Disclaimers ‘n’ crap: Haihai peeps! Okay, let’s get one thing straight right now: I’m new to I’ve been writing for for several months, though. Anyway, this story takes place a few years before the official beginning of The Crystal Journeys, so it’ll give you a chance to get introduced to some of the original characters. Please note that I don’t own Gala-Na and that on E-Max, the word “suffrage” means “suffering”. Enjoy!

Dawn. The sun rose over the many grand towers of Royal Palace. At the windows of one of these towers stood a tall and imposing looking E-Maxen. Well, he was the king, what would you expect? Gordon Rothman was deep in thought. His planet was in the midst of what was being called “an E-Maxen civil war”. Popotropolis, a prison city in E-Max’s lush Pophill Plains, had been overrun by its criminal inhabitants. They had demanded that the city be excluded from the E-Maxen planetary kingdom. Gordon and his wife, Queen Faith, would have none of this. At this refusal, the population began breaking into homeless shelters across the planet and killing the inhabitants. They claimed that they were putting the poor and weak out of their misery and called themselves “The Suffrage Keys”. When King Gordon ordered the E-Maxen army to stop these inexcusable acts of genocide, the Suffrage Keys fought back with incredible force, and thus, war began.

This war had been raging for about 4 months now. It had been dubbed “The Poor War” for 2 reasons: the mass murders that claimed the lives of numerous poor people, and the fact that some believed that this was poor motivation for a war to be fought. In other words, some people though the cause was stupid. Some people, but not King Gordon.

“Your Majesty,” said an official from behind him “You are receiving an urgent transmission from the outskirts of Little Palimino.”

“William,” said Gordon to himself. He strolled to the transmission room down the hall and turned on the screen. A dark gray bat E-Maxen with wild, untamed hair looked back at him.

“Your Majesty,” he said.

“General Grenade,” said Gordon. The two sat there staring at each other for a moment before William boomed “Oh, heck with the formalities! Gordon!”

“William!” The two laughed for a moment before Gordon spoke again. “So, the battle went well, I presume?” William’s smile was quickly wiped from his face.

“Your Majesty,” said William, shakily “We lost Little Palimino.” Gordon gasped. “The Suffrage Keys got here before we did and burned half the town. We had to choose between fighting them and saving the city. I didn’t choose wisely enough, I-I didn’t think about it long enough, the whole fire was a distraction, we had over three dozen caravans of injured troops by the end of the day and what’s left of the city…is under the control of the enemy. I’m sorry, sir, I failed you.” Gordon paused and heaved a heavy sigh.

“Where are the Suffrage Keys headed now?” he said. William looked as though he were about to put himself to death.

“Your way, sir,” he said. “They’re marching towards Capitopolis.” The king was horrorstruck.

“William,” said Gordon, very quickly “Contact General Jenji and tell him to return here immediat…”

“He’s already on his way back,” William interrupted “His flank recently drove out and captured a large group of Suffrage Keys from Gal Chinchoko down South. His fleet of airships should be returning…”

“Now,” Gordon finished, turning to the door. He could hear the airships coming to land from outside. He turned back to William. “William,” he said “Gather up your troops and return to Capitopolis. Contact General Furtree and tell him to go over there and retake Little Palimino.”

“But I’m here already,” said William, a bit confused “Why not just…”

“William,” said Gordon, sounding quite serious “I need you here. Jenji too. You’re the best generals I’ve got.” William went red.

“Sir, I’m, flattered!” he said, smiling. Gordon smiled back.

“See you in 0200,” he said, turning off the monitor and going to greet his old friend. He entered the fleet’s main hanger and watched as they disembarked from their sleek fighter-model Star Shuttles. Nearest to him was an orange starfighter whose pilot was coming up to greet him.

“Jenji!” said the king as the orange echidna clad in a tight, black stealth suit embraced him.

“It’s good to see you again, sir,” said Jenji, patting his commander-in-chief on the back, then pulling back and sighing contentedly. “Ah, it feels wonderful to be back,” he said, looking around “Where are the kids?”

“Inside,” said Gordon, cocking his head in the direction of the door. Jenji started towards it but was stopped by the king. “But before you go pay a visit to our children, you might want to prepare yourself for an upcoming battle.”

“Where?”

“Here.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” Jenji stood still for a moment.

“Alright,” he said, finally “I’ll make a P.A. announcement to my troops first and then I’ll see the girls,” which he got to right away.

“Jenji?” said Gordon, noticing the echidna’s tension. Jenji stopped and turned around. “Don’t worry, William’s coming to back us up.” Jenji smiled and continued to the P.A.