Disclaimer: Neozangetsu doesn't own other authors, or their OCs, or special equipment that belongs to them. Nor does he own any of the 'Tales of' series except for this story. He also owns his own OCs (i.e Jenny, Kiyohime), and equipment, weapon ideas, etc.
Me: Yo! Quick explanations time! When I said, Multi-SI, I meant that other authors are gonna star in this story with me. Sorry for the long hiatus, I promise the readers that actually like me that I'll update the stories you want updated.
Read Chapter 1 immeadiately after the Prologue (Loading mishaps wouldn't allow me to put them together.)
-Prologue- When You Leave Everything Behind.
For me…life has always been one big circle. Always the same routine each day…everyday…
A young woman with black-brown hair slams her head onto her desk as her teacher sets into another lecture…
I was different from others. I didn't want the same thing every single moment. Even if I usually didn't look like it, I wanted excitement. Some kinda thrill…a rush of energy. I was bored of my so-called safe life…
The same young woman is talking with her two friends in the cafeteria. One friend a red-head with long curly hair, the other with short black hair with pink highlights…
My family and I weren't very fond of each other either, I mean we could get along sometimes…but usually we found ourselves on VERY thin ice with the other…It was always constant fighting…
A young woman of nearly the same age with dark blonde hair looked up from her notebook in a local park, asking the sky for inspiration for her newest work…
I kept telling myself, 'I want out!', but I could never muster up enough courage to do anything about it. I was so damn useless, both to myself and the world…
A black-haired young boy of 13 years of age walked home under the night sky, a backpack on his back, stars were shining and shimmering here and there.
People didn't know my name, and my social position at places like school wasn't very good either. Everybody tends to stay away 'cause they think I'm antisocial. But that's not to say I couldn't have made friends…
The boy stopped and let his eyes wander to a nearby pond. He shrugged after a bit of thought, and sat down to watch the water.
Even though I might have had a good life compared to others, I didn't want what I had then. I wanted to have fun, but at the same time to be noticed and remembered and loved by others on my own adventure. Like a hero…
The boy smiled at the stars before continuing his way home.
I realize now that the things I wanted were selfish. I was always told by my parents to grow up, and I did, I really did. But what they didn't seem to know or understand was that I was more mature than I let on. Sometimes I proved to be more mature then they were.
As the young boy walked up to the front door of his house, he sighed and blew at a few bangs in front of his eyes, getting ready for the inevitable…
They say "Be careful what you wish for, it may very well come back to haunt you…"
Heh…Don't I know it…
(creeeaaaak...)
Damn that's loud... carefully now... carefully...
(creak)
Gah... there's definitely something wrong with this gay-ass door!
(creak!)
Forget it!
(SLAM!)
I slammed the door open and immediately closed it not a second after. With my back against the wall my eyes shifted around before I relaxed at the empty environment.
Everything seemed safe... and it was dark, very, very dark. Maybe I got lucky this time and my parents are asleep. Stupid door can't keep quiet though, I need to oil it sometime… that is if we have any oil in the first place.
I shifted my eyes left and right, trying to find someone before I moved. I dared not to give myself away. They were always crazy about curfew.
Ha! If I could sneak past some cops then I could definitely sneak into my room with nobody noticing…
"HEEEEYYYY!!! MOOOOOM!!! DAAAAAD!!! I FOUND BIG-BRO SNEAKING IN AGAIN!!!"
…Me…
Dammit! Stupid Michael!
I glared at the 8 year-old snitch, and he just sneered and stuck his tongue out in return. I hated the fact that being a loudmouth came so naturally to him.
My parents were downstairs in a heartbeat. They were followed by my older sister not a second after. Double Dammit…
My dad picked my up by the collar of my shirt, "And just where the hell were you boy? I know for a fact that school was over a long time ago." I rolled my eyes, who doesn't know you stupid old man? It's 11 P.M. At night. When school was over at 2:15 in the AFTERNOON…
I gave Pops an annoyed glare, "I called earlier today to tell ya' that I was gonna be over at a friend's house for a school project." And I was. Stupid science class.
My dad put me down, rolling his eyes, "Oh, and why didn't I get this call?"
I was even more annoyed by what I was about to tell them, "I kept calling you AND mom, but you guys never pick up. I called home next and Michael answered the phone, didn't he tell you?"
Mom answered next, "No he didn't." She turned her calm gaze to Michael with a bit of annoyance, "Did he call Michael?" She knows that my little bro lies his ass most of the time. I love that she defends me when I need it.
Michael shrugged innocently, "Nope, I didn't even hear the phone ring once today. I think big-bro's just lying to cover his slip up."
