Life of A PokeKitsune

Satisfaction at the 17 thousand mark

2008-12-29T12:05:00.002+08:00

I just visited Machinations yesterday. It has hit the 17k mark for readers. Wow.

2008 in Review

2008-12-26T13:12:00.001+08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

World of Warcraft

2008-12-25T10:01:00.002+08:00

My account died. My uncle got bored and stopped paying for my WoW account. What to do? Get a free account! Just download the 2 GB expansion for Lich King, then play on a seperate server. Anyone interested to play, just tell me in school. The server has been down recently, though.

Anyway, I'm severely jet-lagged from my vacation. Flew a 12 hour flight to Switzerland, but counting the time-zone thing (fuck geog)it's more like 20 hours. In Switzerland, I sent a postcard back home. It was snowing, and -7C, and I really shouldn't have brought pants there. Paris was warmer, though.

Lost my ski mask, tired, no fucking keyboard to type with other than an AZERTY keyboard, no gaming, generally a very fun experience.

The McDonalds at Paris is fucking pro.
The actual order:
One Big Tasty Meal, fries, with evian water.
2 Big Mac Meals, fries, coke
One chicken wrap
One salad.

What we received:
3 big tasty meals, potato wedges, 3 coke.
One chicken wrap
No salad.
One Filet-O-Fish(wtf?)

What we paid for:
Nadda. The cashier forgot.

So...yeah. That was a waste of 2 weeks.

Obsession

2008-12-12T10:51:00.006+08:00

Anyone knows a cure for obsession? I need help. No seriously. Anyway, in two days, my uncle will rip my soul from my body. I can't play Okami anymore because he wants the Wii back. Blech. I keep staring at it... it tempts me to play again, but if I can't finish in 48 hours before my flight to Switzerland, I'm fucked. At last count it took me... 62 hours to clear, but then again, I don't need to find every single secret again so... i'm just gonna post a picture now, like I always do.

ehh... wrong picture. That's not Okami.

This is...

I'm really spending too much buying this stuff. I bought the official illustration collection as well, and the super smash bros soundtrack, and the okami soundtrack, nearly a thousand songs in my ipod nano now.

Now...I'm just going to say goodbye for two weeks. But if anyone wants free Diablo 2, just ask. I bought it yesterday in case i ever want to play Diablo 3

Okay...

2008-12-08T20:21:00.005+08:00

Back from my NaNoWriMoing Hiatus, made 65 thousand. It was much harder than I thought. Anyway, look out for the paperback! Not coming anytime soon, though.

I recently went for the TGIO party for NaNoWriMo, or otherwise, Thank Goodness It's Over Party. It was quite fun there, really. Well, except for the reading of excerpts. My excerpt sounded something like... I dunno... maybe involving a girl looking somewhat like this...

And a lot of /. Yes, the term is /.

Then a lot of award givings. I won the most Annoying poster award for causing the forum to be furnaced. What's furnaced? Furnace is to delete. Yes, my signature did it.

And I still haven't given up on pokemon yet. That's reserved for next year, where 100k and beyond is more possible. My story slipped slightly out of pokemon, and subtly into wolves. Basically, use an absol, take off the horn, and voila, an arctic wolf.

Don't FUCKING ask why that's my MSN dp.

Onto gaming, I haven't even been online. Man. I spent so much time on Okami. Yes, spent 1 hour stoning in a jump that's FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE. Perhaps you should not ask people to jump from a ledge to something DIRECTLY BELOW IT, when any miss means you FALL TO YOUR FUCKING DEATH.

However, there's a simple and yet idiotic reason. That was the last thing seperating me from 10x damage, invulnerability, inkfinity(no typo, means unlimited ink to use) and a whole lot of crap like max money. Which I can now use to learn the brown fury attack.

There are two learnable attacks in Okami, the rest are more or less already available( seeing as I completed the game 3 times)
Golden Rage Attack: For 1000000 yes, allow you to piss on your opponents for damage and money. Problem is, maxing out a perfect battle gives you 2000 yen so...

Brown Fury Attack: Use your head, jackass. 100 times more yen to buy this attack so... CRAP YOU CAPCOM!!!

Yours,
Clarence.

A Chart to Study

2008-11-14T15:53:00.002+08:00

Dear Whoever the Fuck you Are,

I am appalled that such retards like Kenneth Sim have not been taken down and their reproductive organs tasered until ther no longer have any functionality, and so I therefore propose a new agenda for the law of reproduction, which should be meted out just like the law of euthanasia.

This is just a general guideline.

A letter to the Reader

2008-11-09T18:21:00.005+08:00

Dear anyone who has found interest in what I've done,

It is with great indecision and slight regret that I shall no longer bring a drawing file filled with pictures that may or may not be misinterpreted by people with slightly mentally corrupt minds, while I still will continue to do them, of little furry animals, mostly based off wolves and the sort, which I adore, much to the point where people accuse me of having an unusually close affinity. But I assure you, I get turned on normally, just like anybody else. But while I might show some preferential treatment to wolves, kitsunes and their close relatives, it has been brought to my attention that not everyone shares my (anti)divine and incorruptible views on life. Therefore, this letter shall address some issues that have been brought up with me.

Firstly, about my drawings/collection. They aren't all that bad unless you have a very sadistic, biased and pessimistic views about life, and if you compare drawing some suggestive yet child-friendly pictures to gossiping and dry-humping your male friends, it can't really be good to say who is worse. There is clearly nothing wrong after having been in the handling of several teachers including but not exclusive to Mrs. Koh, Mr. Seet, Mr. Low...

Secondly, about the stories. True, I am guilty, however it is up to your discretion to read them or not, whereas I include warnings as to their content, Perhaps I can excuse the people who call me a sicko as that may be true, but I assure you people who have not read them "should" in theory not know what the illicit interpretation of ginger is and so on and so forth.

Finally, I do not want to be known as an artist with any potential in school. I like to keep my lives seperate, and it's true. I rarely go OOC in any of my games, and I can keep relatively quiet unless I have the urge to scream at noobs or people kping me. And it wouldn't be prudent to be known as an artist when I can't change the subject matter without failing horribly, lest they accuse me of not putting in 100%.

As a closing statement, I advise some of you to get a life, and if I fucking hear any of you use the term poke- again then I shall hesitate not to have a little "accident" arranged for you involving your face into some smouldering charcoal or I shall not let you in at all.

Yours Sincerely,
He-Who-Rather-Not-Be-Named

This was gotten from another website. I know what you're thinking.

A gender Analyzer

2008-11-08T09:59:00.002+08:00

http://www.genderanalyzer.com/
I accidentally found this ebsite that tells you which gender writes a certain blog. And it really works too, considering that it only analyses the words. However, it does have a certain tendency to give mixed results.And I tried it on several blogs and it gave rather accurate results. Well, except for Yon Lu and Chan Chan. Their blogs are written by females. Lol.

EEVEE PARTY

2008-11-05T08:33:00.003+08:00

Woots. I was watching this over and over again, trying to put names to all the characters. I failed. I still have some uploads of some of them, though. And the love, a story, thing is just touching. And yes that includes the more obscure ones like nod-flareon.

A Song in My Head

2008-11-04T13:41:00.002+08:00

It won't get lost. I've been hearing this song for so damn long that it's burning my ears. I don't know why it's so addictive urrgh...

One final salute to my KoL character...

2008-10-27T19:45:00.003+08:00

So many memories...of this game. I started in P6, hardly a good time. Played it til I was freakin powerful. Became a clan master and finished my Brimstone outfit and my stainless steel as well as my plexiglass outfits. Collected all the tattoos still possible and amassed 30 billion in meat. (The currency) After two years of playing I have given up on the final trophy which has eluded me. The lv 30 pastamancer trophy. I even set a record for the retard who ate the most amount of Knob-ka-bobs and gloomy black mushrooms in a lifetime. Got 11 Mr.Accessories, changed 10 into a golden one. Completed the familiars collection until now, except 1. (WHERE THE FCUK ARE YOU DAMN EMO SQUID) People sent me farewell gifts, it was so touching. And the smile of Mr. Accessory will forever touch my face. Now, I've moved on.

And that last trophy will forever elude me.
By 48 mysticality...

Note the character is female because I also set the record for the most sex change operations in the game, 149. I'm not too sure if it's been broken.

Adobe CS4 and TF2 in World of Warcraft

2008-10-27T09:10:00.006+08:00

Yeah you got that right. I have Adobe CS4 Master Collection from the Pre-order. Paid a goodly deal for it. I have the pictures to show as well.
Here they are... :)

On to more incessant things. I finally smoothened out my NaNoWriMo storyline for the fun of it. It completely contains no:
cussing (except for the word bitch in the ~~rape~~ I mean ravishing scene)
age advisory material (once again pretend the ravishing scene does not exist... and death doesn't really count)
pokemon (a very first for me)

However, there is...
A lot of mating (with very lacklustre descriptions)
Main character Kiyasai dies a lot
Amaterasu is totally lifted from somewhere else

Generally, very boring. I'll post it up at the end of the month, I expect the quality to be very poor.

Now on to the TF2 thing. It stands for TEAM FORTRESS not FURTRESS (yeah man) I can't fathom where the hell I saw this a while ago...but it surfaced to my mind and I thought I'd be so kind as to share it.

Imagine three TF2 characters from the blue team finding themselves in Azeroth in the WoW server. A spy, a medic, and a heavy.
The spy walks over to a man, and they have a conversation.
"Dude where are we?"
"Can't you see I'm talking to my friends? Chatting?"
"Aren't you afraid of getting type-fragged?"
"What's that?"
* Spy smiles in glory with divine chorus sounding and finishes off half the server with his knife. *

The medic walks over to a dwarf who's mining at a rock.
"What're you doing?"
"I'm making money by mining. Real world, real economy. I can sell this to people who need it more."
"You mean you can make money without killing?"
"Yup"
* Medic smiles in glory with divine chorus sounding and starts to cut wood with his saw. *

The heavy joins a guild.
"When do I get to kill something?"
"Oh no no...you're far too weak to raid with us yet...you don't even have the proper gear yet..."
"Shut up." Heavy shotguns the blood elf priest. "That was fun."

The three meet together in the arena.
"This isn't a very fun place. Wait...what are those numbers on the interface screen?"
5
4
3
2
1
Duel begins.
The spy changed into a red demo and walks over.
"Hey...I'm a perfectly sound red demoman...and I'm on your side." The three opponents kill him. "My...disguise...was...flawless..."
The heavy charges in and kills them all with the minigun.
"I knew that we must be good at something..."

The end.

HOLY LONG JOKE

2008-10-26T17:41:00.001+08:00

So, there's a man crawling through the desert.

He'd decided to try his SUV in a little bit of cross-country travel, had great fun zooming over the badlands and through the sand, got lost, hit a big rock, and then he couldn't get it started again. There were no cell phone towers anywhere near, so his cell phone was useless. He had no family, his parents had died a few years before in an auto accident, and his few friends had no idea he was out here.

He stayed with the car for a day or so, but his one bottle of water ran out
and he was getting thirsty. He thought maybe he knew the direction back, now that he'd paid attention to the sun and thought he'd figured out which way was north, so he decided to start walking. He figured he only had to go about 30 miles or so and he'd be back to the small town he'd gotten gas in last.

He thinks about walking at night to avoid the heat and sun, but based upon
how dark it actually was the night before, and given that he has no flashlight, he's afraid that he'll break a leg or step on a rattlesnake. So,
he puts on some sun block, puts the rest in his pocket for reapplication
later, brings an umbrella he'd had in the back of the SUV with him to give
him a little shade, pours the windshield wiper fluid into his water bottle
in case he gets that desperate, brings his pocket knife in case he finds a cactus that looks like it might have water in it, and heads out in the
direction he thinks is right.

He walks for the entire day. By the end of the day he's really thirsty. He's
been sweating all day, and his lips are starting to crack. He's reapplied the sunblock twice, and tried to stay under the umbrella, but he still feels sunburned. The windshield wiper fluid sloshing in the bottle in his pocket is really getting tempting now. He knows that it's mainly water and some ethanol and coloring, but he also knows that they add some kind of poison to it to keep people from drinking it. He wonders what the poison is, and
whether the poison would be worse than dying of thirst.
He pushes on, trying to get to that small town before dark.

By the end of the day he starts getting worried. He figures he's been walking at least 3 miles an hour, according to his watch for over 10 hours. That means that if his estimate was right that he should be close to the
town. But he doesn't recognize any of this. He had to cross a dry creek bed a mile or two back, and he doesn't remember coming through it in the SUV. He figures that maybe he got his direction off just a little and that the dry creek bed was just off to one side of his path. He tells himself that he's close, and that after dark he'll start seeing the town lights over one of these hills, and that'll be all he needs.

As it gets dim enough that he starts stumbling over small rocks and things,
he finds a spot and sits down to wait for full dark and the town lights.

Full dark comes before he knows it. He must have dozed off. He stands back
up and turns all the way around. He sees nothing but stars.

He wakes up the next morning feeling absolutely lousy. His eyes are gummy and his mouth and nose feel like they're full of sand. He so thirsty that he can't even swallow. He barely got any sleep because it was so cold. He'd forgotten how cold it got at night in the desert and hadn't noticed it the night before because he'd been in his car.

He knows the Rule of Threes - three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food - then you die. Some people can make it a little longer, in the best situations. But the desert heat and having to walk and sweat isn't the best situation to be without water. He figures, unless he finds water, this is his last day.
He rinses his mouth out with a little of the windshield wiper fluid. He waits a while after spitting that little bit out, to see if his mouth goes numb, or he feels dizzy or something. Has his mouth gone numb? Is it just in
his mind? He's not sure. He'll go a little farther, and if he still doesn't
find water, he'll try drinking some of the fluid.

Then he has to face his next, harder question - which way does he go from here? Does he keep walking the same way he was yesterday (assuming that he still knows which way that is), or does he try a new direction? He has no idea what to do.

Looking at the hills and dunes around him, he thinks he knows the direction he was heading before. Just going by a feeling, he points himself somewhat to the left of that, and starts walking.

As he walks, the day starts heating up. The desert, too cold just a couple of hours before, soon becomes an oven again. He sweats a little at first, and then stops. He starts getting worried at that - when you stop sweating he knows that means you're in trouble - usually right before heat stroke.

He decides that it's time to try the windshield wiper fluid. He can't wait
any longer - if he passes out, he's dead. He stops in the shade of a large
rock, takes the bottle out, opens it, and takes a mouthful. He slowly
swallows it, making it last as long as he can. It feels so good in his dry
and cracked throat that he doesn't even care about the nasty taste. He takes
another mouthful, and makes it last too. Slowly, he drinks half the bottle.
He figures that since he's drinking it, he might as well drink enough to
make some difference and keep himself from passing out.

He's quit worrying about the denaturing of the wiper fluid. If it kills him,
it kills him - if he didn't drink it, he'd die anyway. Besides, he's pretty
sure that whatever substance they denature the fluid with is just designed to make you sick - their way of keeping winos from buying cheap wiper fluid for the ethanol content. He can handle throwing up, if it comes to that.

He walks. He walks in the hot, dry, windless desert. Sand, rocks, hills,
dunes, the occasional scrawny cactus or dried bush. No sign of water.
Sometimes he'll see a little movement to one side or the other, but whatever moved is usually gone before he can focus his eyes on it. Probably birds, lizards, or mice. Maybe snakes, though they usually move more at night. He's careful to stay away from the movements.
After a while, he begins to stagger. He's not sure if it's fatigue, heat
stroke finally catching him, or maybe he was wrong and the denaturing of the wiper fluid was worse than he thought. He tries to steady himself, and keep going.

After more walking, he comes to a large stretch of sand. This is good! He
knows he passed over a stretch of sand in the SUV - he remembers doing
donuts in it. Or at least he thinks he remembers it - he's getting woozy
enough and tired enough that he's not sure what he remembers any more or if
he's hallucinating. But he thinks he remembers it. So he heads off into it,
trying to get to the other side, hoping that it gets him closer to the town.

He was heading for a town, wasn't he? He thinks he was. He isn't sure any more. He's not even sure how long he's been walking any more. Is it still morning? Or has it moved into afternoon and the sun is going down again? It must be afternoon - it seems like it's been too long since he started out.

He walks through the sand.

After a while, he comes to a big dune in the sand. This is bad. He doesn't
remember any dunes when driving over the sand in his SUV. Or at least he
doesn't think he remembers any. This is bad.

But, he has no other direction to go. Too late to turn back now. He figures
that he'll get to the top of the dune and see if he can see anything from
there that helps him find the town. He keeps going up the dune.

Halfway up, he slips in the bad footing of the sand for the second or third
time, and falls to his knees. He doesn't feel like getting back up - he'll
just fall down again. So, he keeps going up the dune on his hand and knees.

While crawling, if his throat weren't so dry, he'd laugh. He's finally
gotten to the hackneyed image of a man lost in the desert - crawling through
the sand on his hands and knees. If would be the perfect image, he imagines, if only his clothes were more ragged. The people crawling through the desert
in the cartoons always had ragged clothes. But his have lasted without any
rips so far. Somebody will probably find his dessicated corpse half buried in the sand years from now, and his clothes will still be in fine shape -
shake the sand out, and a good wash, and they'd be wearable again. He wishes his throat were wet enough to laugh. He coughs a little instead, and it hurts.

He finally makes it to the top of the sand dune. Now that he's at the top,
he struggles a little, but manages to stand up and look around. All he sees
is sand. Sand, and more sand. Behind him, about a mile away, he thinks he
sees the rocky ground he left to head into this sand. Ahead of him, more
dunes, more sand. This isn't where he drove his SUV. This is Hell. Or close enough.

Again, he doesn't know what to do. He decides to drink the rest of the wiper
fluid while figuring it out. He takes out the bottle, and is removing the
cap, when he glances to the side and sees something. Something in the sand. At the bottom of the dune, off to the side, he sees something strange. It's a flat area, in the sand. He stops taking the cap of the bottle off, and tries to look closer. The area seems to be circular. And it's dark - darker than the sand. And, there seems to be something in the middle of it, but he can't tell what it is. He looks as hard as he can, and still can tell from
here. He's going to have to go down there and look.

He puts the bottle back in his pocket, and starts to stumble down the dune.
After a few steps, he realizes that he's in trouble - he's not going to be able to keep his balance. After a couple of more sliding, tottering steps, he falls and starts to roll down the dune. The sand it so hot when his body hits it that for a minute he thinks he's caught fire on the way down - like a movie car wreck flashing into flames as it goes over the cliff, before it ever even hits the ground. He closes his eyes and mouth, covers his face with his hands, and waits to stop rolling.

He stops, at the bottom of the dune. After a minute or two, he finds enough
energy to try to sit up and get the sand out of his face and clothes. When
he clears his eyes enough, he looks around to make sure that the dark spot
in the sand it still there and he hadn't just imagined it.
So, seeing the large, flat, dark spot on the sand is still there, he begins
to crawl towards it. He'd get up and walk towards it, but he doesn't seem to
have the energy to get up and walk right now. He must be in the final stages
of dehydration he figures, as he crawls. If this place in the sand doesn't
have water, he'll likely never make it anywhere else. This is his last
chance.

He gets closer and closer, but still can't see what's in the middle of the
dark area. His eyes won't quite focus any more for some reason. And lifting
his head up to look takes so much effort that he gives up trying. He just
keeps crawling.

Finally, he reaches the area he'd seen from the dune. It takes him a minute of crawling on it before he realizes that he's no longer on sand - he's now crawling on some kind of dark stone. Stone with some kind of marking on it - a pattern cut into the stone. He's too tired to stand up and try to see what the pattern is - so he just keeps crawling. He crawls towards the center,
where his blurry eyes still see something in the middle of the dark stone
area.

His mind, detached in a strange way, notes that either his hands and knees are so burnt by the sand that they no longer feel pain, or that this dark
stone, in the middle of a burning desert with a pounding, punishing sun
overhead, doesn't seem to be hot. It almost feels cool. He considers lying
down on the nice cool surface.

Cool, dark stone. Not a good sign. He must be hallucinating this. He's
probably in the middle of a patch of sand, already lying face down and
dying, and just imagining this whole thing. A desert mirage. Soon the
beautiful women carrying pitchers of water will come up and start giving him
a drink. Then he'll know he's gone.

He decides against laying down on the cool stone. If he's going to die here
in the middle of this hallucination, he at least wants to see what's in the
center before he goes. He keeps crawling.

It's the third time that he hears the voice before he realizes what he's
hearing. He would swear that someone just said, "Greetings, traveler. You do
not look well. Do you hear me?"

He stops crawling. He tries to look up from where he is on his hands and
knees, but it's too much effort to lift his head. So he tries something
different - he leans back and tries to sit up on the stone. After a few
seconds, he catches his balance, avoids falling on his face, sits up, and
tries to focus his eyes. Blurry. He rubs his eyes with the back of his hands
and tries again. Better this time.

Yep. He can see. He's sitting in the middle of a large, flat, dark expanse
of stone. Directly next to him, about three feet away, is a white post or
pole about two inches in diameter and sticking up about four or five feet
out of the stone, at an angle.

And wrapped around this white rod, tail with rattle on it hovering and
seeming to be ready to start rattling, is what must be a fifteen foot long
desert diamondback rattlesnake, looking directly at him.

He stares at the snake in shock. He doesn't have the energy to get up and
run away. He doesn't even have the energy to crawl away. This is it, his
final resting place. No matter what happens, he's not going to be able to
move from this spot.

Well, at least dying of a bite from this monster should be quicker than
dying of thirst. He'll face his end like a man. He struggles to sit up a
little straighter. The snake keeps watching him. He lifts one hand and waves
it in the snake's direction, feebly. The snake watches the hand for a
moment, then goes back to watching the man, looking into his eyes.
Hmmm. Maybe the snake had no interest in biting him? It hadn't rattled yet -
that was a good sign. Maybe he wasn't going to die of snake bite after all.

He then remembers that he'd looked up when he'd reached the center here
because he thought he'd heard a voice. He was still very woozy - he was
likely to pass out soon, the sun still beat down on him even though he was
now on cool stone. He still didn't have anything to drink. But maybe he had
actually heard a voice. This stone didn't look natural. Nor did that white
post sticking up out of the stone. Someone had to have built this. Maybe
they were still nearby. Maybe that was who talked to him. Maybe this snake
was even their pet, and that's why it wasn't biting.

He tries to clear his throat to say, "Hello," but his throat is too dry. All
that comes out is a coughing or wheezing sound. There is no way he's going
to be able to talk without something to drink. He feels his pocket, and the
bottle with the wiper fluid is still there. He shakily pulls the bottle out,
almost losing his balance and falling on his back in the process. This isn't
good. He doesn't have much time left, by his reckoning, before he passes
out.

He gets the lid off of the bottle, manages to get the bottle to his lips,
and pours some of the fluid into his mouth. He sloshes it around, and then
swallows it. He coughs a little. His throat feels better. Maybe he can talk
now.

He tries again. Ignoring the snake, he turns to look around him, hoping to
spot the owner of this place, and croaks out, "Hello? Is there anyone here?"

He hears, from his side, "Greetings. What is it that you want?"

He turns his head, back towards the snake. That's where the sound had seemed
to come from. The only thing he can think of is that there must be a
speaker, hidden under the snake, or maybe built into that post. He decides
to try asking for help.

Please," he croaks again, suddenly feeling dizzy, "I'd love to not be
thirsty any more. I've been a long time without water. Can you help me?"

Looking in the direction of the snake, hoping to see where the voice was
coming from this time, he is shocked to see the snake rear back, open its
mouth, and speak. He hears it say, as the dizziness overtakes him and he
falls forward, face first on the stone, "Very well. Coming up."

A piercing pain shoots through his shoulder. Suddenly he is awake. He sits
up and grabs his shoulder, wincing at the throbbing pain. He's momentarily
disoriented as he looks around, and then he remembers - the crawl across the
sand, the dark area of stone, the snake. He sees the snake, still wrapped
around the tilted white post, still looking at him.

He reaches up and feels his shoulder, where it hurts. It feels slightly wet.
He pulls his fingers away and looks at them - blood. He feels his shoulder
again - his shirt has what feels like two holes in it - two puncture holes -
they match up with the two aching spots of pain on his shoulder. He had been
bitten. By the snake.

"It'll feel better in a minute." He looks up - it's the snake talking. He
hadn't dreamed it. Suddenly he notices - he's not dizzy any more. And more
importantly, he's not thirsty any more - at all!

"Have I died? Is this the afterlife? Why are you biting me in the
afterlife?"

"Sorry about that, but I had to bite you," says the snake. "That's the way I
work. It all comes through the bite. Think of it as natural medicine."

"You bit me to help me? Why aren't I thirsty any more? Did you give me a
drink before you bit me? How did I drink enough while unconscious to not be
thirsty any more? I haven't had a drink for over two days. Well, except for
the windshield wiper fluid... hold it, how in the world does a snake talk?
Are you real? Are you some sort of Disney animation?"

"No," says the snake, "I'm real. As real as you or anyone is, anyway. I
didn't give you a drink. I bit you. That's how it works - it's what I do. I
bite. I don't have hands to give you a drink, even if I had water just
sitting around here."

