Oni Joint Story, First Installment: Salvation

Lithium · 09/30/09 19:09

watch the language......
aw who even cares anymore

Last edited by Lithium (09/30/09 19:09)

Mukade · 09/30/09 21:09

sounds moer like me...

Leus · 09/30/09 21:09

"Well, James, it's really quite fascinating actually," Mukade began to explain. The two of them began to stroll off down the hall to discuss things that only they would comprehend.

Mai frowned slightly. "They probably won't be too long," she said idly. There was a pause. "Who wants to play slapsies?"

---

James sat in front of the console quietly typing. After a bit, Mukade sighed. "I've done some bad things, James," Mukade confessed.

"I know," said James. "It's alright." He seemed preoccupied but genuine.

"It's not though," Mukade persisted. "I'm not alright. My mind, James... I feel like it's gone."

"It seems present enough to me," James replied.

"It takes everything I've got to suppress the wicked thoughts and urges," Mukade mourned. "It's one thing that my past is tarnished, full of sadism and immoral pursuits."

There was a pause. Jame said nothing.

"But it's like I still don't care," Mukade continued. "Like I could snap back to it at any second. I have no desire to change or repent."

"You obviously do, Toshio," James responded. Mukade choked on his breath; it had been so long since he'd been addressed by his first name. "Just look at you. If you didn't desire to do the right thing, why would you be doing what you are now?"

Mukade frowned. "It's not that simple," he protested.

"Things are a lot simpler than people like to imagine," said James.

"I just don't feel like I can make it right," Mukade despaired.

"You can never correct your past's mistakes," James said with authority. "Only your future's path."

Mukade chuckled. "Frank was right," he mused. "We do enjoy the drama."

SMASH! James and Mukade spun around as glass shattered and the metal door frame hit the floor, the jagged edges of the wall now stretching into the room. Behind the carnage stood Mai. She bore a look of stark fear. Mukade and James simultaneously jumped to their feet and followed her out of the room.

---

Barabas was on both knees cradling a body in his arms. It was Axel's. She and Barabas both were silent.

Carpeting the room around them were scores more carcasses of white, standing among them a few mortified and equally silent familiar daodan symbiotes.

"I guess," Mai began, a lump forming in her throat as she tried to speak. "Samoko made it back home." She stared at Barabas and Axel, her eyes growing wider until she had to turn away. Clumsily, she jogged into the nearest room and weeping could be heard quietly through the door.

Mukade stepped in behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"It's just so terrible," she said, turning around and embracing the cyborg. "Everything I do ends in death, loss and pain."

Mukade stroked her hair once more and felt tears drip onto his skin as she half-buried her face in his shirt. "It's not you, darling," he assured her.

"No, it's not me," Mai said. "It's the whole damned world. It's all there is. It never stops."

"It's the systems," Mukade said, fumbling with his words. "The people grow into perpetuators of the torment because they don't know any better, because they would otherwise have to admit they've been wrong all along."

"And when one attempts to change, to abandon the pain and fight for an end to it," she said, leaning back and looking at Barabas through the window, "all they're rewarded with is more and more of it. How are we EVER supposed to end this cycle?"

Mukade also glanced out to the spectacle at which Barabas was the center, envying the moral conviction with which this man now acted. As a fellow former monster, Mukade stressed his mind; why did he not feel the same way? Why?

"It's not up to us to end it," Mukade said finally. "It is inevitable: One way or another, it will come to an end. All we can do is try and make sure it is a prosperous one." He kissed her forehead. As he pulled back, Mai glanced away from Barabas and into Mukade's eyes. She could see his ancient and desperate soul screaming silently from within. He gazed back into her eyes and saw in turn the purity and frustration of a girl like her in a world like this. Slowly, they leaned closer.

---

Suddenly Barabas cast Axel's body aside like a piece of scrap metal. He leapt to his feet, then stormed steadily towards the front door. "Wait!" James called. Barabas ignored him.

Sam, William, Edgar, Casey and Griffin all followed Barabas. Mukade and Mai poked their heads out to investigate the commotion. "He's going to finish it," James said when he saw them. "Come on." The three of them chased after Barabas and the rest, trailing behind but catching up quickly.

In the car, the nine of them were completely silent for a long while. Finally, Griffin spoke. "You know this car is probably bugged, right?" Griffin spoke up. "How else do you think they found us at the processor?"

