Struck 4
by Redkage and muscl4life
Dan was outside, slowly making his way up the grassy hill. Although it was slightly steep, the climb wasn’t all that hard as he remembered it, though he was a lot stronger then he was back then. The sun was setting in the distance, lighting the sky with a rainbow of pastel colors. The clouds hanging overhead had become a soft pink from the setting sun. As he climbed, a warm, gentle breeze caressed his body. He knew this place. He had been here once before, a long time ago.
As he neared the top of the hill, he spotted the tree. It was a massive tree, standing as high as a California Redwood with its vast branches spread above. Despite its vast, intimidating size, it bloomed with delicate pink flowers in its branches. Just looking at it filled Dan with a sense of awe and wonder. As the warm wind blew, several petals were blown off and drifted towards Dan with a very pleasant scent. He knew this scent, it was so familiar and soothing that the name lingered on the tip of his tongue, but he was unable to identify where he had smelled it before.
Everything here was all familiar to Dan. He had been here once before, but something seemed different now. The thick, gnarled old bark had begun to flake off, for instance. In the places where the old bark had fallen, Dan could see fresh, smooth new bark hiding under it. The wind was much warmer, and the scent of summer was much more noticeable then before that Dan could just close his eyes and stand there all day, wrapped in its soothing embrace.
Even though he was at the top of the hill Dan continued to walk, but this time towards the tree. It was as if the massive life form was calling him to it. Still, Dan was not able to fight the compulsion to move forward towards the giant tree, nor did he wish to fight it. The tree drew him forward with its vast magnificence, sweet scent and grand beauty. When he was within reach, he extended his arm and touched the tree trunk.
Ka-BOOM!
Suddenly there was a blinding flash and deafening detonation as the tree was immediately engulfed in white fire and intense heat as a thunderbolt shot from the clear sky and struck the tree. Dan gave a startled cry as he bolted upright in his bed, with cold sweat clinging to his body like morning dew.
It was that dream again, he thought to himself as he breathed in deeply. He had that dream once before, many years ago. But, why did he have it again now?
He shivered slightly. Usually he didn’t mind this much cold, even when he was soaked in sweat and completely naked. He shiver was a result for a different reason. He had known full well what happened whenever he touched that tree, but he couldn’t stop himself. Thunderstrike shook his body like a wet dog, spraying droplets of sweat onto his bed sheets. This was no time to get unnerved by a dream. And besides, it wasn’t even a bad dream. It made him feel…good. If it hadn’t for that last part, he wouldn’t have woken up so suddenly.
As he sat there in bed, his hand began to roam and feel his body. His muscles bulged and rippled underneath his sweaty skin. Was he even bigger now? It felt like he was. Then again, he was always bigger lately. Flexing an arm and watching how it grew into a big ball in the moonlight, he confirmed it. Shit, although a part of him was worried about it, another was excited at the same time. Other then his shrinking wardrobe, he didn’t have any complaints about his growth, and neither did John for that manner.
His mind suddenly on John, Dan looked over to the corner of his room where a large duffel bag was all packed up. Tomorrow was the big trip to his folk’s cabin in the mountains. Although he’d been there many times, he couldn’t help but feel excited every time he was about to go up there. And this time, John was coming with him as well!
Knowing he’d need plenty of rest for tomorrow, Dan settled back into bed and closed his eyes, wishing that morning would come soon like a child waiting for Christmas.
* * *
John waited on the stretch of sidewalk in front of his house, anxiously waiting for Dan to come around the corner driving his big truck. Next to him was a large duffel bag with a few pairs of clothing and his medication.
Despite how much he had protested about being unworthy, John was actually looking forward to the trip to Dan’s cabin up in the mountains. Being true to his word, Dan had been the best friend a person could ever ask for. Almost a week had gone by since John had been released from the hospital, and Dan had become a completely different person. Everyday Dan would pick him up and drive him to school, making light easy conversation on the way. Also, Dan spent most of the day with him. They walked together to their classes, they ate their lunch at the same table, and after school Dan insisted they hanged out with each other.
The roar of the engine brought John back to the present just as Dan drove his big Dodge Dakota truck around the corner and came to a halt right in front of him. The door opened and out popped a grinning Dan Thunderstrike, dressed in a too tight red tank top and jeans.
“Morning buddy!” He said. “Are ya ready to go on our little trip?”
