Story 1: The Life & Tragedies of DJ

Chapter 2

Joshua is confused as he looks at Sanguina.

"The fuck do you mean, 'welcome home'?" he angrily ask. He stands up, "The fuck is gong on!?"

Sanguina explains, "Your father got the wrong attention of the wrong people. As for that..." she looks away while looking sad. "He is gone."

Joshua has a flashback of his father getting killed by the cops for a moment as he slowly comes to realization that the life he had is over.

The man in the werewolf speaks to Sanguina, "Are you sure it is a good idea to bring him here?" He worries about their safety.

The Cyberpunk 2077 girl replies, "Relax." She sounds more chill compared to the rest of the people in the room, "I disabled his phone and it is bug free. They can't trace him now."

The young boy says in a harsh tone, "And those pigs are blaming him for it!"

The fox-girl just stands in cold silence with her arms crossed and looks at Joshua. Joshua is completely stunned as he falls back down trying to come to terms with his father gone, he's being hunted as a criminal, and he can't go back.

The man wearing the werewolf shirt corrects his question, "I mean, is it a good idea to bring him here in Claremont." He is very cross and is very mistrustful of the new kid staying in their home.

Sanguina looks at him, "It was David's last wish in the event of his death, Lupis."

Lupis throws his arms up in frustration, "That's just fucking great!" He is more pissed, "The guy that we had keeping an eye on the other ticks is dead! They are probably onto us right now and would come in here guns blazing! And we have to look out for this brat!?"

"HEY!" says the boy.

"You know what I mean, Sammy!"

"I told you a dozen times, its Holo!"

"ENOUGH!" Sanguina orders with a loud tone and her fangs gotten larger.

Many of her members backed away in fear because of Sanguina's vampiric anger. Joshua, on the other hand, is still in shock with all he can hear is the ringing in his ears because his world has been turned upside down.

Sanguina takes a deep breath to calm down.

"Look. Joshua is staying with us and that is that."

Lupis snarls and leaves, "Whatever. I'm getting something to drink."

Holo asks, "Can you get me a pomegrapple smoothie?"

Lupis growls at Holo with an angry mouth full of sharp fangs and his eyes are yellow as a wolf. Holo yipped as he hides behind the girl in Cyperpunk 2077 clothes.

The girl scoffs, "You should lighten-up more." She then raises her voice at Lupis, "And I told you, not to scare Holo like that."

Lupis just snarl and slams the door on his way out.

Sanguina turns her attention at Joshua, "You're gonna have to forgive Lupis. He is not a fan of... Josh?" Sanguina approaches the teen, "Josh? Josh." She snaps three times at his face, "Josh!"

Joshua snaps back into reality with a sharp gasp. He quickly turn his head at Sanguina.

"Josh?"

Everything became quiet for a moment before he cries and holds Sanguina tight. Joshua let out all of his tears and sadness from losing everything. Sanguina tries to comfort him by hugging him back and pet his head.

Joshua is taken to where he will be staying for the time he will be with Sanguina's gang. The room is very clean yet small and tight that is approximately 6 feet wide yet 10 feet long with a single window. The room is white with a small ceiling light with a fan yet looks like it is meant to capture wind in a small, spherical shape. There is a single bed by the window with grey bed sheets and a pillow along with a blue blanket with yellow stars on it. There is a wooden dresser that is old yet still has its finish on it with black, curved handles with four drawers. On it is a small, digital alarm clock with the numbers glowing red that has a radio function with the shape of it being squared and colored white and seems to be analog.

"This will be your room for now, Josh." says Sanguina. "You might need some time to get used to this small space."

Joshua steps in as he approach his bed with a sad expression still on his face. He looks down on his bed while ignoring the lights coming through his windows.

"Is there anything you need?"

Joshua takes a deep inhale through his nose before speaking, "You know, papa and I were planning on coming here on summer vacation with my friends. I always wanted to come here to this Punker town."

He looks out the window where he can see a prism-shaped glass that stands 50 feet high with lightning coming out of it that looks like a tree as the sunsets with the lighting being blue as in contrast with the gold to red to purple. He can barely make out some of the buildings with paper lanterns that dot much of the outside with some turning on a few electrical lights in the form of Victorian-era street lamps. He can make out some of the people wearing a variety of different types of clothes. Some are wearing steampunk attire with others wearing a mix of African and Asian clothing that one would describe as solarpunk. Others are dressed like witches and wizards with some having capes that look like moth wings with some having Wiccan or Celtic tattoos that glow. Others have other forms of clothing of various punk styles such as seapunk, afropunk, cyberpunk, decopunk, etc. as they come out and look like they're about ready to party.