There was no response.

Griffin sighed. "We're going to need some sort of plan," he insisted.

"Kill them all," Barabas said from behind the wheel. He was doing nearly 110 MPH. Nobody challenged his recklessness.

"If we can get to this fabled machine," James said. "I should be able to use it properly."

"Good," Griffin continued. "Mukade, Mai, Barabas and myself will accompany you--"

"No," Barabas said immediately rejecting the plan. "I'm going. To kill. Them all."

"Fine," Griffin said, seemingly almost blowing off Barabas' vengeful vendetta. "Willam, Edgar and--"

"Call me Ford," William interrupted.

"But," Griffin responded, confused. "I thought, your name--"

"William was a monster," said William. "I wish I'd never..." He didn't finish the thought. "Call me Ford."

"But that was the name of your torturer!" Griffin countered. "What could possibly be--"

"Dad," Casey said, shooting Griffin down. "Just drop it."

Griffin looked at his son. "What... Did you just call me?" Casey hesitated, looking away. Tears came to Griffin's eyes both from joy and desperation. He knew his son didn't remember; still, Casey was beginning to think of the old man as his father.

"You guys are with me," Barabas said, commandeering the instruction. "Sam, Ford, Edgar and Casey. You all deserve--"

"It's too dangerous!" Griffin butted in. "Casey, you can't..."

"Dad," he repeated the painfully elating word, "I have to." Griffin curled his lips inward, fighting off further protest. He hadn't been able to protect his son so far and was powerless to do so now. The helplessness tore at his spirit, but he remained strong.

They arrived uninhibited at the BGI installation in the middle of the day. The sun was high in the sky and the shadows of Mai and company were scarcely visible as they emptied from the vehicle. They marched towards the front doors, Barabas leading.

This time the doors did not open. Unaffected, Barabas bashed his body through them and continued his stride. The facility was sparsely populated. Of course, everyone immediately looked to the intruders. "Alright," Barabas said, a sickening calm in his tone. "Here we go."

---

Thickly armoured bodies scattered the lobby like rag dolls. The white stone floor was accented with a candy cane-like blood effect. Barabas and the previous imago test subjects stood victorious and nearly unscathed in the center of the room. "That takes care of that," Barbas said, clapping his hands together at alternating angles as if to dust them off. "Let's continue the hunt."

---

They searched countless rooms before they found what they were looking for. Mai, Mukade, Griffin and James stepped towards the machine. It looked duller than any of them had expected; rather an ordinary-seeming machine, actually. It had pipes, metal panels, bolts and wires. It had a monitor towering over a large key panel. James got to work.

Outside they heard the mayhem of Barabas and his team avenging themselves against those responsible. Although he seemed to be fighting for justice, Mai was burdened by his murderous spirit. She knew violence would never solve itself. She almost felt like Barabas had been lost to the agony once more.

"Oh, god," James said, a sudden terror in his voice. "No..."

"What is it?" Mai inquired concernedly, looking to her father.

"It says--" a gunshot reverberated throughout the room. James slumped forward onto the keyboard, blood spattering the screen before him.

Mai's mouth dropped and she rushed to his side. "DAD!" she cried.

"MAI!" James cried in return. Mukade watched them as they both dashed to where the other had been standing and knelt to the floor, crying over the empty air. Griffin was nowhere to be found. Mukade turned towards the door and saw Samoko. She was beaten, bruised and bloodied and bore in her hands a large jar. Within the jar, an oversized brain floated suspended in a strange substance.

Springing into action, Mukade stepped through the shadows and was immediately by Samoko's side. He executed a clean chop through the jar, the glass and bio matter within shattering and splitting simultaneously. Blood, brain, glass and gel covered the floor below Samoko's trembling knees.

"Mai!" Mukade called. Mai looked towards him, the brain's hold on her forever broken. Mai reached into her jacket and withdrew the weapon with which Samoko had destroyed Kyari in the lab. Aiming, she pulled the trigger...

Nothing.

Samoko laughed. "Looks like you're out of batteries, girlie," she said, pulling a nearly identical weapon out from her own coat. She pointed it at Mai, seemingly forgetting that Mukade was standing right next to her. The cyborg quickly disarmed the woman, but she punched him in the jaw. With the momentum of his fall, he hurled the weapon towards Mai. It skidded across the sleak floor and clattered to a halt near her feet. Quickly, she knelt and armed herself.

