By Zelloss (Dreamer)
Cybersystem Interactive RPG is now re-available at groups.msn.com/cybersystemgaiden
Author's Note: Wow! Two chapters in two days! Oh my god! *Faints*
WARNING: Violence Level - Medium-High
Storyline 3 - If Only I Could Forget
Storyline by - Various
Chapter 2 - Too Hot to Handle
"Jet!" Tsuki shouted, dashing forward into the scene.
"Who's Jet?" Manic asked.
"Jet... is... was... Tsuki's older brother..." Miyuu looked down. "Ask her to tell you."
"He was... until... Oh god..." Tsuki fell to her knees, looking up at the sky. "It is that night..."
There, high in the sky, the full moon was out.
The younger Tsuki laughed, looking at her brother. "Comeon, bro! Let's play!"
"What do you wanna play?" Jet kneeled down.
"How... How about, Murder Mystery!" Tsuki laughed.
Jet laughed back. "You know we need more people to play that!"
Tsuki thought. "Well, then, how about cops?"
Jet smiled. "Okay! Why don't you run in and grab the stuff, okay?"
"Okay!" Tsuki smiled. She ran into the house.
Jet laughed, and stood outside. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small cigarette and lit it quickly.
Tsuki ran inside.
"You guys... You can't see this..." Tsuki looked at them.
"You saw ours..." Gregario responded, still somewhat red from his own memory.
"No... I think..." Miyuu looked up at the full moon again. "No, you guys can't see this..."
"Why not?" Joseph asked.
"Because... because..." Miyuu looked at Tsuki.
"No... Mabye... Just let them watch..." Tsuki shook her head. "I don't have a choice in the matter..."
Tsuki glanced at Jet. For a moment, his eyes seemed to shift to his real sister, then they shifted back.
The younger Tsuki ran out of the house, towards her brother. She had two toy pistols and a soft nightsticks. "Here!" Tsuki smiled, tossing one toy pistol to her brother. "Just like dad uses!"
"Right!" Jet grabbed the cigarette and extinguished it. "I guess you want me to be the criminal, again?"
"Right!" Tsuki nodded. "Now, you hide, and I'll hunt you down..." she laughed.
"This seems innocent..." Manic looked at Ryuu.
"It can't be this simple... None of these are that simple..." Ryuu responded. "Besides... Jet isn't alive today..."
"He's not?" Manic asked.
"No, he's not... He was murdered... One full moon, just like tonight. Out-and-out brutalized... maimed... shot in several places... Almost no whole bone left in his body" Ryuu shuddered. "It was disgusting..."
"Oh, dear..." Manic muttered.
"And they never caught the killer, even today" Kinzoku shrugged, as Jet took a hiding place. "Nobody even went to say anything to the police. But, you know? The killer's still alive today!"
"Really?" Manic asked.
"Yeah. Somebody always ends up that way, every full moon. People get scared right around that time. In ACDC, nobody goes outside after ten at night unless they've got a deathwish on a full moon" Joseph shook. "I swear, if I ever got my hands on the killer..."
Tsuki looked down. "You guys shouldn't see this..." she pleaded. "Please... If... If you saw this..."
"Please, guys..." Miyuu added in. "Please, you don't need to..."
"Listen..." Gregario growled. "She watched our pains. We shall watch hers, if not solely to entertain whatever weirdo is doing all of this."
The others nodded. Tsuki collapsed. "You guys... Please..."
There was no response. They kept watching.
The child Tsuki took off from behind a bush, toy nightstick and pistol in her hands. She dived for cover.
"Bang" Jet pointed the gun and fired at where she had been. "Dang! Missed!" he hid behind one of the trees.
Tsuki went down on her belly and crawled across the ground to get behind another bush. She laughed.
"I know where you are!" Jet took aim and fired. "Dang! Missed again!"
Tsuki smiled. "You'll never catch me!" she ran behind a couple boxes.
"Bang! Bang! Dangit!" Jet laughed. "I'm gonna get you!"
"Not if I get you first!" Tsuki grinned, as she quickly scuttled over to some bushes. Jet didn't hear. A car alarm had gone off.
Using the sound, Tsuki ran up beside her brother's tree and peeked around the corner. She saw him there.
"Bang!" Tsuki pointed and fired. The real Tsuki stood up, looking hard at her brother.
Jet jumped. "Woah! You got me good!" he laughed, falling down.
Tsuki ran over, wielding the nightstick. "Yup!" she laughed, bringing it up.
Jet looked up at the nightstick, and his eyes flashed.