“Y-yes.” John quickly averted his gaze not out of the usual respect, but because he was quickly becoming aroused by the sight he was seeing. The t-shirt hugged every crevice on that magnificent torso, outlining those huge mounds of pectorals and the six distinct bumps of Dan’s abdominals. The jeans were so tight around Dan’s quads and calves, and if he turned around John was sure that Dan’s bubble butt would fill out the seat of his pants perfectly. It was a miracle that John didn’t cum in his pants right then and there!
For some unknown reason that baffled the both of them, Dan’s muscles have been growing rather quickly within the past few days. John knew it, Dan knew it, but so far no one else had noticed his sudden growth spurt. Sure, several people had commented about how big Dan was getting, but none of them seemed to have really noticed. How was it possible to miss over thirty pounds of muscle in ten days? Unfortunately for John, he knew it was happening, and this caused him to jerk off to the thought until midnight, then fall into wet dreams about a bigger, better Dan Thunderstrike.
“Is this all you’re taking?” The massive jock asked as he grabbed the strap and lifted the bag upwards, the position giving John a good look at Dan’s flexed bicep bulging against the skin tight sleeve. John almost jumped when his dick twitched at the view, but he fought it down.
“Yes, I didn’t really know what to pack so I’m taking only some essentials.” He replied.
“What about all of your supplements and vitamins?” the big guy inquired.
“It’s in there.” He answered, keeping his head low. He felt his glasses slip to the tip of his nose and he quickly pushed them back into place.
The movement caught Dan’s eye so he reached down and brought John’s chin back up. “Hey man, there’s no need to feel intimidated. I’m not gonna hurt you are my friend, you know that.”
“Y-yes.” John nodded, grateful that Dan had misinterpreted his intentions. “Should I have packed something else?”
“Well, other then some clothes and your meds, you won’t need much of anything.” Dan said as he placed the duffel bag in the back of the truck. “My folks’ cabin is pretty well stocked, complete with bedding, lights and running water. Everything else I already got packed up already.” He turned and grinned at him. “Now, how about we hit the road already? I’m dying to show you the place.”
Quietly John hopped into the passenger seat of the car, and before he could put on his seat belt Dan did it for him.
“You don’t have to do that Dan.” He said, a bit aroused when that thick arm had reached past him and buckled the seat belt. It so close he could count all the striations and veins in that powerful limb.
“I wanted to.” Dan winked, bringing out yet another cute blush from John’s face.
Within moments they were off, driving towards the mountain retreat. To pass time, Dan tried to fill the silence with some small talk, asking John some easy questions to get to know him better. Nothing big, just things such like his hobbies, what he does on his spare time and such. After fifteen minutes of talking, he realized that he hadn’t talked about himself yet.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to put you in the spotlight.” Dan apologized immediately.
“P-pardon?” John looked up. Once again his glasses had slid down to the tip of his nose. For a second, Dan had the urge to reach over and push it back into place for him, but decided not to.
“I’ve been asking you all the questions,” Dan explained, glancing over at him, “Giving you no time to ask some of your own. Now go ahead and shoot.”
“S-shoot?”
“Ask me some questions of your own.” The corner of Dan’s mouth curled up.
“I-I don’t really have any.” John said shyly.
“Oh come on, there’s gotta be something you wanna know about me.” Dan said. “Like, what’s my favorite movie.”
“The Lion King.”
Dan blinked. “H-how did you know that?”
“You watched the movie three times when it was released in theaters and five times everyday after it was released on VHS until the sixth grade. Also, you bought it on the same day it was released on DVD.”
Needless to say Dan was shocked to find out that John knew all of that. Sudden he was immensely curious at how much John knew about him. “Okay then, how about my favorite music?”
“Heavy metal.” John stated. “Favorite band in that category is either Metallica or Rammstein, though your all time favorite artist is Eric Clapton in classic rock.”
“My favorite TV show?”
“You tell everyone it is WWE Smack Down, but in truth you like to watch “The Nanny” reruns.”
“So you think you know everything there is to know about me huh?” Dan asked in a teasing tone.
“I didn’t mean that, I only said I didn’t have any basic question about you…” John felt his heart beating faster; he couldn’t believe he would actually introduce that subject, but he like he anticipated Dan seemed to take the bait.
“Okay… so what kind of non-basic question you do have about me?”
John took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the words slipped out of his mouth.
“Why did you tattoo the petals if they are not in the Legend?”
Thunderstrike suddenly looked pale. “W-what are you talking about?”
John, in the other hand, seemed much calmer.
“Well, the image you tattooed in your back refers to that an ancient Native American tale about the Thunder doesn’t it?” John explained calmly.