A ball of energy blasted from the barrel. Samoko dodged with an unnecessary cartwheel, taunting Mai. "Is that all you've got?"

Mukade rolled to his feet and sprang at their foe, wrapping his arms around her's and her chest. He locked his fingers tightly together as she struggled in his grasp. "Now!" Mukade demanded, hollering at Mai.

"But," Mai began, knowing there was nowhere to take the argument.

"NOW!" he repeated with increased urgency. Mai fired. Samoko and Mukade were engulfed in an incandescent energy field. They glowed brighter and brighter, beginning to levitate slightly above ground level. Finally, with a blindingly magnificent flash, the spectacle faded and shrunk into the air until it was seen no more.

Mai and James stood and stared at nothing, dumbfounded and alone.

After what seemed like an eternity, Mai finally spoke. "He did it," she said with strange satisfaction.

"Yeah," James confirmed, understanding. "He did." The two of them turned back to the computer screen.

There it was, stated simply on the monitor preceding the terminal blinking cursor. "Atmospheric damage irreversible."

Mukade · 09/30/09 22:09

I lovvveee it
Me next, i havent gone for awhile!
i need to go now tho, i will write it, expect it between 1400 and 1500 hours on forum time tomorrow, no one take my place!

Leus · 09/30/09 22:09

Alright, I'm lookin' forward to it.

Samer · 10/01/09 00:10

very very nice, showed real depth of the characters !! I'm sad for Mukade but that's the way it should be.

ok mukade 2 waiting to read it ..

but leave me a final part

Leus · 10/01/09 13:10

I'm glad you think so, Samer.

I'm goin' to work now, but I'm stoked to see Mukade's piece (hopefully) when I get home!

Mukade · 10/01/09 14:10

The small group just stood there, silent, and stared at the 3 words that had just condemned the world. What could someone say that would make it all better? All they had worked for, the lives that had been lost, had been for naught. Axel, Kyari, Mukade and many others. The ones who's lives they had saved, were now destined to live in a dying world. As they lingered, the same question formed in all of their heads.

What happens now?

Barabas was the first to shake himself out of it. He raised a fist and brought it down on the screen, which startled the rest of them back into life. They blinked and looked at Barabas.

"So what, now that the world is going to die, we're all just gonna sit here and wait for it to happen?"

"There's not much else we can do." stated Mai, softly.

"I'll tell you what we can do. We can go find the ones that are responsible and make them pay."

"I can go back into developping the chrysali," James said with a heavy heart. He would miss the company of Mukade.

"We can't save everyone, but we need to save as many as we can. Someday, maybe our children will learn to forgive the sins of their fathers, and to rebuild what was once humanity."

"I can help all the surviving chrysalis hosts. Help them to regain their identities."

"And I can help you." offered Griffin, looking pointedly at Casey.

The young man caught his eye, and gave a small smile.

"We should leave now." suggested James, "Theres nothing more to be done here. We may have won this battle, but this war has no foreseeable end. The BGI will never die out. Samoko may have perished, but more will rise to take her place. We will never be safe."

"No one is safe anymore." said Mai

No one said a word, but none needed to be said. That one statement had been building itself in each of their minds. No one is safe anymore.

Mukade · 10/01/09 14:10

it is short, but there isn't much else to say, i'm hoping some stuff i said will open a new door. Im thinking something in the future, maybe 100 or 200 years in the future, im thinking: "The Chrysalis Wars" based on the descendants of each of the characters?? mankind recovers, but on two sides, that of the BGI who basically becomes the government, and sort of the outlaws who want to bring em down. I think it'dbe cool, to write something on a bit larger scale, rather then just on a few characters like we've been doing. Get sort of a bigger picutre. Or maybe something a bit less in the future maybe? Like their effort to restore mankind??

Anyways, that may sem like an ending but im sure there must be things to add, Samoko, i guess its you again When the actual ending comes around, i want to write a litte something different as an added thing.

Last edited by Mukade (10/01/09 14:10)

Leus · 10/01/09 19:10

Awesome job everyone. I really dug the story, and had a great time writing it.

I'm thinking of titles for this first installation... What do you guys think of "Salvation?" Let me know your thoughts or suggestions.

