Ok, chapter 3 is up now! I hope y'all enjoy it!
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Big Brother
Week 3, Day 1
It is a sad day in the house, as most of the cast is sorry to see Mirage go, but she just wasn't funny enough for our viewers' tastes. This morning, she is dressed as Aisha from "Outlaw Star". She has gathered her things and left the house in time, waving a last farewell to the rest of the cast.
After breakfast, everyone wanders about the house looking for something to do. Cliff quickly finds a keg and is drunk off his ass before ten. Fayt is very busy restocking his stashes, as he has just made a huge purchase. Maria is altering the labels on the snack foods to look less fattening. Nel is making a quick trip to the kitchen for more snacks, traveling through the air ducts. Sophia is jumping up and down on her new scale, screaming, "149 pounds, my ass!". Roger is hiding in a corner, cowering in fear of the rabid possum. Peppita is hunting the possum with a mallet, as Roger has informed her of this dire threat to his health. Albel is laughing at the cowardly Menodix and searching for the possum as well, as he would like to gain the creature as a valuable ally.
Peppita sneaks around corners and down halls, slinking along the walls as silently as she possibly can. She holds the mallet high over her head, ready to strike anything that moves. She peeks around a corner and quickly makes the turn, watching closely for any movement. She sees something move in the shadows and slams the mallet down on it, "Gotcha!". She hears a shrill, girlish scream and Roger leaps out of the shadows, his tail a bloody, smashed mess. On the other side of the room, Albel is rolling around on the floor, laughing.
After having his tail repaired, Roger goes back downstairs to sit on the couch. He plops down on the couch and the possum leaps out from under the throw pillows and mauls him again. Peppita runs in with the mallet to smack the possum, but it jumps out of the way just in time, and she splatters Roger's brains all over the couch.
After having his brain put back in, Roger goes to the kitchen for a snack. As he walks in, he catches a whiff of fresh fish. He looks around and sees Albel in the doorway, holding a huge fish by the tail. Roger starts to drool, "Whatcha gonna' do with that fish, Albel?"
"It's for you," he answers, "as a sort of apology. I realize that I've been especially mean lately and want to make it up to you."
Roger jumps excitedly onto the fish, gnawing at it with enthusiasm. Albel drops the fish and walks into the dining room to where a huge wooden crate is sitting on the floor. He picks up the crowbar lying next to it and jams it between the edge and the lid. With one massive jerk of the crowbar, the lid flies off. The inside of the box is dark with shadows, but soon, hundreds of pairs of brightly glowing eyes can be seen from within the darkness. The creatures within smell the fish as well and suddenly, every stray cat from the ally behind the Chinese restaurant comes pelting out of the box and into the kitchen. Roger looks up just in time to catch a cat in the face as the hundreds of ally cats jump on him and the fish, engulfing them in a mass of moving fur and claws.
Within seconds, the cats jump off the skeletal remains of their meal and run out the open door, which Albel slams shut behind them. They leave in their wake, one huge fish skeleton, a lot of cat hair, and one shredded Menodix. The paramedics take Roger away for more surgery.
Back in his room, Roger is lying in bed, thinking it the safest place for him, when a rather small paramedic walks in, shutting the door behind him. "Who are you?" Roger asks, "Are you new?" The small paramedic turns and Roger sees that it is really the possum in a tiny paramedic uniform. "Aw, shit!" Roger screams as the little beast attacks him again. In runs Peppita, swinging the mallet over her head and bringing it down on the possum. The possum jumps out of the way, however, and all she hits is Roger's stomach. His paramedics will be repairing his ribs for hours.
After lunch, Roger is putting up some left overs to eat later. He opens the refrigerator door and out flies the possum, right onto his face. His girlish screaming alerts Peppita who runs in, mallet ready. He sees her coming and dodges as she swings the mallet at his head. The mallet strikes the fridge, which promptly falls on the little Menodix. The possum escapes unharmed, of coarse.