"Not again!" the real Tsuki dived for Jet.
The two rolled a bit, and the child Tsuki, an evil grin on her face, as she brought it down on the ground.
A stone shattered.
"That wasn't a toy!" Ryuu gaped. "But how did she...? She saved her brother...?"
"Oh, Jet!" Tsuki grabbed ahold of her brother, who was now seemingly seperate from the scene. He looked at her.
"Do I... know you?" Jet looked at her.
"You should, big brother..." Tsuki laughed, hugging him happily.
The young image Tsuki looked around. Her eyes spotted her older self.
"Why did you try to mess with the past?" the young Tsuki asked.
Real-Tsuki turned, leaving a still-stunned Jet. "What...? How do you know I'm...?"
"You interfered, trying to change the past... Now the past shall change you!"
Young-Tsuki dashed forward, the nightstick out. She raised the pistol with her other hand and shouted "Bang".
Tsuki punched Jet out (of the way), and he fell backwards. But the shot was real. It tore open the top of Tsuki's knuckle - Any lower and it would have been her wrist and her life.
"What?" Joseph jumped. "What's going on?"
"I see..." Ryuu muttered. "She tried to change the past, she interfered and changed her memories! She saved Jet in her memory, but he's only an image... No, he's not. This place we're in right now is real!"
"Real?" Joseph gaped.
"Feel it. You can feel every detail now. She altered the memory, and now, it's become real!" Ryuu explained. "But why...? Why's child Tsuki doing...?"
"It's... something she didn't want you all to see..." Miyuu gulped. "She's the murderer."
"WHAT?" Everybody except Miyuu, Jet, and the two Tsukis gaped.
"She's... she's the one who attacks every full moon... It's a condition she has... But she couldn't tell anyone... She just wanted to try and live a full life..." Miyuu looked down. "Please, don't do anything to her! Don't let anyone know!"
"We won't if we survive..." Manic stood by, just watching.
The child-Tsuki, in this time, had reached adult-Tsuki, and brought the nightstick down hard across a-Tsuki's same knuckle. It shattered, and a-Tsuki screamed out in pain, pulling back and slapping the c-Tsuki with her good left hand.
C-Tsuki laughed, ducking down, and smashing a-Tsuki's right knee with the nightstick, smashing the bone and causing an ear-shattering 'crack'. Tsuki howled, jumping backwards, kneeling down on her left knee.
"We have to do something!" Joseph shouted. "She's going to die!"
Manic nodded, and tried to run forward. But his legs wouldn't move.
"I can't... move my legs..." Manic muttered. "I think... Tsuki has to do it... by herself..."
"Run, Tsuki!" Miyuu shouted out.
"You stay out of this!" c-Tsuki shouted, taking aim at a-Tsuki's head. "Say goodbye, bitch!"
A-Tsuki's eyes opened up in fear. She gulped hard. "Please... Don't..."
"You can't alter the past. Think about that in hell!" A-Tsuki pulled the trigger.
There was a bang.
Miyuu screamed.
The wall hit the house behind A-Tsuki, as C-Tsuki fell to the ground, clutching at her heart. She struggled for a moment, let out one moan, and fell silent, the crimson flower spreading over her young chest then dripping onto the ground.
Jet was half-standing, the formerly 'toy' pistol in his hand. He looked over at his sister. "I'm not sure what's going on, but..."
"I can't believe it! You killed me!" Tsuki laughed, running over. "Thank you so much!"
"Okay, what IS going on?" Jet asked. "All I know is I just killed my younger sister!"
Tsuki thought. "Jet... I'm sorry... I was supposed to kill you in that memory..."
"Memory?" Jet blinked.
"He doesn't know..." Miyuu muttered.
"I was supposed to kill you... That was me..."
"You...? So you're my... er... about-same-age sister...? Tsuki?" Jet looked at her.
Tsuki nodded.
"I'm her... But..." Tsuki looked away. "I can't look at you?"
"Why?" Jet asked.
"It's too painfull..." Tsuki kneeled down. "It's too damn painfull... And I know when this place fades out, you'll just go with it..."
"I'm... only an image...?" Jet blinked.
Tsuki nodded grimly. "I'm sorry... Jet..." she took off running, towards a fence.
The fence dissapeared.
She froze, as the ground phased out beside her. She stood in the darkness once again.
"I'm sorry... brother..." Tsuki looked down at the ground.
"For saving me from yourself? Why?" Jet asked.
Tsuki stood straight up and turned. Yes, it was all gone... But Jet was still here!
