Hello, readers!
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. IT'S TERRIBLE. I KNOW IT'S TERRIBLE. IT'S APRIL FOOLS DAY. ENJOY.
That's right. Caps, bold, underline, italic, centered. It's serious business. IF YOU ARE A NEW READER JUST FINDING MY STUFF, PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS IS OLD AS DIRT. PLEASE ALSO LOOK AT PHANTASM AND ITS SEQUEL I PROMISE IT'S BETTER THAN THIS.
Anyway, this is Daydream. The very first iteration of Phantasm that I wrote nearly 13 years ago. It's 2004, 14-year-old me had just seen AVP for the first time and there were stars in my eyes. I was smitten and hooked by the fandom forever since. I immediately wrote this fanfic with ZERO knowledge, the only weapon at my disposal being the AVP movie. Back then, the xenos were my favorite and the yautja were just kind of neat. I loved everything about the xenos, their design to their caste system to their talents.
So, come with me down this trip through memory lane. Back to the past when I was two years away from the horrors of high school. Enjoy watching the seed I had planted, that has grown into what Phantasm is now. Revel in the fact that I've at least managed to improve. XD Laugh with me, cringe with me, and try to see how much of this travesty survived the rewrites and made the cut to the final product that you've all come to know and love.
~ Crayola
Chapter One
The War Starts
A lithe, black shape leaped into the air quietly, landing squarely on the back of a humanoid creature. It had no clue what hit it. The black creature raised its long, swift tail and jabbed the barbed end through the humanoid's back, forcing it out through the chest area; killing the alien beast almost instantly.
Jumping off its victim, the creature moved toward another shape similar to its own, standing a few feet away in the shadow of a tree, and growled. The new serpent replied with a quiet screech and cautiously walked towards the dead creature, tail poised for attack, just in case it still had some fight left within it.
Suddenly, a sharp javelin-type weapon appeared, sailing through the air towards the investigating creatures.
The first serpent noticed and acted quickly, cutting through the air like a hot knife through butter and grabbed the weapon mid-flight, throwing it back in the direction it had originally come from. The other serpent turned and bared its fangs.
Small blue sparks fizzled in the air and a creature, the same type as the deceased victim, appeared holding the weapon that was now protruding from its chest and fell heavily to the ground after growling defiance and stumbling over. The two serpents watched the dead humanoids until they were certain that their enemies were dead.
A small amount of sun seeped through a gap in the trees, lighting the forest floor with bright light showing the black serpent-like creatures. The one that had killed both of the humanoids raised its head and screeched a long, loud scream of victory into the canopy of silvery leaves. The other joined in after a few seconds.
Killing them had been child's play. Killing in general was like second nature to the serpents.
That victory as a very short one. Their victory screech was like an alarm telling every enemy in the area to come and get them.
And that's just what happened.
Three more of the humanoids appeared, wrist-blades at full extent. One humanoid only had one blade while the others each had two. The serpent creatures turned to face them, hissing and screeching with rage.
The three humanoids charged the serpents at once and both leaped at the one nearest to them, fighting with everything they had. The serpent from before quickly killed the one it had attacked and turned to face the last one and see how well his comrade was fairing in its fight.
It screeched with an angry vengeance when it saw its comrade dead on the debris-strewn ground, acid-green blood flowing out of a deep gouge in its throat. The blood sizzled and burned a hole in the ground where it had all pooled, leaving a deep gouge in the land. The humanoids took great care to stay away from it.
Now alone with two humanoids, the alien serpent bared its chrome fangs angrily, hissing a challenge at the two foes. They turned toward it and threateningly twisted their wrists armed with the blades. Their free hands went to their sides, as if poised over some unseen weapon.
Hissing hysterically, the serpent leaped at a humanoid standing directly in front of it. The humanoid took something from its belt and threw it like one threw a Frisbee.
But this was no ordinary Frisbee.
Intimidating, curved blades outlined the circumference with only a small gap where someone could hold or catch it safely.
Cutting its leap short and landing on the ground, the serpent creature reached out with its claws and, with practiced timing, grabbed the bladed disc gab and flung it back at the humanoid. It growled with surprise and didn't have any time to react. Its head fell to the ground and rolled.
Like a boomerang, the bladed disk came spinning hack to the serpent who caught it again and threw it at the last humanoid, this time only being able to cut off its left arm.