The possum is wandering down the upstairs hallway when he smells something enticing. He realizes that the delicious smell is coming from a door ahead of him and picks up speed, trotting down the hall and into the door. In the middle of the floor, he sees a plate piled high with raw steaks and he leaps onto it, gorging himself on the delicious meat. Suddenly, he hears the door slam behind him and turns to see a tall figure standing in front of it. He starts to growl, but the man holds out another steak and the little beast snatches it away greedily and starts gnawing on it. "We have something in common, you and I," the man says, "a hatred for that little fool, Roger." The possum nods, still gnawing his steak. "Let's be friends," the man says, extending his hand. The possum places his paw in it and they shake, the two new allies laughing maniacally.
Later that night, after everyone else has fallen asleep, two figures sneak out an open second story window and creep along the roof until they reach another window. It's Albel and his new best friend, Alphonso C. Possum III, in matching black outfits, looking just like a couple of burglars. Alf, as Albel calls him, quickly cuts a small circle in the glass with his claw and pulls it out. Albel reaches in and unlocks the window, pulling it up enough for the two of them to climb in. Once in Roger's room, the two miscreants sneak up to the bed, where Roger lays, strapped to his mattress so he won't fall out of bed. Stifling their laughter, they place a few fast acting sleeping pills in his mouth and massage his throat to make him swallow. They wait for thirty minutes, watching the time go by on their wristwatches, before grabbing the little Menodix and carrying him outside. They take him back to Albel's room, where there is a huge bowl of papier-mache and some painting supplies. They work fast to cover the little brat, shaping the casing like a mule, and then dry the papier-mache with hair dryers. They then paint him quickly and dry that with the hair dryers. With little time left, they rush outside and hang the Roger pinata from a tree in the backyard and run back inside laughing.
Day 2
In the morning, everyone runs down the stairs for breakfast. "We got another challenge letter this morning," Sophia says.
"This early in the week?" Fayt asks, not quite stoned yet.
"Who are we to question the system, maggot?" Albel asks.
"So what's the challenge?" Cliff asks, having his first drink of the morning.
"It says that there's a pinata hanging in the backyard. We each get a turn to hit it and the person who destroys it most thoroughly wins."
"Hey," Peppita says, "that sounds kinda' familiar. Where have I heard that before?" Albel whistles innocently.
Maria is looking around and doesn't see Roger anywhere. "Where is Roger?" she asks.
"Oh," Peppita says, "There was a note outside his door, it says that he doesn't feel well and that he's just gonna' stay in bed for a while."
"But he'll miss the immunity challenge," Nel says.
"Who cares," Albel says, getting up and walking toward the door, "get up or the rest of you worms will miss it."
They all dash outside and find the donkey pinata hanging from the tree in the backyard. A baseball bat is propped up against the trunk of the tree, and Sophia picks it up. She swings, but doesn't hit quite hard enough. Next, it's Maria's turn; she swings hard, but the pinata remains intact. Peppita gets a spinning start and slams the bat into the pinata, but it just does a few loops over the branch it's hanging from and stays in one piece.
"What the hell is this pinata made of?" Maria asks, eyeing it up. Nel swings and has similar luck. Next, Albel wacks it, sending it in another set of loops, but not quite breaking it open. Fayt swings, but is far too stoned by now to hit and misses by a long shot, the bat slipping from his hand and hitting a rock. It bounces off the rock and hits the pinata (apparently, Roger is a magnet for pain no matter what the circumstances). Last, it is Cliff's turn; he picks up the bat and, focusing hard, swings with all his might. The pinata bursts in half, but instead of the candy Peppita runs to catch, blood and entrails rain down, covering the little Velbaysian girl.
