invites Ta'Neal into our canoe, and shortly after we get in, our canoe got a little extra... boost, if you know what I mean. Then we had a zipline thing, and' Ill say more about that later. And finally we had archery, which was tons of fun.

We had dinner and all that, and I sat at one particular table (hint hint), then we had game night, where we played cards and checkers and all that. I watched her play checkers (which was really funny cause she wasn't all that good, and she played against Helen who was pretty good, and so u-kno-who kept moving her pieces around, and Helen had no idea. Helen still won, but it was really funny to see u-know-who look over at me guiltily and we'd share a supressed laugh and smile ;p.), then we played a game together, then we went over and played cards, and it was just a lot of fun. Ha ha wish u were at Trinity this year (not! ;p)!

(brandon) OMG I've made so much progress on chapter 5. I feel like typing that in caps, so OMG I'VE MADE SO MUCH PROGRESS ON CHAPTER FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay, so, um, now what? Oh, I know, I've got a new favorite music band called Evanescene. Have you heard a song by the name of "Bring me to Life"? It's my favorite song in the world right now listen to it it's really good.

(w) all right this entry is gonna have NOTHING whatsoever to do with Atlantis, but 80% of your last 3 entries had nothing to do with Atlantis, so whatever. When you say Ta' Neal gave your canoe an extra "boost" do you mean she farted or something? Her farting was my first interpretation of your "little extra... boost" sentence. And I'm cracking up that she actually thought that that was toxic waste. I guess if I were at Trinity still i wouldn't be so surprised, but i guess I've just forgotten how *cough* retarded Ta 'Neal is. I will make sure to search for "Evanescene - Bring Me to Life" on Youtube, but I'm sure that they are some sort of hard rock band. For some reason right now I'm obsessed with classic rock and it is by far my favorite music genre, although i still like hard rock. My favorite bands are the Beatles, Aerosmith, Boston, Eagles, Stevie wonder and although he is a new band, Jack Johnson. If you want to hear their best songs, Beatles search for "let it be" or "hey jude", Aerosmith search for "dream on", "walk this way", or "sweet emotion", for boston search for "don't look back" or "more than a feeling", for the eagles search for "desperado" or "hotel california", Stevie wonder search for "Superstition" or "Pastime Paradise", and Jack Johnson, I'm not sure the exact name of the song, but try something along the lines of "Always waitin' on you". OK enough of the music stuff, Twin Lakes sounds like fun but a sacrifice I'm more than willing to make to not be at Trinity. I guess the Big "W" really does like you, but I won't get a chance to ever go after her probably. Oh well(ie). all right. see you saturday.

(w)hey! check out the prologue! i updated it and now it's even more awesome. all right thats all i hav 2 say. check it out.

wait no! not the prologue, the teaser. if u can update the changes i made to the teaser to the story, that would be great, because im lazy.

(b) Pretty good. Pretty good. (as Mr. Parish [Mr. P] would say lol). Hey I'm just writing because I don't know if you've read in Tom Clancy's Endwar yet but there's a new carbine called the XM9, or M9 carbine. It's the same thing as the M8 except lighter, has a 50 round clip, and is more reliable. I think it might also be more accurate. It's got all the same mods and everything too. It's awesome. That should be the new standard issue assault rifle/carbine.

(w)only question, is: why make the M9 the standard weapon if there might be a better one out there? there are plenty of other good guns too, so even if we do make the M9 the standard issue, that won't be the only gun they use (think of all the different awesome guns in COD 4).
also i got some grrrrrrrrrrreat ideas, so ill call u.

OK b4 i tell you of my "grrrrrrreat" ideas on the phone, i updated chapter 5 a good bit. (i've just been in a writing mood lately, so I've been updating before we move on with the story).

==Section 18==

(B) GREEATT! Tell me all about your GREAT ideas. I'm glad you're in a writing mood. It's helpful to the story. And now...

I FOUND OUT WHERE ATLANTIS IS (ACCORDING TO PLATO SOLON AND THIS EGYPTIAN PRIEST GUY)!!!!!!!

First of all, the main island of Atlantis existed in 9400 BC and the capitol city thing in the Mediterranean Sea existed up to about 1682 BC. Okay, now, the main Island Atlantis was IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN JUST LIKE I THOUGHT, AND THE MED. SEA PART WAS ON MINOAN CRETE AND ON AN ISLAND TO THE NORTH OF IT CALLED THERA. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMG

Now, furthermore, for an advancement they had; first every actual Navy, actual in-door plumbing with toilets and baths and showers for crying out loud, and best of all (not coolest, but most amazing) is indoor heating! Yeah, they heated their houses with steam piped from aqueducts! Okay I'm going to write in chapter 1 now

(w) cool. ... cool. ok i cant help it THAT IS SO FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!! ok im done. now, let's both collaborate on the flashbacks chapter. OK make that 2 chapters. because, i think we need to have the first (now-amazingly-frigin-[where did all that crap come from?] awesome) chapter, and then have a flashback that shows the most important events in tom's childhood, including the school scene, what we already have, and a little bit of stuff going on with holly & scarlett before the gang meets. this flashback does the important flashbacks, skips unimportant years, and eventually leads back to the present rather than just stopping. ill type more l8r; gotta go. l8r florida hater.

(b) hey I just realized, we haven't put much emphasis on vehicles. We need more vehicular action. I mean, so far we haven't even mentioned Iraqi vehicles except for two pickup trucks.

(w)OK....... but why does this somehow remind me of the last time you said we needed to have more about vehicles? Vehicles aren't exactly the main point of the book. We should have some action scenes that involve intense duels between Tom and some Iraqi vehicles, so that the reader gets to know them (kind of like in the Halo books where the reader eventually gets the characteristics from battle scenes, without having to read some boring description). We should, instead of writing out, "the Iraqi scorpion tank was an old model and still fairly effective against ground troops; however, it was no match for modern U.S. tanks", have a battle scene where the Iraqi tank mows down a few U.S. guys, and then one guy throws a standard grenade that fairly significantly damages the tank, and then a U.S. tank comes and easily obliterates it. STUFF LIKE THAT. gotta go again.

(b) yeah totally. But we actually do need to mention that the other sides have tanks too.

(b) Hey, you might have noticed be mentioning a new Atlantian metal. In Plato's narrative, he says that Atlantis was the only spot on Earth that a special metal, Orichalc, could be found. It's supposed to be light yet strong, like titanium, and at the same time beautiful and lucrative, like gold or silver. They use it in lots of their weapons and armor and it's in abundant supply on Atlantis.

(b) Say hi to bunny! He'll eventually take over the world!

(\_/)
(O.o)
(> <) Bunny says hi. But you have to see him in edit mode, or else he just looks like a bunch of random signs. Actually, he looks like chopped up bunny.

(w)ok... hi..."bunny". I think your creator has had a momentary 3-year-old days flashback. But anyway, i will have a flashback too. Here is my cute little kitty that will take over the world. Kitty says, oh, let's see, what is she saying? Oh, right. MEOW!

[\-/]
[o.o]
(^ ^)

Anyway, baaaaaaaaaaack to Atlantis. Cool metal thing. It could be used with marble to create Greek-like buildings, that are just as mathematically proportionate, but are much more creative and beautiful. It would also be used for weapons. Only one concern: would it be in demand from other countries? It seems like then that metal would become rare, and would only be used for royal and high-ranking soldier's weapons. Anyway, just a thought. I finished drawing Tom with the END WAR armor, and guess how it turned out? INCREDIBLY AWESOME!!!!

You'll HAVE to see it sometime soon. I combined the best eliments of the END WAR armor and the armor we have on the front cover of Atlantis book 1. only thing the drawing is missing is a background. but i finished Tom. cya l8r.

==Section 19==

(b) SWEET! YEah, about the metal, I re-wrote chapter two a bit to give more of a cause for WORLD WAR FOUR. I also mentioned that the Iraqis attempted to harvest the Orichalc when the came over but that the Atlantian guards there told them flat out no. You're right though it will be in high demand however it will only be on the center island of Atlantis. Speaking of which, let's just get rid of the UA. It will serve absolutely no purpose. When I was thinking of a wonder, I meant something more along the lines of Colossus of Rhodes or the Colleseum or the Circus Maximus or something. Instead, we should have the Atlantian's capitol city where it would have been. Plato says in his narrative that the capitol was on the southern end of the island so as to be protected from the winds and everything. So, that reminds me,

The next time you come over, you have to see this book I'm getting all the information from it directly quotes Plato himself! ITs cool. We also need to finish the map the next time you get here. That's so sweet with the endwar stuff. I also re wrote a bit of chapter one, the prologue, and I gave more reason to need the four attack outpost things in chapter seven. Next we need to update chapter three, then a little of chapter four, and finish updating chapter five, then we can move on to the next chapter. SWEET!

(b) Yo,

This Orichalc stuff, it'll be awesome. And oh yeah, I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it's actually called Orichalcum. It's like a gold-silver/gold-copperish material. But for the sake of interest, let's have it be a completely new metal that looks like a cross between gold and silver.

So yeah, like I said on the phone, the capitol city is beautiful and has three rings, modeled after it's location. But unlike I said on the phone I'm now starting to think that this capitol city should ''be'' the inner ring of the Atlantis central islands. Rings within rings. Anyways, call me again when you can talk on a non-mobile phone, see if you get better volume or if the problem's on my end.

(w) yeah sorry i cant talk right now because i got a crapload of homework (the only reason im on the wiki right now is becaue im taking ba dessert break).

(b) cool yeah, isn't your birthday May 2nd? Yeah it is isn't it because my Birthday is 13 days later, on May 15th. Hmm. Well. (cackles maniacally) you'll love your present. I hope.

Anyways, it would be cool if somewhere in the book the Iraqis tried to steal some of the Orichalcum and the Atlantians retaliated,(this would probably be at the end of the book) so now the Atlantians were fighting the Iraqis and maybe for a nice happy ending in the third book would join sides with the USA to overcome the Iraqis. Hmm. Cool idea, right? Also, we should add more alliancey stuff between Australia/USA/UK. Oo! I know, in Chapter 8/9 an English/Australian recon force that happened to be in the area should come and help out Tom and Scarlett and Holly take back Bravo base... or have you not read that part yet? :p

So, yeah, I finished Chapter 8. It's exactly 32 kilobytes long, and, so, yeah.

(w) hey, brandon. Sorry, I didn't invite you to my party because it is all Westminster people. I was thinking you could spend the night next weekend to celebrate my b day. Hmm. I just got a thought. I hope you aren't giving me a fart for my birthday...

........

cool ideas, and no, i have not read beyond (i forgot which chapter).

O O
\__/ <--that is a smiley face (in edit mode)

(w) WHOA!!! I just saw the Atlantian Conspiracy link on the home atlantis page and i started to read your second excerpt and it's AWESOME! nice work

(b) hmm, your "Smiley face" looks a lot more like some guy with wiskers and a little _ for a mouth. We just had the 6th Grade parents night out thing and it was fun. I guess. As fun as babysitting maniacal devils of mass destruction and feeding them ice-cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and whipped cream can be. Also just wanted to give you the heads up you're invited to my birthday party on the 15th, (yes, I know it is a thursday). You might not be able to make it because of homework, but we're (Stephen, Caroline C, Phoebe, maybe Wellie [if she accepts the invitation] and I) going to Dave and Buster's, so it should be fun.

See ya!

(b) ding ding ding ding! WE'RE SO STUPID I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! This new drawing you made of Tom with the Endwar armor, it should be the cover! YEAH! But don't do anything more on the drawing. We need to have a cooler background than in the original cover, and we need to change the title. I mean, come on, the Atlantian Escapade? The Atlantian Conspiracy is a cool name, because as well as there being a conspiracy on Atlantis, many people think Atlanits is a conspiracy. But that's for the second book. We need a better name for the first and third. The third, the Atlantis Ultamatum? Just doesn't go. Its stolen from the Bourne stuff too much.

DON'T DO ANYTHING MORE ON YOUR TOM DRAWING WITH THE ENDWAR ARMOR!

Thankyou and have a nice day.

==Section 20==

(w) Present... HUT! Sir, yes sir!

(b) Actually, just to be picky, it's

"Present - Arms!"

"HUT! Sir yes sir!"

Two different speakers, and present arms. But same diff really.

You're gonna love your present! I'll give it to you when I see you at my birthday (you're coming right?). That'll be odd. Me giving you a present on my b-day. Hmm. Oh well(um, dare I put 'ie' for well[ie]?). Hope to see you there, as well as a few other people... THIS WILL BE THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER (I HOPE)!

(w) all right, cool, who's coming? (besides me, Elizabeth... and... well[ie]) also, when is ur party? b4 May 15 or after? is it spend the night, etc.? want me to give u an idea 4 ur birthday if you haven't already thought of one? ok here goes: (this is what we did at my party) first, you go outside and stuff, and play around, hang around, play team capture the flag (t-shirts work 4 flags) eat dinner, etc., and then when it gets dark u take out your flashlight and play manhunt. You can also play capture the flag in the dark, but man hunt ''only'' works in the dark. If you don't already know how to play Manhunt, here is how you play: there is a hunting and a hiding team. the hunting team waits inside or in the garage or something for a time (we did 80 seconds at my party), then they go out and try to find the other people. You have to tag them for it to count though. Anyway, just a thought. we can do your party, or combine my ideas into your party, or whatever you want. (but manhunt and CTF was REALLY fun at my party :P).

I can't wait. Meanwhile, what could i get you for your birthday...? no more videogames for you... ... ... mmph. Anyway... see ya l8r!

(b) sorry to disappoint you, but Elizabeth's not coming.

(b) wow, you must really not have been listening on the phone. My birthday is on the 15th of May EXACTLY right after school ends, we're picking everybody up, and it's at Dave and Buster's. No, it is not a sleepover due to the fact that the next day is friday, a school day, there are three girls at the party (two if Wellie can't come), and I really REALLY want to be there at school the next day because it's the 16th, also the '6th Grade celebration' thingy. If u catch my drift. No, I already know what we're going to be doing, it lasts from three to seven, and it's going to be insanely fun.

(b) oh wow, I had fun today.

First of all, and most importantly, Wellie's not coming to the party. Oh well. It won't really be a party without her, though. Lol you should have seen my face when she answered the phone... I think it was about as red as my shirt. And if you're not sure how red my shirt is, think cherry mixed with strawberry. Very young strawberrys.

Secondly, I was outside today spreading pinestraw and ''somehow'' an ant managed to crawl down... or up... my pants. So you can guess where it bit me - FOUR TIMES! (OW!).

Third, I finished the battle of the labrynth, and it's got to be close to my favorite book. Actually it probably is... It's up to Paolini to craft an enthralling sequel to Eldest.

Fourth, I had awesome steak for dinner, with bread, beans, butter, and corn on the cobb. YUMM!

Uhh, so yeah, that's how my life has gone the past day. Cool, eh?

(b) Oh yeah, um, Eric just came up with a cool name by accident in class today, he called it Expedition Atlantis. Sounds cool, right? At least it's better than the Atlantian Escapade. lol. Alright, g2g.

(b) alright, another cool name, this one for the current Atlantian Ultamatum book thing. How about, "Atlantis: Harvest Reaper" or "Atlantis: Reaper Harvest"

it would make a notation to the Grim Reaper, and death and people dying (which is all death, I guess...). Oh, and another thing, we really need to get rid of Queen Rex as a character. We can keep Mt. Tyrannasaurus, but let's label it a different name. Lake Treachery I like, that's a cool name. Kraken's Den is also a cool thing, plus the fact that it will actually be ''the'' Kraken's den.

We also should move Mt. Tyranna-whatever we have it down in priority. It should just be a small hide-out hollow volcanoe, and have the actual capitol city of Atlantis for the main base. We should have some sort of scene in the last book where Tom storms the capitol city.
g2g

(w) all right, sounds good on ur last paragraph, but a little input from me on the title of the book: remember not to make the title cheesy. I mean, Atlantis: Harvest Reaper??? Come ON! anyway, Expedition Atlantis is a good name, better than any name we've come up with, but it's not all the way there. the name needs to be something like, oh I don't know, like, Assignment: Atlantis or something. but definitely not Mission: Atlantis, because that would be cheesy-over-the-top.

anyway, see ya l8r. and btw,

IT IS SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and you're coming to westminster next year. anyway, got to poop.

==Section 21==

(b) okay, first off, I agree, Expedition: Atlantis isn't quite all the way there. Second, lovely. I really wanted to know that you had to go to the bathroom. Third, I don't really see what's cheesy about Atlantis: Harvest Reaper. I mean, it sounds WAY less cheesy than "The Atlantian Ultimatum". I mean, that's just copying the Bourne series too much. Actually, I didn't really like the Bourne series. I know u think it's great and all, but I kinda disagree.

Anyways, I think Harvest Reaper is the best name we've gotten so far. The Atlantian Conspiracy can stay, because lots of people think Atlantis is a conspiracy and it would attract more readers.

(w) ok. we are obviously having very different perceptions on what the title should be. I'll tell you why I think Atlantis: Harvest Reaper sounds, well, stupid. OK: what is up with the harvest? sure, there may be farms or whatever on Atlantis, but there are farms everywhere but the poles. I thought with a title we were going for something that was going to BOTH attract readers AND apply largely to the novel. Like, so what if there are farms on Atlantis? So what if they farm minerals and stuff. If you wanted to talk about orichalcum or something, then you should make the title something like Atlantis: The Forbidden Secret or something, because that has to do both with the novel and intriguing readers. Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, on the other hand, is pretty irrelevant, and just sounds like one of those Halo titles that is supposed to sound cool. It is just flat out random. I've told you what I think we need for a title: (1) it has to have something to do with one of the main ideas of the first story (2) it has to intrigue readers. You were just going for a number 2 (no pun intended, but sort of intended). My problem is, while trying to think of something that actually has to do with the book, I can't think of anything that will intrigue the reader. And by the way, the reason why i like the Bourne series so much is, it doesn't need all the fancy gizmos like psi warfare and magic-ish stuff and going slomo to dodge bullets. Just Bourne's cleverness and quickness and the suspense in the movie is enough to make me love the movies. It is just way more, well, believable than Atlantis and Matrix and all the walk-up-the-wall stuff. Plus, it's not like we'd be stealing the word Ultimatum from the Bourne series. It is a real and commonly-used word, you know. It just means a final threat. If you didn't want it to sound like the Bourne series, you could make it something like Atlantis: The Final Threat, or Atlantis: Shang's Ultimatum, or Atlantis: Ultimatum, you get the picture. What I'm saying is the ideal title has a good bit/a lot to do with the book, and intrigues readers. And Harvest Reaper is the best SOUNDING name we've gotten so far, but not the best name for the book we can come up with.

Look at all of your favorite books: The Battle of the Labyrinth (this obviously intrigues the reader and has to do with the book). Eragon (the main character's name, but even though this may or may not intrigue, the cover illustration does). Eldest (the eldest child). Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (again, this has to do with the book and intrigues). YOU GET THE FREAKIN' PICTURE?????

good.

And by the way, you need to accept that you need help on this story. You need to stop taking all the credit and be more open to discussion and argument, instead of just "What I think matters more than what you think." Look at Christopher Paolini. He got help from everyone he could, seeking their advice on his story. He welcomed it. You, on the other hand, seek advice, and when it is not the same as your beliefs you just get into a big argument and think that you're right and what you think matters more. Just because you're writing a story doesn't mean your opinion is better than outside opinions. And I'm not exactly outside. I practically re-wrote the first chapter, re-wrote paragraphs and descriptions throughout the whole story, and not to mention illustrated and edited grammar (which i still have some more grammar editing to do, because when you write, you get into the story so much that you don't go back to fix your spelling and grammar). Some day you will have to face it: you need some help on this story. If you aren't willing to accept my and others' help, then you'll face the consequences when no one buys your book. I am not quitting ever, but nor am I going to be thought of as inferior. Remember, my ideas are just as important as yours and vice versa. Now, on some occasions, one of us may be right, but almost all of the time it is a matter of opinion. I just wish you could accept my ideas as much as you did when we BOTH started writing the story.

*note* just a minor thingymajigerbobbarino: you seem to be in some "Atlantian" craze. I thought it was the Atlantis Conspiracy, not the Atlantian Conspiracy, and Atlantis fans not Atlantian fans.

==Section 22==

Sorry to keep you bored, but here's another thing: you know how we keep coming up with cool excerpts for the second book? and also, you know how we are kind of stumped from where the plot should go from here? well, maybe, we can apply the excerpts from the second book to the first book. Why not?

==Section 23==

(b) haha ha don't make me laugh. My ideas are WAY more important than yours.

...

..

.

Did you seriously believe me? lol. I was just kidding. I do tend to get carried away and of course, I'd think my suggestions are better and you'd think your suggestions are better, because if we didn't they wouldn't be opinions. So, what I think we need to start doing more is compromising. Take the best aspects from your ideas and the best aspects from mine and see if we can wrestle out an agreement. I agree, I do need lots of help, but I'm NOT trying to claim all the credit. In case you haven't noticed though, I HAVE written most of this book, but of course it would be miserable without you going back, re-writing some of it, and upgrading the existing parts. I agree, you worked alot on the first chapter, and now I think we finally have an enticing chapter 1.

Okay, as for the title, I think it really should be Atlantis: Harvest Reaper.

Reason being that the war that they are fighting THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE BOOK started because of NATURAL RESOURCES, among other things. Which reminds me, on a random note, we need more of a cause for WORLD WAR FOUR!.

Anyways, what do you do with natural resources? Why, you ''harvest'' them, of course. so, the Harvest part comes from Atlantis's somewhat unique resources (e.g. Orichalcum, Gold, diamonds, oil/natural gas, lumber, fertile soil for crops [which you ''harvest''], pearls, stone [marble, granite, sandstone, limestone], sugarcane, fruit trees/plants, heck, even clay to make pottery) and of course its scores of dinosaurs and their DNA and stuff. So, I think we do have a very convincing reason for the Harvest part. For the Reaper part, you use a Scythe to harvest stuff, like the Grim '''Reaper''', and the element of death and people dying trying to get those resources and gain control of Atlantis and all that death-sadness stuff I mentioned earlier.

The reason for my "'Atlantian' craze" is that 'Atlantian' is the adjective form of 'Atlantis,' and so it is ''more grammatically correcter'' (lol) than Atlantis fans, or Atlantis Conspiracy, given the fact that in the English language, adjectives come before nouns, and that both fans and a conspiracy are nouns. Take ''that'', oh Mr. Grammar Guy. lol. Sorry didn't mean to sound mean or condescending.

(Or did I?)

(B) yo, I just had an awesome new idea for the cover illustration. You know how you did that awesome drawing of the guy in the Endwar armor, like in the book? Well, I how bout if that is Tom, and you can draw Matt, Scarlett, and Holly standing beside and slightly behind him? They would all be facing the same direction, aiming their weapons at a shadowy figure. If we agree the title will be Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, then we can have them standing in a field of wheat (just to convey the mental pic) or something like that, and have them all looking at the Grim Reaper, surrealistically. Don't actually draw any of it yet, because I have a special idea in mind about what everyone should look like and everything, REPEAT, DON'T ACTUALLY DRAW ANYTHING ON THE PAGE YET, but I just wanted to toss the idea out there. Also if you could make a copy or two of the original drawing, that way we can start drawing and not mess up our only drawing of that.

As for what the Grim Reaper will look like, well, we don't really have to draw a face, because its symbolic, not physical, so it can just be like a dark, shady mass, with a scythe held in it somewhere. Tom is up like you drew him, leering at the Reaper, snarling and taunting, all that. Matt could be slightly behind him, also with a snarl on his face, and in his right hand, he'd have an armed grenade in his hand, and the pull-ring will be flying off in the air close by. Scarlett will be prone, maybe, if you can draw that convincingly, with some kind of sniper or rifle in her hands, and Holly will be crouched with some kind of MG in her hands. I know you already drew Tom with a Squad Automatic, but that's okay. Actually, remember how I was kind of hung up about the size of the drawing? Now its actually the perfect size. The Grim Reaper will be lots larger, of course.

Just thought I'd toss out that latest idea, and I think it's pretty good. To give you a better idea of what I want for the cover, I'll give you a rough sketch, for which you can improve on (improve greatly). Speaking of illustrations, I did a rather awesomeish (for me, anyways) drawing of two CGTs connected by a bridge on the third floor with a guy carrying ammo across the bridge, and three guys on each floor of the CGT (which has three floors). You'll have to see it to see how well I did, but... I think its pretty good for me, despite the obvious fact that all the guys are stick figures. Sorry. I just can't draw the way you do.

(b) okay, I just went to see India Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And I have one thing to say about it: FANTASMIC.

It gave me so many ideas for Atlantis, I can't even believe it. But then again, so did Iron Man. What's funny is that while separately, they're both awesome, sweet, unbelievably fantabulous movies, best-sellers, etc, combine the two aspects, and you have a movie twice as good, if you can imagine that. You take the awesome, time-honored Indi action of punching a dude in the face, seeing his head jerk back, nailing him in the gut with the other hand, seeing him curl up, knee him in the face, etc, then you take the sweet, technological explosions, effects, and action of Iron Man, combine them, and you have a mix of the two that is awesome. It's like Awesome + Sweet = AWESOME TOTALLY F_____ SWEET MAN!

So where I'm going with all this is that Atlantis is a mix of both Indi and Iron Man. So basically, we're assured a best-selling novel/movie/game if we don't screw it up and make it to corny/cheesy. Just thought I'd drop that in. But anyways, the first and formeost explanation for how Atlantis is so advanced is that they were visited by... you guessed it, aliens. I had been thinking about that idea and thought it was too... I dunno. Cheesy I guess, or too expected. But now I see it pulled off in Indi, and I thout it was very cool. Or the other explanation is that no aliens came, and instead all the references and stuff to space travel and all that is because of Atlantis. Maybe the Mayans and stuff were taught by the Atlantians and thought of them as gods. Another thing that we need to say is that the Atlantians mastered air travel. I'm not talking like an F35 JSF fighter jet or anything, but something self-propelled, non-glider type plane thing. And then the Mayans built the Nazca Lines for the Atlantians to see.

I'll talk lots more about this later.

Alright, see ya! Oh, I'm adding a new spoiler to the Atlantian fan page thing in honor of Memorial Day. Oh yeah, and you may have noticed that I broke the discussion pages up into fragmented sections. Please respond to everything in Section 23, I'm starting a section 24 (duh, look below this entry). Again, read all of Section 23, you haven't responded to any of it yet.

==Section 24==

Hi bob!

(w) OH FREAK IT! There is SOOOOO much to respond to (with about a million more o's). OK first off (out of about 10): I am really glad about the whole idea thing and taking credit, and I feel so much better. I TOTALLY agree that we should compromise (i mean that is kind of the whole point and that is what we did at the beginning and how we actually came up with our foundation ideas). I want you to know I completely respect you as a writer and an idea-thinker-upper (idealist), but I agree, the key is to work together. Conflicts, unfortunately, are bound to happen, because you're more willing to believe what most would call far-fetched ideas about Atlantis, whereas I am less eager to accept those (that doesn't mean I'm too stubborn to accept them at all).

2: About Harvest Reaper. I finally see your reasoning for it. And it is very good reasoning. However, I think we should emphasize in the title more of the fact that there is more than one entity or being trying to reap the harvest. When you say Harvest Reape'''r''', it implies that there is only one trying to reap the harvest. But the whole point of Atlantis is that EVERYONE is trying to reap the harvest. So what about Atlantis: Harvest Reaping?

3: sounds good on the cover, but why would Tom and the HEROES be taunting the villain? Isn't it usually the big villain who taunts the heroes?

4: on the "oh Mr. Grammar guy" thing, don't start this fight with me. I'll win. So here goes: "Atlantis" Fans would mean that they are fans of Atlantis. Notice when you say fans of [the University of] Georgia, you say Georgia fans and not Georgian fans. Also, when you say fans of Florida, you say Florida fans, not Floridian fans. And with the Atlantian Ultimatum, this makes more sense I guess because the Atlantians (controlled by Iraq and the middle east) are making the ultimatum. This is just picky English lesson time, it's pretty much inconsequential (see that big word?).

But that brings up another thing (5): it's not exactly politically correct to say Iraq itself is the U.S.'s enemy. It's not the people or even the government of Iraq that is our enemy. The government (especially president) of Iran is our enemy, because they control a lot of the terrorists, who are our direct enemy. We're gonna have to stop getting used to saying "Iraq" and "Iraqis".

6: So about the titles again, what do you think of this:
book I is called Atlantis: Harvest Reaping
book II is called Atlantis: Conspiracy or Atlantis: The Conspiracy
book III is called Atlantis: Final Threat or Atlantis: Ultimatum or Atlantis: The Ultimatum

NOW IS THAT A COMPROMISE OR WHAT???

7: I finished The Battle of the Labyrinth, and it was awesome.
8: I also saw Indiana Jones, and I agree, it was completely awesome. Remember when Mutt Williams asks Indy after he pwns those weird Mayan dudes hiding in the graveyard, "You're a teacher????" and Indy says, "Part-time." That was priceless. Anyway, yes, our book is definitely a combination of the two. Notice Indiana Jones is good at both using his smarts to solve puzzles and outwit enemies, but he can also win almost all the time in a fist fight. By "using his smarts to solve puzzles and outwit enemies," I mean that he can always win in a chase on the road with vehicles and can trick his enemies into falling off a cliff or something, but he also is really good at finding clues to treasures (like National Treasure) because he is so smart. And about the aliens, that's funny, because a lot of people think all the mysteries of the earth that have the possibility of being done by extra-terrestrial life (like patterns in the fields, and the building of the pyramids in Egypt and the great wall). The other theory, besides just the ancient people being determined and smart is that Atlantians had something to do with it. They had something about it on the History Channel. We could either incorporate aliens into our book or have another explanation. And yes, we already have the cool, technological thing like Iron Man going on.

9: that "hi bob" crap that your brother keeps doing is probably the stupidest sense of humor I have ever seen and is really getting on my nerves. Oh well. i guess he's just a (what? third or fourth) grader.

(b) okay first, with the cover thing, the heroes won't be taunting the Grim Reaper out of confidence, they'll be taunting him to make him attack. It won't really be taunting, but leering. I like that word. Leeerrring.

Anyways, I think that Atlantis: Harvest Reaper sounds better than Reaping, I dunno, that's just me. We need to come up with something better than final threat for book III, book two looks pretty good. Um, yeah. Oh, and those lines in the field you mentioned? Yeah, those are the Nazca Lines in Peru, they are real, and tons of people think that its an ancient spaceport. I think it should be something different, maybe some sort of map or something. I dunno.

You never mentioned anything on the idea of Atlantians having more highly advanced technology and mastering flight. Please respond to that. And actually it was me who wrote hi bob in section 24. That was just so the section had something in it, which it needs to be a section.

(w) oh. well, that hi bob thing is still annoying. (and ur brother does it too all the time). ok the mastering flight thing is good. i have no objections. and why don't we have a real enemy instead of the grim reaper. and yes, reaper sounds better than reaping. But, the reason it is reaping is because multiple nations are reaping the harvest of Atlantis, rather than one, and that is the point.

(b) OOOKKKAAAAYYY, so WHAT? who cares if there are multiple nations???

It can just as easily be Harvest Reaper! It sounds much better, and this is a title of a book, not the summary/explanation. IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT MULTIPLE NATIONS ARE REAPING! We should just go with what sounds best. Also, the dude's name is the Grim ''REAPER'', not Grim Reaping. So I rest my case.

And we could have a real enemy instead of the Grim Reaper, but I think it wouldn't be as abstractly cool or sweet to have like another group of enemies just like Tom. I mean, Tom would seem a lot more heroic if he were battling a legendary, unreal figure, even if only for the cover art, rather than Tom just looking up at like a helicopter and maybe a few ground troops.

(w) okay, ok, if you're so attached to your Harvest Reaper then I guess you can have your way. and, yes, it would look more heroic. just we've gotta try not to make whatever the enemy is halloweeny.

(b) I agree, we should try to keep away from the halloween thing. Today during Graduation Preparation (that's so much fun to say) I was daydreaming, and I came up with several scenes for chapter one that are awesome. For example, so you don't have to go and re-read it, some random soldier guy is just running towards the trenches when a bullet takes his shoulder, and he falls to his knees, then another random soldier comes up and grabs him by the collar and drags him to the trenches, then throws him into the trenches. Just when the soldier who helped the other soldier is about to climb in the trench, an artillery shell hits in front of him, and kills him. Boo hoo :..(

Then you see like another guy running up, a bullet taking him in the leg, and he sprawls forward, to be picked up by another soldier and thrown to cover, but this time they both make it, and then another guy gets a bullet in the center of his chest, collapses, and a Stryker rolls in front of him for cover, and then in another action-sequence an American random soldier is running forward and a bullet first hits one arm, then his other, opposite leg, then his other shoulder, then another bullet in his chest armor, then one in the head, causing his head to snap back. It'll be way cooler than all that though.

ummm.... cool that's it for now.

(b) yo,

I was just thinking, maybe we should have someone else be the basis for Scarlett's personality? I'll tell you why later, but I was thinking Emma R. She fits the bill to the letter, I think. I'll talk more l8r got to go.

(W)hey, your action scenes that you came up with (with the trench warfare) reminds me of Saving Private Ryan, where the Americans invade the beaches of Normandy and liberate it, and a squad of soldiers led by some guy played by Tom Hanks (I hope you've heard of Tom Hanks; he is one of the greatest actors ever) saves a Private (duh, named Private Ryan) who is played by Matt Damon. great movie. Anyway, I wouldn't know if Emma fit the bill, because I never have had an intimate conversation with her (I have no idea what she is like). And by the way, I already have an idea of what Scarlett's personality is like. It can't be anything like Holly's, which is like Annabeth from the Percy and the Olympians thing. Scarlett's personality, in my opinion, should be like Max's from Maximum Ride (except there are no li'l ones to say "hey sweetie" to): nice, but witty, cool, loyal, a natural leader (Tom leads only because he fights better) kind of sensitive... I'm not saying that she HAS to be EXACTLY like Max, but you know... just an idea...

Oh yeah, and did I mention I want Holly to be like Annabeth?

(ex: "Hey seaweed brain.")

so, her personality is friendly teasing-ish (sorry I can't think of a good word at the moment), hides her feelings sometimes, etc. you know what Annabeth is like.

These are all just ideas (comment, because this isn't final; I need some input).

(b) kk sounds good. Yeah, I know what u mean with the friendly-teasing sort of thing. I think that's a great idea with Max, and I totally agree. Respond in section 25.

==Section 25==

(brandon) Sorry for that ''little'' technical difficulty there, our system crashed. But now it's back up, we've got all the data, and I've been working on a little something for the second book. Awesome.

(w) what have u been working on?

(b) dude, check the Atlantis, Harvest Reaper page. Third excerpt (yes, there is a third.)

(b) so what did ya think? Awesome, right? I know, I know, thankya, thankya. lol.

Okay, so in going back and realizing what we've got written, ''everything'' pretty much needs revision. So what I suggest you do if you're bored and have nothing else to do is just go through all the chapters one at a time and fix them up, make them better. Not all at once, but just like do one chapter at a time. I'll be doing the same thing. 'Cause we really can't leave them the way they are. Especially chapter 1.

(b) okay so for the next week or so starting tomorrow, I AM GOING TO BE AT DAYTONA BEACH!!!!!! Problem is, I may or may not have internet access there, and so probably won't be able to work on the story. It's up to you! lol. so see ya l8r g8r and get writing! It'll be intriguing to see what you come up with.

TTFN!!

(w) sorrrrrry for not telling you sooner, but now it is a week after Friday the 13th (June), and I am just getting started on reading the harvest reaper page and editing. Why? I've been at camp for a week. sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.... sorry.................

P.S. what does TTFN mean? since i lost my cell phone, I haven't reeeaally been into the whole texting language...

anyway, I saw "Get Smart" and it immediately went to one of the top 20 funniest movies of all time. I'm not going 2 spoil anything or whatever; I'll just let you see it.

also:

*ABOUT THE EDITING THING*: we can edit a bunch of minor things by ourselves (ex: descriptions of fighting scenes or really descriptions of anything at all, grammar, making battle/action scenes better, etc.), but with the major things (ex: the whole compositions of chapters, drama, romance, major events, etc.) we need to consult and compromise/agree on the best thing to do. For example, I wouldn't just completely change a chapter or something major without consulting. When we edit, ONLY edit the minor things and write down the major things for later consultation (don't I sound so legit.? I know. I'm good at that).

anyway, see you when you get back from good ol' southern daytona beach!!! :P

*I don't do the southern thing too well, I'm not into NASCAR*

and when you DO get back, I have to show you something TOTALLY cool: Republic Commando single-player campaign cheats. I looked them up on google, and you can do stuff like toggle slomo and be all matrixy. It is TOTALLY awesome. and there is invincibility, and ghost, and you can fly, and have unlimited ammo, make yourself invisible, and almost best of all, you can make your enemies blind and deaf. With the slomo thing, you can either go matrix-slow, normal speed, or way way fast. One time i sped it up really fast and shot a pistol as fast as a machine gun would go, making the blaster as fast as a metal storm, and the chain gun as fast as a railgun. F***ING AWESOME.

It is so cool.

So, see you, I'm going to read the harvest reaper thingy and do some MINOR edits.

(w) hey Brandon, it's Will again. I just noticed something. I ACTUALLY noticed a little "glitch" in your near-perfect action writing. Frequently when you write action scenes, rather than getting the reader into the moment with suspense and having them FEEL and VISUALIZE the moments, you are rather technical, and make the reader ANALYZE the writing to discern what you mean rather than having them naturally VISUALIZE it. For example, and I tried to edit this as much as I could, in the "Sparring" scene, you were very technical about how the actions were. You described every action as though it were a map, and it had very little feeling. And in the excerpt 3 in harvest reaper, you described the EXACT motions of the plane rather than letting the reader SEE how the plane was moving with your descriptive writing. What I'm trying to say is, in every good book, in action scenes and descriptive scenes, the entire goal of the author is to give the reader a few great words that spur different images in the mind of the reader. That is how books are INTERPRETED. Like they say, a picture is worth 1000 words. What I'm saying is we need to start giving the reader the picture, not the 1000 words. But we need to paint the picture with the words. Does that make sense? I know you've probably heard about this before. I think there actually is a literary term for this: what was it, "imagery" or something? Anyway, I think achieving imagery should be our ultimate goal in editing the chapters, rather than boring the reader. Because no one wants to read a boring book, do they?

RESPOND TO THIS ASAP AND WHEN YOU DO, I WILL EDIT EXCERPT 3 TO TRY TO ACHIEVE IMAGERY AND GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. BUT FIRST I NEED A RESPONSE.

See you when you get back!

(brandon) yo Oh my god I finally have internet access!!! God, okay, Daytona's awesome, but I have to be quick cause my brothers waiting for the computer, so I'm gonna tell you all about it later. For now, I TOTALLY Agree with your imagery thing, and yeah we should consult eachother before editing the major parts. We really need to boost up the book in the romance/drama part. Yeah, I also need to really change the sparring scene so that Holly actually gets off a few hits on Tom when they're fighting and to have Matt's and Scar's fighting style be completely different now that they're not both fire-oriented.

Okay, I've got a list of awesome ideas while I've been offline, and so here it is;

1) Tom has exhaust thrusters wired into his armor that allows limited flight time and works in water. He may not actually be able to fly with them but more of like an assisted jump, get really really high and use it to coast down to the ground more slowly. That coupled with his enhancement oughta do nicely in the next battles.

2) USA has three main Research Facilities (duh, really?) along with an extra Naval base on a gigundo floating platform in the Atlantis Strait

3) Other soldiers besides Tom be enhanced and be completely awesome and unstoppable and everything.

4) (This is the most farfetched and I dunno if we should have it in) Atlantis is actually Antarctica that has broken free of ice and been pushed North after researchers accidentally found and activated an energy source or psi well or something

5) Describe more the power of a gun (I was reading Eagle Strike Alex Rider and u know when Alex picks up Yassen's Grach handgun? Horowitz describes 'Alex felt the lethal power of the gun' or something. It's not just a random tool, its a lethal weapon to be respected.)

6) Have other kinds of trees than just palm trees! Also in the tropics are Oak trees and Weeping Willows, not to mention Pine trees.

7) New weapon to be used rather often, its really cool, fast firing, and really accurate, its like an SMG/Carbine, the Pulse R71 Silence-capable SMG. Search it on google images its really cool.

8, most important) change the perspective: Nature is in control of Atlantis, everyone else is just hanging on and trying to survive at the mercy of nature and the Atlantians.

KK gotta go!

