Games
Ch 17: The Anti-Merome Chapter
Ian and Quentin spill out of their room, bawling their eyes out. "I'm so sorry, Ian!"
"It's alright, I'm sorry, too, Quentin!"
They attack each other with hugs, and I raise an eyebrow. "Uh, w-what happened to y-you guys?" I ask, still not completely recovered from the Challenge.
"The G-GameMaster took control of our b-bodies and forced us to f-fight each other!" Quentin sniffles.
"He s-said it was to the d-death, but he seemed a little preoccupied, so we were able to b-break free and control ourselves before any s-s-serious damage was done," Ian adds.
"And then afterward, the GameMaster h-healed us and said he had to go f-focus more on one of the other groups," Quentin says.
Who wants to bet he was focusing on my group? It must take a lot of energy to kill someone in twenty seconds.
"What happened in y-your Challenge?" Ian asks.
"U-Uh... Oh, just stuff. Nothing as bad as yours," I tell them, moving to the other side of the hallway. "Who do you think will finish next?"
"No idea," Quentin replies.
Right as he says this, Mitch and Jerome fling their door open and tumble out. They glance at each other for a moment and then jump to opposite sides of the hallway. "ACK! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU FILTHY BACCA!" Mitch screeches, drawing a sword that I didn't know he had.
"AHH! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER, YOU EVIL HUMAN!" Jerome shrieks, spinning around to face me. "ARGH! ANOTHER HUMAN!" My eyes widen and I step back. Jerome turns again only to be faced with Ian's confused expression. "ACK! HUMANS EVERYWHERE!" He glances at Quentin. "Fish! Protect me! We're allies, right!? No hard feelings about my diet of raw fish?" he asks, hiding behind Quentin and peeking out at us 'humans.'
Quentin tenses slightly at the 'fish' comment, but he gets over it quickly. "Jerome, Sky and Ian aren't going to hurt you. I can't really speak for Mitch, though," he trails off, looking at Mitch's drawn sword.
"If the creature comes anywhere near me, I will not hesitate to stab it," Mitch threatens. Ooh, ouch. He called Jerome an 'it.' That must hurt.
"And I will rip him to shreds if he takes a single step toward me," Jerome replies, flashing his canines. Kay, maybe it didn't hurt as much as I thought.
"Guys, what's going on?" I ask.
Mitch growls. "The stupid bacca tribe attacked my village, killed my family," he snarls, staring directly at Jerome. "And now I'm going to kill the last bacca standing."
"You attacked us first!" Jerome argues, stepping out from behind Quentin and baring his teeth. "You're the one who deserves death, you heartless prince!"
"Prince?" Ian whispers. We ignore him, because that is not important at the moment.
"Woah, woah, calm yourselves," I step in, glancing at the two of them. "What happened in that room?"
"That dirty animal's species attacked my home village in the middle of the night. I was only eight when it happened, but the freaking baccas," he spits the word, "didn't give a rip. They murdered my parents right in front of me, and then they tried to kill me, too."
"The humans started it!" Jerome cries out. "The freaking humans figured that because we're different, we're evil. They forced our hand. Our attack was just one battle that happened to end one war, and the humans weren't the only ones with casualties." Jerome hisses at Mitch, "This freakling here killed my father."
"Right after he tore my parents to shreds!" Mitch adds. "I was only avenging them! As soon as I stumbled out of the house and into the streets – which were a huge mess, by the way – without my parents, the rest of my village assumed that their leaders were dead, because only over their cold, dead, bodies would my parents have allowed me to go outside alone during a battle."
"So the imbecilic village went even farther into a panic than they already had," Jerome explains, not moving his gaze from Mitch's face, "because they knew this moron wouldn't be able to take his parents' place."
"I was eight!" Mitch yells.
Jerome glares at him. "And already you were a murderer."
"As were you!"
"At least I didn't kill people without good reason! You're almost as wicked as your stupid, malevolent parents!"
"Shut up!"
I run forward and hold Mitch back while Quentin pushes Jerome back against the wall. "I think we need help from Therapist Seto!" I shout frantically as Mitch fights to get away from me and towards Jerome.
"LET ME GO! LET ME AT HIM, SKY!" Mitch screams. "LET ME TEAR HIM TO PIECES JUST LIKE HIS FATHER DID TO MY PARENTS!"
"CUT IT OUT, QUENTIN!" Jerome screeches. "LET ME GO SO I CAN RIP HIM LIMB FROM LIMB FOR MY FATHER!"
"SETO! NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO FINISH YOUR CHALLENGE!" Ian shrieks as Jerome tries to bite him.
A few seconds of struggling and threatening later, Seto walks out of the fourth room. He's holding up Jason, who is a mess of tears and would probably collapse without Seto's support. "Uh... You guys okay there?" Seto asks, glancing between Mitch and Jerome.
I huff. "Do we look okay? Mitch and Jerome want to murder each other!"
