{(143.11) - "This is Pequod. Arriving shortly at LZ!"}
{(140.85) - "Boss, the helicopter is on the way. Just what in the world are you planning to do?"}
Venom Snake pressed on his earpiece and replied,
"Kaz. I want you to go through every cassette tape we have in Mother Base - and anything that the Intel Team has gathered in their operations around the world."
{(140.85) - "Cassette tapes…?"}
"That's right. I want you to look for songs that prominently have these words in the lyrics. I'll translate a list to you through my device."
[Intel uploaded]
{(140.85) - "I just got the list. 'Sugar.' 'Candy'. 'Love'. 'Doki-doki'? What is this, Boss? Some sort of strange list?"}
"It's a 'poem', Kaz. One that Natsuki's really going to like - and one that will get us all home safely today."
{(140.85) - "I don't know what in the world you plan to do, Boss - but I've got a song. "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies. 1969. Calendar Records. We're not going to get copyright strikes for this are we? We don't have the GMP for a lawsuit."}
"Copyright strike?"
{(140.85) - "Oh. Uhm, never mind that. In any case, I've got the cassette with me now."}
"Transmit it to Pequod and have it play on the speakers. I want to give Natsuki an earful of it."
[Cassette Tape Acquired - "Sugar, Sugar" - The Archies (1969)]
With that, Venom Snake pocketed his iDroid and ran through the forest to catch up with the rampaging, unnaturally muscular Natsuki. Under the cover of darkness and the dense thicket, Snake quietly closed the distance between the.
Before long, he found Natsuki chasing down Ocelot and Amy. Just as Natsuki was about to reach Snake's allies, Snake tossed a decoy disk like a frisbee. The decoy landed and deployed near Natsuki and inflated into a realistic figure of Venom Snake. Natsuki noticed the decoy inflating in the corner of her eye and was about to ignore it - when the decoy suddenly spoke.
"Manga is literature."
"Manga is literature."
"Manga is literature."
As soon as the decoy said this, Natsuki instinctively stopped and joyfully roared,
"FINALLY! Somebody understands! I knew you'd have a change of heart, Boss. Have you prepared yourself to accept Strawberry Shortcake as your Lord and Saviou…!?"
Before Natsuki could finish, Venom Snake dashed towards her and began his attack anew.
[R2: CQC]
Venom Snake got behind the muscular Natsuki and took her by surprise. He grabbed one of her muscular arms with his mechanical hand and snuck one of his legs in front of hers. In that one smooth motion, Venom Snake shifted Natsuki's balance and did the near-impossible.
He managed to throw the buff Natsuki face-first onto the ground. A dull thud echoed throughout the forest when Natsuki fell and the Writer was shocked.
Natsuki quickly rolled forward and regained her footing. She then squared up against Venom Snake and furiously growled,
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON, OLD MAN!?"
Ocelot and Amy stopped running and were shocked to see Venom Snake attempting to fight Natsuki a second time. Amy reached for her earpiece and gravely warned,
{(140.96) - "Boss! That's suicide! Natsuki may be a fan of yours, but she's going to beat the shit out of you!"}
Instead of getting worried, however, Venom Snake faced his opponent with a smug smirk. Then…
[R2: Gesture]
Snake then gave Natsuki finger guns - the same way Ocelot would. Venom Snake then uttered,
"You're pretty good."
As soon as Snake said this and made the gesture, Natsuki's heart skipped a beat,
"M-me? Pretty good? Ahahaha~ well, I guess…"
[R2: CQC]
However, this was a ruse. Venom Snake ducked in and unleashed a flurry of punches on Natsuki with lightning speed. He made sure to throw the punches with his mechanical arm with more strength to deal as much stamina damage as he could to the behemoth. Snake connected with Natsuki's jaw - and followed through with a powerful judo throw.
Natsuki landed on her back and was absolutely livid.
"That's a dirty trick!"
Natsuki raised up her fists once more to try and beat down Venom Snake and pay him back tenfold for his sneak attacks. Before she could throw a punch, Snake's earpiece buzzed.
{(143.11) - "This is Pequod. Approaching position. Weapons hot - awaiting orders, Boss."}
Snake pressed on his earpiece and gave his command,
"Hold your fire, Pequod. Speakers on maximum. Full blast."
When Snake said this, the instrumental intro of the song, Sugar, Sugar, began to play. Natsuki watched the approaching helicopter in the corner of her eye and wondered just what Snake was trying to do.
As soon as the first words of the song blared out on the speakers, however…
"Sugar~! Oh, honey, honey!"