(w) ok everything sounds great I incorporated number one and six into the excerpt three. Speaking of that, I updated the beginning of excerpt three. tell me what you think!

the only ones i have a problem with are number four and number eight. with number four, we really shouldn't use it at all. with number eight, i don't really get what you're talking about, and how could everything be in the control of the Atlantians? explain further, perhaps on our next phone conversation. with number 5, maybe that is in one of tom's flashbacks, before he has really used a gun before. ill make sure to look up #7, im sure its cool!

one more thing: maybe tom has two versions of his mk III tba. One of the ones, that he was wearing in the excerpt, that i made up, was having the hydrostatic gel layers and the other thing that's not hydro gel or alloy everywhere, and the alloy coating only on the chest. the rest of his body is covered in waterproof black material that is great night camouflage. the olive-drab version is the other mk III version. that is for daylight camo. and that's the one in the cover that i drew (ENDWAR armor). anyway, see ya!

(b) okay again time's limited here, but yeah, what I mean by #8 is that a soldier is not superior to a Raptor. In all your basic dino-thrillers and everything like Jurrassic Park, all the soldiers or whatever only exist to be fodder for the dinos. Just random people that can be eaten and you can still have a plotline, and it's not just gameover. So, yeah, all the soldiers should be USA-grad awesoeme and everything, but when a soldier comes face-to-face with a Raptor, even armed, there should be no dispute about who will win. The Raptor, obviously. I think we need to stress that a bit more. So far its been the Raptors that exist randomly for Tom or someone else to kill. It should be the other way around. They're on a fading continent with an 11000 year old culture and just about every country on Earth vying for control.

KK gotta go will say more later. Oh yeah, and don't update chapter 6 or eleven because I'm working on them offline, and I can't just merge two sets of updates. Also don't update Excerpt 3 anymore cause I'm also gonna work on that.

Other than that have at it and I'm gonna go read your improvements.

AAAHAHAHAHAHQAHAHAHAHAHPWOEGFijhvfapoijdsfcOPSIDjfvopaejf NONONONONONONONNONONONONONONONONONONONOINON

NO!

YOU COMPLETELY RUINED EXCERPT 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IDIOT! Excerpt 3 does NOT take place on ATLANTIS! DIPSTICK! It takes place in St. Augustine, FLorida. Or did you not pick up on that when I said ST. AUGUSTINE, THE FAMOUS FORT, and THE FREAKING RESORT! Like there would be a vacation resort on ATLANTIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

F U!

God, don't just go doing that! READ THE WHOLE THING DILIGENTLY BEFORE YOU GO AND RUIN IT!!!

Okay sorry rage over. Here's what we'll do, I'll just take the orginal that I copied onto my dad's laptop and paste it in place of your messed up 'improvement', then you can go and make whatever changes you want SO LONG AS THEY PERTAIN TO WHATS HAPPENING. ST. AUGUSTINE, FL, NOT ATLANTIS. GOT IT???

And another thing, try not to be too cheesy will you?? I mean come on, just take a second and re-read this one paragraph:

'Though he could be ensured a safe landing (he had survived that height of a fall before, and the exhaust thrusters wired into suit could act as a parachute), there was still the problem of the AA fire pounding repeatedly, and not to mention the swarms of small arms fire buzzing around.'

Come on, what's wrong with you? Okay I sound really arrogant right now, but I'm extremely dissapointed with your latest update. Don't ever do that to me again. Please. How about you stick to the grammar-editing stuff and I'll just take the actual writing? PLEASE, I BEG of you. Don't do that to me again.

(w)ohhhhh, I'm soooo sorry to ruin your perfect story. I'm sorry, I mixed it up, atlantis and st. augustine. whatever. it won't be that hard. You can still use the description of the beach and irony and that. Anyway, by the way, i couldnt even, to tell you the truth, read more than a page of excerpt three. It was so F***ING BORING!!! I'm sorry, but your writing needs some serious help. Yes, I'll admit that last part of that SENTENCE about small arms fire "buzzing around" was cheesy. the buzzing around was cheesy, yes. That's still easy to fix. But not as easy to fix the whole d*** thing!! The greater part of your story is severely lacking in interesting stuff. It's about as dull as reading Gone with the Wind. You want to know the reason why, lately, I haven't been able to read your book? It is so boring. Your vocabulary is the only thing that has gotten better since we started writing Atlantis. Everything else: your whole sense of plot, and especially your humility has gotten worse. And you know what???

If you are BEGGING me to not write, then you can get what you want: I won't do that to you again. EVER.

Good luck with the story. You'll need it.

what i'm saying is, if you REALLY don't think that you need any help then I can quit. But it is your choice. If you want my help and aren't totally self-absorbed, then I will keep helping.

Oh, and just to be NICE, here's one last comment: yes, i agree with the raptor thing. they are superior ONE VERSUS ONE to humans, but humans tend to team up on raptors to take them down. Because of the humans' teamwork, raptors USUALLY don't last that long.

(b) okay we must really be psychic here or something cause I was just planning on KICKING YOU OUT. YOU haven't helped at AALLLL lately. I don't know where you were going with the whole, "Oh, I've contributed so much to the whole story." thing. I mean, you keep saying the ARMPS thing was your idea. I got news, bucko! You denied the 3-wheeler. I don't care what you say about, "Oh, your lying, whatever" but that was MY idea. Sorry. Really, I don't see what you've done. All your illustrations are for nothing because we're gonna get some ''professional'' illustrator to do it all anyways. Wait, strike that, I'M going to get a professional illustrator. And you know what? You can crash and burn as far as I'm concerned. You say ''my'' excerpt was boring? Have you read excerpt 2?

You say I'm self conceded and everything. Hm. Have you read Percy Jackson 3? Remember when Dionysus says, "You demigods say the gods are conceded and self-centered, when you should look at yourself"? Well, that applies here. So goodbye Will, keep all your stupid drawings and shove them. I don't need you. Why did I let you in in the first place? Actually you know what? I can just get Wellie and Emma to help. They will be just as good as you with suggestions, especially the ones that aren't testosterone fueled. And they won't do corny "Although he would be assured a safe landing" crap just to prove a superior vocabulary. I won't look forward to seeing you next school year. So see ya.

Creep. Oh, and from now on, stay off my website. And don't even think about going and deleting the chapters. I can always revert back to the earlier versions, and I can have you sued for that. So don't try.

Okay now, bye. Don't come calling back.

(w) all right brandon. You got me. I'm the creep. However, I'm not the one who knows exactly where to hit someone to make them unconscious and I don't know alllll about weapons. Who sounds like the creep here? I am so mad that you think that you're some great stuff and all. Yes, I should've contributed more earlier when YOU were writing the story. But somehow I didn't have as much free time on my hands. If all you hear is positive encouragement (from you family and your only friend) then you're gonna get arrogant. I was just hoping that you weren't totally self-absorbed, but I was wrong.So, I guess there's no turning around. And, by the way, good luck getting BRILLIANT Wellie and just extremely BRIGHT Emma to help you. Help you do what? Get a date?

And did you really think that I would go deleting chapters???

*Sigh*!

(b) I'm not sure if you're reading this now. I really don't care one way or the other. I just want to put right some wrongs in your speech there, even if no one ever reads it.

First of all. I never said you were a creep, although come to think of it I will now. Second, you have no idea. You have no idea what you're talking about. It really makes me sad to know that I was once your friend, enemy, then friend again, off and on. I can't believe I blew most of my few chances with Wellie. But if you think of me only as the guy that knows that bloodloss to the brain causes unconciousness, or as the guy who thinks that weapons just look cool, that's fine. If you go around and make me a bad pre-rep at Westminster, thats fine too. But the truth is that you have no idea. And it really makes me sad.

Another point lost on you. You've done this all the time, and I don't know exactly why. You always seem to think that I think of ''myself'' as some great hotshot thats better than everyone else. Strangely, you also fail to notice that if I was, I'd say that I'm the greatest. I'd put my ''own'' personality as the main character, not the 'sidekick'.

Am I arrogant? Really? Think about your answer. What makes you say I am? I'm curious.

And then again, were you really my friend? If a friend is someone who invites his friend to a sleepover, plays videogames together, and watches an occasional movie, as well as coming up with the goofy plot for a stupid, yes I said stupid, book, then you were right. I ''had'' only one 'friend'. But as it turns out, there is more to life. I'm sure you know that. I know it. I just don't know why you consider yourself to be my only friend in life, but whatever.

And actually, I've already gotten Wellie's help, and I'm waiting till I get back to Georgia to call Emma. So there goes that. I'll admit, they're not supernerds like somebody I knew, and they aren't pleased with themselves for knowing a whole bunch of vocabulary words. But they aren't exactly stupid, either, which is your problem. They can help me with whatever they want to. Already Wellie's helped me dedicate the book, and she's thinking up a new title for a new book, featuring three main characters named Holly Dayne, Scarlett Miller, and Matt Kenderson. No Tom to deal with. And if you're wondering and trying to find proof of the arrogance factor, no I'm not the main character.

This time I know what to write. I've been reading more and more good books lately. They've taught me a whole boatload of stuff.

And with the deleting chapters, I've decided I don't care either way. You can delete any of them, I don't care, because we're not using this book or pages any longer for anything other than reference material for me to critique when it comes to the real book thats actually gonna be published. Sorry you won't be in on that, but then again maybe not.

So goodbye William. I hope you have a fun Summer vacation.

-- from your magical friend, PhillyBob.

(me)about the vocabulary, you have three times a bigger vocabulary than me. So whatever. and, you know, I'm actually happy you kicked me out. I think it was a great help in my life. and i don't want to fight. I realized you never really were my friend. It was bound to come to this. I don't care anymore. i don't even want to explain to you how arrogant you are, but i will. The simple fact that you're bragging to me that you've got two girls coming over to your house AT ONCE.... nevermind. I don't care anymore. So, bye, and I know we're not going to be friends. And no, I'm not going to give you a "bad rep" at Westminster. I'm just going to let you make your own friends, like i did. I'm not going to try to disrespect you. I was given the chance to fit in at Westminster, and you need that chance too. I'm not just doing this to "prove i'm a great guy" or whatever you might be thinking. Just stop trying to come up with little conspiracy theories about how i hate you. I don't even hate you. I just was mad... and I still have reason to be mad, but I choose not to care. I think it's time to move on. So see you next year ol' buddy.

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-26T15:39:20Z

Will:

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-25T21:24:05Z

Will:

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-25T21:19:36Z

Will:

==summary of our phone discussion:==

1. highway stations- mini bunkers on the side of the highway, disguised as tiny hills conceal unmanned mini helicopters, probe droids, mine detector-and-destroyer mini tanks, and all of these are controlled by laptops. there is a communications array on each one so that they can be cleared to shoot the crap out of enemy vehicles. there are upgraded police cars and policemen and a stinger missile/ chain gun turret.
2. police gauntlet- includes switchblade mechanized knife thingie that pops out, laser, small chainsaw (jango fett), grappling hook, mechanized, about as thin as a rubber band, and holographic popup computer with mini cell phone keyboard, webcam, and usb port.
3. police belt- includes grenades, detpacks, poison pills, med pack, ammo, and gun holsters.
4. police guns- MP5k, Sig Sauer P22, Nightstick/billy club
5. police cars- chevy camaro w/ .30 cal machine gun, side grill-mounted Stinger missiles, oil slick, spike tread deployment system, smoke screen, gps, in-car computer and surveillance systems.

==Section 1==
(Brandon) First off, HA HA! No school on thursday, no school on thurday, yeah! :-)
Second, DONT COLOR THE MAP IN YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF U HAVE ALREADY, I hate to do this to you, but you might have to re draw it.
OK, reason behind this, I was in school today completely out of it because I was obsessing over how bad Atlantis and its culture currently is, when in Social Studies we watched a movie on the seven Wonders of Rome (e.g. Circus Maximus, Trajan's Forum, the Colosseum, etc). It was then I realized instead of a primitive hunter-gatherer culture, the Atlantians should have a highly developed culture similar to that of Greece in the time of Plato. Of course, the few thousand years since them wouldn't have been spent wholly idle. They would have advanced catapults and bows, steel weaponry, and many other ingenious improvements. Therefore, I propose we take Mt. Tyrannosaurus completely off the map, and replace it with some architectural wonder. It could be like the Parthenon but have a couple of its own unique add ons, or like the colosseum, again with its own add ons

(w) ok, im not in a very atlantisy mood right now, so i don't really know what to say to that except for that it's a great idea. i definitely think that atlantians should have an advanced culture and a "wonder" with like amazing weapons and stuff (ill talk more about that later). but, as with every idea, there are some problems and questions. 1: if the Atlantians survived underwater all that time with just gas to keep them alive, how did they develop their culture? 2: how did the atlantians "breed" when they were just being preserved? 3: i didn't think there was any gunpowder on Atlantis. 4: the whole Mount Tyrannosaurus thing is just so awesome with like the helicopter pad inside/ under the volcano and like the troops and artillery and council and all this stuff that just makes it like the landmark death star for the bad guys. i mean, how could you take that out? that would make it much worse. however, i have an idea to fix this. how about we have the atlantian "wonder" on the atlantis plain right to the north of Mt. Tyrannosaurus and have some sort of communication between the two via the Atlantis Strait. because the wonder, what ever it is, would be sort of like the atlantian main base and headquarters and all and like have mt. tyrannosaurus be the middle eastern headquarters and the council where all the generals and queen rex meet would be in mt. tyrannosaurus. anyway, here are some of the atlantian's "inventions": giant triple crossbow, fire arrow explosives, fire arrow explosive launchers that have multiple fire arrow explosives in them, steel battle tanks with tons of high- power munitions and ballistas and stuff in them, battle tower- similar to romans, more high- powered crossbows so that it combines the sheer power of a bow and arrow or a ballista with the easy-to-use, transportability of a crossbow, better armor, some awesome throwing knives so that no matter where you hit the enemy, he is always dead/ wounded, not just hit with the hilt. final invention: they would make amazing advances in technology and invent like spedometers and all of these modern things. also, i can't believe i spent all that time talking about the weapons because if the Atlantians were improving and inventing at the rate of the greek guys, then they would've been that advanced in like 100 years. by now they would probably be much more advanced than we are.

(brandon) yeah, ur right, we need to keep Mt. Tyrannosaurus. However, how about it is their 'double-secret-classified' main base, and the 'Wonder' is just a decoy main base? It would still be a large HQ, just not ''the'' main base. I'm struggling to think wat kind of wonder it would be.
OK, second, uhhh, I really am trying to figure out a plausible way in which the Atlantians could have survived. I'll get back to u on that one. However, it should be such that they were unable to move or something, and they were all perfectly preserved. Atlantis resurfaces, and they 'wake up', with exactly the same stuff as they had before they sunk (e.g., they would have made all of those advanced weapons and stuff before the sunk). As far as more advancements, they should have a ton of economical as well as military advancements. I really want to make this place mysterious, so that the reader will be shown examples of a different world, without being able to know everything about the place, which strips away the mystery. I don't know if they should invent speedometers, but they should invent some kind of advanced transportation, and much better warships. Definately no cars or anything remotely like them, but how about some kind of war-saddle for a Dinosaur? that would be cool. They would also have regular travelling saddles for the Dinosaurs. Their favorite mount should be the Raptor, as long as they hang on tight. For warfare, they should have gigantic troop-carrying saddles for Diplodicus, where they can just like, sling it over, buckle it on, and just hang on to the holds. They could also have a war saddle for it, like some kinda platform on it's back, and maybe on at the top of its head (remembering that Diplodicus was physically unable to lift it's neck above it's shoulder) for a scout or lookout.
Next, I never said that Atlantians would have gunpowder. How about they have some kind of other powder which functions almost exactly the same as gunpowder except better? It could be like, waterproof or something. But they could make it out of the plants on the island. Oh, also, the atlantians wouldn't have developed their culture while they were underwater. They would be somewhere, just like, sleeping.
I gotta go, I'll type later.

(Brandon) KK, im back (no dugh). OK, main question of this post is: what will the wonder be and where will it be??? We can't have it in the middle of the plains. We need to have it at the heart of some giant city. I also think we're gonna have to make Atlantis bigger (at least on the map) Maybe we could have it be three different rings, all looking like they fit together, kinda like the modern continents. Sorry, but we are gonna have to redraw ''all'' of the maps. There is no choice. Atlantians need to have the most land of any country on Atlantis, and the current terrain ain't gonna cut it. The current stuff we have drawn will be the middle and inner rings of Atlantis, the island with Mt. Tyrannosaurus being the inner ring. Everything else can be the same except that we need to add more land around the current. However, we can keep your map that you just drew, and make it a close up of the inner two rings. we should also have a final map that is a close up of just the island with Mt. Tyrannosaurus on it. No, there is no room for debate here, I am saying that it ''needs'' this, and that this is final. So again, don't even talk to me about the word no for the next couple days.
Anyways, the outer ring of Atlantis should be completly rain forrest except on the coast, and the rain forrest will be too dense and dangerous for any country because Dinosaurs, Atlantians, and other dangers lurk within. Therefore, all of the Outer Ring that is controlled by countries other than Atlantis will be on the coast. OK, NOW im out of ideas. Your turn. I still don't know where or what the Wonder of Atlantis will be, OHHHHOHOHOHOHOh, I just got a new idea. How about each Atlantian city has a capitol (just like the U.S.A.!), and the capitol is like, where all of the important stuff is, and each of the cities has a wonder, and in the city at the bottom of Mt. Tyrannosaurus the wonder is the big one we are talking about, but all of the other cities have smaller wonders. Yeah. OK. There. Thats my idea. woo hoo. I still don't know what the big wonder will be, and all of the smaller wonders will be different. Yay. OK, i'll type more later

(w) all right. YESSIR! i WILL make the map as you say, SIR! as for the oohhoohoo rainforest SOOOOOO dangerous thing, well... LOL! all right, so the forest is too big and dense for vehicles, and so there are dangerous things in the forest that try to attack you, and all of that spooky stuff, and so no regular soldiers can go in there because they will be eaten alive, and maybe Tom and matt and gang could survive in there (and tom eventually in the story WILL have to) but otherwise on everything else great ideas. and we will have the rainforest thing. anyway, i dont know what the wonder is gonna be, but i know it will be really mechanical and stuff and have a lot of machines in it and it will be a big building. by the way, PPPPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEE respond to my previous entry!!! it is DIRE!!!

(b) Good, I'm glad you don't have any objections to my new and improved Atlantis map. As I told you on the phone, I already responded to your previous entry. We REALLLLLLLLLYYYYY REALLY REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYY need to decide what the wonder will be. Yes, ok, now, for the rainforest thing, Tom, Matt, Holly, and Scarlett should all go in their as a group doing something or other, along with 20 other American soldiers. The 20 soldiers should like, all get killed in the rain forest, but of course, the gang would survive, just to show you how awesomely awesome and good they are. Yes. Anyways, those 20 guys get killed, and about an hour later after the last guy gets killed, the gang makes it to their rendezvous point that they had decided on earlier that reinforcements would be their. It would be a clearing, and so a Assault Heli Plane would have landed there, and, now, this is the part I need your help with. Either the gang finds a totally alive, thriving outpost there (consisting of the Americans on the Heliplane) complete with C-towers, a makeshift barrier made of interlocking boughs (big, thick branches) running the entire perimeter of the camp, and men going about their duties in the camp, ''or'' a completely deserted base with all of the above except for men. Which one? both would be awesome. But I think I want a deserted one more, that way the gang can like, come over the wall, be extremely confused, and go searching the camp, when the attackers; a wild band of Velociraptors, appear out of no where, and like, maybe there could be 5 guys or something left with Tom and the gang from the original party, and then they get completely pwned by the wild Raptors. HELP ME DECIDE! Anyways moving on, their ultimate goal in the rain forest should be to find the guru. Tom will meet the guru, learn some stuff, and then get called away because Queen Rex (or, whoever is incharge, because we're getting rid of Queen Rex as a leader, but keeping her as a Dinosaur) has called the ultimatum. Then, Tom and the gang departs the Guru's home, goes into battle, etc, Tom gets injured again, and Matt takes him back to the Guru's (both because Tom has sworn to return as his training is not done and because the Guru is also a healer). Then Matt leaves to help Holly and Scarlett, and Tom is left by himself at the Guru's where he learns the deepest, darkest secrets of chi, unfit for the rest of the gang, and then he goes back and does some serious pwning on the battefield with his new powers, but saving the final, most awesome one for his most difficult enemy. KK, ur turn to type again. OH, by the way, TYPE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AT ANY GIVEN TIME! I love to read what you've written

==Section 2==
(brandon) Dang, Halloween was AWESOME!!! We need to do that like, every year.
Anyways, results of our abbreviated talk of the Atlantian wonder:

-Wide and tall
-completely public, no military (except for security)
-gardens, baths, library, business rooms (conference rooms, etc)
-location (???)

Thats all we talked about!?! Wow, that was a waste. Anyways, I have a suggestion

Maybe the wonder could also be like, a school or something?
And also for the smaller wonders at each city, maybe we shouldn't do that, and just have them have a capitol building in every city that has like, a library, a business section, and houses the mayor of the city. Anyways, yeah, all that, DONT FORGET TO READ MY ENTRIES ABOVE THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SPENT A LONG LONG, LONG TIME ON THE ONE ABOVE THIS ONE, SO READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, now, we also need to do flashbacks of Matt, Scarlett, and Holly's lives before the war (you know, like the one with Tom, etc,). I also want to write another battle scene!! Let's hurry it up with the end of the currrent story and get to another action scene!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm gonna do that right now.

(b) Oh, I have an idea! OK, how about Dr. Shang (in some point of the second book) somehow turns like half the American army on Tom and the gang, convincing them that they are bad guys, etc. The reader will know they really aren't etc, and they will get mad at Dr. Shang. Anyways the soldiers will attack Tom, and then he has to completely pwn them otherwise die. Yay. At some other point in the story Tom convinces the army that Dr. Shang is the bad guy, and then everything returns to normal (as normal as normal can be when you are on the island of Atlantis and weird, bloodthirsty dinosaurs are hunting you down)

(w) awesome ideas on everything!!! i have no objections, and i'll get started on a cross- section of the wonder. and i'm not sure if the school thing was a good idea, but we'll talk about that later. sry, gtg.

(w) all right. i just cannot stand this whole picking on Tom thing. i mean, like, scarlett, holly, and sort of matt are all picking on tom and it gets old. they're all friends, and all though holly has some attitude and scarlett is totally hot, it's not like they spend like 10 minutes making fun of tom. i mean, it's ok to make fun of him like one sentence while catching up on everything, but spending the whole time bullying tom and then just go straight to catching up on things?! plus, even if you DID get away with making scarlett or holly that "mean", the other one wouldn't just be a clone! no offense, but holly's "jokester" thing wasn't really funny at all. in fact, it was almost as bad as some fourth grade jokes. anyway, we can catch up on this one later. see ya!

(b) Okay, okay, I get it! I was trying to have it be a certain kind of teasing thing (like a sibling relationship sort of), and be completely humorous, not bullying. I guess I didn't get that point across. Anyways, we can re-write it however you want, cause I am completely out of ideas!
See ya l8r g8r (lol)

(w) hahahaha. anyway, i know u were trying to have it be a sibling teasing sort of thing, but that's older siblings who do that. the gang are FRIENDS. (plus, all of that wasn't that funny. even MY sister's teasings are funny).
P.S. what the mmmph is "18r g8r"?

(b) ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE missing school!
But enough of that. first off, l8r g8r means later gator. I thought it would be funny (sorta) because you are a bulldogs fan.
Anyways, yes I know they are friends.
How's it going with your wonder drawing? Plus, what are we going to call it? It's gettin kinda stupid just saying 'the wonder' all the time, and I feel like if I mention it in public people will look at me like "wat the ____"
Not that they wouldn't do that anyways if I did say the name. Oh well though.
I've been trying to read Eldest alot on an 'appreciative level' but I just keep getting sucked into the story and can't focus on the good parts, I just read it.
And, How's it going at Westminster? At trinity, things suck cause I've got this student-parent tour thing that is getting me stressed out, multiple tests that are really hard to study for, tours of different schools, AND, to top it off, everyone in the grade thinks that I like Caroline!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OSBNFJSDF:SDF :KLJNBVC:KJSDFLKJSDFLSKEFJ:LKSDJ:LSKDFKSJEFD:LSKEJF:KJSDHFV:LKJSDFAJ{:KSJDAFlkaJSDFJILUrf. bleh.
Everyone like is keeping secrets from me :(, telling the rest of the school, things like that, and I am SO mad.
But enough of me. WOW i have been writing way too much on the wiki. Your never gonna respond to all of this. oh well. Please ''try''. Anyways I think the story is comin along great

See ya l8r

(w) all right, to make ya feel all warm and fuzzy inside, i'll respond. yeah, i'm surprised at how well the story is comin along, but if there's one thing i've learned from my "experience" is this. when you're "ahead of the game", the worst thing you can do is get lazy. then all you've worked for is lost. you have to keep going at the same pace no matter what to succeed. enough of the teary- eyed pep talks, let's get going. yeah, that REALLY sucks that everyone is tellin secrets about you. here's my advice for your life in general at trinity. the best thing to do about caroline, is since we know she likes u, just be open that u like caroline. i think, after all this time, the best thing to do is just to start openly telling people that u like her and hanging out with her, because eventually, they will get bored of this piece of gossip and everything will be better. just suck it up and ask her out or something just to get people to stop talking about it. i know u're already with elizabeth, but there's nothing we can do about that because you're the one who got yourself into this (not necessarily, but, you get the point). as for the student parent tour thing, don't worry about it and just focus on getting that westminster application done and being all nice and bright and shiny in the interview. dont worry about the tests or anything. just try and relax and take one thing at a time. (THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T STAY AT TRINITY FOR SIXTH GRADE!!!!). plus, once u get that caroline thing settled, maybe the secrets will die down or something, because i'm guessing if no one's telling u, that it's about u. when i was at my final days at trinity, i didn't worry about the last Israelites unit or anything, and i didn't worry about all the $H!# that mrs. burris was givin me, and now i am perfectly happy at westminster. i know how stressful trinity is, and i am really sorry u have to deal with it (believe me, i've experienced trinity's worst firsthand). anyway, westminster rocks. i am doing well in my classes, really like the schedule (we have PE four days a week), and my main friends are Pablo Luna, William Makepeace, and Matthew Clark. all right i gotta go. i hope u have fun at disney world!

(P) Hi from Phil !!!!!!!!
(P) Go Holly with the pancor Jackhammer!!!!!

==Section 3==
(B, REALLY ANNOYED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
OK, first off, WHOOAA, slow up, I do NOT like Caroline. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, (ETC)............
Second, PANCORS ROCK!!! Thankyou Matthew for that contribution.
Third, Atlantis. I found out why the XM8 was trashed. According to Chase, it was even less reliable than the M-16 A3 (the military's current assault rifle), which I find hard to believe, because as u probably know, the M16 jams so much! Anyways, Disney should be fun. We're going to Magic Kingdom ''and'' MGM. LUCKY US!!! My god, being in Florida is awesome. Again, I'm feeling like we need to emphasize the 'Paradise' of Atlantis. I've gotta go now, but keep on comin with the postings, cause I've got internet acess, and I have my tablet (yes, the school one!)

OMG! the page is saying its too long and there's a data base error. I'm gonna delete some of our earlier postings.

(w) all right. first off. who the f*** is Phil? i mean if that isn't u, I'm glad we have fans already, but wow. anyway, second off- XM8. 1- chase isn't reliable, even tho he is a complete airsoft fanatic beast megalomaniac. 2- by the time the book comes out, there will be somethin better than the XM8. plus, i REALLY like the SCAR much better than the XM8 anyway. if you go to http://www.discovery.com/futureweapons
then you can probably find something on there like a submachine gun or something that really rocks. (the military has adopted the FN SCAR and is making it their current assault rifle, or at least that's what i saw the guys using in Transformers, along with Mechim Milkor MK8's [those revolver grenade launchers]). third off, hey, i was just tryin to help out with the whole Caroline and trinity depressing-ness scene. fourth, i completely finished the T- Rex drawing with one of the surrounding volcanoes around Mt. Tyrannosaurus, Lake Treachery, and the palm tree beachy southern coast of the Atlantis strait in the background. There was an awesome Chinook circling in the background. fifth, i started on a new map, this time using a MUCH bigger piece of paper and i didn't do much because we still need to discuss the wonder, which is coming up. sixth, i just got an amazing idea which is JUST what we need for the mystery of Atlantis. '''YOU MUST READ THESE NEXT FEW LINES!!! THESE LINES MIGHT BE THE MOST IMPORTANT YET!!!''' all right. this is going to tie in the mystery of how to defeat Queen Rex, the mystery of how the Atlantians survived, and what the wonder will be. building suspense... building... building... all right, here goes: in the beginning, Atlantians were having a golden age. their trade with other countries flourished, and they discovered that the Chinese had invented a seismometer, which could detect earthquakes. since both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were caused by plates shifting, the Atlantians knew from their seismometer that the plates were about to take a major shift that was going to cause a volcanic eruption. they made several highly advanced scientific researches, and they concluded that the island of atlantis was going to sink for a LOOOONG period of time, possibly forever. they knew their only chance of survival was to create a way to survive underwater. but how??? this is the answer: when Queen Rex was being born, its egg fell into a volcano that had unknown powers (it was later discovered that there was a HUGE psi dwelling in this volcano). therefore, queen rex had marvelous energy placed within her at an early age. thousands of years later, the Atlantians harnessed this power and created a sort of giant psi glove underwater near the island of Atlantis. this psi glove took psi energy from the air and converted it into a HUGE pocket of air. The Atlantians created a floating underwater palace that used this pocket of air to keep the Atlantians alive. The Atlantian civilization survived under water but had limited resources underwater so they could not advance technologically. Like I said, the underwater palace was HUGE and had a ton of floors and maze- like passageways. this is the "wonder". but now i know what it should be called: "The Underwater Asylum", or "The Underwater Labyrinth". (labyrinth means maze, just in case you didn't know). anyway, what do you think of my idea?
i think it's brilliant.

(b) I just have one thing to say: perfect. perfect perfect perfect perfect.
Second, Phil is Matthew. He just logged on as himself and added a random comment.
Third, yes! Disney was awesome.

(w) all right. bfor u update it again, i got an idea. the way to defeat queen rex is this: in the Underwater Asylum, the psi pocket of air is being fed by an enormous ball of energy that was taken from the T- Rex. there is like a special chamber or something in the Underwater Asylum (we can abbreviate it as U.A. now) that holds this ball of energy. the only way to defeat Queen Rex is to destroy that ball of energy. There will be a battle held by aircraft carriers and other marine troops between the U.S. and Great Britain vs. and Atlantian and Iraqi forces. this will be centered around the U.A., both for strategic position and for the ball of energy. this battle will also have some land troops that will fight underwater. this is going to be a MAJOR battle. anyway, ur turn.

(b) good idea with all that, and I agree that the only way to kill her is to destroy the energy, but as far as the battle, it will be the U.S.A. and England attacking together the Atlantian defenders, because no Iraqis would be allowed in that part. The Atlantians would still have guns and stuff. Anyways Atlantians defending, U.S.A. and England attacking from one side, but also, on the other side of the UA will be Russia and China, and on another side will be North Korea, and the last one will be Germany or something. Sweet. Cool okay now your idea with the psi air bubble thing was perfect, but it fails to mention how they resurfaced. And instead of an air-bubble, it should be a psi shield (yes, those exist. They're kinda like the psi ball, but they are wider and usually flat. Same basic principle though, psi barrier, doesn't let anything through [unless it's overpowered]). The psi pocket thing can still exist, but instead of making just a little bubble (okay, maybe a HUGE little bubble) it can make an enormous shield that will serve the same purpose as the bubble but will be stronger. It will still be able to hold air of course. Anyways for the how they got to the surface, well, I'm workin on it.

(b) ughh I finally figured out why I couldn't e-mail Elizabeth! Her dad's e-mail used to be bandrews@bellsouth.net, but then it changed to bennyandrews@bellsouth.net and she told me, so it's not her fault.for a while I sent e-mail to that adress, but then I stopped sending for a while and I forgot the actual one and started e-mailing at the first incorrect adress. LOL. Anyways now I have sent her an e-mail, and I'll probably call her soon. So their's that anvil off my chest. Now for Atlantis. I started the prologue chapter, but right now it's dreadfully short
lol I wanna make a fan site page for Atlantis where they can make suggestions and say how awesome the book is :-} and their favorite and least favorite parts.

(w) dude, if we're gonna do the fan site, then we have to tell a bunch of people who might be interested in it and it could have a chance of spreading and, hopefully, eventually, we would get a lot of comments. all right. u just keep workin on the prologue and we can discuss it over the phone or something and we NEED to have a sleepover this coming weekend! we'll also discuss the things i didn't cover with my idea. we don't need the psi pocket thing, i just didn't really know what to call it. and by the way, why can't the Iraqis fight for the UA?
seeya

==Section 4==

(b)Srry, but I'm going rock climbing this weekend, and I won't get back til sunday, when my grandparents are coming over, so we can't do it then, but how about the weekend after this weekend (24th and 25th)? Yeah, I should work on spreading the word, and the Iraqis can't fight in the UA because it will be sacred, only Atlantian citizens (or soldiers) can go in it, etc. OH< I just got a great idea: HOMELAND INVASION! Don Don DON! Russian battle groups attack New York City, New York. By battle groups, I mean a whole fleet of ships including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (the kind we use) or two, Destroyers, Cruisers, Torpedo boats, Battleships, Patrol boats, Supply ships, minesweepers, Submarines, and of course life boats. Airplanes and helicopters on the Aircraft Carrier will be hard, because I don't know of many Russian planes. Oh well it'll be so cool, and like, you can draw a picture of the Statue of Liberty with Russian men swarming around it, russian helis zipping past, etc, and like, the destroyers and battleships bombarding the coast, and American snipers up in the torch of the Statue of Liberty and picking off random loser Russians on the ground. They might even have an AA trooper and an AT trooper (anti tank) up their as well, and for accuracy, the AT trooper will have to have a tomahawk missile launcher (Long ranged ballistic rocket) or that new one that we keep mentioning but I always forget its name. Okay cool. Here's my list of ideas I got at Disney World:

-Fight as smaller teams of men (don't stand in the middle of a horde and lay out clips and clips

-Tom will be more quiet and patient by the end of book 1

-We should describe the confusion of a battle

-In public, the gang should communicate telepathically

-Some Atlantians should be separate and not involved in the war (neutral)

-Atlantians should have a complex government (democracy?)

-Atlantian leaders should host feasts and entertainment for Atlantian people

-New beginning, rainy,stormy scene, Tom getting prepped for battle (Yes, he's Tom, but he's yet to get his powers, which make him who he is later in the story. At the very beginning, he's just a jumpy 18 yr old who somehow got sucked into the military and is a general for some reason)

-Prologue (I'm writing it, check it out sometime)

-Emphasize Tom's Raptor vision (regular really good 20/10 vision normally until he wants to focus on something, bringing it into focus and razor sharp detail) (this is only after his transformation)

-Emphasize Tom's like of extremely rare meat (as in bloodier than normal, like a French steak)

-The guru teaches tom to control the air inside someone's body, making them do what he wants like a puppet

And I also have this: I was wondering what made pyrokenesis create fire, and it stumped me, but then I asked myself 'what makes fire'? That was easy. The most simple way is to cause something to heat up with friction, and eventually get flames. Another way is to strike flint with a blade. You get sparks, which can cause a fire. Also, cheating, there's a way to do it electrically: have propane or some other flammable gas running, and then press a button that causes the electric starter to do something or other that makes a spark. So now your really confused, why does that matter? Well, I figured out that Pyrokenesis is actually using geokenesis or telekenesis to cause a spark and then control the spark with Pyrokenesis. You can make the spark expand, multiply, shrink, etc. But in order to get the spark, you have to either use some kenesis to cause a spark and then control the spark, or if you have some other means to get flames going and then control it from there. Cool huh? What's really cool though is if your trapped, surrounded or something, and your about to light like, oh i dunno, a jet boil (which has an electric starter) and the people say "Freeze! You're surrounded, if you make one move, you're dead! So you can't reach for a gun, or even a stick on the ground, and all you have is kenesis? wat do u do???? I'll tell u. U could either just spin around and blast them with some other kenesis, or you could click the starter button on the jet boil that creates a little tiny spark that u can then spin around with and blast them with fire. Much more satisfying than tossing them up in the air or against a tree or rock.
Also don't forget to read my entry above this one

(w) i read ur prologue so far. GrEaT! aWEsOme! except for this: i really hate all of the stuff about they called it a 'barrel', i mean i no that that's what the raptors do, but anyway, we'll talk about it later bcuz i can't really explain it. seeya!

(b) the prologue is now done! I've started on chp 1, and it's pretty awesome so far. Well, I'm gonna keep typing.

(b) YESSSSSS! Elizabeth answered my E-mail. Well, her dad did, and he's gonna e-mail me Elizabeth's e-mail. SWEET!
:-)

(w) finally! that rocks! now, for my relationship... o lord...

(b) lol

(b) I think we should get rid of a major component of the guns here, just saying 'assault rifle' or 'handgun' most of the time, and only using the actual names sparingly. Lots of people don't care, instead looking down on the knowledge, and I've gotten multiple complaints (from my Mom especially) about the attention to the names. :~0

(w) ya, i definitely agree. although, on like those cross- sections books with all of this stuff that the nerds will be reading, we should have the specific type of gun. I am not going to update the new part of the first chapter at all because it is SO FREAKING AWESOME!!!! it sorta reminds me of a less- intense version of Normandy and D- Day (you still need to convince your parents to let you see "Saving Private Ryan"- it's about D- Day and it has probably the best action in a movie besides the Bourne series, although it's extremely gory). I updated the prologue, if slightly.
it's practically perfect in every way! ;) :| :0 :(

(b) ARGHGHHGHGHHGGHHGHGH!!!!!!!! ITS AK-74!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT AK-47!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The AK-74 is the advanced version. DON'T CHANGE THAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(w) who gives a ....

(w) plus, I never changed anything to do with guns

(b) kk srry. Must've been the computer auto change thingamajigy. Did u know, the computer thinks that thingamajig is a real word! LOL! anyways, I've got to come to ur house this weekend. We've got a lot of story work to do.

(b) im gonna wait to do the next part cause I've got company over and I don't want to do the next part with company (read it to find out why)instead i'll do the flashback of Matt (ya know, in chp 2, flashbacks)

(b) Thanksgiving was AWESOME!!!!!!!! I had lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing (stuffing, whatever), a little bit of rutabaga, and sweet potatoes :-d

(b) grrr i can't focus right now (need to play video games.)