The man sat stunned for a minute. Here he was, sitting in the middle of the
desert on some strange stone that should be hot but wasn't, talking to a
snake that could talk back and had just bitten him. And he felt better. Not
great - he was still starving and exhausted, but much better - he was no
longer thirsty. He had started to sweat again, but only slightly. He felt
hot, in this sun, but it was starting to get lower in the sky, and the cool
stone beneath him was a relief he could notice now that he was no longer
dying of thirst.

"I might suggest that we take care of that methanol you now have in your
system with the next request," continued the snake. "I can guess why you
drank it, but I'm not sure how much you drank, or how much methanol was left
in the wiper fluid. That stuff is nasty. It'll make you go blind in a day or
two, if you drank enough of it."

"Ummm, n-next request?" said the man. He put his hand back on his hurting
shoulder and backed away from the snake a little.

"That's the way it works. If you like, that is," explained the snake. "You
get three requests. Call them wishes, if you wish." The snake grinned at his
own joke, and the man drew back a little further from the show of fangs.

"But there are rules," the snake continued. "The first request is free. The
second requires an agreement of secrecy. The third requires the binding of
responsibility." The snake looks at the man seriously.

"By the way," the snake says suddenly, "my name is Nathan. Old Nathan,
Samuel used to call me. He gave me the name. Before that, most of the Bound
used to just call me 'Snake'. But that got old, and Samuel wouldn't stand
for it. He said that anything that could talk needed a name. He was big into
names. You can call me Nate, if you wish." Again, the snake grinned. "Sorry
if I don't offer to shake, but I think you can understand - my shake sounds
somewhat threatening." The snake give his rattle a little shake.

"Umm, my name is Jack," said the man, trying to absorb all of this. "Jack
Samson.

"Can I ask you a question?" Jack says suddenly. "What happened to the
poison...umm, in your bite. Why aren't I dying now? How did you do that?
What do you mean by that's how you work?"

"That's more than one question," grins Nate. "But I'll still try to answer
all of them. First, yes, you can ask me a question." The snake's grin gets
wider. "Second, the poison is in you. It changed you. You now no longer need
to drink. That's what you asked for. Or, well, technically, you asked to not
be thirsty any more - but 'any more' is such a vague term. I decided to make
it permanent - now, as long as you live, you shouldn't need to drink much at
all. Your body will conserve water very efficiently. You should be able to
get enough just from the food you eat - much like a creature of the desert.
You've been changed.

"For the third question," Nate continues, "you are still dying. Besides the
effects of that methanol in your system, you're a man - and men are mortal.
In your current state, I give you no more than about another 50 years.
Assuming you get out of this desert, alive, that is." Nate seemed vastly
amused at his own humor, and continued his wide grin.
"As for the fourth question," Nate said, looking more serious as far as Jack
could tell, as Jack was just now working on his ability to read
talking-snake emotions from snake facial features, "first you have to agree
to make a second request and become bound by the secrecy, or I can't tell
you."

"Wait," joked Jack, "isn't this where you say you could tell me, but you'd
have to kill me?"

"I thought that was implied." Nate continued to look serious.

"Ummm...yeah." Jack leaned back a little as he remembered again that he was
talking to a fifteen foot poisonous reptile with a reputation for having a
nasty temper. "So, what is this 'Bound by Secrecy' stuff, and can you really
stop the effects of the methanol?" Jack thought for a second. "And, what do
you mean methanol, anyway? I thought these days they use ethanol in wiper
fluid, and just denature it?"

"They may, I don't really know," said Nate. "I haven't gotten out in a
while. Maybe they do. All I know is that I smell methanol on your breath and
on that bottle in your pocket. And the blue color of the liquid when you
pulled it out to drink some let me guess that it was wiper fluid. I assume
that they still color wiper fluid blue?"

"Yeah, they do," said Jack.

"I figured," replied Nate. "As for being bound by secrecy - with the
fulfillment of your next request, you will be bound to say nothing about me,
this place, or any of the information I will tell you after that, when you
decide to go back out to your kind. You won't be allowed to talk about me,
write about me, use sign language, charades, or even act in a way that will
lead someone to guess correctly about me. You'll be bound to secrecy. Of
course, I'll also ask you to promise not to give me away, and as I'm
guessing that you're a man of your word, you'll never test the binding
anyway, so you won't notice." Nate said the last part with utter confidence.

Jack, who had always prided himself on being a man of his word, felt a
little nervous at this. "Ummm, hey, Nate, who are you? How did you know
that? Are you, umm, omniscient, or something?"

Well, Jack," said Nate sadly, "I can't tell you that, unless you make the
second request." Nate looked away for a minute, then looked back.

"Umm, well, ok," said Jack, "what is this about a second request? What can I
ask for? Are you allowed to tell me that?"

"Sure!" said Nate, brightening. "You're allowed to ask for changes. Changes
to yourself. They're like wishes, but they can only affect you. Oh, and
before you ask, I can't give you immortality. Or omniscience. Or
omnipresence, for that matter. Though I might be able to make you gaseous
and yet remain alive, and then you could spread through the atmosphere and
sort of be omnipresent. But what good would that be - you still wouldn't be
omniscient and thus still could only focus on one thing at a time. Not very
useful, at least in my opinion." Nate stopped when he realized that Jack was
staring at him.

"Well, anyway," continued Nate, "I'd probably suggest giving you permanent
good health. It would negate the methanol now in your system, you'd be
immune to most poisons and diseases, and you'd tend to live a very long
time, barring accident, of course. And you'll even have a tendency to
recover from accidents well. It always seemed like a good choice for a
request to me."

"Cure the methanol poisoning, huh?" said Jack. "And keep me healthy for a
long time? Hmmm. It doesn't sound bad at that. And it has to be a request
about a change to me? I can't ask to be rich, right? Because that's not
really a change to me?"

"Right," nodded Nate.

"Could I ask to be a genius and permanently healthy?" Jack asked, hopefully.

"That takes two requests, Jack."

"Yeah, I figured so," said Jack. "But I could ask to be a genius? I could
become the smartest scientist in the world? Or the best athlete?"

"Well, I could make you very smart," admitted Nate, "but that wouldn't
necessarily make you the best scientist in the world. Or, I could make you
very athletic, but it wouldn't necessarily make you the best athlete either.
You've heard the saying that 99% of genius is hard work? Well, there's some
truth to that. I can give you the talent, but I can't make you work hard. It
all depends on what you decide to do with it."

"Hmmm," said Jack. "Ok, I think I understand. And I get a third request,
after this one?"

"Maybe," said Nate, "it depends on what you decide then. There are more
rules for the third request that I can only tell you about after the second
request. You know how it goes." Nate looked like he'd shrug, if he had
shoulders.

"Ok, well, since I'd rather not be blind in a day or two, and permanent
health doesn't sound bad, then consider that my second request. Officially.
Do I need to sign in blood or something?"

"No," said Nate. "Just hold out your hand. Or heel." Nate grinned. "Or
whatever part you want me to bite. I have to bite you again. Like I said,
that's how it works - the poison, you know," Nate said apologetically.

Jack winced a little and felt his shoulder, where the last bite was. Hey, it
didn't hurt any more. Just like Nate had said. That made Jack feel better
about the biting business. But still, standing still while a fifteen foot
snake sunk it's fangs into you. Jack stood up. Ignoring how good it felt to
be able to stand again, and the hunger starting to gnaw at his stomach, Jack
tried to decide where he wanted to get bitten. Despite knowing that it
wouldn't hurt for long, Jack knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Hey, Jack," Nate suddenly said, looking past Jack towards the dunes behind
him, "is that someone else coming up over there?"

Jack spun around and looked. Who else could be out here in the middle of
nowhere? And did they bring food?

Wait a minute, there was nobody over there. What was Nate...

Jack let out a bellow as he felt two fangs sink into his rear end, through
his jeans...
Jack sat down carefully, favoring his more tender buttock. "I would have
decided, eventually, Nate. I was just thinking about it. You didn't have to
hoodwink me like that."

"I've been doing this a long time, Jack," said Nate, confidently. "You
humans have a hard time sitting still and letting a snake bite you -
especially one my size. And besides, admit it - it's only been a couple of
minutes and it already doesn't hurt any more, does it? That's because of the
health benefit with this one. I told you that you'd heal quickly now."

"Yeah, well, still," said Jack, "it's the principle of the thing. And nobody
likes being bitten in the butt! Couldn't you have gotten my calf or
something instead?"

"More meat in the typical human butt," replied Nate. "And less chance you
accidentally kick me or move at the last second."

"Yeah, right. So, tell me all of these wonderful secrets that I now qualify
to hear," answered Jack.

"Ok," said Nate. "Do you want to ask questions first, or do you want me to
just start talking?"

"Just talk," said Jack. "I'll sit here and try to not think about food."

"We could go try to rustle up some food for you first, if you like,"
answered Nate.

"Hey! You didn't tell me you had food around here, Nate!" Jack jumped up.
"What do we have? Am I in walking distance to town? Or can you magically
whip up food along with your other powers?" Jack was almost shouting with
excitement. His stomach had been growling for hours.

"I was thinking more like I could flush something out of its hole and bite
it for you, and you could skin it and eat it. Assuming you have a knife,
that is," replied Nate, with the grin that Jack was starting to get used to.

"Ugh," said Jack, sitting back down. "I think I'll pass. I can last a little
longer before I get desperate enough to eat desert rat, or whatever else it
is you find out here. And there's nothing to burn - I'd have to eat it raw.
No thanks. Just talk."

"Ok," replied Nate, still grinning. "But I'd better hurry, before you start
looking at me as food.

Nate reared back a little, looked around for a second, and then continued.
"You, Jack, are sitting in the middle of the Garden of Eden."

Jack looked around at the sand and dunes and then looked back at Nate
sceptically.

"Well, that's the best I can figure it, anyway, Jack," said Nate. "Stand up
and look at the symbol on the rock here." Nate gestured around the dark
stone they were both sitting on with his nose.

Jack stood up and looked. Carved into the stone in a bas-relief was a
representation of a large tree. The angled-pole that Nate was wrapped around
was coming out of the trunk of the tree, right below where the main branches
left the truck to reach out across the stone. It was very well done - it
looked more like a tree had been reduced to almost two dimensions and
embedded in the stone than it did like a carving.

Jack walked around and looked at the details in the fading light of the
setting sun. He wished he'd looked at it while the sun was higher in the
sky.

Wait! The sun was setting! That meant he was going to have to spend another
night out here! Arrrgh!

Jack looked out across the desert for a little bit, and then came back and
stood next to Nate. "In all the excitement, I almost forgot, Nate," said
Jack. "Which way is it back to town? And how far? I'm eventually going to
have to head back - I'm not sure I'll be able to survive by eating raw
desert critters for long. And even if I can, I'm not sure I'll want to."

"It's about 30 miles that way." Nate pointed, with the rattle on his tail
this time. As far as Jack could tell, it was a direction at right angles to
the way he'd been going when he was crawling here. "But that's 30 miles by
the way the crow flies. It's about 40 by the way a man walks. You should be
able to do it in about half a day with your improved endurance, if you head
out early tomorrow, Jack."

Jack looked out the way the snake had pointed for a few seconds more, and
then sat back down. It was getting dark. Not much he could do about heading
out right now. And besides, Nate was just about to get to the interesting
stuff. "Garden of Eden? As best as you can figure it?"

"Well, yeah, as best as I and Samuel could figure it anyway," said Nate. "He
figured that the story just got a little mixed up. You know, snake, in a
'tree', offering 'temptations', making bargains. That kind stuff. But he
could never quite figure out how the Hebrews found out about this spot from
across the ocean. He worried about that for a while."

"Garden of Eden, hunh?" said Jack. "How long have you been here, Nate?"

"No idea, really," replied Nate. "A long time. It never occurred to me to
count years, until recently, and by then, of course, it was too late. But I
do remember when this whole place was green, so I figure it's been thousands
of years, at least."

"So, are you the snake that tempted Eve?" said Jack.

"Beats me," said Nate. "Maybe. I can't remember if the first one of your
kind that I talked to was female or not, and I never got a name, but it
could have been. And I suppose she could have considered my offer to grant
requests a 'temptation', though I've rarely had refusals."
"Well, umm, how did you get here then? And why is that white pole stuck out
of the stone there?" asked Jack.

"Dad left me here. Or, I assume it was my dad. It was another snake - much
bigger than I was back then. I remember talking to him, but I don't remember
if it was in a language, or just kind of understanding what he wanted. But
one day, he brought me to this stone, told me about it, and asked me to do
something for him. I talked it over with him for a while, then agreed. I've
been here ever since.

"What is this place?" said Jack. "And what did he ask you to do?"

"Well, you see this pole here, sticking out of the stone?" Nate loosened his
coils around the tilted white pole and showed Jack where it descended into
the stone. The pole was tilted at about a 45 degree angle and seemed to
enter the stone in an eighteen inch slot cut into the stone. Jack leaned
over and looked. The slot was dark and the pole went down into it as far as
Jack could see in the dim light. Jack reached out to touch the pole, but
Nate was suddenly there in the way.

"You can't touch that yet, Jack," said Nate.

"Why not?" asked Jack.

"I haven't explained it to you yet," replied Nate.

"Well, it kinda looks like a lever or something," said Jack. "You'd push it
that way, and it would move in the slot."

"Yep, that's what it is," replied Nate.

"What does it do?" asked Jack. "End the world?"

"Oh, no," said Nate. "Nothing that drastic. It just ends humanity. I call it
'The Lever of Doom'." For the last few words Nate had used a deeper, ringing
voice. He tried to look serious for a few seconds, and then gave up and
grinned.

Jack was initially startled by Nate's pronouncement, but when Nate grinned
Jack laughed. "Ha! You almost had me fooled for a second there. What does it
really do?"

"Oh, it really ends humanity, like I said," smirked Nate. "I just thought
the voice I used was funny, didn't you?"

Nate continued to grin.

"A lever to end humanity?" asked Jack. "What in the world is that for? Why
would anyone need to end humanity?"

"Well," replied Nate, "I get the idea that maybe humanity was an experiment.
Or maybe the Big Guy just thought, that if humanity started going really
bad, there should be a way to end it. I'm not really sure. All I know are
the rules, and the guesses that Samuel and I had about why it's here. I
didn't think to ask back when I started here."

"Rules? What rules?" asked Jack.

"The rules are that I can't tell anybody about it or let them touch it
unless they agree to be bound to secrecy by a bite. And that only one human
can be bound in that way at a time. That's it." explained Nate.

Jack looked somewhat shocked. "You mean that I could pull the lever now?
You'd let me end humanity?"

"Yep," replied Nate, "if you want to." Nate looked at Jack carefully. "Do
you want to, Jack?"

"Umm, no." said Jack, stepping a little further back from the lever. "Why in
the world would anyone want to end humanity? It'd take a psychotic to want
that! Or worse, a suicidal psychotic, because it would kill him too,
wouldn't it?"

"Yep," replied Nate, "being as he'd be human too."

"Has anyone ever seriously considered it?" asked Nate. "Any of those bound
to secrecy, that is?"

"Well, of course, I think they've all seriously considered it at one time or
another. Being given that kind of responsibility makes you sit down and
think, or so I'm told. Samuel considered it several times. He'd often get
disgusted with humanity, come out here, and just hold the lever for a while.
But he never pulled it. Or you wouldn't be here." Nate grinned some more.

Jack sat down, well back from the lever. He looked thoughtful and puzzled at
the same time. After a bit, he said, "So this makes me the Judge of
humanity? I get to decide whether they keep going or just end? Me?"

"That seems to be it," agreed Nate.

"What kind of criteria do I use to decide?" said Jack. "How do I make this
decision? Am I supposed to decide if they're good? Or too many of them are
bad? Or that they're going the wrong way? Is there a set of rules for that?"

"Nope," replied Nate. "You pretty much just have to decide on your own. It's
up to you, however you want to decide it. I guess that you're just supposed
to know."

"But what if I get mad at someone? Or some girl dumps me and I feel
horrible? Couldn't I make a mistake? How do I know that I won't screw up?"
protested Jack.

Nate gave his kind of snake-like shrug again. "You don't. You just have to
try your best, Jack."

Jack sat there for a while, staring off into the desert that was rapidly
getting dark, chewing on a fingernail.

Suddenly, Jack turned around and looked at the snake. "Nate, was Samuel the
one bound to this before me?"

"Yep," replied Nate. "He was a good guy. Talked to me a lot. Taught me to
read and brought me books. I think I still have a good pile of them buried
in the sand around here somewhere. I still miss him. He died a few months
ago."

"Sounds like a good guy," agreed Jack. "How did he handle this, when you
first told him. What did he do?"

"Well," said Nate, "he sat down for a while, thought about it for a bit, and
then asked me some questions, much like you're doing."

"What did he ask you, if you're allowed to tell me?" asked Jack.

"He asked me about the third request," replied Nate.

"Aha!" It was Jack's turn to grin. "And what did you tell him?"

"I told him the rules for the third request. That to get the third request
you have to agree to this whole thing. That if it ever comes to the point
that you really think that humanity should be ended, that you'll come here
and end it. You won't avoid it, and you won't wimp out." Nate looked serious
again. "And you'll be bound to do it too, Jack."

"Hmmm." Jack looked back out into the darkness for a while.

Nate watched him, waiting.
"Nate," continued Jack, quietly, eventually. "What did Samuel ask for with
his third request?"

Nate sounded like he was grinning again as he replied, also quietly,
"Wisdom, Jack. He asked for wisdom. As much as I could give him."

"Ok," said Jack, suddenly, standing up and facing away from Nate, "give it
to me.

Nate looked at Jack's backside. "Give you what, Jack?"

"Give me that wisdom. The same stuff that Samuel asked for. If it helped
him, maybe it'll help me too." Jack turned his head to look back over his
shoulder at Nate. "It did help him, right?"

"He said it did," replied Nate. "But he seemed a little quieter afterward.
Like he had a lot to think about."

"Well, yeah, I can see that," said Jack. "So, give it to me." Jack turned to
face away from Nate again, bent over slightly and tensed up.

Nate watched Jack tense up with a little exasperation. If he bit Jack now,
Jack would likely jump out of his skin and maybe hurt them both.

"You remember that you'll be bound to destroy humanity if it ever looks like
it needs it, right Jack?" asked Nate, shifting position.

"Yeah, yeah, I got that," replied Jack, eyes squeezed tightly shut and body
tense, not noticing the change in direction of Nate's voice.

"And," continued Nate, from his new position, "do you remember that you'll
turn bright purple, and grow big horns and extra eyes?"

"Yeah, yeah...Hey, wait a minute!" said Jack, opening his eyes,
straightening up and turning around. "Purple?!" He didn't see Nate there.
With the moonlight Jack could see that the lever extended up from its slot
in the rock without the snake wrapped around it.

Jack heard, from behind him, Nate's "Just Kidding!" right before he felt the
now familiar piercing pain, this time in the other buttock.

Jack sat on the edge of the dark stone in the rapidly cooling air, his feet
extending out into the sand. He stared out into the darkness, listening to
the wind stir the sand, occasionally rubbing his butt where he'd been
recently bitten.

Nate had left for a little while, had come back with a desert-rodent-shaped
bulge somewhere in his middle, and was now wrapped back around the lever,
his tongue flicking out into the desert night's air the only sign that he
was still awake.

Occasionally Jack, with his toes absentmindedly digging in the sand while he
thought, would ask Nate a question without turning around.

"Nate, do accidents count?"

Nate lifted his head a little bit. "What do you mean, Jack?"

Jack tilted his head back like he was looking at the stars. "You know,
accidents. If I accidentally fall on the lever, without meaning to, does
that still wipe out humanity?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does, Jack. I'd suggest you be careful about that
if you start feeling wobbly," said Nate with some amusement.

A little later - "Does it have to be me that pulls the lever?" asked Jack.

"That's the rule, Jack. Nobody else can pull it," answered Nate.

"No," Jack shook his head, "I meant does it have to be my hand? Could I pull
the lever with a rope tied around it? Or push it with a stick? Or throw a
rock?"

"Yes, those should work," replied Nate. "Though I'm not sure how complicated
you could get. Samuel thought about trying to build some kind of remote
control for it once, but gave it up. Everything he'd build would be gone by
the next sunrise, if it was touching the stone, or over it. I told him that
in the past others that had been bound had tried to bury the lever so they
wouldn't be tempted to pull it, but every time the stones or sand or
whatever had disappeared."

"Wow," said Jack, "Cool." Jack leaned back until only his elbows kept him
off of the stone and looked up into the sky.

"Nate, how long did Samuel live? One of his wishes was for health too,
right?" asked Jack.

"Yes," replied Nate, "it was. He lived 167 years, Jack."

"Wow, 167 years. That's almost 140 more years I'll live if I live as long.
Do you know what he died of, Nate?"

"He died of getting tired of living, Jack," Nate said, sounding somewhat
sad.

Jack turned his head to look at Nate in the starlight.

Nate looked back. "Samuel knew he wasn't going to be able to stay in
society. He figured that they'd eventually see him still alive and start
questioning it, so he decided that he'd have to disappear after a while. He
faked his death once, but changed his mind - he decided it was too early and
he could stay for a little longer. He wasn't very fond of mankind, but he
liked the attention. Most of the time, anyway.

"His daughter and then his wife dying almost did him in though. He didn't
stay in society much longer after that. He eventually came out here to spend
time talking to me and thinking about pulling the lever. A few months ago he
told me he'd had enough. It was his time."

"And then he just died?" asked Jack.

Nate shook his head a little. "He made his forth request, Jack. There's only
one thing you can ask for the fourth request. The last bite.

After a bit Nate continued, "He told me that he was tired, that it was his
time. He reassured me that someone new would show up soon, like they always
had.

After another pause, Nate finished, "Samuel's body disappeared off the stone
with the sunrise."

Jack lay back down and looked at the sky, leaving Nate alone with his
memories. It was a long time until Jack's breathing evened out into sleep.

Jack woke with the sunrise the next morning. He was a little chilled with
the morning desert air, but overall was feeling pretty good. Well, except
that his stomach was grumbling and he wasn't willing to eat raw desert rat.

So, after getting directions to town from Nate, making sure he knew how to
get back, and reassuring Nate that he'd be back soon, Jack started the long
walk back to town. With his new health and Nate's good directions, he made
it back easily.

Jack caught a bus back to the city, and showed up for work the next day,
little worse for the wear and with a story about getting lost in the desert
and walking back out. Within a couple of days Jack had talked a friend with
a tow truck into going back out into the desert with him to fetch the SUV.
They found it after a couple of hours of searching and towed it back without
incident. Jack was careful not to even look in the direction of Nate's
lever, though their path back didn't come within sight of it.

Before the next weekend, Jack had gone to a couple of stores, including a
book store, and had gotten his SUV back from the mechanic, with a warning to
avoid any more joyriding in the desert. On Saturday, Jack headed back to see
Nate.
Jack parked a little way out of the small town near Nate, loaded up his new
backpack with camping gear and the things he was bringing for Nate, and then
started walking. He figured that walking would leave the least trail, and he
knew that while not many people camped in the desert, it wasn't unheard of,
and shouldn't really raise suspicions.

Jack had brought more books for Nate - recent books, magazines, newspapers.
Some things that would catch Nate up with what was happening in the world,
others that were just good books to read. He spent the weekend with Nate,
and then headed out again, telling Nate that he'd be back again soon, but
that he had things to do first.

Over four months later Jack was back to see Nate again. This time he brought
a laptop with him - a specially modified laptop. It had a solar recharger,
special filters and seals to keep out the sand, a satellite link-up, and a
special keyboard and joystick that Jack hoped that a fifteen-foot
rattlesnake would be able to use. And, it had been hacked to not give out
its location to the satellite.

After that Jack could e-mail Nate to keep in touch, but still visited him
fairly regularly - at least once or twice a year.

After the first year, Jack quit his job. For some reason, with the wisdom he
'd been given, and the knowledge that he could live for over 150 years,
working in a nine to five job for someone else didn't seem that worthwhile
any more. Jack went back to school.

Eventually, Jack started writing. Perhaps because of the wisdom, or perhaps
because of his new perspective, he wrote well. People liked what he wrote,
and he became well known for it. After a time, Jack bought an RV and started
traveling around the country for book signings and readings.

But, he still remembered to drop by and visit Nate occasionally.

On one of the visits Nate seemed quieter than usual. Not that Nate had been
a fountain of joy lately. Jack's best guess was that Nate was still missing
Samuel, and though Jack had tried, he still hadn't been able to replace
Samuel in Nate's eyes. Nate had been getting quieter each visit. But on this
visit Nate didn't even speak when Jack walked up to the lever. He nodded at
Jack, and then went back to staring into the desert. Jack, respecting Nate's
silence, sat down and waited.

After a few minutes, Nate spoke. "Jack, I have someone to introduce you to."

Jack looked surprised. "Someone to introduce me to?" Jack looked around, and then looked carefully back at Nate. "This something to do with the Big Guy?

"No, no," replied Nate. "This is more personal. I want you to meet my son."
Nate looked over at the nearest sand dune. "Sammy!"

Jack watched as a four foot long desert rattlesnake crawled from behind the
dune and up to the stone base of the lever.