Everyone is freaking out, everyone that is, except Albel, who is rolling around on the ground, laughing so hard that he's crying. Roger's paramedics rush out to the rescue, picking little pieces of Menodix out of the grass and carrying the gory mess away for reconstructive surgery. Back in the house, Albel returns to his room to find Alf sitting on the windowsill, where he watched the whole thing; he is laughing hysterically. They high-five and then Albel rewards his little friend with another steak.
Once the others figure out who is responsible, they spend the rest of the day chasing the madman around the house (unaware that the possum was in on it too). Another full day of mischief for everyone's favorite psycho.
Day 3
After yesterday's pinata incident, everyone is quite upset with Albel. At breakfast, they all stare menacingly at him as he snickers between bites. Roger, of coarse, is the most upset. He is trying to think up a good way to humiliate Albel.
He spends the rest of the morning after breakfast thinking up revenge and, several possum attacks later, comes up with something. He goes to the door to the basement and opens it, walking slowly down the stairs so as not to fall. He falls anyway and crashes into some antique glass bottles, behind which were hiding some scorpions. After being cut up by glass and stung by the scorpions, he walks forward to where rows upon rows of glowing monitors displaying the whole house illuminate the silhouette of a large chair. "Um...Nel?" he calls timidly.
"Come closer," she says, not turning to face him. He steps cautiously toward the chair. "What brings you here, young Menodix?" Nel asks, still not turning.
"Um...," he starts, somewhat frightened, "I...I need your help." Nel turns in her chair; she is stroking a fluffy Persian with one hand, and drumming the fingers of her other hand on an arm of the chair, her face is covered in the deep shadows, but her green eyes glow in the pale light of the basement. "Speak," she says.
Later, Roger calls everyone into the living room. Once everyone is seated, he picks up the remote control and pushes the 'play' button, starting a copy of one of Nel's security tapes. On the tv, everyone watches the tape of Albel's day on happy pills. They laugh hysterically as he dances through the flowers, singing "I Feel Pretty" with little kittens prancing around his feet.
On one end of the couch, Albel has invented a new color; his face is somewhere between red and purple. "YOU MAGGOT!" he screams, rushing forward and grabbing the little brat by the throat. He reaches for his sword and slits Roger open; he then rips out Roger's entrails and loops them around his neck, throttling the Menodix with his own intestines.
Sadly, we must stop this rampage with tranquilizer darts so that Roger's paramedics can take him away and put his intestines back in, though with them being stretched as they are, it may be a little bit difficult.
The rest of the day consists of multiple Albel, possum, Albel/possum ambushes on the little Menodix, sending him back for operation after operation.
Day 4
Albel is upset; VERY upset. He and his new friend have much work to do. During breakfast, the two evil geniuses scheme up a perfect revenge for Roger. With their combined brilliance, they finally come up with a devious plan.
Roger decides he wants to play with his action figures and goes upstairs to his room after breakfast; a breakfast at which Albel did not appear. He opens the door and the scene within horrifies him; all of his action figures have been beheaded and hung from the ceiling by their ankles, blood dripping from their necks. He looks at the far wall and on it, a message is written in messy blood letters: "YOU'RE NEXT, RODENT FOOL!". The little Menodix turns and runs, terrified, downstairs, tripping and falling on a pile of broken glass at the bottom. He runs screaming, full of glass shards, into the kitchen and bumps into the counter, knocking off a huge cutlery set, which promptly lands on him, cutting him even more.
By this time, Roger is screaming his tiny head off and everyone (except Albel, of coarse) runs in to see what's the matter. He tells them about what he saw in his room and everything that's happened to him since and they run upstairs to check in his room. They get there, but find nothing out of the ordinary. Roger looks around in disbelief as everyone walks out. "But it was here!" he yells, "My action figures! The bloody writing! It was here!" He suddenly feels a chill go up his spine and turns around slowly. There in the shadows, two pairs of eyes gleam out at him, one red, the other yellow. The eyes vanish and he screams again, running back down the stairs to join the others. He trips and falls on an upturned nail in the stairs, but keeps running, not wanting to be left alone. Meanwhile, Albel and Alf laugh at him as they watch from the shadows, high-fiving again and vanishing to prepare faze two of their evil plot.