(w) i read the WHOLE story. it was pretty good, and there were a few things we can improve on, but i just don't feel like doing them right now cause i'm so sleepy ;alkjdf;lajfdasjfd `10ppujfkjki8476*(*Y^*^^&$ujwa3nu
arrgh i can't think of anything worthwhile to say...
what happened to all those long entries that we used to do...
how's it goin with the fan page? we REALLY need to start one. anyway, seeya tomorrow, keep me updated w/ elizabeth

==Section 5==

(w) kk i've decided to sum up all of our previous conversation so that YOU can delete all the previous stuff:

1. just say "assault rifle" or "handgun" rather than explain which type (explaining type takes off from action adrenaline)

2.ur ideas over Disney trip:
- guru teaches tom to control the air inside someone's body, making tom able to control them like a puppet
- emphasize tom's preference of bloody/ rare meat because of the velociraptor DNA injected, and emphasize tom's raptor vision (like an eagle's, but better)
- Atlantians- have a complex gov. (democracy?), some are neutral (not in war, ex: citizens), leaders should host feasts and festivals for the people
- describe confusion of battle, army is divided into squads, tom and gang communicates telepathically in public, tom will be more quiet, patient, mature, and confident by the end of book 1, and this will increase over all 3 books

3. Russians will attack New York City- with all sorts of vehicles and ships and such, and the U.S. will have plenty of snipers and anti- tank soldiers on EVERY rooftop- includes the close-to-being downfall of statue of liberty

4. my "HUGE" idea, explaining mystery of atlantis and other stuff for the most part:

-i completely finished the T- Rex drawing with one of the surrounding volcanoes around Mt. Tyrannosaurus, Lake Treachery, and the palm tree beachy southern coast of the Atlantis strait in the background. There was an awesome Chinook circling in the background

-i started on a new map, this time using a MUCH bigger piece of paper and it has Diplodicus, Raptor, T- Rex, triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Tylosaurus, and Plesiosaurus breeding grounds, and lots of other stuff

-this is going to tie in the mystery of how to defeat Queen Rex, the mystery of how the Atlantians survived, and what the wonder will be. in the beginning, Atlantians were having a golden age. their trade with other countries flourished, and they discovered that the Chinese had invented a seismometer, which could detect earthquakes. since both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were caused by plates shifting, the Atlantians knew from their seismometer that the plates were about to take a major shift that was going to cause a volcanic eruption. they made several highly advanced scientific researches, and they concluded that the island of atlantis was going to sink for a LOOOONG period of time, possibly forever. they knew their only chance of survival was to create a way to survive underwater. but how??? this is the answer: when Queen Rex was being born, its egg fell into Mt. Tyrannosaurus that had unknown powers (it was later discovered that there was a HUGE psi dwelling in this volcano, and Mt. Tyrannosaurus was named this because Queen Rex's egg fell into it). therefore, queen rex had marvelous energy placed within her at an early age. thousands of years later, the Atlantians harnessed this power and put it in some sort of machine mechanism that converted it into a giant psi shield underwater near the island of Atlantis. this psi shield made a large clearing of oxygen in its center. The Atlantians built a floating underwater palace that used this pocket of air to keep the Atlantians alive. The Atlantian civilization survived under water but had limited resources underwater so they could not advance technologically. Like I said, the underwater palace was HUGE and had a ton of floors and maze- like passageways. this is the "wonder". it is called the Underwater Asylum

-the U.S. and Great Britain will fight the Atlantians in a sea battle for the Underwater Asylum, where the U.S. (meaning tom or someone from the gang or all of the gang) will attempt to destroy the chamber that holds Queen Rex's power. if they destroy it, Queen Rex will be a normal dinosaur who they can destroy. the atlantians control Queen Rex only because they control her power and they can kill her at any second

5. don't pick on tom (he's sensitive) hint hint ;) wink wink ;) nod nod

6. Dr. Shang (in some point of the second book) somehow turns half the American army on Tom and the gang, convincing them that they are bad guys, etc. The reader will know they really aren't etc, and they will get mad at Dr. Shang. Anyways the soldiers will attack Tom, and then he has to completely pwn them otherwise die. At some other point in the story Tom convinces the army that Dr. Shang is the bad guy, and then everything returns to normal

7. Tom, Matt, Holly, and Scarlett should all go in there as a group doing something or other, along with 20 other American soldiers. The 20 soldiers should like, all get killed in the rain forest, but of course, the gang would survive, just to show you how awesomely awesome and good they are. Yes. Anyways, those 20 guys get killed, and about an hour later after the last guy gets killed, the gang makes it to their rendezvous point that they had decided on earlier that reinforcements would be their. It would be a clearing, and so a Assault Heli Plane would have landed there, and, now, this is the part I need your help with. Either the gang finds a totally alive, thriving outpost there (consisting of the Americans on the Heliplane) complete with C-towers, a makeshift barrier made of interlocking boughs (big, thick branches) running the entire perimeter of the camp, and men going about their duties in the camp, ''or'' a completely deserted base with all of the above except for men. I think I want a deserted one more, that way the gang can like, come over the wall, be extremely confused, and go searching the camp, when the attackers; a wild band of Velociraptors, appear out of no where, and like, maybe there could be 5 guys or something left with Tom and the gang from the original party, and then they get completely pwned by the wild Raptors. HELP ME DECIDE! Anyways moving on, their ultimate goal in the rain forest should be to find the guru. Tom will meet the guru, learn some stuff, and then get called away because Queen Rex (or, whoever is incharge, because we're getting rid of Queen Rex as a leader, but keeping her as a Dinosaur) has called the ultimatum. Then, Tom and the gang departs the Guru's home, goes into an enormous battle, etc, Tom gets injured again, and Matt takes him back to the Guru's (both because Tom has sworn to return as his training is not done and because the Guru is also a healer). Then Matt leaves to help Holly and Scarlett, and Tom is left by himself at the Guru's where he learns the deepest, darkest secrets of chi, unfit for the rest of the gang, and then he goes back and does some serious pwning on the battefield with his new powers, but saving the final, most awesome one for his most difficult enemy.

8. bunkers, border bunkers, and police vehicles:

-the police have awesome different colored cars that are either black and blue or white and blue- the lowest- ranking policemen get a black ford mustang (if u don't no wat that is, just search on Google), the middle-ranking and best policemen have a choice from a chevy camaro or a dodge charger (both being 2008). all of these vehicles will be equipped with: .30 cal machine gun, side grill-mounted Stinger missiles, oil slick, spike tread deployment system, smoke screen, gps, and in-car computer and surveillance systems.

-police gauntlet- includes switchblade mechanized knife thingie that pops out, laser, small chainsaw (jango fett), grappling hook, mechanized, about as thin as a rubber band, and holographic popup computer with mini cell phone keyboard, webcam, and usb port.

-police belt- includes grenades, detpacks, poison pills, med pack, ammo, and gun holsters.

-highway stations- mini bunkers on the side of the highway, disguised as tiny hills host a stinger missile/ chain gun turret, 1 predator drone (the thing in transformers that helped blow up the scorpion thing), two Police Motorbikes (blue and white or blue and black siren- equipped assault recon motorbikes), and ''maybe'' one police car. there is a communications array on each one so that they can be cleared to shoot the crap out of enemy vehicles. they are every like 50 miles or something i don't remember what.

- border bunker- a bunch of howitzers and machine guns on top of a fortress- like thing that hosts some two man helicopters, maybe one assault heli-plane, some abrams tanks, a predator drone, a C-130, two to four heavily equipped police cars, and maybe like 6 Police Motorbikes. these are on crucial country borders

9. plot needs to be more frequent and interesting (interesting meaning that it would involve drama, love, and suspense).

10. i wrote an awesome excerpt here it is:

Suddenly there was an explosion that rung through Tom's ears, and the police cars' flaming fragments were rolling side over side. Tom instinctively ducked for cover. He was crouching beside a beaten up green Honda Accord, and knew his only chance was to get to his car without being seen. He heard heavy footsteps approaching and what sounded like ammo clanking around, but couldn't tell whether it was coming from the left or the right. He made a guess. His car was straight ahead of him. If he could just make a quick dash... Everything seemed to flash before his eyes; the blur of the various cars seemed to come at him faster than thought. Something dropped with a metallic thud to the ground. Tom could hear confused shouts echoing behind him. A barbaric war cry rang out over the parking lot. Tom ignored it, sprinting on. All he could think about was getting to his car. Bullets ricocheted off of his car due to the reinforced steel and bulletproof windows. 5 more yards to go. 4. 3. 2. 1. Tom leaped into the silver Aston Martin DBs with relief. Most people would say that Tom was in an impossible situation. About 20 Iraqis trailed him, 6 with Stinger missiles. Tom saw it through attentive eyes. The Iraqis hesitated, then slowly raised their missile launchers. As they started to load the explosive warheads, Tom made his move. "''I wonder what these Iraqis enjoy on their bread more: olive oil or butter? Hmmmm, let's think about that. Olive oil it is then,''" Tom thought. He sprayed about 12 of the Iraqis with oil slick. "Happy birthday!" he yelled out the window and chucked a match onto one of the Iraqis. It was a chain reaction. The Iraqis' high-pitched screams of agony were muffled as Tom's engine roared to life. He sped forward, turning and skidding at the last second, coming around 180 with the hood of the car facing the remaining cowering Iraqis. Pressing a concealed button, two secret panels slid aside, revealing two menacing chain guns. Tom opened fire. The chain guns roared as they spat out .35 cal bullets at the helpless Iraqi soldiers. The results were predictable. Swerving again, he changed direction, speeding through a side road as he felt the sheer power of his 705 horsepower V12 engine encased in the car. Tom knew that it wouldn't be long before he "served his next customer". He was right. About 1200 yards away, 6 Humvees menacingly engaged pursuit.

'''OK THAT PRETTY MUCH COVERS IT!!!!!!'''

==Section 6==

(b) yeah it pretty much does. However, the police cars don't need oil slick and spike tred deployment and smoke screens and all that junk. Police cars ''chase'' the bad guys, not run away from them.

(w) correction: police cars don't need oil slick and smoke screens and all that junk EXCEPT FOR: the spike tread deployment. why?
1. the police were the first to use them
2. police cars have had them even before they were upgraded in our story (they have them now, just not automated deployment)
3. they had them in my video game (need for speed hot pursuit 2)
4. it's really useful in a roadblock to stop suspect vehicles
5. doughnut- eating policemen are lazy- they don't want to have to chase the car they're chasing

(b) Kk i'm doing the next part of the story I don't think anyone will look over my shoulder to see what I'm typing (I'm in the basement with my tablet, no one's gonna just walk down and say 'Hey, Brandon, whatcha typing?')

(b) I would like to announce the GRAND OPENING of the Atlantis fan page. To see it, type in 'Atlantian fans' into the search box.

(w) type 'Atlantis fans' into what search box?

(b) ok I'm only going to say it once: idiot. The search box that says 'search' above it? Ya know? The one that you type "ATLANTIS!" Into to get to this page? DUGH!

OK now I have said it.

(w)kk. oh right!!! i forgot to tell u! in case u hadn't already known, the 7th Alex Rider book came out. it's called "Alex Rider: Snakehead" ! it's sooooo awesome! anyway, i'm almost done anyway. see ya!

(w)delete the previous stuff that i covered in my long entry. i'm serious

(b) Hey! It's been so long since I've had time to work on ATLANTIS!

But now I can. So, first off,

I came up with an idea for a semi-pretty funny joke in the car. Actually Grant gave me the idea when he farted, and I was sitting next to him on my laptop, and after he farted I said, "Hope my laptop doesn't short out." then cracked up. lol :) Okay, so maybe it's not that funny, but it's a start. Anyways the gang should be somewhere and Holly's on a laptop and someone farts (probably Matt) and Holly says I hope the laptop doesn't short. yay. Okay... um, I'm gonna type some more of the story now.

(w) maybe, we'll see. are u gonna put all my pictures on there, like the one of matt?
also that simile about the dust devils needs to change. anyway, seeya

(b)Hey Will, I just took the SSAT today. I can't believe I was stressed out about it! It was so easy, I think I aced the entire thing. Woo Hoo! Anyways, Atlantis. I think the story's coming along great! We definitely need more humor, umm... that's about it.

(w) good! i remember that the SSAT wasn't that hard, only that it took, like, 7 hours. anyway, i read what u wrote on the story, and i only had to edit 2 words. i just got an idea. u know how in republic commando how there are those wussy droids that fly into and if you don't shoot them down they latch on to you and you have to keep clicking to get them off? well, i just thought of something: how about in the story there is some thing (robot, creature, whatever, we'll think of that later)that grabs onto like Matt or some main character, and Tom tries to shoot it off and it doesn't blow up or die or whatever and jumps off of Matt. Tom doesn't react, so he shoots Matt. The "thing" is on the ground and Tom says in a fit of rage, "Try that again you bas****!" and absolutely pwns the thing. Before the reader can be satisfied, they remember that Matt is injured and bleeding on the ground, and that's when Tom is all, "Are you all right?" and all that crap (i am too tired to thing of anything less cheesy right now) and it's all dramatic. OK that's about it.

(b) sweet idea, but without the cursing. Maybe if it's in the second book we can have language, but otherwise we can have the first couple letters and then have him cut off somehow, I don't know. You know, he'd be like "Try it again you bas..." and then something would happen. Lol i dont know. Anyways, how did ur drawing of the Russians attacking New York City go?
Keep the magazine as long as u like, and if u want to u can subscribe for ur own 'monthly copies'! yay!

==Section 7==

(w) i know. we should have him be like, "try that again you bas..." and then matt groans in pain, and then tom pwns the thing and so on. anyway, gtg.

(b) OK some big news first: This weekend I'll be in Conneticut (for a wedding.) Second, you know that song in ALex Rider right after Ian Rider gets killed? the one that starts out 'you and I...'? Well, I'm obsessed with that song, and I figured out the name: the name of the song is 'blame'. On youtube, just type it in and u can listen to it. The three minute one, not the Alex Rider cut. Sweet gotta go.

(b) Big NEWS! I came up with the perfect way that Atlantis was submerged, along with every other advanced civilization of that time. So a giant meteor is hurtling threw space, picks up radiation from a star, and becomes a comet. Then slingshotting around a planet the size of Saturn, it speeds ahead to the milky way, gets caught in Jupiter's gravity, and hurtles to Earth at breakneck speeds. Then it charges into what is now Hudson Bay, causing a giant ash cloud to rise up around the Earth except part of Atlantis because of the air currents. The comet strike causes a tremendous cascade of tsunamis, gigantically high, that crashes onto the shores of North America all along the coast, wiping out the more advanced sea-going nations but leaving the cro-magna men in the inland areas. Atlantian generals realize what is coming and desperately search ways to exist, and they figure out that only part of Atlantis can be saved (because Atlantis extends much farther, in fact from the middle of the Atlantic to about 100 miles of the North American coast as well as 80 miles from the African and European coasts): the part whose wind currents blow the ash away. There's a scene where the main Atlantian generals are conversing, and they say like, "we've lost contact with our sister nations the..." and then he lists a couple other highly advanced civilizations that spawned from Atlantis. Anyways, all the main generals evacuate to the three rings of Atlantis, and they await the end of the known world lol. Oh yeah, just a random note, the people all around the world co-exist with Dinosaurs. The same comet that we're talking about here also wiped out the Dinos. Anyways, so then it tells of how the main peice of the comet hits in hudson bay, but then smaller chunks of it that have broken off speed towards the other coast, and yada yada, everyone except some of the cave-men and the three main rings of Atlantis dies. Eventually some of the cro magna men cautiously return to the coast, now about a mile further up on shore than before, and then resume thriving and prospering, later evolving into Homosapians (us). Now, the three inner rings of Atlantis slowly decline when they are under water, until eventually they get back to the surface as a result of an unforseen earthquake, much reduced. That was like their dark ages, where centuries of knowledge went down the drain and they lived almost like their primitive cousins on shore had years before. Anyways, much more to say on that, and I'm writing the part right now. It'll be the prologue for book two.

==Section 8==

(b) more big news, This page will soon be only a teaser for Atlantis. I plan to move all the other chapters to separate pages with chp 1 and the prologue on one page, chapter 2 on another, chp 3 on another, etc etc. Anyways, this page will have illustrations and a teaser, then a link to the other chapters. Also, I'm going to make a page for the Atlantian Conspiracy. Same rules apply there, to get to the Atlantian Conspiracy page, just type in Atlantis conspiracy.

(w)cool! that helped! i put the excerpt on the Atlantian Conspiracy page because there wasn't anything else on there. also, on your "big news", i didn't really understand that, and nice idea and all, but before we put that into the story we have to talk about that in person. The whole "mixing up evolution" thing just kinda gets on my nerves.

(b) Okay, to keep it simple, Basically a freak of nature comet plunges into Earth after slingshotting around Jupiter's gravitational pull. The comet crashes into what is now Hudson Bay, causing massive Tsunamis when it hits the water. The tsunamis sweep over the land, and since they're like 10 miles high, when they come crashing down they obliterate all of the civilizations on the coasts of land. The impact wobbles Earth, making the poles slide two degrees. This causes Earthquake after Earthquake and tons of volcanoe eruptions. The comet's impact also sends up a huge dust cloud that blocks the sun from the entire world. This comet happens to be the same comet/meteor that wipes out the Dinosaurs. Yes, that's right, the coastal civilizations (and the Atlantians) lived in harmony with Dinosaurs.

So we've got a bunch of different super-advanced civilizations all living on the coast of the world's land masses, and cave-men living inland in the mountains. All the advanced civilizations are in contact with each other. Now, Atlantis realizes that it's about to be inundated and they search for a way to survive. Eventually they realize that the only space on Atlantis (because remember, at this point Atlantis is much more than the three rings) that has a chance of surviving is the three rings. Now, we use your plan saying they create that massive psi-shield around the three rings, and then they are swept underwater. Meanwhile the rest of Atlantis drowns. Yay. So in the same instance, most highly evolved societies are wiped out along with the dinosaurs (except on the three rings of Atlantis). Now, since Atlantis is underwater, they fall into a period of technological, economical, and military decline. They used to have gunpowder type stuff, 'flame blowers' that shot bursts of flame kind of like a blowtorch. But eventually they lose all of that.

While Atlantis is underwater, the cave-men in the hills gradually come down from the mountains to the sea where they find no remnants of anyone. They start advancing while Atlantis declines, and eventually they evolve into us: Homosapians. Cool huh?

Basicallyer than that, you know the meteor/comet that wiped out the dinosaurs? this is the same comet, except that Earth is now also populated with humans, highly advanced humans who are wiped out when the comet arrives along with the dinosaurs. Except one little chunk of land that used to be a continent: The three rings of Atlantis. When all is said and done, huge comet wipes out most of Earth in a freak of nature moment, kills most species, only part of Atlantis and the cave-men inland survive. OOO-Kay, now, heh heh, Cool right?

(w) ooooooooookaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy, weellllll on that note, i will try to get this right. because of the meteor, the atlantians are the last humans on earth. they descend beneath the sea thanks to my idea (yay me :) ),and there are cavemen on earth. the cavemen eventually evolve into homosapiens... but that doesn't make sense cause what happened to all the history between when atlantis went underwater and now???????????? sorry, but what the heck happened between the ancient Greek times and 2010???? plus, cavemen can't evolve into humans that fast.

(b) okay like we said, the meteor hit ''9,000 years ago.'' Everything in between the meteor impact and 2015 (the story's going to take place in 2015, not 2010)still happens, I just didn't include all that. I'm going to type more story.

(b) Hey, thought you'd find this pretty cool:
Liquid armor. It's bullet proof, knife proof, fragment proof, and basically anything that hits it proof. Basically, liquid armor is a chemical that you soak your close in, then if something hits you, like a bullet, the liquid around that area you were hit instantly freezes over, becoming exceptionally hard, like a diamond.Simply, When you soak your close, its not hard. But when something like a bullet or a kife or even a fist hits you it turns hard. Cool huh? But here's the kicker: it's so much better than kevlar. Why? Because kevlar is bullet proof, but not knife proof. Liquid armor is. Also, kevlar takes up lots of space. Not liquid armor. It's absorbed into your clothes.
Oh yeah, and in addition to all that, after the energy is dispersed, it turns back to a liquid that is dissolved in your clothes. AWESOME!

Hey don't forget to e-mail me that assassin cars page we made that also has the ARMPS thing on it. Or was it ARMPIS?

(w) just updating here. yeah that liquid armor thing is FLIPPIN AWESOME!!! (by the way, how do you beat it? i guess some forms of psychokenesis might work. u could use hydro kenesis and put it on yourself instead.) the only weakness/ drawback i can think of about it would be, what is it made of? could it harm the person wearing it like sulphuric acid? anyway, just tryin' to think of at least SOMETHING wrong with it.
on another note, the ARMPS thing is on my dad's computer, so he'd have to email it to me first. (i think it is ARMPS, but the military calls it armpits, anyway we'll find out when we get the email).
finally, here is a summed up version of what we talked/argued/screamed/death-threated about on the phone:

Tom needs an "alter ego", or someone the complete opposite of him. since i know you don't like the phrase "alter ego", we're calling him a nemesis. He looks nothing like Tom, but he is young (we didn't say he was young when we talked, but who wants an old bearded 40 year old fatbutt?). He radiates evil, both in his cockiness and smooth rasp (yes, i know smooth rasp is an oxymoron, but i can't describe it: it's sorta like Voldemort but more humanlike). He and Tom are equal in strength, but Tom has the "light side" on him. The nemesis has a little bit more raw power, and a little less mercy. The nemesis (sorry, but he'll have to have a real name even if we do refer to him sometimes in the story as Tom's "nemesis") completely pwns Tom in their first fight, and the nemesis walks away and leaves hundreds of Atlantian officers behind to kill Tom, but of course the gang quickly "takes care" of them. Then, the second time the two meet, they're completely equal for a ton of hand-to-hand combat and telekinesis and stuff, and then the nemesis takes a huge striking blow on Tom that weakens Tom and stuff and Tom's lying on the ground. Right when Tom is about to be killed by the nemesis, he sort of "grows up" and has like a super powerful rage and COMPLETELY PWNS the nemesis. The nemesis is lying there on the ground, almost dead, and is like, "You wouldn't do this to me Tom. You have mercy. Please!! Please!!" Then Tom pauses and says something like, "No mercy for the pitiful." or something better and more catchy and intimidating, and stabs his nemesis with his knuckle knife/katana and just leaves it there.
One question: should the nemesis be related to Tom to make it more dramatic? or would that be copying star wars and eragon? If so, we need to have a chapter somewhere in the beginning of the first or second book where Dr. Shang or queen rex or somebody really powerful takes Tom's relative and makes him really powerful, and is like, "Hail (nemesis's new name)!"

do you agree with all of this? reply.

==Section 9==

(w) hey brandon! merry christmas! i think in atlantian fans and our future blog, we should have special christmas updates/ issues, where we reveal some cool stuff. we should also remember the day when we put the wiki up and have "anniversaries" and stuff to make the blog more interesting. i got bioshock for christmas, among other things (Georgia bulldogs hoodie and hat & tons of legos). i haven't installed it, but i'm sure it will be awesome. tell me when you've seen Elizabeth.

(w) man i cant' wait till our sleepover tomorrow we get to play call of duty 4 and MOH airborne and BioShock even though i have it and maybe ghost recon and probably resistance and i'll bring my futureweapons and deep ocean discs and we'll talk about the stuff that we normally talk about. *wow* sorry i just had a hyper streak. c ya!

(w) YOU MAY FIND THIS ENTRY TO BE AS IMPORTANT OR MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE U.A. THING DEPENDING ON IF YOU ACCEPT MY ADVICE!!! ok, so i just remembered what one adept author, i think it was Will Hobbs, said about writing. He said that a lot of times instead of just saying, (for example), "The pain was so intense all other thoughts were blacked out," write about how Tom didn't care about the war, Atlantians, or death. That enforces the thought that "the pain is so great that all other thoughts were blacked out". You make the reader feel the same way so that it's more interesting and intense. You could do the same thing with any other intense emotion or feeling (ex: fear, love, anger, etc.).
One thing that i came up with is this: instead of saying, "The soldiers wrought havoc with the flamethrowers," say, "The soldiers' flamethrowers caused a chain reaction of spreading fire that elicited screams of agony from the Atlantians." In other words, don't just say stuff, but use imagery to convey meaning. Just a suggestion, i mean by all means you don't have to accept it.

On a different note, am I allowed to keep doing the Atlantis thing with you or do you think you've gotten out of me all that you can and it's time for me to stop? i want to keep going, but i'm sure you could find someone better than me. if you want to keep doing this with me, respond to all the entries above that you haven't responded to yet.

p.s. if you think i haven't come up with hardly any ideas or contributed very much at all to atlantis, than just look at my entry above some ways that summed up what we did before that. i will list all of the contributions i had in that: my excerpt, the HUGE U.A. thing, we both together came up with the highway bunkers, border bunkers, and police cars/stuff, plot needs to be more frequent/interesting (love/drama/suspense). that is it, but all of my other various contributions: thing about nemesis (i came up with it in the first place, then you set me on the right track cause i was getting cheesy, then i put some extra stuff on the wiki that was all me), I drew the map, I drew all of those illustrations and am quitting the current ones that i'm drawing because i don't know if you will use my new ones anyway, advice about writing enhancers (imagery/emotionally connecting the reader to the story), you propped me by saying, "we should have this three-wheel thing" and i said "no" and you said "yes" so then i came up with the ARMPS thing and you helped me a little bit with the technical names for stuff, idea with Tom saving Matt from the robot but robot makes Tom accidentally shoot Matt and there is drama and such, and probably much more from the previous discussion page that you deleted everything from (in the beginning).

My point is:

THIS WHOLE TIME I'VE BEEN CONTRIBUTING A LOT TO ATLANTIS AND COUPLED WITH THE FACT THAT I'VE ALSO GOT OTHER STUFF TO DO IN LIFE THAT'S PRETTY DANG GOOD AND I WAS THERE FROM THE START SO NO ONE ELSE WOULD KNOW THE STORY AS WELL AS ME (BESIDES YOU)!!!! IF YOU DO GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO ALL THE WORK, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO THAT BUT I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE AND I WANT TO STAY FRIENDS WITH YOU, BUT WHO CARES ABOUT ME?

Also, i hadn't realized that the discussion page was competitive to see who could contribute the most. i just had the p.s. part of this entry so that you wouldn't think i was just sitting on my bum all day.

(b) lol
**sigh** yes, you can keep working with me. I thought we'd straightened that out? Oh well anyways, that thing with the 'Soldier's flamethrowers elicitied screams of agony' is way too cheesy and too complex to describe that. I mean, come on, elicit? I'm not saying that guy was wrong and I agree we should do that 'he didn't care about' thing, but we have to keep it simple. Keep in mind our readers aren't gonna be impressed by 'big words' like ''elicit''.

OK, this is gonna sound completely crazy, you're probably going to say "No _____ way!", and part of me says it can't happen, but how about:

Unicorns? Yes, no, maybe so?

I know it sounds completely stupid and cheesy, but maybe not Atlantis but maybe one of the other civilizations of that time? I'm not trying to make this a story about enchanted forests and talking animals and all, but, I mean, there's something just plain thrilling about mythical horses decked out in shiny armor with knights riding on their backs. Also, maybe instead of or in addition to Unicorns, there can be knights riding on lions and rhinos? I saw it in a flash game I played and it was awesome. I mean, wouldn't it just be awesome to be being totally owned and then you're all huddled in a mob with like 20 others from your team and you're about to die and then the cavalry finally arives? Now imagine if that cavalry had claws and teeth? Or if that cavalry was huge and bulky ''and'' fast and had a horn on the top of it's snout? And in the case of a Unicorn, they'd be a lot smarter than regular horses and have freaking ''horns'' on their head. Well, ''a'' freaking horn on their head. Just like Rhinos except not as stupid and not as bulky. Well, that's my idea for today. Just keep it in mind, and I think it's a great idea, maybe not unicorns, but definately trained cavalry of lions and rhinos. Maybe not even during the time of Atlantis. Maybe long after, and we just mention them when like some random noob excavating for fossils finds the remains of an army and that army had men riding on animals, then we could say (or some guy would make an inferance or something) that they learned about training and riding animals from the Atlantians? because, remember, Atlantians trained and rode dinos. Just chew that thought around a little and get back to me on it.

==Section 10==

(b) hey check your e-mail. I sent you a photo of what I think Atlantis underwater should look like. It explains everything in the e-mail.

Oh yeah, also:

Happy New Year's Eve!

(w)whoa i've got a lot to respond to. OOooooookaaaaaaaay. here we go. i saw the Atlantis underwater thing and it's great. however, a little confusion. is it supposed to be atlantis or is it supposed to be the UA?
anyway, thanks for letting me keep working on atlantis. got a little carried away there on my previous entry.
also, for the unicorns thing. i barely didn't say, "NO _______ WAY". however, i see where you are going with it.
i know exactly what is going through your mind and what is driving you to say things about unicorns. let me explain to YOU what is going through YOUR head (yes, i know that's kind of ironic). there are two types of fighting videogames. the less common one is the melee/ medieval/ sword and shield bow and arrow kind of thing (example: Lord of the Rings, Rome: total war, Medieval: total war, etc.). the more common one is the shoot 'em up kind of thing (example, tons of them: Call of Duty, Ghost Recon, etc.times 30,000). and there are a rare few out there that are both (again, example: that strategy game that i forgot where you can be at any time). Each category has its appeals. the modern thing is all cool technology and guns and stuff. the medieval thing is cool because of how cool the individual units and and stuff are. like, in lord of the rings, you get excited at the dwarf axe throwers and the elves and rhino riders and how cool they all are. and then you get the magic and stuff and it's all glowing and it's really fun. you get my point. medieval stuff is fun. yes, i think that the Atlantians should definitely have rhinos and ride on them. especially the officers. but the unicorns? if you want unicorns, you should write another story that's just medieval. otherwise, i'm really sorry, but that would be too cheesy.
verdict: rhinos= OK, unicorns= sorry, but no
also, i got the flamethrower thing from Anthony Horowitz's style of writing. re-read his books and you'll see a lot of that. see ya.

(w) i forgot. what were we gonna do for the matt flashback?

(w)cool! i read your comments on my illustrations and that makes me feel good (although, the "Apache Longbow" is actually a Bell-Huey Supercobra but we don't have to tell them that).

i'm ALMOST finished with the Statue of Liberty scene and am starting on some new airplanes and helicopters, aircraft carriers and other vehicles! i am all of the sudden really excited and eager to illustrate (strange and unusual for me, isn't it?), so i'll be seein' ya.

oh, by the way, how's your other life going? you know, trinity and friends, applying for schools, Elizabeth and Caroline and such? seeya

(b) Hey!
New weapon suggestions instead of the MP5K for the police. You know on Future weapons the PSD, or Personal Security Detail weapon? It's perfect for law enforcement of World War Three, because it's more than just a simple handgun and much better than the MP5k. Go onto future weapons and look in the season three armory. it's number 9 on the list thing it rocks! Oh yeah, by the way it's a carbine, so it's not like the police are going to become Elite Paratroopers or Marines or something. Carbines are awesome. Okay, now for like the secret service or VIP protection police, I suggest the PDW, because it's a small carbine as well that has more stopping power and punctures most body armor like a knife through butter than the PDS, while maintaining compactness. It's top o' the line. C00L!
Now for S.W.A.T. They should use the Kinetic Energy weapon (also on future weapons, it's number five.) as their main anti-terrorist weapon. OOh, also (i just got this idea), all the police should be armed with a kinetic energy handgun, using the same system as the current one except in a handgun form. That way Tom can steal the police loser's gun during the part before he goes to the training camp with the shopping mall shooting spree thing. Anyway, its really cool it doesn't shoot bullets instead it shoots dum-dumb bullets which are made of rubber and are ment to incapacitate. Awesome. Cool. Sweet Awesome Cool. Cool. Sweet. Sweet cool awesome awesome sweet cool sweet. Bleh. Oh no! I've been spending way too much time around you! lol jk. Oh and for the vehicle crews and stuff, their weapons should be the Micro Tavor compact SMG. it's perfect for a vehicle crew (says so on future weapons, it's # 15). Sweet. Oh no not again!
Okay I'm just gonna go now... bye

(w) good guns but i have 1 suggestion: someone gets a G36 because personally, G36's are my absolute favorite and they rock and look cool. also, a P90 would be awesome.

sweet awesome cool. cool. cool. awesome sweet cool cool awesome sweet sweet awesome cool. awesome awesome. sweet sweet. cool awesome sweet.

SWEET FRICKEN AWESOME FRICKEN COOL! NOW I'LL SHUT UP!!! YAY!

oh i am reading this book based on tom clancy's concept but written by someone else, and it's called Splinter Cell fallout and it's AWESOME!! it's about the most elite spy in the world named Sam Fisher whose technology and gadgets makes Alex Rider and James Bond gadgets look like legos and toys. it's really awesome, and even though at some parts it can go on and on with stuff you don't really care about, it has some of the coolest action i've ever read and kinda reminds me of your writing (the only difference is that Fisher has much better technology).

about the technology, i will put in a couple of excerpts from the book that illustrate SOME of his technology. first excerpt about his combat and diving suit:

"Fisher was biased, he knew, since the thing had saved his life more times than he could count, but as far as he was concerned, his tac suit-officially, the Mark V tactical operations suit- was as close to magic as DARPA (the Pentagon's equivalent of James Bond's Q division) had ever come. A one-piece black coverall festooned with the various pouches, pockets, and harness attachments needed to carry all his equipment, the tac suit's interior was fitted with the latest generation Gore-Tex while its exterior was made up of Kevlar and Dragon Skin, the world's first "move when you move" body armor. Dragon Skin could stop shrapnel and any bullet short of a sniper's high-powered penetrator round. The Gore-Tex was designed to maintain Fisher's core body temperature and could do so down to ten degrees and as high as one hundred ten. The truly magical part was the camouflage system. The outer Kevlar layer was impregnated with a substance codenamed Cygnus, after the first officially identified black hole. The liquid polymer fiber was matte-black and micro-roughened so as to trap and diffuse- if only for a fraction of a second- light particles. It wasn't invisibility per se, but Fisher had found that the shadows had seemed much deeper while he was wearing the tac suit. Completing the camouflage was the use of disruptive patterning through the odd placement of pockets and pouches, all of which were different sizes and shapes. In low-light conditions, the human eye was drawn to movement, color difference and geometric form. Of the three, form was the most challenging problem, so by rearranging and resizing the pouches, the outline of the body becomes fuzzy."

here's the second excerpt about his weapons:

"Weapons check. His loadout for this mission was standard: a 5.72mm/anesthetic dart pistol with a twenty-round magazine and muzzle noise/flash suppressor; fragmentations and disruption grenades; a genuine Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife; and finally the 5.56mm SC-20K AR assault rifle, another gift from DARPA. The SC-20, chambered for a 5.56mm bullpup round, was a marvel of versatility and compactness. Equipped with a flash/sound suppressor with a 97 percent effective acoustic dampener,
when fired, the SC-20 emitted a sound no louder than a tennis ball being thrown into a down pillow. What truly made the SC-20 special, however, was its modular design. With its subbarrel mounted launcher,

that's all the typing i am gonna do today, so ill see ya.

==Section 11==

(b) that is dang cool. I've heard of the SC-20 now that I think of it. Oh yeah! it was in my Small Arms book. Sweet! It's an awesome gun. Okay now down to business. I had the most awesome revelation in the half-sleep that comes before sleep. I was laying in bed and just randomly letting my mind wander... and I started thinking about Stonehenge. Nothing new right? Well, as I was puzzling over its meaning:

Can you feel my vibes yet? come on, take a guess!

Yes, that's right, what if the Atlantians made Stonehenge...?

AWESOME sweet awesom cool etc.

But even awesomer (if that's even a word, I don't think it is) is what purpose I came up with for it. Stonehenge is an awesome, ancient psi gate. I'll repeat. A psi gate. Containing unbelievable power. After the cataclysmic event of the meteor, the few surviving Atlantians erected giant stone psi gates containing HUGE deposits of psi energy. They also taught the cave men basic skills, trying to educate them so they could advance and rebuild their civilizations. Okay I'm out of ideas I'll write more later.

(w) thats a good idea with stonehenge, but can we think of something cooler and more surprising than a psi gate (maybe)?

nice idea

(b) gee thanks. Okay notice: STOP INDENTING! No indents. Just leave it like it is normally. The page keeps getting elongated because when you indent that stupid box thing comes up and instead of going to the next line it just continues on for ever and ever.

(w) ya i fixed 1 of the indenting thingies. ill stop (i didn't know i was doing it and i was like, "why is that frigin' box comin' up again?"). that was a really nice idea with stonehenge! i meant it when i said it the first time, but i just didn't like the psi gate thing. I have an idea tho. how about there is somethin like u no, a underground temple or somethin archaeological like that, that used to be one of the Atlantians' cities, and the entrance is through stonehenge. u may think it's stupid, but it's the best i could come up with. i finished a couple of drawings. w/ the statue of liberty thing, i just gotta color it.

(b) Great idea! Yeah i just said stonehenge as a psi gate cause I was being lazy and couldn't come up with anything better at the time. But to get to the underground city, you have to do something on some specific day of the year at a specific time involving some sort of psi power. Oh yeah which reminds me...

Did the Atlantians have psi powers at one time or another? That would be awesome if they used to then after being underwater all those years, they sort of lost the ability... Remember in Artemis Fowl the Lost Colony of the demon dudes? When Artemis and Holly and everybody else's brains are connected Artemis digs around and finds that humans used to have magic but then forgot about it because they were needing it less and less. It would be kind of like that.

Oh yeah and one more thing for now: The Bermuda Triangle. Atlantis. Link????

What should the Atlantians have to do with the Bermuda Triangle? What's their involvement with that and the Bahama Quadrangle or whatever? Cool idea eh?

Talk to ya later

(w)thanx i was afraid you'd say it was some stupid thingie. whatever. awesome. sweet. cool. sweet cool awesome. cool awes- oh $&@#ing shut up will!!!!!!! see ya, and please do me a favor and don't completely take out my excerpt.

==Section 12==

(w) OK i am just gonna say this about the whole us working together on Atlantis thing. all right. so, recently, we've had more than two pretty big arguments where, yes, both of us were being obnoxious. I brought this up because recently i looked on the wiki and realized just how far we've come and how from a reader's point of view, this story is completely awesome with all the illustrations and discussion pages and everything. this is why i realize we can't stop doing Atlantis and our little petty arguments shouldn't even come close to stopping this- partner and friend-ship. Here's my solution: i do artwork and come up with excerpts for the story, and when you ask me to, introduce a character and do a description. i can do a little patching up with grammar and stuff, and with your approval, (if the story needs it)improve the flow of the story. When i come over to your house and vice versa, we can come up with ideas. i will not reject any of your ideas but i will simply throw stuff out there to make your ideas as good as possible. I'm gonna say that my excerpts can be altered in any way possible to make them better, and you don't have to use all of them. if you don't use one, simply use it to potentially give you ideas. The main thing is, i wanna keep doing Atlantis with you and i wanna stay your friend, and to do that we gotta severely reduce the number of arguments. (*and for future reference, if you think something that i did is sucky, just go ahead and tell me so we can fix it early on*)

(w) sry before u can respond a few thoughts came to me, so i better put them down. 1st of all, i just realized something. we need to think more in depth of who is on the enemy's side. Since there have been rumors buzzing around about tensions rising between the US and Korea. Since the Korean war never really was resolved... you catching on to me? Also, since China most likely is the nation that poses the biggest threat... before i tell u what i'm getting at, one more: Russia has long been US's rival ever since the beginning of the Cold War with the space race and everything. I know all of these but Korea we've talked about before, but i still haven't told u the point of all of this. Here it is: if you think about it, the only reason why we're still in the middle east is because it's not a fair fight. Yes, the US has all of the best weapons and technology in the world, but that doesn't do squat when who soldiers think is random citizens pops out and mows them down with AK-47s and for your sake i'll say AK-74s too. it's not like the middle east has the most soldiers, and by far it doesn't have the best equipment, but it does have the tactical upper hand. In Russia's case, however, they rival the US in all of those categories (of course we're still better), and for all we know they might want revenge on the US after the cold war (we're also not sure about their current leader and what his intentions are, i forgot his name). And China, for all we know they might want to take over the whole world! they've by far got the most potential troop number, considering their population. so what i'm saying here is that the three nations with the most true power are, (besides the US and Great Britain)China, Russia, and Korea. The middle east (Iraq, Iran, etc.)

anyway, don't respond yet cause i gotta go. anyway, ill see u later

(b) Yes, I see your point. In case I haven't made this clear (in the book), Russia has been building a war machine far more advanced than any we have. The Cold War was just a distraction so they could conduct tests and whatnot on it without being discovered. It is an awesome thing, and they have awesome technology and stuff and their guns and equipment is as good as the USA's. So, in conclusion, Russia is the biggest threat, then Iraq, then China, then Korea. The reason China is not first or second is because, although yes, they have the most quantity of troops, they're not exactly the brightest or the most expensively furnished. Remember, the economy of China is all but dead. They've got so many people, and thats their #1 advantage over us. However, their workmanship is rather shoddy, and their tanks and stuff are no where near ours. Instead of having assault rifles like us, a Chinese soldier might have a bolt-action rifle and a bayonet. Their tech. still hasn't evolved much from WWII. So now, in WWIII, they're a little behind. Their tactics are simply overwhelming numbers. Get enough losers toting high-powered rifles, and you can put the hurt in the dirt. Now, the reason Iraq is second, because like you said, they're really good at popping up out of nowhere and ambushes and stuff. They're also familiar with Urban warfare. Of course, our troops are good at that too, but the layout of the cities they usually fight in is alien, where as the Iraqis know exactly where the good sniping spots are, best choke points, etc. Okay. now korea, yeah they're pretty good, but you see why they're fourth. cool.

(w) I agree. anyway, another thing. the US's biggest ally is Great Britain. Great Britain's greatest ally, besides the US, is Australia and vice versa. So, even though we said Japan would take over Australia, I think with the US's help along with GB's help, Australia would remain independent. Instead, I think Korea should take over Japan.

GUESS WHAATTT???? I JUST DREW THE THE MOST AWESOME F-22 Raptor EVER!!!!!

i saw your snowman on the main page it's amazZZZzzzZzing except for it has a kinda ugly hat on

(w) you have got to get republic commando for pc for ur birthday! plllleeeeaaaaassssseeeee! get it so we can play multiplayer (if u do get it, when u do play multiplayer, press "connect to ip" and log in to ur gamespy account

(b) Hey, guess what

I had this stunning idea. A role model almost. You know how Tom lacks any real character tributes and stuff like that? Well, I have a role model for him to be like. Don't complain, it's an amazing idea.

Okay, I want Tom to be like a younger Dirk Pitt, from the Clive Cussler series. And if you think that's stupid, reserve your judgement until you've actually read one of the books. Next time you come over, I'll loan you one of them, one of my favorites, and we can see if you like the idea or not.

Till then, Bye!