The humanoid howled in pain and staggered, leaving it open for the serpent to charge it. It left the bladed disk to get stuck in a tree's thick trunk by one of the many blades. It leaped on the humanoid, who was busy with its pain, and landed on the humanoid's chest, pinning it to the hard ground.
Taunting the humanoid, the serpent growled, showing its fangs. It opened its mouth slowly, slime dripping from it onto the ground, and its tongue became visible; another set of smaller jaws. The second pair of jaws shot out of the serpents mouth and penetrated the humanoid's mask with unmatched speed and forced its way into the humanoid's thick skull.
It was all over in half a second.
The humanoid became limp and the serpent tilted its sleek black head back and screeched into the sky.
Quietly at first, there was a mechanical hum. It grew louder and louder. Then there was a white light. A very bright white light. The serpent turned its head toward the light and screeched in horror, tail lashing back and forth, as it stood on the latest number in humanoids killed.
Several meters away from it was a huge ship, and out of that ship marched thousands upon thousands of humanoids.
Way too many for one serpent to handle.
Horrified, the serpent ran through the dark forest, fleeing. It ran on the ground: jumping in these silvery trees would slow it down. Behind it, the serpent heard trees crash to the ground as it was pursued by the humanoids.
Soon, the serpent came to a giant clearing crawling with more serpents. The sun made their already glossy hides look even more lustrous. It hysterically leaped into the clearing and faced its brethren. It gave a shrill warning cry and the others stood at attention, facing the forest, waiting for the enemy to appear in the clearing. Everyone's tails were lashing furiously.
The serpent turned to wait too, but something caught his attention
One serpent in the army suddenly hissed something loudly that sounded like "sissil".
The sole survivor from the forest turned away from the tree line in reply to hiss. The "sissil" word was almost like a name for the serpent.
Sissil ran quickly to the serpent that had called his name and growled something. The name-calling serpent hissed back and Sissil ran to the front of the line along with one more serpent.
All the while the crashing in the forest grew louder and louder as the humanoids followed Sissil's trail. The humanoids had their long-distance weapons, but the serpents had speed and agility on their sides.
Another bladed disc suddenly flew from an opening in between two trees. Sissil leaped at it and caught it, dropping it instantly as three more of the dangerous discs came from the gap. Like a torpedo, Sissil and the other serpent caught each on in turn. Four humanoids emerged from the forest, sun glinting off their armor, presumably the owners to the weapons.
A loud screech sounded from the back of the army and eight serpents rushed at the humanoids from the front line. Six more humanoids leaped from the bushes, spears at the ready. Four against ten were not good odds.
Yet, no more serpents went to join them, and no reinforcements sounded from the back of the line.
Sissil growled in furious surprise as his comrades were mutilated. They didn't go down easy, however.
The four serpents took down five of them before the other five finished them off with their spears. The steel their weapons were made of were one of the only weapons that could withstand the serpents' acid blood.
Sissil began to rush the five humanoids, along with the other serpent next to him, but there was a shrill cry from the back of the line, so he and his comrade ran to where the serpent had called him as the serpents rushed forward to meet their dangerous foes in battle.
Thousands and thousands of humanoids ran into the clearing as if the charging serpents were a cue, throwing weapons around. All Sissil could do was watch as his colleagues were slaughtered. He had to listen to the serpent. Other high-ranked alien serpents were with him, waiting for the right moment to strike.
He backed slowly towards the other end of the forest as instructed to, always watching the chaos. His comrades had already run off. Suddenly, he was stopped short as a spear sliced through his shoulder.
Screeching in pain, Sissil wheeled around to see a humanoid standing ten feet from him, growling a low, threatening growl.
This humanoid was different from the all the others Sissil had seen today. Its mask was completely different than the others, and so was his stance. It stood as if it was very important. Almost like royalty.
Growling, Sissil sized up this new important humanoid and whipped his tail back and forth, as if he was a provoked cat.
The humanoid roared a challenge and rushed at Sissil, exposing its twin wrist blades.
Sissil screeched back his own comeback and waited. Seconds passed and the humanoid grew closer by each passing millisecond. Until it was just close enough. Sissil lashed out at the charging humanoid with his vicious barbed tail.
Unexpectedly, the humanoid dodge-rolled out of the way, Sissil's tail missing by mere inches. Sissil growled in frustration and lashed with his tail wildly at the enemy, keeping it on the ground. All the while, Sissil was inching closer and closer.