He cracks a small smile, "I always wanted to see how people like to party." But his smile is turned upside down, "But now, with papa gone. Please. Leave me."

Sanguina gently close the door and leaves Joshua alone. Holo and the Cyberpunk 2077 girl are in the hallway with their backs against the walls on either side. While inside the room, Joshua collapse on his bed and cries.

"Reminds me of how we met." Holo says to Sanguina as he remembers the same situation he and the girl was in. He looks at the girl, "Remember, sis?"

Sanguina looks at the two, "Holo. Cydina. Help him the best you can. Even if he ask you to take you to his old house."

Cydina says, "You do realize that it will be empty, right?"

Sanguina walks away, "He's gonna need all the help he can get. And take Kaede with you!"

The next morning, the sun shines down on Claremont. Once a neighborhood in Los Angeles that had Claremont Colleges and the California Botanical Garden is now a Punker town since many people left to live within the arcologies with many areas now abandoned and left to rot or was wiped out during the Grey Blob Crisis. Those that have been rejected by society, have nowhere to go, down on their luck and/or wish to avoid getting the wrong attention end-up in places like these where they trade in their old identities for new ones and are willing to get modified with whatever mods they desire. The glass prism can be seen with the lighting tree flickering in it where the California Botanical Garden once was. In the sunlight, everything can be seen a lot better than the Victorian-era streetlamps and paper lanterns. There are four story buildings where blocks of houses once stood with a shared backyard with some having their own ponds, pools, food forests, communal playgrounds, greenhouses and outdoor activity studios. The asphalt streets have been ripped up and replaced with brick roads painted in a rainbow of colors that are squiggly rather than being boring old straight lines of black and dark grey. Many of the buildings have their own styles to them with some being Victorian or some form aesthetic such as retro-futuristic Atompunk, scary Gothpunk, blob architecture, made entirely out of cargo containers, traditional Japanese styles, or whatever what people like to have. Not to mention very colorful with some using traditional Japanese colors, lo-fi visual motifs, hippie art styles. A feast for the eyes surrounded by a mountain to the north and ruined buildings in all other directions where some machines made by Punkers pick through the refuse to make recycled materials for buildings materials and goods that look similar to the ones from the Fallout games. Above them are drones made by various corporations that also pick through the refuse for the same goal.

In the center where the 'tree' is, there are some markets that form a ring around the structure with some buildings away from the ring looking like something from Hogsmeade from Harry Potter with all sorts of wizardry such as floating water cans, people on broomsticks, and their own Zonko's Joke Shop with some people pulling magical firework pranks on each other. Some shops look like their from a cyberpunk future with some selling weapons and ammo, others are selling gadgets and electronics although some look like they are from the Watch Dogs series rather than Cyberpunk 2077 or any other cyberpunk series. Where the Claremont Colleges once was is now a public library yet still does teaching to many residences. The college decree here doesn't get people far, but still appreciated as it is a sign of accomplishment and confidence. The Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology is converted into a school for those of the elementary level with the Webb Schools made into a single building with the museum. So imagine a school where all the students can see all the fossils to make it more interesting. To the north of the town though, everything looks like it came from the Wild West with Cattlepunkers and Desertpunkers make moonshine and specialty whiskey with all the buildings made of wood and made to look like a traditional cowboy town. Almost every room have solar panels or wind panels with some having greenery on their roofs. Many of the children that live here are human yet some have animal traits that they inherited from their parents while others have superpowers or magic. As for transportation, people are using cars from video games with their tail pipes missing and are all electrical. Including the one Joshua, Holo, Cydina and Kaede are riding in that is actually Chevillion Emperor 620 Ragnar that is painted pink yet given Dedsec motifs on it.

Joshua looks out the window as they drive through 210 as they pass through some of former Los Angeles neighborhoods that have been abandoned and left to rot. He is looking depressed despite all the new town he was staying in that should've brought some excitement back into his life. Unfortunately, with everything that has happened to him, it brings him no joy. In order to get back to Oakland, Joshua has to wear a green wig with circular aviator sunglasses and a green bandana with daisies making a peace sign.

Cydina glances at the rear-view mirror at Joshua and says, "Whatcha think of the town?"

Joshua gives no response.

Kaede, the fox girl next to him, scoffs, "Leave him be. Can't you see the poor boy is depressed and doesn't want to talk?"

"Okay." Cydina may have upset Kaede, "Thought I might help the poor guy, geez. Although, he does remind me of you when you-"

"Stow it!" Kaede is mad when Cydina brought up something horrible..

Holo, riding shotgun, turns and says to Joshua, "Dude, I know what you're going through."

Joshua shift his eyes at Holo.