"Oh my god! Jet! You're alive, you're really alive!" she jumped at him, hugging him close.
Jet laughed.
Miyuu smiled. "Did she change history?"
"No, that's not it..." Ryuu shook his head. "Can't be."
"Why?" Miyuu asked.
"If she had changed history..." Gregario thought, "She'd be dead. Basically, she recreated Jet from her own memories..."
"Which is why he's not aged at all..." Kinzoku nodded, finally understading.
"Err... what?" Joseph looked around. "What was all that now?"
There was a few moments of silence.
Then Joseph's ears perked up. "What's that sound...?"
There, in the distance, was a low roar... a waterfall... a river... a road... a truck...
"I know that sound..." Joseph muttered. "Oh... my... this..."
The scene faded in.
There it was. A lovely road crossing a large river by a bridge, somewhere in the southern-western country of Greenamazon. Joseph smiled. A blue SUV drove along the road towards the bridge, both sides of the river nearly hidden by dense rainforest foliage.
"Ah, it was a good trip, this one..." Joseph sighed. "But..."
"What is going on here? Who are all these people?" Jet asked.
"I'll explain... It's... our worst memories... Some force is playing them out right in front of us like some kind of cruel game!" Tsuki cursed.
Jet thought. "So... I was... one of these memories?"
Tsuki collapsed onto one knee. "Yeah... Oh... God, this hurts..."
Then, suddenly, they were inside the car. There was Joseph, not that long ago. Only a couple years. His mother was driving, a tall, beautiful woman, and beside her, his father. Joseph was in the back seat, with his younger sister, who was wearing pink pants and a rosy-red shirt.
"That's Shinzuka..." Joseph said calmly. "My sister... And my mother, and my father."
They watched.
The mother laughed. "What do you guys think of the trip so far?"
"Good!" Shinzuka smiled. "Oh... Look out the window! It's so beautiful!"
"That's the amazon river..." the mother explained. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah..." Joseph leaned a bit out the window, as his mother turned onto the bridge.
"Here, let me get a picture..." his mother pulled over on the bridge. The thing creaked a bit.
Joseph shuddered. "And we stopped to get a picture..."
"Look at it!" Shinzuka leaned over the edge, staring out over the water. "It's so strange... not like back home... But so beautiful..."
"Absolutly fantastic..." Joseph smiled. He leaned over a bit himself.
His mother got out, and pulled out a camera. She stood at the edge, looking along the river, which ended suddenly in a cloud of mist from a falling waterfall, not too far down.
There was the distant roar of another car, one following the road they had been using.
Joseph's mother looked out over the water, as the car hit the bridge.
There was a loud creak.
"Oh my!" Shinzuka gasped, as the bridge tipped sideways. Something had set it off, finally, after so many years.
Joseph dived into the water, the huge splash of the SUV landing beside him. Joseph was washed underwater without any breath.
"Ah!" Ryuu gulped, as the water swum over all of their heads too, consuming them.
Joseph felt a pull up, as water rushed in to fill up the open car. Like a vacuum. Joseph struggled upwards, but as he went up, he didn't realize that he was going straight into the car!
Joseph let out a few bubbles, his lungs already ready to explode. He looked around. And then, suddenly, he was stuck inside the car.
Thinking quick, Joseph kicked towards the top of the car. For a moment, there was air at everybody's heads, and they took a breath, before the memory-Joseph dived back down, grabbing onto the window.
It was there.
Joseph panicked, feeling the next window. No, it couldn't have shut! Unless the power had malfunctioned! That must have been it!
Joseph quickly felt all the windows. They had been shut. Joseph swam up to the top again, catching a bare gasp of air. It had almost totally filled up in that time. Now, he had to find a way out.
The car was going down on an angle. Joseph looked to his left. There was the hood of the car... If he could get it open...
Taking bare breaths, Joseph struggled around, shifting boxes of soggy gear. He put a box under his feet, giving him a chance to rest for a moment, before he pulled the rest away.
Joseph took a deep breath, made a silent prayer, and dived towards the handle, and yanked it open.
Joseph shot up to the surface, kicking wildly. He had been brought deep.
Joseph's lungs felt ready to burst. Where was the surface?
Joseph dared to open his eyes, and saw light, but it looked far away.
Manic opened his mouth, and began to choke. He shot up fast, as the others did. Only Joseph watched himself scream out.
Joseph's mouth filled with water, and with one last, wild, kick, he pushed to the surface. The real-Joseph shot up from the surface, looking at the shore. All of them now, except for the memories, were almost 'standing' on the water.