(b)kk, saw ur previous entry about the shadowing thing (then erased it lol)

Anyways, came up with some new ideas

The Elite Marines (paratroopers) will be called Helljumpers, in honor of Halo. Cool idea huh? I love the idea.

Another idea, is Tom and the crew are in some huge battle and Tom has to lead the Army as the feild commander, and the U.S. is getting pwned, then Tom rallies them and says like, "Tonight, we dine in ****" Just like King Leonidas

ANOTHER idea: The crew is out on a joint strike operation, and they need callsigns (codenames), and Tom's codename is "Leonidas". Matt's could be like "Knocknock" or something, Scarlett's would be "Red Falcon" or something stupid, and Holly's would be something like "Jingle Bell" or something. I don't know. Just that Tom's has to be Leonidas and that I ''have to have to have to'' see the movie 300. Notice that all these ideas sparked with one idea from reading one book? Cool huh?!? Well, okay, I got the tonight we dine in **** part from a game at Borders, but, you know, same basic principle. The idea that that could be part of Atlantis came from the Halo book. I swear, that book is awesome. I also came up with another minor idea that Tom should completely pown and all, but some other officer doesn't think it's morally correct and thinks that the whole Psi program is stupid, but you, the reader know otherwise and so get completely mad at him, but then he realizes in the end that Tom is one helluva soldier.

==Section 13==

(w)i have an idea: don't u think it'd be cool if the U.S. had some sort of souped Humvee sized vehicle that was somewhat similar to the Warthog in Halo? (would that be considered an APC? if so, we could add it to our list of APCs.)

three more things:

1. what is the chapter that u and liz are gonna write? tell me ALL (*sigh*) about it

2. i think on the atlantian fans page, we should either create a link to the list of all the vehicles of atlantis on a different website and stuff, or we should write them all down on the fan page.

3. what is Dirk Pitt like? describe him to me.

(b) Okay I came up with an awesome battle scene idea. First let me give ya a little background. The future of agriculture is Hydro and Aeroponics, or growing plants with nutrient rich air/water. The idea is awesome, and since the nutrients are all provided for the plant, the plant doesn't have to search much for them and instead can devote its energy to making the food. It makes the process up to ten times faster and since there is no soil bacteria in the water, it is more resistent to disease. What's really cool is that the amount of nutrients and/or water can be altered to alter the taste of the plant. It's really cool it's already being used by NASA. Anyways the point is that I came up with the idea that the Facilities use Hydroponics to grow food instead of planting in the soil. Furthermore, I want Tom to have some kind of battle in Facility 1's Hydroponics room. Maybe he like goes back with a squad under orders to attempt to clean out resistance and recapture the base. I loooove the idea. Okay I'm gonna update chapter 4 now.

(B) okay I've got the greatest idea probably that we've come up with in the past like four months! My dad dragged me to this lego competition thing at Georgia Tech (oops probably shouldn't use that name if I want u to agree) and he just ''had'' to give me and Mr. Gallop, one of our neighbors who was with us, a tour of the campus. So I was walking along feeling all bored and junk when out of the blue (even though I wasn't listening) I hear Mr. Gallop just mention Dinosaur. He was probably talking about a headache or something but it sparked an idea. I was so bored I started imagining that I was a Marine walking through contested hostile territory, except that the hostiles were Dinosaurs. So I pretended that I was with a squad and junk and that a T-Rex came around a corner and we blasted it, but it ate a couple of our guys, etc, then we ran into a pack of Raptors and yada yada yada. Hey, I was bored. '''Anyways, down to the point.''' I said to myself somewhere along my little day dream: Atlantis???

And pretty soon I started thinking. Huge dinosaurs running across to me to slash me apart on the island of atlantis, and where was I? A HUGE big Head Quartersy type place. So what was my next thought? I thought: 'Hey, that sounds kinda like a facility! Oh my gosh! How about Facility 2????!!!??? It was brilliant. BRILLIANT I SAY, BRILLIANT!!!!!! Anyways, the reason it has to be facility 2 and not facility 1, is because we've pretty much already just established in the story that facility 1 is simply a great slab of reinforced concrete surrounded by really tall walls. So, to fix that problem, I thought that maybe since Facility 1 is, after all, Facility 1, that must mean it came first, before the other Facilities! So now the reason why Facility 2 and 3 can be a college-like campus is that Facility 1 was the original prototype, and after they found out that more buildings works better than one huge one, they made the other two like a college. BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIA- you get the point. Anyways, it would only take a few minutes for you or I to touch up the opening scenes introducing Facility 2 and the following to make it so that Tom has existed like that in Facility 2 and its not some random change that happens mid-paragraph instantaneously. It wouldn't take too long. However, I don't feel like doing it just now, so maybe tomorrow morning or something.

(w) i c where u r going with the first entry. that would be awesome. the plant room thing would have big containers of water and technical sciency chemically lab stuff all over the place. it would be a bunch of different fairly small rooms of this stuff. the bunch of plant rooms would be adjacent to the reactor room with power, energy, and batteryish stuff, and there would be a battle throughout the rooms with raptors and special recon Russian units (new idea i came up with, tell u in the next paragraph). Tom and elite soldiers would be rolling and ducking and stuff and about 4 times tom would flank a unit and bop them on the side of the head with a shotgun or something; they would die.
anyways, the special recon Russian units: they would have clothing like that TAC suit i was telling u about (remember, the Sam Fisher suit with camouflage and a buncha other stuff that goes underwater). it would be black, with pockets holding grenades and various tactical equipment, and gun holsters on their quadriceps (like in my drawing of tom) and back. their whole body suit would have a red Russian insignia on where the chest pocket would be. as for their heads, they are bare and can be equipped with a NV goggles and infrared and thermal headsets kind of thing. On their back holster, they usually carry a RPG missile launcher, and they carry a G36C as their main assault weapon and two Desert Eagles on their leg holsters. '''These units kind of look like those black-clad units in COD4 with RPGs on ther back and everything. Maybe those were SEALs; i dont know.''' These elite units can apply to the US army too, it's just sort of a general unit. however, the Russians need an elite unit to couple their barely-superior technology.
now, about the college thing. remember how i was telling you about my hard-to-explain idea about what facility 2 would look like? screw that idea. There would be a bunch of college-looking buildings that look like Georgia Tech, except they would be a lot bigger and where there was brick there would now be steel. surrounding them, there would be mounted turrets or autoguns. there would be missile launcher stations and a bunch of big buildings housing vehicles. there would be one big building that would be in the center and would, among other things, carry out orders through telecomm.

anyway, i'm outta ideas. see ya hopefully on saturday.

==Section 14==

(b) okay, I love all the ideas, but your recon units need a bit of work. First of all, we're so dumb. What kind of loser unit would carry around so many ---- types of guns? Two desert eagles? Come on, I thought we had gotten past the whole Neo-Matrix type cheap crap last month. And news flash: RPGs are from the soviet era. They suck. Now, if you want ''recon'' units to have a portable missile launcher, give 'em a ZUEZ anti-armor PMP (Portable Missile Platform). They're SWEET. I was playing GRAW (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter) and part of the mission was to take out this stolen M1 Abrams and I didn't have any anti-armor but then a blackhawk landed on the roof of the building I was in and some random noob computer AI dude told me to resupply at the Black hawk. O M G.

It was amazing. GRAW is so much fun it's all about the tactics and cool stuff and it rocks and blah and- I'm getting ahead of myself.

First off, the ZUEZ thing rocks. It took out the Abrams 1 shot. Second, there's a new rifle that we haven't heard of, not the SCAR or the XM8, its like the CZ2100 or something. I dunno. I'll write it down the next time I play GRAW. It rocks, it's got a 50 round clip, amazingly accurate for an assault rifle when it has optical enhancement sighting (fancy terms for a scope, instead of just aiming through the iron-sights.). Bullpup design, completely amazing and pretty light as well. Now, second part of this, the XM8, that means X for experimental, the M-8 part is the name of the gun. X is unneeded. I know this because when I was playing GRAW I saw a gun labeled M8 assault rifle and it had the exact shape of an XM8. So, actually, XM8s are called M8s. The gun still rocks, I gave it to one of my squad mates and he pwned with it, killing like 5 of the 8 guys in an area when I wasn't around, meanwhile the two squad members beside him (one with a SCAR-Heavy and one w/ a sniper) only killed three between them. In fairness to the sniper (who only killed one), it was a close quarters battle and snipers are relatively usless in the real world at close range, even if they aren't in most run and gun vid games. Anyways, unfortunately I started thinking the guy was a superhero with the gun and I told him to attack this group of three enemies, but I didn't see the guys flanking to his left. He died. But even and M8 compact has its limits. Which brings up another thing.

There are many versions of the M8, as you probably know. there's the assault rifle, the LMG, the sniper, and of course, the compact thing that my guy had. It pwns!!! but whats even better is that the M8 compact can be equipped as a secondary weapon, so the next level I had myself equipped with the CZ2100 or whatever and an M8 compact. The only guy in my squad whom I didn't equip a M8 to was my sniper cause he was packing heavy enough already. Too bad really, he could have used the extra firepower over the GIB handgun. Which is yet another thing (I'm taking up the whole page here). New military '''handguns''' we will use in Atlantis include:

M9

Glock 18

Sig Sauer P22

USP

all awesome handguns.

Let me know if there's anything I left out in my loooooonnnnnggg entry and if there's anything that confuses you.

(B)Okay little update on the weapons: first and formost, the CZ2100 thing I mentioned is actually the MR-C. No idea where the HECK I came up with CZ2100. oh well. Secondly (this is pathetic on my part), the GIB is actually the Glock 8. lol. In GRAW they title it 'Gl8' and the font is really weird so I couldn't tell the difference between an L and a 1 and an I or an 8 versus a B. Pathetic I know but whatever. Everything else is a-okay, the M8 carbine is awesome!

(w)ok first of all, that was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG entry for something that wasn't that necessary. cool with the handguns, but explaining GUNS in a HUGE page????? anyway, about my recon unit, remember those units in COD4 with the black suits and the pockets and everything and the NV etc. goggles? they sometimes carried RPGs on their backs... THAT's what i want the recon units to look like, but modified with the latest technology. Now, I understand that RPGs ''are'' outdated, but they're still awesomely capable weapons. But, since u gave me an obviously cooler rocket launcher, we'll use the ZUEZ AA (anti-armor). however, the javelin rocket launcher is completely frickin awesome, so we'll have a debate about which one they use. and about the cheap neo-matrix stuff, i never said anything about it being neo-matrixy. However, i see how some of those guns up there would be cooler (but not necessarily better) than a Desert Eagle. (let's just suppose we agreed on the USP for their handgun). Ask yourself this: is a G36C, a USP ''handgun'', and a javelin/ ZUEZ AA really a TON of weapons? i mean, awesome elite soldiers (like angel squadron)have a lot of awesome weapons. and these soldiers will be russia's most elite soldiers to go with their awesome technology. ALSO, LET'S HAVE THESE SOLDIERS '''JUST''' BE RUSSIA'S. even if u dont want them to have the rocket launcher, u can still arm them with russia's best training making them always extremely deadly, 6 frag grenades, a G36C, and a USP or 2 and make them completely awesome soldiers. anyway, about your chapter 7 thing, we'll talk about that later, but overall nice work! ill help out on the weekend (U '''HAVE''' TO COME OVER THIS WEEKEND, I DONT CARE IF YOU'RE NOT IN THE MOOD).

hey, by the way i read what u updated of chap. 7, and its GREAT!!!!!!! i updated it a ''little bit'' and did a little bit more of a description of Angel Squadron.

==Section 15==

(b) ''perfect''. You're great at the description thing. I just don't have the patience. That and it takes so long to come up with the fricken stuff to write that the writer gets a ''completely'' different view of the time passing than the reader. As a result, it is really necessary for you to go back and review my writing. So at least you're not ''completely'' worthless ;).

Anyways, the problem with a Desert Eagle besides them being extremely heavy is that they've only got seven shots a clip, and while in games seven is enough, they're not accurate enough to safely have seven rounds. Sure, if they were accurate as snipers, maybe we could consider them. But, think about it. They've already got a ZEUS AA rocket (which is no lightweight, and the Javelin's only worse), a fricken Assault rifle (which is also not the lightest thing in the world) ''and'' six fricken grenades! Add two desert eagles, those guys would barely be able to move. Just think about the weight! I mean, Desert eagles weigh nine pounds! Almost the same as toting along a whole other assault rifle! Rethinking about wieght, I had to take away Tom's handgun in Chapter 7, so now he just has a katana, an Assault rifle (which I think should be the MR-C or whatever), an SMG, and grenades. Pay attention to the 'Just' in that sentence. Oh, and a Wakazashi for Tom? No way! He just needs a sword thats not too reminiscent of an English broadsword, not to go totally Japanese on us! We've already got one of those, namely Shang. Oh yeah and I updated chapter 7 some more. Its becoming totally awesome again. Sweet. See ya tomorrow (2-24-08).

(b) Hey so for base defense and all that, we don't have much heavy artillery. I mean, we've got these stupid 'Autoguns' and we firstly never explain what they are or any of that stuff, we've got men with guns, and we've got the walls themselves. thats it. However, thinking military again (*inhale* haaaaaa, just like old times), I've devised a completely new exterior defensive line (make that a couple new defensive lines, inside and out). Oh yeah, and thats another thing. We say that the facilities have indoor security, and then never mention them. So, here goes nothing.

EXTERIOR FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE: About 1/2 a mile outside the facility walls should be a ring of small bunker defensive networks, almost like a border bunker except smaller and camouflaged and with more focus on an artillery cannon in its center. These bunkers would have trenches along their perimeter and be completely camouflaged, with some kind of artillery cannon at its center mounted on the roof with like two autoguns on each side of the main cannon kinda like on a tank you know they've got the cannon, and then they've got the machine gun off to the side? So imagine for a moment a cannon. Facing outward towards the trees. just sitting. Its got a barrel and then the main rectangular base thing the barrels stick into? Now imagine on top of the base thing a camera. Just a camera. Thats all. Okay, wimpy right? now imagine that camera has a small, minute chain gun on either side of the lens. Totally sweet right? well, the camera-thing-with-the-small-chain-guns-on-either-side-of-the-lens-thing is an autogun. Cool idea? Have I lost you yet? Now imagine that autogun off to one side of the large cannon but still facing the same direction instead of having the autogun perfectly centered.

Now imagine another autogun on the opposite side of the barrel from the first autogun, and you have my idea. So, recap: first exterior LOD (line of defense) is a bunker, and the bunker has trenches running on the perimeter, and is basically a concrete block with the autogun-cannon mix on top of it and walls around that for men to duck behind. You've got my Dbunkers (Defense bunkers). Like the idea with having a C-tower for every Heli-plane base, except instead of a tower its a bunker, and there's a ring of them around the facility, all identical. Oh, awesome idea.

The Dbunkers should be connected by underground tunnels, so that if one's about to be overrun then its neighbor can dispatch reinforcements. They should be about a quarter mile apart. Now, if we really wanted an unbreakable line, we could have a series of BDC-towers (heavier base defense versions of the c-towers that have two stories instead of one, BDC stands for 'base defense collapsable) connected by rope bridges that are about 20 ft off the ground that string between the neighboring BDC towers and the neighboring Dbunkers. And in cases of different terrain, like, a mountain pass, the bunkers would be set up to take full advantage. For instance, if there's a mountain pass, two Dbunkers could guard either side of it and channel enemies into the one narrow path, and they could have traps and stuff set up to block the path with large boulders and could have land mines set up inside the pass. Also, there could be outposts meant to be built on the side of a mountain that have larger artillery cannons without autoguns and have special areas set up for snipers and lookouts. Maybe that should be an entirely different outpost. We should call it an LSO, for lookout-sniper-outpost.

So, thats the first line of defense. After an invading army gets past those (which would take some doing) they have to meet the second line of defense which is:

Traps and minefields and such set up along the way to the facility that can randomly and completely decimate battalions unlucky enough to get caught up in them. Doesn't require much explanation. Just large clusters of mines and such that blow up when you touch them. Simple enough, right?

Third line of defense is the large trench running the length of the perimeter of the facility itself. The trench could have small little dugouts with MG nests set up (dugouts like in baseball, where the teams are, half above ground half below? Same idea). The trench would be about chest height for the average 6 foot 1 or 2 inch soldier. Of course, some may be taller or shorter, but too bad for them. Shrimps, stand on your toes or stand on a bucket of ammo. Biggies, hunch over. Don't get shot. Dugh.

Now, we come to the wall. Currently, our wall is just a series of concrete slabs that are really thick. Reinforced with titanium and all that. Completely worthless except to prevent people from just marching in. Now, imagine the walls have artillery guns set up within them, and that inside the facility there's a platform for gunners to get in the gun? and imagine two rows of that on the wall, plus the awesome bunkers I have devised for the top. Already completely own. Now, these WBs I have thought of (Wall Bunkers, of course,) are just little buildings (almost) that are slightly taller than the wall spaced evenly around the top, with mortars and MG nests set up inside. Great ideas so far. Now, that's pretty much it for exterior defense unless you think we need another one.

Interior defenses. Autoguns that deploy from the ceiling and security checkpoints at every level after leaving the staircase/elevator. Okay, to rephrase that so you can understand, to get to the next floor, you'd have to take an elevator or use the staircase right? Now, have security checkpoints guarding each area directly after the elevator/staircase that cuts the them off from the rest of the floor, and minimize the number of elevator and staircase landings, instead having all the elevators be in one lobby-area upon arrival and have maybe two or four staircases that run up the entire building, and its almost impossible to get by. Unless you take care of a room with guards in it and an autogun or two hanging from the ceiling and a really big red button that releases sleeping gas into the elevator/staircase landings. Just in case you get past that, the hallways will have autoguns mounted on the ceilings every couple yards or so. Did I leave anything out? any room for improvement? Alas, the only flaw that I see in the system is a central core that controls all the autoguns. One off button, and the entire facility is without autoguns. *hint* *hint* *wink* *wink* *cough* *cough* *nod* *nod* whatever *coughDR.SHANGcough*'

==Section 16==

(b) okay, after my lengthy entry there, I started to re-read some of the stuff before this. Remember the entry about the wonder thing? probably not. But the UA is the wonder, right? We need to make it more wondery. like, have it be the capitol of Atlantis civilization. Atlantis is a powerful word, and we've pretty much done nothing so far except demote them in the face of villiany and humiliation and suckishness. I propose we make the Atlantians far more capable warriors. And another thing. We keep on talking about how the Raptors were probably the smartest animals on the planet besides us. We don't portray them like that at the moment. We need to start doing that. But I have a fix for the reason behind all the bad Raptors junk. They've been 'trained' and their eggs were like, taken, so they didn't see their parents or anything and so have almost no instinctual knowledge on how to fight, how to work as a team, and all that. So, Tom meats up with a pack of wild Raptors at some point in the jungle and is completely surprised by their ferocity and skill and intelligence. Now, back to the defensive thing. I hope you understood most of that and just tell me if you didn't.

In the defensive thing, I completely neglected air and sea attacks. I just did it for land. Okay, here it goes.

Exterior LOD #1 AA defense will be a Metal Storm battery. The Dbunkers should have Metal Storms somewhere. That would chew right through aircraft, especially with the 40mm grenade ammunition. So, thats that for LOD 1.

LOD 2 is just mines. That has no AA.

LOD 3 is the trench. again, no AA

LOD 4 is the wall. Metal Storm batteries on top as well as a point laser defense system on top of the tallest building in whatever facility it's at. The laser fires a electronic disruption system at aircraft, causing them to lose control, as well as being able to switch to heat, which can disrupt a missile or other projectile. We ought to have some SAMs along the way as well (surface to air missile)

Now, against sea invasion, we only have to worry about Facility 3, as it is the one next to water. Facility 3 is the same as Facility 2 in terms of building layout. Same land and air LODs and everything. But the Facility is built right on the beach of the saltwater river/strait thing. Against ships, they've got Sea mines, and Patrol Boats of course. The patrol boats are armed with twin Typhoon 7.62mm MGs, a Naval Artillery gun, and of course, small arms (Guns carried by men). If all that doesn't work, there's always the two to three battle ready attack fleets stationed there consisting of Destroyers, Cruisers, Carriers, Minesweepers, Patrol boats, and Subs. Also, all of the Facilities have air cover, mostly consisting of pairs of Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) on patrol.

Which reminds me. The Facilities need to have their own airfields. and we need to emphasize their roles as Research Facilities.

The airfields have all kinds of junk. JSFs, F22s, F18 super hornets, Apache/Cobra attack helis, Chinooks, Blackhawks, F117 Stealth fighters, Stealth Bombers (B52 or B22s or whatever they are, the flying wing thing we were talking about), Heli-Planes (which we should actually make the V22 ospreys instead of a vague, generic name like 'Heli Plane'), hovercraft, and UCAVs. I probably left something out just remind me. Oh, and the garages? Yeah. They should be Motor Pools, not garages. My fault. They've got Strykers, ARM/ARMPS, Humvees, Field Ambulances, uhh, I know I missed something. We've gotta come up with more land vehicles. Hmm. Maybe mobile artillery platforms, or exploration somethings. I dunno. Whatever.

(brandon) Chapter 7 is finally over!!! Now, for Chapter 8, we need a good title. Get back to ya later on that. SOrry if I just interupted you message.

(brandon) Hey noticed you haven't put anything up for a while... hope I'm not interupting urs or anything. I just came up with an awesome idea. We probably would have thought of it sooner or later because it's needed, so you really can't say yes or no, but I thought of it sooner. Without further ado, I suggest an Atlantian language.

Cool idea or Cool Idea? I was at the beach in St. Augustine just randomly making patterns in the sand when I accidently made the Atlantian 'A'. you know, the 'A' without the horizontal line connecting the two vertical ones? I also came up with an Atlantian 'E', 'I', 'O', and 'U', though I forgot all of them except A and E. But we can rethink them. But anyways, thats my idea for today.

(w)good idea about the Atlantian alphabet, but i thought it would be identical to the Greek alphabet.
(alpha, beta, chi, delta, epsilon, gamma, etc.) so unless u tweaked the alphabet from the Greek alphabet, then sorry, i cant allow u cool idea. =|

you know what i am thinking? compare the Halo transportation (warthog, pelican, Scorpion tank, Longsword, etc, etc.) to transportation now (Humvee, chinook, f22 raptor, JSF, etc.). Ask yourself, WHICH IS COOLER? and i would say the Halo stuff. That is making me think, maybe we should keep the coolest and very best of the current vehicles and ditch the rest (humvee, chinook, which aren't very cool) and make our own. Think how cool we could make our own version of the Halo warthog or pelican or something. If u give me ur permission, i am going to start drawing sketches.

Brandon) hey yeah cool idea, I definitely think there is a better thing than the humvee, but the Chinook is pretty cool, right? Whatever. And keep in mind that Atlantis came before Greece. I'll tell you more next time I see u. I came up with an idea-ish kinda thing for ''Atlantis: The Game''. Not ''Atlantis: The Game, Boots of a Hero'', just ''Atlantis: The Game''. Actually, a major, major, backbone-spinal cord foundation kind of idea. Again, more later.

I'm tired right now, really really tired (after watching a movie for a while lol) and I don't feel like typing so I'll write more later, see ya

(brandon) Hmm. I was doing the thing for Atlantis the Game and I was thinking. Maybe Scarlett or Matt should use Hydrokenesis instead of both using fire? The more I think of it the more I realize Matt's personality isn't really fiery, its more cool, collected and unshakeable. Maybe Matt should use Water instead of fire.

==Section 17==

(w) yeah, matt would definitely be the one with the hydrokenesis.

(brandon) yeah I thought so. Now we have all the main elements; fire, water, earth, and air/wind/whatever. I can't remember if the last one was air or wind. It was on this trivia thing and now I forgot. Anyways, in an effort to help distinguish personalities, we should base each character's personality on someone in real life. I'd be Matt of course, Tom would be a mix of you and Dirk Pitt, Holly would be you know who, and Scarlett would be Elizabeth. Anyways, speaking of you know who, we just got back from Twin Lakes and I asked her to the dance ;p! Lol. She made me spell out exactly what I wanted to ask. At first I just asked, "So, I was just wondering, uh, if you'd like to come to the dance with me?" and then she goes, "Yeah, sure! Wait, what do you mean, 'go to the dance'?" I inwardly groaned and repeated, "Oh, well, I was just wondering if you'd, you know, like to come to the dance and be my partner." And of course I turned kinda red, but then she goes, "Yeah, that would be cool." lol. I probably deserved that I made her wait until Twin Lakes when like four other people asked way before that. Whatever though.

(brandon) Twin lakes was so much fun! You really missed out. It's probably like the only reason to have stayed at Trinity in 6th Grade. So after lunch that day (when I asked) we went and did all these awesome activities. We had bike riding on forrest trails (and my bike chain fell off! I had to fix it myself because Ms. Berry didn't know how!) which was a lot of fun, then we had this blind tug thing, where we had to fit this elastic band around a can of water that they called 'toxic waste' (which, of course, Ta'Neal actually thought was toxic waste for real) by pulling on these ropes that were attached to it. The only catch was that the partners holding the ropes were blindfolded, and the only ones who weren't didn't have the ropes. that was fun. Then we had canoeing, which was almost no fun at all because for some odd reason Johvonn invites Ta'Neal into our canoe, and shortly after we get in, our canoe got a little extra... boost, if you know what I mean. Then we had a zipline thing, and' Ill say more about that later. And finally we had archery, which was tons of fun.

We had dinner and all that, and I sat at one particular table (hint hint), then we had game night, where we played cards and checkers and all that. I watched her play checkers (which was really funny cause she wasn't all that good, and she played against Helen who was pretty good, and so u-kno-who kept moving her pieces around, and Helen had no idea. Helen still won, but it was really funny to see u-know-who look over at me guiltily and we'd share a supressed laugh and smile ;p.), then we played a game together, then we went over and played cards, and it was just a lot of fun. Ha ha wish u were at Trinity this year (not! ;p)!

(brandon) OMG I've made so much progress on chapter 5. I feel like typing that in caps, so OMG I'VE MADE SO MUCH PROGRESS ON CHAPTER FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay, so, um, now what? Oh, I know, I've got a new favorite music band called Evanescene. Have you heard a song by the name of "Bring me to Life"? It's my favorite song in the world right now listen to it it's really good.

(w) all right this entry is gonna have NOTHING whatsoever to do with Atlantis, but 80% of your last 3 entries had nothing to do with Atlantis, so whatever. When you say Ta' Neal gave your canoe an extra "boost" do you mean she farted or something? Her farting was my first interpretation of your "little extra... boost" sentence. And I'm cracking up that she actually thought that that was toxic waste. I guess if I were at Trinity still i wouldn't be so surprised, but i guess I've just forgotten how *cough* retarded Ta 'Neal is. I will make sure to search for "Evanescene - Bring Me to Life" on Youtube, but I'm sure that they are some sort of hard rock band. For some reason right now I'm obsessed with classic rock and it is by far my favorite music genre, although i still like hard rock. My favorite bands are the Beatles, Aerosmith, Boston, Eagles, Stevie wonder and although he is a new band, Jack Johnson. If you want to hear their best songs, Beatles search for "let it be" or "hey jude", Aerosmith search for "dream on", "walk this way", or "sweet emotion", for boston search for "don't look back" or "more than a feeling", for the eagles search for "desperado" or "hotel california", Stevie wonder search for "Superstition" or "Pastime Paradise", and Jack Johnson, I'm not sure the exact name of the song, but try something along the lines of "Always waitin' on you". OK enough of the music stuff, Twin Lakes sounds like fun but a sacrifice I'm more than willing to make to not be at Trinity. I guess the Big "W" really does like you, but I won't get a chance to ever go after her probably. Oh well(ie). all right. see you saturday.

(w)hey! check out the prologue! i updated it and now it's even more awesome. all right thats all i hav 2 say. check it out.

wait no! not the prologue, the teaser. if u can update the changes i made to the teaser to the story, that would be great, because im lazy.

(b) Pretty good. Pretty good. (as Mr. Parish [Mr. P] would say lol). Hey I'm just writing because I don't know if you've read in Tom Clancy's Endwar yet but there's a new carbine called the XM9, or M9 carbine. It's the same thing as the M8 except lighter, has a 50 round clip, and is more reliable. I think it might also be more accurate. It's got all the same mods and everything too. It's awesome. That should be the new standard issue assault rifle/carbine.

(w)only question, is: why make the M9 the standard weapon if there might be a better one out there? there are plenty of other good guns too, so even if we do make the M9 the standard issue, that won't be the only gun they use (think of all the different awesome guns in COD 4).
also i got some grrrrrrrrrrreat ideas, so ill call u.

OK b4 i tell you of my "grrrrrrreat" ideas on the phone, i updated chapter 5 a good bit. (i've just been in a writing mood lately, so I've been updating before we move on with the story).

==Section 18==

(B) GREEATT! Tell me all about your GREAT ideas. I'm glad you're in a writing mood. It's helpful to the story. And now...

I FOUND OUT WHERE ATLANTIS IS (ACCORDING TO PLATO SOLON AND THIS EGYPTIAN PRIEST GUY)!!!!!!!

First of all, the main island of Atlantis existed in 9400 BC and the capitol city thing in the Mediterranean Sea existed up to about 1682 BC. Okay, now, the main Island Atlantis was IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN JUST LIKE I THOUGHT, AND THE MED. SEA PART WAS ON MINOAN CRETE AND ON AN ISLAND TO THE NORTH OF IT CALLED THERA. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMG

Now, furthermore, for an advancement they had; first every actual Navy, actual in-door plumbing with toilets and baths and showers for crying out loud, and best of all (not coolest, but most amazing) is indoor heating! Yeah, they heated their houses with steam piped from aqueducts! Okay I'm going to write in chapter 1 now

(w) cool. ... cool. ok i cant help it THAT IS SO FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!! ok im done. now, let's both collaborate on the flashbacks chapter. OK make that 2 chapters. because, i think we need to have the first (now-amazingly-frigin-[where did all that crap come from?] awesome) chapter, and then have a flashback that shows the most important events in tom's childhood, including the school scene, what we already have, and a little bit of stuff going on with holly & scarlett before the gang meets. this flashback does the important flashbacks, skips unimportant years, and eventually leads back to the present rather than just stopping. ill type more l8r; gotta go. l8r florida hater.

(b) hey I just realized, we haven't put much emphasis on vehicles. We need more vehicular action. I mean, so far we haven't even mentioned Iraqi vehicles except for two pickup trucks.

(w)OK....... but why does this somehow remind me of the last time you said we needed to have more about vehicles? Vehicles aren't exactly the main point of the book. We should have some action scenes that involve intense duels between Tom and some Iraqi vehicles, so that the reader gets to know them (kind of like in the Halo books where the reader eventually gets the characteristics from battle scenes, without having to read some boring description). We should, instead of writing out, "the Iraqi scorpion tank was an old model and still fairly effective against ground troops; however, it was no match for modern U.S. tanks", have a battle scene where the Iraqi tank mows down a few U.S. guys, and then one guy throws a standard grenade that fairly significantly damages the tank, and then a U.S. tank comes and easily obliterates it. STUFF LIKE THAT. gotta go again.

(b) yeah totally. But we actually do need to mention that the other sides have tanks too.

(b) Hey, you might have noticed be mentioning a new Atlantian metal. In Plato's narrative, he says that Atlantis was the only spot on Earth that a special metal, Orichalc, could be found. It's supposed to be light yet strong, like titanium, and at the same time beautiful and lucrative, like gold or silver. They use it in lots of their weapons and armor and it's in abundant supply on Atlantis.

(b) Say hi to bunny! He'll eventually take over the world!

(\_/)
(O.o)
(> <) Bunny says hi. But you have to see him in edit mode, or else he just looks like a bunch of random signs. Actually, he looks like chopped up bunny.

(w)ok... hi..."bunny". I think your creator has had a momentary 3-year-old days flashback. But anyway, i will have a flashback too. Here is my cute little kitty that will take over the world. Kitty says, oh, let's see, what is she saying? Oh, right. MEOW!

[\-/]
[o.o]
(^ ^)

Anyway, baaaaaaaaaaack to Atlantis. Cool metal thing. It could be used with marble to create Greek-like buildings, that are just as mathematically proportionate, but are much more creative and beautiful. It would also be used for weapons. Only one concern: would it be in demand from other countries? It seems like then that metal would become rare, and would only be used for royal and high-ranking soldier's weapons. Anyway, just a thought. I finished drawing Tom with the END WAR armor, and guess how it turned out? INCREDIBLY AWESOME!!!!

You'll HAVE to see it sometime soon. I combined the best eliments of the END WAR armor and the armor we have on the front cover of Atlantis book 1. only thing the drawing is missing is a background. but i finished Tom. cya l8r.

==Section 19==

(b) SWEET! YEah, about the metal, I re-wrote chapter two a bit to give more of a cause for WORLD WAR FOUR. I also mentioned that the Iraqis attempted to harvest the Orichalc when the came over but that the Atlantian guards there told them flat out no. You're right though it will be in high demand however it will only be on the center island of Atlantis. Speaking of which, let's just get rid of the UA. It will serve absolutely no purpose. When I was thinking of a wonder, I meant something more along the lines of Colossus of Rhodes or the Colleseum or the Circus Maximus or something. Instead, we should have the Atlantian's capitol city where it would have been. Plato says in his narrative that the capitol was on the southern end of the island so as to be protected from the winds and everything. So, that reminds me,

The next time you come over, you have to see this book I'm getting all the information from it directly quotes Plato himself! ITs cool. We also need to finish the map the next time you get here. That's so sweet with the endwar stuff. I also re wrote a bit of chapter one, the prologue, and I gave more reason to need the four attack outpost things in chapter seven. Next we need to update chapter three, then a little of chapter four, and finish updating chapter five, then we can move on to the next chapter. SWEET!

(b) Yo,

This Orichalc stuff, it'll be awesome. And oh yeah, I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it's actually called Orichalcum. It's like a gold-silver/gold-copperish material. But for the sake of interest, let's have it be a completely new metal that looks like a cross between gold and silver.

So yeah, like I said on the phone, the capitol city is beautiful and has three rings, modeled after it's location. But unlike I said on the phone I'm now starting to think that this capitol city should ''be'' the inner ring of the Atlantis central islands. Rings within rings. Anyways, call me again when you can talk on a non-mobile phone, see if you get better volume or if the problem's on my end.

(w) yeah sorry i cant talk right now because i got a crapload of homework (the only reason im on the wiki right now is becaue im taking ba dessert break).

(b) cool yeah, isn't your birthday May 2nd? Yeah it is isn't it because my Birthday is 13 days later, on May 15th. Hmm. Well. (cackles maniacally) you'll love your present. I hope.

Anyways, it would be cool if somewhere in the book the Iraqis tried to steal some of the Orichalcum and the Atlantians retaliated,(this would probably be at the end of the book) so now the Atlantians were fighting the Iraqis and maybe for a nice happy ending in the third book would join sides with the USA to overcome the Iraqis. Hmm. Cool idea, right? Also, we should add more alliancey stuff between Australia/USA/UK. Oo! I know, in Chapter 8/9 an English/Australian recon force that happened to be in the area should come and help out Tom and Scarlett and Holly take back Bravo base... or have you not read that part yet? :p

So, yeah, I finished Chapter 8. It's exactly 32 kilobytes long, and, so, yeah.

(w) hey, brandon. Sorry, I didn't invite you to my party because it is all Westminster people. I was thinking you could spend the night next weekend to celebrate my b day. Hmm. I just got a thought. I hope you aren't giving me a fart for my birthday...

........

cool ideas, and no, i have not read beyond (i forgot which chapter).

O O
\__/ <--that is a smiley face (in edit mode)

(w) WHOA!!! I just saw the Atlantian Conspiracy link on the home atlantis page and i started to read your second excerpt and it's AWESOME! nice work

(b) hmm, your "Smiley face" looks a lot more like some guy with wiskers and a little _ for a mouth. We just had the 6th Grade parents night out thing and it was fun. I guess. As fun as babysitting maniacal devils of mass destruction and feeding them ice-cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and whipped cream can be. Also just wanted to give you the heads up you're invited to my birthday party on the 15th, (yes, I know it is a thursday). You might not be able to make it because of homework, but we're (Stephen, Caroline C, Phoebe, maybe Wellie [if she accepts the invitation] and I) going to Dave and Buster's, so it should be fun.

See ya!

(b) ding ding ding ding! WE'RE SO STUPID I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! This new drawing you made of Tom with the Endwar armor, it should be the cover! YEAH! But don't do anything more on the drawing. We need to have a cooler background than in the original cover, and we need to change the title. I mean, come on, the Atlantian Escapade? The Atlantian Conspiracy is a cool name, because as well as there being a conspiracy on Atlantis, many people think Atlanits is a conspiracy. But that's for the second book. We need a better name for the first and third. The third, the Atlantis Ultamatum? Just doesn't go. Its stolen from the Bourne stuff too much.

DON'T DO ANYTHING MORE ON YOUR TOM DRAWING WITH THE ENDWAR ARMOR!

Thankyou and have a nice day.

==Section 20==

(w) Present... HUT! Sir, yes sir!

(b) Actually, just to be picky, it's

"Present - Arms!"

"HUT! Sir yes sir!"

Two different speakers, and present arms. But same diff really.

You're gonna love your present! I'll give it to you when I see you at my birthday (you're coming right?). That'll be odd. Me giving you a present on my b-day. Hmm. Oh well(um, dare I put 'ie' for well[ie]?). Hope to see you there, as well as a few other people... THIS WILL BE THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER (I HOPE)!

(w) all right, cool, who's coming? (besides me, Elizabeth... and... well[ie]) also, when is ur party? b4 May 15 or after? is it spend the night, etc.? want me to give u an idea 4 ur birthday if you haven't already thought of one? ok here goes: (this is what we did at my party) first, you go outside and stuff, and play around, hang around, play team capture the flag (t-shirts work 4 flags) eat dinner, etc., and then when it gets dark u take out your flashlight and play manhunt. You can also play capture the flag in the dark, but man hunt ''only'' works in the dark. If you don't already know how to play Manhunt, here is how you play: there is a hunting and a hiding team. the hunting team waits inside or in the garage or something for a time (we did 80 seconds at my party), then they go out and try to find the other people. You have to tag them for it to count though. Anyway, just a thought. we can do your party, or combine my ideas into your party, or whatever you want. (but manhunt and CTF was REALLY fun at my party :P).

I can't wait. Meanwhile, what could i get you for your birthday...? no more videogames for you... ... ... mmph. Anyway... see ya l8r!

(b) sorry to disappoint you, but Elizabeth's not coming.

(b) wow, you must really not have been listening on the phone. My birthday is on the 15th of May EXACTLY right after school ends, we're picking everybody up, and it's at Dave and Buster's. No, it is not a sleepover due to the fact that the next day is friday, a school day, there are three girls at the party (two if Wellie can't come), and I really REALLY want to be there at school the next day because it's the 16th, also the '6th Grade celebration' thingy. If u catch my drift. No, I already know what we're going to be doing, it lasts from three to seven, and it's going to be insanely fun.

(b) oh wow, I had fun today.

First of all, and most importantly, Wellie's not coming to the party. Oh well. It won't really be a party without her, though. Lol you should have seen my face when she answered the phone... I think it was about as red as my shirt. And if you're not sure how red my shirt is, think cherry mixed with strawberry. Very young strawberrys.

Secondly, I was outside today spreading pinestraw and ''somehow'' an ant managed to crawl down... or up... my pants. So you can guess where it bit me - FOUR TIMES! (OW!).

Third, I finished the battle of the labrynth, and it's got to be close to my favorite book. Actually it probably is... It's up to Paolini to craft an enthralling sequel to Eldest.

Fourth, I had awesome steak for dinner, with bread, beans, butter, and corn on the cobb. YUMM!

Uhh, so yeah, that's how my life has gone the past day. Cool, eh?

(b) Oh yeah, um, Eric just came up with a cool name by accident in class today, he called it Expedition Atlantis. Sounds cool, right? At least it's better than the Atlantian Escapade. lol. Alright, g2g.

(b) alright, another cool name, this one for the current Atlantian Ultamatum book thing. How about, "Atlantis: Harvest Reaper" or "Atlantis: Reaper Harvest"

it would make a notation to the Grim Reaper, and death and people dying (which is all death, I guess...). Oh, and another thing, we really need to get rid of Queen Rex as a character. We can keep Mt. Tyrannasaurus, but let's label it a different name. Lake Treachery I like, that's a cool name. Kraken's Den is also a cool thing, plus the fact that it will actually be ''the'' Kraken's den.