Finally, while the humanoid was scrambling to its feet, Sissil leaped on it. Unfortunately, the humanoid was stronger than anticipated. With incredible strength, the humanoid threw him off its back and Sissil collapsed on the ground in a heap.
Where were the other thousands of humanoids?
Recovering quickly, Sissil rolled over onto his feet to leap again, but the humanoid thrust its fist straight out towards him and a net blasted out of a compartment on its wrist. Sissil had seen this type of net before. He had watched it nearly slice a friend to pieces before its acid-blood could kick in.
He wasn't about to let that happen to him.
Sissil reacted quickly and swiped at the net with his specially sharpened and protected claws, cutting the net in half The two pieces fell to his side harmlessly. He looked over at the humanoid and sneered.
The humanoid growled in frustration and charged at Sissil, pulling out another bladed disc and spear, throwing both at the black serpent that was its enemy.
Sissil smacked the javelin-spear away from him with his tail and caught the bladed disc inches away from his chest.
By then the humanoid was a mere yard or two away. Sissil dropped to his fours and hissed when he heard the humanoid cock something on its wrist. He growled and bared his steel-like fangs in challenge.
Two spike projectiles shot out at Sissil at and incredible speed, but Sissil was still faster. He sprang out of the way just as the spikes went whizzing by. He lashed his tail back and snarled, teasing the humanoid.
Little had the two noticed, but a crowd had gathered. It consisted of all the left over humanoids from the battle; about a hundred in all. All of the serpents were lying behind them, dead or dying. The humanoids were watching the two and cheering on their pal, ignoring the dying serpents who were no longer any threat.
Sissil found himself wishing his other brethren could come join him. Other high-ranked, powerful serpents like himself
The cheers distracted Sissil for just a second and he turned his head to snarl at them, but it was enough. The humanoid ran, full speed, at Sissil like a small, more dangerous freight train.
Then Sissil realized that he still had the bladed disk in his clutches. He chucked it at the humanoid's chest as a last resort and lunged for the humanoid at the same time.
The humanoid knocked the bladed disk away easily, but was not prepared for the serpent that was flying towards it.
Sissil turned and somersaulted in the air, then stabbed his tail right through the humanoid's chest. He landed on the ground as nimbly as a cat and brought the humanoid up to his head. He slowly opened his mouth and the tongue-jaw shot out, killing the humanoid almost instantly.
The humanoid went limp and slumped against the tail, so Sissil slid his tail out from its chest and turned to the crowd, which had grown silent with shock. Sissil assumed the humanoid he had just killed was their best and finest warrior.
A small growl grew in Sissil's throat, then turned into a loud shriek. If that was all they had, all of them put together wouldn't be enough to stop him. He bared his fangs and let out another victory screech that caused all of the humanoids to step back. Sissil watched gauged their reaction for a sec, and then leaped at them.
They would all pay for killing all of his brethren and comrades. He was going to get his revenge now, even if it was the last thing he was going to do today.
As soon as he landed in the middle of them all, Sissil lashed his tail around at everything behind him and swiped at everyone in front of him and to his side with his claws, killing many before anyone had time even to back up or react.
Many ran from Sissil's wrath, others fought bravely, but to no avail. Sissil was a demon none of them had ever faced before. It was not long before Sissil was the only one in the clearing still alive. He raised his black head and screeched one last victory screech into the night air.
The screech slowly died as Sissil looked around the clearing of death. He saw all of his friends and comrades dead. Slowly, Sissil made his way back into the forest of silver trees after the others who had escaped.
*:･ﾟ✧
"Kayla Kayla! C'mon, we get off this stop."
I jolted back into reality as my friend gently shook me.
"Huh? Oh, my bad. I kind of spaced off into my own world," I replied, shaking my head.
"When aren't you?" My friend, Tiffanie, asked smartly.
I scoffed good-naturedly and got off my bus to walk the ten steps to my house.
Hello again, readers!
You may be thinking, "Crayola? What in the hell did I just read?" and I don't have an answer, really. I guess what you read was some sort of ninja assassin xenomorph trained in the yautja arts. Fuck if I know. But it was all a dream? Maybe. Who knows. I'm not even sure I knew when I was writing it.
One more thing. . .it doesn't get better. It only goes downhill from here.
Buckle in. You're in for a wild ride.
~ Crayola