"Yo, Jack," said the new, much smaller snake.

"Yo, Sammy" replied Jack. Jack looked at Nate. "Named after Samuel, I
assume?"

Nate nodded. "Jack, I've got a favor to ask you. Could you show Sammy around
for me?" Nate unwrapped himself from the lever and slithered over to the
edge of the stone and looked across the sands. "When Samuel first told me
about the world, and brought me books and pictures, I wished that I could go see it. I wanted to see the great forests, the canyons, the cities, even the
other deserts, to see if they felt and smelled the same. I want my son to
have that chance - to see the world. Before he becomes bound here like I have been.

"He's seen it in pictures, over the computer that you brought me. But I hear that it's not the same. That being there is different. I want him to have
that. Think you can do that for me, Jack?"

Jack nodded. This was obviously very important to Nate, so Jack didn't even
joke about taking a talking rattlesnake out to see the world. "Yeah, I can
do that for you, Nate. Is that all you need?" Jack could sense that was
something more.

Nate looked at Sammy. Sammy looked back at Nate for a second and then said,
"Oh, yeah. Ummm, I've gotta go pack. Back in a little bit Jack. Nice to meet
ya!" Sammy slithered back over the dune and out of sight.

Nate watched Sammy disappear and then looked back at Jack. "Jack, this is my
first son. My first offspring through all the years. You don't even want to
know what it took for me to find a mate." Nate grinned to himself. "But
anyway, I had a son for a reason. I'm tired. I'm ready for it to be over. I
needed a replacement."

Jack considered this for a minute. "So, you're ready to come see the world,
and you wanted him to watch the lever while you were gone?"

Nate shook his head. "No, Jack - you're a better guesser than that. You've
already figured out - I'm bound here - there's only one way for me to leave
here. And I'm ready. It's my time to die."

Jack looked more closely at Nate. He could tell Nate had thought about
this - probably for quite a while. Jack had trouble imagining what it would
be like to be as old as Nate, but Jack could already tell that in another
hundred or two hundred years, he might be getting tired of life himself.
Jack could understand Samuel's decision, and now Nate's. So, all Jack said
was, "What do you want me to do?"

Nate nodded. "Thanks, Jack. I only want two things. One - show Sammy around
the world - let him get his fill of it, until he's ready to come back here
and take over. Two - give me the fourth request.
"I can't just decide to die, not any more than you can. I won't even die of
old age like you eventually will, even though it'll be a long time from now.
I need to be killed. Once Sammy is back here, ready to take over, I'll be
able to die. And I need you to kill me.

"I've even thought about how. Poisons and other drugs won't work on me. And
I've seen pictures of snakes that were shot - some of them live for days, so
that's out too. So, I want you to bring back a sword.

Nate turned away to look back to the dune that Sammy had gone behind. "I'd
say an axe, but that's somewhat undignified - putting my head on the ground
or a chopping block like that. No, I like a sword. A time-honored way of
going out. A dignified way to die. And, most importantly, it should work,
even on me.

"You willing to do that for me, Jack?" Nate turned back to look at Jack.

"Yeah, Nate," replied Jack solemnly, "I think I can handle that."

Nate nodded. "Good!" He turned back toward the dune and shouted, "Sammy!
Jack's about ready to leave!" Then quietly, "Thanks, Jack."

Jack didn't have anything to say to that, so he waited for Sammy to make it
back to the lever, nodded to him, nodded a final time to Nate, and then
headed into the desert with Sammy following.
Over the next several years Sammy and Jack kept in touch with Nate through
e-mail as they went about their adventures. They made a goal of visiting
every country in the world, and did a respectable job of it. Sammy had a
natural gift for languages, as Jack expected he would, and even ended up
acting as a translator for Jack in a few of the countries. Jack managed to
keep the talking rattlesnake hidden, even so, and by the time they were
nearing the end of their tour of countries, Sammy had only been spotted a
few times. While there were several people that had seen enough to startle
them greatly, nobody had enough evidence to prove anything, and while a few
wild rumors and storied followed Jack and Sammy around, nothing ever hit the
newspapers or the public in general.

When they finished the tour of countries, Jack suggested that they try some
undersea diving. They did. And spelunking. They did that too. Sammy finally
drew the line at visiting Antarctica. He'd come to realize that Jack was
stalling. After talking to his Dad about it over e-mail, he figured out that
Jack probably didn't want to have to kill Nate. Nate told Sammy that humans
could be squeamish about killing friends and acquaintances.

So, Sammy eventually put his tail down (as he didn't have a foot) and told
Jack that it was time - he was ready to go back and take up his duties from
his dad. Jack, delayed it a little more by insisting that they go back to
Japan and buy an appropriate sword. He even stretched it a little more by
getting lessons in how to use the sword. But, eventually, he'd learned as
much as he was likely to without dedicating his life to it, and was
definitely competent enough to take the head off of a snake. It was time to
head back and see Nate.

When they got back to the US, Jack got the old RV out of storage where he
and Sammy had left it after their tour of the fifty states, he loaded up
Sammy and the sword, and they headed for the desert.

When they got to the small town that Jack had been trying to find those
years ago when he'd met Nate, Jack was in a I'm an idiot. He didn't really feel like
walking all of the way out there. Not only that, but he'd forgotten to
figure the travel time correctly, and it was late afternoon. They'd either
have to spend the night in town and walk out tomorrow, or walk in the dark.

As Jack was afraid that if he waited one more night he might lose his
resolve, he decided that he'd go ahead and drive the RV out there. It was
only going to be this once, and Jack would go back and cover the tracks
afterward. They ought to be able to make it out there by nightfall if they
drove, and then they could get it over tonight.

Jack told Sammy to e-mail Nate that they were coming as he drove out of
sight of the town on the road. They then pulled off the road and headed out
into the desert.

Everything went well, until they got to the sand dunes. Jack had been
nursing the RV along the whole time, over the rocks, through the creek beds,
revving the engine the few times they almost got stuck. When they came to
the dunes, Jack didn't really think about it, he just downshifted and headed
up the first one. By the third dune, Jack started to regret that he'd
decided to try driving on the sand. The RV was fishtailling and losing
traction. Jack was having to work it up each dune slowly and was trying to
keep from losing control each time they came over the top and slid down the
other side. Sammy had come up to sit in the passenger seat, coiled up and
laughing at Jack's driving.

As they came over the top of the fourth dune, the biggest one yet, Jack saw
that this was the final dune - the stone, the lever, and somewhere Nate,
waited below. Jack put on the brakes, but he'd gone a little too far. The RV
started slipping down the other side.

Jack tried turning the wheel, but he didn't have enough traction. He pumped
the brakes - no response. They started sliding down the hill, faster and
faster.

Jack felt a shock go through him as he suddenly realized that they were
heading for the lever. He looked down - the RV was directly on course for
it. If Jack didn't do something, the RV would hit it. He was about to end
humanity.

Jack steered more frantically, trying to get traction. It still wasn't
working. The dune was too steep, and the sand too loose. In a split second,
Jack realized that his only chance would be once he hit the stone around the
lever - he should have traction on the stone for just a second before he hit
the lever - he wouldn't have time to stop, but he should be able to steer
away.

Jack took a better grip on the steering wheel and tried to turn the RV a
little bit - every little bit would help. He'd have to time his turn just
right.

The RV got to the bottom of the dune, sliding at an amazing speed in the
sand. Just before they reached the stone Jack looked across it to check that
they were still heading for the lever. They were. But Jack noticed something
else that he hadn't seen from the top of the dune. Nate wasn't wrapped
around the lever. He was off to the side of the lever, but still on the
stone, waiting for them. The problem was, he was waiting on the same side of
the lever that Jack had picked to steer towards to avoid the lever. The RV
was already starting to drift that way a little in its mad rush across the
sand and there was no way that Jack was going to be able to go around the
lever to the other side.

Jack had an instant of realization. He was either going to have to hit the
lever, or run over Nate. He glanced over at Sammy and saw that Sammy
realized the same thing.

Jack took a firmer grip on the steering wheel as the RV ran up on the stone.
Shouting to Sammy as he pulled the steering wheel, "BETTER NATE THAN LEVER," he ran over the snake.

Teh Slightly less Censored story

2008-10-24T13:56:00.001+08:00

Oops...I posted my Nanowrimo plot frame argh...

He/She drank a cup of coffee.

2008-10-20T18:26:00.000+08:00

Holy bored.
Humming a simple tune, Kiaace (Pronounced ki-YA-sai but I don’t mind kia-ace) slowly stepped out of the steaming hot shower. Shaking the still slightly warm water off my body, I grabbed a tower from a nearby rack and wrapped my body with it, drying it. I sighed as I suddenly heard a noise that sounded like keys. Smiling in hope, I wrapped the towel around his lower body, and trudged out happily to the main room, hoping to see my brother there.
However, I was denied my reunion when the person standing there was not my brother, but rather a stranger. Standing there in horror, I backed slowly against a wall. “What do you want?”
“Don’t be scared...I am a...friend of your brother.” The mysterious stranger said gently. I took a closer look at his body, and noticed his quirky clothing. He wore a large hood over his head, masking his eyes. The hood slid over and ended in a long syndira blue cloak that almost touched the floor. He wore navy blue leather gloves embedded with sapphires, while his torso was covered with what could only be said as a cuirass. It was also a light blue in color, and was a one piece suit that looked like it was made out of leather. It wore down to his shoes, and a simple kilt covered his legs until the thighs. He held an ornate staff. Funny though...his nose looked slightly like a jackal’s.
“Oh...well...do you want to come in, it’s only right...” I replied, trying to keep a straight face. The stranger smiled and waved his blue crystal staff, and my clothes appeared over my body. This couldn’t have been real. Slightly unnerved now, I switched on the coffee making machine, and smelt the gentle aroma of the beans fill the living room. The stranger’s hood seemed to twitch, and it slid off his head.. He sighed, and pulled his hood over his head again.
“What is that marvelous scent?” He sniffed at the air again, and stood up. He walked slowly towards me, and took the cup from my hand. He looked at it, and his eyes widened. “Some accursed drink perhaps? To bewitch a person? It looks and smells like the envy of distilled evil...” He picked up the drink. “But I always enjoy a good challenge...to Shiva’s health.” He smiled, and sipped at the black steaming drink that was so alien to him. He winced at first, but quickly finished his drink.
“Like it? It’s called coffee...I made it...like my brother used to...”I sensed that he was not from around here. A tear welled up in my eye, but I quickly shook it away. “Anyway...” The stranger stopped me.
“This is some kind of herbal remedy, I presume?” He took his hood off and showed me his face. It was the black and blue face of a jackal. The hand holding the cup slowly morphed into a paw, and he smiled. His voice became darker all of a sudden. “Well...I can see you miss your brother...why not make another cup of this herbal...draft and we’ll have a nice long talk.” He sat down on the sofa again, smiling. “I am fatigued after such a long journey, and it is in your honor to put down a show of hospitability.” I complied, handing him another cup. “Your good health.” He raised the cup in a cheer.

Bored

2008-10-16T19:19:00.001+08:00

Bloody hell...I love the EOY period. I mean...it's stressful and all but I don't mug...so that completely reduces the effacacy. Believe me.

However, the main reason still lies in the fact that we are whacking Kenneth everyday. Take this short convo in class before Geog EOY (Kenneth's fave subject)

Clarence: Getting 2.8 for Geog is Vulgar, irresponsible and SHHTUPID!!!
Jervan: Go and **** ur mom, you vulgar, irresponsible and SHHTUPID failure.
Clarence: 2.8 very good...you SHHTUPID loser.
*Loud blaring of Welcome To My Life with subwoofers*

I have a desperate need to photoshop something so...Snakes on A Plane. It's not as brilliant as Indiana Tjoeng...which, by the way, has slipped into the obvlivion of the internet. Hopefully the next Harry Potter movie will have come by then. Anyone wants me to make a hero out of them just come up with the skills and I'll try my best for an icon.

PORTAL PRELUDE ZOMG IT RULES

2008-10-10T22:08:00.002+08:00

I found them interesting so I copied his idea. Oh yeah I have portal prelude now.
54%

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

59%

Created by OnePlusYou -
Free Dating Site

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

Huh? Nothing?

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites
My blog is fine.
a href="http://www.oneplusyou.com/bb/death" style="display: block; width: 241px; height: 107px; background: url('http://www.oneplusyou.com/q/img/bb_badges/death.jpg') no-repeat; padding-top: 75px; padding-left: 10px; color: #fff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Times New Roman, Arial, serif; font-size: 22px;">150,415 People

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

85%

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

63%

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

$5450.00

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

Secret to Christiano Ronaldo's Success

2008-10-10T19:32:00.001+08:00

How does Ronaldo score so much and make Man U stronger? This is the secret

Star Wars

2008-10-09T19:59:00.002+08:00

In an effort to Combat Mugging I watched All 6 Star Wars films instead of revision, and now I'm gonna die for Chinese. But I have some funny lines from the movie that sound...wrong.
The Phantom Menace
STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE
10. "Now, be brave, and don't look back. "
9. "Yousa point is well seen. This way. Hurry!"
8. "My parts are showing?"
7. "You could enter my pod. "
6. "My lord, is that... legal?" - "I will make it legal. "
5. "I saw your laser sword. "
4. "Do not defy the Council, Master, not again!"
3. "Feel, don’t think. Use your instincts. "
2. "Gettin' very scared and grabbin' that Jedi and POW!"
1. "You're coming too, aren't you, Mom?"

STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES
10."What do you think Padme would do were she in your position?"
9. "Master Kenobi, you disappoint me. Yoda holds you in such high esteem. Surely you can do better!"
8. "I can sense everything that's going on in that room."
7. "I thought that was forbidden for a Jedi."
6. "She seems to be on top of things."
5. "It depends on how well your manners are, and how big your pocketbook is."
4. "My goodness, you've grown!"
3. "If Obi-Wan caught me doing that, he’d be very grumpy."
2. "We’ll take him together. You go in slowly on the left and..." - "No, I'm taking him NOW!"
1. "You know I don't like it when you do that."
Revenge of the Sith
10."We're coming in too hot!"
9. "You're going to need me on this one, Master. "
8. "Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. "
7. "The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. "
6. "It's very dangerous putting them together. I don’t think the boy can handle it. "
5. "Lord Vader... rise. "
4. "Good relations with the Wookiees, I have. "
3. "He is here. We are being held hostage. They are... watching us. "
2. "I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend..."
1. "General Grievous, you’re shorter than I expected. "
Star Wars / A New Hope
10. "Get in there you big furry oaf, I don't care what you smell!"
9. "Luke, at that speed do you think you'll be able to pull out in time?"
8. "Put that thing away before you get us all killed."
7. "You've got something jammed in here real good."
6. "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"
5. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."
4. "Sorry about the mess..."
3. "Look at the size of that thing!"
2. "Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough!"
1. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

DotI Hero

2008-10-06T16:32:00.006+08:00

Defence of the Inspires: Today we have Daryl Tham

Hired as a treasurer, he collects money endlessly from people who oppose him, and he has joined the fight against specimen 11. He collects gold and hoards it fearlessly.
Daryl
Lv1 Treasurer
Ranged: 500(Animation is hitting badminton. Lol.)
Str-17
Dex-20(Main)
Int-17
1st Skill:Book of Gold:
MPC: 200, CD 100 secs
Lv1: Steals 50 gold from targeted hero/creep
Lv2: Steals 100
Lv3: Steals 150
Lv4: Steals 200
2nd Skill:Swan Touch(like silence)
Lv1: 10% chance to Swan
Lv2: 20% chance to Swan
Lv3: 30% chance to Swan
Lv4: 40% chance to Swan
3rd skill:Firey Shuttlecock
MC: 50, CD: 2 secs
Lv1: 75 Damage from Range, 85 Damage at Melee range
Lv2: 150 Damage from Range, 170 Damage at Melee range
Lv3: 225 Damage from Range, 255 Damage at Melee range
Lv1: 300 Damage from Range, 340 Damage at Melee range

Ulti: Rolling Stone(Mossless)
Lv1: Combined total of Str and Agi multiplier 4
Lv2: Combined total of Str, Agi and Int multiplier 4
Lv3: Combined total of Str, Agi and Int multiplier 5

Images took me forever.

WHY YOU SHOULD NOT EAT HERETIC BREAD

2008-09-28T13:03:00.000+08:00

Bread Kills!
1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.

2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.

4. Every piece of bread you eat brings you nearer to death.

5. Bread is associated with all the major diseases of the body. For example, nearly all sick people have eaten bread. The effects are obviously cumulative:

* 99.9% of all people who die from cancer have eaten bread.
* 100% of all soldiers have eaten bread.
* 96.9% of all Communist sympathizers have eaten bread.(and porridge)
* 99.7% of the people involved in air and auto accidents ate bread within 6 months preceding the accident.
* 93.1% of juvenile delinquents came from homes where bread is served frequently.

6. Evidence points to the long-term effects of bread eating: Of all people born before 1839 who later dined on bread, there has been a 100% mortality rate.

7. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as a teaspoon of dough can be used to suffocate a lab rat. The average American eats more bread than that in one day!

8. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.

9. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and being fed only water begged for bread after as little as two days.

10. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.

11. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

12. Newborn babies can choke on bread.

13. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

14. Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:

1. No sale of bread to minors.
2. A nationwide "Just Say No To Toast" campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of "Bread-free" zones around schools.

Countdown to Portal Prelude

2008-09-27T12:46:00.000+08:00

For anyone who has the Orange Box(TQTQ...yeah) or has bought Portal, you know the Storyline is a little bit unengaging. So, this is Portal Prelude, which is a brilliant game. Anyone who wants the Prelude can ask me for it, after I have gotten it when the timer above counts down. Yeah man, PORTAL PRELUDE!

Controversy once more.

2008-09-25T18:31:00.001+08:00

I shall disturb Naruto and draw fire from people. Yay. Please help me spread the message to anyone who reads/watches/likes Naruto. I'd like to see how many times I get flamed in a few weeks. After this is EOY time, and so my blog will be on hiatus. After my EOY's I shall check on Naruto.

Gaming

2008-09-23T17:55:00.003+08:00

I'm sure Brendy brought TF2 to class lar. I'm like WTF. What's the fun of playing if you don't let me ow...I mean play with friends? Meet Dias the Heavy. Whie he only has 50 HP he makes up for it by being able to slow time every now and then. And I'm a brood mother for my next ever DotA match. Completely lousy experience.

How the hell do you play the game with a completely balanced character? Can't tank, can't range...and I'm sure Agility is the primary stat! When the Strength grows so much...and she's rather more like a tank. The webs don't work well...still able to hit you, spidey. The ulti buff can go kiss my *** and only one attacking skill. Wtf?
And in honour of our maths test...
a = b
a^2 = ab
a^2-b^2 = ab-b^2
(a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b)
a+b = b
2b = b
2 = 1

x = (Pi+3)/2
2x = Pi+3
2x(Pi-3) = (Pi+3)(Pi-3)
2Pix-6x = Pi^2-9
9-6x = Pi^2-2Pix
9-6x+x^2 = Pi^2-2Pix+x^2
(3-x)^2 = (Pi-x)^2
3-x = Pi-x
Pi = 3

-1 = -1
-1/1 = -1/1
-1/1 = 1/-1
sqrt(-1/1) = sqrt(1/-1)
i/1 = 1/i
i = 1/i
i * i = 1
-1 = 1

Back to your daily dose of pilotical humour.

2008-09-21T17:15:00.002+08:00

Yes I spelt it correctly. It was on purpose.

My 1st dota match.

2008-09-20T21:20:00.003+08:00

I played DotA for the first time in my life yesterday. And I'm hooked...until my battle.net stopped working T.T Anyway, for the six rounds that I played, (in a row), I played as Kael da Invoker thrice, Shadow Shaman whatsisname once and Raijin the Storm Panda creep twice. I reasoned that since I like to not die, I should play as a mage. Of course, I was terribly mistaken...all 5v5 except for the shadow shaman, that was 2v2.

I liked Kael. I use the Exort thingy thrice to add like 9 damage per lv, then I use Wex once before using Invoke to get the meteor spell. I didn't really check the stats...just that the meteor looked cool. Then after a failed first blood/tanking attempt, I bo hp liao...so I went to meteor a few creeps and the glaive thrower. It worked, and I lvled...then I wasted my point learning Quas. I thought Quas was utter rubbish, because 2.25 hp per second is crap. Then I realised the Invoke with 3 quas is some freezing thingy that slowed opponents down, which probably saved our asses. Didn't stop the chaos warrior from dying, though. (Noober than a 1st timer diao.)

Anyway...I went to get Orchid Malevolence...expensive like hell, must've cost 5k or more...I thought it was rather good, but then I kept dying after a while so I asked the pro BEYOND GODLIKE guy on my team why the hell that was so and he asked me to buy some cuirassy thing and power treads. Then I asked (noobly) why the hell would I need something that increases str when I was a mage and he told me to click on it but he reccomended I used the str to raise my hp anyways...then he told me to ge the thingy of Skadi(again too noob to remember)but I told him that I didn't know where to buy the point booster and he swore on teamspeak. Overall a fun experience.

Now on to Raijin. I kenna 1st blood and kept getting killed and I was like WTF WHY MY ULTI DOESNT HAVE ANY EFFECT!? Then the pro godlike guy(again. This time he was techie) told me to let him use the mines thing spam 1st and I was like...okay...then I stood near the mines and used ulti and I sucked them all in! It's so cool!!! He got another godlike streak...and I looked stupid because I went to buy a Shiva guard and another Orchid Malevolence(what looks cool is cool to me). And I had a lot of fun being a meat tank as Raijin, what they call noob bait. T.T

I tio owned as shaman. Never gonna say anything about that again.

Dota noob,
PokeKitsune.

Top Ten

2008-09-15T19:49:00.002+08:00

I'm egoistic enough, without this wall of fame thingy...serious!

Anyway my version would be...
1) Kenneth
2) Min Seok
3) Eugene
4) Alex Loh
T5) Me
T5) Jervan
T7) Brendan(Not offending anyone or making reference to anything...)
T7) Benedict
9) Yon Lu
T10) Daniel Mark
T10) Alex Chan
12) Yong Jie
13) Gabriel
14) Daryl Pay
15) Jax

This fits better I believe. Now on to my own table.

Hall of Crusaders.
This is for people who have done a great service to the world, thereby crusaders.

1) Kenneth
He is the only person who has attempted to assasinate the heretic, in fact 14 times. In fact, he fits under FANATIC/HERETIC instead of just crusader.
T2) Yon Lu
T2) Me
T2) Jervan
We are crusaders! He's a Herman Munsteeeerrrr! We teach heresy and it's aftereffects. Definitely tops.
T5) Min Seok
T5) Alex Chan
T5) Daniel Mark
They are the closest thing, spitting on heretic's faces whenever they can. CAN YOU GET LOST!? THANK YOU!
T8) Pretty much the rest of the NORMAL world
T30000000000...)TYM, Jasmine Koh, RI staff, chngjin and gabriel
THEY SUPPORT HERESY! DIE!!!

Thank you.

Star Wars again.

2008-09-14T16:54:00.002+08:00

Watching starwars~~~noticed the distinct lack of kitsunes in it. Well damn. I'd thought there'd be a kitsune I'd missed out, but I guess not. Anyway, here's a star wars joke comparing Luke to Darth Vader
The TRUE ending to "the Empire Strikes Back":
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A furious lightsaber duel is underway. DARTH VADER is backing LUKE SKYWALKER towards the end of the gantry. A quick move by Vader, chops off Luke's hand! It goes spinning off into the ventilation shaft. Luke backs away. He looks around, but realizes there's nowhere to go but straight down.
Darth Vader: Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!
Darth Vader: No... I am your father!
Luke: No, it's not true! It's impossible.
Darth Vader: Search your feelings... you know it to be true...
Luke: NO!
Darth Vader: Yes, it is true.. and you know what else? You know that brass droid of yours?
Luke: Threepio?
Darth Vader: Yes... Threepio... I built him... when I was 7 years old...
Luke: No...
Darth Vader: Seven years old? And what have you done? Look at yourself, no hand, no job, and couldn't even levitate your own ship out of the swamp...
Luke: I destroyed your precious Death Star!
Darth Vader: When you were 20! When I was 10, I single-handedly destroyed a Trade Federation Droid Control ship!
Luke: Well, it's not my fault...
Darth Vader: Oh, here we go... "Poor me... my father never gave me what I wanted for my birthday... boo hoo, my daddy's the Dark Lord of the Sith... waahhh wahhh!"
Luke: Shut up...
Darth Vader: You're a slacker! By the time I was you're age, I had exterminated the Jedi knights!
Luke: I used to race my T-16 through Beggar's Canyon!
Darth Vader: Oh, for the love of the Emperor... 10 years old, winner of the Boonta Eve Open... Only human to ever fly a Pod Racer... right here baby!
Luke looks down the shaft. Takes a step towards it.
Darth Vader: I was wrong... You're not my kid... I don't know whose you are, but you sure ain't mine...
Luke takes a step off the platform, hesitates, then plunges down the shaft.
Darth Vader looks after him.
Darth Vader: Get a haircut!

