Okamib1ue, I gave cave story a look and wow! It does look great if I was not so busy I would download the original immediately. (I am p0or so I can't buy the wii or ds version TT_TT) I am listening to a remixed version or the soundtrack as I write these words.
Nina, I get what you say. I have read many gaming creepypasta and compared to them I can sleep rather well after reading this story. Most gaming creepypasta simply feature over the top gore in E for everyone games, I wanted to do something different break the mold. It wasn't even ground-breaking like I hoped.
I made this story first person perspective to put the reader into the mind of the protagonist, and you see what happened to Zero. I was trying to be more subtle. I have updated the description to be more accurate.
As for the messy storytelling. I plan on tying things up, I can't tell you how with mega uber-spoilers I am sure you will understand. Also I go into each chapter not knowing what exactly will happen, that way it will unfold organically. That, and I am a complete beginner, I am more used to writing school papers. I hope I improve as time passes.
Thank you for your comment I need feedback like this, it helps me know what to plan next.
Nekosaru, let the games begin.
Chapter 21 Like a Captain ARRRR!
Once more I find myself alone in a jeep with Cpt. Dynami, speeding across the dessert. Shortly after my brief introduction Cpt. Dynami ushered me out of the HQ and I asked why she simply said we were going to train. I have the sneaking suspicion suddenly that I had entered my own hearse.
"Something the matter?" she asks from the driver's seat.
"Just a lot of things on my mind," I replied.
"Brighten up you look like you just boarded your own funeral hearse," she says.
"So what exactly are we going to do for training?" I ask.
"It's a surprise!" Dynami flashes a fanged smile sending a cold chill up my spine.
"You know, I have not seen to many other people from the resistance other than you and the other three," I comment.
"That is because there are not any other's. There used to be sixteen other members of Hidden Team, but most of us were killed when ambushed and surrounded in the jungle," she replied almost emotionless.
"How did you make it out alive?" I ask.
"We fought, and we kept fighting until they stopped shooting back. It was simple math, we were twenty, they were two-hundred. If each member of our squad killed eleven before they died at least one of us would survive," she said blankly.
She seems to be masking her true feelings.
"I am sorry, I should not have made you relive such an awful memory," I quickly apologize.
"No need to be, what has happened, happened. You need to hear this anyhow seeing that you are now part of this team. Now you know why we jumped at recruiting a stranger, we are in dire straits for personnel. The out come of the battle is another reason why I ambushed you at the HQ, so no member of our team makes the same mistake," she explained.
"It must have been hell," I empathize with her.
"War is hell," she states.
We rode in silence for a few more minutes.
"Got any more questions?" she asks.
"I started my quest in the search of answers, problem is I don't know the questions to those answers either," I reply.
"Just take it day by day you won't find your answers so easily, but you will find them eventually" she reassured me.
The jeep comes to a halt. I look around and see nothing but dunes.
"Why have we stopped?" I ask.
Cpt. Dynami flashed a wicked smile and came to the horrified realization that this IS our stop.
"You were smart enough to be punctual to a meeting that you didn't know the location of. That is a far cry from making you the best of the best like us. You can't hardly call yourself a soldier yet, you got a steep learning curve. So naturally extreme measures must be taken to catch you up," she explains.
"Wha?" I am interrupted by a tremendous force the ejects me from the vehicle.
"Take this" she tosses me a briefcase.
"I will pick you up in a few days," she says.
I scramble to my feet as she revs up the jeeps engine.
"But...but I thought you loved me!" I blubbered.
"I do love you silly! But what you don't know is, I am a handcuffs and whips kind of gal," she replies and with that she drives off into the sunset.
I am overcome with despair to say the least. I am sweaty, tired and have only had three hours of sleep. I haven't even eaten since I awoke morning in the false world. The sun had risen an hour ago, and I have not even been fed breakfast.
I proceed to bawl like the leave Brittany alone guy.
After an hour of doing just that I finally remembered the briefcase. I pop it open and examine the contents, a handgun with no clip, a combat knife, and a note. I looked at the note and it read:
Dear Keno,
Glad you finally finished your cry session. If only I had thought to hide a camera in the briefcase. There are two ways out of this desert, find your own way back to base or wait for me to rescue your sorry backside. Either way you choose to escape you are going to have to make up for the lost water that you frittered away in your self pity. Try digging for ground water that is usually under plants growing in the middle of nowhere. Next step you are going to shed leave your inner child to die, otherwise you starve to death. Bring our your inner bad ass and hunt that which hunts you snakes and what ever else comes in the night to bite you. BTW sleep during the day to conserve energy, hunt and work at night. You are probably asking why should you hunt predators when they could kill you, you are better equipped you got a combat knife and a brain. Also never stick your hand down burrows you see around, unless you want to die in a pool of your own vomit. That is what the handgun is for, it has one bullet in the barrel I pray you don't need it. All of us have made through the crucible of war and this unit has no need for children or liabilities.
See you in five days, I hope
Cpt. Dynami
I put down the note, holster the gun and knife. The note and briefcase are of no use to me so I leave them where I lie. I guess Cpt. Dynami is right, she had me pinned it's time to nut up or shut up.