The massive teenager had to stop the car, because he couldn’t believe someone had actually unveiled his greatest personal secret which is the meaning of the mysterious tattoo in his muscular back. Suddenly, it looked liked Danny was indeed afraid of John’s knowledge about him.
“Please, tell me exactly what do you mean by that…” he asked very gravely and John noticed the improbable friend was very worried, but for the first time he was clueless about the reason for such reaction.
“Well, there’s an ancient tale that explains the nature of the Thunder and its importance for the earlier Native American civilizations. I mean, your tattoo clearly pictures the poem.” John spoke very slowly in order not to piss off that monumental teenager.
“How d-did you know about the poem?” Dan asked clearly blown away by how accurate John’s theory was.
That’s when John really blushed “From you, Dan. You declaimed this very poem in class, when we were on the 5th grade, the teacher asked a paper on our family tree and you were very proud to tell the whole class about your inheritance, so you read the poem about the Thunder and told this was the reason of your name…”
Dan’s jaw dropped. He hadn’t recalled such episode until that moment; in fact he could see the younger John sat at the third desk of the fifth row, right at his left side. The huge athlete gulped down. “Do you still know the words for that poem?”
John nodded quickly. “I never forgot them…” The skinny boy took a deep breath, and tried to make his voice a little manlier to declaim the following verses.
The Tall and Mighty Oak,
Highest in the forest,
Strongest of them all,
Provided he envied the opulence of the heights.
The Oak once dared to reach for the skies;
Then, higher and higher grew the Oak
Until his branches scraped the clouds,
And soon from high up there he saw it all;
But little did the Mightiest know
That he was doomed to fall.
Ripping the cloak of darkness,
A roar of the angry skies pronounced;
Wounding Darkness with dreadful Light
Thunder unleashed Fate;
Between good and evil Thunder cannot choose,
When comes the time to strike;
Thunder can’t tell friends from the foes
Once from above fired Thunder only seeks to strike.
Thus, a merciless brilliant arrow
Struck the thick trunk of the mightiest Oak;
Burning it down in the flames of Sky Fire,
Until only a dried trunk resisted to regret its vain desire
Know all men that all that is alive fear for its life,
But Thunder fears no fear at all.
For a few seconds an awkward silence reigned inside Dan’s car. The jock simply had never imagined someone like John would uncover the great secret behind his famous tattoo, the allusion to the legend of the Thunder was indeed very strong, but those unused to his culture would not associate the picture tattooed in Dan’s marvelously V-shaped back to a metaphoric parboil.
Suddenly, Dan just snapped from his shocked stance.
“Damn, John, you’re just full of surprises aren’t you?” The muscular jock grinned, gently laying his hand on the frail shoulder of his much smaller friend.
“I’ve…been watching you for a long time.” John said, embarrassed, but then he just felt nervous. “It’s not like I’m stalking you or something, it’s just… well I can’t help but clinging on to the minimum details, they are just impressed in my mind and I can’t seem to forget about them…”
Dan looked at John’s ashamed face “So… you have one of those.... erm what is the name again?” the jock asked while he smacked his forehead.
“An eidetic memory…” John completed getting even more embarrassed.
“Yeah, that’s it! Damn, it must be very cool to remember everything…” Dan commented, trying to make John loosen up a little.
“Well, it usually is very handy, but there is a bad side too…sometimes we just want to let go on things you know?” John said looking up at Dan with a sudden sorrow in his eyes.
“I know exactly what you mean, bro…” the huge Native American commented with a noticeable emotion in his voice, but he soon tried to change the subject.
“In any case, I’m amazed that you’ve never talked about the poem with anyone else, I really like to keep the details about my ink from the rest of people.” Dan didn’t realize but his statement caused John to feel incredibly fortunate for being separated of “the rest of people”
“Like I said before… I got the oak and the Thunder, but what’s with the petals? Are they just to adorn the picture?” The curious frail guy adjusted his glasses as he was actually seeing the drawing.
Dan seemed a little disturbed at that question, after a moment of hesitation he just looked back at the road. “Erm… we can’t stay here and chit-chat for too long, there’s still a lot of road until our destination and I want to get there as soon as possible!”
John got the message the brawny friend sent; he might have figured out the inspiration for the picture, however he was still far from finding out the true meaning it had over the powerful athlete, so John decided to back off an enjoy what was still the greatest thing that ever happened to him: hanging out with Dan Thunderstrike!