Wonders of Photoshop and a Wikipedia Marvel

2008-09-14T10:56:00.003+08:00

Watch. Look what I did to wikipedia ROFL. And the motorcycle was done with Adobe Wan Kenobi CS4!

Life Lessons

2008-09-13T08:23:00.003+08:00

My file... T.T I went back to TNS for the MidAutumn festival yesterday. There was some gay singing competition, and the people all 'zhaoxia'. I didn't stay to hear the teachers, though. I met 丘老师 and Ms. Ang there. Actually I tried to stay away from Mrs. Chiam, but she saw me with my gleaming white uniform. Serious. My file tio manhandled...so sad...

Conversation:
Chiam:"Hey Clarence? Why are you wearing school uniform here? Why you never wear home clothes?"
Kitsune:"That's cause I can't be bothered." Then I changed my mind. "No lar I chiong from school mah." (Places blue file down on table)I should have known better.
Chiam:"Oh..." (Notices file) "I hope that's not some kind of project or portfolio that you need to hand in. Like the one you handed to me a week late..."
Kitsune:(Reaches for file)"Eh? Where's it gone...oh my fuc-" (Notices Claire taking it.)"Gaaah!"
Chiam: "Why? Got love letter inside?"
Kitsune:(Stares at her with a steely gaze and runs after Claire) "Oh my god..."
Claire:"Kakashi-sensei~~~" (Opens file)
Kitsune:(Makes it in time) "丘老师不要...不要...读到后面..."
丘老师:"后面一定有鬼的." (Grabs file and sees the first picture, which is the one I posted here in this post) "画得还蛮不错的吗...YAOI! 你以为我不懂那两只狗再说什么吗？"
Kitsune:(Sweating furiously) （Gets punched by Claire)(丘老师 hits me with table tennis bat.)
丘老师:"只有看过的人才会画这些..."
Claire:"You spoiled a kid's dream! Pokemon is supposed to be uncorruptible!"
Yeah that's when she broke my file. By hitting me with it. Damn. Anyway, help me spread the word about this please...this cute picture must be popularised...

Large Hadron Collider

2008-09-12T13:48:00.001+08:00

Look at this picture. It's a doom for mankind! The last Free Man.

Real life simpsons.

2008-09-11T20:56:00.000+08:00

Need I explain further?

Adsense

2008-09-10T20:28:00.001+08:00

ADSENSE IS APPROVED! Yeah man.

NaNoWriMo

2008-09-09T17:58:00.002+08:00

Anyway, as some of you may know, I'm signing up to go write a novel in November that is more that 50k words long. (Yeah right I'll decimate that if I really want to, but then the teachers will smell a rat. And I only have one month.)Eugene shall follow in my shadow.(No offence from experience)I shall write about fantasy, and it shalt not contain love. Pokemon maybe but not love. I still can't believe Eugene needs a mentor I'm like WTF? Firstly, a rundown of English teachers I know
ACCCH-Go and die
Rosie Smith-Go and die
JN Selvan-Go and die
TYM-No offence...but do you really think he can help you reach 50k words?
Following Inductive reasoning therefore all english teachers can't be mentors.

Oh my god

2008-09-08T20:26:00.002+08:00

MY EYES THEY BURNT OMFG
HALP!
HALP!
Anyway, back to today's humour. Today we have a military expert coming in to help us.

"Aim towards the Enemy." - Instruction printed on U.S. Rocket Launcher

"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend." - U.S. Army

"Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground." - U.S.A.F. Ammo Troop

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal

"A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit." - Army's magazine of preventive maintenance

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." - U.S. Air Force Manual

"Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo." - Infantry Journal

"Tracers work both ways." - U.S. Army Ordnance

"Five-second fuses only last three seconds." - Infantry Journal

"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid." - Col. David Hackworth

"If your attack is going too well, you're probably walking into an ambush." - Infantry Journal

"No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection." - Joe Gay

"Any ship can be a minesweeper ... once." - Anonymous

"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." - Unknown Army Recruit

"Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you." - Your Buddies

"If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up with him." - U.S. Ammo Troop

Beer

2008-09-07T12:09:00.001+08:00

One day, a man walked into a bar. He looked at the barman and asked for three beers.
"You crazy?"
"No. My bro's in Australia and my best friend is in China, so we drink everyday to celebrate."
"That's a good reason." The barman shrugged, and this continued for 3 years.
Then one fine day, he ordered 2 beers instead. All the other bar regular went silent, and the barman shed a tear.
"I grieve for your terrible loss." The man looked confused for a moment, before recovering.
"Oh. No. I just quit drinking."

Halp!

2008-09-06T21:02:00.005+08:00

Ai cant lyk cheezburger...i can haz cheezburger iz cunspearacee...ai ned halp...adn ur attenshun...iz too young to lol...halp!!! Ai iz confoozled by ajint from abuv...akshully Ai iz suspecs he from teh hell. Wy cant we awl live awn armonee? Halp!

I learnt the art of icanhazcheezburger from my coauthor on msn. Cheezburger...the altimat gif 4 kittens. I'm Kitsune in this conversation.

PokeKitsune: Souls...I eets them.
Co: Tasty tey r, too.
PokeKitsune:Tayste laik cheezburgers??
Co:Tayste laik chikin acshully.
PokeKitsune:Butt chikn tayste laik cheezburgerz…
Co:Chikin always tasted laik hyoomin for me.
PokeKitsune:yu eeted hyoominz?
Co:Dey be crunchy.
PokeKitsune:zombie kitteh wants Ur brainz
Co:I liekz deh cardanom seedz in bredz an caiks.
PokeKitsune:Diddun noe it was good in hawt choklitz.
Co:Wii putz cin-ah-nom and littul teeny bit hawt peppurz in hawt choklitz.
PokeKitsune:Liek in May-hee-koh!
We're obviously damn bored. And I combined fanfiction and art into MANGA. Here's a sample. You can see the familiar blue artfile.

There's also a genius using Iphone to read my blog. I now have access to your SMS. Joking, joking.

Secrets of Google

2008-09-06T15:37:00.002+08:00

There are some silly functions in google.
Google calculator: Try searching for “answer to life the universe and everything,” “number of horns on a unicorn,” or “once in a blue moon” for funny results. Or you can combine them with the built in google calculator.
Google earth: You have that programme. I do. But you can fly in it with Ctrl-Alt-A, or Command-Option-A for Min Seok.
Picasa: Those with the software should press Ctrl-Shift-Y, for a cute bear to pop up.
Google TiSP: To get TiSP (short for Toilet Internet Service Provider), you first obtain a free self-install kit from Google. Next, you flush one end of the fiber-optic cable (included in kit) down the toilet and then wait for about an hour while the line is connected to the Internet via a “Plumbing Hardware Dispatcher (PHD).” Now hook up your Google wireless router and you’re done.
Spam Folder: Check out the Ad in Spam folder of Gmail
Type in “French Military Victories” in google and hit “I’m feeling lucky”, If you type into google “Who is a failure” and click the search button the very first one on the list says “The President Of the United States - George W. Bush”, if you type in “Find Chuck Norris” and hit the search bar, google says, “google cannot find chuck norris because chuck norris finds YOU!”
Lol have fun.

More Wolves

2008-09-06T11:51:00.007+08:00

I'm addicted. I took up Band Naming. Anyone wants to try?
1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

If you want to do this again, you'll hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.

3 - Go to flickr's "explore the last seven days" http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Put it all together, that's your debut album.
I went to generate 5 for the fun of it.

Albinism in birds, "Where the sovereignity lies"
Album Cover:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozrkclckr/2831141960/

S Persei, "Pure and Never Simple"
Album Cover:http://www.flickr.com/photos/robfuel/2828430854/

Process Engineering, "Whiter for being washed"
Album Cover:http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissamlou/2811502505/

Aerosegovia, "Never seeing Noble Game"
Album Cover:http://www.flickr.com/photos/wicks/2811374778/

March Infitada, "Travelled altogether Behind Him"
Album Cover:http://www.flickr.com/photos/namoora/2811334281/

Anyone will try it and post their results?
Lol

2008-09-04T19:46:00.003+08:00

ROFLMAO ANIME NOT MINE LENINADE MINE
Remember the famous eons picture? I did it in higher resolution. So much FCKINg nicer.

Illusory images?

2008-09-04T16:04:00.003+08:00

HALAL PORK and an illusion

Yet more pictures

2008-09-04T13:44:00.003+08:00

ROFL

Original Espeon

2008-09-04T13:08:00.000+08:00

BTW the model is made with software and is based off a picture

Commercial

2008-09-04T08:56:00.003+08:00

Wanted! A pokemon who can appreciate a good fuc-
-schia garden, and won't mind going outdoors to camp and wal-
-k. She must be dog-like in nature, white furred with a good lib-
-rary of information. She must object to me calling her F-
ido, and must hate staying in her ball and mate her trainer.

Remind you of someone? Kat Katherine Kath Kathy...urm...yeah...lol anyway, back to my project, I stayed up until 4 last night to make it. And I made an Espeon with an Umbreon. The umbreon had purple rings. Anyway I placed them in different positions that they use in the story. Oh yeah I got bored after a while tore them apart. Then I regretted killing off 45 hours of effort, but then I have a picture of Solara...lol...damn.
Signing off,
Sceptic of Eternal strife.
Gods struck an Undisclosed reader to heaven already.

Crafting

2008-09-03T20:18:00.001+08:00

I've taken up Pokecrafting over the holidays. It sucks and takes time. 4 hours into it and all I have is an espeon ear.

Speciality

2008-09-02T19:56:00.004+08:00

Quote Mdm Yati: The secret to a successful civilisation is labour specialisation...
This has become my humour blog. Holy Coq, Farting Fire and Disk Dumbass and finally communist lozer

Lol

2008-09-02T13:48:00.001+08:00

RoFL Another Batman Pic

Welcome to Star Wars

2008-09-01T21:18:00.001+08:00

Yeah man.

Kitsune Rush!~~~

2008-08-31T19:03:00.010+08:00

Final Fantasy 14: Packs of Oblivion Starring Aeons as Lead of Pack

Let's start with a funny picture. Now back to Kitsunes~~~ Kitsune... Kitsune^^ Kitsune@.@ Kitsune!!! Kitsune***

Wings of Pride

Raikou Okami

Eh he looks like a fursona but...can't remember.

Wolf War

Winter

Ice Okami

Gaara Okami

Fire Okami

Leafeon Okami

Entei Okami

Demon Fox

Kitsune!~ BTW those with signature not mine arh.

More Kitsunes

2008-08-31T18:39:00.003+08:00

I suck at drawing. It's just cheating to use software. Often I can't tell one color from another, need to use Illustrator 32 tone for that. And they're done on a tablet with used sketches. Which I clean and use. So this will be my last for a long time. And they're not even good.

It's time for some campaigning!

2008-08-31T11:43:00.001+08:00

Let's learn how to vote with this satire. Look out for yours truly inside it. LAWL

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Smoke On The Yangtze

2008-08-31T08:31:00.000+08:00

Smoke on the water with Chinese Orchestra.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

More Pics

2008-08-29T18:32:00.007+08:00

Actually these are more of those classic you can't see anything so don't jump to conclusions you sicko pics that I like.

Okay...there's no way to counter this one. I like to think of it as "ARCANINE USED BODY SLAM!" "IT'S A CRITICAL HIT!"

Aww cmon.

Larlar

This is actually quite neutral. I won't deny it's slightly sick, but I won't say it's completely sick. We all know you've seen ecchi before, so why care about one more?

Inexpicably, THEY'RE JUST SLEEPING.

I bet you can't recognise the ninetales with wings. Well go on MSN and go see my DP.

It's up to you what he's/she's thinking. For me..."What are you doing to my mom?" Rofl.

Because I love wolves and foxes

2008-08-29T18:01:00.002+08:00

Ninetales Okami

Suicune Okami

Wind Elemental Okami. Because Okami is a fire element.

Mightyena Okami
Dragon Okami(You know the game character from the game I love so much...)

Me is Kitsune lover. Okami~~~ Okami___ Okami... Okami--- Okami*** Okami^.^ OkamiT.T

Funny Time

2008-08-28T20:28:00.004+08:00

I'm still on an endorphin rush after laughing with Jax for 2 hours straight because of bubblewrap, so it's comedy time! Go to yellowpages.ie for funny things.

For Pokemon haters

2008-08-28T20:22:00.001+08:00

SCREW YOU ALL!

Pronunciation Poem

2008-08-28T19:40:00.001+08:00

An ode to poetry. And how annyoing english is.
I take it you already know
of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
on hiccough, thorough, laugh and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
to learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
that looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead -- it's said like bed not bead --
and for goodness' sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt)

A moth is not the moth in mother,
nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
nor dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose --
just look them up -- and goose and choose,
and cork and work and card and ward,
and font and front and word and sword,
and do and go and thwart and cart --
come, come I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Man alive.
I'd mastered it when I was five.

The Secrets to success

2008-08-28T19:14:00.000+08:00

What Makes 100%?

What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%?What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K is

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E is

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E is

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And,

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T is

2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G is

1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Ass kissing that will put you over the top. Liike Kenneth.

2008-08-27T20:30:00.001+08:00

La. Suddenly liking chinese coz Zhao is showing us olympics. I tried to prove to Mr.Cao that incumbents are incompetent. I tried to prove that the direct method was the more effacious when I drew out the figure with a ruler to get the length for the olympiad question. I tried to prove that stealing Yong's food is easy. And I succeeded.

Little Blue Icon

2008-08-26T15:59:00.002+08:00

For anyone who noticed the little blue icon by the side tracing your every move, it was supposed to be hidden. Have no idea why it shows up sometimes. Even with my framey blog, it still showed up sometimes, before the page loaded. Don't worry. I'm only monitoring your movements. Secondly, how come most of my visitors have a bookmark eh?
220.255.72.178
Longtitude 103.8558
Latitude 1.2931
Don play play ok?
And who the hell is the safari guy?
cm225.omega12.maxonline.com.sg
218.186.12.225
Browser Safari 525.21
Operating System Mac OS X
Screen Resolution 1024x768
As well
Hostname bb121-6-90-37.singnet.com.sg
IP Address 121.6.90.37
Browser Safari 525.20.1
Operating System Mac OS X
Screen Resolution 1344x840

Opera 0.0
Hostname cm234.omega109.maxonline.com.sg
IP Address 218.186.109.234
Browser Opera 9.51
Operating System Windows Vista
Screen Resolution 1280x800

Seriously these are Singaporean. And I'm surprised there are 30 retards using IE6. 23 with an RI ip address. And 7 morons without.

Eugene

2008-08-25T18:29:00.003+08:00

Anyway...NO I'M NOT INFATUATED WITH HIM! But I believe Eugene's gonna go mad sitting beside Alex. During Chinese, Alex was crapping him like mad..."Eugene's senile...he's talking to himself." Eugene looked like he was dying to get out of there. Geog sucked until I showed off my carelessness and lack of listening in class. Heh. Kenneth was as usual. On Sashi, I'm on chapter 15 now. We had our RE presentation today...I spent at least 5 minutes answering a question, and that was half our presentation. Stupid Zhao wanted to know how the tea is brewed, so I go and repeat every single darned step for her.

Vids

2008-08-25T17:23:00.002+08:00

Enjoy your time watching these game reviews. Really vulgar. Zero Punctuation.

Sleep

2008-08-23T21:15:00.001+08:00

Sleep, glorious sleep, glorious sleep...lol. Haven't slept in two days for the Sashi marathon. Since Sashi is quite long, it will be on my alternate story blog without private access. The ten of us are MsNing each other like hell for the story. Anyway, this blog will no longer contain any stories, except for the ones already on here, and new ones that are nice to read. The sex will be on the eons, and most of the time, the sex will involve eons. Which is why that's my theme anyways. Sashi is currently 239509 words long, longer than Harry Potter. The ten of us are trying to win the longest story competition. Now about my life. Nothing much happened. Apparently I ponned debates for cash(or lack thereof). There haven't been any pics lately, coz I'm so dead. Anyway, if you play Granado Espada, tell me. I'll meet you. I use a server break to have two accounts on the same server, Carravaggio. They're AmenRa and Sonofa respectively. AmenRa is lv 12 family, Sonofa is lv 5. Have fun and hope for more good stuff soon. To sleep. Oh Yeah. Anyone who wonders who Sashi is, she's the espeon with the black underwear. Well, in the story she doesn't wear underwear. And she's perfectly innocent until chapter...i dunno...two. Then she goes downhill like crap.

Art spam

2008-08-19T21:01:00.017+08:00

Artwork spamming of different characters like suicune, and my legendary char pages. Yeah yeah comment on how spammed they are. Oh yeah, about the absol, it's a mix between Katherine and Kiaace, so you won't know his/her gender.

Bun Own

2008-08-19T20:09:00.003+08:00

Today, Bun, Alex, Min Coq tio owned. Ooyah. No really. Mr. Tan finally did some 'investigations' into Kenneth after he laughed harder than the whole world combined just before the Geog CCT. Who wants to bet he fails*cough* does badly? Anyway, I started establishing the cough thing when I write reviews/blog posts. Yeah. Mr. Tan even banned me from bringing my sticks to class...even though he wasn't very perceptive and didn't notice them hidden under the teacher's table. (*cough*cough*) This blog is now declared safe. As I said it would be by Olympics. Hah. Cynical creeps.

Signing off,
*Cough* Undisclosed *Cough* reader.

Uncle Artist

2008-08-18T20:14:00.004+08:00

Regarding my friend. He works as a full-time conceptual artist for games. He helps me a lot, especially when I borrow his tablet. Anyway, I'll show you the difference between the quality of our works. The anthro one is his sketch and my finishing, took us 2 hours in total to finish. The flareon carrying espeon one was done completely by him, took him a whole week. As it is pretty obvious, he pwns my ass.

Musketeer Pwned ur Ass.

2008-08-17T21:08:00.004+08:00

As you all de know, I play Granado Espada. Yeah man. My uncle mod to get me the Beijing 08 Tshirt for my characters so that I can, like go MY MUSKETEER SUPPORT BEIJING 08 DURING THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD WOOTZ HAHA PWNZORZ U. Heh. Also arh, I got de Okami picture. Don't ask me why it's incomplete or why there's a strange look on her/his face. No larhz. It is from the game Okami for the Wii. The final boss uses tentacles to whack you, and since we don't know Ameratsu Okami's gender, therefore...urm I mean she...urm i mean he get pwntzor by the boss. Yeah. Right. The brush on her*cough* his tail is for her to use the divine powers like astral slash to fight so that she doesn't get *cough* pwntzors by the boss. Yeah. Right.

Signing off,
Je...I mean an undisclosed reader.

DW4

2008-08-17T08:45:00.002+08:00

A lot of you got ask me why my email is king-dw4@hotmail de. dw4 stands for Dynasty Warriors 4, my fave game. For those who play and sneer at me with 5 and 6 already out, I have the first 6 levels of 7 mind you. Idiots. Anyway, the reason I play 4 is the female mod. Yes the female mod. I payed 50 solid bucks to make all the chars female. Booyeah. Original fan artwork coming. Any specific character you want to see as a female just mail me or tell me in school. Zhu ge Liang, Huang Zhong and Jiang Wei to tease you. I can send a zip folder with the original 40 artworks.

Signing off,
DW4 the Undisclosed Reader.

New Blog

2008-08-16T12:38:00.001+08:00

Chinese RE ruled. Yeah man. ZCY shitted on our presentation. Yeah man. ZCY's best friend shitted on our presentation. Yeah man. They scolded us. Yeah man. Finally, we got a deadline extension. Yeah man. I used the rest of RE time to make habitsoftheeons.blogspot.com. Yeah man. I punned there. Yeah man.

Like totally,
An Undisclosed Reader(Yeah man.)

Motivation

2008-08-15T17:49:00.003+08:00

Yeah man. Motivational posters foreva.

Habits Of the Eons: Old habits die hard, when Eons collide.
Hah. Punned several times.

2008-08-12T17:37:00.001+08:00

Kero is baaaack! Lol.
“Nya… walking sucks,” Isis whined again. It was cute the first few times, but now it became a predictable milestone for me and Dan to endure every time the sky turned a darker shade of color. “Why can’t we just make Kero a member of our team? Then we could teleport him back to our base in an instant!”

“And be reprimanded when we arrive,” Dan finished, casting his gray head back to the two following him. “If we showed up with another team member out of the blue, she’d have our hides and our badges! Besides,” he shook his head, looking to the path before him again. “We’re still not sure who Kero is. If someone is worried about him, then making him a member would only put him in more danger than we can afford.”

“I know,” the Meowth released with a sigh, pure disappointment marking her pretty white face. “But we could, like, fire him or something when we get there, couldn’t we? Come on… you hate the walking too, don’t you, Kero?”

Her wide eyes pleaded with me to agree but, to be honest, the walk had helped cool my head and calm my nerves. I could stand for more of it; after all, that revive seed had completely restored my stamina, even if it didn’t do anything for the wound on my shoulder.

“I’m fine, Isis,” I replied, remorsefully watching the hope of my compliance bleed from her face. She opened her mouth and uttered a single syllable before the Machop cut her short, stopping in his tracks and turning to face the whining feline.

“Suck it up, would you? It’s only about another hours walk from here. You’ll be fine.” Dan gave a small shake of his head. “By the Original, you Meowth are high maintenance mon, aren’t you?”

Isis looked genuinely insulted. “Hey! That’s not very nice, you jerk! I can’t help it if I was born with sensitive foot pads.” She picked up one of her ankles and rubbed the bottom of her brown-furred feet, brushing dirt and a few flecks of debris from between her toes. I knew first-hand how terrible the ground was in the forest, especially now that it was getting harder to see. My tail-flame was much more prominent, the glow seeming to light the way nicely for our gray-skinned leader.

“Well, here,” I offered, turning my back to her and curling my flaming tail out of the way. Both she and her Machop looked at me quizzically so I patted my shoulders and looked back to the Meowth. “Hop on. My feet are tougher than yours and it’s the least I can do for helping me out back there.”

Dan’s red eyes seemed to not believe what they saw. “Kero, you shouldn’t encourage-“

I lurched forward as a light, yet persistent furry mass thrust itself upon my back. Two white arms wrapped themselves around my shoulders and chest while two brown-tipped feet slid beneath my elbows like a saddle, resting comfortably in them with a little wriggle. I could feel the chill touch of the metal tools she wore around her sash, the coolness making me shiver before the tools quickly warmed to against my heated scales. She leaned her head over my shoulder and sighed happily, her feet swinging up and down as she got comfortable in her new saddle. “Thank you, Kero! I always wanted to ride a dragon, nya~!”

Dan shook his head at the display as I struggled with the new weight, thankful that her slender frame was easily bearable despite my mildly irritating injury. “You can’t have a chauffeur everywhere, Isis.”

“But I can have one to take me home! You’re just mad because you didn’t think of it first.”

“I don’t need a ride.”

“Of course you don’t,” she smiled, sticking her little tongue out. “I was talking about the idea of giving me one.” The Meowth started nuzzling into the side of my face, the dull rumble of a purr vibrating from her neck and down my spine. “Kero’s such a gentleman, nya.”

That last little noise sounded like the end to a cute child’s song, one that I was quickly growing fond of. I let her snuggle against me before taking a few careful steps to get used to the weight on my back as I moved. “It’s no trouble. You’re pretty light, actually.”

“And the compliments! I wanna keep him... we could say he’s a pet! He could stay in my room and do all the chores around the place while we’re on missions! We could pay him in fruit!”

I’m a pet? I suddenly imagined a collar being wrapped around my neck and being pulled along on a leash by the Meowth. I really didn’t know how to take that thought and Dan didn’t dignify her request with a response other than shaking his head some more and continuing to walk. I treaded behind him, Isis’ body lightly bouncing and her white fur barely moving across the scales on my back. It felt good, especially in the places where I’d been scratched by the bark earlier.

After a while, her delighted purring begun to slowly die down, her breaths getting increasingly deeper. She was falling asleep on me.

“So warm…” She breathed her words, the light, musical tone of her voice echoing in my mind like a tiny bell. It was actually quite nice to hear her purring come to an end and feeling her head rest on my shoulder like a scaly pillow. I steadied my pace as I kept walking, taking care not to jostle my slumbering passenger.

We walked in silence for a while till we reached the forest’s edge. Once we had passed the trees, I let out a sigh. “Ah… it looks like we’re clear of that mess.”

Dan remained silent for a time and I began to grow nervous. I thought perhaps I’d upset him in some way till he began to speak, his words sounding slow but well thought out. “I’d like to thank you, Kero.”

The sudden gratitude surprised me. “Huh?”

“For what you did back there. It is rare to see someone so willing to put their life on the line for anything anymore, especially not for someone they barely know. You’re an enigma, but if nothing else, I know that I can trust you.”

“Oh…” I let a small smile split my little lips as my tail softly swayed. “Thanks… I’m glad that I have some allies.”

“Anyone who would risk their neck to help a mon in need deserves more than allies. If it were up to me, I’d gladly fight alongside you.”

I looked down, keeping my smile, but now a little apprehensive. “Not that I did very much fighting. They pretty much creamed me back there.”