All throughout the day, Roger feels as though he is being watched. Sometimes he turns and no ones there, but other times, he sees the eyes glowing in the shadows. They always disappear quickly, but he is absolutely terrified.
Later, Roger climbs wearily into bed; it's been a long day and he really needs to sleep. The weirdest part is that neither Albel nor the possum attacked him all day. He lays down, but something feels weird. He grabs at the mattress and takes a huge hand full of something cold, slimy, and wiggling. He turns on his lamp and screams, as he discovers that he is holding a hand full of maggots. He looks down at his bed, which is covered by the squirming creatures. He hears diabolical laughter and turns to see Albel faintly outlined in the pale light, his crimson eyes gleaming murder, and on his shoulder the possum, his eyes glowing yellow. "Maggots for the maggot, fool!" Albel laughs before exiting via window.
Roger screams and runs to get everyone, but as before, everything is gone when the others arrive. They are really ticked at Roger now and leave him, starting to understand why Albel likes to beat the little dweeb up so much. "But...but," he calls after them, "you don't understand! He's out to get me! The possum too! They're here!" The others ignore him however, wandering back to their rooms to sleep. Roger doesn't sleep that night, as the evil laughter outside is scaring the crap out of him (quite literally actually).
Day 5
Another day begins and after breakfast, everyone goes about their ususal activities. Fayt is once again 'puffing the magic dragon', Maria is switching low-fat foods with their regular forms, Sophia is running like a maniac in order to lose all the extra pounds she's been gaining, Cliff is getting hammered, Peppita is having a tea party with her stuffed animals, Nel is feeding her Persian, Roger is hiding from Albel and the possum, and Albel is off somewhere plotting evil.
The bloody postal service was running a bit behind, so the mail was a little late this morning, meaning that our challenge letter didn't arrive before breakfast. When it does, Nel just happens to be raiding the fridge. She takes the letter and calls everyone into the living room. "We have our next challenge," she announces.
"Is it the real challenge letter?" Maria asks. Everyone looks at Albel, who just shrugs his shoulders.
"Yes," Nel answers, "we are to go outside; everything is already set up."
They all walk outside to find a huge above-ground pool set up, over which is a log. "We're supposed to fight a tournament up there," Nel explains, "we draw for our first opponent, and then progress through the tournament."
"What do we fight with?" Sophia asks, looking around for weapons.
"The letter doesn't say," Nel says, giving the letter another glance, "it just says to go to the other side of the pool to pick out our weapons."
Everyone runs excitedly to the other side of the pool, eager to get first pick of weapons, but what they see shocks them; lying in the grass beside the pool are not weapons, but giant tuna fish.
Many profanities, kicks to the pool, and accidental (and some not in Albel's case) injuries to Roger later, everyone picks up a fish and reaches into a nearby hat to draw a slip of paper with their first opponent's name on it.
First up, Peppita vs. Fayt. The two stand on opposite ends of the log, brandishing their fish like swords. Fayt seems to be having a hard time keeping his balance, but that's the price you pay for smoking pot. They walk to the middle and start to fight. Fayt swings his tuna at Peppita's head, but misses by a long shot, spinning off balance and falling into the pool. Everyone stares in disbelief. He doesn't come up for a while, so we send someone in to get him; turns out he was trying to light a joint down there. What a dumbass.
Next is Cliff vs. Nel. Once to the middle of the log, Cliff swings hard, but Nel ducks and rolls under him. He jumps to avoid her tuna as she swings it at his feet. The fight doesn't last long, however, as Cliff swings a bit too hard and Nel dodges, bringing her fish across his exposed backside and knocking him into the pool below.
Now it's time for Albel vs. Maria. The two of them clash fish like swords, blocking and parrying, trying hard to strike at each other. Suddenly, Maria slips on some fish slime on the log; while she is trying to regain her balance, Albel wacks her with the fish. She's not going to be in a very good mood when she gets out of the pool.