My father glared at me, "Trying to pin the blame on your brother now son?"
I seethed. What the hell! One innocent look added with a lame excuse gets that little monster off the hook?
I grinned triumphantly despite that though, "No. I'm not. I put a message on the machine just in case he tried something like that. Go check!"
"Oh," Now my sister was joining in, "You had a message on the machine? I checked and all there was were messages left by the usual telemarketers, so I erased everything." She smiled, "Sorry." Triple Dammit…
My dad picked me up by my collar again, "Stop lying you little brat. I should beat you for lying your ass off like some con artist. Back in Vietnam liars got their tongues cut off for doing what you just did…" (Me: He really did threaten me with that kinda stuff. Said it would "Instill good behavior into immature children") While it IS true that I can lie my ass off like a con artist (a professional con artist!), I'm telling the truth NOW! Why don't you believe me when it matters?!
My mom intervened by grabbing my dad's arm, "Honey, stop it. If he did call us and call home then maybe he really did call. Don't punish him for not telling you especially since you keep your phone off all hours of the day and I'm too busy with all my customers to even go near my phone." She said sternly.
What?! I waste precious moments of MY time when he doesn't even turn on his fucking phone?! Dammit! I missed seven bus rides home because of you old man!
Pops grimaced slightly but recovered quickly, "Sonia, if you let kids get away with things like this now, they'll always get away with it later in the future." I rolled my eyes again. I already get away with lying to him, no matter how many times he tries to outdo me. But when it really matters and I'm telling the truth, it's a lie he says. Ugh…
Dad turned his glare back to me, "You're grounded, no computer, no video games, no television. I'm throwing all of those out. Go!" I looked at his face, and I knew what he wanted me to say. He wanted me to say, 'Yes sir' and go up to my room like an obedient little lap dog. Every single fucking time…
I lost it…
"No…" I said quietly, "No… I won't." I snarled and exploded, "You expect me to listen to you like some quiet little dog, you STUPID OLD MAN!!! You think you talk down to me like I'm some stupid little kid with no future!" I laughed bitterly, "You're just mad because you expect me to be under your control, like those two empty puppets I call my brother and sister. Unlike them I have free will, and you wanna break me so you can turn me into your little marionette. You're an idiot!" I laughed again, "I'm not anything like you want me to be, and I know for a fact that I'm smarter and a lot more cunning then you could ever—" He cut me off there with a punch to my face. I spun around and slammed into the wall.
(It could've been worse, a Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick-to-the-face was never very enjoyable…)
It didn't hurt so much, it was kinda numb, but not painful. Though I was probably too angry to care anyway. I looked up and saw that my dad was staring at his fist with shock.
"Wait…son I-"
It was too late as I ran out the door.
"Dear! Wait! Your father didn't mean it!" My mom cried out, but I was already full-speed ahead to nowhere. I was glaring at anything that was ahead of me, but I didn't cry. It was a physical impossibility for me to cry anymore.
I also don't have much stamina, which led me to sit down and stop behind a neighbor's house to catch my breath. 10 blocks wasn't half bad.
"So the old man finally decided to take it that far huh?" I sneered bitterly. "I'm just some stupid troublesome kid I'm sure he's happy to be rid of."
I looked up at the sky with a sigh, "Being the middle child SUCKS! What to do I do now though…"
I never would've have exploded like I did if it was just any regular day for me, so why now? What makes today so special that I would actually act on what I felt. Maybe I just had enough of them, maybe I just lost it in general. I don't know what to think anymore…
Gah… I better focus. I just ran away from home after all. You can't exactly go, 'I've decided to come back because I'm at a dead end. Please take me back.' In situations like this, you have to stay missing for at least a day or two or else it'll just mean more trouble. Not like I ever want to go back to that place anyway, I'll live out the rest of my life with all ties I have with them severed! And they'll stay severed!
But it then occurred to me that I had no prepared back-up plan for a stunt like this. Eh... I'll come up with something. It couldn't be that hard to make a new life could it?
For a while I just sat there, contemplating how live out the rest of my life.
"Well…" I mused, "I could go to an orphanage and sell myself off to another family. But there's the possibility that I would end up with an even worse family than before. I could steal some money and live the rest of my life in Las Vegas as a card dealer, suckering people for free cash. I've also been hearing stories that the hobo life ain't so bad…" It went on like that for a few minutes.
"A thief's life is exciting with all those books out there backin' the theory up. Hn…" I usually say 'Hn' when I'm too lazy to answer someone properly or if I'm thinking about something. Or if I'm too lazy to think about something properly. Anyways, if you ask me if your life story is exciting after telling me your ENTIRE life story, then all you'll get is a 'Hn…' in reply.