Anyway, I think I'll start the second installation right now, actually. I got all my homework for the week done this week... Sort of... And I think I have a general idea of where to take it from here. Mukade, if you want to start another story for something more grand-scale or further ahead in the poisoned world scenario, you should totally make your own Joint Story thread. I'll join in and write for it for sure. But, as I said, I think I might have a decent idea where to take this story from here. And if it doesn't pan out, we have what we've written so far nicely wrapped up in this installation and future readers can just ignore everything past this part.

Anywho, I'll get writing... Not entirely sure what I'm gonna do, but then, that's usually how it starts.

Samer · 10/01/09 20:10

O_o It's over already ?
there's so much more i can say to this joint story before we start a new one

Mukade · 10/01/09 20:10

like Leus said, he'll start another one, and i will too, this is just the end of this specific conflict, if you know anthing about story structure
there is still plenty more to do

and i think "salvation" sums it up very well

and im going to write one more thing before we start the next one i guess

Last edited by Mukade (10/01/09 20:10)

Mukade · 10/01/09 20:10

Mai - Personal Journal
One fight ends, and another begins. I guess we are just human after all. I walk around the streets, and it is even worse then when the atmospheric processor blew. There are bodies scattered over the streets. They just can't gather them fast enough. If we're going to do anything, it has to be now.

Mankind as we knew it is doomed... The chrysalis will change us all. Those were my words then, and it seems it will stay that way. We've got a long way to go.

Log Ended

Last edited by Mukade (10/01/09 20:10)

Samer · 10/01/09 20:10

Mukade wrote:

if you know anthing about story structure
there is still plenty more to do

no I just write like a fool I know nothing about story structure ^_^

as i said please leave me a final part to write ... u could have left it open ... anyway nice job ... I enjoyed writing and reviving this joint story.

"salvation" or "aftermath" sound good.

Last edited by Samer (03/02/10 19:03)

Leus · 10/01/09 20:10

Samoko, go ahead and post another part if you've got more ideas. The bit I'm writing right now is at least a couple of months in the future from the end of this installation, so you shouldn't conflict with anything I have going unless you kill another character or something. If you do write another part, once you post it I'll integrate it onto the end of the first installation in the consolidated text file I've got going. So please, feel free. I wouldn't want to stifle any creativity from anyone.

Leus · 10/01/09 20:10

And honestly if you really want to keep it going from this point right here, just go for it. Give me somethin' to work with and I'll keep goin' right along with you. This thread is a great excuse to force myself to write.

Mukade · 10/01/09 20:10

yeah, i wrote that thing up there, but really, i can jsut say it as atthe end whereever that is

Leus · 10/01/09 22:10

For sure. I'm even gonna post the continuation in another new thread so as not to disrupt the potential flow of this one.

Here goes...

myplea1 · 10/02/09 13:10

Hmmm eventually this topic will get lost in the whole bunch of others that will come up and nobody will read it ;(

demos_kratos · 10/02/09 14:10

There is a solution for it, myplea1. Mods should make this thread a Sticky. This effort deserves it IMNSHO.

myplea1 · 10/02/09 14:10

That's what I was thinking.
I just didn't have a word for it >.<

Leus · 10/04/09 07:10

Thanks, guys. I'm glad you think this deserves a sticky.

You know, I was debating whether to just start the second installment here in the end of this thread... That would make sense to consolidate everything and keep this thread towards the top of this list. But also I felt like it might intimidate newcomers to see like 300+ posts on this eventually; might deter them from wanting to join in.

I dunno, do you think the two threads should be combined? If so, the mods can totally do that, right? Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

Iritscen · 10/04/09 07:10

We can merge threads, although I think it automatically merges them by time, so the posts from the second installment thread would be mixed in with the posts that have been made here since that thread started.

Leus · 10/04/09 18:10

Well that'd be okay. No further posts in the story cultivated by this thread have been made since the new thread started, so there shouldn't be any inconsistencies. I guess I'll just have to see if Samoko wants to continue this one or not. I'll ask him, and if he doesn't feel up to continuing the story from here you can merge the threads (if you'd be so kind ).

Lol, the non-story posts will probably look a bit funny though for these few days, but ultimately it wouldn't affect anything. If I was a newcomer reading it all for the first time I'd probably have fun trying to figure out which posts were in which threads originally. I'm strange.

Lithium · 10/05/09 16:10

coming to think of it whats sticky mean anyway?

Last edited by Lithium (10/05/09 16:10)

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