And finally, it's Sophia vs. Roger. Sophia is reluctant to hit Roger, as she is afraid she'll hurt him. With this advantage, all Roger has to do is smack her with the fish and he wins, though she probably won't be so nice to him in the future after being hit with a fish and doused.
And now for the first match of the semifinals: Peppita vs. Roger! Peppita seems to be having a hard time hanging onto the fish now and Roger, seeing this as the only way he can possibly win, takes advantage of Peppita's moment of weakness, slamming his tuna into her as hard as he can. She's probably not going to be very nice to him later either.
Last match of the semifinals: Albel vs. Nel! Nel has cut her tuna in half to more closely resemble her double-dagger fighting style. She starts slinging the tuna halves around, trying to smack Albel in the face. He is wise to this however, and uses his tuna like a shield, while kicking under it to knock her feet out from under her. Another splash and the semifinals are over.
Who would have guessed it? The final match: Albel vs. Roger! Roger is definitely intimidated, as we can hear his knees rattling very clearly. He swings blindly at Albel, who blocks with his tuna again. Roger holds his fish up in front of him defensively in preparation for Albel's strike, but being almost three times smaller than his adversary, it does him no good and he is swept into the pool with one brutal swing.
Before the ripples even fade, the water around the fallen Menodix is immediately disturbed, churning into a bloody froth. It seems that somehow (and geez, I wonder how) piranhas have gotten into the pool. They chew Roger up rather badly and swim away, leaving what's left of the little brat to sink to the bottom of the pool. Roger hits the bottom and looks slowly around, to find himself staring into beady yellow eyes again. There's Alphonso the possum in goggles and flippers with a snorkel. Alf laughs a bubbly laugh before tearing into the helpless Roger once again. Still on the log above, Albel laughs maniacally.
Twice in a row now, Albel has won immunity. The day ends with reconstructive surgery for Roger, a drinking contest between Fayt and Cliff, Sophia and Peppita planing revenge on Roger, Nel in the basement feeding her cat, Albel and Alf are celebrating the success of their scheme with a few drinks, and Maria is shooting paint balls in the yard (to keep from hurting Roger again) and Roger runs out to see what she's playing with and ends up shot in the head, with the paint ball somehow penetrating to his brain.
It is late at night and almost everyone is asleep...almost everyone. Two figures creep up the stairs and down the hallway to the room at the end, opening the door quietly and entering. In the dim moonlight shining through the window of Albel's room, we see that the two figures are Sophia and Peppita. "I'm glad you could make it," says Albel. He is seated at a desk (again-no idea where that came from) in front of the window with Alf on his shoulder, their eyes slightly glowing in the pale light. "What can I help you with?" he asks.
"We want you to help us get back at Roger for humiliating us today," Sophia answers.
"Yeah!" Peppita adds, "And for being a bully!"
"Then you've come to the right place," he says, taking a raw steak from a desk drawer and feeding it to the possum on his shoulder, who gobbles it greedily, "we can help you. What would you have us do?" The girls explain their plan hurriedly, trying not to laugh. Albel and Alphonso listen intently, nodding and making modifications where needed. "Excellent," Albel says when they have finished, making a small pyramid shape with his fingers, Monty Burns on 'The Simpsons' style; on his shoulder, Alf does the same.
Day 6
After breakfast, everyone runs off to get to their usual routines. Once again, Albel is nowhere to be seen. We finally spot him in his room pulling sealed iron drums full of something into his window. There is a crane outside lifting them in; it is of coarse being controlled by none other than Alf. Once all the drums are in, Alf jumps up into the window and the two look at the five barrels they've hoisted through the window, snickering a little.