I looked up at the sky again, spotting a bright light I was familiar with. This one star was always especially bright on nights like these, when I get into arguments with my 'family'.
"Seems like you've been watching me for a while huh?" I never expected an answer. It was just nice to see that star still floating somewhere in space.
I sighed, "Y'know, its times like these I wish I was I had my way out of this life. I hate it, it's so dull, so much like the regular daily routine you would find in a factory, and I'm not too fond of my family either." 'Family'... That was a very bitter word to me. Some family I had… The only person I could actually call 'family' and not sneer or snort at is my mom. I honestly and whole-heartedly love her, but I don't think she loves me. When I look at her sometimes I can see fear in her eyes. That always confused me, why should you be afraid of your own kid?
"I want my own adventure, I wanna be a hero, beat down some super tyrant and save some world just for the thrill of it all." The star was getting brighter for some reason.
I looked down as I thought about my life so far, "I've had my good times, but I just can't stop thinking about all the crap Life throws at me. My family started hating me out of the blue, and it suddenly became hard to make any new friends. Nobody here ever really wants to walk up to me and talk, or even bother trying to get to know me. I'm always in the back, unseen and unnoticed by nearly everyone."
I smiled sadly, "I don't want to be forgotten, I want to be respected, loved and remembered by everybody. Dying without accomplishing anything with my life, or dying without anybody bothering to remember me… is a horrible way to end…" I looked up at the sky again. That same star was even brighter now.
I didn't know what I was saying anymore…
"Ah who am I kiddin', I'm just an idiot. There's no way I can aspire to be a great hero like Neo Kazama is. He could always handle anything…myself on the other hand, nothing." I said as my bangs hid my eyes.
Neo Kazama was someone that I made up when I was a little kid. He was my hero, one that I made myself when I didn't have anyone to look up to. Basically, he was everything I wasn't. While he was fit, I was scrawny. While he was brave, I was scared. While he could kick someone's butt into next month, I couldn't fight for crap. (Well… maybe for shit, but not for crap.)
While he was the Angel, I was the Demon.
As I grew up I kept trying to make myself in his image. I always thought 'What would Neo do?' and I still kinda do that. But sometimes I think about what I wanna do in a situation, especially after the incident a while ago… But I don't wanna think about that now…
I also made character designs for Neo too. Of course my kiddy drawings didn't really give me much to look at, but I made them better as time went by. As I got older I also added things and even people so that Neo wouldn't be by himself.
Oh yeah, that's another thing. While he has an unbreakable band of friends, I had virtually nobody at my side.
I sighed, bumming myself out like this ain't helping much, but at least I'm thinking. I looked up again and I noticed something weird.
"Hn… That's strange… that star seems like it's getting …" The star kept shining brighter and brighter and... bigger... Ah shit, my eyes widened.
"Holy crap!!! That star's gonna FALL on ME!!!" Shimatta! I couldn't move my body for some reason either!!! Is it the initial shock? Or did I run so much that I'm too exhausted to move?! Dammit! Move! MOVE!
With my self preservation adrenaline surging through my systems, I managed to pick myself up with as much strength as I could muster, which wasn't really much at the moment. I was wobbly, my movements weren't at all as precise and coordinated as it was when I ran away. I felt like I was just drunk and was experiencing the hangover, 'cause my head was pounding from straining myself too much.
I couldn't gain any speed, in my stupor I tripped and fell flat on my face. I flipped myself over and sat up to see what was about to come, the star was barreling at me like a rocket. I felt so betrayed…
I closed my eyes tightly, 'No! No! No! Not like this! I don't wanna it to end like this! Not now!!!'
It was futile and I knew it, but I wished anyway, "I wish the shooting star wouldn't hit me."
I hung my head…
BOOM!!!
…everything went dark.
Far throughout the rest of the earth, people reported feeling a strange shockwave. While the feeling only ever truly affected a few certain people, it still drew suspicion from many. Agencies who investigated the matter found the origin of shockwave in a local Virginia neighborhood. A large crater that seemed to be made by a meteorite was deep in the ground, and what was suspicious was that nothing was found. Government officials across the globe disregarded the feeling and the supposed alien crater, and so the public soon forgot all about it.
Only those few special people across the world never forgot. Two ladies in particular always remembered the feeling.
Me: I'm trying to find good places to introduce everyone, but we're all scattered all over the place, meeting at different points in the story. Don't flame me for not including them please. Sorry for the lack of Symphonia references in this 'Prologue'.
Next Chapter ----------Click to Flip----------}