"Why?" Seto asks with wide eyes as he sets Jason's sobbing form down on the floor.
"The GameMaster did something – I don't even know – and now they're super mad. Mitch thinks Jerome killed his parents, and Jerome thinks Mitch killed his father."
"Because he did!" Mitch and Jerome yell simultaneously.
"Right..," Seto says cautiously, looking at the two. "So, is this something about your past?"
"HE ATTACKED MY VILLAGE!"
"THE HUMANS DESTROYED MY SPECIES!"
"Got it. Okay, so the GameMaster must have made you guys relive the night when the baccas invaded Mitch's village." Seto sighs. "Now, I doubt the GameMaster showed you what happened after the initial attack, but I still have to know for sure. Guys?"
Mitch, still seething with anger, shakes his head, and Jerome does the same. "All we went through was the main part of the attack," Mitch says.
"Okay. Now, this is going to be difficult, since you two can't remember anything before the game show other than the attack. But you're going to have to at least try to remember what happened after the attack on Mitch's village. Close your eyes and try to focus on that part of your memory."
"Oh, you mean the part that's nonexistent?" Mitch snaps. Seto sighs again.
"Just try, okay?"
Mitch and Jerome reluctantly close their eyes, and Mitch relaxes slightly as he stops fighting to get free. "A-Alright," Mitch begins. "After the attack... After Jerome's nasty murderer of a father killed my parents-" Jerome cuts him off with a growl, and Mitch grits his teeth but restarts. "After my parents were killed, I ran out onto the street, and... a-and... And I elbowed my way through the crowd of people and baccas, looking for... looking for... for their leader. For the baccas' leader."
Seto nods. "Good, good. Keep going."
"And... um... And I saw an older-looking bacca outside the village church, and he was pushing a much younger bacca inside-"
"The little bacca was me," Jerome puts in. "And the older one was my grandfather."
"Right. A-And after I saw them, I walked up to them, trying to look confident, and... uh..."
"And you punched my grandfather in the face."
"Yes, I did. And it wasn't hard, either, because your grandfather was a weak little-"
"Focus!" Seto commands. Mitch and Jerome fall silent. "Continue."
"So after I punched his grandfather, his grandfather yelled for him to hide inside the church, and then he turned back towards me, and he laughed because I was just a kid. And at first he didn't want to hurt me, but then I drew my sword-"
"And you tried to kill him," Jerome finishes for him, barely containing his obvious anger. "But my grandfather was not weak, and you were-"
"I was not weak!"
"FOCUS!"
Jerome sighs, and Mitch lets out an angry breath before saying, "And then the old animal stabbed me with his diamond axe-"
"With Betty."
"With Betty, and I fell to the ground. And... and... what happened next?"
"My grandfather left you there," Jerome takes over, closing his eyes again to try to get a hold on his memories. "He didn't want to kill you, because you were just a kid. Admittedly, my grandfather was a bit of an idiot. One of the humans saw their dead leaders' son crying on the ground, and they attacked my grandfather."
"And they killed him," Mitch says.
"Yes. They killed him. Your people killed him."
"Keep going," Seto urges them.
"Then another bacca killed that human, and I crawled into the church, forgetting that the bacca kid was still in there," Mitch continues. "And... and... Um..."
"Hmm, I can't... I... um..," Jerome trails off, failing at remembering his past. I mean, they did get their memories wiped at the beginning of the game show, I'm surprised they've made it this far. Whatever the GameMaster put them through must have helped them remember a little.
"I'm guessing that was when this murderous animal jumped out of his hiding spot and tried to kill me just like his father and grandfather did," Mitch says, glaring at Jerome.
"I'm not murderous, and neither were they!" Jerome protests. "If anyone's murderous, you are!"
"Please, me? I was defending myself, I was eight!"
"And so was I! It's not my fault you malicious humans waged war on the baccas!"
"Malicious!?" Mitch yells. "We aren't evil, we were just trying to rid the world of your sinful species!"
"Just because we're soft and furry doesn't mean we're full of fury!" Jerome shouts, looking frustrated.
Mitch scoffs. "Oh, yeah, how many times did your stupid grandfather tell you that? Count it up, and you've got a fraction of the amount of times he lied to you about your species."
"I hope Herobrine has room in the Nether, because that's where you're going," Jerome growls, breaking away from Quentin.
"If I'm gonna be burning in the Nether, you're gonna be burning right next to me," Mitch sneers, shoving me away. I stumble back a few steps before I can regain my footing.
"Seto!" I screech. "Do something!"
Muahah, this chapter and the next were really fun, too. :3
OMIGOSH UR REACTIONS TO LAST CHAPTER THO
THE STORY WAS LITERALLY ONLY UP FOR LIKE FIVE MINUTES AND PEOPLE WERE ALREADY CRYING AT BURGER KING XD
Baiii, my be-ay-yoo-tiful Rulers! ALSO I AM GETTING RELIABLE WIFI TODAY YAYAAYAYAY