I know this may seem like a strange thing to put on a tribute to a video game, but if you knew the guy in the above picture, you'd understand how appropriate this section is! It so happens he's a good friend of mine, and it was due to Paladin's Quest that I got to know him. The story goes like this....
It was the summer of 1994. I was 14 and attending summer school one last time before I went into high school, and I still had my SNES and a copy of Paladin's Quest and played the game night and day. It was maybe the first or second week when I became acquainted with Sponk (he had not yet acquired this nickname at this point, and I'd rather not tell you his real name). We were in the same math class, which was taught by this big fuckin' fat cow named Miss Karell, who was a real bitch and had this weird rash thing on the side of her mouth. (I remember during the second to last week of the summer school session, she confiscated my copy of This Book Sucks and I was told that I'd get it back on the last day. I never saw the book again. God DAMN, I hated that bitch!)
It was on the day that we were given folders to keep our work in that I met Sponk. Miss COWell I mean Miss Karell gave us some time to design and draw on the folders as we liked, and being so obsessed with Paladin's Quest as I was, I began sketching my rendition of the Tower of Gabnid on the back of the folder. (I still have that folder to this day!) Sponk happened to be walking by, and he looked down at my folder for a second, then simply said, "Paladin's Quest, huh?" I dropped my pencil and looked at him in amazement. You see, I had no idea that anyone else in the entire fucking WORLD knew about Paladin's Quest besides me and the people who made it. So, I understandably got a little excited and exclaimed, "WHOA, YOU KNOW ABOUT PALADIN'S QUEST?!?!??"
The rest is pretty much history. Sponk came over to my house and we hung out a few times after the regular school year started, though I didn't really keep in contact with him very well, but to this day I'm glad he kept in touch anyway. I kept telling him about my friend Atropolus (another good friend of mine who shall remain virtually anonymous) and how they should meet. I remember the day when I finally did take him to meet Atropolus; Sponk and I were having a brainfreeze contest to see who could drink the most Slurpee in one pull and I almost fell over on the sidewalk. Silly me. Atropolus and Sponk connected right away. It was cool. The three of us played video games for a while, and by the time we left, they were like old friends already.
In '95 I moved to Oregon for a while (it really sucked; I'd rather not go into the details here), and when I came back in '96, Sponk had met all of my old friends and then some through Atropolus. It was funny when I told all of them this story; they had no idea it was due to little old me that they all knew that weird-ass they called Sponk!
So there you have it, the Legend of Sponk. LATEZ. 
Back to My Tribute to ''Paladin's Quest''
Email: allroy999@angelfire.com