"Me, my sister, and Kaede? We all lost people important in our lives. My sis and I were depressed as hellish shit because of all the fuckers that ruined the life we knew. I was a wreck for a week when Sanguina took us in. Lupis was also against the idea like when we were brought in. Believe us, we know."

Joshua then shift his gaze back out the window and does a nose sigh.

"If you need advice on what to do, let us know." Holo then turns back around and enjoys the view.

Kaede asks, "Can we have the radio?"

Cydina turns the radio on with the news playing.

{Still no word on the killer, Joshua Ramirez, who killed his father in-}

"Change the channel!" Holo panics.

Cydina changes to another channel on the radio.

{Many friends of David Ramirez have gathered today for-}

She changes it again.

{Joshua Ramirez is still at large for the murder of his father-}

Cydina turns the radio off as Joshua slams his fist on the side of the car door. Joshua anger rises up from hearing the fake news about him killing his father while clenching his fist. He clenches and grinds his teeth and his eyes are full of rage and fire as if he is about to explode.

Holo pulls out his smartphone, "We'll listen to some tunes I downloaded." He turns the radio back on and plays Chrome Lion by Unicorn Kid.

While Sanguina's gang heading towards Oakland, Sanguina herself enters into a clinic with a green crow on it. The building look like something out of a gothic medieval time and made of stone with statues of crows and ravens about and the stain-glass windows depict plague doctors and black plague victims. She heads through the wooden doors and in it resembles more of a modern doctor's office but the place feels gloomy and hallow with no signs of life. There is a mural that depict medieval Europe during the time of the Black Death in a horrific scene. Sanguina has always been disturbed by the gruesome details of the hand painted scene with the plague doctors killing the victims rather than curing them. She heads on over to a flight of stairs to the left and down into the basement while following an arrow that says, 'SURGERY'. She heads on down until she comes across two steel doors that look like they belong to a hospital with an ER sign above and is turned off...for now.

Sanguina knocks on the door, "Hey, doc?" she asks, "You in?"

The doors open to reveal a man in a black plague doctor outfit with black overcoat with silver buttons with feather sigils on them, wearing a black top hat, black leather gloves, black breeches, and wearing a belt with a pouch. He is also wearing a white beaked plague doctor mask on his face.

"Ah!" he sounds happy to see her despite his voice being slightly muffled, "Sanguina! Come in, come in!" He let her in, "I was about to have some tea."

Inside of this room looks like a ripperdoc operation yet given a more gothic cyberpunk theme with skulls, white candles, and a lot of things that would make it creepy. Especially the metal slab with belts on it in the center of the room where the patients are tied down to receive their mods. The two sit down at a fancy redwood table with matching chairs as they drink tea from antique tea cups with hand painted periwinkles. The doctor is drinking his tea through a straw at the end of his mask.

"So," he starts the conversation, "what can I do for you?"

"Well, mon. I have a new recruit that needs some mods."

"Oh?" the moddoc is interested. "How old is this new recruit? Like I said about Holo, I can't give mods to someone until they reach fifteen years or older."

"He is fifteen."

"A he, eh? He wouldn't happen to be that Joshua Ramirez kid, would it?"

"'fraid so. And before you say anything else-"

"He didn't do it."

Sanguina raises her left eyebrow.

"Come on now. Last I checked, David is, well was, a good man. Unlike his fucking opposition, he actually did care about us and was willing to let us keep our autonomy. According to some of my channels." Doc drinks some more tea before continuing. "But I'll do it."

"How much?"

"Well... Since you have saved my life on numerous occasions, it will be free of charge. However, I did get something if he wants to have some cybernetics."

The doc press the button and unveils a cabinet that shows a type of cyberware.

"Whoa!" Sanguina is shocked, "Is that a sandevistan?!"

"Not just any sandevistan. This is experimental military grade with legendary heatsink, legendary overclock processor, and some special modifications that doesn't just slow down time, it completely stops time."

Sanguina's jaw dropped, "Where the fuck did you find this?!"

"Found it out in the ruins of all places south of the air force base in Fresno. Can't believe they just tossed this thing like it was trash. Talk about careless."

Sanguina gives the doc a serious look.

"Hey now, don't look at me like that. I made sure there were no tracking devices on it and did a thorough scan of it. How did you think I found out about the specs? Plus, I made some improvements on it and fix the mistakes they've made on it."

Sanguina sighs and rubs her face, "Are you sure about giving my new boy something like this?"

"Have you seen, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners?"

"Oh my fucking god." Sanguina is now more worried than ever. She lets out a big sigh before saying, "I'm just not sure but I will ask him."

After a six hour drive to Oakland, the four made it to Joshua's house.