"Brother!" Shinzuka shouted from the shore. Edric, Joseph's father, was collapsed on the beach, not breathing. "Mother! Swim to shore!"
Joseph looked over his shoulder. His mother was seemingly unconcious in the center of the current.
There was the loud roar of the waterfall. He wouldn't have time, nor did he even have the energy, to try and save her...
Joseph had been lucky. He had been drawn close. Quickly, he grabbed a branch, and pulled himself onto shore. He ran along the shore, spitting out dirty water as he ran.
"Mother! Mother!" Joseph and Shinzuka shouted.
Joseph stopped suddenly, at the edge of the waterline, further was a sheer cliff face. It was huge. His sister stopped behind him.
"Oh, god, mother!" Shinzuka shouted.
Their mother fell, dissapearing into the mist at the base of the waterfall.
"We have to get down there!" Shinzuka cried out.
Joseph spied a small pathway. "I'll go. You take care of dad!"
"Right... Be carefull..." Shinzuka looked at him.
"I will..." Joseph smiled, as he slowly moved onto the path. It was thin, he had to put his back to the wall.
Slowly, Joseph followed the thin switch-back trail down the cliff face. He still had a long way to go.
A stone fell out from under his feet. Joseph flailed his arms, and ended up pushing himself farther.
Joseph was catapulted down towards the beach at the edge of the waterfall.
Joseph screamed, and Shinzuka ran over, looking down the edge. "Joseph!!" she shouted.
Joseph braced himself for impact, pulling up his legs and arms in front of his main body.. He landed hard on the soft sand. His arms and legs were cut open, right through the clothing, as if polka-dotted with blood. His feet had been slashed open and broken.
"Joseph! Joseph!" he faintly heard Shinzuka calling him.
Slowly, Joseph raised his eyes.
There was the mist at the base of the waterfall. It was a rather calm river that the falls emptied out into. He spied one large, jagged, pointy rock.
Joseph suddenly wretched, holding in bile. He had seen it.
He had seen his mother's impaled body, the blood spattered all the way down the stone like a skewer. Her head hung down, lifeless, and Joseph looked up again.
He saw every detail. The bits of muscle that had attached themselves to the stone added bare description and horrible details.
"That's... disgusting..." Miyuu looked at it, forcing herself to turn away.
"That is... was... my mother..." the real Joseph looked ready to cry.
Younger-Joseph stared, helpless. He looked down at the water.
The water was red around her, and a low stirring was down there, the water was rippling very fast. Pirahna.
His mother's body suddenly slid down, shooting down into the water. A splash came up.
Joseph shouted.
A huge bubble of red extended itself into the water. Joseph retched, the puke landing on the ground beside him. His mother... His dear mother...
"No... No..." Joseph whined out.
He looked, as one thing slowly floated towards him on the water.
He looked. It was white... bone-white.
It was his mother's skull, stripped clean.
"Oh my god..." Tsuki looked at the skull.
Joseph looked at it, as it fixed itself onto the sand and stone. Joseph slowly made his way over, and grabbed at it, holding it close.
"Mother..." Joseph looked down at the skull, holding it tight. He pulled himself off of the sand and onto the ground, and cried.
As he cried, he collapsed.
The scene faded out.
Ryuu looked at Joseph. "I... I didn't know..."
"Consider yourself lucky..." Manic muttered.
"Lucky!? I lost my mother, I nearly died, and I nearly lost my father!" Joseph shouted.
"But you didn't lose you, your father, or your sister. Your whole family could have died!" Manic pointed out.
"You say that as if you don't really care about what's happened!" Joseph shouted.
Manic laughed. "Mabye I don't. The past is the past. I don't think any memory I have could make me cry..."
"There's always something" Ryuu shook his head. "We've seen it... There's only the three of us now - me, Manic, and Kinzoku..."
Gregario nodded. "So who's the next unlucky victim?"
"I told you, there is not..." Manic began.
The scene began to reform. Winds whipped about. A house stood a good distance from a high cliff, at least 50 feet above the ground.
"Not a single... a sin..." Manic froze.
Manic was standing beside the house, looking very young. He was practicing his karate chop in mid-air.
"Maaanic.." a voice whispered in the air.
Manic froze.
"You rotten little kid..."
Then there was somebody else. In the door of the house. Manic froze.
The man was obviously related to Manic. He was taller then Manic, his black coat and black jeans covering his body up. The teen laughed.
"Rishaldow..." real-Manic growled. "My brother. My twisted, sick brother..."