“That is true; you are a pathetic warrior to be bested by that trio.” I suddenly knew how Isis felt when Dan spoke to her like that. It was a dramatic shift from compliment to insult, and I wanted to defend myself, but I really had no ammunition.

However, he did it for me. “But battles are not won by sheer strength alone. Compared to you, the Poochyena had that much… but they lacked heart. You were able to stand up to them to protect our client, who you didn’t even know. In fact, you didn’t know anyone, and that is the key.”

He stopped and turned around, a rather bold look in his eyes that bordered on admirable and manic. He pointed at me most dramatically and made his next statement with words that resonated with a boasting quality of insanity.

“It proves who you really are: even when you lose all knowledge of yourself, you are the principle of righteous honor! At your most basic level, you are a defender of those in need. That, no matter who you were, defines you absolutely.”

There was a silent pause, where not even the wind dared question those words out of confusion or fear. I was thinking about what he said, and he was right. Perhaps knowing that would help me find out who I was. After all, apparently my ideology of ‘heroic stupidity’ was so uncommon that there were bound to be only a few groups that I could belong to.

At least, that’s what I hoped.

The silence was finally broken by a cute yawn. “Shh… trying… shleep… be quiet, windbag…”

Isis spoke those words while adjusting herself more comfortably onto my back, making the Machop standing before us melt from his dramatic pose and turn back around, resuming his quiet steps. “Well, you won’t get much rest. We’re nearly there.”

I stifled my laughter for the comfort of the Meowth and for what remained of Dan’s pride. Starting to walk again, I shuddered as a warm, yet rough sensation washed over my neck. It was like wet sandpaper being gently scraped across my scales. The soft, raspy sound that came from Isis’ head made me realize that she was licking me. Dan must have heard the sound as well, because he turned his head as he walked, smiling at me.

“Hah… that’s why I didn’t offer to carry her. She grooms in her sleep and she licks my skin raw every time. I do appreciate it, though. At least you got her to be quiet. An epic victory.”

I did my best to ignore the tongue, but my best wasn’t good enough. Even as I continued walking, I was made aware of every lick, which left the scales on my neck wet with such a thin layer of feline saliva that it quickly, and coldly, evaporated with the passing breeze. It felt good in an odd sort of way, probably because it made Isis seem softer and cuter than before, almost pathetically so.

I smiled as I walked, enjoying my little passenger as we drew closer to my new destination. Soon enough, I would meet someone that could help me; at least, I hoped that they could. Granted, hope was my best friend, but my allies stood firm on their position that meeting their leader would help me understand who I was, or at least find out where I come from.

As if sensing my thoughts, Dan threw back a wave. “I’m sure our leader will be able to help you, Kero. You’ll be reunited with your loved ones soon enough. Now, watch out up ahead, there is a pretty steep hill we have to climb and I don’t want to hear Isis whining if she falls off your back.”

=============

It wasn’t long before we stood at the base of the HQ. I only knew what it was, though, because Isis yawned and woke up when we arrived, saying “We’re home.” That word sounded good to me, home, but looking at it…

Well, it was a shack that was in need of some cosmetic repair. The shape of the structure was a large dome, with mottled brown planks that had to have some sort of bug living in them to look that way. It was large, though, and it did have a few windows in the front. I know I shouldn’t be critical of my new home, even if it was hopefully temporary. It would be terribly impolite.

Dan went up to the thing and knocked on the large door, a few flecks of bark peeling off of the wooden portal. He noticed it and chuckled, scratching the back of his flat-horned head and looking towards me. “I apologize for the state of things, Kero. We’ve been a bit tight on money, so this is the best we can do for the moment.”

I was about to wave the comment off when the door burst open, a huge mass of white fur towering over the Machop and a paw-full of sharp, heavy claws landing on the gray thing’s head. I took a few steps back in fear but Isis giggled sweetly in my ear. “No worries, Kero.”

On the verge of asking the Meowth what was going on, I heard a deeper, yet still feminine voice break the tension. “What was that, Dan?” I looked back to them, and saw the creature lifting Dan by his head to meet her gaze. Her entire body was covered in white fur, save for several red markings, including a zig-zag pattern running across her midsection and red blotches below her fistful of claws, making it look like she had just made a fresh kill. Her left eye was struck through with another red mark, which shot downward to her cheek and blazed up to one of her long, pointed ears. It was a Zangoose. Her build was slightly chubby, as was common for the species, but what stood out the most, at least, I thought, were the two furry breasts that hung from her chest. Yeah, she… she was a female.

“Are you apologizing for the state of your home? You don’t have to stay here you know.” Her voice was calm, deadly calm, like a cloaked dagger, which matched her appearance quite well. I caught a glimpse of her fangs, but I’m sure that Dan had more of an eyeful. “Remember, I built this place with my own claws. I put a lot of hard work into it.” She made it sound she was looking for a soft, apologetic compliment, but she might as well have been asking for one with a knife at your throat.

I’m sure Dan felt it himself. “I…uh…” He could barely speak, and his eyes were wide with a fear that I didn’t think he could have. “S… ah… sorry, Mistress Tavi. I should have said that anyone would feel honored to stay in this glorious hall.”

“Better,” she smiled, moving to put him down, then noticing me. She scanned me for a moment, then raised her brow, blinking. “Who’s the kid?”

Isis hopped off my back, but I barely had a chance to have her warmth leave me before she hugged me and looked towards her leader. “This is Kero, Miss Tavi!” She said, no fear present in her cheerful voice. “We found him in the woods. He doesn’t remember who he is or where he’s from, so I took him back here to see if you could help him.”

I saw the Zangoose purse her lips and her ears droop with a hint of annoyance, her bushy tail swinging back and forth slowly as she looked back to her captive cohort. “Dan, did you know about this?”

“Er… Yes, Mistress Tavi.”

“And I’m sure that, before jumping into this impromptu mission, you made certain to accomplish the one you were assigned, correct?”

“Of course, Mistress! We would never disobey-“

“Then where’s the money?”

I saw the Machop’s stubby tail shoot straight out, going stiff as his whole body tensed. “I…er, we…um… forgot.”

With her other hand, she raised it up, and Dan braced for an impact. However, she simply brought it to her head, rubbing her temples and closing her eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. Isis jumped in front of me, her own tail rigid. Apparently, she forgot to.

“Nyo, we didn’t!” She claimed, taking out her badge. “We would have, Miss, but the badge didn’t work on Kero! We couldn’t leave him in the woods just to go get some money, could we?”

Tavi’s ears twitched and she lowered her claws, letting Dan back down. I swear I could see the relief flooding through him, every muscle releasing its tension one at a time.

She looked at me, then reached just inside the door. She returned with a badge similar to the ones the others had and repeated what they had done to see if they were telling the truth. The golden light, no matter how wondrous and brilliant, was getting quite boring, its majesty dulled by the fact that it doesn’t do anything. When I was still standing before her, she let out a little “Huh,” and tossed the badge backwards, Dan having to catch it before it smacked into the ground.

Isis skipped up to her, smiling and rolling her tail in her claws. “We think it’s because he’s wild. See, the badge doesn’t work on ferals, and if that’s the case, you might get a big reward from the family, right? I mean, they’re dragons! They should be loaded!!”

Her volume was instantly muted by a heavy claw flicking itself across her coin, she rolled backwards, standing and rubbing her rump. I knew I should have felt concerned, but admittedly I found the sight of a white furball barreling backwards a bit amusing. “Oow! Why?”

“The badge works on ferals,” Tavi said, crouching to be on eye-level with me and placing on claw over her knee. Those crimson eyes bore into my head and I had to stop myself from taking a step back. Rather, I couldn’t; I felt like I couldn’t move. Now I know how Dan must have felt. I just hope she let me keep my face.

However, her realization stumped me and my friends, who looked to each other and shrugged. Tavi sighed, the hot breath washing against my chest scales. It was a clean breath, which was a relief; there was a subtle fear I had that only half of those red markings were just fur.

She stood and turned towards her teammates. “Alright, this is a new team. I’m not surprised you’re not all too familiar with how the badge works. The best way to describe it,” she said, looking towards me and twitching her ears. “Is that it sends you home.”

Dan cocked his head and Isis gave out a curious “Nyo,” prompting more from their mistress. She crossed her thick arms and closed her eyes, as if reading from a manual underneath her eyelids.

“The badge was created by Psychic Pokémon, which makes it easy for them to scan the minds of their targets. It does this to find out what the Pokémon perceives as home. If you use it on someone from the town, it obviously sends them back to town, but using it on a feral will have no effect if the wild one considers its home to be the wilderness in which it is standing. It does synch up with your report, though; even if he was feral, then the badge would have returned him to his home, had he any memory of it. After all, no Charmander call these woods home, or any woods for that matter.”

Isis let out an “Ooooh,” of realization, leaving me to just stand and ponder what the Zangoose said. “So… not even a psychic scan could find out where I’m from, huh?”

Tavi returned her attention to me, and her eyes were surprisingly soft. They didn’t resemble the blades of judgment from before and I honestly felt comforted by them. “Don’t worry, kid, the badge has a very limited amount of power. We’ll find out where you’re from in no time at all.”

She placed her heavy paw on my head and I feared I was about to be lifted like Dan. She just ruffled my scalp, though, toying with my head as if it was full of hair. I found myself… hypnotized, and it took me a while to figure out that I was staring rather blatantly at the two massive breasts swinging in front of my head. I heard her give a short, very girlish laugh. “You’ll be the cutest little chore I’ve had to deal with since starting this thing up.”

I wasn’t insulted, par se. It meant, at least, that she was willing to help me. That filled me with enough joy to not even feel the effects of the gentle ribbing. Isis agreed, her background noises translating to “He is cute, isn’t he? Like a plush doll on fire!”

The Zangoose rose, breaking her voluptuous spell on me, and turned to face her two companions. “I’ll have to contact our clients and tell them that it will be tomorrow before we collect our payment. Hopefully, they won’t dock us any; the Touliani family is very particular about having planned meetings to discuss such things. Saving his daughter just might be the leverage we need to get more missions from his rather prestigious group.”

Dan’s eyes went wide. “She was Arianna Touliani? What was she doing in Thunderwave Cave?”

“I don’t know. I heard she was a bit of a rebel, but it’s a stupid move to go beyond the city walls without an escort. After all, the tremors are making all the ferals nervous and some are becoming much more territorial than they normally are, attacking anyone on sight to protect the little sanctuary that they found for themselves.”

It was my turn to cock my head. “Tremors? What is causing them?”

She sighed and shrugged, stepping back towards the hut. “Damned if I know, kid. There used to be one Rescue Team, and that was Alakazam’s. When these tremors started, there was so much chaos that we needed to make more just to handle the disaster workload. If you have any more questions, keep them to yourself until we’re out of the night air, alright?”

As soon as she said it, I noticed it, my skin free of feline warmth and my own blushing blood and leaving me with a cold, empty feeling. I felt my tail-flame grow a bit brighter to compensate. Opening the door, the Zangoose bid us all inside. “Alright everyone, get in,” she said, grabbing her badge from Dan.

When I entered the den, I was surprised that I didn’t smell the rotten wood. In fact, the scent of fresh pine filled my sensitive nostrils. It was a very soothing and fresh. Moonlight shone through the windows leaving circles of light on the floor that illuminated very little, save for the middle of the den. In the center of this main room was a large, square table, two chairs sitting closer to the door while the third was at the head. This must be where they plan their missions.

Tavi stepped into the room and went to the chair at the head, sitting her larger body down and relaxing as she opened up her badge. “I need to make a call to Donovan Touliani. I really hope that his daughter didn’t get hurt.”

Isis leaped into the room, landing all paws down on the table and sitting on her haunches. Looking to her leader, she smiled. “Not a scratch on her!”

“Really?”

Isis nodded and Dan approached the table as well. “That’s right. She was being chased by Poochyena but they never got a chance to attack her.”

“Wow, hey, not bad guys. That’ll definitely put our team in good with the Toulianis.”

I noticed there was a free seat and sat down. I knew it was Isis’ but I doubt, with the way she is, that she ever used it. As soon as I took my seat in that cold hard wood, though, Isis’ eyes caught me, her irises gleaming with a haunting glow and her voice, though still cheery, had a deeper tone to it. “Actually, it was Kero. He held them off long enough for us to perform the rescue.”

Tavi closed her badge, the dull click making me jump a little as she looked at me. “You’re kidding… you can fight?”

“Um…”

She placed the badge on the table and sighed. “Well… that’s a bit disappointing. If she goes home telling her father that a stranger saved her instead of our team, then it’ll look pretty bad for us.”

I mentally winced and took a gulp to calm myself. I didn’t mean to screw up anybody’s life. What if she kicks me out because of it? Hell, what if she-

“Nyaha, I don’t think she knew!”

Isis’ chipper mood made me jump out of my somber one and I looked to her, waiting for her to deliver an explanation from those smiling lips and happy, swishing tail. Dan, however, was the one that spoke. “She’s right. Kero presented a standard of selfless courage that you don’t see outside of a rescue team. It’s possible that Adrianna thought that he was with us when he helped her.”

Tavi’s bushy tail swayed a little at that. “Then we’re not screwed out of payment at least. But now I’m curious as to what the Hell happened out there.”

She scanned us all and, sitting with the crew, I felt like I was part of their team for an instant. I suppose it was more out of a shared emotion of fear, but any sort of camaraderie was better than none, right?

“Now, all of you, I need answers. Start talking.”

War

2008-08-12T15:49:00.002+08:00

Remember the war-torn story, this is some of it. Chinese sucked. Yay. Signboards coming up.
It was around midnight when I finally came to a stop. I was panting for air, I had been running for several hours now, and I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere at all. At this rate, I would have a heart attack before I could reach safety. I looked down at my PDA, it said this city was about twenty five miles wide, not to mention the extra ten miles between it and the airbase... there was no way I was going to get there on foot... specially carrying all this damn equipment. Dawn was already near, and I knew that if I was seen, I was sure dead meat. All my training came down to this; I needed shelter until nighttime, night was the only safe time to move. I looked around for suitable shelter, just then, I spotted it, a twenty story building, it was in ruins, but that's what made it even more suitable, no one would look for me there.
I moved as quickly as my body could take, finally making it to the lobby. To my disgust, the place was filled with dead bodies, most of them morphs. Their rotting corpses releasing a horrid stench into the air. At first I wanted nothing but to gag on the spot, the annoying buzz of insects only made things worse. But as I got used to the stench, another idea hit me.

"Maybe... Maybe I can use this to my advantage..."

I held my stomach hard as I began to move the bodies from side to side, setting several at the entrance of the building; the corpses would surely turn anybody who wanted in away. Most of the bodies where already on the higher stages of decomposition. Some were already skeletons. Many of them had maggots feeding on their exposed entrails and rotten flesh; it was enough to make even a vulture sick. At lest this would buy me some privacy, until nighttime of the next day at the very lest. After leaving the little grim reminder at the door I began to walk upstairs, several of the stairs where missing, no surprise there. The city had been bombed quite hard. As I got to the third floor, I realized that the stairs stopped, the rest where missing. I cursed my luck. Just then I spotted an elevator shaft, it was in ruins, but the cable was still attached, maybe I could climb it to the top floor. I wasted no time, I began to climb as best as I could, my coat was making this endeavor harder, and so I eventually discarded it. After sixteen floors, I found that I could go no further, I was one floor away, and the stairs where still missing. My arms felt like they where ready to fall off any minute now. When the numbness kicked in, it would be sending me spiraling down towards my demise sixteen floors below. Just when I thought my luck was out, an elevator platform came down with quite some force and speed; I managed to pull the last of my strength and jumped out of the shaft in time to avoid been hit by the damn thing. It hit my floor and stopped with a huge impact. It shook the entire place, and several parts of the floor caved, falling into the lower floors. The loud boom would have been enough to wake even the dead sixteen floors below. To make matters worse, I heard footsteps coming inside the building, several voices shouted orders. My mind was racing back and forth between what had just happen and what was inevitably about to happen. My worst fear was becoming a reality

"Shit! they found me!"

Without even questioning anything, I jumped into the elevator. I had no idea why I did that, for all I know, the things could fall apart before my eyes, but it was better than been shot to death. I found no buttons to make the damn thing move at all, it was just a simple plank of metal, held by a motor. Then I looked at the motor, it had what looked like a handle, it was connected to the motor, and a closer look revealed that a battery of some kind was needed to make it move. But as usual in my life, the battery was missing. I knew if I could somehow charge it with enough electricity... I looked at my hand and I charged my fist with electric energy, I knew how to use several types of elemental attacks, and an electric punch should give off enough electricity to move this thing. The footsteps where getting louder, I knew well they could not reach me since there where no stairs. But then I saw several cables shoot up past me and strike the upper roof, and I heard the distinct sound of grappling hooks revving up. I grabbed the handle, and began to charge my fist with more electricity. For a few moments, nothing happened. The sound was getting louder and louder, any moment now I would be seen, and possibly shot. Just when I though my luck had run out, the platform began to rumble, and it moved up, with quite some speed. I sighed; I wasn't going to get killed today at least.

After about a minute, the elevator came to a stop. I looked around; I was at the very top of the building, the penthouse. I walked as quietly as possible, but after a short stroll I came into a huge garden, most of it in ruins. At the very edge of the building stood what was undeniably a mansion of some kind, or at least, what had been a mansion, for almost all of it was burned down. My nose couth whiff of the stench of death again, but this time, I smelled burned rubber and fat as well. I leaned over the edge and pulled out my binoculars. Several soldiers exited my building; I could clearly hear what they were saying to themselves.

"You find anything?"

"Nope, whatever that sound was, it was probably debris"

"It took us some time to get in there anyway, there were a lot of bodies in the entrance... somebody put them there"

"Nah fool! You're just imagining things!"

One of the soldiers was smoking, he was a Banette morph, as he slowly rose from his position, a weird feeling ran down my spine; almost as if I knew him somehow. He threw his cigarette aside and straighten himself, his visage revealing nothing about his personality, save the obvious fact that this being had seen all kinds of hell. But in war, who doesn't?

"What are two talking about? There is nothing there, we made sure of it; remember?"

The other soldiers only looked at each other

"But sir! The bodies! Somebody moved them!"

"Yeah, they couldn't have moved themselves! Could they Hibiky?"

This soldier, Hibiky... Somehow that name rang a bell, I had no Idea why, maybe I owned him money or something...

"Both of you guys are pussies! There is no one there! I don't even know why we are wasting time here! We got better things to do"

He turned around and began to walk towards the military vehicle, it was some kind of tank, it was a beast that could tear this whole building in seconds flat, and I did NOT want to mess with that thing; at least with the weapons I had on me, which where only my hands. The other two soldiers jumped aboard as the tank roared to life. It took off in quite a hurry, spilling dust and smoke into the air. I only kept my guard up until the tank was out of view. Once it had past my field of vision, I sighted and lowered my guard. There appeared to be no one else here, at least no else that was still amongst the living. So I decided to make myself comfortable.

I walked towards the mansion; the fire was still raging with some fury. I walked past what used to be the lobby and kept going, most of the place was torn down or burned up, and so I made myself as comfortable as I could around the lobby. Everything else was inaccessible unless I had some kind of bulldozer. I sat next to the raging fire, it was fierce, but was under control. By the looks of it, it only had a few hours left before it went out. Seeing my situation, I needed that fire to last until morning of the next day. or longer if I could manage. I needed something to burn, fast. I looked around, I found plenty of wood to burn, but wood alone would not be sufficient, I needed something a little more durable, that’s when it hit me...

"No need to have so many bodies lying around here..."

************************************************

I began to take off my armor; this thing could get me killed here. Ironic really, this armor was supposed to protect me against bullets, but it was heavy as hell, at lest by my standards anyway. The only thing I left on me was my under shirt, my pants, my boots, my topless gloves, and my lucky headband. I was going to travel as lightly as possible, which of course meant that I was exposed in combat. Then it was settled, I was going to avoid any type of combat if I could. I looked down at the only technology I had left with me; it was a PDA, which Ironically looked a lot like a pokedex. This brought back some bitter memories for my kind. Long gone where the days when humans and pokemon lived in peace, gone where the day when awesome battles took place, but not for land, or survival, but rather for sport and glory. I sighted, I would give anything I had to see those ancient glory days the elders always spoke of. But I knew all too well, things could never go back to the way they used to be. Everyday; I wondered if I had died and landed in hell? Or had hell just come to earth? Tough to answer. But it sure could confuse a guy. The PDA had a GPS system and a communicator, but ironically enough, he signal was dead, I had to get to higher ground to use it. It was almost as if the damn machine was teasing me.

"Useless technology... if only I had a cell phone..."

I began to curse my cheapness. Finally after several hours of relaxing to the best of my ability, I remembered the note that mike had given me before his untimely demise. Somehow thinking about it gave me chills, more chills than the winds outside, I had not realized it, but it was already getting dark, and my PDA read that the temperature was at about ten degrees Fahrenheit. Had it not been for the fire I still kept alive by feeding it dead bodies, I would be an ice cube. this night was cold, something told me walking in this weather would kill me. my thoughts went back to someone else who had died the prior day

"Poor kid... no one deserves to die like he did..."

I looked at the note, and found nothing written in it. In fact, it wasn’t a note at all. It was just a plain piece of folded paper, it was wrapped around what appeared to be some kind of chip, and a closer look revealed it was just a PDA memory card. Was this what he wanted me to deliver? But to whom? I looked at the chip; maybe the answer was within it. I put it into my PDA, it began to load, and after several seconds, four files appeared in the screen, the first one was a letter entitled 'Bleed' it was labeled under 'poetry'. Ignoring the little voice in the back of my head that told me this was wrong, I opened it and began to read it.

"BLEED

By mike Rossi

I am here on the field
Bleeding, dying.
My life slowly fades away, as my essence sips out of my body.
The crimson liquid of life.
The battle was won but at what cost?
I'll tell you at what cost.
10,000,000,000
My life comes to an end, yet...
This feeling,
So warm,
So comforting,
Jessica....

Death, she finally has come for me..........
............................................
Jessica.....................................
...........................................
With the last of my energy I think to myself
I am dead now, right on this field, but it does not matter now.
My life, my death....
They were my own....
No one..........................................
................ Else's....................

I became number 10,000,000,001"

Somehow reading this gave me chills, even more than thinking about mike’s death or the cold air that would come in every now and then. It was almost as if he had known he was going to die, mike had always been kind of a freak; he even had a sort of second sight. But other than that, it didn’t surprise me much, mike had always been a poet, while I’m not entirely sure he was good, at least he wrote. Proof that art still existed in this husk of a world. The next poem was a philosophical entry; I was never really that good at thinking critically, but I wanted to know just how smart mike really was, he had always boasted a pretty high IQ

"Here are some bad thoughts...
Smart, but bad.
Our world is at its limit.
We are about seven billion strong... and we keep getting bigger by the years...
In about fifty years, within most of our lifetimes, we will hit the ten billion mark,
This planet can only hold seven billion lives,
Why are we so keen on destruction?
We live our lives oblivious to our surroundings, ignoring warnings and signs, the world is getting hotter, and we burn trough our resources, it won't be long before war breaks up for what little resources are left."

This was obviously written several years back. everything mike had written up to this point had come true. It makes you wonder just how much can a person really do? How far can you push Gaia, before she decides to push back? Ten billion, which had been the official number of inhabitants of earth, but then, the wars broke out. Some blame the need for resources, others blame the fact that the world had entered another ice age, and other went as far as to blame aliens. But most people turned to face one another, and shot each other on the face. The first few years of the war had been total chaos, entire nations burned to the ground, billions of people who simply vanished in the firestorms, and to make things worse, the environment had taken a side against everyone. With ferocious storms at sea, earth splitting earthquakes that opened the very crust of the earth itself, and just about every volcano going active. It wasn’t long before nuclear winter hit hard. The very sky becoming so pitch black, that for several months, the sun became nothing but a memory. When it did resurface, it had taken on a red hue, the same color as the blood that ran so rampart on the soil and water. In certain places, blood was more common than water itself. The plants began to turn red from all the blood they where sucking from the ground, before they shriveled up and died. Today, only about 10% of those who lived in this world remain. Soul energy has become so abundant, that most machine nowadays run on soul energy itself. I always did wonder, when I die, would I too be used to powers some kind of death machine? Would my energy be responsible for taking even more lives?

I only kept reading.

"There are many people that hold a deep grudge against morphs and humans, who is to say we are all safe? They tell you on the news everyday about people who have paid the ultimate price, and all for what... NOTHING! They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong Idea....
But wait a minute, maybe they had the right idea, who am I to say that killing yourself for what you believe is wrong? What if it's the only real way out? Would you not rather take as many people as you can with you? If you had a loaded gun with twelve bullets, would you not rather waste eleven of those on somebody?
Then again, who am I to say what people can't or can do...?"

Mike was pointing out the terrorism that took place during the first few years of the war, many people had resorted to suicide bombing as a way to not only make a point, but also to get out of this sinking ship. Now that I think back on it, blowing yourself up doesn't seem like that bad of an Idea, considering the current set of events anyway...

I continued reading.

