Lachlan walked up to the table and pulled out a chair, he didn't sit down immediately though, he introduced himself instead.
"Hello, my names Lachlan, what are your names?" Lachlan asked in a polite tone as he looked at everyone on the table. He made sure he made eye contact because at least that meant they heard him.
"Nice to meet you Lachlan, the names Joe". The man looked much older than he really was. He had a chiselled face, black hair, brown/hazel eyes and was wearing some leather clothes. He was sitting down so Lachlan couldn't determine his height.
"Please to meet you Lachlan, I'm Phoebe". Phoebe was the cutest amongst the girls here. She had long blonde hair that went to the bottom of her shoulder blades, blue eyes, a slightly chubby face and was wearing a cute light blue dress. Her voice a little bit higher pitch than most girl voices.
"Hi, the names Georgia". Georgia looked the most mature, like a big shot CEO's secretary. She had short brown hair, black eyes, a sharp chin and was wearing a short black skirt and a white shirt. She sounded as though she would order you to do all her work.
"Yo, I'm Zoe". The women looked the most immature of the bunch, it looks like she still has her pyjamas on. She had long brown hair that just reaches her shoulders and green eyes. She sounded normal to Lachlan.
"Please to be of your acquaintance Lachlan, I'm Chloe". Chloe had almost silver hair, Lachlan wasn't sure whether it was natural or dyed. She also had blonde eyebrows and green eyes, a combo Lachlan hasn't seen before. Chloe was wearing tracksuit pants and a white shirt.
"You don't need to know my name brat," Simon said. Lachlan quickly looked to the side and noticed Phoebe was slightly nervous, it seems he's done it to the younger people, maybe because he's jealous of their young looks.
Simon looked very weak considering his stats which meant a majority of it was from his beasts. He looked similar to your average Australian surfer. Having long blonde hair, scruffy face, he just wasn't that muscular.
This shocked Lachlan, it was the first time he's met such an arrogant individual. Lachlan then remembered the superior back at Mount Barker, 'Make this my second time meeting such a person' Lachlan thought.
'But why do I have to have an arrogant person as a partner, this is exactly what I didn't want' Lachlan felt as though the world just hated him, cursing his abilities by ruining his life.
"You're quite arrogant for a weakling," Lachlan said intimidatingly, he then walked next to him and put his elbow on the table, his forearm up with his palm opened, "Arm wrestle me, if I win you say your name, if you win, I won't bother you at all throughout this mission".
Lachlan felt it would only be fair, even though he was confident he would win. After all, he has those bonus stats that'll come into play.
"Alright you're on," Simon did the same and grabbed onto Lachlan's hand. They stared each other in the face, slightly tensing their muscles and attempting to crush to other person's hand. Simon quickly felt a bit off.
Joe was the one to countdown, "Okay, 3, 2, 1, go".
It was on, their muscles flared and Lachlan quickly went into the lead. Aside from that first burst of strength his arm was moving slowly. Simon knew something was off but he couldn't do anything now except resist.
His hand was getting closer and closer to the table, his face red with veins popping out. He was trying his best yet he was no match for Lachlan. Lachlan slammed his hand against the table and jumped up, arms held high in victory.
'Oh yeah, that felt great' Lachlan loved the feeling of crushing someone arrogant, something about seeing their frustrated face afterwards just felt satisfying.
Simon, on the other hand, was indeed frustrated by his lose but still had enough pride to follow through, "The name's Simon," He pouted as he leaned back in his chair.
The other people giggled, Phoebe especially. She had been treated the same but was too nervous to do anything.
Lachlan walked over to his seat and sat down, looking towards the superiors and giving them a nod.
James noticed this quickly and broke the silence, in an attempt to get rid of this awkward situation, "Well, now that you've all introduced yourselves I suppose its time to brief you all on the mission".
Everyone nodded and looked towards the television.
"About 100 kilometres from here is a new island, we have circled it and determined that its size is roughly the same size as Sydney. But that's not all, the gravity on this island is unique, from what we can tell the gravity on the shore is roughly 2x the normal gravity on the current Earth".
"Do you know why?" Zoe asked. This was something on everyone's mind, as it was too unique to not be curious.
"Not right now, we have some guesses though. It may be a new type of mineral, a metal that distorts the gravity around it. Unfortunately, the machines we have struggled when we dig on the island, it seems the gravity is much more intense below ground, which is why we guessed it's a mineral. There is also the slight possibility of it being some unique beast, but the chance of that is low".
"So why are you sending us to the island?" Zoe asked.
"Because we want to know what's on there, whether or not it could become a new training ground for the talented, or if we could cultivate it and mine minerals there," James explained.
"So you want to conquer it," Simon said.
"Essentially," James responded.
"Why don't to conquer it yourselves? Why get us involved?" Georgia asked. She really did sound like some CEO, always asking questions when it concerns her.
"Because you are much stronger than any of our soldiers, as such, we hope you cooperate with us and explore the island," James said, "Don't worry we will compensate you heavily on anything you find. But not only that, you get some badges you can wear".
"Sure," Lachlan said. Lachlan came this far to do just that and it would be a waste if he was suddenly told to go back without doing anything. It certainly wouldn't be productive, not to mention he just really wants to explore those islands.
Everyone stared at him confused, Simon questioned his decision "You're just going to accept it so easily?"
"Well that's what I came here for, I don't see the point of going back now. In addition, this might be the perfect training ground for me," Lachlan explained. The 2x gravity did intrigue him, it could be something he was able to use to train.
A few were stunned by his response, sure this could be the perfect training ground, but it could also be his grave. The others that weren't stunned agreed with him, this wasn't the time to be waiting, if they could get ahead of the crowd and become the strongest they could very well take control of the world. Though that isn't what any of them want, as it'll be too troublesome.
"Yeah, I agree with Lachlan," Joe said.
"I second that," Zoe said. The brother and sister duo were in a similar boat, in that they've travelled quite a bit to get here and they really don't want to go back.
"Alright, anyway, we leave in half an hour, you'll be riding a boat to the island and don't worry, the boat's going to be escorted by our soldiers. You could all go to the main area, someone will be there with some camping gear for you all to use," James said.
"I have a better suggestion," said Phoebe mysteriously, "Meet me at the shore, our ride will be waiting there".
Phoebe quickly left the room before anyone could ask anything, the rest of the group followed along.
Inside the room, only the superiors were left, with James still standing in front of the television.
"Suppose that went pretty good," James said. In his mind that was perfect, it would be weird if the moment they met each other they were immediately friends. What he didn't expect was for them to agree so quickly, not that it bothered him.
Outside everyone left to go to the main area, they wandered around for a bit before quickly realising they were lost.