Cybersystem Interactive RPG is now re-available at groups.msn.com/cybersystemgaiden
Author's Note: Wow! Two chapters in two days! Oh my god! *Faints*
WARNING: Violence Level - Medium-High
Storyline 3 - If Only I Could Forget
Storyline by - Various
Chapter 2 - Too Hot to Handle
"Jet!" Tsuki shouted, dashing forward into the scene.
"Who's Jet?" Manic asked.
"Jet... is... was... Tsuki's older brother..." Miyuu looked down. "Ask her to tell you."
"He was... until... Oh god..." Tsuki fell to her knees, looking up at the sky. "It is that night..."
There, high in the sky, the full moon was out.
The younger Tsuki laughed, looking at her brother. "Comeon, bro! Let's play!"
"What do you wanna play?" Jet kneeled down.
"How... How about, Murder Mystery!" Tsuki laughed.
Jet laughed back. "You know we need more people to play that!"
Tsuki thought. "Well, then, how about cops?"
Jet smiled. "Okay! Why don't you run in and grab the stuff, okay?"
"Okay!" Tsuki smiled. She ran into the house.
Jet laughed, and stood outside. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small cigarette and lit it quickly.
Tsuki ran inside.
"You guys... You can't see this..." Tsuki looked at them.
"You saw ours..." Gregario responded, still somewhat red from his own memory.
"No... I think..." Miyuu looked up at the full moon again. "No, you guys can't see this..."
"Why not?" Joseph asked.
"Because... because..." Miyuu looked at Tsuki.
"No... Mabye... Just let them watch..." Tsuki shook her head. "I don't have a choice in the matter..."
Tsuki glanced at Jet. For a moment, his eyes seemed to shift to his real sister, then they shifted back.
The younger Tsuki ran out of the house, towards her brother. She had two toy pistols and a soft nightsticks. "Here!" Tsuki smiled, tossing one toy pistol to her brother. "Just like dad uses!"
"Right!" Jet grabbed the cigarette and extinguished it. "I guess you want me to be the criminal, again?"
"Right!" Tsuki nodded. "Now, you hide, and I'll hunt you down..." she laughed.
"This seems innocent..." Manic looked at Ryuu.
"It can't be this simple... None of these are that simple..." Ryuu responded. "Besides... Jet isn't alive today..."
"He's not?" Manic asked.
"No, he's not... He was murdered... One full moon, just like tonight. Out-and-out brutalized... maimed... shot in several places... Almost no whole bone left in his body" Ryuu shuddered. "It was disgusting..."
"Oh, dear..." Manic muttered.
"And they never caught the killer, even today" Kinzoku shrugged, as Jet took a hiding place. "Nobody even went to say anything to the police. But, you know? The killer's still alive today!"
"Really?" Manic asked.
"Yeah. Somebody always ends up that way, every full moon. People get scared right around that time. In ACDC, nobody goes outside after ten at night unless they've got a deathwish on a full moon" Joseph shook. "I swear, if I ever got my hands on the killer..."
Tsuki looked down. "You guys shouldn't see this..." she pleaded. "Please... If... If you saw this..."
"Please, guys..." Miyuu added in. "Please, you don't need to..."
"Listen..." Gregario growled. "She watched our pains. We shall watch hers, if not solely to entertain whatever weirdo is doing all of this."
The others nodded. Tsuki collapsed. "You guys... Please..."
There was no response. They kept watching.
The child Tsuki took off from behind a bush, toy nightstick and pistol in her hands. She dived for cover.
"Bang" Jet pointed the gun and fired at where she had been. "Dang! Missed!" he hid behind one of the trees.
Tsuki went down on her belly and crawled across the ground to get behind another bush. She laughed.
"I know where you are!" Jet took aim and fired. "Dang! Missed again!"
Tsuki smiled. "You'll never catch me!" she ran behind a couple boxes.
"Bang! Bang! Dangit!" Jet laughed. "I'm gonna get you!"
"Not if I get you first!" Tsuki grinned, as she quickly scuttled over to some bushes. Jet didn't hear. A car alarm had gone off.
Using the sound, Tsuki ran up beside her brother's tree and peeked around the corner. She saw him there.
"Bang!" Tsuki pointed and fired. The real Tsuki stood up, looking hard at her brother.
Jet jumped. "Woah! You got me good!" he laughed, falling down.
Tsuki ran over, wielding the nightstick. "Yup!" she laughed, bringing it up.
Jet looked up at the nightstick, and his eyes flashed.