"You sleep soundly in your bed at night, thinking only how good/bad was your day, and you plan for tomorrow, but who's to say, that tonight may be your last night amongst the living, what if you never really woke up, what would you really find after life? Are all of our dream and aspirations really for nothing? Are we living only in a delusion in which we believe ourselves as gods? Are we really doomed to be forgotten and lost to the sands of time and the seas of ignorance? Is the end, really the end?
Your asking the wrong guy, but then again.... hunger knows no bounds.... and takes no prisoners either.

So, breath while you can
eat while you can
enjoy life while you can
because who is to say that one will find peace in the other side?
Who is to say that maybe, just maybe, you already live in hell, and who is to say that another type of hell awaits... prove to the world that you exist for a purpose other than dying, other than being forgotten. Become a legend like so many have done, aspire to be the best at what you do, strive for immortality, and never give up on your dream, only you have the power to shape your life, Arceus gave us that gift
Who is to say... maybe one day you too will become a god, even if you already think you are one....
The end may come at any time and in so many different forms, its nice to know that even if you are doomed, that life is worth living. Do not waste it, if you do... then you are a real loser, a loser on a cosmic scale."

My thought where now a nasty mix, one side, I found myself cursing even more the fact that I did nothing to save the guy, but in the other, I just found myself thinking that this was the reason why he loathed fighting so much. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense, mike had not just thought this things would happen; he had known they would happen. It made me wonder... just what the hell was mike?

Even if it made so sense, at least mike had been right about something...
This life was hell, and the one that awaited me was even worse. No matter how much you wish to deny it, you just can't run from that fact. I knew now, that no matter what I did, I was doomed.

The next two entries where a video and his final diary entry, I watched the video, and found myself even more depressed. It was a video of Mike's girlfriend, a beautiful ninetails morph, she was holding Mike's newborn child, a silver Eevee, she seemed happy, and was telling him how much she loved him and how she wanted him back soon. The next one was mikes own diary entry, it was a letter for her, and it read:

"Dear Jessica:
Its been months since I last saw you, and god... its been hell!
I got your video, and to tell you the truth, I can't begin to explain my joy! To think that I am a father now! The thought of it fills me with such joy; it's like a new meaning to life itself! To think that a new life has been brought forth in a time when so many are lost...

God, you have no Idea how much I miss you, and how I wish I could be there for you like before I was shipped to this pointless war. I mean, why is it that our nations have to fight for? If the old gods where here; nothing like this would be happening now.

I just wished that the cities were safer... if I lost you... I... I don’t know what I would do...

But don't worry much about me, I making the best out of my situation, although everyone here keeps their distance from me, calling me 'new meat' they say I won't last more than a week! Well guess what? Its been a week, and I've saved more of those unhappy bastards than they killed! yeah, to tell you the truth, we’ve been getting our asses handed to us for the past few weeks, although there hasn't been that much casualties in the field, mostly because many of out commanders know how to use recover, I'm even beginning to learn it myself! I've also considered using evolution stones on myself to get stronger, but my best friend says it's not a good idea...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention him! his name is... Wait... I forgot his real name! Some friend I turned out to be! anyway; the other call him 'Cos' it's supposed to be some kind of abbreviation to his real name... he is an odd one. But I don’t blame him; after all, he's had a terrible past. The poor guy barely gets any sleep, every time he manages to sleep; he mumbles about a girl named 'Rukia' though the commanders have tried to get him to talk, he never spills the beans. He's a though one, I'll give him that! But the thing that scares me about him is the fact that when he fights, he does it in a way that tells me that he has a lot of anger problems. I can feel them exploding from his soul. But in war, odd people make the best friends. He's given me so much advice, that I feel like a pro in certain areas. Cos, he's been there, he's seen hell, I'm just glad he's on our side.
You know it just as…”

More useless babble. Although I was surprised he thought so highly of me, going as far as to call me his 'best friend' in many ways though; I was the only person he got along fine with. Most of the people though he was gay at first, but after he hung around me for a while, that though quickly melted away. The poor kid had been scared out of his mind when he got assigned to our unit. His records said that he had some very special abilities in the field of medicine. So he was made our unit's medic. Many of the others looked at him as a worthless addition to the unit. Some even went as far as to say that he cheated his way to the medic's. Medics rarely get killed in combat, at least that's how it had been in the old days. Nowadays, everyone was free game. I sighted.

"...If only he had known my real past…"

After I finished reading the last of the letter, I was more determined than ever; this chip was going to make it to its destination, it was the only thing I could do for the kid now. I just hoped that his girlfriend would not be so heartbroken... at lest it gave me a reason to push forward. In war, there are only two things that will save you; determination, and rage. Either one will give you strength unlike anything you’ve ever experienced, like being high on adrenaline.

I thought to myself, if Rukia were still alive... what would my children have looked like?

I began to recall the fact that both of us, though young, where already determined to have children, whenever I think of the good times, I find myself warming up to the idea of having children... someone to pass the line on to, someone who looks up to you and calls you daddy... but that dream was long gone, and so was the will to even try and reproduce. When it came to my future, no one would do it justice other than Rukia.

The chill of the snow and ice quickly had me curling up into a ball. The building was torn, yet... it wasn’t as cold as it should have been. The PDA said it was at minus twenty degrees, yet it only felt like it was only fifty degrees. Maybe I didn’t feel it because of the raging fire? Or was it because my soul was colder than any ice, even colder than that of a Regice? Or maybe my will burned as hot as moltre’s flame? Who knew?

I got as comfortable as I could and tried to doze off, no sense walking in this cold weather, I had a long walk ahead of me. To my surprise I fell sleep rather quickly, and for the first time in years, had a good dream, a dream of having children with the one person who I knew would make me happy...

I smiled silently in my sleep.

Too bad some dreams have a nasty tendency of going awry when you lest expect them to. As it happened to me way too often...
It had been several days now since I became lost in this damn metropolis, no matter where I went; everything looked the same, the rotting corpses in the sidewalks being the only thing that broke the urban shape. By now, I had become accustomed to the smell, in fact, I was so accustomed to it, that last night, I had fried swellow for dinner. Though eating a fetid slab of rotten meat was NOT my idea of a gourmet meal, I kind of felt sick now.
Sick not only in my gut, but also sick in my mind.

This current war had raged officially for ten years, but in reality, this war began that faithful day, the imperfects began to take over. It’s been nearly one thousand years since all humanity officially became ‘imperfect’. A thousand years since the morphs first appeared, thousand years since the death of the only being who could possibly bring any peace into this mad world. Now look at us! Morphs fighting human, human fighting morph, human fighting human, morph fighting morph… this was no war I tell you… this was genocide disguised as war. When I joined legion, I never signed up for this.

The war had four sides to it, there where the Imperfects, the Perfects, the Cipher syndicate, and Legion. Each one had its own agenda to fulfill, and was willing to do it at any cost. Now that I stood in this city of death it became clear to me what that agenda was, regardless of which side you belonged to. It wasn’t enough that the world was tearing itself apart, or that there is almost no fertile land left in the world. It isn’t enough to see the fields of blood red plants, or the pools putrid water. It isn’t enough to see the frozen bodies of soldiers everywhere, or the fact that almost every city now days is a city of the dead.
Legion was probably the only old school good guys around here. Ironic, considering that the Legion was supposed to be based on demons. The Cipher syndicate still remained the most enigmatic of the bunch, it was unclear what they were after, and who their allies where. One day, they might fight along side us, the next they might be against us. As I continued to walk down the streets, I noticed several banners still hanging from buildings. They where Imperfect and Perfect banners. Those two bastards where the most dangerous of the bunch. Perfects where Composed mostly of pissed off human and morphs with genetic implants, they went around from city to city killing anyone they deemed to be an ‘Imperfect’; which to them, was pretty much everyone. And of course there where the Imperfects. They called themselves that due to the fact that they considered themselves direct descendants from the original ones, these guys where far from saints. Those soldiers I had seen several days ago must have been Perfects soldiers, and those things that killed most of my unit… where they Perfects or Imperfects? This was too weird for me to think, I had other things in mind at the moment. Like the pain in my gut.

“Oh man! My stomach! It’s killing me!”

The more I walked, the sicker I felt. It wouldn’t be long before I collapsed from the pain, but I had to keep going, I had to find shelter, even if I had to crawl into a sewer. The frozen ground made things harder, as I tried to maintain my footing in the frozen ground. Then, I found what I had been looking for, this time it was a house. It was in pretty good condition, which lead me to believe that maybe there was some medicine in there, as well as somebody still alive. Suddenly I felt my stomach cramp up, the pain it inflicted was intense, as if I had just gotten shot in the gut, I had to look to make sure there was no real bullet. I tried to ignore it as best as I could. Grinding my teeth, the more I walked, the more intense the pain became. It got to the point that I could have sworn I had not only one bullet lodged in there instead of food, but several bullets. I was only a few feet away from the house, yet every step felt like fifty, I wasn’t going to make it. So close… yet so far… Before I could go any further, I fell on the floor; my vision was becoming blurry. The frozen ground sending a strange sense of numbness down my body and soul

“Dammit… I knew… I should… have brought some…………………………….aspirins… huuuu”

I fell on the floor face first, and passed out.

************************************************

“Do you think he’s ok?”

I could faintly hear the voice of a little girl

“He’s been out for some, I doubt he’s still alive, his temperature is way too low”

It was the voice of another little girl

“Well, there’s only one way to know for sure”

This time it was the voice of a little boy

“Hey! Put that that stick away!”

it had been the first girl who said that

“Why should I”

the boy replied. the other girl interrupted

"Because… look, he’s waking up!”

I began to stir; my right eye was the first thing to open. I realized I was in a dimly lit room, it was nighttime outside, I could tell by the dark frozen windows. My stomach was no longer in pain, but I still felt dazed. I slowly rose from the bed, and tried to get up, but my legs and arms felt like jelly, I was still dazed but I managed to talk as best as I could

“Who… who are you?”

The kids only smiled

“We where just, you know… around!”

I only shook my head, this kids where lying. I could tell by their distinct tone of voices and their eye movements. Not only that, but I could also tell by their eye movements. Something was up, but I decided to play along… at lest for now.

“You’ve been hiding here for some time? Haven’t you?”

This time it was the little girl that spoke, my eyes had been dazed at first but after several minutes of recovery, my full eyesight returned to me, for a moment I was surprised, but my shock passed as fast at it came. Most of the kids where morphs, the little girl to the left was a sneasel morph, the other girl to the right was a croagunk morph, and the boy in the center was to my surprise, a normal human boy. All of them seemed to get along just fine. They all wore rags. they where orphans by the look of things. Or at least wanted me to believe they where orphans of some kind.

“Well… I guess you could say we have lived here all our lives… in a way…”

I slowly tried to get up again, but it was to no avail, I was still too weak to move, so instead I decided to burn some time by asking these kids what they knew about the surroundings, I also tried to see just how good of a liar this kid was. I noticed that I no longer felt any pain

“The pain… it’s gone”

The kids only smiled, the boy responded my question with rather some speed

“Boy mister, you sure had a bad case of food poisoning, a little longer and you would have died of one hell of an indigestion!”

I nodded, following along

“So… how did all of you end up in this predicament?”

The kids immediately grew quiet, they looked at each other, then before any of them could answer, a voice sounded from somewhere in the shadows

“I can answer that”

It was a feminine voice that sounded too familiar to be a coincidence, it sounded as old as I was, yet it retained a fine balance of grace and intimidation. This voice, I have heard it in my dreams for years, tormenting me, taunting me, and at the same time… keeping me slightly sane.
I turned to face a shadow in the entrance to the room; I could clearly see the outline of a female Banette.

“No… it’s not possible… you can’t be alive…. This is just a dream… you can’t….”

She walked into the room, but to my surprise, she was only half of what I remember. Half of her body was mechanized, one eye completely replaced. She was still wearing the headband I had given her as a gift, it partially covered her bad eye.

“Well, only half of what you remember is alive… the rest of me died that day, glad to see that it wasn’t in vain.”

Right in front of my eyes stood the very person whom I owned my life to, the very person whom I had chosen to spend my life with, the one reason why I was still alive; Rukia.

She sat right next to me, and gave me a gentle stroke across my face, three years of absence hadn’t changed her feel at all, even if her arms where part mechanical now.
Suddenly, I blurted out the one thing that had bugged me for so long

“Rukia, why did you do it?”

She looked at me in the eyes; her one eye still maintained the very same glow from of warmth from before everything went wrong for us

“I think you already know the answer to that”

To tell the truth, that’s all I needed. Now I felt as though I could finally sleep well.

But one thing still bugged me, and I had to know the real truth…

“But how did you survive that explosion, I mean, I saw you blow up in front of my face!”

The children who had been watching our warm moment suddenly became restless and worried about something, up until that point they had seemed fine, suspicious, but fine. But now, they seamed to be emanating a dark aura, me being part Banette, could feel it as plain and simple as looking at someone. But something was off, I could feel it at the bottom of my gut. But for the moment, I went along with it. I had to kill some time and see what I was up against

“So… how did you end up here, on babysitting duty Rukia?”

Rukia got up and walked towards the door, she looked around as if trying to spot someone, when she noticed no one was watching she walked towards the sneasel girl, and placed one hand inside of her coat pocket. The girl seemed to have noticed this and spun around, but Rukia was first to strike, Rukia using a rather long combat knife Stabbed her in the gut. I was shocked at first, until I realized that the girl was holding a gun, can’t believe I missed that.

The little girl screamed in pain at first, but then I realized that the scream took a low pitched roar as the girl’s body began to change into something that resembled some kind of pink jelly. The other children then proceeded to try and attack Rukia, but she was too fast. She jumped and decapitated the croagunk morph. she let out a howl of pain from her severed head that resembled a deep growl. She too dissolved into a pink jelly-like material that sank into the floor. The boy was making a break for it, but this time, it was me who made the next move. by that time, I had recovered all movement. I jumped from my bed and grabbed him by the arms. I placed him in a stranglehold as he struggled to get free. The boy screamed in rage

“You have no Idea what you’re doing! Death to the enemies of the land!”

I tighten my grip on him and slammed him against the nearest wall

“Who are you, no; what are you?”

The kid only laughed, I continued to smash him against the wall, every time drawing some blood that stained the wall

“We are the only thing standing in this impure world, you and your kind only putrefy the place with your presence, we stand here today as the regulators of you kind! DEATH TO THE IMPERFECTS! LONG LIVE PERFECTION!!!"

The damn kid was a perfect fanatic. But to make things worse, he seemed to be made of that gelatinous material as well, he dissolved his own arms and caused me to loose my grip. He dissolved into the floor, but reappeared right in front of me. Then all of the sudden, he took out what I knew too well was a grenade, he pulled the pin. Things went into slow motion from that moment on. his evil smile being the last thing I remember before I jumped out of the way. I grabbed Rukia with my arms and embraced her; I would not let this happen again. I would not loose her one more time.

The grenade went off, blowing half of the room away in the process. The explosion was so intense I was hit by thousands of pieces of debris; I could feel it penetrate and stick into my body. One of the pieces was so big, that it took my leg off; it would have taken Rukia’s leg off if I had not been there. When the explosion was over, Rukia and me were on opposite ends of the room. she was scratched, but ok. I on the other hand was not. As I looked at my stump that was once a leg, I let out a howl of pain, then I realized that my chest was bleeding as well, I had been pierced from almost all sides, my arm was almost removed, it was just hanging by a small tread of flesh. As I looked up, I also realized that half of my head was gone as well. my brain was just about to fall off. Had it not been for my ghost nature, I would have been dead on the spot.
The pain was so intense, my blood was freely flowing. I knew I was dying; there was no denying it now. I looked over to where Rukia was. She was beginning to awake. At first, she was slow to get up, but once fully awake she saw me, she let out a scream of pure shock

“OH MY GOD!!!”

She ran towards me, and picked me up with surprising strength, she looked at my eyes and asked me while sobbing

“But… but… WHY?”

I only needed to smile, but I still said it just to make the point stronger

“I…think you already know the answer to that”

This was it, this was my last dance with fate, and I contemplated at my life up until this point, so much, in such a short time. I guess I had been right all along, no matter what path I had chosen, it would all have ended the same way.
Several things began to run through my mind as my blood slowly spilled all over the floor and into the snow outside…
Mike, I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to deliver your last thoughts…
Rukia… a life for a life… I believe that’s a fair trade…
I looked at her one last time before death took me away, her stare, so full of life, so warm… I couldn’t help but call her name one last time…

“Rukia”

She looked at me with tears in her one good eye

“Take care… Of yourself…”

She shook her head

“NO, I WON’T LET YOU DIE! NOT AFTER EVERYTHING THAT WE BOTH HAVE GONE THROUGH! NO, I WON’T… I… WON’T…”

Her voice slowly faded away.

Eternal darkness welcomed me with a tight embrace. For a few moments, I could clearly see her holding my lifeless body as I slowly floated away. My blood was spilling into the snow, leaving a river of crimson liquid that stained it. But this was apparently not my real end…

************************************************

It was an excellent afternoon, nothing in the sky but the setting sun. As the sun slowly set, it cast a warm orange glow in the horizon. I was lying on the ground; next to me was the girl that I had sworn to be next to for all my life, Rukia. Her beauty filled me to the brim; I sometimes wondered what I had done to have such luck. Rukia was a descendant of a long line of powerful Banette morphs, legends even spoke of them been blessed by Giratina before she was killed. I never really cared for the past much; all that really mattered was the present. As the sun was setting we both looked at each other, Rukia smiled at me

“Aren’t sunsets beautiful?”

I returned the smile

“I guess, though I can think of something even more beautiful than the sun”

She shook her head while still smiling

“You flatter me so! I think I might blush!”

Both of us shared a laugh, the sun was about to set, Rukia looked at me in a hurry

“Quick, make a wish!”

I looked at her somehow confused

“What do you mean? Its just a sunset”

She shook her head

“No, this one is special, a thousand years ago, at this very time, the ancient god took his wife in marriage, it is said that even the earth celebrated their union, as a hope for the future, a future in which humans, pokemon, and morphs could live in peace. Since that day, whenever the sun sets, you’re supposed to make a wish, and it might be just granted!”

I looked at the setting sun

“Then there is only one thing I wish for…”

************************************************

“Wake up…”

“Wake up…”

“Its time to rise”

“Its time to rise anew”

“Death is not your end”

“Up Cos”

Managed to open one eye slightly, I managed to catch a look at what was happening, someone was opening my chest with an electric saw.I Closed my eyes. Then opened them again, this time I could see a bright light as someone was opening my head open, I could feel my blood flowing down my back… Closed them again. Opened them one last time to see someone setting up what looked like a mechanical leg… And I blacked out for a while.

“Listen to me…”

“You have got to wake up…”

“You are the last of the line…”

“Your destiny is greater than you can possibly imagine…”

“Your fate is the world’s fate… so…wake…”

I slowly mumbled into the apparent void

“Who are you…?”

The voice only replied with an emotionless tone

“I go by many names, some refer to me as god, others as Arceus, others as the beast, and others simply as Edgar”

I opened my eyes into what appeared to be an endless void

“Edgar? But you’re…”

The voice filled the void once again

“Dead? In a matter of speaking, yes. But not all hope is loss, for I still live as long as you live”

Now, I was confused

“What do you mean?”

Edgar appeared before me, not as a shape, but rather as a light of some kind

“As you can see, only my soul remains, and part of that soul lives within you”

I asked with shock at his statement

“But why me?”

Edgar only laughed

“In time you will know”

I shook my head in anger

“AND WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?”

Edgar only laughed some more

“Seek my power out. Some of it already lives in you. All you have to do is search… search and you will find it… now WAKE UP!!!”

************************************************

I opened my eyes in surprise, and looked around. I was in what looked like a lab; it was filled with high tech tools. I looked around once again and suddenly spotted Rukia, she was standing a few feet from where I was, as soon as noticed me awakening, she rushed towards me, and held me in a tight embrace, I had no Idea how this was possible, I was supposed to be dead, yet here I was clearly breathing, something told me it had to do with the little conversation I had with Edgar. I tried to look around, but I could not move my head much, Rukia got close to me and whispered into my ear

“I’ll fix that”

She pressed a button, and released me, the first thing I did was to look at my arms, they were somehow different, then I noticed it, there were that of a Banette. But one of them felt heavier than normal. I looked around at my leg, it was also attacked, but it was covered by what looked to be an exoskeleton of some kind, I got up in a hurry, nearly tripping on some cables on the floor

“RUKIA, what… what… what…”

She only pointed at a mirror in the wall, I raced towards it fearing the worst. And I was right. I looked at my new face, all while my hands shook from what my eyes where perceiving. I couldn’t help but letting a scream of pure terror

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! MY Face! MY BODY! AHHHHHHH!!!!”

I held my face in shock

“I… I… I… what… wa… wa…wa…”

I was lost for words, for the first time in my life; I actually looked like what I was supposed to be. A Banette morph. But this was unnatural, how could it be possible?
I turned to face Rukia, she only moved aside to reveal my savior. He was wearing a blood soaked lab coat, his goggles also stained with my blood. he looked at me and smiled.

“Well, well, well. Small world after all, huh… Cane?”

I was only filled with hatred towards this man; he was responsible for all my suffering up to this point, my nightmares where filled with his evil laughter. Rukia only gave me a sad look, I understood fully what she meant to say, but I still refused to believe it, it just couldn’t be true.

Both of us owned our lives to the man who destroyed them in the first place.

“SILTH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!”

2008-08-10T19:30:00.001+08:00

Woot.
In the clouds. Best Pic ever done. Art Style: Sam Smith/InSomNiaCOvrLrd. Life today was boring. Fell sick. Yay.

Little Flame

2008-08-10T19:21:00.001+08:00

Little Flame, the Story of Kero

A little homey anime style story. This is a Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team fic. I was inspired after playing the new games, then looking back on the old. I saw my opportunity, and my muse refused to allow me to pass it up.

As for the world, this does take place in the same setting as my other two stories; Machinations of a Trainer and Sinnoh Academy. As for whether or not the stories intertwine, I'll leave you to judge that for yourself!

This story may be based of the game, but you may see elements from various anime pop up. This is because anime also inspired me in this piece. You'll see hard action and drama, but I'll have comedy and wacky hijinks that animes tend to have when the main characters aren't busting skulls.

It'll also become an adult story in the future, but at the moment, I need to set the board and lay out all my pieces.

So please, enjoy the game!
My chest burned. I tried taking a breath, only to find that my body was unresponsive. I tried twitching a finger, but felt nothing. I tried blinking an eye, only to discover that my lids were already shut. I tried opening them, but they acted like they were made out of lead. I was drowning. I was going to die.

A voice interrupted my silent despair, as though summoned by it. A soft, feminine voice, that seemed to be choked with sorrow.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“This is the best I can do.”

I felt my body pulling at itself, twisting and changing. I was beyond pain now, almost beyond feeling anything. It was like a gentle nightmare.

“I’m sorry…”

The little consciousness I had left begin to buzz and slip away. In the back of my mind, I felt that I was not going to wake up. Something forced my lips to smile, as if my mind was trying to take some sort of victory from my short life. I didn’t have a great deal of time, but I did manage to sift through my fear to find a comfort that put my whole being at rest, taking with it what was left of my defiant insomnia.

“At least she’s alright…”

*************

I heard running water. My body ached and I felt as cold as ice. My back was lying on soft soil, my head propped up on what felt like a pile of straw. I didn’t want to open my eyes.

Damn. I was tired.

Slow and steady warmth began to spread from the base of my spine, which seemed… different to me somehow. This heavenly feeling seemed to pass through me like a relaxing waterfall, forcing me to flex my fingers and toes, which also felt odd to me, yet natural all the same.

A sharp howl broke into my ears. It was distant but it forced my eyes open. I looked up into trees, beyond their leaves an orange, dying sky. I tried to sit up and felt my spine uncomfortably pulling at something. Strange… it never felt awkward to sit up before.

I looked down between my legs to see what I was sitting on. I took a breath so sharp my diaphragm protested with a hiccup.

It was a tail. My tail. An orange thing with a yellow underside and a tapered, dimly glowing tip. I followed it to my stomach, seeing the same color pattern. I brought my hands to them to feel them, see if they were really mine, and saw that my hands were scaled, clawed things. Rubbing them along my tail and chest, I could feel the texture of leathery hide.

A sudden explosion disturbed my frightened senses.

My tail had caught fire!

I was on fire!

I let out a yelp, sounding to my ears like a chirping bark. Jumping to my feet, which felt both natural and strange, I leapt towards the running water I heard before. It was a nearby stream, clear as crystal and reflecting the deep golden sheen of the sky. Before leaping into it, something stopped me. I wasn’t afraid of water, but something in the back of my mind told me that being on fire was better than a cold river.

I struggled, taking in deep breaths, trying to force my body to leap in, but I couldn’t. When I stopped fighting against myself and my fear began to wane, I noticed that the fire didn’t hurt. In fact, the flame seemed to warm my body. I remembered how horrible I felt being cold and how warmth seemed to give me energy and strength. I relaxed.

As I took that one, deep breath, the flame on my tail shrunk, forcing my body to calm itself. I released the air from my lungs in a hot, dry sigh. My tongue felt like old, brittle wood on the verge of splintering. Looking at the water, I decided that a drink would do me some good.