Joshua pulls out his house key, "Just hope there is still something left." and unlocks the door.

Kaede looks away as he goes in. Holo and Cydina are preparing for the worst reaction that Joshua would give. That is justified as Joshua dropped the house key and is shocked by what he sees. The house he grew up in, all the nick-knacks, the furniture, it is all gone as all there is is an empty house with no visible signs that this house was once dwell in. The whole house has no furniture or anything he knew.

"The fuck happened to my home?!" he shouts.

He looks around and see everything is gone.

"Those fuckers took everything! The wall village! My parents record player! My fucking bed!" He looks in the kitchen, "They even took the appliances and even the kitchen sink! WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT?!"

Holo is hiding behind his sister as Kaede is outside to keep an eye out. Joshua is about to take his wig off in frustration, but Holo stopped him.

"Hold on!" he cries out, "If you remove that wig, the implant in your head will activate the tracer!"

But Joshua is so mad, frustrated, sad and angry to the point where he punches the hole in the wall in the kitchen. He retracts his fist and cries on the floor. Cydina and Holo try to help in back up. Kaede is in the room and extender her hand to help him up.

"Hey." she says in a soft voice.

Joshua looks at her with tears streaming down his face. From that moment, he felt a familiar feeling when he first saw her. A feeling that he couldn't tell what it is.

"Let's go."

Joshua slowly places his hand onto hers and he is lifted back up.

Kaede speaks to him, "Trust us. This also happened to us before."

Holo says with experience, "When they took our livelihoods, they took all of our material possessions and left us with nothing."

"They also try to take everything that makes you, well, you." Cydina also speaks from experience. "It is something that They do in order to have you complied or seize control. The people who want to control us will do whatever it takes to place their pawns at the end of the board with the pawns getting promoted to queens."

Joshua is confused by what they are saying. Not by the chess analogy, but by what do they mean by 'they'.

"Who's they?" he asks. "You and my father mentioned Them, but who are they?"

"The people in power." Kaede answers, "The people who have been manipulating and controlling everything behind the scenes since the beginning. Much of them have died during The Collapse, but they started recruiting new members slowly."

"But who? I still don't understand.

Holo sighs, "You wouldn't believe us if we tell you." He is giving a serious look, "But they are just one of many that control the world behind the scenes."

"But who are-"

Before Joshua asks the question, his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He picks it up and recognize the number he has seen before. It belongs to Andy Dubois and he has sent an audio message.

"The fuck?" Joshua is confused about this new message he just received. He looks at Cydina, "I thought you reprogrammed by phone?"

"I did."

"Then why am I getting the school bully on my phone?"

Cydina just shrugs as she has no idea how Andy got to send a message to his phone even though she erased it from the network. Joshua plays the message.

{Hey, Oakland Trash!} Andy is just as obnoxious as ever. {My condolences on your father's...murder! Ha! You killed your own dad! But hey, I know the truth. I know that lower-class shit like you didn't do it. As a matter of fact, I suggest that you killing your father would be perfect to get rid of his competition and have you know your place.}

Joshua grips his phone and is getting upset by this revelation.

{Sure hope they give you the death penalty. I'm gonna enjoy watching you suffer as my new pastime once the police find you. With your dad out of the way, my dad will become senator for sure and I get to enjoy the high-life that you will never reach. Shit like you should wallow in your own filth with all the other gutter rats.}

Joshua grits his teeth and grips his phone so hard that the screen starts to crack.

{As for me, I hope I do become senator like my dad and would enforce certain policies to keep the lower classes where they're at and not contaminate the beautiful architecture where the true upper crust can enjoy the life of luxury. Hope you die in undignified agony.}

Then the message does a loop of his vile laugh right before Joshua smashes his phone onto the wall and then stomps on it repeatedly.

Cydina shouts, "Hey! Do you know how hard it was for me to-"

Kaede raises her arm to stop her.

"No." she says, "He needs this."

Joshua keep on stomping on his phone until it is nothing but tiny pieces of metal and plastic. He pants in anger as he stops and look down at the pieces. Joshua then takes a deep breath before speaking.

"Hey." he says.

"What is it?" Holo asks.

"Tell Sanguina I'm chippin' in."

"You sure?" Cydina asks. "Getting modded and becoming a Punker means you will have a short life if you live too fast."

Joshua is looking serious. "I am!" he says with a raised voice. "Tell her I'm ready to become a Punker and will level up in order to get my revenge! It's about time for me, TO GET PUNK'D UP!"

AN: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy the newest chapter of Punk'd Up. I do hope I get at least 200 views this time around and let me know what you think of the first story so far in this anthology. Till then, see ya next time!