"Not again!" the real Tsuki dived for Jet.
The two rolled a bit, and the child Tsuki, an evil grin on her face, as she brought it down on the ground.
A stone shattered.
"That wasn't a toy!" Ryuu gaped. "But how did she...? She saved her brother...?"
"Oh, Jet!" Tsuki grabbed ahold of her brother, who was now seemingly seperate from the scene. He looked at her.
"Do I... know you?" Jet looked at her.
"You should, big brother..." Tsuki laughed, hugging him happily.
The young image Tsuki looked around. Her eyes spotted her older self.
"Why did you try to mess with the past?" the young Tsuki asked.
Real-Tsuki turned, leaving a still-stunned Jet. "What...? How do you know I'm...?"
"You interfered, trying to change the past... Now the past shall change you!"
Young-Tsuki dashed forward, the nightstick out. She raised the pistol with her other hand and shouted "Bang".
Tsuki punched Jet out (of the way), and he fell backwards. But the shot was real. It tore open the top of Tsuki's knuckle - Any lower and it would have been her wrist and her life.
"What?" Joseph jumped. "What's going on?"
"I see..." Ryuu muttered. "She tried to change the past, she interfered and changed her memories! She saved Jet in her memory, but he's only an image... No, he's not. This place we're in right now is real!"
"Real?" Joseph gaped.
"Feel it. You can feel every detail now. She altered the memory, and now, it's become real!" Ryuu explained. "But why...? Why's child Tsuki doing...?"
"It's... something she didn't want you all to see..." Miyuu gulped. "She's the murderer."
"WHAT?" Everybody except Miyuu, Jet, and the two Tsukis gaped.
"She's... she's the one who attacks every full moon... It's a condition she has... But she couldn't tell anyone... She just wanted to try and live a full life..." Miyuu looked down. "Please, don't do anything to her! Don't let anyone know!"
"We won't if we survive..." Manic stood by, just watching.
The child-Tsuki, in this time, had reached adult-Tsuki, and brought the nightstick down hard across a-Tsuki's same knuckle. It shattered, and a-Tsuki screamed out in pain, pulling back and slapping the c-Tsuki with her good left hand.
C-Tsuki laughed, ducking down, and smashing a-Tsuki's right knee with the nightstick, smashing the bone and causing an ear-shattering 'crack'. Tsuki howled, jumping backwards, kneeling down on her left knee.
"We have to do something!" Joseph shouted. "She's going to die!"
Manic nodded, and tried to run forward. But his legs wouldn't move.
"I can't... move my legs..." Manic muttered. "I think... Tsuki has to do it... by herself..."
"Run, Tsuki!" Miyuu shouted out.
"You stay out of this!" c-Tsuki shouted, taking aim at a-Tsuki's head. "Say goodbye, bitch!"
A-Tsuki's eyes opened up in fear. She gulped hard. "Please... Don't..."
"You can't alter the past. Think about that in hell!" A-Tsuki pulled the trigger.
There was a bang.
Miyuu screamed.
The wall hit the house behind A-Tsuki, as C-Tsuki fell to the ground, clutching at her heart. She struggled for a moment, let out one moan, and fell silent, the crimson flower spreading over her young chest then dripping onto the ground.
Jet was half-standing, the formerly 'toy' pistol in his hand. He looked over at his sister. "I'm not sure what's going on, but..."
"I can't believe it! You killed me!" Tsuki laughed, running over. "Thank you so much!"
"Okay, what IS going on?" Jet asked. "All I know is I just killed my younger sister!"
Tsuki thought. "Jet... I'm sorry... I was supposed to kill you in that memory..."
"Memory?" Jet blinked.
"He doesn't know..." Miyuu muttered.
"I was supposed to kill you... That was me..."
"You...? So you're my... er... about-same-age sister...? Tsuki?" Jet looked at her.
Tsuki nodded.
"I'm her... But..." Tsuki looked away. "I can't look at you?"
"Why?" Jet asked.
"It's too painfull..." Tsuki kneeled down. "It's too damn painfull... And I know when this place fades out, you'll just go with it..."
"I'm... only an image...?" Jet blinked.
Tsuki nodded grimly. "I'm sorry... Jet..." she took off running, towards a fence.
The fence dissapeared.
She froze, as the ground phased out beside her. She stood in the darkness once again.
"I'm sorry... brother..." Tsuki looked down at the ground.
"For saving me from yourself? Why?" Jet asked.
Tsuki stood straight up and turned. Yes, it was all gone... But Jet was still here!