I knelt, my rounded belly touching the forest floor as I reached for the rushing spring water. I tried cupping some in my claws, failing on the first few tries and forcing me to think about just dipping my head in the water for a drink. It felt heavier than I was used to, though, so I decided to give it one more try.

Success!

A small pool of clear liquid stared back up at me from my scaled claws. I drank it down, feeling its cool quantity spread from my core and further fuel my inner flame. I took another sip, this time swishing it around my mouth before swallowing. I went to take a third, but my arms froze.

In that water, two deep, dark blue eyes stared back at me, as if the small pool that I was holding held two smaller oceans. Surrounding them was a large, round, burnt orange head. At first I thought it was just the dying sky falling into my water, but I opened my mouth to take a sip and saw some of the orange become red. I let the pool grow still so I could make out what I was seeing. What I was.

“Huh,” was all that I could say at the moment, letting the water drool back into the pool.

“I’m a Charmander.”

My mind was slowly beginning to click and spin.

“…I’m a Charmander?”

I looked back to my tail, watching its flame start to grow again. I tried to sway it from side to side, and watched as it obeyed me, softly rocking back and forth, tail flame swinging like a torch or a large lighter.

Then, I kinda, sorta freaked out, bringing my hands to my face and feeling the reptilian beak my features had adopted.

“…I’m a Charmander!”

“This isn’t right! Is it? Was I always a Charmander?” I couldn’t remember. “Oh, God, I can’t remember! I can’t remember anything!”

My loud wails echoed enough that some birds were startled from the tree branches.

“Okay, okay, calm down. One plus one equals two…” I gave a nod, certain that was right.
”Alright, alright…the square root of eighty-one is nine.” That, too, sounded right. “Good, good, I still know math.” I was feeling a little more confident. “Oh. Um, name! That’s right, my name! My name is…”

“…”

“…Fuck.”

“At least I still know that word. Damn it! Hah, that one too.” My tail wagged a little behind me. “Fantastic. Every little victory counts, I suppose.”

I tried desperately to shroud my budding fear with humor, but I couldn’t remember who I was, or where I came from, or… anything.

I could feel a great deal of knowledge start coming back to me, but nothing pertaining to my identity. My nerves were shot and I clutched my head in frustration. I felt like a schoolbook without a cover. Only then did it really hit me.

I was alone. I looked around, discovering that I had been pacing back and forth this whole time. I sat against a tree, feeling the bark on my scales, realizing that it was real, that this was not a dream, not a fantasy, not a nightmare.

I was here, in this forest, alone, without a shred of identity. I felt like crying, but I was too old to cry. Was I? I certainly felt as helpless as a child at this point and, looking up to the looming tree I sat against, I definitely matched the height of someone who shouldn’t be out on their own.

I curled my tail into my lap and watched the fire slowly shrink back to the size I deemed ‘normal.’ In its flickering blades, which didn’t burn at all against my scales, I hoped to find some sort of comfort. Staring at fire always seemed to calm me down, even though she really hated when I-

Wait, who hated it? Who was I just thinking about? I tried diving back into my mind but it was as helpless as trying to remember a dream. Still, I suppose I did find a bit of comfort in that lost knowledge. To have lost it meant that I at least an identity before… whatever it was that happened.

I smiled, only to have it torn away from me with another howl, this time closer. It sounded like at least two canines coming from the direction of that mountain, growing closer and closer to my position at about five feet a second, obviously running.

…Wow, that was pretty cool. I didn’t think my hearing was that good. Maybe it wasn’t before. Everything did seem a bit awkward. Still, it wouldn’t take them long to get here and, as small as I was, I probably looked like a treat to whoever was making those noises.

I got up, thinking which way to go. I needed shelter, food, and fresh water. Therefore, I should follow the stream up and gather whatever food I could find along the way. However, the stream seemed to come from that mountain. I couldn’t abandon the water, though, so maybe I should just be careful and try-

“Help me!”

A shrill cry shattered my plans and forced my head to turn towards its source. The bushes were starting to rattle before me as something moved closer and closer. I thought of hiding but my fingers twitched. Someone needed help. If they’re not hostile, that meant that they could give me some info. If I help them, maybe they’d help me.

Wait… what was I thinking!? Someone needed help! There should be no reasoning behind my actions!

I braced myself as the bushes in front of me opened up and spit out the being running through them. I saw a purple flash of fur as it tripped and rolled, letting me get a glimpse of a white underbelly as it did so, as well as a long tail that was curled at the end and two large, round ears that now perked themselves in my direction.

It was a Rattata, a female one. I could tell from her short whiskers, taking into consideration the cry I heard earlier. She looked up at me with crimson eyes, and then turned her attention back behind her. She ran over to me and hid behind me, tail shivering and ears folding against the side of her head.

“Please, you have to help me! I didn’t do anything wrong! Please!”

I was shocked, to say the least, and it wasn’t because I could understand what a Rattata was saying. I figured that if I was a Pokémon and I could understand myself, than it should go either way, right? Speaking to a Pokémon didn’t feel awkward at all to me.

Maybe I really was a Charmander.

I turned around. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re chasing me… they’re insane! I was only thirsty!”

“Who is? Who’s chasing you?”

The question answered itself with another, much closer howl. An instant later, two gray shapes rushed through the same bushes as the frightened female. Poochyena. Their yellow eyes and red irises saw me and their legs skid to a halt. The Rattata was trying her best to hide, but bless her heart, her tail was sticking straight out behind me.

The two little beasts looked me in the eyes, one of them a little larger than the other. The bigger one stepped towards me.

It spoke… like a girl. It could have been a child, but it definitely sounded like a female. “Move outta tha way, kid.”

The other one stood in equal defiance but near the female, as though feeding from her courage. I didn’t have that luxury, a quivering ball of fur my only ally in this. However… her fear actually gave me strength. I found myself a little angry with the things chasing her, despite not knowing their rhyme or reason.

No, whatever their rationale was, that was no excuse for their actions. Her fear was so overwhelming that she looked on the verge of tears.

“What’s going on here?”

“None of your business, scalehead,” the female piped up again. I felt like I should be insulted. I wasn’t.

“This Rattata asked me for help. She is scared half to death!”

“Then we are only half finished with her,” she barked back, and I heard a little whimper from behind me.

“What did she do to bother you?”

“You a villager?”

“A what?”

“A villager! You know, a tame little juice-drinking ‘I’m so much better than you’ kinda guy. You look like one, and I sure don’t remember there being wild Charmanders hiding out in these woods.”

“I don’t see what difference it makes.” I replied. Part of me wanted to ask the female more questions about what she was talking about, but most of me was still angry at the fright they had instilled in the young one behind me.

“If you’re wild… no, any Pokémon should understand what territory means,” she said, the other one behind her taking a step forward. This one’s voice was deeper, but still a little childlike. I guessed it was a guy. “We caught that rat drinking from our water!”

“Your… water?”

“That’s right! We claimed that pool for ourselves, then this little furball just indulges herself in our hard-earned treasure!”

Hard earned. Right. Chances are they just found the water. The Rattata behind me shivered again. “Um… I did try to apologize. I was just… really thirsty. I was lost in the dungeon so long, I…”

“Shut up, bucktooth!” The male barked at the rodent behind me and she squeaked, ducking against my back. I really hoped she didn’t get too close to my tail.

I stood before the two gray balls of unnecessary fury, taking deep, silent breaths. “It seems that if she apologized, then it should be alright. After all, she was thirsty. Is there something against sharing to you guys or something?”

“…You really are tame, aren’t you?” The female blinked and cocked her head. “If we let her drink without consequence, then what? We’ll have to concede to every other punk who wants a sip, which means our small pool will get dirty! We might even get Shroomish! Do you realize what their spores do if you drink them?”

“Hah, yeah, Tin got messed up, didn’t he? Poor guy couldn’t speak for a whole day.”

“That was an exception,” the female said with a little huff, tossing her head to the side. “I really don’t like hearing him speak anyway.”

Another voice entered the clearing, this one sounding even younger, but still barely masculine. “That’s messed up, sis.”

The bushes rattled as a third Poochyena stepped into view, making me wince. Damn… three at once, and I knew my partner wasn’t going to be of help. She was terrified. It was that, though, that made me feel a little stronger. I knew a bit about Poochyena… apparently. They put on a tough act, but if you don’t back down, they’re easy to scare.

I watched them talk amongst themselves. “So, Tin,” the male said, looking at the late arrival with a wicked smile. “Finally caught up, did ya, little bro?”

“That wasn’t funny, Ten!” The littlest one barked. “I tripped and you kept on running! You too, sis!”

The female smirked, showing a single, gleaming fang from under her little lip. I had to admit, it was kinda cute, in a ‘cuddly psychopath’ sorta way. “Only the strong survive, Tin.”

The younger male shrunk a little with his ears folded back. The older one frowned. “…Wow, Rin. That was pretty cold.”

She simply wagged her tail and turned her attention back to me. “Now! I’ve waited long enough, Charmander. If you’re so concerned about her, then let’s make a deal. You give her to us now, and we promise not to kill her.” There was another wicked smile from her lips. “I’ll just take a chunk of her ear off, so she doesn’t forget her place as a pathetic coward.”

The Rattata started sobbing behind me, making my heart hurt. These guys were scaring her so bad that even my presence wasn’t enough. I was glad she didn’t try to run away, though, I wouldn’t have been able to stop all three of them if they tried to run past me. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I could stop one! I knew what a Charmander was. What I was. It didn’t help me understand how to be one, though!

I couldn’t back down, though, so I took a step forward, bracing my chest and head towards the trio in defiance. “Sorry, but I don’t think you’re going to lay a paw on her.”

The older male, Ten, I think, jerked back and cocked his head, as if he couldn’t understand what he heard. The little brother Tin chuckled. “Oooo, he said noooo.”

Rin was shaking with anger, her claws digging into the ground below her. “What did you say? I don’t care who you are, there is only one of you! Why do you want to help her? You don’t know her, do you?”

“Why?” I mimicked Ten and cocked my head. When I had first thought about saving her, I had a reason. Now, with that Pokémon sobbing behind me out of fear, I felt ashamed of even thinking about explaining myself.

“’Why’ is not a question anyone should ask when someone needs help.”

“Sir…” the Pokémon’s choked whisper reached my ears, or the equivalent thereof, as she stopped crying. I don’t know why I said what I did, to be honest. It just seemed to roll off my tongue so well. Anything that seemed easy for me to do was a welcome change from my current situation of stumbling around.

“…Rin,” Ten said in an almost-whisper, a twinge of fear in his eyes and voice. “He sounds like a Team Member. You sure we should be messing with this guy? If there are others around…”

The female didn’t hear him, though, still focused on her own anger at being defied. She was obviously the alpha of her little pack and I imagined that undermining her command was probably not the smartest thing I could have done.

“Fine then,” she said, seeming to almost instantly regain her composure. She looked at me and smiled… gently, her eyes sparkling with what had to be some sort of demon dwelling within her tiny, furry body.

“If you like her so much, then we’ll have your hide instead!”

I winced. I’d been afraid of this. She seemed a bit more rugged than I remember a Poochyena being. I needed to take it up a notch, to be more intimidating. I changed my stance slightly, whipping my tail to my left side and letting the flame burn beside me. The younger brother jumped at the sudden motion and Ten folded his ears back. I needed to do something, anything.

Ah, right, Charmanders can breathe fire! That would show these little punks…

I took air into my lungs and felt a rumble build in my chest. I watched as the little furballs squirmed a bit. Even Rin braced herself to jump out of the way. Hah, it was working, I could feel it! Now they’ll know fear! I braced myself, opened my mouth…

And released just about the cutest growl you’ve ever heard.

It was like the sound a hungry cub would make as it begged for scraps with his paw up, or a puppy pulling on a piece of rope.

There was a silent pause as all parties just stared at me. The three dogs had their yellow and red eyes trained on my face. The only heat from that attack was the one swelling up in my cheeks, turning my scales a bright red.

Then, Tin snickered. “K-k-n… what was that? A burp?”

“…Sir…” I felt the Rattata’s eyes burning into my back. Whatever confidence I had instilled was being slowly bled out of her. Damn it! I don’t want to hear her cry anymore!

Tin set off a fairly embarrassing chain reaction. Ten erupted into barking, canine glee, and Rin had a clearly amused expression on her face. She was grinning, teeth gleaming like little daggers as she suppressed her own laughter just to add a bit of fear to my humiliation.

“Aw, you sound like Tin when he was a pup,” she said, making the youngest brother stop snickering and open his maw to protest. He didn’t get past “Hey-” before he was ignored and interrupted by his sister.

“You must still be a hatchling…hah, tell you what, we’ll take it easy on you. We’ll beat you to an inch of your life, and beat the rest of it out of that rat! She’s probably older than you are, anyway. Maybe that coward should be protecting you!”

I snarled. Was that a Growl attack? Is that why the opponents pulled their punches against a Pokémon who used it? Pity? Did they feel bad about going too hard on something… so cute? Damn… I was trying to set up a tough image and I dashed it all in one fell swoop.

But… if I knew Growl…

Then I knew another attack.

My snarl turned into a smile. “Well then, if you think I’m so cute and defenseless…” I extended my claws and held them out at either side.

“Then please, step up, and let me prove just how helpless I am!”

The mood instantly flipped. We were back on neutral ground and that was as good as I was going to get. We all tensed up, the laughter stopped as if their glee had dropped out of their mouths like lead. Six piercing eyes glared at me from the front, and the two behind me drew away slightly, huddling up against the tree that I had been sitting against.

She was giving me room.

A fight was unavoidable.

“So, the child has claws,” Rin said with a smirk. “Cute. I wonder, though, if you know how to use them?”

“Care to find out?” I bluffed like a madman. I only knew that I could use Scratch. How… well, it’s now or never!

“Sure. This should be fun!” She laughed, even her cute series of short barks appearing menacing given the situation. “Alright, boys, the pup wants to fight like wolf. Let’s answer his little call with one of our own!”

There was another pause, and then the clearing was ringing with a ghastly howl split from three canine throats. It seemed to melt Ten’s doubts about fighting me, and Tin’s fear also disappeared. It only made the female alpha seem more intimidating as she brought her head back down.

“Now, my brothers: Attack!”

My heart leaped into my throat as all three came at me, the two males branching to either side. I was not safe, I was not confidant, and I was certainly not ready.

But I was able, and someone needed help. That was all I needed.

Ten got to me first, arriving on my right side. He looked like he was about to rush me head on, so I whipped my flaming tail in front of his face. I didn’t feel it hit, but he nearly tripped over himself as he jumped back, fearing the flame. Maybe they were as timid as I thought.

I only had one tail, though, and even that wouldn’t keep Ten at bay forever. The youngest brother thought he had a chance when my tail left the side he was attacking from and charged me full force. Without thinking, I reacted by throwing my left arm out and swiping it against the pup’s muzzle. He yelped and rolled out with the hit, and I smiled. I must have hit him with a Scratch!

Only… something was different. I don’t think I hit him with my claws…

However, that’s when I made another mistake. I turned to face the female, just in time for me to get a face-full of debris. My eyes burned and I swiped blindly in front of me, but I couldn’t land a hit. She did, though, or maybe it was her brother. I couldn’t tell, and I felt like I had been punched in the stomach as I staggered back, so I wasn’t in the best condition to think right then. It must have been a Tackle attack, whoever did it.

I wiped and opened one burning eye and saw them regroup, the youngest rubbing the side of his face with a paw with slowly-fading fright present on his features. He had almost run away, but his sister’s victory over me must have bolstered him. Damn!

“As I thought, you don’t even know how to use those claws.” Rin laughed as she crouched for another attack.

“Tell that to your brother.”

“Poor little lizard,” she said with a grin. “You hit him, sure, but anybody can land an attack. It takes skill to do it right!”

“So, skill is throwing sand in someone’s eyes?”

She grinned and pawed her claws in innocent circles in the dirt on the forest floor. “Aww… you wanted me to fight fair? Oh, wouldn’t that have been nice? Who would have thought that a Dark would play dirty?”

Her condescending remarks hurt harder than the assault I had sustained. Dark types were famous for wicked tactics and attacks. She was experienced, too, if she knew how to use Sand Attack.

“Now, I’ll show you how things work outside the village, runt. Watch and learn, if you can stay conscious!”

I braced my half-blind self against another attack and saw them charge me again. I tried to place another Scratch on the trio, but I whiffed again, but what I did see surprised me.

Rin charged me headfirst and collided in the same spot as before, only this one hurt a lot more. A buzzing pain crept from my belly to my fingertips and toes, ringing in my head and making me lose my balance. A second attack hit me on my right, and a third on my left.

The little vision I has was now blurred with pain. To make matters worse, that last attack knocked me to the ground, and my scaled arm skinned itself on a protruding rock. It stung like fire, which I thought was supposed to be my friend in all this.

Am I loosing allies already?

“Well, that’s it for you then, isn’t it?”

I sat up to her voice. I was now sitting beside the Rattata. I couldn’t see her save for a purple splotch in my vision, but I felt her little claws on my uncut shoulder as I sat up against the tree behind me. My body felt… more sensitive. Dangerously so. Even the bark seemed to scratch at my scales.

“What are you talking about,” I said to my half-seen attackers, trying to brace myself against the tree behind me. “I’m still awake, aren’t I?”

“Pup,” she said with a sigh, shaking her furry head. “Your barrier is gone. Even us pure-blooded wild-hearts know what that means.”

I had to think for a minute. My barrier? It came back to me as slowly as the small trickle of blood running down my left arm. Pokémon cannot be hurt unless they are first attacked enough to lose the energy type barrier that surrounds them. It’s what keeps them safe from the otherwise extremely dangerous world they live in, where you can step on a fox’s tail and have it roast you alive.

Once the barrier is gone, though, Pokémon are fair game, forced to obey the laws of flesh and bone like any other creature. I was crippled, literally defenseless.

“You can feel it, can’t you? You don’t want to fight anymore. Nobody does once they lose their defense. This is your last chance to run away, lizard. I suggest you take it, if you want that fire of yours to keep on burning another day.”

I turned my attention to my tail and confirmed it; the bright flame that I had stared at moments before was gone. Already I was feeling a little colder. There was a small voice in the back of my mind saying that she was right, that I had to run away. I would die if I didn’t! It’s hard to find out who I am if I’m dead.

But I couldn’t run.

No, I wouldn’t run.

There wasn’t a chance I was going to run.

As soon as I stood back up, my vision was starting to clear up again. My body ached and my mind was trying to take away my will to fight, but I wouldn’t let it. I snarled and opened my claws again, and they just stared at me.

Ten cocked his head. “…Why isn’t he running?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, flexing my weak left arm as I braced myself for another round of punishment. “Why would I run away? You’re the ones who need to back off, not me.”

“I…Idiot!” Rin stuttered, shaking her head as if I would vanish like a waking dream. “I’m…I…”

I looked to the Rattata while the female stared at me in disbelief. I didn’t know what I was doing to surprise her, but now was my chance.

“Hey,” I whispered so the rodent’s ears could pick it up. “I’m going to charge them. In the confusion, I want you to run, okay?”

“Sir? Ah!” She nearly jumped and placed a paw on my foot. “N…No! Please, I’m… not worth this much trouble! You’re already hurt!”

I just huffed out a chuckle and shook my head, making the canines turn towards me again, their attention caught by the Rattata’s protests. Again, I felt familiar, yet foreign words spill from my lips.

“One life is worth the same as any other. If you can’t defend one, then you shouldn’t defend any at all.”

“Sis…” Ten said, growing a little closer. “He… I know he’s a Team member now. Only they’re that crazy, you know? If we hurt him anymore, then we-“

“Shut your whining maw, Ten!” She turned spat at her brother, making him shrink back. “This runt is asking for it by interfering with the natural flow of things outside of the town. The law is on our side, so quit being a little bitch!”

“Yeah, Ten,” said Tin, chiming in with his sister to make himself seem a little more important. “Don’t be such a bitch.”

Now was the time to strike as they got into another little sibling quarrel. I raised my right claw, my left seeming a little heavier now, and started running. I had to attack, to buy some time for her to escape. I needed to succeed now. I needed to win.

…No, I just couldn’t lose.

A glimmer of light faded into the right corner of my eye, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. All I was focusing on was the fact that I was three steps from my target, Rin. Tin noticed me first and barked, giving his sister just enough time to watch me swipe across her nose.

My right arm had an arc of tiny white lines stretching from my claws, barely noticeable, but apparently very affective. She yelped and jumped back, and I used my unbalanced, disoriented momentum to swing my tail in front of me again, letting me turn to see if the Rattata had ran when I gave her the chance while my fire kept the brothers at bay for an instant.

She had.

The fear factor of my weakened flame quickly died and I was slammed hard in my back, sending me soaring almost all the way back to the tree. I managed to roll out of the way of another encounter with the rock, landing me sitting back up beside it.

*Well, this is fantastic.* I mentally chastised myself. *Here you are, with no memory or sense, about to get your throat torn out by three angry puppies.*

My mind tried to question why I had done this, but couldn’t find the words. After all, it seems I had forgotten the word ‘Why.’

Still, I did pull a little victory out of this: the life of a complete stranger.

*At least she’s alright.*

My eyes widened for an instant. I thought I had remembered something…

“You bastard! Agh, right on the nose!”

“Heheh, he got ya!”

“Hah, now who’s the bitch?”

“Get after that rat or I’ll rip out your throats! Leave the lizard to me.”

So many familiar voices; the only ones I recognized. Funny, how they would be the ones to do me in. I wasn’t dead yet, though, and there was a sharp stone beside me… If they came near me again, I’d have to…

A blur shot past my eyes.

*What was that?*

Three glittering flashes of gold burst into existence, seeming to fall from the tree I was nearby. They landed between me and the Poochyena, making all three of them jump back. I would have jumped too; if I felt like I could do anything other than keep myself sitting up. I strained my vision and made out the round shape of a golden coin.

“What… what is this!?” Rin sniffed the object and looked towards the tree. “Show yourself! Cowards!”

“Ooo, puppy has quite a temper!” A cute, yet sour female voice rang from the tree, making me want to turn around, but knowing that in my state that was a bit impossible. “And calling me a coward? Pot, meet kettle, nya-ha~!”

I heard a “thunk” behind me and the trio stepped back. Leaves and sticks clicked and shifted as whoever it was made their way closer to me.

“There, there, little dragon,” said the now nearby-voice in a softer tone as two white, furry paws wrapped around my chest and patted me in a little hug. “It’ll be alright now. Isis is here to save the day!”

I should have been afraid. There was another stranger standing behind me. But… her fur was warm, and warmth was life to my cold-blooded body. I could have fallen in love with a hot stone at that point, so I had no objections to letting my head rest up against her shoulder and letting out a sigh of relief.

“Aw, poor thing is exhausted,” she said, one of her paws gripping my arm. “And bleeding! Ah, this won’t do. Lay down, let momma take care of you.”

My head was gently forced against the ground, allowing me to see my chipper savior. Her fur was all white, save for two small brown patches on the front of her feet. Worn from her shoulder to her waist was a blue scarf, little patches and what appeared to be bone-like needles protruding from them. As I watched, she began rifling through the package. She looked to me and smiled, and I got a good look at her face.

Between two slit, shining pupils rested a golden coin, and her whiskers shot out like little white rays of sunlight from her face.

My brain told me she was a Meowth, but I knew better. This was an angel.

Ten barked. “Damn, another one. We should split, now!”

“Who is the alpha here, Ten?” Rin snapped at him. “It’s just a little cat. We can take care of-“

“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” said another, deeper voice. It had some bass to it, but still sounded youthful, like a street-hardened teenager.

We all turned our heads to watch the bushes to my right start to wiggle. The first that came out was a Rattata… the one that I had saved! Or, at least I thought I did! What was she doing here!? I thought I told her… to…

Wait…

Ah, of course. There was someone else. I doubted that voice could have come from her.

Behind her, with pale blue skin, stood what I knew to be a Machop. He looked like a little, pudgy human with a short tail, and three horns curling from the center of his forehead to the back like hard hair. His waist was covered by a loincloth, the front of which was emblazed with a white fist surrounded by a wispy cloud wracked with bolts of lightning. On his hip was a small badge, like a little egg with a white, feline head painted on the surface. One side of the face had a little red mark going down across where one of the eyes would be.

The three Poochyena were suddenly quite nervous as the Machop began speaking. “So, are these the ones who were harassing you, ma’am?”

“Y…yeah!” The Rattata pointed a paw at the three dogs. “They were the ones who chased me all the way here from Thunderwave Cave and then beat up Mr. Charmander!”

“Is that what you saw, Isis?” The fighting type said, looking to the Meowth.

“Nyahuh!” She nodded, still apparently a little giddy as she pulled a little blue berry out of a bag she carried at the end of her sash. “I came along just as ‘Mr. Charmander’ here was getting knocked around.”

“Why didn’t you arrive here sooner? You left quicker than I did.”

“Ah! We can worry about that later, can’t we? I have to heal him. You do what you do best, Danny boy.”

The pale blue Pokémon winced. “Ah, fine, just stop calling me that when I’m about to fight. I need an ally, not a cheerleader.” He turned towards the three Poochyena, leaving Isis giggling and crushing the berry into a small cloth.