The moment those words reached Natsuki's ears, a smile formed on her lips and she leapt up for joy. When she landed on the ground, however, Natsuki felt a chill run up her spine.
"Don't tell me… this song. Could it be... you know about the Poem Game!?"
While the muscular Natsuki panicked in horror, Venom Snake closed the distance and began his final assault. Natsuki's jumping cost her her footing, so...
[R2: CQC]
Snake's warrior's instinct drove him to grab Natsuki by the collar with breakneck speed and then throw her down onto the ground. All of the mass of her muscles were used against her as gravity did Snake's work for him. Natsuki fell down on her back, but she quickly picked herself up.
Once she did, the next verse of the song came.
"You are my candy girl~! And you've got me wanting you!"
"Oh no…!"
Natsuki instinctively leapt for joy again - against her will - as the game mechanics of her home game - Doki Doki Literature Club - were being used against her. This was not something that Venom Snake was supposed to know, Natsuki thought.
That could only mean - that Snake managed to find her manga - the source of her RenPy coding powers. Her powerful Administrative Notebook.
True enough, Natsuki couldn't find her notebook on her person.
Natsuki landed on her feet a second time and Venom Snake was already there waiting for her. His one eye met with hers on her way down as the horned mercenary commander growled,
"CONSECUTIVE!"
[R2: CQC]
Snake grabbed Natsuki by the collar again and threw her down with considerably more force this time around. Even the muscular Natsuki felt the impact this time around.
Natsuki bounced off of the ground, lifting up her body just enough for Snake to grab her collar again.
[R2: CQC]
"C!"
This was a feature of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Natsuki thought as she was slammed into the ground a third time - this time hurting more than the last. Being juggled up in the air was also something out of a Super Smash Brothers playbook too - something that her original creator had a part in.
This was meta - the likes of which she had never thought possible.
Then, Snake followed through for a fourth!
[R2: CQC]
"Q!"
To think that Venom Snake would exploit such an elaborate loophole - Natsuki found herself oddly impressed. She landed on her back a fourth time in about a blink of an eye and she had lost all control of the situation.
Against a self-aware opponent like this - one who exploited the mechanics of multiple games at once - Natsuki knew she no longer had any chance.
However…
[R2: CQC]
"C!"
For a brief moment, Natsuki thought that it wasn't so bad.
Snake threw Natsuki down a sixth and final time - finally knocking the wind out of the muscular Writer's sails. Natsuki's consciousness left her and the bulky muscles that she grew retreated like the ebbing of a wave.
The fearsome, pink-haired Cupcake Writer laid there before Snake sprawled out on the ground.
Snake knelt down before the knocked out Natsuki to feel her pulse. The sun then finally rose in the East as Snake pressed on his earpiece to call,
"She's alive, Kaz. We're bringing Natsuki home."
To Be Continued
SCORE
Episode 58: Eye of the Tiger
PLAY RATING:
Total Play Time: Thirty Hours (138 Hours left for campaign)
Time: Nine Hours
Enemy Combat Alerts: 1
Hits Taken: 16
Tactical Takedowns: 11
Headshots: 388
Accuracy: 32% (501/1,562)
Neutralizations: 1
Effective Interrogations: 1
Intel Seized : 1
Prisoners Rescued: 0
[NO KILLS]
Rank: A
…
{140.85 - "Boss, you took down a child. Amazing!"}
…
Bond Level:
D-Horse: 100%