We also should move Mt. Tyranna-whatever we have it down in priority. It should just be a small hide-out hollow volcanoe, and have the actual capitol city of Atlantis for the main base. We should have some sort of scene in the last book where Tom storms the capitol city.
g2g

(w) all right, sounds good on ur last paragraph, but a little input from me on the title of the book: remember not to make the title cheesy. I mean, Atlantis: Harvest Reaper??? Come ON! anyway, Expedition Atlantis is a good name, better than any name we've come up with, but it's not all the way there. the name needs to be something like, oh I don't know, like, Assignment: Atlantis or something. but definitely not Mission: Atlantis, because that would be cheesy-over-the-top.

anyway, see ya l8r. and btw,

IT IS SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and you're coming to westminster next year. anyway, got to poop.

==Section 21==

(b) okay, first off, I agree, Expedition: Atlantis isn't quite all the way there. Second, lovely. I really wanted to know that you had to go to the bathroom. Third, I don't really see what's cheesy about Atlantis: Harvest Reaper. I mean, it sounds WAY less cheesy than "The Atlantian Ultimatum". I mean, that's just copying the Bourne series too much. Actually, I didn't really like the Bourne series. I know u think it's great and all, but I kinda disagree.

Anyways, I think Harvest Reaper is the best name we've gotten so far. The Atlantian Conspiracy can stay, because lots of people think Atlantis is a conspiracy and it would attract more readers.

(w) ok. we are obviously having very different perceptions on what the title should be. I'll tell you why I think Atlantis: Harvest Reaper sounds, well, stupid. OK: what is up with the harvest? sure, there may be farms or whatever on Atlantis, but there are farms everywhere but the poles. I thought with a title we were going for something that was going to BOTH attract readers AND apply largely to the novel. Like, so what if there are farms on Atlantis? So what if they farm minerals and stuff. If you wanted to talk about orichalcum or something, then you should make the title something like Atlantis: The Forbidden Secret or something, because that has to do both with the novel and intriguing readers. Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, on the other hand, is pretty irrelevant, and just sounds like one of those Halo titles that is supposed to sound cool. It is just flat out random. I've told you what I think we need for a title: (1) it has to have something to do with one of the main ideas of the first story (2) it has to intrigue readers. You were just going for a number 2 (no pun intended, but sort of intended). My problem is, while trying to think of something that actually has to do with the book, I can't think of anything that will intrigue the reader. And by the way, the reason why i like the Bourne series so much is, it doesn't need all the fancy gizmos like psi warfare and magic-ish stuff and going slomo to dodge bullets. Just Bourne's cleverness and quickness and the suspense in the movie is enough to make me love the movies. It is just way more, well, believable than Atlantis and Matrix and all the walk-up-the-wall stuff. Plus, it's not like we'd be stealing the word Ultimatum from the Bourne series. It is a real and commonly-used word, you know. It just means a final threat. If you didn't want it to sound like the Bourne series, you could make it something like Atlantis: The Final Threat, or Atlantis: Shang's Ultimatum, or Atlantis: Ultimatum, you get the picture. What I'm saying is the ideal title has a good bit/a lot to do with the book, and intrigues readers. And Harvest Reaper is the best SOUNDING name we've gotten so far, but not the best name for the book we can come up with.

Look at all of your favorite books: The Battle of the Labyrinth (this obviously intrigues the reader and has to do with the book). Eragon (the main character's name, but even though this may or may not intrigue, the cover illustration does). Eldest (the eldest child). Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (again, this has to do with the book and intrigues). YOU GET THE FREAKIN' PICTURE?????

good.

And by the way, you need to accept that you need help on this story. You need to stop taking all the credit and be more open to discussion and argument, instead of just "What I think matters more than what you think." Look at Christopher Paolini. He got help from everyone he could, seeking their advice on his story. He welcomed it. You, on the other hand, seek advice, and when it is not the same as your beliefs you just get into a big argument and think that you're right and what you think matters more. Just because you're writing a story doesn't mean your opinion is better than outside opinions. And I'm not exactly outside. I practically re-wrote the first chapter, re-wrote paragraphs and descriptions throughout the whole story, and not to mention illustrated and edited grammar (which i still have some more grammar editing to do, because when you write, you get into the story so much that you don't go back to fix your spelling and grammar). Some day you will have to face it: you need some help on this story. If you aren't willing to accept my and others' help, then you'll face the consequences when no one buys your book. I am not quitting ever, but nor am I going to be thought of as inferior. Remember, my ideas are just as important as yours and vice versa. Now, on some occasions, one of us may be right, but almost all of the time it is a matter of opinion. I just wish you could accept my ideas as much as you did when we BOTH started writing the story.

*note* just a minor thingymajigerbobbarino: you seem to be in some "Atlantian" craze. I thought it was the Atlantis Conspiracy, not the Atlantian Conspiracy, and Atlantis fans not Atlantian fans.

==Section 22==

Sorry to keep you bored, but here's another thing: you know how we keep coming up with cool excerpts for the second book? and also, you know how we are kind of stumped from where the plot should go from here? well, maybe, we can apply the excerpts from the second book to the first book. Why not?

==Section 23==

(b) haha ha don't make me laugh. My ideas are WAY more important than yours.

...

..

.

Did you seriously believe me? lol. I was just kidding. I do tend to get carried away and of course, I'd think my suggestions are better and you'd think your suggestions are better, because if we didn't they wouldn't be opinions. So, what I think we need to start doing more is compromising. Take the best aspects from your ideas and the best aspects from mine and see if we can wrestle out an agreement. I agree, I do need lots of help, but I'm NOT trying to claim all the credit. In case you haven't noticed though, I HAVE written most of this book, but of course it would be miserable without you going back, re-writing some of it, and upgrading the existing parts. I agree, you worked alot on the first chapter, and now I think we finally have an enticing chapter 1.

Okay, as for the title, I think it really should be Atlantis: Harvest Reaper.

Reason being that the war that they are fighting THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE BOOK started because of NATURAL RESOURCES, among other things. Which reminds me, on a random note, we need more of a cause for WORLD WAR FOUR!.

Anyways, what do you do with natural resources? Why, you ''harvest'' them, of course. so, the Harvest part comes from Atlantis's somewhat unique resources (e.g. Orichalcum, Gold, diamonds, oil/natural gas, lumber, fertile soil for crops [which you ''harvest''], pearls, stone [marble, granite, sandstone, limestone], sugarcane, fruit trees/plants, heck, even clay to make pottery) and of course its scores of dinosaurs and their DNA and stuff. So, I think we do have a very convincing reason for the Harvest part. For the Reaper part, you use a Scythe to harvest stuff, like the Grim '''Reaper''', and the element of death and people dying trying to get those resources and gain control of Atlantis and all that death-sadness stuff I mentioned earlier.

The reason for my "'Atlantian' craze" is that 'Atlantian' is the adjective form of 'Atlantis,' and so it is ''more grammatically correcter'' (lol) than Atlantis fans, or Atlantis Conspiracy, given the fact that in the English language, adjectives come before nouns, and that both fans and a conspiracy are nouns. Take ''that'', oh Mr. Grammar Guy. lol. Sorry didn't mean to sound mean or condescending.

(Or did I?)

(B) yo, I just had an awesome new idea for the cover illustration. You know how you did that awesome drawing of the guy in the Endwar armor, like in the book? Well, I how bout if that is Tom, and you can draw Matt, Scarlett, and Holly standing beside and slightly behind him? They would all be facing the same direction, aiming their weapons at a shadowy figure. If we agree the title will be Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, then we can have them standing in a field of wheat (just to convey the mental pic) or something like that, and have them all looking at the Grim Reaper, surrealistically. Don't actually draw any of it yet, because I have a special idea in mind about what everyone should look like and everything, REPEAT, DON'T ACTUALLY DRAW ANYTHING ON THE PAGE YET, but I just wanted to toss the idea out there. Also if you could make a copy or two of the original drawing, that way we can start drawing and not mess up our only drawing of that.

As for what the Grim Reaper will look like, well, we don't really have to draw a face, because its symbolic, not physical, so it can just be like a dark, shady mass, with a scythe held in it somewhere. Tom is up like you drew him, leering at the Reaper, snarling and taunting, all that. Matt could be slightly behind him, also with a snarl on his face, and in his right hand, he'd have an armed grenade in his hand, and the pull-ring will be flying off in the air close by. Scarlett will be prone, maybe, if you can draw that convincingly, with some kind of sniper or rifle in her hands, and Holly will be crouched with some kind of MG in her hands. I know you already drew Tom with a Squad Automatic, but that's okay. Actually, remember how I was kind of hung up about the size of the drawing? Now its actually the perfect size. The Grim Reaper will be lots larger, of course.

Just thought I'd toss out that latest idea, and I think it's pretty good. To give you a better idea of what I want for the cover, I'll give you a rough sketch, for which you can improve on (improve greatly). Speaking of illustrations, I did a rather awesomeish (for me, anyways) drawing of two CGTs connected by a bridge on the third floor with a guy carrying ammo across the bridge, and three guys on each floor of the CGT (which has three floors). You'll have to see it to see how well I did, but... I think its pretty good for me, despite the obvious fact that all the guys are stick figures. Sorry. I just can't draw the way you do.

(b) okay, I just went to see India Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And I have one thing to say about it: FANTASMIC.

It gave me so many ideas for Atlantis, I can't even believe it. But then again, so did Iron Man. What's funny is that while separately, they're both awesome, sweet, unbelievably fantabulous movies, best-sellers, etc, combine the two aspects, and you have a movie twice as good, if you can imagine that. You take the awesome, time-honored Indi action of punching a dude in the face, seeing his head jerk back, nailing him in the gut with the other hand, seeing him curl up, knee him in the face, etc, then you take the sweet, technological explosions, effects, and action of Iron Man, combine them, and you have a mix of the two that is awesome. It's like Awesome + Sweet = AWESOME TOTALLY F_____ SWEET MAN!

So where I'm going with all this is that Atlantis is a mix of both Indi and Iron Man. So basically, we're assured a best-selling novel/movie/game if we don't screw it up and make it to corny/cheesy. Just thought I'd drop that in. But anyways, the first and formeost explanation for how Atlantis is so advanced is that they were visited by... you guessed it, aliens. I had been thinking about that idea and thought it was too... I dunno. Cheesy I guess, or too expected. But now I see it pulled off in Indi, and I thout it was very cool. Or the other explanation is that no aliens came, and instead all the references and stuff to space travel and all that is because of Atlantis. Maybe the Mayans and stuff were taught by the Atlantians and thought of them as gods. Another thing that we need to say is that the Atlantians mastered air travel. I'm not talking like an F35 JSF fighter jet or anything, but something self-propelled, non-glider type plane thing. And then the Mayans built the Nazca Lines for the Atlantians to see.

I'll talk lots more about this later.

Alright, see ya! Oh, I'm adding a new spoiler to the Atlantian fan page thing in honor of Memorial Day. Oh yeah, and you may have noticed that I broke the discussion pages up into fragmented sections. Please respond to everything in Section 23, I'm starting a section 24 (duh, look below this entry). Again, read all of Section 23, you haven't responded to any of it yet.

==Section 24==

Hi bob!

(w) OH FREAK IT! There is SOOOOO much to respond to (with about a million more o's). OK first off (out of about 10): I am really glad about the whole idea thing and taking credit, and I feel so much better. I TOTALLY agree that we should compromise (i mean that is kind of the whole point and that is what we did at the beginning and how we actually came up with our foundation ideas). I want you to know I completely respect you as a writer and an idea-thinker-upper (idealist), but I agree, the key is to work together. Conflicts, unfortunately, are bound to happen, because you're more willing to believe what most would call far-fetched ideas about Atlantis, whereas I am less eager to accept those (that doesn't mean I'm too stubborn to accept them at all).

2: About Harvest Reaper. I finally see your reasoning for it. And it is very good reasoning. However, I think we should emphasize in the title more of the fact that there is more than one entity or being trying to reap the harvest. When you say Harvest Reape'''r''', it implies that there is only one trying to reap the harvest. But the whole point of Atlantis is that EVERYONE is trying to reap the harvest. So what about Atlantis: Harvest Reaping?

3: sounds good on the cover, but why would Tom and the HEROES be taunting the villain? Isn't it usually the big villain who taunts the heroes?

4: on the "oh Mr. Grammar guy" thing, don't start this fight with me. I'll win. So here goes: "Atlantis" Fans would mean that they are fans of Atlantis. Notice when you say fans of [the University of] Georgia, you say Georgia fans and not Georgian fans. Also, when you say fans of Florida, you say Florida fans, not Floridian fans. And with the Atlantian Ultimatum, this makes more sense I guess because the Atlantians (controlled by Iraq and the middle east) are making the ultimatum. This is just picky English lesson time, it's pretty much inconsequential (see that big word?).

But that brings up another thing (5): it's not exactly politically correct to say Iraq itself is the U.S.'s enemy. It's not the people or even the government of Iraq that is our enemy. The government (especially president) of Iran is our enemy, because they control a lot of the terrorists, who are our direct enemy. We're gonna have to stop getting used to saying "Iraq" and "Iraqis".

6: So about the titles again, what do you think of this:
book I is called Atlantis: Harvest Reaping
book II is called Atlantis: Conspiracy or Atlantis: The Conspiracy
book III is called Atlantis: Final Threat or Atlantis: Ultimatum or Atlantis: The Ultimatum

NOW IS THAT A COMPROMISE OR WHAT???

7: I finished The Battle of the Labyrinth, and it was awesome.
8: I also saw Indiana Jones, and I agree, it was completely awesome. Remember when Mutt Williams asks Indy after he pwns those weird Mayan dudes hiding in the graveyard, "You're a teacher????" and Indy says, "Part-time." That was priceless. Anyway, yes, our book is definitely a combination of the two. Notice Indiana Jones is good at both using his smarts to solve puzzles and outwit enemies, but he can also win almost all the time in a fist fight. By "using his smarts to solve puzzles and outwit enemies," I mean that he can always win in a chase on the road with vehicles and can trick his enemies into falling off a cliff or something, but he also is really good at finding clues to treasures (like National Treasure) because he is so smart. And about the aliens, that's funny, because a lot of people think all the mysteries of the earth that have the possibility of being done by extra-terrestrial life (like patterns in the fields, and the building of the pyramids in Egypt and the great wall). The other theory, besides just the ancient people being determined and smart is that Atlantians had something to do with it. They had something about it on the History Channel. We could either incorporate aliens into our book or have another explanation. And yes, we already have the cool, technological thing like Iron Man going on.

9: that "hi bob" crap that your brother keeps doing is probably the stupidest sense of humor I have ever seen and is really getting on my nerves. Oh well. i guess he's just a (what? third or fourth) grader.

(b) okay first, with the cover thing, the heroes won't be taunting the Grim Reaper out of confidence, they'll be taunting him to make him attack. It won't really be taunting, but leering. I like that word. Leeerrring.

Anyways, I think that Atlantis: Harvest Reaper sounds better than Reaping, I dunno, that's just me. We need to come up with something better than final threat for book III, book two looks pretty good. Um, yeah. Oh, and those lines in the field you mentioned? Yeah, those are the Nazca Lines in Peru, they are real, and tons of people think that its an ancient spaceport. I think it should be something different, maybe some sort of map or something. I dunno.

You never mentioned anything on the idea of Atlantians having more highly advanced technology and mastering flight. Please respond to that. And actually it was me who wrote hi bob in section 24. That was just so the section had something in it, which it needs to be a section.

(w) oh. well, that hi bob thing is still annoying. (and ur brother does it too all the time). ok the mastering flight thing is good. i have no objections. and why don't we have a real enemy instead of the grim reaper. and yes, reaper sounds better than reaping. But, the reason it is reaping is because multiple nations are reaping the harvest of Atlantis, rather than one, and that is the point.

(b) OOOKKKAAAAYYY, so WHAT? who cares if there are multiple nations???

It can just as easily be Harvest Reaper! It sounds much better, and this is a title of a book, not the summary/explanation. IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT MULTIPLE NATIONS ARE REAPING! We should just go with what sounds best. Also, the dude's name is the Grim ''REAPER'', not Grim Reaping. So I rest my case.

And we could have a real enemy instead of the Grim Reaper, but I think it wouldn't be as abstractly cool or sweet to have like another group of enemies just like Tom. I mean, Tom would seem a lot more heroic if he were battling a legendary, unreal figure, even if only for the cover art, rather than Tom just looking up at like a helicopter and maybe a few ground troops.

(w) okay, ok, if you're so attached to your Harvest Reaper then I guess you can have your way. and, yes, it would look more heroic. just we've gotta try not to make whatever the enemy is halloweeny.

(b) I agree, we should try to keep away from the halloween thing. Today during Graduation Preparation (that's so much fun to say) I was daydreaming, and I came up with several scenes for chapter one that are awesome. For example, so you don't have to go and re-read it, some random soldier guy is just running towards the trenches when a bullet takes his shoulder, and he falls to his knees, then another random soldier comes up and grabs him by the collar and drags him to the trenches, then throws him into the trenches. Just when the soldier who helped the other soldier is about to climb in the trench, an artillery shell hits in front of him, and kills him. Boo hoo :..(

Then you see like another guy running up, a bullet taking him in the leg, and he sprawls forward, to be picked up by another soldier and thrown to cover, but this time they both make it, and then another guy gets a bullet in the center of his chest, collapses, and a Stryker rolls in front of him for cover, and then in another action-sequence an American random soldier is running forward and a bullet first hits one arm, then his other, opposite leg, then his other shoulder, then another bullet in his chest armor, then one in the head, causing his head to snap back. It'll be way cooler than all that though.

ummm.... cool that's it for now.

(b) yo,

I was just thinking, maybe we should have someone else be the basis for Scarlett's personality? I'll tell you why later, but I was thinking Emma R. She fits the bill to the letter, I think. I'll talk more l8r got to go.

(W)hey, your action scenes that you came up with (with the trench warfare) reminds me of Saving Private Ryan, where the Americans invade the beaches of Normandy and liberate it, and a squad of soldiers led by some guy played by Tom Hanks (I hope you've heard of Tom Hanks; he is one of the greatest actors ever) saves a Private (duh, named Private Ryan) who is played by Matt Damon. great movie. Anyway, I wouldn't know if Emma fit the bill, because I never have had an intimate conversation with her (I have no idea what she is like). And by the way, I already have an idea of what Scarlett's personality is like. It can't be anything like Holly's, which is like Annabeth from the Percy and the Olympians thing. Scarlett's personality, in my opinion, should be like Max's from Maximum Ride (except there are no li'l ones to say "hey sweetie" to): nice, but witty, cool, loyal, a natural leader (Tom leads only because he fights better) kind of sensitive... I'm not saying that she HAS to be EXACTLY like Max, but you know... just an idea...

Oh yeah, and did I mention I want Holly to be like Annabeth?

(ex: "Hey seaweed brain.")

so, her personality is friendly teasing-ish (sorry I can't think of a good word at the moment), hides her feelings sometimes, etc. you know what Annabeth is like.

These are all just ideas (comment, because this isn't final; I need some input).

(b) kk sounds good. Yeah, I know what u mean with the friendly-teasing sort of thing. I think that's a great idea with Max, and I totally agree. Respond in section 25.

==Section 25==

(brandon) Sorry for that ''little'' technical difficulty there, our system crashed. But now it's back up, we've got all the data, and I've been working on a little something for the second book. Awesome.

(w) what have u been working on?

(b) dude, check the Atlantis, Harvest Reaper page. Third excerpt (yes, there is a third.)

(b) so what did ya think? Awesome, right? I know, I know, thankya, thankya. lol.

Okay, so in going back and realizing what we've got written, ''everything'' pretty much needs revision. So what I suggest you do if you're bored and have nothing else to do is just go through all the chapters one at a time and fix them up, make them better. Not all at once, but just like do one chapter at a time. I'll be doing the same thing. 'Cause we really can't leave them the way they are. Especially chapter 1.

(b) okay so for the next week or so starting tomorrow, I AM GOING TO BE AT DAYTONA BEACH!!!!!! Problem is, I may or may not have internet access there, and so probably won't be able to work on the story. It's up to you! lol. so see ya l8r g8r and get writing! It'll be intriguing to see what you come up with.

TTFN!!

(w) sorrrrrry for not telling you sooner, but now it is a week after Friday the 13th (June), and I am just getting started on reading the harvest reaper page and editing. Why? I've been at camp for a week. sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.... sorry.................

P.S. what does TTFN mean? since i lost my cell phone, I haven't reeeaally been into the whole texting language...

anyway, I saw "Get Smart" and it immediately went to one of the top 20 funniest movies of all time. I'm not going 2 spoil anything or whatever; I'll just let you see it.

also:

*ABOUT THE EDITING THING*: we can edit a bunch of minor things by ourselves (ex: descriptions of fighting scenes or really descriptions of anything at all, grammar, making battle/action scenes better, etc.), but with the major things (ex: the whole compositions of chapters, drama, romance, major events, etc.) we need to consult and compromise/agree on the best thing to do. For example, I wouldn't just completely change a chapter or something major without consulting. When we edit, ONLY edit the minor things and write down the major things for later consultation (don't I sound so legit.? I know. I'm good at that).

anyway, see you when you get back from good ol' southern daytona beach!!! :P

*I don't do the southern thing too well, I'm not into NASCAR*

and when you DO get back, I have to show you something TOTALLY cool: Republic Commando single-player campaign cheats. I looked them up on google, and you can do stuff like toggle slomo and be all matrixy. It is TOTALLY awesome. and there is invincibility, and ghost, and you can fly, and have unlimited ammo, make yourself invisible, and almost best of all, you can make your enemies blind and deaf. With the slomo thing, you can either go matrix-slow, normal speed, or way way fast. One time i sped it up really fast and shot a pistol as fast as a machine gun would go, making the blaster as fast as a metal storm, and the chain gun as fast as a railgun. F***ING AWESOME.

It is so cool.

So, see you, I'm going to read the harvest reaper thingy and do some MINOR edits.

(w) hey Brandon, it's Will again. I just noticed something. I ACTUALLY noticed a little "glitch" in your near-perfect action writing. Frequently when you write action scenes, rather than getting the reader into the moment with suspense and having them FEEL and VISUALIZE the moments, you are rather technical, and make the reader ANALYZE the writing to discern what you mean rather than having them naturally VISUALIZE it. For example, and I tried to edit this as much as I could, in the "Sparring" scene, you were very technical about how the actions were. You described every action as though it were a map, and it had very little feeling. And in the excerpt 3 in harvest reaper, you described the EXACT motions of the plane rather than letting the reader SEE how the plane was moving with your descriptive writing. What I'm trying to say is, in every good book, in action scenes and descriptive scenes, the entire goal of the author is to give the reader a few great words that spur different images in the mind of the reader. That is how books are INTERPRETED. Like they say, a picture is worth 1000 words. What I'm saying is we need to start giving the reader the picture, not the 1000 words. But we need to paint the picture with the words. Does that make sense? I know you've probably heard about this before. I think there actually is a literary term for this: what was it, "imagery" or something? Anyway, I think achieving imagery should be our ultimate goal in editing the chapters, rather than boring the reader. Because no one wants to read a boring book, do they?

RESPOND TO THIS ASAP AND WHEN YOU DO, I WILL EDIT EXCERPT 3 TO TRY TO ACHIEVE IMAGERY AND GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. BUT FIRST I NEED A RESPONSE.

See you when you get back!

(brandon) yo Oh my god I finally have internet access!!! God, okay, Daytona's awesome, but I have to be quick cause my brothers waiting for the computer, so I'm gonna tell you all about it later. For now, I TOTALLY Agree with your imagery thing, and yeah we should consult eachother before editing the major parts. We really need to boost up the book in the romance/drama part. Yeah, I also need to really change the sparring scene so that Holly actually gets off a few hits on Tom when they're fighting and to have Matt's and Scar's fighting style be completely different now that they're not both fire-oriented.

Okay, I've got a list of awesome ideas while I've been offline, and so here it is;

1) Tom has exhaust thrusters wired into his armor that allows limited flight time and works in water. He may not actually be able to fly with them but more of like an assisted jump, get really really high and use it to coast down to the ground more slowly. That coupled with his enhancement oughta do nicely in the next battles.

2) USA has three main Research Facilities (duh, really?) along with an extra Naval base on a gigundo floating platform in the Atlantis Strait

3) Other soldiers besides Tom be enhanced and be completely awesome and unstoppable and everything.

4) (This is the most farfetched and I dunno if we should have it in) Atlantis is actually Antarctica that has broken free of ice and been pushed North after researchers accidentally found and activated an energy source or psi well or something

5) Describe more the power of a gun (I was reading Eagle Strike Alex Rider and u know when Alex picks up Yassen's Grach handgun? Horowitz describes 'Alex felt the lethal power of the gun' or something. It's not just a random tool, its a lethal weapon to be respected.)

6) Have other kinds of trees than just palm trees! Also in the tropics are Oak trees and Weeping Willows, not to mention Pine trees.

7) New weapon to be used rather often, its really cool, fast firing, and really accurate, its like an SMG/Carbine, the Pulse R71 Silence-capable SMG. Search it on google images its really cool.

8, most important) change the perspective: Nature is in control of Atlantis, everyone else is just hanging on and trying to survive at the mercy of nature and the Atlantians.

KK gotta go!

(w) ok everything sounds great I incorporated number one and six into the excerpt three. Speaking of that, I updated the beginning of excerpt three. tell me what you think!

the only ones i have a problem with are number four and number eight. with number four, we really shouldn't use it at all. with number eight, i don't really get what you're talking about, and how could everything be in the control of the Atlantians? explain further, perhaps on our next phone conversation. with number 5, maybe that is in one of tom's flashbacks, before he has really used a gun before. ill make sure to look up #7, im sure its cool!

one more thing: maybe tom has two versions of his mk III tba. One of the ones, that he was wearing in the excerpt, that i made up, was having the hydrostatic gel layers and the other thing that's not hydro gel or alloy everywhere, and the alloy coating only on the chest. the rest of his body is covered in waterproof black material that is great night camouflage. the olive-drab version is the other mk III version. that is for daylight camo. and that's the one in the cover that i drew (ENDWAR armor). anyway, see ya!

(b) okay again time's limited here, but yeah, what I mean by #8 is that a soldier is not superior to a Raptor. In all your basic dino-thrillers and everything like Jurrassic Park, all the soldiers or whatever only exist to be fodder for the dinos. Just random people that can be eaten and you can still have a plotline, and it's not just gameover. So, yeah, all the soldiers should be USA-grad awesoeme and everything, but when a soldier comes face-to-face with a Raptor, even armed, there should be no dispute about who will win. The Raptor, obviously. I think we need to stress that a bit more. So far its been the Raptors that exist randomly for Tom or someone else to kill. It should be the other way around. They're on a fading continent with an 11000 year old culture and just about every country on Earth vying for control.

KK gotta go will say more later. Oh yeah, and don't update chapter 6 or eleven because I'm working on them offline, and I can't just merge two sets of updates. Also don't update Excerpt 3 anymore cause I'm also gonna work on that.

Other than that have at it and I'm gonna go read your improvements.

AAAHAHAHAHAHQAHAHAHAHAHPWOEGFijhvfapoijdsfcOPSIDjfvopaejf NONONONONONONONNONONONONONONONONONONONOINON

NO!

YOU COMPLETELY RUINED EXCERPT 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IDIOT! Excerpt 3 does NOT take place on ATLANTIS! DIPSTICK! It takes place in St. Augustine, FLorida. Or did you not pick up on that when I said ST. AUGUSTINE, THE FAMOUS FORT, and THE FREAKING RESORT! Like there would be a vacation resort on ATLANTIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

F U!

God, don't just go doing that! READ THE WHOLE THING DILIGENTLY BEFORE YOU GO AND RUIN IT!!!

Okay sorry rage over. Here's what we'll do, I'll just take the orginal that I copied onto my dad's laptop and paste it in place of your messed up 'improvement', then you can go and make whatever changes you want SO LONG AS THEY PERTAIN TO WHATS HAPPENING. ST. AUGUSTINE, FL, NOT ATLANTIS. GOT IT???

And another thing, try not to be too cheesy will you?? I mean come on, just take a second and re-read this one paragraph:

'Though he could be ensured a safe landing (he had survived that height of a fall before, and the exhaust thrusters wired into suit could act as a parachute), there was still the problem of the AA fire pounding repeatedly, and not to mention the swarms of small arms fire buzzing around.'

Come on, what's wrong with you? Okay I sound really arrogant right now, but I'm extremely dissapointed with your latest update. Don't ever do that to me again. Please. How about you stick to the grammar-editing stuff and I'll just take the actual writing? PLEASE, I BEG of you. Don't do that to me again.

(w)ohhhhh, I'm soooo sorry to ruin your perfect story. I'm sorry, I mixed it up, atlantis and st. augustine. whatever. it won't be that hard. You can still use the description of the beach and irony and that. Anyway, by the way, i couldnt even, to tell you the truth, read more than a page of excerpt three. It was so F***ING BORING!!! I'm sorry, but your writing needs some serious help. Yes, I'll admit that last part of that SENTENCE about small arms fire "buzzing around" was cheesy. the buzzing around was cheesy, yes. That's still easy to fix. But not as easy to fix the whole d*** thing!! The greater part of your story is severely lacking in interesting stuff. It's about as dull as reading Gone with the Wind. You want to know the reason why, lately, I haven't been able to read your book? It is so boring. Your vocabulary is the only thing that has gotten better since we started writing Atlantis. Everything else: your whole sense of plot, and especially your humility has gotten worse. And you know what???

If you are BEGGING me to not write, then you can get what you want: I won't do that to you again. EVER.

Good luck with the story. You'll need it.

Oh, and just to be NICE, here's one last comment: yes, i agree with the raptor thing. they are superior ONE VERSUS ONE to humans, but humans tend to team up on raptors to take them down. Because of the humans' teamwork, raptors USUALLY don't last that long.

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-25T21:15:50Z

Will:

Atlantis: Harvest Reaper

2008-06-24T22:50:31Z

Will:

Hi, all! Welcome to the sneak preview excerpt site for Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, the second book in the series! If you have no idea at all what I'm talking about, type "Atlantis" into the search box on the top of this page at the left hand side, under the picture and the navigation box.

This first excerpt was written by Will Anderson, and the second and third by me, Brandon Krupczak. All are awesome scenes from our second book. See, we're planning in advance!

'''''Please note that the content of this page is an ongoing work in progress and the authors reserve the right to edit and/or reformat the page. Please also note that in this writing we mean no disrespect to any country, a book merely needs protagonists and antagonists.'''''

==Excerpt 1==

Suddenly an explosion rung through Tom's ears, and the flaming fragments of two police cars were rolling side over side.

Tom instinctively ducked for cover. He was crouched behind a beaten up green Honda Accord, panting. ''Think,'' Tom said to himself. He heard heavy footsteps approaching and the slightly harsh Russian language, but couldn't tell whether it was coming from the left or the right. He made a guess. His car was straight ahead of him. If he could just make a quick dash... everything seemed to flash before his eyes. The blur of the various cars seemed to come at him faster than thought.

A grenade clanged with a metallic thud to the ground. Tom could hear confused shouts echoing behind him. A barbaric war cry rang out over the parking lot and Tom ignored it, sprinting on.

He focused all of his energy on getting to his car. The high-pitched clank of bullets ricocheting off of cars rang out around him. 5 more yards to go. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Tom leaped into the silver Aston Martin DB''S'' with relief. Tom saw about 20 Russians trailing him, 6 with Stinger missiles. As the soldiers aimed the explosive warheads, Tom made his move. A control panel slid into view. Tom pressed the glowing blue button labeled MISSILE LAUNCH. A red statement flashed in Tom's HUD: TARGET LOCK. Tom fired.

A heartbeat later, 15 Russians flew backwards about 35 feet. The Russians' high-pitched screams of agony were muffled as Tom's engine roared to life.

He sped forward, turning and skidding at the last second, coming around 180 with the hood of the car facing the remaining cowering Russians. He selected the button labeled OIL SLICK. "Shake and bake," Tom said to himself.

He pressed EJECT, and the honey-colored liquid jetted out, soaking three of the five remaining foes. A moment later, a nasty-looking flamethrower slid smoothly out of the hood of Tom's car, sending flame roaring towards the soldiers in tumbling curls. A detonation rocked Tom's ears as the flame collided with the oil-soaked soldiers.

The two remaining Iraqis assumed a crouched position about 40 feet away from Tom's car, AK-74's blazing. Tom didn't care; the bullets were ricocheting off of his bulletproof windows.

Tom went in full reverse about 20 feet backwards, then sped towards the pair of Russians. They screamed and dived to the side, dodging Tom's car. He had anticipated this, and now the Iraqis were behind him.

Tom loaded the rear machine gun and sprayed the two soldiers with such force that they were sent sprawling toward the ground.

Swerving again, he sped onto a side road, feeling the sheer power of his 705hp V12 engine. Tom knew that it wouldn't be long before more enemies were after him. He was right. About 1200 yards away, 6 Humvees menacingly engaged pursuit.

In the excerpt, it doesn't explain what happens to cause the situation to occur, but hey, that's why it's an excerpt.

==Excerpt 2==

Excerpt: A random team of extremely skilled archaeologists who happen to be somewhat good at fighting as well (written by Brandon):

"Carson, come look at this!" Eva exclaimed as she held up a small chunk of a silvery-gold piece of mica or chunk of some rock. Or at least, that's what this looked like to the untrained eye, because it was roughly formed in the shape of a spearhead. No one would have guessed that it was actually a piece of Orichalcum that survived all these years.

"Do you know what this is?" Carson asked, looking over excitedly.

"Yeah, of course! Better get this back to the lab." Eva exclaimed, genuine delight dancing in her pale Grey-dove eyes. This was probably the find of her career. Proving the existence of a mythological and ancient metal believed to have been found only on Atlantis! Five years ago, if you had said that word, most respected scientists and archaeologists would look at you like you were a nutcase and move on with their lives, only now minimizing contact with you. Now though... they would look at you with awe, fear, and respect flashing in their eyes as they recalled every scrap of information they had ever heard of the legendary super continent.

Plus, there was always the later bonus, after it was proven to exist, of some museum or collector buying it from them for a hefty some of cash, although that was only a secondary concern right now. Still though, Eva sometimes fantasized about how much she and the others on her archeology team could squeeze out of a wealthy bidder when times were tough and uncertain.

The archeology team she belonged to consisted of two women including herself, Eva Lane, the other being Caroline Jones, and five men; Tim Carson, Brian Kenderson, Anton Beckett, Al Shepard, and Fred Lane. Their team was headed by the animated Tim Carson. He was about fifty, with graying hair combed back neatly and streaks of black running in stripes. His tough, craggy face bespoke a rugged and powerful man, but his soft, baby-blue eyes ruined the image, portraying the gentle, caring father he was.

Brian Kenderson was the cousin of the famous Matthew Kenderson, one of the most well-known American names in the war. He was somewhat impulsive, and he liked to show off about how much he knew on just about every subject anyone cared to name, but he was pretty cool once you got to know him better. He was the team's technology expert, and he looked it at seventeen, with blond hair, just like his cousin, and a tough, lean face that was almost always bruised or cut, and dark, half moon circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.

Anton Beckett and Al Shepard were so similar they were always mixed up by everyone else around them. They could have passed for brothers despite their completely different families, even though Anton was twenty eight and Al was twenty five. They both had the same, slightly upturned noses and eyes that crinkled when they laughed.

Caroline Jones was the loudmouth of the group, with somewhat plump cheeks and orange-streaked hair. Her hazel eyes told the story of a bright and happy teen, at eighteen years old, and she was never without a smile on her face.

And then there was her perpetually annoying know-it-all younger brother, Fred. Fred and Brian hung out together the most of any of the team. Two peas in a pod, she always said. Both of them had an uncanny knack for intellectual subjects, except that Brian was built big and stocky and Fred was leaner and more wiry. His freckled face could look all too serious at times and too lighthearted and carefree at others. Both she and Fred had to stand up to something close along the lines of a celebrity treatment whenever they went anywhere, but that was only because they were cousins of the ultra-famous Thomas Lane, another of the best soldiers in the war. Fred could never live that down.

Anton walked over, examining the find. Here was proof. Not only did they now know for certain that Atlantis existed, they could actually see it on TV whenever they wanted. But this was proof that Plato hadn't been lying when he talked about a new metal. But the biggest thing of all was their location; Stonehenge, England. Literally on the ruins of the old monuments. Now just what they were for...

"Wow. I just can't believe it. Atlantians, or Atlantian traders, all the way out here?" Anton asked.

"Apparently so." Fred said. "And I'll bet a month's salary that there's more to be found around here."

"I'll also wager some cash that the higher-ups will claim this all for themselves under the grounds of funding and starting the expedition." Brian said. Of course Fred agreed whole-heartedly.

Their archeology team was a part of a bigger organization, the Foundation for the Study of Atlantian Artifacts, or FSAA. The organization was run by-

Eva's train of thought was interrupted by a harsh yell;

"Get them away from there! Quickly!" She looked up, and saw that about a hundred yards away, a fleet of five pickup trucks had parked, behind the perimeter fence bordering the monument.

"I'll go deal with them." Carson said quickly, exasperatedly. He reached into his back pocket as he walked off to the gate, pulling out the team's archeology pass permitting them to be here. Eva went back to her examination, the rest of the team combing over the site for any missed evidence.

Three of the men rushed up to the gates, and only now did Carson see that they were carrying AK-74 assault rifles and start to become apprehensive. He held the pass in front of him, glancing quickly back at the rest of the team. Fred was watching him intently, and Carson breathed a sigh of relief. If things got violent, Fred would be there to help him in a moment. Then again, he was only human, and these guys had guns.

Somebody was shouting at him in broken English. "You not supposed to be here!" He screamed, shouting directly in Carson's face.

"No, no, see, we have a pass." Carson said, putting on his best friendly smile. The other man stared back at him, a very unfriendly frown on his face.

"NO! You will not leave. At least, alive." The man said with a cold smile, chuckling to himself as if that was the funniest joke in the world.

Carson had only a second to panic before the soldier to his right raised the rifle cradled in his arms and fired. Less than a yard away, the man couldn't miss. But he somehow must have. Carson didn't feel anything. Just a vanishing fear...

He looked down at his body and was surprised to see his chest torn and bloody, with a steady stream of red liquid clouding his white T-shirt. He looked back, and his team was all looking up in stunned silence. Brian and Fred were running towards him at top speed. He should tell them there was nothing wrong. Carson frowned. Why were they running? There was no need. He was fine.

Carson looked back at the man who was holding his gun still, and the man shouted. But Carson couldn't here them. His brow knit further. The man's lips seemed to move in slow motion. But that only happened in movies, right? No sound was coming out. Carson dimly heard Fred calling his name, again in slow mo. Hmm. He really would have to talk to his doctor about this. Sudden loss of hearing and spacing out, making everything look slow. It was kind of disconcerting.

Suddenly Carson's strength fled out from his body, and he collapsed onto his knees. A picture of his son flipped out of his shirt pocket and fell to the ground. That was funny. It shouldn't have happened. Then Carson was aware he was tilting forward. He tried to correct his position but couldn't. That must have looked funny to the others. He struggled to grab the photo. He had to. It suddenly seemed like his entire life was focused on picking up that one photo, but his fingers barely obeyed him. When they came into view, they were trembling uncontrollably. He had to pick up the picture. His hands started to close around it...

A heavy boot came smashing down on Carson's fingers, making him let go the picture. He was distantly aware of a pain as three of his fingers broke, but that seemed to be happening to another person. Suddenly, three fingers hooked underneath his chin and raised it up. He stared into the dull brown... or was it brown? The color seemed to fade away, beginning with the edges of his vision and narrowing down until only the man's dull brown eyes still had color. Then the man reached into his back pocket and took out a handgun. It was an ugly, stubby looking thing. The man whispered something, and this time Carson heard it: "Good bye. Oh, and next time, don't take so long to die." The man said, then pulled the trigger.

Brian and Fred could only watch in horror, skidding to a stop, as Carson's head jerked back, the bullet entering his brain cavity.

Carson felt the pain this time. It was sharp, sudden, and intense. He thought about saying ow, so the others would know it hurt. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Now all color, even gray, was fading to black, and he could only see a pinprick of light in the distance. He saw a pair of wings gliding towards him. Unseen arms hooked behind his and started to carry him off. Off and into the light...

Brian cursed at the top of his lungs, but it didn't help any. Instead, the man with the pistol just raised the barrel, now aiming at him and Fred, and fired six rounds. His aim must have been pretty bad, because exactly like in the action movies, the bullets kicked up dust at their feet and around them, as if there was an invisible ball that encased them which would repel bullets. Hm. That was a cool idea.

Then Brian and Fred were yelling and scrambling for cover as those bullets stopped for the man to reload, and the two others raised their rifles and opened fire, sending new bullets skidding around the landscape. Fred branched off from Brian and dove behind a clump of rocks and out of sight, more soldiers streaming in through the gates. Meanwhile, the others of the team rushed for cover behind the monument, with the exception of Al. Al was too stunned to move, and as a result three bullets stitched diagonally upward across his chest. He bucked with each shot, collapsing with the third. He died instantly as the bullet cut his throat, unlike Carson. Carson died too slowly, with too much pain. Brian would get them for that one, even if he died as well.