“Alright, punks, have anything to say for yourself?”

Rin stomped her paw into the ground. “We don’t have to explain ourselves to you!”

“Pah, typical Dark type,” the Machop folded his arms and took a few steps towards the trio, who took one step back, but remained. “You’re nothing but a bully with a chip on your furry little shoulder. Your dirty tactics and sleazy ways make us honorable Pokémon sick to our stomach.”

“So?” Ten pushed his head forward, only to shrink back a little. “What…what are you gonna do about it? If you get sick at something so simple, perhaps you should lay off the berries, pudgy!”

“Hah… cute… but no. I’m gonna do the only thing an upstanding citizen such as myself can do,” he began, cracking his knuckles and making poor Tin whimper.

“Show you the power of the Legendary Dan, Master of the Lightning Assault, and bring you all to justice!”

I’m not sure if it was his words, his yelling, or the sudden flicking motion of his hands and feet as he set himself into a stance, but the males turned tail and ran. Rin looked back and glared at me before she grudgingly followed her brothers, rubbing her nose as if to make sure I knew what I was going to be punished for later.

The clearing was clear again.

I felt a raspy, harsh pain on my wound and I winced, looking over to Isis. She was wiping my wound clean with her tongue. I winced again, this time just from the image, but there was a certain, feral beauty in it all. I certainly couldn’t look away

The Rattata rushed over to me as the Machop let his shoulders sag in disappointment. “Well, shoot, I was going to show them the fruits of all my hard training.”

Isis giggled as she lifted her head from my wound, beginning to tie the juice-soaked bandage around my arm. “Well, if you hadn’t tried to be all dramatic with the ‘Legendary Dan’ stuff, they might have not fled. You know how cowardly Poochyena are.”

“What good is a battle if you don’t let them know who is defeating them?” He scratched the back of his head. “How else will they be able to fearfully spread your name throughout the world?”

“Melodramatic,” the female said as she leaned in. “This might sting, so hold still!” She suddenly tightened the bandage against my wound, the juices slapping against my scaled flesh instantly.

It stung.

I didn’t hold still.

Instead, I arched my back and gasped, the Rattata looking to me with worry in those big, red eyes before turning to the Meowth.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Nya~! He’ll be fine in just a second. No worries! I’m, a professional, sorta.”

I heard the rodent whimper/groan a little at my discomfort. “I’m sorry… this is all my fault.”

I opened my mouth to rid the rat of her fear, but the cat had other plans. Pulling a little seed from her pouch, she balanced it on my nose. “Now, put this in your maw,” she said, her bunched tail swaying, looking a lot like the Rattata’s with the curl at the tip. “But don’t bite it until you feel better, okay?”

Confused, but nodding all the same, the seed fell into my mouth. It was tasteless and, for a moment, I was wondering what she meant by ‘feel better.’ Stuffing it into my cheek, I looked up to her.

“What is it supposed to-“

A ring of light burst into reality around me, making my fingers and toes leap with shock. My tail twitched, my eyes spread wide. If I hadn’t have had that seed tucked away in my cheek, it would have slid down my throat and choked me.

After a moment, the light disappeared, and I felt… good. No, fuck that, I felt great! I still had a stinging pain in my arm, but it was like my will had returned to me. I knew I was no longer in danger, and I sat up, glancing at my tail, whose dim fire began to shine like a newly set campsite.

“A revive seed, Isis?” Dan shook his head at the feline, who stuck her tongue out at him. “You know the boss isn’t going to like that. Those things are expensive, and hard to find out here.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to leave him to suffer through the trip back to the city. Transporting him is going to be hard enough.”

My head turned to the Meowth to ask a question but another furry face nuzzled against my cheek. “Ah! I’m so glad you’re alright, Mr. Charmander.”

Mr. Charmander.

…I need a name.

……Badly.

I patted her head. “Same here, for both of us.”

“You’re not perfect yet, scaly,” the Machop sighed and stepped towards me, his presence a little intimidating, making me wonder if that’s why the Poochyena decided to run. “You still have some healing to do. Once we port you back, I want you to report to Nurse Chansey for a full checkup, alright?”

“A… alright,” I said without thinking. I was still much too dazed and apparently a bit hungry. I didn’t even realize that I had eaten the seed. The taste in my mouth was rather… plain.

Isis looked up to the Rattata hugging me and smiled. “So, you ready to go back now?”

She hopped off of me but I felt her warmth lingering. It turned out that it was my own. I was blushing. A blushing Charmander.

Hell, at least I was alive.

The little rat piped up at the question. “Yes, ma’am!”

“Alright, stand still!” Isis said.

The Rattata gave me a little giggling wink as she sat down, a little bit of red showing from behind her fur. Isis left my side and went to her, picking her own little eggshell badge and pointing it at the rodent. “Team Amethyst: Rescue!”

The egg popped open and revealed a tiny, golden orb. It bathed the Rattata in a beautiful light, which grew and grew in intensity until I could no longer even make out her outline. Then, it faded, leaving nothing behind.

I was speechless. What had happened? I stared, mouth agape, as the female turned her badge to me.

“Nya~ Your turn! You take care, alright? Make sure you let them know who rescued you!”

“Wait,” I protested. “What was that light? What are you gonna do to me?”

“Relax! Jeez, you act like you’ve never been teleported before.”

“I haven’t!” *I don’t think.*

“Huh? Well, if this is your first time, then just close your eyes until you feel the tingling stop. That’s what I did!”

“No, wait, I-“

I just sat frozen as she pointed that egg at me and said her Team Amethyst line again. I watched a golden light nearly blind me before I followed her advice and shut my eyes. I was scared, and excited, but mostly just plain confused. I felt a gentle buzz overcome me, and I relaxed, letting whatever it was do its work.

When it was finished, I just sighed, and opened my eyes.

I was surprised by what I saw, given the apparent circumstances of my ‘teleportation.’

“Nya?”

A dumbstruck Meowth stood there, mouth wide open as her arm held her now dim badge outstretched.

“What’s wrong, Isis?” Dan stepped up, grabbing his own badge off his sash. “Forget how to do it?”

“You saw the light, dummy!” She hissed in annoyance, saying her line again and bathing me in that golden light. I was used to it now, so I just kept my eyes open as I watched it grow and fade, leaving me exactly where I was.

“See? “

“Ah, yours is probably broken,” he said, turning to me and mimicking the Meowth’s chant. His own badge flashed and failed just like hers, leaving me like a forgotten doll as they started to argue.

“So, is yours broken, too?”

“Of course not! I take excellent care of my equipment, unlike some people!”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that you won’t find a single speck of dust on any thing in this bag! I cherish every item and clean it until it sparkles like the sun!”

“I think your head has spent too long in the sun, Isis!”

“Hey! Maybe he’s wild, you ever think of that? The badge doesn’t work on ferals!”

“A wild Charmander? Here? Are you stupid?”

“No, you’re stupid!”

I stood, watching them go back and forth like the pooches before them. “Um… guys?”

“WHAT!?”

“Gah!”

I nearly fell backwards. I wasn’t expecting another attack so soon!

“Hey, listen, I appreciate the help, really, I do, but… I can walk, so, ah, if you can just point me in the direction of this village, I’ll be on my way.”

They looked at me with an unsettling amount of focus. If I could sweat, I know I would be able to feel wet bullets running down my scalp.

“You… don’t know?” Isis cocked her head.

Dan put his fingers to his chin. “So… you’re not from the village?”

“I…” I paused, giving my mind time to click into gear and give me some info about my past. The village didn’t even spark so much as a passing memory.

“No… I mean, I don’t think so. I don’t really know where I come from, to tell the truth.”

The Meowth gasped and the Machop took a step forward demanding more answers out of my broken brain. “What!? You don’t remember where you come from? What about who you are? What’s your name; maybe we can help!”

“Ah… heh… funny thing,” I said, rubbing the back of my head and smiling sheepishly, hiding my growing annoyance with the Machop with a bit of shy humor. “I… can’t remember that, either.”

“Nyaaaa!” The Meowth made an impressive leap over to me, hugging me and rubbing her head into my cheek. “Poor thing! If only I had stopped the fight sooner you wouldn’t have been hurt that bad and you’d still have your memories! Nyoo… what have I done?”

“Isis,” the Machop crossed his arms. “What do you mean ‘stopped it sooner’? Didn’t you just arrive on the scene when the Charmander was knocked down?”

“Nyo-“ Her tail straightened and her eyes and mouth widened, like a kid who just got caught looting money from their parent’s wallet. “I… er… ah, what’s the point.” She turned, still hugging me, but now facing her partner.

“I got here pretty early, right where Mr. Charmander made a stance to defend our client. He gave a pretty impressive speech, and he seemed like he knew what he was doing, so I just sat and waited. I thought he was a new member of another rescue team, and I didn’t want to interfere; you know how a lot of them are. I promised I would if things went sour… and they did.”

She looked at me with insanely large eyes, frowning as she looked about to cry. “Please forgive me, Mr. Charmander!”

“Ah… it’s not your fault.”

“Nya?”

“I… actually woke up here without my memory. I don’t know how I got here, what I was doing here, or who I am. It’s been that way since I opened my eyes and found myself looking up at the sunset.”

There was a little pause, and then one of those hugging paws reached around and bopped me on the head!

“Nya!! You could have told me that before I confessed everything! Now I’m gonna get in trouble for sure! Our leader will have my coin on her mantle...”

She lowered her ears and pouted as she stared to the ground, making me feel a bit of pity for her. She was too cute not to. I looked to the Machop, who was rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger.

“So… no memories whatsoever, huh?”

“Not a one,” I said. I could explain my textbook knowledge that somehow came with me, but it wouldn’t do me any good. I figured it would simply confuse them more, so I let it slide.

“What did you mean by ‘impressive speech’, Isis?”

“Nya? Oh! You should have heard him!!” She started imitating my stances before I had begun my fight. “‘One should never ask ‘why’ when someone needs help,’ and ‘one life is worth the same as any other.’ It was a little cheesy, but he pulled it off so well! He even had the cutest Growl attack~!”

There was silence as I blushed a bit. Not only was she doting on the only words that seemed natural to me at the time, she mentioned my Growl as if I had meant to do it. I prayed she didn’t discover the truth.

After her little exposition, Dan got us both to explain what happened. I told my story up to the point where I was about to fight, and Isis took over from there, using an impressive flair for the dramatic rivaling only the cheesy speech Dan had given before his opponents had run away.

After our tale, there was a quiet moment, and then, Dan took a deep breath through his nose.

“Ha… alright then!” He basically roared, surprising both me and my feline partner. “That settles it. There are no char families nearby, to be sure, so there isn’t a chance that you’re from around here. As a matter of fact, I’d say you are feral, as even if you were an old Team member or a villager the badges would have ported you there in an instant. Yep, I’d say that you’re from a far away place.”

“Nyaa~! Smart thinking, Danny!”

He gave a thumbs-up and a wink. “I’m not just a pretty face.”

This was no time for snappy comebacks, no matter how much they burned in my throat for release. After all, all he really figured out was that I wasn’t from around here. Duh.

I shifted against the feline’s warm fur, only now feeling a hint of embarrassment. She was a Meowth, sure, but she was also a girl… and apparently that was a little offsetting. “So… er… what now?” I asked, my face starting to grow a bit crimson.

“Now?” He repeated my question, pointing at me. “Now you come with us! If anyone knows where you came from, it’d be our leader. She has the connections necessary to pin your location down to a ‘T’. After that, we offer your safe return to your loving friends and family and receive a big, big bonus!”

….Money?

The cat gave another gleeful noise but I cast my gaze down a bit. “So… I’m being held ransom?”

“No, my scaly friend!” He smiled at me, waving his hand as if to dismiss my claim. “We simply assume that there are people looking for you and that they’d be so happy to see you again that they’d gladly give up material wealth to see you home safely again. They’re not paying us, simply… expressing their gratitude!”

I wasn’t sure about that but I was even less sure about something else.

“What if… no one is looking for me?”

I felt a chill wind run down both of their spines. His happy, hyper voice seemed to dwindle to a dull, dreary tone. “Well, that’s a possibility… er… yeah…”

“Danny!” Isis hissed at him and hugged me tighter. “Of course someone is looking for him! Who’d want to let go such a precious, helpful cutie like him?”

“…That’s…that’s right!” His roaring voice returned. “You, my friend, are a model citizen, and I can’t think of any conceivable reason for you not to be wanted! Why, I’ll bet you have several people wanting your safe return!”

“Yay!”

I wish I could share their enthusiasm. All of their words, about finding my true place, they were comforting, yet… I still had my doubts. But this was the best chance I had at getting back to where I belong, provided… provided they still want me, or provided I still would want them. For all I knew, I ran away from home. That idea… it did seem a bit… acceptable to me.

Two furry lips pressed against the tip of my beak between my nostrils, snapping me out of my thoughts and assaulting me with a returning blush. Isis was smiling happily, bouncing nearly off her feet and gripping me by my shoulders. “It’ll be okay!” She said, her eyes flashing with the darkening sun as two small, cute fangs gleamed beneath her lips. “We’ll find you a home, and if not, well, then, I’ll take care of you! I’ll even hire you as my bodyguard! If you promise to protect me like you did that Rattata, then I’ll make sure you get paid big time!”

I… smiled. Despite myself, the humorous, yet entirely possible situation lifted my spirits. “Hah… at least I have a backup.”

“Nyow that’s the spirit!” She stuck her tongue out, turning to her companion. “We’re ready to port back home, Danny! How about you?”

“Well, I was hoping to find another revive seed to make up for the one, ah, Mr. Charmander used, but-“

“Nyah, that’s right! You need a name!”

“P…pardon?” I stared at the feline.

“A name! You can’t remember yours, and we can’t just keep calling you Mr. Charmander! So… how about… Scaly? It fits!”

So would a noose. Doesn’t mean I’m eager to try one on.

“…No, I don’t think that’ll work,” I said. I’m not picky about a ‘hopefully’ temporary identity, but I really hoped for one a bit less… er… simple.

“Nyah, then how about-“

“Kero,” said the machop, making me turn to him. When I did, he smiled. “Ah, you looked!”

“Of course I looked, it’d be impolite not to when someone is speaking to you.”

“No,” he said simply. “A child will look to you once you say the name meant for them. I’ve seen it happen many… more than once. Your very soul cries out to this title, Kero!”

“That… doesn’t make any sense!”

“Name something that does right now, Kero,” he said, and I had to admit, I was at a bit of a loss. Sense was as alien as that name, and I figure I was too, so…

“Well… does Kero mean anything?”

“Of course,” he said, crossing his arms. “It means ‘Little Flame’ in an old language. It signifies the spark of passion in your tiny heart to stand up for those who would defy you and what you believe in. See? Perfect!”

He made a silly definition sound kinda poetic and the feline’s happy face didn’t help my mental argument. “Kero! Kero! I like the sound of that. Kerokerokero~!”

“Kero,” I said, thinking it over myself. To tell the truth, it wasn’t a bad name, at least for now, anyway. It wasn’t going to be permanent, I hoped, but it seemed to fit in some strange way. In fact, saying it made me smile! I had a name. It might not be the one I had before, and it might not be special…

But it was mine.

I had something again.

“Yeah,” I said with a smile, looking beyond my beaming furry friend and into the setting sun, watching it turn the sky purple before it made its final descent. Despite the night just beginning, I felt that my nightmare was over. I had friends now and a source of information, a beam of hope blasting through the clouds I had placed there myself. As far as the future goes, I can only see as far as the light on my tail flame would allow, but that was enough.

“Kero will do just fine.”

2008-08-09T14:49:00.000+08:00

yay guess your character for fantasy/sci fi.

2008-08-09T10:24:00.002+08:00

Hellfire for You...
What is it that makes us human?
Is it the fact that we think?
Is it the fact that we kill?
Is it the fact that we can change the world?
Or is it the lack of these things?
…Being called a human is a sing of weakness….
No one is truly human anymore….
You’re a hybrid, a morph, or an imperfect….
Yet………
There are those that believe that humanity still exists
Not as a species….
But as a form of being…
……………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………Wishful thinking for me….

I have long since crossed that line, leaving most of my sanity behind with it. Now I have become nothing more than a tool used for demise, nothing I do can never change the fact that my soul is long gone.
Most of the time I find myself against the wall…
Every time…. The memory…of the past… it hunts me…. Everyday…. It consumes me… It poisons me… It kills me… I’m going numb… I… Can’t… feel…. I… can’t…

************************************************

The minigun rocketed back and forth with its own recoil, the forces of it making my arms vibrate, every time, time slows down…. The bullets exit the spinning barrels, as they fly through the air; they emit shrill sounds, like the screams of banshees at night. as the bullets enter the body of my enemy…. An explosion of color erupts, splintering bone, crimson death, screams of agony that only fuel my lust for death further…

……………………….I won’t lie anymore… I am insane; so many years of agony have stripped my soul away.
I remember my parents telling me, that no matter what I did, I would one day grow up to be something great…. If they saw me now, what kind of reaction would they have? Would they still believe the same fact? Or would they curse themselves forever having me? What if she saw me? What would she say? Would she still love me? Or would she hate me?

…Its no use thinking about it, she’s dead, and the reason why I am, what I am. Why did she have to die? Why did she have to do it?

************************************************

At one point in my life, things had been peaceful, I was an honor student at school, I had great parents, and I had been born a healthy morph, but I was different from other morphs, I looked like a normal human child, both my parents looked like…. Well… like normal Banette morphs, humanoid in structure, yet maintaining their Pokemon heritage intact. But I looked like a normal human boy. It didn’t really matter, everyone in the village was happy to have me around; I used to be so helpful, so cheerful….

************************************************

Another one of the bastards got too close, I shot him several times in the chest, then blew his head clean off his shoulders, his lifeless body falling right in front of me. I ran towards the nearest wall, avoiding heavy gunfire in the process. As I got near the wall, I realized somebody else was there. It was Mike, he was an eevee morph, young, maybe no older than sixteen years old, he was normally cheerful, but I won’t lie… he was a coward. Mike was never really a good fighter; in fact, the only thing he was good at was healing people. He sat there curled in fear as shells, bullets, and the occasional attack passed by us, the boy had tears in his eyes, as I got behind cover I came towards him, I grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and began to rock him with quite some force, trying to bring him back to reality

“Dammit mike! Get a grip, and start killing!”

Mike looked terrified, his eyes filled with an almost inhuman amount of agony, just then several explosions rocked the small wall we where standing behind, Mike got so terrified that he punched me in the face, it would have hurt, if it hadn’t been for my visor, he spoke in an almost girly voice

“I’M GETTING THE FUCK OUT!!!”

Before I could stop him, he got up and ran as fast as he could, I sat there, unable to move, my leg had been caught in a crack, I struggled to get it loose, finally after several seconds of struggling and cursing, I managed to free myself, I was quite pissed of

“Mike…. GET BACK HERE AN FI-”

Before I could finish my sentence, a massive blast erupted at the spot that mike had been.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

His scream of agony was the last thing I heard, and after that I felt numb. I was disoriented, I had no Idea what was up or down, the world was nothing but a blur of ghostly images and deceiving mirages. Then, after what had seemed like hours, I began to recover from my sudden numbness, the first thing I did was run towards the spot where mike had been.

When I got there, Mike was screaming in agony, half of his body was gone. As I got closer, I could feel his agony, as I finally got to his side, he grabbed my by the collar of my armor, he spoke in a faint voice, one that told me he was dying.

“Ple…please…give…give…give…this…to…my……………” he held his hand to me, I grabbed the small note, but before I could react, another explosion erupted, this time in front of me. I was struck with such force that I was lounged several yards back. For a few moments I could feel and see nothing again. The whole world had gone numb for a second time, my hearing was fuzzy, but my sight was still true. I looked at the spot where mike had been…

Nothing but a crater now. The only proofs that a living being had once been there where the scattered patches of blood. I looked down at my own armor; I was drenched in Mike’s blood.

I tried as hard as I could to get up, but I couldn’t. Finally I saw all of my fellow soldiers running back, several passed by me, and they were running in terror. I realized they where trying to escape something, I looked to my left and saw a grove in an old torn down wall. I managed to crawl in the grove. Several shots and explosions rocked by. I saw many of my fellow soldiers be shot to death, torn to pieces by enemy gunfire. It was a full retreat; I was too weak to move, or do anything for that matter. That’s when I saw it, two huge figures were walking right by each other, they where huge monsters, the size of a six story building, they had what looked to be some kind of tank on their backs. One of them passed on top of where I was hiding. They were half mechanized, I could not tell who or what they were…. Darkness was slowly claiming me…. Before I could do anything, I passed out.

************************************************

The same nightmare…
The whole village set ablaze…
Fire… death….
And then…. She did the only thing she could…. to save…me…
She pulled the pin…. Ran towards the attackers…

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

************************************************

I woke up in a clod sweat. The same damn nightmare… always, the same nightmare….
I slowly tried to get up, and to my surprise, I could. My head was a blend of thoughts, then the events that had just occurred came back, I looked at the sky, and it was dark,

“Nighttime already?”

I looked around me, there were bodies everywhere, most of them where torn to pieces. It might have been night, but did not mean I was out of danger just yet, I had to find a way out of this city, get to the base… but I had a long walk ahead of me…
So, I began my small trek back home.

Little did I know this trek…
Would become a trip to hell itself…

FATE.

(Sitting here on this rock...Isn't it relaxing, Hank?
I think not, Master Chief.
Kinda makes you want to break into song.
Actually, I'd rather run out of ammo in a field full of grunts, Master Chief.
Aww cmon...I'll start.
I love the laser,
I love the A.rifle
I love the C.Grenade
I love when Warthogs fly
I love the whole world
And all it's sights and sounds
Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...
I love the turret
I love stealing ghosts
I love the banshee
Especially when I crash
I love the whole world
Especially when we win
Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...
I love the rocket launcher
I love the pistol whip
I love to T Hank,
At least until he Quits.
I love the whole world
It's such a war torn place
Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...Boom de YADA...
See...that wasn't that bad.
Felt like falling off the rock the whole time, Master Chief.
Looking forward to singing another song in the round? How about row row row the boat? Hank?
"Hank falls off rock"
Did he just fall off the rock?
I think he did, Master Chief.
Why'd he go and do something like that, Mack?
Didn't find him much of a singer, Master Chief.
Looking forward to another song, Mack?
Actually, it dosen't...work so well with only the two of us, Master Chief.
...Oh. Do you know Kumbaya? Mack? Mack? Come in Mack? Mack?
"Peers over rock" Mack!? "Falls over the edge.
No noobs were harmed in the making of this video.

Latias in Water

2008-08-08T19:47:00.008+08:00

Holy F***. Sorry. I finally finished the picture I had been working on for 3 weeks straight with a f***ing tablet that I borrowed from my uncle. He wanted it back, being a game artist himself, and he was gonna screw me so I chiong this picture. Damn f***ing pleased with it man. Beautiful man. Also have more pics that I chiong. Lucky he likes mythbusters. I showed him my DVD to buy time. The mecha one is a commision for who else but ZWEI. The black and purple version of the umbreon is Scion in the pic, requested redo. The latias in the trees is a less shaded picture than the first one. The bluish umbreon is Amon, who was in the original umbreon love espeon friendship picture, and the black and purple one is Scion, his brother, and ME. Finally, the original sketch of Scion.

2008-08-08T19:38:00.003+08:00

Remember the sitting on tail sketch? It came out okay. Except for the tail bit. I kept using the eraser that it got screwed after a while. Before you call me a sick bastard, let me tell you that the smudging on the tail was completely accidental. It's not that she's ************ on her tail. Note to self, listen to friends next time. Art style credited to G-Sun(Yeah Man). Character credited to Nintendo. Still looks lewd leh. Anyway, about today, we had some connecting hearts thingy. Yay. We did gay mongolian dance. 1-2-3-4 why like that? why like that? 2-2-3-4 why like that? Why like that? Random crap... repeat 1st half, then 1inspire, to greater heights!(Humps, makes rude action with hands). We were all so damn thirsty, and Min seok didn't realise I was stealing his water melted from the glaicier of life. XD. Seriously, then I took MRT home. Then played DW6 for like 4 hours. Dynasty warriors 6. Now I feel like changing my email to king-dw6@hotmail.com. Lu Bu now holds some flashy fanatic, and his peacock head is gone, replaced by a dark and gold suit of armor. Characters with swords all change liao either to spear or cooler looking sword. Skills flashier, combo now carries on to other people. 3k582 is my record with Pang Tong. Also, the characters all look cooler, with the exception of Cao Pi, who is still a jackass.

Piccy

2008-08-08T16:55:00.002+08:00

Little tweaks done to sketch: Added BG and snow
Colour
Fixed eyes and details
Umbreon looks less stupid now.

Will fix in new drawing:
Espeon still too thin
Glaceon is overweight.

2008-08-07T15:41:00.001+08:00

Well, I finished another2 pics. Cheaply done, the nicer one's BG was stolen from my friend. Heh.

Umbreon love, espeon friendship

2008-08-06T20:07:00.005+08:00

For those of you who I show my file to, (sorry if you;re from other countries), I finished the umbreon love, espeon friendship pic on the pc. Heh. PS+Illustrator. Someone teach me how to shade better on com.