"Oh my god! Jet! You're alive, you're really alive!" she jumped at him, hugging him close.
Jet laughed.
Miyuu smiled. "Did she change history?"
"No, that's not it..." Ryuu shook his head. "Can't be."
"Why?" Miyuu asked.
"If she had changed history..." Gregario thought, "She'd be dead. Basically, she recreated Jet from her own memories..."
"Which is why he's not aged at all..." Kinzoku nodded, finally understading.
"Err... what?" Joseph looked around. "What was all that now?"
There was a few moments of silence.
Then Joseph's ears perked up. "What's that sound...?"
There, in the distance, was a low roar... a waterfall... a river... a road... a truck...
"I know that sound..." Joseph muttered. "Oh... my... this..."
The scene faded in.
There it was. A lovely road crossing a large river by a bridge, somewhere in the southern-western country of Greenamazon. Joseph smiled. A blue SUV drove along the road towards the bridge, both sides of the river nearly hidden by dense rainforest foliage.
"Ah, it was a good trip, this one..." Joseph sighed. "But..."
"What is going on here? Who are all these people?" Jet asked.
"I'll explain... It's... our worst memories... Some force is playing them out right in front of us like some kind of cruel game!" Tsuki cursed.
Jet thought. "So... I was... one of these memories?"
Tsuki collapsed onto one knee. "Yeah... Oh... God, this hurts..."
Then, suddenly, they were inside the car. There was Joseph, not that long ago. Only a couple years. His mother was driving, a tall, beautiful woman, and beside her, his father. Joseph was in the back seat, with his younger sister, who was wearing pink pants and a rosy-red shirt.
"That's Shinzuka..." Joseph said calmly. "My sister... And my mother, and my father."
They watched.
The mother laughed. "What do you guys think of the trip so far?"
"Good!" Shinzuka smiled. "Oh... Look out the window! It's so beautiful!"
"That's the amazon river..." the mother explained. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah..." Joseph leaned a bit out the window, as his mother turned onto the bridge.
"Here, let me get a picture..." his mother pulled over on the bridge. The thing creaked a bit.
Joseph shuddered. "And we stopped to get a picture..."
"Look at it!" Shinzuka leaned over the edge, staring out over the water. "It's so strange... not like back home... But so beautiful..."
"Absolutly fantastic..." Joseph smiled. He leaned over a bit himself.
His mother got out, and pulled out a camera. She stood at the edge, looking along the river, which ended suddenly in a cloud of mist from a falling waterfall, not too far down.
There was the distant roar of another car, one following the road they had been using.
Joseph's mother looked out over the water, as the car hit the bridge.
There was a loud creak.
"Oh my!" Shinzuka gasped, as the bridge tipped sideways. Something had set it off, finally, after so many years.
Joseph dived into the water, the huge splash of the SUV landing beside him. Joseph was washed underwater without any breath.
"Ah!" Ryuu gulped, as the water swum over all of their heads too, consuming them.
Joseph felt a pull up, as water rushed in to fill up the open car. Like a vacuum. Joseph struggled upwards, but as he went up, he didn't realize that he was going straight into the car!
Joseph let out a few bubbles, his lungs already ready to explode. He looked around. And then, suddenly, he was stuck inside the car.
Thinking quick, Joseph kicked towards the top of the car. For a moment, there was air at everybody's heads, and they took a breath, before the memory-Joseph dived back down, grabbing onto the window.
It was there.
Joseph panicked, feeling the next window. No, it couldn't have shut! Unless the power had malfunctioned! That must have been it!
Joseph quickly felt all the windows. They had been shut. Joseph swam up to the top again, catching a bare gasp of air. It had almost totally filled up in that time. Now, he had to find a way out.
The car was going down on an angle. Joseph looked to his left. There was the hood of the car... If he could get it open...
Taking bare breaths, Joseph struggled around, shifting boxes of soggy gear. He put a box under his feet, giving him a chance to rest for a moment, before he pulled the rest away.
Joseph took a deep breath, made a silent prayer, and dived towards the handle, and yanked it open.
Joseph shot up to the surface, kicking wildly. He had been brought deep.
Joseph's lungs felt ready to burst. Where was the surface?
Joseph dared to open his eyes, and saw light, but it looked far away.
Manic opened his mouth, and began to choke. He shot up fast, as the others did. Only Joseph watched himself scream out.
Joseph's mouth filled with water, and with one last, wild, kick, he pushed to the surface. The real-Joseph shot up from the surface, looking at the shore. All of them now, except for the memories, were almost 'standing' on the water.