Brian knew he was going down fighting if he had to at all, and he knew that Fred and Eva would be right beside him. These men were in for an unexpected challenge. Because Brian intended to win.

==Excerpt 3==

Captain Thomas Lane looked out onto the massive landscape below, stretching for miles and miles. It was the perfect example of the irony of Atlantis. Exotic green-leafed trees bearing bright fruits dotted the whole beach, intermingled with palm trees and an occasional pine tree. The moonlit night cast a ghostly shadow over the crystal-clear waters lapping up gently onto the shores.

Yet it was in this paradise that chaos chose to dig its grimy claws.

The enormous Dual-Thrust V-22 Osprey Heli-plane lurched back and forth in the cool night sky. Sparks ignited as tiny bullets licked up at the protective, bulletproof walls of the leviathan, ricocheting off into oblivion. Captain Thomas Lane gripped the holds tightly, attempting to keep himself from flying out into the empty space surrounding the Osprey.

Though he could be ensured a safe landing (he had survived that height of a fall before, and the exhaust thrusters wired into suit could act as a parachute), there was still the problem of the AA fire pounding repeatedly, and not to mention the swarms of small arms fire buzzing around. Even if he managed to land safely, he would still be far away from the squad and have to fight his way into the drop zone. In short, falling would not be a good idea.

With that in mind, his grip tightened on the sturdy hold as the Osprey kicked back and forth, executing the simplest of evasive maneuvers. Still, it was effective, and most of the shots fired at their craft whizzed straight by on one side or the other.

Tom turned around to survey the rest of the deployment bay on the craft. There he was, 18 years, fair-haired, 6 foot, outfitted in his personalized, jet black Mk. III Tactical Battle Armor (TBA). The hard outer shell, form-fitting interior hydrostatic gel layer that could literally absorb bullets, and alloy coating on the exterior that was designed to repel the shock-waves from explosions made up the protective part of his suit. The environmental layer in the interior would heat or cool automatically and accordingly to the soldier's needs. The outer, bulletproof exoskeleton shell was, obviously, to block bullets and other shrapnel or fragments. The surrounding material that was not on his chest was water-proof, jet-black, and camouflaged, making Tom borderline invisible at night. The backpack fitted on the back of the suit was fitted with exhaust thrusters, like you read, to act as a parachute to break a fall, or to assist a jump. His comm pack was mounted on top of the backpack, directly behind his helmet. His helmet-integrated Heads-Up Display (HUD) was constantly feeding him information, displaying his next objective, team's tactical situation, his location on a mini-map, and statistics for the armor's overall condition as well as his and his team's vital signs. Another ability of his HUD was an image-enhancement where he could "zoom in" on a target. His helmet could switch between infrared, night-vision, thermal, and normal modes. He could also take videos or pictures to send back to base via satellite. In short, Tom and his suit were ready to kick some major enemy butt.

Also in the Osprey was a dedicated team of the USA's best, their overall regiment fittingly titled, “Angel Regiment.” They were the best the military had to offer, all sporting the latest armor, equipment, and technology, just as Tom. Their assortment of weaponry included mostly carbines and assault rifles, with a few specialized troops toting the heavier Squad Automatic Weapons, more colloquially known as SAWs. The heavy bullets from these Medium Machine Guns (MMGs) complimented the long-ranged snipers that some of the unit carried. Tom saw in them the same cold-hard determination he saw in Holly and Matt's eyes, as well as the steel calmness and concentration he saw in Scarlett's eyes as she was about to decapitate someone with her sniper.

“Comm check!” Tom barked in perfect imitation of the Drill Sargent (DS) from camp, and some of the soldiers chuckled before the first Angeler, designated A/1, called, “A/1, reporting!” and directly after him, “A/2, ready!” then, “A/3, locked and loaded!” until it got to “A/10, ready to go!” Then it changed to, “B/1, ready and waiting!” and so on down until it reached, “B/10, awaiting orders,” which is when it transferred to C/1 all the way to C/10. So thirty troops in all under Tom's command.

The comm. system in Tom's backpack seemed to be working. Everything else was good to go.

The dropship reached the target location; the Coral Reef Resort compound in St. Augustine, Florida. Tom, in the front of the line to get to one of the droplines, hooked his carabiner to the rope and braced himself in the doorway. The jump indicator light by the door blinked to life, casting a red glow on the gathered soldiers. Six men were lined up for each of the five drop points from the humongous V-22, their filthy, battle-marked faces shining and their sweat cutting rivulets through the grime. With the bay doors still closed, though, Tom was allowed only a limited view of the surrounding area, and an even more limited wind current. What he could see was worth this roasting flight, though; a stunning array of beach and water, with cozy little buildings nestled right in against the shoreline. Long wooden walkways stretched over sand dunes and to the waves from the courtyard of pools and tennis courts of the Coral Reef buildings.

The compound was a basic paradise, with three condo buildings arranged around the center courtyard area, with the shoreline open and the walkway extending from a tiled pool area. Back behind the pool, away from the sand, was a large, grassy area that people used to fly kites and other fun stuff. Tom decided, though, that somehow the collection of Russian tanks, APCs, and helicopters, plus their drivers and pilots, that were currently taking residence in the grassy part of the courtyard ruined the image, as did the heavily armed snipers atop the roofs of the three buildings. The machine gun nests dug in the sand facing the water didn't help, nor did the mobile anti-ship artillery platforms squatting like ugly beetles at the edge of the sand.

''All that they're missing is an Anti Aircraft battery. How ironic,'' Tom thought.

The Osprey approached the drop location on the top of a roof. The flat-topped building made a perfect combat area, due to all the metal pipes and equipment up there, so they'd have plenty of cover. After the Osprey dropped them down, it would circle the building and unload, emptying all of its ammunition until it ran out of shots or targets. Tom could already imagine the fiendish lust lighting up the gunner's face as he tore into the enemy troops, a pale man of twenty-two with a red beard.

The doors slid open, but the light remained red, saying he should wait. Tom was afforded a better view now, and he could see the multitude of other Ospreys flying at top speed towards the resort. He knew that three separate Ospreys held his three closest friends, along with the rest of Angel.

Captain Scarlett Miller, blond haired, her bright personality extracting many laughs from anyone in her presence. She constantly had a smile on her face, replaced by a snarl only in battle. Tom smiled at the memory. He wasn't a bit surprised that Matt had fallen for Scarlett. Also effective at her job; shooting to kill. A great team player, she loved the thrill of combat and her leadership position in it. She could work with her team to achieve anything. But she had patience as well. She was gentle and caring, which Tom had thought at first not great qualities in a soldier. But he turned out to be wrong for once. Scarlett was great at balancing hatred and love.

Captain Holly Dayne. On the outside, dark and mysterious, her expression a combination of thought and memory. Cheerful among her friends, she held no sympathy for enemies. She was trained extensively in the many arts of combat. She was good at hitting from the flanks and enjoyed being the stealthiest member out of the four of them. Her black hair and darker disposition had earned her the joking name of “goth” by a girl during her year in 6th Grade, but the truth was that she was just tired, and although she was happy with her friends, she could look all too serious at times.

Captain Matthew Kenderson, also sporting dirty-blond hair, literally as well as just the name for the color, big and built more heavily than Tom. A good leader and better friend, if you got to know him right. A skilled warrior, but he was no good at compromising. He loved to have his way, and he usually got it. Tom recalled a mental image of his friend, examining the dark, half-moon circles under Matt's eyes in his mind. All of the team had that though, from lack of sleep and all the battle-induced adrenaline. He almost always had a thoughtful expression.

Not all of the Ospreys were carrying troops. With only 200 men and women in Angel, only seven of the twelve V-22s were carrying soldiers. The last five Ospreys had their cargo compartments taken out and grappling hooks in their place, with two Stryker Main Battle Tank (MBT)/Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) all terrain vehicles latched onto each Osprey's hooks. The military was spending serious bucks to repel the Russians out of this place.

From his vantage point, Tom could see the famous St. Augustine Fort in the distance, guarding the bay mouth. It was currently occupied by US troops, and it was their starting point for the flight. The short hop from the fort to the resort was strewn with enemy sniper and MG nests, which harassed the pilots on the ride.

Tom felt and heard, more than saw, the heavy, mounted chaingun open fire next to him, the gunner suppressing the landing zone. “Hot LZ! Repeat! LZ is hot!” he screamed over the noise, and Tom gulped. He didn't like landing in a wall of brass. As if to comfort him and to ease his concern, the co-pilot chose that moment to open fire with the nose mounted dual repeating 35mm cannon, and thus scattering the gathered welcoming party below. Tom preferred to enter unannounced, but this was a close second, made better as a Cobra gunship tore the roof to shreds and drowned it in depleted shells, causing bodies to flail and fall.

“Green light! Go go GO!” the voice of a soldier cried out, and Tom realized that the light had indeed turned green. Without another seconds thought, he kicked the coiled rope out the open door, then launched himself over the edge, jumping headfirst, before the rope caught him and yanked his feet out in front of him. He free-fell most of the way down, then tightened his grip once he got closer to the bottom. He stopped himself just in time to land lightly in a crouch with his M9 carbine extended and leveled, but he found no targets, so he continued on to a better cover position.

The plan was to take out the anti-ship artillery and distract the MG pits dug on the beach so that a larger invasion force could come in from the water and make a beachhead. Simple and short. But the primary mission goal was to live.

Originally, Tom had just planned to wipe out the artillery with a guided rocket, but the artillery was heavily armored, and more importantly, the jammer mounted on their hoods prevented radar locks, making it impossible to launch a guided missile.

So Tom had reconsidered, and now they had to get in close to plant explosives and strap them to the vehicles. God forbid he should have it easy.

No, and the Russians weren't about to help. The snipers on the roof building opposite the building Tom was on turned to fire at him, and the snipers on his building turned to fire into Matt's incoming soldiers as they landed.

Tom barked orders rapidly, “A units! Search and Destroy! Take out any and all snipers on our building. B and C, cover the entrances. Don't get yourself shot and watch those snipers on the other buildings!” To emphasize his point, a trio of shots urged the men to take cover, and one fell after taking a bullet in his knee. The armor stopped it, but internal bleeding was inevitable. The man collapsed, but he was dragged to cover by another soldier.

Tom ducked a bullet and shifted off to the side in time for more shots to kick up the roof material and one to implant itself in a metal vent. Crouching behind a low stone pillar, he was able to lean slightly out from behind cover and drop a Russian on the ground by the pool. He twisted over backwards as he fell, and he came to rest at the bottom of the water after a fair splash. Tom ducked back as more bullets came within inches of his head. He wished he could just blind-fire with his gun above his cover and unload, but Matt and his squad were on the other side, so instead he darted to his left, spinning behind another piece of cover, then fired and worked his way to the front of the building.

Tom lay prone behind the three-foot high stone border railing on the roof, anchored on one elbow as he returned the substantial fire from the ground and railings of the resort buildings. It really was a shame to kill people here. He'd be thinking about that for the rest of his life, however long or short that would be.

A sudden explosion barely three feet from him left a divot in the concrete, casting a burnt, charred smell in the air. He blinked, shocked that a missile had landed so near without him knowing. Until the blast anyways.

He needed a better position. When he sensed a lull of fire, he pushed himself up into a half-crouch, then vaulted over the edge of the building. It was five stories high, but he wasn't going down all five. Instead he landed on the balcony of a top story room, and the two Russians on either side of him recoiled in surprise. He glanced condescendingly at one, scowling, then elbowed each in the face, grabbed their heads, and smashed them together, just like the movies.

Unfortunately, the movies rarely had enemies with helmets, and the two clanged together, dazed, then shook their heads. Tom cursed and cut one's legs out from under him with his boot, and the man fell to the ground. Tom let go of that one and pulled his six inch combat knife from its sheath, continuing the momentum, and shoving it into the second soldier. The man crumpled in, one knee raised to his chin, then fell back. Tom turned and tossed the knife from his right hand to his left hand, inverting it in the process, and sank it into the first soldier on the ground. Then he raised the knife and returned it to its sheath. Unslinging his carbine, he stood victorious for a moment, then ducked involuntarily as a bullet drilled a hole into the pillar just behind him. He jumped back, but a bullet still caught him in the arm. It whipped around, but Tom knew the shot hadn't penetrated. He would've felt it if it had.

Instead, the bullet hastened his speed into the condo room. Tom clutched his carbine tightly to his chest as he rammed his booted foot into the glass pane of the sliding patio door. The glass cracked and shattered, and Tom stepped through to find himself in a pleasant living room, roughly square, with a long hallway leading down to the door, a kitchen and pantry looking out at the dining table behind a couch, with bedrooms and bathrooms stacked to either side of the hallway. The master bedroom had a door opening out onto the same patio he had just been in.

The scent of salt was heavy, but comforting, as Tom opened fire on two Russians who had jumped out of the doorways into the hallway. Aiming at eye-level, the first bullet took the first Russian slightly to the left of his nose, shattering his jaw, and the second bullet took him in the temple. The other soldier opened fire on the only American currently in the room, and Tom's third shot out of the burst shattered a vase of flowers sitting on a pedestal next to the door.

Both soldiers ducked behind cover, but the Russian to no avail; the door behind him burst in, followed closely by an Angel insertion team. They quickly eliminated the last remaining Russian, then nodded to Tom before continuing on with their search. It must have been exhausting work, because there were so many rooms. But at least each room was about the same in terms of layout.

Tom shook himself, then returned to the balcony. The fight had become slightly more subdued, with the Ospreys circling and mowing over any targets. Tom barely had time to worry as a Russian lifted one of their single shot fire and forget rocket launchers and aimed it at an Osprey before an American materialized beside him and elbowed his cranium, then followed through by sliding his fore-arm up the Russians head until he grabbed the man's neck, pushing him back onto an upraised knee, and tearing him through with a combat blade. The launcher fell, then the soldier picked it up and aimed it at an artillery truck. The radar signature from the lock-on ability was Russian, so it bypassed the jammer and drilled a nice round hole in the side of the truck before exploding and blasting fragments everywhere. Tom knew from the soldier's confidence and lack of sympathy, as well as his Friend or Foe (FOF) tag, that it was Matt.

Seconds later, another soldier, this one Holly, mimicked Matt's move and cast more orange flames dancing through the destroyed hulk of the final artillery platform. Tom heard Scarlett's voice resound over the command frequency, “That's it! Shore defense artillery neutralized!”

Tom ran again and vaulted over the wrought iron rail, landing in the soft grass with a roll to break his fall. In front of him was a maze of moving metal monsters trying to move and get a clear shot at the Americans. What Tom wanted was to take one of their tanks and blow the rest of them away. So he came up to one likely looking MBT and jumped onto the top. He saw Holly already putting his plan into action, prying at the closed hatch to a different MBT. She gave the hatch a frustrated kick and a dent appeared in the metal. She hooked her fingers under the opening and hauled upwards, and the metal shrieked and screamed as it tore out. Finally she snapped the hatch completely off the hinges, and dropped down.

Tom followed her. No sense in trying to man a three-crew tank by himself. He ran over to the tank Holly was clearing, and as he jumped on top another figure literally fell from the sky and landed next to him. He quickly spun and leveled his carbine, but he recognized the figure as Scarlett. She popped up and gave a cheery smile, then they ran together to the top of the tank.

Holly had already cleared the interior, and they all jumped in and manned different control stations. Tom, of course, was driving. Holly was at the cannon firing controls, and Scarlett was up and manning the .50 cal machine gun mounted just in front of the now nonexistent hatch. Tom turned the tank around so it was facing the beach, but the turret remained facing the grassy courtyard, and Holly pulled the triggers, effectively blowing an MBT to heck.

But now the other Russians were onto them. Tom stopped the MBT just in time for another explosive to hit in front of him, casting dust all around. It was funny, because besides the dust and warfare it was a perfect day. The sun was shining, and it warm, even now during early Autumn. But the fighting ruined it for some reason.

Scarlett was repeatedly blasting away on the .50, and she had plenty of targets. The belt of ammunition flowed through the gun like water and came out the other side, minus the ammunition. The bright muzzle flash spread extra light around, jumping out in pale relief against the camo of the tank. As if it were needed. Scarlett's visor was tinted almost to its lowest setting.

Tom pushed the big engine to its max, rocketing forward, smashing over the cute picket fence and pushing into the sand. Tom had no idea if this would work, or even if the tank would work in sand, but the MBT only stalled for a moment, then leaped forward again, climbing the crest of one sand dune, falling down another, and crushing shrubbery. They passed the wooden jetty and moved onto the harder packed sand on the beach. MG nests were dug right into the sand, with the removed soil packed tightly into sandbags and laid around the pits. It was like sand- castle building on a professional scale, but instead of sandcastles, it was a pit for machine guns.

Spaces were left here and there between the sandbags for guns, and all of those spaces were occupied with guns mounted on tripods slightly dug into the sand below. In the middle of the larger pits were mortars, and Tom saw several caches of rockets and launchers in some nests. They were seriously armed. Apparently they really wanted this piece of real-estate. But they were at the disadvantage of playing as the visitor in this particular ball game. Tom was going to make sure he took advantage of every advantage he could get.
Tom let the flagging engine cool off for a moment as Holly and Scarlett opened fire, the MBT's big shells burrowing partway into the sand before exploding and casting mini dust storms everywhere. Scarlett lobbed a grenade, and it actually landed inside one of the MG nests. The soldiers screamed in terror and scrambled out, but they only met their end from a different means; either Holly's shots or Scarlett's took them out in ones, twos, and threes.

The MG nests turned to fire on their evidently renegade comrades even as US ships started to appear out of the mist and sea-spray in the distance. Sent ahead of them were F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), and they launched missiles into the sand. Apparently bunker-busters, because Tom heard three muffled 'thump's and then saw a large explosion cast bits and pieces of objects into the air. The soldiers in that nest were gone, literally, with the wind.

Tom saw a Destroyer-class vessel out in the ocean start to turn abreast, and seconds later a large ship-to-shore shell ate away another nest.

Bullets tore into the MBT, damaging it severely.

“It would seem they have armor piercing rounds. How intriguing.” Tom noted calmly.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Holly said lightly, jokingly, as she ducked lower in her seat after a trio of bullets smashed her headrest and threw sparks around.

Scarlett snarled above them, still firing full-automatic at anything that presented itself. Scarlett was usually happy and calm, but “you don't like me when I'm angry” applied here.

The heavy machine gun thumped and thudded as Scarlett walked the bullets over a pair of Russians attempting to load a rocket. The barrel now was hot as crap. The bullets impacted roughly, kicking up sand, and the men fell. A grenade cut through the air, and Scar caught it at the top of its arc. Not physically, but with her mind. Ah, the joys of Telekinesis.

Technically, she wasn't supposed to advertise that America's best were here and that they wanted this place so badly, but what was she going to do? Let a grenade fall on top of her? Instead she marginally changed the direction and let it fall behind them, creating an effective sand-screen between the pursuing men and the MBT. But the various shots, coupled with the bombardment from the ships, completely incased them in sand, and soon they weren't able to see. So it was a surprise to Tom when suddenly a huge, looming figure darkened into perspective, ''directly in front of him.''

Tom slammed the brakes and hit full reverse at the same time, allowing the tracks to spin, squeal and stop. The large, long figure drove alongside them and stopped. Holly was already swiveling to fire, but Scar was holding, and Tom figured out why three seconds later when Holly's FOF screen bleeped, warning her she was aiming at a fellow American unit.

The sand dissipated after a moment and Matt came into view, standing with one leg forward, knee bent and looking proudly superior. He peered down at them atop a Stryker MBT/APC and winked, calling, "Someone call in a the cavalry?"

Tom responded over the comm, a large grin on his face, "Nah, we've got it pretty much under control just another few hundred guys to go."

"Wouldn't miss it." Matt said, and crossed one leg over to the smaller Russian MBT, kept one leg planted on the Stryker, and helped everyone out of the Russian junk and onto the American ground superiority fighter. When Tom, the last one over, was situated, Matt helped himself down the ladder and took up position behind one of the control stations for the craft. Of course the turret gunner. He bumped a Corporal out of the way, waiting as Holly pulled up next to him and let another lieutenant get up, then sat down and buckled in behind the 7.62mm MG control station. Scar moved up and took the controls for the driver. Tom set his carbine aside and unlatched a MMG from the locker next to him, then crawled back out onto the top of the beast in order to shoot.

Tom was instantly met with scattered fire, but the Goliath of a tank rumbled forward and crushed one cover position after the next, Matt cutting the enemy down to size with a few blasts of the 120mm cannon and Holly helping out with the MG. Tom suppressed a pit with his own weapon, but he wasn't having as much fun up here, so he called, "I'm getting off and finding some real action. Anyone wanna come with?"

Matt acknowledged and unbuckled, moving to go and help Tom. Holly swiftly changed positions to mount the larger cannon, and Scarlett opened the bay door to let Matt down to the sand. Tom jumped off the top a moment later, doing a flip just to rile whatever army brass was watching him.

Matt followed, leaving the girls to themselves, as Tom led the way back away from the resort and towards the shore. They both slid into one of the MG pits amidst a sheet of bullets and casings, but they made it, and then four Russians were on them, up close. Matt brutally thrashed one of them with the stock of his gun, and Tom dodged an attack from another, swinging his heavier MMG around in an arc and catching the man's knee, making him collapse. Matt kicked out with his boot again and caught another man in the chest, sending him back and down, wheezing. Tom elbowed another in the side of the head, hearing his skull crack and watching dark blood start to flow through. These blows all did much more damage than a typical soldier would've, due to their ''abilities''. Tom especially, from his treatment.

Tom gave no mercy, twisting one's neck almost completely around with a roundhouse kick, sending another one who had just gotten to his feet back down with a forceful thrust from his knife, and kicked another in the kidney as Matt finished them off. Then Matt grabbed a gun on one side, Tom dropped his heavy MMG and pilfered a Russian automatic, then grabbed an MG on the opposite side of Matt. They opened fire, watching men, ''real'' men, who had been running towards them to re-inforce their comrades, die and drop like sticks as bullets tore into them.

Further down shore, the Stryker started taking fire. The Russians hadn't stopped at this one resort. They had occupied the beach up and down the coastline. The concentration of troops happened to be in the Coral Reef Resort.

The first of the transport boats neared the shore, carrying fifteen Marines to the beach. Aircraft flew overhead, pinning down resistance fire. However, amidst the scores of nests, some survived to shoot.

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-24T16:16:49Z

Will:

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-24T16:13:45Z

Will:

Atlantis: Harvest Reaper

2008-06-24T16:08:53Z

Will:

Hi, all! Welcome to the sneak preview excerpt site for Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, the second book in the series! If you have no idea at all what I'm talking about, type "Atlantis" into the search box on the top of this page at the left hand side, under the picture and the navigation box.

This first excerpt was written by Will Anderson, and the second and third by me, Brandon Krupczak. All are awesome scenes from our second book. See, we're planning in advance!

'''''Please note that the content of this page is an ongoing work in progress and the authors reserve the right to edit and/or reformat the page. Please also note that in this writing we mean no disrespect to any country, a book merely needs protagonists and antagonists.'''''

==Excerpt 1==

Suddenly an explosion rung through Tom's ears, and the flaming fragments of two police cars were rolling side over side.

Tom instinctively ducked for cover. He was crouched behind a beaten up green Honda Accord, panting. ''Think,'' Tom said to himself. He heard heavy footsteps approaching and the slightly harsh Russian language, but couldn't tell whether it was coming from the left or the right. He made a guess. His car was straight ahead of him. If he could just make a quick dash... everything seemed to flash before his eyes. The blur of the various cars seemed to come at him faster than thought.

A grenade clanged with a metallic thud to the ground. Tom could hear confused shouts echoing behind him. A barbaric war cry rang out over the parking lot and Tom ignored it, sprinting on.

He focused all of his energy on getting to his car. The high-pitched clank of bullets ricocheting off of cars rang out around him. 5 more yards to go. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Tom leaped into the silver Aston Martin DB''S'' with relief. Tom saw about 20 Iraqis trailing him, 6 with Stinger missiles. As the Russians aimed the explosive warheads, Tom made his move. A control panel slid into view. Tom pressed the glowing blue button labeled MISSILE LAUNCH. A red statement flashed in Tom's HUD: TARGET LOCK. Tom fired.

A heartbeat later, 15 Russians flew backwards about 35 feet. The Russians' high-pitched screams of agony were muffled as Tom's engine roared to life.

He sped forward, turning and skidding at the last second, coming around 180 with the hood of the car facing the remaining cowering Russians. He selected the button labeled OIL SLICK. "Shake and bake," Tom said to himself.

He pressed EJECT, and the honey-colored liquid jetted out, soaking three of the five remaining foes. A moment later, a nasty-looking flamethrower slid smoothly out of the hood of Tom's car, sending flame roaring towards the soldiers in tumbling curls. A detonation rocked Tom's ears as the flame collided with the oil-soaked soldiers.

The two remaining Iraqis assumed a crouched position about 40 feet away from Tom's car, AK-74's blazing. Tom didn't care; the bullets were ricocheting off of his bulletproof windows.

Tom went in full reverse about 20 feet backwards, then sped towards the pair of Russians. They screamed and dived to the side, dodging Tom's car. He had anticipated this, and now the Iraqis were behind him.

Tom loaded the rear machine gun and sprayed the two soldiers with such force that they were sent sprawling toward the ground.

Swerving again, he sped onto a side road, feeling the sheer power of his 705hp V12 engine. Tom knew that it wouldn't be long before more enemies were after him. He was right. About 1200 yards away, 6 Humvees menacingly engaged pursuit.

In the excerpt, it doesn't explain what happens to cause the situation to occur, but hey, that's why it's an excerpt.

==Excerpt 2==

Excerpt: A random team of extremely skilled archaeologists who happen to be somewhat good at fighting as well (written by Brandon):

"Carson, come look at this!" Eva exclaimed as she held up a small chunk of a silvery-gold piece of mica or chunk of some rock. Or at least, that's what this looked like to the untrained eye, because it was roughly formed in the shape of a spearhead. No one would have guessed that it was actually a piece of Orichalcum that survived all these years.

"Do you know what this is?" Carson asked, looking over excitedly.

"Yeah, of course! Better get this back to the lab." Eva exclaimed, genuine delight dancing in her pale Grey-dove eyes. This was probably the find of her career. Proving the existence of a mythological and ancient metal believed to have been found only on Atlantis! Five years ago, if you had said that word, most respected scientists and archaeologists would look at you like you were a nutcase and move on with their lives, only now minimizing contact with you. Now though... they would look at you with awe, fear, and respect flashing in their eyes as they recalled every scrap of information they had ever heard of the legendary super continent.

Plus, there was always the later bonus, after it was proven to exist, of some museum or collector buying it from them for a hefty some of cash, although that was only a secondary concern right now. Still though, Eva sometimes fantasized about how much she and the others on her archeology team could squeeze out of a wealthy bidder when times were tough and uncertain.

The archeology team she belonged to consisted of two women including herself, Eva Lane, the other being Caroline Jones, and five men; Tim Carson, Brian Kenderson, Anton Beckett, Al Shepard, and Fred Lane. Their team was headed by the animated Tim Carson. He was about fifty, with graying hair combed back neatly and streaks of black running in stripes. His tough, craggy face bespoke a rugged and powerful man, but his soft, baby-blue eyes ruined the image, portraying the gentle, caring father he was.

Brian Kenderson was the cousin of the famous Matthew Kenderson, one of the most well-known American names in the war. He was somewhat impulsive, and he liked to show off about how much he knew on just about every subject anyone cared to name, but he was pretty cool once you got to know him better. He was the team's technology expert, and he looked it at seventeen, with blond hair, just like his cousin, and a tough, lean face that was almost always bruised or cut, and dark, half moon circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.

Anton Beckett and Al Shepard were so similar they were always mixed up by everyone else around them. They could have passed for brothers despite their completely different families, even though Anton was twenty eight and Al was twenty five. They both had the same, slightly upturned noses and eyes that crinkled when they laughed.

Caroline Jones was the loudmouth of the group, with somewhat plump cheeks and orange-streaked hair. Her hazel eyes told the story of a bright and happy teen, at eighteen years old, and she was never without a smile on her face.

And then there was her perpetually annoying know-it-all younger brother, Fred. Fred and Brian hung out together the most of any of the team. Two peas in a pod, she always said. Both of them had an uncanny knack for intellectual subjects, except that Brian was built big and stocky and Fred was leaner and more wiry. His freckled face could look all too serious at times and too lighthearted and carefree at others. Both she and Fred had to stand up to something close along the lines of a celebrity treatment whenever they went anywhere, but that was only because they were cousins of the ultra-famous Thomas Lane, another of the best soldiers in the war. Fred could never live that down.

Anton walked over, examining the find. Here was proof. Not only did they now know for certain that Atlantis existed, they could actually see it on TV whenever they wanted. But this was proof that Plato hadn't been lying when he talked about a new metal. But the biggest thing of all was their location; Stonehenge, England. Literally on the ruins of the old monuments. Now just what they were for...

"Wow. I just can't believe it. Atlantians, or Atlantian traders, all the way out here?" Anton asked.

"Apparently so." Fred said. "And I'll bet a month's salary that there's more to be found around here."

"I'll also wager some cash that the higher-ups will claim this all for themselves under the grounds of funding and starting the expedition." Brian said. Of course Fred agreed whole-heartedly.

Their archeology team was a part of a bigger organization, the Foundation for the Study of Atlantian Artifacts, or FSAA. The organization was run by-

Eva's train of thought was interrupted by a harsh yell;

"Get them away from there! Quickly!" She looked up, and saw that about a hundred yards away, a fleet of five pickup trucks had parked, behind the perimeter fence bordering the monument.

"I'll go deal with them." Carson said quickly, exasperatedly. He reached into his back pocket as he walked off to the gate, pulling out the team's archeology pass permitting them to be here. Eva went back to her examination, the rest of the team combing over the site for any missed evidence.

Three of the men rushed up to the gates, and only now did Carson see that they were carrying AK-74 assault rifles and start to become apprehensive. He held the pass in front of him, glancing quickly back at the rest of the team. Fred was watching him intently, and Carson breathed a sigh of relief. If things got violent, Fred would be there to help him in a moment. Then again, he was only human, and these guys had guns.

Somebody was shouting at him in broken English. "You not supposed to be here!" He screamed, shouting directly in Carson's face.

"No, no, see, we have a pass." Carson said, putting on his best friendly smile. The other man stared back at him, a very unfriendly frown on his face.

"NO! You will not leave. At least, alive." The man said with a cold smile, chuckling to himself as if that was the funniest joke in the world.

Carson had only a second to panic before the soldier to his right raised the rifle cradled in his arms and fired. Less than a yard away, the man couldn't miss. But he somehow must have. Carson didn't feel anything. Just a vanishing fear...

He looked down at his body and was surprised to see his chest torn and bloody, with a steady stream of red liquid clouding his white T-shirt. He looked back, and his team was all looking up in stunned silence. Brian and Fred were running towards him at top speed. He should tell them there was nothing wrong. Carson frowned. Why were they running? There was no need. He was fine.

Carson looked back at the man who was holding his gun still, and the man shouted. But Carson couldn't here them. His brow knit further. The man's lips seemed to move in slow motion. But that only happened in movies, right? No sound was coming out. Carson dimly heard Fred calling his name, again in slow mo. Hmm. He really would have to talk to his doctor about this. Sudden loss of hearing and spacing out, making everything look slow. It was kind of disconcerting.

Suddenly Carson's strength fled out from his body, and he collapsed onto his knees. A picture of his son flipped out of his shirt pocket and fell to the ground. That was funny. It shouldn't have happened. Then Carson was aware he was tilting forward. He tried to correct his position but couldn't. That must have looked funny to the others. He struggled to grab the photo. He had to. It suddenly seemed like his entire life was focused on picking up that one photo, but his fingers barely obeyed him. When they came into view, they were trembling uncontrollably. He had to pick up the picture. His hands started to close around it...

A heavy boot came smashing down on Carson's fingers, making him let go the picture. He was distantly aware of a pain as three of his fingers broke, but that seemed to be happening to another person. Suddenly, three fingers hooked underneath his chin and raised it up. He stared into the dull brown... or was it brown? The color seemed to fade away, beginning with the edges of his vision and narrowing down until only the man's dull brown eyes still had color. Then the man reached into his back pocket and took out a handgun. It was an ugly, stubby looking thing. The man whispered something, and this time Carson heard it: "Good bye. Oh, and next time, don't take so long to die." The man said, then pulled the trigger.

Brian and Fred could only watch in horror, skidding to a stop, as Carson's head jerked back, the bullet entering his brain cavity.

Carson felt the pain this time. It was sharp, sudden, and intense. He thought about saying ow, so the others would know it hurt. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Now all color, even gray, was fading to black, and he could only see a pinprick of light in the distance. He saw a pair of wings gliding towards him. Unseen arms hooked behind his and started to carry him off. Off and into the light...

Brian cursed at the top of his lungs, but it didn't help any. Instead, the man with the pistol just raised the barrel, now aiming at him and Fred, and fired six rounds. His aim must have been pretty bad, because exactly like in the action movies, the bullets kicked up dust at their feet and around them, as if there was an invisible ball that encased them which would repel bullets. Hm. That was a cool idea.

Then Brian and Fred were yelling and scrambling for cover as those bullets stopped for the man to reload, and the two others raised their rifles and opened fire, sending new bullets skidding around the landscape. Fred branched off from Brian and dove behind a clump of rocks and out of sight, more soldiers streaming in through the gates. Meanwhile, the others of the team rushed for cover behind the monument, with the exception of Al. Al was too stunned to move, and as a result three bullets stitched diagonally upward across his chest. He bucked with each shot, collapsing with the third. He died instantly as the bullet cut his throat, unlike Carson. Carson died too slowly, with too much pain. Brian would get them for that one, even if he died as well.

Brian knew he was going down fighting if he had to at all, and he knew that Fred and Eva would be right beside him. These men were in for an unexpected challenge. Because Brian intended to win.

==Excerpt 3==

Captain Thomas Lane looked out onto the massive landscape below, stretching for miles and miles. It was the perfect example of the irony of Atlantis. Exotic green-leafed trees bearing bright fruits dotted the whole beach, intermingled with palm trees and an occasional pine tree. The moonlit night cast a ghostly shadow over the crystal-clear waters lapping up gently onto the shores.

Yet it was in this paradise that chaos chose to dig its grimy claws.

The enormous Dual-Thrust V-22 Osprey Heli-plane lurched back and forth in the cool night sky. Sparks ignited as tiny bullets licked up at the protective, bulletproof walls of the leviathan, ricocheting off into oblivion. Captain Thomas Lane gripped the holds tightly, attempting to keep himself from flying out into the empty space surrounding the Osprey.

Though he could be ensured a safe landing (he had survived that height of a fall before, and the exhaust thrusters wired into suit could act as a parachute), there was still the problem of the AA fire pounding repeatedly, and not to mention the swarms of small arms fire buzzing around. Even if he managed to land safely, he would still be far away from the squad and have to fight his way into the drop zone. In short, falling would not be a good idea.

With that in mind, his grip tightened on the sturdy hold as the Osprey kicked back and forth, executing the simplest of evasive maneuvers. Still, it was effective, and most of the shots fired at their craft whizzed straight by on one side or the other.

Tom turned around to survey the rest of the deployment bay on the craft. There he was, 18 years, fair-haired, 6 foot, outfitted in his personalized, jet black Mk. III Tactical Battle Armor (TBA). The hard outer shell, form-fitting interior hydrostatic gel layer that could literally absorb bullets, and alloy coating on the exterior that was designed to repel the shock-waves from explosions made up the protective part of his suit. The environmental layer in the interior would heat or cool automatically and accordingly to the soldier's needs. The outer, bulletproof exoskeleton shell was, obviously, to block bullets and other shrapnel or fragments. The surrounding material that was not on his chest was water-proof, jet-black, and camouflaged, making Tom borderline invisible at night. The backpack fitted on the back of the suit was fitted with exhaust thrusters, like you read, to act as a parachute to break a fall, or to assist a jump. His comm pack was mounted on top of the backpack, directly behind his helmet. His helmet-integrated Heads-Up Display (HUD) was constantly feeding him information, displaying his next objective, team's tactical situation, his location on a mini-map, and statistics for the armor's overall condition as well as his and his team's vital signs. Another ability of his HUD was an image-enhancement where he could "zoom in" on a target. His helmet could switch between infrared, night-vision, thermal, and normal modes. He could also take videos or pictures to send back to base via satellite. In short, Tom and his suit were ready to kick some major enemy butt.

Also in the Osprey was a dedicated team of the USA's best, their overall regiment fittingly titled, “Angel Regiment.” They were the best the military had to offer, all sporting the latest armor, equipment, and technology, just as Tom. Their assortment of weaponry included mostly carbines and assault rifles, with a few specialized troops toting the heavier Squad Automatic Weapons, more colloquially known as SAWs. The heavy bullets from these Medium Machine Guns (MMGs) complimented the long-ranged snipers that some of the unit carried. Tom saw in them the same cold-hard determination he saw in Holly and Matt's eyes, as well as the steel calmness and concentration he saw in Scarlett's eyes as she was about to decapitate someone with her sniper.

“Comm check!” Tom barked in perfect imitation of the Drill Sargent (DS) from camp, and some of the soldiers chuckled before the first Angeler, designated A/1, called, “A/1, reporting!” and directly after him, “A/2, ready!” then, “A/3, locked and loaded!” until it got to “A/10, ready to go!” Then it changed to, “B/1, ready and waiting!” and so on down until it reached, “B/10, awaiting orders,” which is when it transferred to C/1 all the way to C/10. So thirty troops in all under Tom's command.

The comm. system in Tom's backpack seemed to be working. Everything else was good to go.

The dropship reached the target location; the Coral Reef Resort compound in St. Augustine, Florida. Tom, in the front of the line to get to one of the droplines, hooked his carabiner to the rope and braced himself in the doorway. The jump indicator light by the door blinked to life, casting a red glow on the gathered soldiers. Six men were lined up for each of the five drop points from the humongous V-22, their filthy, battle-marked faces shining and their sweat cutting rivulets through the grime. With the bay doors still closed, though, Tom was allowed only a limited view of the surrounding area, and an even more limited wind current. What he could see was worth this roasting flight, though; a stunning array of beach and water, with cozy little buildings nestled right in against the shoreline. Long wooden walkways stretched over sand dunes and to the waves from the courtyard of pools and tennis courts of the Coral Reef buildings.

The compound was a basic paradise, with three condo buildings arranged around the center courtyard area, with the shoreline open and the walkway extending from a tiled pool area. Back behind the pool, away from the sand, was a large, grassy area that people used to fly kites and other fun stuff. Tom decided, though, that somehow the collection of Russian tanks, APCs, and helicopters, plus their drivers and pilots, that were currently taking residence in the grassy part of the courtyard ruined the image, as did the heavily armed snipers atop the roofs of the three buildings. The machine gun nests dug in the sand facing the water didn't help, nor did the mobile anti-ship artillery platforms squatting like ugly beetles at the edge of the sand.

''All that they're missing is an Anti Aircraft battery. How ironic,'' Tom thought.

The Osprey approached the drop location on the top of a roof. The flat-topped building made a perfect combat area, due to all the metal pipes and equipment up there, so they'd have plenty of cover. After the Osprey dropped them down, it would circle the building and unload, emptying all of its ammunition until it ran out of shots or targets. Tom could already imagine the fiendish lust lighting up the gunner's face as he tore into the enemy troops, a pale man of twenty-two with a red beard.

The doors slid open, but the light remained red, saying he should wait. Tom was afforded a better view now, and he could see the multitude of other Ospreys flying at top speed towards the resort. He knew that three separate Ospreys held his three closest friends, along with the rest of Angel.

Captain Scarlett Miller, blond haired, her bright personality extracting many laughs from anyone in her presence. She constantly had a smile on her face, replaced by a snarl only in battle. Tom smiled at the memory. He wasn't a bit surprised that Matt had fallen for Scarlett. Also effective at her job; shooting to kill. A great team player, she loved the thrill of combat and her leadership position in it. She could work with her team to achieve anything. But she had patience as well. She was gentle and caring, which Tom had thought at first not great qualities in a soldier. But he turned out to be wrong for once. Scarlett was great at balancing hatred and love.

Captain Holly Dayne. On the outside, dark and mysterious, her expression a combination of thought and memory. Cheerful among her friends, she held no sympathy for enemies. She was trained extensively in the many arts of combat. She was good at hitting from the flanks and enjoyed being the stealthiest member out of the four of them. Her black hair and darker disposition had earned her the joking name of “goth” by a girl during her year in 6th Grade, but the truth was that she was just tired, and although she was happy with her friends, she could look all too serious at times.