Though she suggested work only at night I DID cry a lot and needed some water, and with a source pinned I could get some more shut eye and be a more able hunter at night.
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One hour later and I have had no luck, nothing but bloody dunes as far as the eye can see. The sun now much higher in the sky and any remnant of the previous night's cool was burned away by it's malevolent glare.
"Is this how I die!" I yell in frustration.
"No, you don't have to die here," I hear the voice none other than Dr. Wily.
I turn to see him in sprite form.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"I am here to help you," he replies.
"Like you helped Zero?" I snort sarcastically.
"Yes, exactly! I have made him a king! I helped him overthrow the tyrannical reign of X and the world at peace," he responded seemingly pleased with himself.
"Have some means of magicking up some water?" I ask dryly.
He floats over to a rather large dune which I have been circling this whole time.
"Under your nose this whole time you buffoon," he laughs.
I limp over to where he was floating and low and behold, a small rocky outcropping that can be used for shelter, a patchy spot of ground with some vegetation, and a few cacti.
I turn to thank him to see that he is gone.
I heard somewhere that cacti store water in their spongy flesh so I cut one down. I shave off the spines and cut a hole in the top, and squeezed the liquid within into my mouth.
It was bitter but I could care less however vile it was but sweet ambrosia to my parched lips. I lied down relaxed under the rock's shade.
I drifted off to sleep.
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I awaken suddenly, I thought I heard something but I could not see what. I could not even see even a foot in front of me. I could hear something moving slowly towards me through the suffocating darkness.
I back up slowly only to remember that I have been sleeping under an outcropping and I have no where to run.
The rustling comes even closer and closer.
I frantically grasp for the knife on my belt only to find it not there. My body is frozen in absolute terror as the sound is now only a few feet away.
I see two glowing spheres that are the glowing pupils of whatever this thing is. I still cannot see it's face and I shudder at the thought of being able to.
A pale hand reaches out and grabs my wrist with an iron grip. I fight helplessly to get it to let go and it starts to drag itself to me. When it's pupils are only an inch away from my face can I see it's face.
It was Ciel, bloody, beaten, and still with the noose around her neck.
She stared into my eyes unblinking, breathing heavily, almost panting. Blood pours from the corners of her eyes as if she were crying but her face showed no emotion.
"Keno" her voice rasps.
I awaken suddenly, this time I pinch myself to make sure I am really awake. My stomach twists with a burning hunger and my mouth feels as if it is lined with sand.
"You have been out for three days," I hear Wily's voice.
"So what revelation has the hallucinogenic cactus given you?" he says with humor.
"That I have been out too long I need to get some real water and food or I will die," I reply.
"Enlighten me, just why are you in the desert?" asked Dr. Wily
"To find the truth," I reply.
"You will only find sand here," he replied.
"Correction, I am here on training to join an elite resistance strike team to earn use of the only bed in the tri-state area. I hope find the truth I am looking for somewhere along the way," I respond.
"Hmph, Logos's got you on a fool's errand! She's nothing but trouble," Dr. Wily spat out.
"So what does the great provider of hallucinogenic cactus provide to pass as truth?" I reply.
"I never told you to eat the cactus did I? As for that ultimate truth you so desperately search for is but a farce look around you, you have been lied to," Dr. Wily replied.
I was about to argue back, but Dr. Wily faded away before I could.
The sun was high and I was starving to the point of not being sure how long I could make it until night.
First I needed water, no way could I drink from that bloody cactus again. I began to dig at the base of one of the cacti.
It's roots were shallow so it was easy to topple it and begin digging in the hole left in the wake. It wasn't the hardest of tasks in the prime of my health but in my current state I nearly inhaled what water I managed to dig up.
I proceeded to begin my search for food, leaving the safety of the outcropping.
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I have searched until the sun has burned it's last ounce of cruelty onto my sweaty brow I have had no luck.
Not a single creature showed it'self. Not even insects nor did anything lurk under the rocks to hide from the heat. To add insult to injury I have seen the burrows of the scorpions that Cpt. Dynami's note warned me of everywhere.
The sky was blood crimson and I asked myself, "Is this the last day of my life? Does the cruel sun close the curtains of night on my life as one would close the curtains on the final act of a play?"
Only a meter from me there I spy the scorpion's burrow. Within one meter salvation or demise with the flip of a coin.
I kneel next to the burrow praying that I don't botch this up.
I forcefully reach in hoping catch the beast unaware and finish it before it can sting me.
My hand gropes about the dusty crevasse to find nothing, fate has played a cruel trick on me.
My energy is now all but spent, I can no longer move.
"Swear fealty to me, and I can save you from this evil fate," I hear Wily's voice in my ear.
"You destroy all that you touch, even now I reject you, in the face of this end," I manage to choke out of my dry throat.
"The desert will do that without my help, I have no time for a fool like you," Dr. Wily said.
I feel his presence no longer.
I close my eyes and drift into oblivion.
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"One of Phantom's own? Hm, to live or to die?"