"Brother!" Shinzuka shouted from the shore. Edric, Joseph's father, was collapsed on the beach, not breathing. "Mother! Swim to shore!"
Joseph looked over his shoulder. His mother was seemingly unconcious in the center of the current.
There was the loud roar of the waterfall. He wouldn't have time, nor did he even have the energy, to try and save her...
Joseph had been lucky. He had been drawn close. Quickly, he grabbed a branch, and pulled himself onto shore. He ran along the shore, spitting out dirty water as he ran.
"Mother! Mother!" Joseph and Shinzuka shouted.
Joseph stopped suddenly, at the edge of the waterline, further was a sheer cliff face. It was huge. His sister stopped behind him.
"Oh, god, mother!" Shinzuka shouted.
Their mother fell, dissapearing into the mist at the base of the waterfall.
"We have to get down there!" Shinzuka cried out.
Joseph spied a small pathway. "I'll go. You take care of dad!"
"Right... Be carefull..." Shinzuka looked at him.
"I will..." Joseph smiled, as he slowly moved onto the path. It was thin, he had to put his back to the wall.
Slowly, Joseph followed the thin switch-back trail down the cliff face. He still had a long way to go.
A stone fell out from under his feet. Joseph flailed his arms, and ended up pushing himself farther.
Joseph was catapulted down towards the beach at the edge of the waterfall.
Joseph screamed, and Shinzuka ran over, looking down the edge. "Joseph!!" she shouted.
Joseph braced himself for impact, pulling up his legs and arms in front of his main body.. He landed hard on the soft sand. His arms and legs were cut open, right through the clothing, as if polka-dotted with blood. His feet had been slashed open and broken.
"Joseph! Joseph!" he faintly heard Shinzuka calling him.
Slowly, Joseph raised his eyes.
There was the mist at the base of the waterfall. It was a rather calm river that the falls emptied out into. He spied one large, jagged, pointy rock.
Joseph suddenly wretched, holding in bile. He had seen it.
He had seen his mother's impaled body, the blood spattered all the way down the stone like a skewer. Her head hung down, lifeless, and Joseph looked up again.
He saw every detail. The bits of muscle that had attached themselves to the stone added bare description and horrible details.
"That's... disgusting..." Miyuu looked at it, forcing herself to turn away.
"That is... was... my mother..." the real Joseph looked ready to cry.
Younger-Joseph stared, helpless. He looked down at the water.
The water was red around her, and a low stirring was down there, the water was rippling very fast. Pirahna.
His mother's body suddenly slid down, shooting down into the water. A splash came up.
Joseph shouted.
A huge bubble of red extended itself into the water. Joseph retched, the puke landing on the ground beside him. His mother... His dear mother...
"No... No..." Joseph whined out.
He looked, as one thing slowly floated towards him on the water.
He looked. It was white... bone-white.
It was his mother's skull, stripped clean.
"Oh my god..." Tsuki looked at the skull.
Joseph looked at it, as it fixed itself onto the sand and stone. Joseph slowly made his way over, and grabbed at it, holding it close.
"Mother..." Joseph looked down at the skull, holding it tight. He pulled himself off of the sand and onto the ground, and cried.
As he cried, he collapsed.
The scene faded out.
Ryuu looked at Joseph. "I... I didn't know..."
"Consider yourself lucky..." Manic muttered.
"Lucky!? I lost my mother, I nearly died, and I nearly lost my father!" Joseph shouted.
"But you didn't lose you, your father, or your sister. Your whole family could have died!" Manic pointed out.
"You say that as if you don't really care about what's happened!" Joseph shouted.
Manic laughed. "Mabye I don't. The past is the past. I don't think any memory I have could make me cry..."
"There's always something" Ryuu shook his head. "We've seen it... There's only the three of us now - me, Manic, and Kinzoku..."
Gregario nodded. "So who's the next unlucky victim?"
"I told you, there is not..." Manic began.
The scene began to reform. Winds whipped about. A house stood a good distance from a high cliff, at least 50 feet above the ground.
"Not a single... a sin..." Manic froze.
Manic was standing beside the house, looking very young. He was practicing his karate chop in mid-air.
"Maaanic.." a voice whispered in the air.
Manic froze.
"You rotten little kid..."
Then there was somebody else. In the door of the house. Manic froze.
The man was obviously related to Manic. He was taller then Manic, his black coat and black jeans covering his body up. The teen laughed.
"Rishaldow..." real-Manic growled. "My brother. My twisted, sick brother..."