Captain Matthew Kenderson, also sporting dirty-blond hair, literally as well as just the name for the color, big and built more heavily than Tom. A good leader and better friend, if you got to know him right. A skilled warrior, but he was no good at compromising. He loved to have his way, and he usually got it. Tom recalled a mental image of his friend, examining the dark, half-moon circles under Matt's eyes in his mind. All of the team had that though, from lack of sleep and all the battle-induced adrenaline. He almost always had a thoughtful expression.

Not all of the Ospreys were carrying troops. With only 200 men and women in Angel, only seven of the twelve V-22s were carrying soldiers. The last five Ospreys had their cargo compartments taken out and grappling hooks in their place, with two Stryker Main Battle Tank (MBT)/Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) all terrain vehicles latched onto each Osprey's hooks. The military was spending serious bucks to repel the Russians out of this place.

From his vantage point, Tom could see the famous St. Augustine Fort in the distance, guarding the bay mouth. It was currently occupied by US troops, and it was their starting point for the flight. The short hop from the fort to the resort was strewn with enemy sniper and MG nests, which harassed the pilots on the ride.

Tom felt and heard, more than saw, the heavy, mounted chaingun open fire next to him, the gunner suppressing the landing zone. “Hot LZ! Repeat! LZ is hot!” he screamed over the noise, and Tom gulped. He didn't like landing in a wall of brass. As if to comfort him and to ease his concern, the co-pilot chose that moment to open fire with the nose mounted dual repeating 35mm cannon, and thus scattering the gathered welcoming party below. Tom preferred to enter unannounced, but this was a close second, made better as a Cobra gunship tore the roof to shreds and drowned it in depleted shells, causing bodies to flail and fall.

“Green light! Go go GO!” the voice of a soldier cried out, and Tom realized that the light had indeed turned green. Without another seconds thought, he kicked the coiled rope out the open door, then launched himself over the edge, jumping headfirst, before the rope caught him and yanked his feet out in front of him. He free-fell most of the way down, then tightened his grip once he got closer to the bottom. He stopped himself just in time to land lightly in a crouch with his M9 carbine extended and leveled, but he found no targets, so he continued on to a better cover position.

The plan was to take out the anti-ship artillery and distract the MG pits dug on the beach so that a larger invasion force could come in from the water and make a beachhead. Simple and short. But the primary mission goal was to live.

Originally, Tom had just planned to wipe out the artillery with a guided rocket, but the artillery was heavily armored, and more importantly, the jammer mounted on their hoods prevented radar locks, making it impossible to launch a guided missile.

So Tom had reconsidered, and now they had to get in close to plant explosives and strap them to the vehicles. God forbid he should have it easy.

No, and the Russians weren't about to help. The snipers on the roof building opposite the building Tom was on turned to fire at him, and the snipers on his building turned to fire into Matt's incoming soldiers as they landed.

Tom barked orders rapidly, “A units! Search and Destroy! Take out any and all snipers on our building. B and C, cover the entrances. Don't get yourself shot and watch those snipers on the other buildings!” To emphasize his point, a trio of shots urged the men to take cover, and one fell after taking a bullet in his knee. The armor stopped it, but internal bleeding was inevitable. The man collapsed, but he was dragged to cover by another soldier.

Tom ducked a bullet and shifted off to the side in time for more shots to kick up the roof material and one to implant itself in a metal vent. Crouching behind a low stone pillar, he was able to lean slightly out from behind cover and drop a Russian on the ground by the pool. He twisted over backwards as he fell, and he came to rest at the bottom of the water after a fair splash. Tom ducked back as more bullets came within inches of his head. He wished he could just blind-fire with his gun above his cover and unload, but Matt and his squad were on the other side, so instead he darted to his left, spinning behind another piece of cover, then fired and worked his way to the front of the building.

Tom lay prone behind the three-foot high stone border railing on the roof, anchored on one elbow as he returned the substantial fire from the ground and railings of the resort buildings. It really was a shame to kill people here. He'd be thinking about that for the rest of his life, however long or short that would be.

A sudden explosion barely three feet from him left a divot in the concrete, casting a burnt, charred smell in the air. He blinked, shocked that a missile had landed so near without him knowing. Until the blast anyways.

He needed a better position. When he sensed a lull of fire, he pushed himself up into a half-crouch, then vaulted over the edge of the building. It was five stories high, but he wasn't going down all five. Instead he landed on the balcony of a top story room, and the two Russians on either side of him recoiled in surprise. He glanced condescendingly at one, scowling, then elbowed each in the face, grabbed their heads, and smashed them together, just like the movies.

Unfortunately, the movies rarely had enemies with helmets, and the two clanged together, dazed, then shook their heads. Tom cursed and cut one's legs out from under him with his boot, and the man fell to the ground. Tom let go of that one and pulled his six inch combat knife from its sheath, continuing the momentum, and shoving it into the second soldier. The man crumpled in, one knee raised to his chin, then fell back. Tom turned and tossed the knife from his right hand to his left hand, inverting it in the process, and sank it into the first soldier on the ground. Then he raised the knife and returned it to its sheath. Unslinging his carbine, he stood victorious for a moment, then ducked involuntarily as a bullet drilled a hole into the pillar just behind him. He jumped back, but a bullet still caught him in the arm. It whipped around, but Tom knew the shot hadn't penetrated. He would've felt it if it had.

Instead, the bullet hastened his speed into the condo room. Tom clutched his carbine tightly to his chest as he rammed his booted foot into the glass pane of the sliding patio door. The glass cracked and shattered, and Tom stepped through to find himself in a pleasant living room, roughly square, with a long hallway leading down to the door, a kitchen and pantry looking out at the dining table behind a couch, with bedrooms and bathrooms stacked to either side of the hallway. The master bedroom had a door opening out onto the same patio he had just been in.

The scent of salt was heavy, but comforting, as Tom opened fire on two Russians who had jumped out of the doorways into the hallway. Aiming at eye-level, the first bullet took the first Russian slightly to the left of his nose, shattering his jaw, and the second bullet took him in the temple. The other soldier opened fire on the only American currently in the room, and Tom's third shot out of the burst shattered a vase of flowers sitting on a pedestal next to the door.

Both soldiers ducked behind cover, but the Russian to no avail; the door behind him burst in, followed closely by an Angel insertion team. They quickly eliminated the last remaining Russian, then nodded to Tom before continuing on with their search. It must have been exhausting work, because there were so many rooms. But at least each room was about the same in terms of layout.

Tom shook himself, then returned to the balcony. The fight had become slightly more subdued, with the Ospreys circling and mowing over any targets. Tom barely had time to worry as a Russian lifted one of their single shot fire and forget rocket launchers and aimed it at an Osprey before an American materialized beside him and elbowed his cranium, then followed through by sliding his fore-arm up the Russians head until he grabbed the man's neck, pushing him back onto an upraised knee, and tearing him through with a combat blade. The launcher fell, then the soldier picked it up and aimed it at an artillery truck. The radar signature from the lock-on ability was Russian, so it bypassed the jammer and drilled a nice round hole in the side of the truck before exploding and blasting fragments everywhere. Tom knew from the soldier's confidence and lack of sympathy, as well as his Friend or Foe (FOF) tag, that it was Matt.

Seconds later, another soldier, this one Holly, mimicked Matt's move and cast more orange flames dancing through the destroyed hulk of the final artillery platform. Tom heard Scarlett's voice resound over the command frequency, “That's it! Shore defense artillery neutralized!”

Tom ran again and vaulted over the wrought iron rail, landing in the soft grass with a roll to break his fall. In front of him was a maze of moving metal monsters trying to move and get a clear shot at the Americans. What Tom wanted was to take one of their tanks and blow the rest of them away. So he came up to one likely looking MBT and jumped onto the top. He saw Holly already putting his plan into action, prying at the closed hatch to a different MBT. She gave the hatch a frustrated kick and a dent appeared in the metal. She hooked her fingers under the opening and hauled upwards, and the metal shrieked and screamed as it tore out. Finally she snapped the hatch completely off the hinges, and dropped down.

Tom followed her. No sense in trying to man a three-crew tank by himself. He ran over to the tank Holly was clearing, and as he jumped on top another figure literally fell from the sky and landed next to him. He quickly spun and leveled his carbine, but he recognized the figure as Scarlett. She popped up and gave a cheery smile, then they ran together to the top of the tank.

Holly had already cleared the interior, and they all jumped in and manned different control stations. Tom, of course, was driving. Holly was at the cannon firing controls, and Scarlett was up and manning the .50 cal machine gun mounted just in front of the now nonexistent hatch. Tom turned the tank around so it was facing the beach, but the turret remained facing the grassy courtyard, and Holly pulled the triggers, effectively blowing an MBT to heck.

But now the other Russians were onto them. Tom stopped the MBT just in time for another explosive to hit in front of him, casting dust all around. It was funny, because besides the dust and warfare it was a perfect day. The sun was shining, and it warm, even now during early Autumn. But the fighting ruined it for some reason.

Scarlett was repeatedly blasting away on the .50, and she had plenty of targets. The belt of ammunition flowed through the gun like water and came out the other side, minus the ammunition. The bright muzzle flash spread extra light around, jumping out in pale relief against the camo of the tank. As if it were needed. Scarlett's visor was tinted almost to its lowest setting.

Tom pushed the big engine to its max, rocketing forward, smashing over the cute picket fence and pushing into the sand. Tom had no idea if this would work, or even if the tank would work in sand, but the MBT only stalled for a moment, then leaped forward again, climbing the crest of one sand dune, falling down another, and crushing shrubbery. They passed the wooden jetty and moved onto the harder packed sand on the beach. MG nests were dug right into the sand, with the removed soil packed tightly into sandbags and laid around the pits. It was like sand- castle building on a professional scale, but instead of sandcastles, it was a pit for machine guns.

Spaces were left here and there between the sandbags for guns, and all of those spaces were occupied with guns mounted on tripods slightly dug into the sand below. In the middle of the larger pits were mortars, and Tom saw several caches of rockets and launchers in some nests. They were seriously armed. Apparently they really wanted this piece of real-estate. But they were at the disadvantage of playing as the visitor in this particular ball game. Tom was going to make sure he took advantage of every advantage he could get.
Tom let the flagging engine cool off for a moment as Holly and Scarlett opened fire, the MBT's big shells burrowing partway into the sand before exploding and casting mini dust storms everywhere. Scarlett lobbed a grenade, and it actually landed inside one of the MG nests. The soldiers screamed in terror and scrambled out, but they only met their end from a different means; either Holly's shots or Scarlett's took them out in ones, twos, and threes.

The MG nests turned to fire on their evidently renegade comrades even as US ships started to appear out of the mist and sea-spray in the distance. Sent ahead of them were F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), and they launched missiles into the sand. Apparently bunker-busters, because Tom heard three muffled 'thump's and then saw a large explosion cast bits and pieces of objects into the air. The soldiers in that nest were gone, literally, with the wind.

Tom saw a Destroyer-class vessel out in the ocean start to turn abreast, and seconds later a large ship-to-shore shell ate away another nest.

Bullets tore into the MBT, damaging it severely.

“It would seem they have armor piercing rounds. How intriguing.” Tom noted calmly.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Holly said lightly, jokingly, as she ducked lower in her seat after a trio of bullets smashed her headrest and threw sparks around.

Scarlett snarled above them, still firing full-automatic at anything that presented itself. Scarlett was usually happy and calm, but “you don't like me when I'm angry” applied here.

The heavy machine gun thumped and thudded as Scarlett walked the bullets over a pair of Russians attempting to load a rocket. The barrel now was hot as crap. The bullets impacted roughly, kicking up sand, and the men fell. A grenade cut through the air, and Scar caught it at the top of its arc. Not physically, but with her mind. Ah, the joys of Telekinesis.

Technically, she wasn't supposed to advertise that America's best were here and that they wanted this place so badly, but what was she going to do? Let a grenade fall on top of her? Instead she marginally changed the direction and let it fall behind them, creating an effective sand-screen between the pursuing men and the MBT. But the various shots, coupled with the bombardment from the ships, completely incased them in sand, and soon they weren't able to see. So it was a surprise to Tom when suddenly a huge, looming figure darkened into perspective, ''directly in front of him.''

Tom slammed the brakes and hit full reverse at the same time, allowing the tracks to spin, squeal and stop. The large, long figure drove alongside them and stopped. Holly was already swiveling to fire, but Scar was holding, and Tom figured out why three seconds later when Holly's FOF screen bleeped, warning her she was aiming at a fellow American unit.

The sand dissipated after a moment and Matt came into view, standing with one leg forward, knee bent and looking proudly superior. He peered down at them atop a Stryker MBT/APC and winked, calling, "Someone call in a the cavalry?"

Tom responded over the comm, a large grin on his face, "Nah, we've got it pretty much under control just another few hundred guys to go."

"Wouldn't miss it." Matt said, and crossed one leg over to the smaller Russian MBT, kept one leg planted on the Stryker, and helped everyone out of the Russian junk and onto the American ground superiority fighter. When Tom, the last one over, was situated, Matt helped himself down the ladder and took up position behind one of the control stations for the craft. Of course the turret gunner. He bumped a Corporal out of the way, waiting as Holly pulled up next to him and let another lieutenant get up, then sat down and buckled in behind the 7.62mm MG control station. Scar moved up and took the controls for the driver. Tom set his carbine aside and unlatched a MMG from the locker next to him, then crawled back out onto the top of the beast in order to shoot.

Tom was instantly met with scattered fire, but the Goliath of a tank rumbled forward and crushed one cover position after the next, Matt cutting the enemy down to size with a few blasts of the 120mm cannon and Holly helping out with the MG. Tom suppressed a pit with his own weapon, but he wasn't having as much fun up here, so he called, "I'm getting off and finding some real action. Anyone wanna come with?"

Matt acknowledged and unbuckled, moving to go and help Tom. Holly swiftly changed positions to mount the larger cannon, and Scarlett opened the bay door to let Matt down to the sand. Tom jumped off the top a moment later, doing a flip just to rile whatever army brass was watching him.

Matt followed, leaving the girls to themselves, as Tom led the way back away from the resort and towards the shore. They both slid into one of the MG pits amidst a sheet of bullets and casings, but they made it, and then four Russians were on them, up close. Matt brutally thrashed one of them with the stock of his gun, and Tom dodged an attack from another, swinging his heavier MMG around in an arc and catching the man's knee, making him collapse. Matt kicked out with his boot again and caught another man in the chest, sending him back and down, wheezing. Tom elbowed another in the side of the head, hearing his skull crack and watching dark blood start to flow through. These blows all did much more damage than a typical soldier would've, due to their ''abilities''. Tom especially, from his treatment.

Tom gave no mercy, twisting one's neck almost completely around with a roundhouse kick, sending another one who had just gotten to his feet back down with a forceful thrust from his knife, and kicked another in the kidney as Matt finished them off. Then Matt grabbed a gun on one side, Tom dropped his heavy MMG and pilfered a Russian automatic, then grabbed an MG on the opposite side of Matt. They opened fire, watching men, ''real'' men, who had been running towards them to re-inforce their comrades, die and drop like sticks as bullets tore into them.

Further down shore, the Stryker started taking fire. The Russians hadn't stopped at this one resort. They had occupied the beach up and down the coastline. The concentration of troops happened to be in the Coral Reef Resort.

The first of the transport boats neared the shore, carrying fifteen Marines to the beach. Aircraft flew overhead, pinning down resistance fire. However, amidst the scores of nests, some survived to shoot.

Atlantis: Harvest Reaper

2008-06-22T23:21:10Z

Will:

Hi, all! Welcome to the sneak preview excerpt site for Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, the second book in the series! If you have no idea at all what I'm talking about, type "Atlantis" into the search box on the top of this page at the left hand side, under the picture and the navigation box.

This first excerpt was written by Will Anderson, and the second and third by me, Brandon Krupczak. All are awesome scenes from our second book. See, we're planning in advance!

'''''Please note that the content of this page is an ongoing work in progress and the authors reserve the right to edit and/or reformat the page. Please also note that in this writing we mean no disrespect to any country, a book merely needs protagonists and antagonists.'''''

==Excerpt 1==

Suddenly an explosion rung through Tom's ears, and the flaming fragments of two police cars were rolling side over side.

Tom instinctively ducked for cover. He was crouched behind a beaten up green Honda Accord, panting. ''Think,'' Tom said to himself. He heard heavy footsteps approaching and the slightly harsh Russian language, but couldn't tell whether it was coming from the left or the right. He made a guess. His car was straight ahead of him. If he could just make a quick dash... everything seemed to flash before his eyes. The blur of the various cars seemed to come at him faster than thought.

A grenade clanged with a metallic thud to the ground. Tom could hear confused shouts echoing behind him. A barbaric war cry rang out over the parking lot and Tom ignored it, sprinting on.

He focused all of his energy on getting to his car. The high-pitched clank of bullets ricocheting off of cars rang out around him. 5 more yards to go. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Tom leaped into the silver Aston Martin DB''S'' with relief. Tom saw about 20 Iraqis trailing him, 6 with Stinger missiles. As the Russians aimed the explosive warheads, Tom made his move. A control panel slid into view. Tom pressed the glowing blue button labeled MISSILE LAUNCH. A red statement flashed in Tom's HUD: TARGET LOCK. Tom fired.

A heartbeat later, 15 Russians flew backwards about 35 feet. The Russians' high-pitched screams of agony were muffled as Tom's engine roared to life.

He sped forward, turning and skidding at the last second, coming around 180 with the hood of the car facing the remaining cowering Russians. He selected the button labeled OIL SLICK. "Shake and bake," Tom said to himself.

He pressed EJECT, and the honey-colored liquid jetted out, soaking three of the five remaining foes. A moment later, a nasty-looking flamethrower slid smoothly out of the hood of Tom's car, sending flame roaring towards the soldiers in tumbling curls. A detonation rocked Tom's ears as the flame collided with the oil-soaked soldiers.

The two remaining Iraqis assumed a crouched position about 40 feet away from Tom's car, AK-74's blazing. Tom didn't care; the bullets were ricocheting off of his bulletproof windows.

Tom went in full reverse about 20 feet backwards, then sped towards the pair of Russians. They screamed and dived to the side, dodging Tom's car. He had anticipated this, and now the Iraqis were behind him.

Tom loaded the rear machine gun and sprayed the two soldiers with such force that they were sent sprawling toward the ground.

Swerving again, he sped onto a side road, feeling the sheer power of his 705hp V12 engine. Tom knew that it wouldn't be long before more enemies were after him. He was right. About 1200 yards away, 6 Humvees menacingly engaged pursuit.

In the excerpt, it doesn't explain what happens to cause the situation to occur, but hey, that's why it's an excerpt.

==Excerpt 2==

Excerpt: A random team of extremely skilled archaeologists who happen to be somewhat good at fighting as well (written by Brandon):

"Carson, come look at this!" Eva exclaimed as she held up a small chunk of a silvery-gold piece of mica or chunk of some rock. Or at least, that's what this looked like to the untrained eye, because it was roughly formed in the shape of a spearhead. No one would have guessed that it was actually a piece of Orichalcum that survived all these years.

"Do you know what this is?" Carson asked, looking over excitedly.

"Yeah, of course! Better get this back to the lab." Eva exclaimed, genuine delight dancing in her pale Grey-dove eyes. This was probably the find of her career. Proving the existence of a mythological and ancient metal believed to have been found only on Atlantis! Five years ago, if you had said that word, most respected scientists and archaeologists would look at you like you were a nutcase and move on with their lives, only now minimizing contact with you. Now though... they would look at you with awe, fear, and respect flashing in their eyes as they recalled every scrap of information they had ever heard of the legendary super continent.

Plus, there was always the later bonus, after it was proven to exist, of some museum or collector buying it from them for a hefty some of cash, although that was only a secondary concern right now. Still though, Eva sometimes fantasized about how much she and the others on her archeology team could squeeze out of a wealthy bidder when times were tough and uncertain.

The archeology team she belonged to consisted of two women including herself, Eva Lane, the other being Caroline Jones, and five men; Tim Carson, Brian Kenderson, Anton Beckett, Al Shepard, and Fred Lane. Their team was headed by the animated Tim Carson. He was about fifty, with graying hair combed back neatly and streaks of black running in stripes. His tough, craggy face bespoke a rugged and powerful man, but his soft, baby-blue eyes ruined the image, portraying the gentle, caring father he was.

Brian Kenderson was the cousin of the famous Matthew Kenderson, one of the most well-known American names in the war. He was somewhat impulsive, and he liked to show off about how much he knew on just about every subject anyone cared to name, but he was pretty cool once you got to know him better. He was the team's technology expert, and he looked it at seventeen, with blond hair, just like his cousin, and a tough, lean face that was almost always bruised or cut, and dark, half moon circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.

Anton Beckett and Al Shepard were so similar they were always mixed up by everyone else around them. They could have passed for brothers despite their completely different families, even though Anton was twenty eight and Al was twenty five. They both had the same, slightly upturned noses and eyes that crinkled when they laughed.

Caroline Jones was the loudmouth of the group, with somewhat plump cheeks and orange-streaked hair. Her hazel eyes told the story of a bright and happy teen, at eighteen years old, and she was never without a smile on her face.

And then there was her perpetually annoying know-it-all younger brother, Fred. Fred and Brian hung out together the most of any of the team. Two peas in a pod, she always said. Both of them had an uncanny knack for intellectual subjects, except that Brian was built big and stocky and Fred was leaner and more wiry. His freckled face could look all too serious at times and too lighthearted and carefree at others. Both she and Fred had to stand up to something close along the lines of a celebrity treatment whenever they went anywhere, but that was only because they were cousins of the ultra-famous Thomas Lane, another of the best soldiers in the war. Fred could never live that down.

Anton walked over, examining the find. Here was proof. Not only did they now know for certain that Atlantis existed, they could actually see it on TV whenever they wanted. But this was proof that Plato hadn't been lying when he talked about a new metal. But the biggest thing of all was their location; Stonehenge, England. Literally on the ruins of the old monuments. Now just what they were for...

"Wow. I just can't believe it. Atlantians, or Atlantian traders, all the way out here?" Anton asked.

"Apparently so." Fred said. "And I'll bet a month's salary that there's more to be found around here."

"I'll also wager some cash that the higher-ups will claim this all for themselves under the grounds of funding and starting the expedition." Brian said. Of course Fred agreed whole-heartedly.

Their archeology team was a part of a bigger organization, the Foundation for the Study of Atlantian Artifacts, or FSAA. The organization was run by-

Eva's train of thought was interrupted by a harsh yell;

"Get them away from there! Quickly!" She looked up, and saw that about a hundred yards away, a fleet of five pickup trucks had parked, behind the perimeter fence bordering the monument.

"I'll go deal with them." Carson said quickly, exasperatedly. He reached into his back pocket as he walked off to the gate, pulling out the team's archeology pass permitting them to be here. Eva went back to her examination, the rest of the team combing over the site for any missed evidence.

Three of the men rushed up to the gates, and only now did Carson see that they were carrying AK-74 assault rifles and start to become apprehensive. He held the pass in front of him, glancing quickly back at the rest of the team. Fred was watching him intently, and Carson breathed a sigh of relief. If things got violent, Fred would be there to help him in a moment. Then again, he was only human, and these guys had guns.

Somebody was shouting at him in broken English. "You not supposed to be here!" He screamed, shouting directly in Carson's face.

"No, no, see, we have a pass." Carson said, putting on his best friendly smile. The other man stared back at him, a very unfriendly frown on his face.

"NO! You will not leave. At least, alive." The man said with a cold smile, chuckling to himself as if that was the funniest joke in the world.

Carson had only a second to panic before the soldier to his right raised the rifle cradled in his arms and fired. Less than a yard away, the man couldn't miss. But he somehow must have. Carson didn't feel anything. Just a vanishing fear...

He looked down at his body and was surprised to see his chest torn and bloody, with a steady stream of red liquid clouding his white T-shirt. He looked back, and his team was all looking up in stunned silence. Brian and Fred were running towards him at top speed. He should tell them there was nothing wrong. Carson frowned. Why were they running? There was no need. He was fine.

Carson looked back at the man who was holding his gun still, and the man shouted. But Carson couldn't here them. His brow knit further. The man's lips seemed to move in slow motion. But that only happened in movies, right? No sound was coming out. Carson dimly heard Fred calling his name, again in slow mo. Hmm. He really would have to talk to his doctor about this. Sudden loss of hearing and spacing out, making everything look slow. It was kind of disconcerting.

Suddenly Carson's strength fled out from his body, and he collapsed onto his knees. A picture of his son flipped out of his shirt pocket and fell to the ground. That was funny. It shouldn't have happened. Then Carson was aware he was tilting forward. He tried to correct his position but couldn't. That must have looked funny to the others. He struggled to grab the photo. He had to. It suddenly seemed like his entire life was focused on picking up that one photo, but his fingers barely obeyed him. When they came into view, they were trembling uncontrollably. He had to pick up the picture. His hands started to close around it...

A heavy boot came smashing down on Carson's fingers, making him let go the picture. He was distantly aware of a pain as three of his fingers broke, but that seemed to be happening to another person. Suddenly, three fingers hooked underneath his chin and raised it up. He stared into the dull brown... or was it brown? The color seemed to fade away, beginning with the edges of his vision and narrowing down until only the man's dull brown eyes still had color. Then the man reached into his back pocket and took out a handgun. It was an ugly, stubby looking thing. The man whispered something, and this time Carson heard it: "Good bye. Oh, and next time, don't take so long to die." The man said, then pulled the trigger.

Brian and Fred could only watch in horror, skidding to a stop, as Carson's head jerked back, the bullet entering his brain cavity.

Carson felt the pain this time. It was sharp, sudden, and intense. He thought about saying ow, so the others would know it hurt. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Now all color, even gray, was fading to black, and he could only see a pinprick of light in the distance. He saw a pair of wings gliding towards him. Unseen arms hooked behind his and started to carry him off. Off and into the light...

Brian cursed at the top of his lungs, but it didn't help any. Instead, the man with the pistol just raised the barrel, now aiming at him and Fred, and fired six rounds. His aim must have been pretty bad, because exactly like in the action movies, the bullets kicked up dust at their feet and around them, as if there was an invisible ball that encased them which would repel bullets. Hm. That was a cool idea.

Then Brian and Fred were yelling and scrambling for cover as those bullets stopped for the man to reload, and the two others raised their rifles and opened fire, sending new bullets skidding around the landscape. Fred branched off from Brian and dove behind a clump of rocks and out of sight, more soldiers streaming in through the gates. Meanwhile, the others of the team rushed for cover behind the monument, with the exception of Al. Al was too stunned to move, and as a result three bullets stitched diagonally upward across his chest. He bucked with each shot, collapsing with the third. He died instantly as the bullet cut his throat, unlike Carson. Carson died too slowly, with too much pain. Brian would get them for that one, even if he died as well.

Brian knew he was going down fighting if he had to at all, and he knew that Fred and Eva would be right beside him. These men were in for an unexpected challenge. Because Brian intended to win.

==Excerpt 3==

The enormous Dual-Thrust V-22 Osprey Heliplane lurched as small arms fire licked up at the protective, bulletproof walls of the leviathan. The tiny projectiles skittered against the adamant metal, glancing and ricocheting off the compound substance. Captain Thomas Lane gripped the holds tightly, attempting to keep himself from flying out into the empty space surrounding the Osprey.

He might have survived the fall. The aircraft wasn't actually very high. In fact just the opposite; they were barely skimming across the tops of the ten story buildings. He'd jumped from that height before and lived. How hard would it be? Of course there was the AA fire coming from below. That could present a problem. And he wouldn't be able to complete his mission from there. Needless to say, he probably didn't want to fall.

With that in mind, his grip tightened on the sturdy hold as the Osprey kicked back and forth, executing the simplest of evasive maneuvers. Still, it was effective, and most of the shots fired at their craft whizzed straight by on one side or the other.

Tom turned around to survey the rest of the deployment bay on the craft. There was himself, 18 years, fair-haired, 6 foot, outfitted in his personalized, Olive-Drab Mk. III Tactical Battle Armor. The hard, outer shell, coupled with the form-fitting hydrostatic gel layers on the inside, plus the alloy coating on the exterior designed to repel the shock-waves from explosions, all combined to make on heck of a piece of equipment, with an added environmental layer in contact with the skin. The environmental layer would heat or cool automatically and accordingly to the soldier's needs. The hydrostatic gel layers were designed to absorb the force of an impact, and they were effective. The outer, bulletproof exoskeleton shell, was, duh, to block bullets and other shrapnel or fragments.

His helmet-integrated Heads-Up Display (HUD) gave him a steady stream of information on his target objective, displaying location on a mini-map, giving him statistics of his armor's overall condition, relaying monitors for the pulse rate and statistics for the rest of his team, receiving and pointing out new orders, displaying the FOF monitors, and a myriad of other abilities, including the convenient image and sonic enhancement filters. The image enhancement allowed the user to 'zoom in' on a target, and the sonic filter enhanced the users hearing as well as receiving and plotting direction of incoming fire, then displaying it on the helmet's visor piece.

Also in the Osprey was a dedicated team of the USA's best, their overall regiment fittingly titled, “Angel Regiment.” They were the best the military had to offer, all sporting the latest armor, equipment, and technology, just as Tom. Their assortment of weaponry included mostly carbines and assault rifles, with a few specialized troops toting the heavier Squad Automatic Weapons, more colloquially known as SAWs. The heavy bullets from these Medium Machine Guns (MMGs) complimented the long-ranged snipers that some of the unit carried.

“Comm check!” Tom barked in perfect imitation of the Drill Sargent (DS) from camp, and some of the soldiers chuckled before the first Angeler, designated A/1, called, “A/1, reporting!” and directly after him, “A/2, ready!” then, “A/3, locked and loaded!” until it got to “A/10, ready to go!” Then it changed to, “B/1, ready and waiting!” and so on down until it reached, “B/10, awaiting orders,” which is when it transferred to C/1 all the way to C/10. So thirty troops in all under Tom's command.

The comm. system in Tom's helmet seemed to be working. Everything else was good to go.

The dropship reached the target location; the Coral Reef Resort compound in St. Augustine, Florida. Tom, in the front of the line to get to one of the droplines, hooked his carabiner to the rope and braced himself in the doorway. The jump indicator light by the door blinked to life, casting a red glow on the gathered soldiers. Six men were lined up for each of the five drop points from the humongous V-22, their filthy, battle-marked faces shining and their sweat cutting rivulets through the grime. With the bay doors still closed, though, Tom was allowed only a limited view of the surrounding area, and an even more limited wind current. What he could see was worth this roasting flight, though; a stunning array of beach and water, with cozy little buildings nestled right in against the shoreline. Long wooden walkways stretched over sand dunes and to the waves from the courtyard of pools and tennis courts of the Coral Reef buildings.

The compound was a basic paradise, with three condo buildings arranged around the center courtyard area, with the shoreline open and the walkway extending from a tiled pool area. Back behind the pool, away from the sand, was a large, grassy area that people used to fly kites and other fun stuff. Tom decided, though, that somehow the collection of Russian tanks, APCs, and helicopters, plus their drivers and pilots, that were currently taking residence in the grassy part of the courtyard ruined the image, as did the heavily armed snipers atop the roofs of the three buildings. The machine gun nests dug in the sand facing the water didn't help, nor did the mobile anti-ship artillery platforms squatting like ugly beetles at the edge of the sand.

''All that they're missing is an Anti Aircraft battery. How ironic,'' Tom thought.

The Osprey approached the drop location on the top of a roof. The flat-topped building made a perfect combat area, due to all the metal pipes and equipment up there, so they'd have plenty of cover. After the Osprey dropped them down, it would circle the building and unload, emptying all of its ammunition until it ran out of shots or targets. Tom could already imagine the fiendish lust lighting up the gunner's face as he tore into the enemy troops, a pale man of twenty-two with a red beard.

The doors slid open, but the light remained red, saying he should wait. Tom was afforded a better view now, and he could see the multitude of other Ospreys flying at top speed towards the resort. He knew that three separate Ospreys held his three closest friends, along with the rest of Angel.

Captain Scarlett Miller, blond haired, her bright personality extracting many laughs from anyone in her presence. She constantly had a smile on her face, replaced by a snarl only in battle. Tom smiled at the memory. He wasn't a bit surprised that Matt had fallen for Scarlett. Also effective at her job; shooting to kill. A great team player, she loved the thrill of combat and her leadership position in it. She could work with her team to achieve anything. But she had patience as well. She was gentle and caring, which Tom had thought at first not great qualities in a soldier. But he turned out to be wrong for once. Scarlett was great at balancing hatred and love.

Captain Holly Dayne. On the outside, dark and mysterious, her expression a combination of thought and memory. Cheerful among her friends, she held no sympathy for enemies. She was trained extensively in the many arts of combat. She was good at hitting from the flanks and enjoyed being the stealthiest member out of the four of them. Her black hair and darker disposition had earned her the joking name of “goth” by a girl during her year in 6th Grade, but the truth was that she was just tired, and although she was happy with her friends, she could look all too serious at times.

Captain Matthew Kenderson, also sporting dirty-blond hair, literally as well as just the name for the color, big and built more heavily than Tom. A good leader and better friend, if you got to know him right. A skilled warrior, but he was no good at compromising. He loved to have his way, and he usually got it. Tom recalled a mental image of his friend, examining the dark, half-moon circles under Matt's eyes in his mind. All of the team had that though, from lack of sleep and all the battle-induced adrenaline. He almost always had a thoughtful expression.

Not all of the Ospreys were carrying troops. With only 200 men and women in Angel, only seven of the twelve V-22s were carrying soldiers. The last five Ospreys had their cargo compartments taken out and grappling hooks in their place, with two Stryker Main Battle Tank (MBT)/Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) all terrain vehicles latched onto each Osprey's hooks. The military was spending serious bucks to repel the Russians out of this place.

From his vantage point, Tom could see the famous St. Augustine Fort in the distance, guarding the bay mouth. It was currently occupied by US troops, and it was their starting point for the flight. The short hop from the fort to the resort was strewn with enemy sniper and MG nests, which harassed the pilots on the ride.

Tom felt and heard, more than saw, the heavy, mounted chaingun open fire next to him, the gunner suppressing the landing zone. “Hot LZ! Repeat! LZ is hot!” he screamed over the noise, and Tom gulped. He didn't like landing in a wall of brass. As if to comfort him and to ease his concern, the co-pilot chose that moment to open fire with the nose mounted dual repeating 35mm cannon, and thus scattering the gathered welcoming party below. Tom preferred to enter unannounced, but this was a close second, made better as a Cobra gunship tore the roof to shreds and drowned it in depleted shells, causing bodies to flail and fall.

“Green light! Go go GO!” the voice of a soldier cried out, and Tom realized that the light had indeed turned green. Without another seconds thought, he kicked the coiled rope out the open door, then launched himself over the edge, jumping headfirst, before the rope caught him and yanked his feet out in front of him. He free-fell most of the way down, then tightened his grip once he got closer to the bottom. He stopped himself just in time to land lightly in a crouch with his M9 carbine extended and leveled, but he found no targets, so he continued on to a better cover position.

The plan was to take out the anti-ship artillery and distract the MG pits dug on the beach so that a larger invasion force could come in from the water and make a beachhead. Simple and short. But the primary mission goal was to live.

Originally, Tom had just planned to wipe out the artillery with a guided rocket, but the artillery was heavily armored, and more importantly, the jammer mounted on their hoods prevented radar locks, making it impossible to launch a guided missile.

So Tom had reconsidered, and now they had to get in close to plant explosives and strap them to the vehicles. God forbid he should have it easy.

No, and the Russians weren't about to help. The snipers on the roof building opposite the building Tom was on turned to fire at him, and the snipers on his building turned to fire into Matt's incoming soldiers as they landed.

Tom barked orders rapidly, “A units! Search and Destroy! Take out any and all snipers on our building. B and C, cover the entrances. Don't get yourself shot and watch those snipers on the other buildings!” To emphasize his point, a trio of shots urged the men to take cover, and one fell after taking a bullet in his knee. The armor stopped it, but internal bleeding was inevitable. The man collapsed, but he was dragged to cover by another soldier.

Tom ducked a bullet and shifted off to the side in time for more shots to kick up the roof material and one to implant itself in a metal vent. Crouching behind a low stone pillar, he was able to lean slightly out from behind cover and drop a Russian on the ground by the pool. He twisted over backwards as he fell, and he came to rest at the bottom of the water after a fair splash. Tom ducked back as more bullets came within inches of his head. He wished he could just blind-fire with his gun above his cover and unload, but Matt and his squad were on the other side, so instead he darted to his left, spinning behind another piece of cover, then fired and worked his way to the front of the building.

Tom lay prone behind the three-foot high stone border railing on the roof, anchored on one elbow as he returned the substantial fire from the ground and railings of the resort buildings. It really was a shame to kill people here. He'd be thinking about that for the rest of his life, however long or short that would be.

A sudden explosion barely three feet from him left a divot in the concrete, casting a burnt, charred smell in the air. He blinked, shocked that a missile had landed so near without him knowing. Until the blast anyways.

He needed a better position. When he sensed a lull of fire, he pushed himself up into a half-crouch, then vaulted over the edge of the building. It was five stories high, but he wasn't going down all five. Instead he landed on the balcony of a top story room, and the two Russians on either side of him recoiled in surprise. He glanced condescendingly at one, scowling, then elbowed each in the face, grabbed their heads, and smashed them together, just like the movies.

Unfortunately, the movies rarely had enemies with helmets, and the two clanged together, dazed, then shook their heads. Tom cursed and cut one's legs out from under him with his boot, and the man fell to the ground. Tom let go of that one and pulled his six inch combat knife from its sheath, continuing the momentum, and shoving it into the second soldier. The man crumpled in, one knee raised to his chin, then fell back. Tom turned and tossed the knife from his right hand to his left hand, inverting it in the process, and sank it into the first soldier on the ground. Then he raised the knife and returned it to its sheath. Unslinging his carbine, he stood victorious for a moment, then ducked involuntarily as a bullet drilled a hole into the pillar just behind him. He jumped back, but a bullet still caught him in the arm. It whipped around, but Tom knew the shot hadn't penetrated. He would've felt it if it had.

Instead, the bullet hastened his speed into the condo room. Tom clutched his carbine tightly to his chest as he rammed his booted foot into the glass pane of the sliding patio door. The glass cracked and shattered, and Tom stepped through to find himself in a pleasant living room, roughly square, with a long hallway leading down to the door, a kitchen and pantry looking out at the dining table behind a couch, with bedrooms and bathrooms stacked to either side of the hallway. The master bedroom had a door opening out onto the same patio he had just been in.

The scent of salt was heavy, but comforting, as Tom opened fire on two Russians who had jumped out of the doorways into the hallway. Aiming at eye-level, the first bullet took the first Russian slightly to the left of his nose, shattering his jaw, and the second bullet took him in the temple. The other soldier opened fire on the only American currently in the room, and Tom's third shot out of the burst shattered a vase of flowers sitting on a pedestal next to the door.

Both soldiers ducked behind cover, but the Russian to no avail; the door behind him burst in, followed closely by an Angel insertion team. They quickly eliminated the last remaining Russian, then nodded to Tom before continuing on with their search. It must have been exhausting work, because there were so many rooms. But at least each room was about the same in terms of layout.

Tom shook himself, then returned to the balcony. The fight had become slightly more subdued, with the Ospreys circling and mowing over any targets. Tom barely had time to worry as a Russian lifted one of their single shot fire and forget rocket launchers and aimed it at an Osprey before an American materialized beside him and elbowed his cranium, then followed through by sliding his fore-arm up the Russians head until he grabbed the man's neck, pushing him back onto an upraised knee, and tearing him through with a combat blade. The launcher fell, then the soldier picked it up and aimed it at an artillery truck. The radar signature from the lock-on ability was Russian, so it bypassed the jammer and drilled a nice round hole in the side of the truck before exploding and blasting fragments everywhere. Tom knew from the soldier's confidence and lack of sympathy, as well as his Friend or Foe (FOF) tag, that it was Matt.

Seconds later, another soldier, this one Holly, mimicked Matt's move and cast more orange flames dancing through the destroyed hulk of the final artillery platform. Tom heard Scarlett's voice resound over the command frequency, “That's it! Shore defense artillery neutralized!”

Tom ran again and vaulted over the wrought iron rail, landing in the soft grass with a roll to break his fall. In front of him was a maze of moving metal monsters trying to move and get a clear shot at the Americans. What Tom wanted was to take one of their tanks and blow the rest of them away. So he came up to one likely looking MBT and jumped onto the top. He saw Holly already putting his plan into action, prying at the closed hatch to a different MBT. She gave the hatch a frustrated kick and a dent appeared in the metal. She hooked her fingers under the opening and hauled upwards, and the metal shrieked and screamed as it tore out. Finally she snapped the hatch completely off the hinges, and dropped down.