Spider Lady:?̷̧̨̢̗̮̺̝̣̼͙̘̮̗̻̮͓̱̟̝̫̟̹̬̭̲̱̻̞̤̱̤͙͈̏͌͜͜?̷̡̡̨̧̨̢̧̡̨͍͕͈̹̪̻̜̙͍̠̲̜͚̼̳̗̼̥͓̱̱̞͚͍̩̣̗͈̘̘̳̱̝̰̫͐̀͐̀̓͐̈̀̑̆̓̑̓͛̂̿͌̏̏̈́̔̎̏̎͆͌̂͗̽̒́̑́̋͒̌̎̅́̄̄͋͛͂͘͘͘̕̕̚̚͘͝ͅͅ%̵̧̼̩̯̗̻̩̦̯̹̦͓͉̣̜̺͓̠̙̖̙̟̪̘̙̻͓͎̣̼̪͓̝͓̠͔̠̙̖͚̱̟̠͔̪̘͈̻̲͚̥͋͛̑̂͋̈̂̊̌̓̓͐̽̐͐̏̏̾̀́̀͛̊̆̑͘͜͝͝͠ - Ŕ̴͓̈́̈́Ẻ̷̡̨̙͎̭͇̫̲̰͇͉͖̭̲̈́͜9̵̗̫̝̰̼̞̲̺̯͕͙͑̏̍̓̎̈́̚͝͝ͅƠ̵̺̖͙̼̈̄́̽̾͗̔̈̐̌͆̄͠J̶̨̛̜̗̯̙͙̜͈͍̰̗̪͍̪͈͑̓̓̆̔1̵̙̰̯̥̻̺̍͠Q̴̰̻̜̣̜̓̈́͐̎̂ǵ̷̨͈͈̣̙̻̫͎͎̤͔̥̈́̂̃͛̕̚̕͝V̶̨̛̤̫̫̤̅̃̐̐̓̋̾̅F̵̭̮͕̊̿̏̌̀̄́̇̊͑͂̿̕J̷̢̛̪̱̯͔̲̬̜̼̪̾̎̿̏̃̈́̓̉̇̈́͝͝V̸̫̥͙̗̩̲̍̄͛̓̈U̶̻̩͓̾̈1̴̨̣̲͔̳̘̬͖͕͕̦̹͙̬̏̽̆͌̽̎͠Q̵̨̢̪̭̝̠̂g̸͓̞̤̪͉̜̎̿̾̎̅̔͌̂̓̕͝ͅQ̵̮̮̘͍̲̗͍͕͈̖̤͆̔͗̓ͅU̸̜͎͍͇̮͋̃̈́̇̾̅͆̎̂̾̐͜͝1̶̧̢̢̯͉̣͉̟̬̰̂́̀̄̈̂͒̄̓̈́͂͒Z̴̨̡̧̨̨̬̜͇̼͇͍̜̞͚̉́̉̑̅͝
Ocelot: 100%
Pequod: 100%
Codename: BAKA
{Cassette Tape Acquired - "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor (1982)}
Epilogue
07:12
Undisclosed Location
Sayori walked into the room with a look of panic etched on her face. The blue-eyed Literature Club President then grimly reported.
"Moni. It's happening. Venom Snake managed to defeat Natsuki. Mr. Bird saw it with his own two eyes. They're taking her off Iturup Island."
A small frown formed on Monika's lips as she thoughtfully flipped through the pages of her administrative notebook, scanning through its pages with her sharp green eyes. The former club president then closed her notebook emphatically, ran a hand through her long, coral-brown hair and faced Sayori to reply,
"I checked the patterns of data through the Fox Engine. Venom Snake managed to use every single weakness that Natsuki had against her - and used game mechanics from outside of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to do so."
Sayori lowered her head and grumbled,
"Natsuki was the biggest video game fan in our club - she knows every game in the Metal Gear series by heart. Even the non-canon ones. If Snake managed to take even her by surprise, then…"
Monika put her hand on her hip and pointed upwards with her free hand to finish Sayori's sentence,
"That means that Venom Snake managed to get his hands on an Administrative Notebook like this - presumably Natsuki's."
Sayori nodded in agreement, but curiously pressed,
"But couldn't it be Yuri's too?"
Monika shook her head and explained,
"You know very well what Yuri's 'notebook' - the Portrait of Markov - is capable of. Snake didn't unleash that kind of power in this battle. If he did - then we'd know… That said…"
08:44
Sea of Okhotsk Airspace
Diamond Dogs - UHT-66 "Blackfoot" Helicopter
In the passenger cabin of the flying Air Command Center, Amy sat opposite from Yuri and Natsuki - the two captured Writers of the Apocalypse - who were both still knocked out cold from their ordeals. Ocelot was in the front of the helicopter speaking with the Pequod's pilot while Venom Snake sat at the back and flipped through the pages of the mysterious "Parfait Girls Vol. 13" that Natsuki dropped during battle.
"Honestly, Boss - I still think this is our chance to kill these two Writers… but you've already made your decision. I'll do my best to respect that."
Venom Snake looked up from the pages of the manga towards Amy and replied,
"There are still many things that we need to learn from these two, Spider Lady. We're going to need every bit of information - and every ounce of strength we can get - if we want to stand a chance against the last two Writers."
Amy crossed her legs, leaned back against the metal wall of the cabin and heaved a sigh,
"I have to agree with you there, Boss. If we want to win against these incredibly cute girls…"
A devilish smirk formed on Amy's lips as she felt the pages of a peculiarly thick, hardbound novel that she was hiding in her knapsack. She then faced Venom Snake again, gave him a veiled smile and continued,
"We have to end it all in one fell swoop."
...
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