"Time to take these to the rodent fool's room," Albel says, loading one onto a dolly and starting to wheel it out into the hall. Alf laughs as he runs back outside to get their other supplies. After taking all the barrels to Roger's room, Albel and Alf don radiation suits and pry the lids off the drums with crowbars, revealing glowing neon-green radioactive waste. They start laughing maniacally as they begin picking up everything in the room and dipping it into the barrels. They pull out paintbrushes and start painting radioactive waste on the furniture, fan, walls , ceiling, windows, etc.
Meanwhile, Peppita and Sophia are keeping Roger busy in the living room. "I'm so glad you two aren't made at me," he says, playing with the stuffed animals. The two conspirators exchange a glance and continue to entertain their target.
In Roger's room, Albel and Alf watch the radioactive ooze soak into everything and then drag the barrels out, laughing maniacally.
The day goes by with nothing too unusual. Cliff is plastered, Fayt is stoned, Maria is fattening every low-fat food in the house, Sophia is screaming about not fitting into her clothes anymore, Peppita is playing with her stuffed animals, Roger is returning from the ER, Nel is watching everything from the monitors in her room, and Albel and Alf are drinking to their victory.
Later that night, Roger goes into his room and climbs into bed, pulling the sheets up over his head (as if that will protect him). Behind him, he hears deep throated laughter. He whirls around to find his dresser right next to his bed, laughing between long fangs in its gargantuan maw, green eyes glowing with evil. On the dresser, his action figures are laughing their high-pitched laughs as they walk toward him, toy weapons raised over their heads. Roger screams and tries to run away, but the dresser picks him up by the tail, turns around, and starts shaking him like a rag doll. The rest of the furniture joins in, the chair punching him with its front legs, the table kicking him with its hind legs, the bed popping out springs to stab him with, the action figures shooting and stabbing him, the fan slashing him with its blades, etc.
The sounds of rampaging furniture and the screaming Roger can be heard all over the house. In Albel's room, he and Alf sit, cupping their ears as they listen to the first of the screams. "I must say," Albel says, pouring more scotch into his furry accomplice's glass, "breaking into that nuclear power plant and stealing the radioactive waste was just brilliant! Why didn't we think of it before?" Alf, who is wearing a small, monogrammed smoking jacket, swirls the scotch in his glass in one paw while smoking a pipe with the other. He squeaks a reply and Albel laughs (he understands that? we think he's been spending waaaaaay too much time with his furry friend...).
After burning everything in the room, Roger's paramedics are able to remove what's left of him and rush him too surgery. They really have their work cut out for them this time.
Day 7
The four conspirators look very pleased with themselves in the morning. The three at the breakfast table keep grinning and the furry one, still in Albel's room, is still snickering to himself.
The day goes by as usual, with nothing really out of the ordinary. It's just the usual smoking, drinking, spying, food contaminating, bloody kind of day.
Everyone finally goes to bed, bored silly with the monotony of the day. As Roger lays down and tries to fall asleep, he suddenly has a feeling of unease. He opens his eyes and looks up at the ceiling; there, hanging from a blade of the slowly spinning ceiling fan by his tail, is Alf. The little possum glares down evilly at the Menodix, snickering his maniacal snicker before launching down onto his hapless prey below. The screams of the embattled Roger echo through the house as he tries desperately to fight off the psychotic marsupial, who proceeds to shred him like a teddy bear in a blender.
RESULTS: Peppita has been voted out!
Ok, remember in chapter one when I said something about original characters? First one: Alphonso C. Possum III! Inspiration: I live in a rural area near a small forest and all kinds of wildlife ends up in my yard. There are many cute things, like bunnies and pretty birds, but there are also...possums. I was having a lot of trouble with possums in the yard at the time I wrote chapter 2, so it kind of showed up in the story. At first, the possum was only going to appear in the garbage truck scene in the last chapter, but my little brother loved it so much and I saw potential, thus Alf gained a greater role. For those of you who have never had the chance to meet a possum in real life, they really are this mean and nasty, just not as bright.