Tom followed her. No sense in trying to man a three-crew tank by himself. He ran over to the tank Holly was clearing, and as he jumped on top another figure literally fell from the sky and landed next to him. He quickly spun and leveled his carbine, but he recognized the figure as Scarlett. She popped up and gave a cheery smile, then they ran together to the top of the tank.

Holly had already cleared the interior, and they all jumped in and manned different control stations. Tom, of course, was driving. Holly was at the cannon firing controls, and Scarlett was up and manning the .50 cal machine gun mounted just in front of the now nonexistent hatch. Tom turned the tank around so it was facing the beach, but the turret remained facing the grassy courtyard, and Holly pulled the triggers, effectively blowing an MBT to heck.

But now the other Russians were onto them. Tom stopped the MBT just in time for another explosive to hit in front of him, casting dust all around. It was funny, because besides the dust and warfare it was a perfect day. The sun was shining, and it warm, even now during early Autumn. But the fighting ruined it for some reason.

Scarlett was repeatedly blasting away on the .50, and she had plenty of targets. The belt of ammunition flowed through the gun like water and came out the other side, minus the ammunition. The bright muzzle flash spread extra light around, jumping out in pale relief against the camo of the tank. As if it were needed. Scarlett's visor was tinted almost to its lowest setting.

Tom pushed the big engine to its max, rocketing forward, smashing over the cute picket fence and pushing into the sand. Tom had no idea if this would work, or even if the tank would work in sand, but the MBT only stalled for a moment, then leaped forward again, climbing the crest of one sand dune, falling down another, and crushing shrubbery. They passed the wooden jetty and moved onto the harder packed sand on the beach. MG nests were dug right into the sand, with the removed soil packed tightly into sandbags and laid around the pits. It was like sand- castle building on a professional scale, but instead of sandcastles, it was a pit for machine guns.

Spaces were left here and there between the sandbags for guns, and all of those spaces were occupied with guns mounted on tripods slightly dug into the sand below. In the middle of the larger pits were mortars, and Tom saw several caches of rockets and launchers in some nests. They were seriously armed. Apparently they really wanted this piece of real-estate. But they were at the disadvantage of playing as the visitor in this particular ball game. Tom was going to make sure he took advantage of every advantage he could get.
Tom let the flagging engine cool off for a moment as Holly and Scarlett opened fire, the MBT's big shells burrowing partway into the sand before exploding and casting mini dust storms everywhere. Scarlett lobbed a grenade, and it actually landed inside one of the MG nests. The soldiers screamed in terror and scrambled out, but they only met their end from a different means; either Holly's shots or Scarlett's took them out in ones, twos, and threes.

The MG nests turned to fire on their evidently renegade comrades even as US ships started to appear out of the mist and sea-spray in the distance. Sent ahead of them were F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), and they launched missiles into the sand. Apparently bunker-busters, because Tom heard three muffled 'thump's and then saw a large explosion cast bits and pieces of objects into the air. The soldiers in that nest were gone, literally, with the wind.

Tom saw a Destroyer-class vessel out in the ocean start to turn abreast, and seconds later a large ship-to-shore shell ate away another nest.

Bullets tore into the MBT, damaging it severely.

“It would seem they have armor piercing rounds. How intriguing.” Tom noted calmly.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Holly said lightly, jokingly, as she ducked lower in her seat after a trio of bullets smashed her headrest and threw sparks around.

Scarlett snarled above them, still firing full-automatic at anything that presented itself. Scarlett was usually happy and calm, but “you don't like me when I'm angry” applied here.

The heavy machine gun thumped and thudded as Scarlett walked the bullets over a pair of Russians attempting to load a rocket. The barrel now was hot as crap. The bullets impacted roughly, kicking up sand, and the men fell. A grenade cut through the air, and Scar caught it at the top of its arc. Not physically, but with her mind. Ah, the joys of Telekinesis.

Technically, she wasn't supposed to advertise that America's best were here and that they wanted this place so badly, but what was she going to do? Let a grenade fall on top of her? Instead she marginally changed the direction and let it fall behind them, creating an effective sand-screen between the pursuing men and the MBT. But the various shots, coupled with the bombardment from the ships, completely incased them in sand, and soon they weren't able to see. So it was a surprise to Tom when suddenly a huge, looming figure darkened into perspective, ''directly in front of him.''

Tom slammed the brakes and hit full reverse at the same time, allowing the tracks to spin, squeal and stop. The large, long figure drove alongside them and stopped. Holly was already swiveling to fire, but Scar was holding, and Tom figured out why three seconds later when Holly's FOF screen bleeped, warning her she was aiming at a fellow American unit.

The sand dissipated after a moment and Matt came into view, standing with one leg forward, knee bent and looking proudly superior. He peered down at them atop a Stryker MBT/APC and winked, calling, "Someone call in a the cavalry?"

Tom responded over the comm, a large grin on his face, "Nah, we've got it pretty much under control just another few hundred guys to go."

"Wouldn't miss it." Matt said, and crossed one leg over to the smaller Russian MBT, kept one leg planted on the Stryker, and helped everyone out of the Russian junk and onto the American ground superiority fighter. When Tom, the last one over, was situated, Matt helped himself down the ladder and took up position behind one of the control stations for the craft. Of course the turret gunner. He bumped a Corporal out of the way, waiting as Holly pulled up next to him and let another lieutenant get up, then sat down and buckled in behind the 7.62mm MG control station. Scar moved up and took the controls for the driver. Tom set his carbine aside and unlatched a MMG from the locker next to him, then crawled back out onto the top of the beast in order to shoot.

Tom was instantly met with scattered fire, but the Goliath of a tank rumbled forward and crushed one cover position after the next, Matt cutting the enemy down to size with a few blasts of the 120mm cannon and Holly helping out with the MG. Tom suppressed a pit with his own weapon, but he wasn't having as much fun up here, so he called, "I'm getting off and finding some real action. Anyone wanna come with?"

Matt acknowledged and unbuckled, moving to go and help Tom. Holly swiftly changed positions to mount the larger cannon, and Scarlett opened the bay door to let Matt down to the sand. Tom jumped off the top a moment later, doing a flip just to rile whatever army brass was watching him.

Matt followed, leaving the girls to themselves, as Tom led the way back away from the resort and towards the shore. They both slid into one of the MG pits amidst a sheet of bullets and casings, but they made it, and then four Russians were on them, up close. Matt brutally thrashed one of them with the stock of his gun, and Tom dodged an attack from another, swinging his heavier MMG around in an arc and catching the man's knee, making him collapse. Matt kicked out with his boot again and caught another man in the chest, sending him back and down, wheezing. Tom elbowed another in the side of the head, hearing his skull crack and watching dark blood start to flow through. These blows all did much more damage than a typical soldier would've, due to their ''abilities''. Tom especially, from his treatment.

Tom gave no mercy, twisting one's neck almost completely around with a roundhouse kick, sending another one who had just gotten to his feet back down with a forceful thrust from his knife, and kicked another in the kidney as Matt finished them off. Then Matt grabbed a gun on one side, Tom dropped his heavy MMG and pilfered a Russian automatic, then grabbed an MG on the opposite side of Matt. They opened fire, watching men, ''real'' men, who had been running towards them to re-inforce their comrades, die and drop like sticks as bullets tore into them.

Further down shore, the Stryker started taking fire. The Russians hadn't stopped at this one resort. They had occupied the beach up and down the coastline. The concentration of troops happened to be in the Coral Reef Resort.

The first of the transport boats neared the shore, carrying fifteen Marines to the beach. Aircraft flew overhead, pinning down resistance fire. However, amidst the scores of nests, some survived to shoot.

Atlantis: Harvest Reaper

2008-06-22T17:07:29Z

Will:

Hi, all! Welcome to the sneak preview excerpt site for Atlantis: Harvest Reaper, the second book in the series! If you have no idea at all what I'm talking about, type "Atlantis" into the search box on the top of this page at the left hand side, under the picture and the navigation box.

This first excerpt was written by Will Anderson, and the second and third by me, Brandon Krupczak. All are awesome scenes from our second book. See, we're planning in advance!

'''''Please note that the content of this page is an ongoing work in progress and the authors reserve the right to edit and/or reformat the page. Please also note that in this writing we mean no disrespect to any country, a book merely needs protagonists and antagonists.'''''

==Excerpt 1==

Suddenly an explosion rung through Tom's ears, and the flaming fragments of two police cars were rolling side over side.

Tom instinctively ducked for cover. He was crouched behind a beaten up green Honda Accord, panting. ''Think,'' Tom said to himself. He heard heavy footsteps approaching and the slightly harsh Russian language, but couldn't tell whether it was coming from the left or the right. He made a guess. His car was straight ahead of him. If he could just make a quick dash... everything seemed to flash before his eyes. The blur of the various cars seemed to come at him faster than thought.

A grenade clanged with a metallic thud to the ground. Tom could hear confused shouts echoing behind him. A barbaric war cry rang out over the parking lot and Tom ignored it, sprinting on.

He focused all of his energy on getting to his car. The high-pitched clank of bullets ricocheting off of cars rang out around him. 5 more yards to go. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Tom leaped into the silver Aston Martin DB''S'' with relief. Tom saw about 20 Iraqis trailing him, 6 with Stinger missiles. As the Russians aimed the explosive warheads, Tom made his move. A control panel slid into view. Tom pressed the glowing blue button labeled MISSILE LAUNCH. A red statement flashed in Tom's HUD: TARGET LOCK. Tom fired.

A heartbeat later, 15 Russians flew backwards about 35 feet. The Russians' high-pitched screams of agony were muffled as Tom's engine roared to life.

He sped forward, turning and skidding at the last second, coming around 180 with the hood of the car facing the remaining cowering Russians. He selected the button labeled OIL SLICK. "Shake and bake," Tom said to himself.

He pressed EJECT, and the honey-colored liquid jetted out, soaking three of the five remaining foes. A moment later, a nasty-looking flamethrower slid smoothly out of the hood of Tom's car, sending flame roaring towards the soldiers in tumbling curls. A detonation rocked Tom's ears as the flame collided with the oil-soaked soldiers.

The two remaining Iraqis assumed a crouched position about 40 feet away from Tom's car, AK-74's blazing. Tom didn't care; the bullets were ricocheting off of his bulletproof windows.

Tom went in full reverse about 20 feet backwards, then sped towards the pair of Russians. They screamed and dived to the side, dodging Tom's car. He had anticipated this, and now the Iraqis were behind him.

Tom loaded the rear machine gun and sprayed the two soldiers with such force that they were sent sprawling toward the ground.

Swerving again, he sped onto a side road, feeling the sheer power of his 705hp V12 engine. Tom knew that it wouldn't be long before more enemies were after him. He was right. About 1200 yards away, 6 Humvees menacingly engaged pursuit.

In the excerpt, it doesn't explain what happens to cause the situation to occur, but hey, that's why it's an excerpt.

==Excerpt 2==

Excerpt: A random team of extremely skilled archaeologists who happen to be somewhat good at fighting as well (written by Brandon):

"Carson, come look at this!" Eva exclaimed as she held up a small chunk of a silvery-gold piece of mica or chunk of some rock. Or at least, that's what this looked like to the untrained eye, because it was roughly formed in the shape of a spearhead. No one would have guessed that it was actually a piece of Orichalcum that survived all these years.

"Do you know what this is?" Carson asked, looking over excitedly.

"Yeah, of course! Better get this back to the lab." Eva exclaimed, genuine delight dancing in her pale Grey-dove eyes. This was probably the find of her career. Proving the existence of a mythological and ancient metal believed to have been found only on Atlantis! Five years ago, if you had said that word, most respected scientists and archaeologists would look at you like you were a nutcase and move on with their lives, only now minimizing contact with you. Now though... they would look at you with awe, fear, and respect flashing in their eyes as they recalled every scrap of information they had ever heard of the legendary super continent.

Plus, there was always the later bonus, after it was proven to exist, of some museum or collector buying it from them for a hefty some of cash, although that was only a secondary concern right now. Still though, Eva sometimes fantasized about how much she and the others on her archeology team could squeeze out of a wealthy bidder when times were tough and uncertain.

The archeology team she belonged to consisted of two women including herself, Eva Lane, the other being Caroline Jones, and five men; Tim Carson, Brian Kenderson, Anton Beckett, Al Shepard, and Fred Lane. Their team was headed by the animated Tim Carson. He was about fifty, with graying hair combed back neatly and streaks of black running in stripes. His tough, craggy face bespoke a rugged and powerful man, but his soft, baby-blue eyes ruined the image, portraying the gentle, caring father he was.

Brian Kenderson was the cousin of the famous Matthew Kenderson, one of the most well-known American names in the war. He was somewhat impulsive, and he liked to show off about how much he knew on just about every subject anyone cared to name, but he was pretty cool once you got to know him better. He was the team's technology expert, and he looked it at seventeen, with blond hair, just like his cousin, and a tough, lean face that was almost always bruised or cut, and dark, half moon circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.

Anton Beckett and Al Shepard were so similar they were always mixed up by everyone else around them. They could have passed for brothers despite their completely different families, even though Anton was twenty eight and Al was twenty five. They both had the same, slightly upturned noses and eyes that crinkled when they laughed.

Caroline Jones was the loudmouth of the group, with somewhat plump cheeks and orange-streaked hair. Her hazel eyes told the story of a bright and happy teen, at eighteen years old, and she was never without a smile on her face.

And then there was her perpetually annoying know-it-all younger brother, Fred. Fred and Brian hung out together the most of any of the team. Two peas in a pod, she always said. Both of them had an uncanny knack for intellectual subjects, except that Brian was built big and stocky and Fred was leaner and more wiry. His freckled face could look all too serious at times and too lighthearted and carefree at others. Both she and Fred had to stand up to something close along the lines of a celebrity treatment whenever they went anywhere, but that was only because they were cousins of the ultra-famous Thomas Lane, another of the best soldiers in the war. Fred could never live that down.

Anton walked over, examining the find. Here was proof. Not only did they now know for certain that Atlantis existed, they could actually see it on TV whenever they wanted. But this was proof that Plato hadn't been lying when he talked about a new metal. But the biggest thing of all was their location; Stonehenge, England. Literally on the ruins of the old monuments. Now just what they were for...

"Wow. I just can't believe it. Atlantians, or Atlantian traders, all the way out here?" Anton asked.

"Apparently so." Fred said. "And I'll bet a month's salary that there's more to be found around here."

"I'll also wager some cash that the higher-ups will claim this all for themselves under the grounds of funding and starting the expedition." Brian said. Of course Fred agreed whole-heartedly.

Their archeology team was a part of a bigger organization, the Foundation for the Study of Atlantian Artifacts, or FSAA. The organization was run by-

Eva's train of thought was interrupted by a harsh yell;

"Get them away from there! Quickly!" She looked up, and saw that about a hundred yards away, a fleet of five pickup trucks had parked, behind the perimeter fence bordering the monument.

"I'll go deal with them." Carson said quickly, exasperatedly. He reached into his back pocket as he walked off to the gate, pulling out the team's archeology pass permitting them to be here. Eva went back to her examination, the rest of the team combing over the site for any missed evidence.

Three of the men rushed up to the gates, and only now did Carson see that they were carrying AK-74 assault rifles and start to become apprehensive. He held the pass in front of him, glancing quickly back at the rest of the team. Fred was watching him intently, and Carson breathed a sigh of relief. If things got violent, Fred would be there to help him in a moment. Then again, he was only human, and these guys had guns.

Somebody was shouting at him in broken English. "You not supposed to be here!" He screamed, shouting directly in Carson's face.

"No, no, see, we have a pass." Carson said, putting on his best friendly smile. The other man stared back at him, a very unfriendly frown on his face.

"NO! You will not leave. At least, alive." The man said with a cold smile, chuckling to himself as if that was the funniest joke in the world.

Carson had only a second to panic before the soldier to his right raised the rifle cradled in his arms and fired. Less than a yard away, the man couldn't miss. But he somehow must have. Carson didn't feel anything. Just a vanishing fear...

He looked down at his body and was surprised to see his chest torn and bloody, with a steady stream of red liquid clouding his white T-shirt. He looked back, and his team was all looking up in stunned silence. Brian and Fred were running towards him at top speed. He should tell them there was nothing wrong. Carson frowned. Why were they running? There was no need. He was fine.

Carson looked back at the man who was holding his gun still, and the man shouted. But Carson couldn't here them. His brow knit further. The man's lips seemed to move in slow motion. But that only happened in movies, right? No sound was coming out. Carson dimly heard Fred calling his name, again in slow mo. Hmm. He really would have to talk to his doctor about this. Sudden loss of hearing and spacing out, making everything look slow. It was kind of disconcerting.

Suddenly Carson's strength fled out from his body, and he collapsed onto his knees. A picture of his son flipped out of his shirt pocket and fell to the ground. That was funny. It shouldn't have happened. Then Carson was aware he was tilting forward. He tried to correct his position but couldn't. That must have looked funny to the others. He struggled to grab the photo. He had to. It suddenly seemed like his entire life was focused on picking up that one photo, but his fingers barely obeyed him. When they came into view, they were trembling uncontrollably. He had to pick up the picture. His hands started to close around it...

A heavy boot came smashing down on Carson's fingers, making him let go the picture. He was distantly aware of a pain as three of his fingers broke, but that seemed to be happening to another person. Suddenly, three fingers hooked underneath his chin and raised it up. He stared into the dull brown... or was it brown? The color seemed to fade away, beginning with the edges of his vision and narrowing down until only the man's dull brown eyes still had color. Then the man reached into his back pocket and took out a handgun. It was an ugly, stubby looking thing. The man whispered something, and this time Carson heard it: "Good bye. Oh, and next time, don't take so long to die." The man said, then pulled the trigger.

Brian and Fred could only watch in horror, skidding to a stop, as Carson's head jerked back, the bullet entering his brain cavity.

Carson felt the pain this time. It was sharp, sudden, and intense. He thought about saying ow, so the others would know it hurt. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Now all color, even gray, was fading to black, and he could only see a pinprick of light in the distance. He saw a pair of wings gliding towards him. Unseen arms hooked behind his and started to carry him off. Off and into the light...

Brian cursed at the top of his lungs, but it didn't help any. Instead, the man with the pistol just raised the barrel, now aiming at him and Fred, and fired six rounds. His aim must have been pretty bad, because exactly like in the action movies, the bullets kicked up dust at their feet and around them, as if there was an invisible ball that encased them which would repel bullets. Hm. That was a cool idea.

Then Brian and Fred were yelling and scrambling for cover as those bullets stopped for the man to reload, and the two others raised their rifles and opened fire, sending new bullets skidding around the landscape. Fred branched off from Brian and dove behind a clump of rocks and out of sight, more soldiers streaming in through the gates. Meanwhile, the others of the team rushed for cover behind the monument, with the exception of Al. Al was too stunned to move, and as a result three bullets stitched diagonally upward across his chest. He bucked with each shot, collapsing with the third. He died instantly as the bullet cut his throat, unlike Carson. Carson died too slowly, with too much pain. Brian would get them for that one, even if he died as well.

Brian knew he was going down fighting if he had to at all, and he knew that Fred and Eva would be right beside him. These men were in for an unexpected challenge. Because Brian intended to win.

==Excerpt 3==

The enormous Dual-Thrust V-22 Osprey Heliplane lurched as small arms fire licked up at the protective, bulletproof walls of the leviathan. The tiny projectiles skittered against the adamant metal, glancing and ricocheting off the compound substance. Captain Thomas Lane gripped the holds tightly, attempting to keep himself from flying out into the empty space surrounding the Osprey.

He might have survived the fall. The aircraft wasn't actually very high. In fact just the opposite; they were barely skimming across the tops of the ten story buildings. He'd jumped from that height before and lived. How hard would it be? Of course there was the AA fire coming from below. That could present a problem. And he wouldn't be able to complete his mission from there. Needless to say, he probably didn't want to fall.

With that in mind, his grip tightened on the sturdy hold as the Osprey kicked back and forth, executing the simplest of evasive maneuvers. Still, it was effective, and most of the shots fired at their craft whizzed straight by on one side or the other.

Tom turned around to survey the rest of the deployment bay on the craft. There was himself, 18 years, fair-haired, 6 foot, outfitted in his personalized, Olive-Drab Mk. III Tactical Battle Armor. The hard, outer shell, coupled with the form-fitting hydrostatic gel layers on the inside, plus the alloy coating on the exterior designed to repel the shock-waves from explosions, all combined to make on heck of a piece of equipment, with an added environmental layer in contact with the skin. The environmental layer would heat or cool automatically and accordingly to the soldier's needs. The hydrostatic gel layers were designed to absorb the force of an impact, and they were effective. The outer, bulletproof exoskeleton shell, was, duh, to block bullets and other shrapnel or fragments.

His helmet-integrated Heads-Up Display (HUD) gave him a steady stream of information on his target objective, displaying location on a mini-map, giving him statistics of his armor's overall condition, relaying monitors for the pulse rate and statistics for the rest of his team, receiving and pointing out new orders, displaying the FOF monitors, and a myriad of other abilities, including the convenient image and sonic enhancement filters. The image enhancement allowed the user to 'zoom in' on a target, and the sonic filter enhanced the users hearing as well as receiving and plotting direction of incoming fire, then displaying it on the helmet's visor piece.

Also in the Osprey was a dedicated team of the USA's best, their overall regiment fittingly titled, “Angel Regiment.” They were the best the military had to offer, all sporting the latest armor, equipment, and technology, just as Tom. Their assortment of weaponry included mostly carbines and assault rifles, with a few specialized troops toting the heavier Squad Automatic Weapons, more colloquially known as SAWs. The heavy bullets from these Medium Machine Guns (MMGs) complimented the long-ranged snipers that some of the unit carried.

“Comm check!” Tom barked in perfect imitation of the Drill Sargent (DS) from camp, and some of the soldiers chuckled before the first Angeler, designated A/1, called, “A/1, reporting!” and directly after him, “A/2, ready!” then, “A/3, locked and loaded!” until it got to “A/10, ready to go!” Then it changed to, “B/1, ready and waiting!” and so on down until it reached, “B/10, awaiting orders,” which is when it transferred to C/1 all the way to C/10. So thirty troops in all under Tom's command.

The comm. system in Tom's helmet seemed to be working. Everything else was good to go.

The dropship reached the target location; the Coral Reef Resort compound in St. Augustine, Florida. Tom, in the front of the line to get to one of the droplines, hooked his carabiner to the rope and braced himself in the doorway. The jump indicator light by the door blinked to life, casting a red glow on the gathered soldiers. Six men were lined up for each of the five drop points from the humongous V-22, their filthy, battle-marked faces shining and their sweat cutting rivulets through the grime. With the bay doors still closed, though, Tom was allowed only a limited view of the surrounding area, and an even more limited wind current. What he could see was worth this roasting flight, though; a stunning array of beach and water, with cozy little buildings nestled right in against the shoreline. Long wooden walkways stretched over sand dunes and to the waves from the courtyard of pools and tennis courts of the Coral Reef buildings.

The compound was a basic paradise, with three condo buildings arranged around the center courtyard area, with the shoreline open and the walkway extending from a tiled pool area. Back behind the pool, away from the sand, was a large, grassy area that people used to fly kites and other fun stuff. Tom decided, though, that somehow the collection of Russian tanks, APCs, and helicopters, plus their drivers and pilots, that were currently taking residence in the grassy part of the courtyard ruined the image, as did the heavily armed snipers atop the roofs of the three buildings. The machine gun nests dug in the sand facing the water didn't help, nor did the mobile anti-ship artillery platforms squatting like ugly beetles at the edge of the sand.

''All that they're missing is an Anti Aircraft battery. How ironic,'' Tom thought.

The Osprey approached the drop location on the top of a roof. The flat-topped building made a perfect combat area, due to all the metal pipes and equipment up there, so they'd have plenty of cover. After the Osprey dropped them down, it would circle the building and unload, emptying all of its ammunition until it ran out of shots or targets. Tom could already imagine the fiendish lust lighting up the gunner's face as he tore into the enemy troops, a pale man of 22 with a red beard.

The doors slid open, but the light remained red, saying he should wait. Tom was afforded a better view now, and he could see the multitude of other Ospreys flying at top speed towards the resort. He knew that three separate Ospreys held his three closest friends, along with the rest of Angel.

Captain Scarlett Miller, blond haired, her bright personality extracting many laughs from anyone in her presence. She constantly had a smile on her face, replaced by a snarl only in battle. Tom smiled at the memory. He wasn't a bit surprised that Matt had fallen for Scarlett. Also effective at her job; shooting to kill. A great team player, she loved the thrill of combat and her leadership position in it. She could work with her team to achieve anything. But she had patience as well. She was gentle and caring, which Tom had thought at first not great qualities in a soldier. But he turned out to be wrong for once. Scarlett was great at balancing hatred and love.

Captain Holly Dayne. On the outside, dark and mysterious, her expression a combination of thought and memory. Cheerful among her friends, she held no sympathy for enemies. She was trained extensively in the many arts of combat. She was good at hitting from the flanks and enjoyed being the stealthiest member out of the four of them. Her black hair and darker disposition had earned her the joking name of “goth” by a girl during her year in 6th Grade, but the truth was that she was just tired, and although she was happy with her friends, she could look all too serious at times.

Captain Matthew Kenderson, also sporting dirty-blond hair, literally as well as just the name for the color, big and built more heavily than Tom. A good leader and better friend, if you got to know him right. A skilled warrior, but he was no good at compromising. He loved to have his way, and he usually got it. Tom recalled a mental image of his friend, examining the dark, half-moon circles under Matt's eyes in his mind. All of the team had that though, from lack of sleep and all the battle-induced adrenaline. He almost always had a thoughtful expression.

Not all of the Ospreys were carrying troops. With only 200 men and women in Angel, only seven of the twelve V-22s were carrying soldiers. The last five Ospreys had their cargo compartments taken out and grappling hooks in their place, with two Stryker Main Battle Tank (MBT)/Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) all terrain vehicles latched onto each Osprey's hooks. The military was spending serious bucks to repel the Russians out of this place.

From his vantage point, Tom could see the famous St. Augustine Fort in the distance, guarding the bay mouth. It was currently occupied by US troops, and it was their starting point for the flight. The short hop from the fort to the resort was strewn with enemy sniper and MG nests, which harassed the pilots on the ride.

Tom felt and heard, more than saw, the heavy, mounted chaingun open fire next to him, the gunner suppressing the landing zone. “Hot LZ! Repeat! LZ is hot!” he screamed over the noise, and Tom gulped. He didn't like landing in a wall of brass. As if to comfort him and to ease his concern, the co-pilot chose that moment to open fire with the nose mounted dual repeating 35mm cannon, and thus scattering the gathered welcoming party below. Tom preferred to enter unannounced, but this was a close second, made better as a Cobra gunship tore the roof to shreds and drowned it in depleted shells, causing bodies to flail and fall.

“Green light! Go go GO!” the voice of a soldier cried out, and Tom realized that the light had indeed turned green. Without another seconds thought, he kicked the coiled rope out the open door, then launched himself over the edge, jumping headfirst, before the rope caught him and yanked his feet out in front of him. He free-fell most of the way down, then tightened his grip once he got closer to the bottom. He stopped himself just in time to land lightly in a crouch with his M9 carbine extended and leveled, but he found no targets, so he continued on to a better cover position.

The plan was to take out the anti-ship artillery and distract the MG pits dug on the beach so that a larger invasion force could come in from the water and make a beachhead. Simple and short. But the primary mission goal was to live.

Originally, Tom had just planned to wipe out the artillery with a guided rocket, but the artillery was heavily armored, and more importantly, the jammer mounted on their hoods prevented radar locks, making it impossible to launch a guided missile.

So Tom had reconsidered, and now they had to get in close to plant explosives and strap them to the vehicles. God forbid he should have it easy.

No, and the Russians weren't about to help. The snipers on the roof building opposite the building Tom was on turned to fire at him, and the snipers on his building turned to fire into Matt's incoming soldiers as they landed.

Tom barked orders rapidly, “A units! Search and Destroy! Take out any and all snipers on our building. B and C, cover the entrances. Don't get yourself shot and watch those snipers on the other buildings!” To emphasize his point, a trio of shots urged the men to take cover, and one fell after taking a bullet in his knee. The armor stopped it, but internal bleeding was inevitable. The man collapsed, but he was dragged to cover by another soldier.

Tom ducked a bullet and shifted off to the side in time for more shots to kick up the roof material and one to implant itself in a metal vent. Crouching behind a low stone pillar, he was able to lean slightly out from behind cover and drop a Russian on the ground by the pool. He twisted over backwards as he fell, and he came to rest at the bottom of the water after a fair splash. Tom ducked back as more bullets came within inches of his head. He wished he could just blind-fire with his gun above his cover and unload, but Matt and his squad were on the other side, so instead he darted to his left, spinning behind another piece of cover, then fired and worked his way to the front of the building.

Tom lay prone behind the three-foot high stone border railing on the roof, anchored on one elbow as he returned the substantial fire from the ground and railings of the resort buildings. It really was a shame to kill people here. He'd be thinking about that for the rest of his life, however long or short that would be.

A sudden explosion barely three feet from him left a divot in the concrete, casting a burnt, charred smell in the air. He blinked, shocked that a missile had landed so near without him knowing. Until the blast anyways.

He needed a better position. When he sensed a lull of fire, he pushed himself up into a half-crouch, then vaulted over the edge of the building. It was five stories high, but he wasn't going down all five. Instead he landed on the balcony of a top story room, and the two Russians on either side of him recoiled in surprise. He glanced condescendingly at one, scowling, then elbowed each in the face, grabbed their heads, and smashed them together, just like the movies.

Unfortunately, the movies rarely had enemies with helmets, and the two clanged together, dazed, then shook their heads. Tom cursed and cut one's legs out from under him with his boot, and the man fell to the ground. Tom let go of that one and pulled his six inch combat knife from its sheath, continuing the momentum, and shoving it into the second soldier. The man crumpled in, one knee raised to his chin, then fell back. Tom turned and tossed the knife from his right hand to his left hand, inverting it in the process, and sank it into the first soldier on the ground. Then he raised the knife and returned it to its sheath. Unslinging his carbine, he stood victorious for a moment, then ducked involuntarily as a bullet drilled a hole into the pillar just behind him. He jumped back, but a bullet still caught him in the arm. It whipped around, but Tom knew the shot hadn't penetrated. He would've felt it if it had.

Instead, the bullet hastened his speed into the condo room. Tom clutched his carbine tightly to his chest as he rammed his booted foot into the glass pane of the sliding patio door. The glass cracked and shattered, and Tom stepped through to find himself in a pleasant living room, roughly square, with a long hallway leading down to the door, a kitchen and pantry looking out at the dining table behind a couch, with bedrooms and bathrooms stacked to either side of the hallway. The master bedroom had a door opening out onto the same patio he had just been in.

The scent of salt was heavy, but comforting, as Tom opened fire on two Russians who had jumped out of the doorways into the hallway. Aiming at eye-level, the first bullet took the first Russian slightly to the left of his nose, shattering his jaw, and the second bullet took him in the temple. The other soldier opened fire on the only American currently in the room, and Tom's third shot out of the burst shattered a vase of flowers sitting on a pedestal next to the door.

Both soldiers ducked behind cover, but the Russian to no avail; the door behind him burst in, followed closely by an Angel insertion team. They quickly eliminated the last remaining Russian, then nodded to Tom before continuing on with their search. It must have been exhausting work, because there were so many rooms. But at least each room was about the same in terms of layout.

Tom shook himself, then returned to the balcony. The fight had become slightly more subdued, with the Ospreys circling and mowing over any targets. Tom barely had time to worry as a Russian lifted one of their single shot fire and forget rocket launchers and aimed it at an Osprey before an American materialized beside him and elbowed his cranium, then followed through by sliding his fore-arm up the Russians head until he grabbed the man's neck, pushing him back onto an upraised knee, and tearing him through with a combat blade. The launcher fell, then the soldier picked it up and aimed it at an artillery truck. The radar signature from the lock-on ability was Russian, so it bypassed the jammer and drilled a nice round hole in the side of the truck before exploding and blasting fragments everywhere. Tom knew from the soldier's confidence and lack of sympathy, as well as his Friend or Foe (FOF) tag, that it was Matt.

Seconds later, another soldier, this one Holly, mimicked Matt's move and cast more orange flames dancing through the destroyed hulk of the final artillery platform. Tom heard Scarlett's voice resound over the command frequency, “That's it! Shore defense artillery neutralized!”

Tom ran again and vaulted over the wrought iron rail, landing in the soft grass with a roll to break his fall. In front of him was a maze of moving metal monsters trying to move and get a clear shot at the Americans. What Tom wanted was to take one of their tanks and blow the rest of them away. So he came up to one likely looking MBT and jumped onto the top. He saw Holly already putting his plan into action, prying at the closed hatch to a different MBT. She gave the hatch a frustrated kick and a dent appeared in the metal. She hooked her fingers under the opening and hauled upwards, and the metal shrieked and screamed as it tore out. Finally she snapped the hatch completely off the hinges, and dropped down.

Tom followed her. No sense in trying to man a three-crew tank by himself. He ran over to the tank Holly was clearing, and as he jumped on top another figure literally fell from the sky and landed next to him. He quickly spun and leveled his carbine, but he recognized the figure as Scarlett. She popped up and gave a cheery smile, then they ran together to the top of the tank.

Holly had already cleared the interior, and they all jumped in and manned different control stations. Tom, of course, was driving. Holly was at the cannon firing controls, and Scarlett was up and manning the .50 cal machine gun mounted just in front of the now nonexistent hatch. Tom turned the tank around so it was facing the beach, but the turret remained facing the grassy courtyard, and Holly pulled the triggers, effectively blowing an MBT to heck.

But now the other Russians were onto them. Tom stopped the MBT just in time for another explosive to hit in front of him, casting dust all around. It was funny, because besides the dust and warfare it was a perfect day. The sun was shining, and it warm, even now during early Autumn. But the fighting ruined it for some reason.

Scarlett was repeatedly blasting away on the .50, and she had plenty of targets. The belt of ammunition flowed through the gun like water and came out the other side, minus the ammunition. The bright muzzle flash spread extra light around, jumping out in pale relief against the camo of the tank. As if it were needed. Scarlett's visor was tinted almost to its lowest setting.

Tom pushed the big engine to its max, rocketing forward, smashing over the cute picket fence and pushing into the sand. Tom had no idea if this would work, or even if the tank would work in sand, but the MBT only stalled for a moment, then leaped forward again, climbing the crest of one sand dune, falling down another, and crushing shrubbery. They passed the wooden jetty and moved onto the harder packed sand on the beach. MG nests were dug right into the sand, with the removed soil packed tightly into sandbags and laid around the pits. It was like sand- castle building on a professional scale, but instead of sandcastles, it was a pit for machine guns.

Spaces were left here and there between the sandbags for guns, and all of those spaces were occupied with guns mounted on tripods slightly dug into the sand below. In the middle of the larger pits were mortars, and Tom saw several caches of rockets and launchers in some nests. They were seriously armed. Apparently they really wanted this piece of real-estate. But they were at the disadvantage of playing as the visitor in this particular ball game. Tom was going to make sure he took advantage of every advantage he could get.
Tom let the flagging engine cool off for a moment as Holly and Scarlett opened fire, the MBT's big shells burrowing partway into the sand before exploding and casting mini dust storms everywhere. Scarlett lobbed a grenade, and it actually landed inside one of the MG nests. The soldiers screamed in terror and scrambled out, but they only met their end from a different means; either Holly's shots or Scarlett's took them out in ones, twos, and threes.

The MG nests turned to fire on their evidently renegade comrades even as US ships started to appear out of the mist and sea-spray in the distance. Sent ahead of them were F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), and they launched missiles into the sand. Apparently bunker-busters, because Tom heard three muffled 'thump's and then saw a large explosion cast bits and pieces of objects into the air. The soldiers in that nest were gone, literally, with the wind.

Tom saw a Destroyer-class vessel out in the ocean start to turn abreast, and seconds later a large ship-to-shore shell ate away another nest.

Bullets tore into the MBT, damaging it severely.

“It would seem they have armor piercing rounds. How intriguing.” Tom noted calmly.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Holly said lightly, jokingly, as she ducked lower in her seat after a trio of bullets smashed her headrest and threw sparks around.

Scarlett snarled above them, still firing full-automatic at anything that presented itself. Scarlett was usually happy and calm, but “you don't like me when I'm angry” applied here.

The heavy machine gun thumped and thudded as Scarlett walked the bullets over a pair of Russians attempting to load a rocket. The barrel now was hot as crap. The bullets impacted roughly, kicking up sand, and the men fell. A grenade cut through the air, and Scar caught it at the top of its arc. Not physically, but with her mind. Ah, the joys of Telekinesis.

Technically, she wasn't supposed to advertise that America's best were here and that they wanted this place so badly, but what was she going to do? Let a grenade fall on top of her? Instead she marginally changed the direction and let it fall behind them, creating an effective sand-screen between the pursuing men and the MBT. But the various shots, coupled with the bombardment from the ships, completely incased them in sand, and soon they weren't able to see. So it was a surprise to Tom when suddenly a huge, looming figure darkened into perspective, ''directly in front of him.''

Tom slammed the brakes and hit full reverse at the same time, allowing the tracks to spin, squeal and stop. The large, long figure drove alongside them and stopped. Holly was already swiveling to fire, but Scar was holding, and Tom figured out why three seconds later when Holly's FOF screen bleeped, warning her she was aiming at a fellow American unit.

The sand dissipated after a moment and Matt came into view, standing with one leg forward, knee bent and looking proudly superior. He peered down at them atop a Stryker MBT/APC and winked, calling, "Someone call in a the cavalry?"

Tom responded over the comm, a large grin on his face, "Nah, we've got it pretty much under control just another few hundred guys to go."

"Wouldn't miss it." Matt said, and crossed one leg over to the smaller Russian MBT, kept one leg planted on the Stryker, and helped everyone out of the Russian junk and onto the American ground superiority fighter. When Tom, the last one over, was situated, Matt helped himself down the ladder and took up position behind one of the control stations for the craft. Of course the turret gunner. He bumped a Corporal out of the way, waiting as Holly pulled up next to him and let another lieutenant get up, then sat down and buckled in behind the 7.62mm MG control station. Scar moved up and took the controls for the driver. Tom set his carbine aside and unlatched a MMG from the locker next to him, then crawled back out onto the top of the beast in order to shoot.

Tom was instantly met with scattered fire, but the Goliath of a tank rumbled forward and crushed one cover position after the next, Matt cutting the enemy down to size with a few blasts of the 120mm cannon and Holly helping out with the MG. Tom suppressed a pit with his own weapon, but he wasn't having as much fun up here, so he called, "I'm getting off and finding some real action. Anyone wanna come with?"

Matt acknowledged and unbuckled, moving to go and help Tom. Holly swiftly changed positions to mount the larger cannon, and Scarlett opened the bay door to let Matt down to the sand. Tom jumped off the top a moment later, doing a flip just to rile whatever army brass was watching him.

Matt followed, leaving the girls to themselves, as Tom led the way back away from the resort and towards the shore. They both slid into one of the MG pits amidst a sheet of bullets and casings, but they made it, and then four Russians were on them, up close. Matt brutally thrashed one of them with the stock of his gun, and Tom dodged an attack from another, swinging his heavier MMG around in an arc and catching the man's knee, making him collapse. Matt kicked out with his boot again and caught another man in the chest, sending him back and down, wheezing. Tom elbowed another in the side of the head, hearing his skull crack and watching dark blood start to flow through. These blows all did much more damage than a typical soldier would've, due to their ''abilities''. Tom especially, from his treatment.

Tom gave no mercy, twisting one's neck almost completely around with a roundhouse kick, sending another one who had just gotten to his feet back down with a forceful thrust from his knife, and kicked another in the kidney as Matt finished them off. Then Matt grabbed a gun on one side, Tom dropped his heavy MMG and pilfered a Russian automatic, then grabbed an MG on the opposite side of Matt. They opened fire, watching men, ''real'' men, who had been running towards them to re-inforce their comrades, die and drop like sticks as bullets tore into them.

Further down shore, the Stryker started taking fire. The Russians hadn't stopped at this one resort. They had occupied the beach up and down the coastline. The concentration of troops happened to be in the Coral Reef Resort.

The first of the transport boats neared the shore, carrying fifteen Marines to the beach. Aircraft flew overhead, pinning down resistance fire. However, amidst the scores of nests, some survived to shoot.

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-21T02:25:09Z

Will:

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-21T02:23:22Z

Will:

Talk:Atlantis

2008-06-21T02:08:51Z

Will: