The Colour Purple... The King of Fighters '95
Based on the Characters of The King of Fighters '95 Copyright 1995(C) SNK
Original Fan Fiction Copyright (C) 1995 [ENGEL] Design Room 1995
This (chapter) fanfiction was originally written circa: [XX.96] (Thank you)
"Which Character are you?"
Note to self: Legacy chapter numbering (32- - -), does not match.
ORIGINAL CHAPTER
ALL I KNOW IS THAT ALL [this] STARTED BACK in '95.
…
"Sotp bnuillyg my firend …!" it snarled. The ghoul VEHEMENTLY defied PAIN in order to speak out loud.
…
(146) 1990. Johannesburg, South Africa. 11:5X PM.
Clark reached around Jung's back and pulled out a half spent AR-15 rifle magazine from his rear dump pouch and clipped it between his fingers as he heroed to a stand. Clark slung his right hand up, magazine in a firm grip behind his shoulders as far as it would go, and tilted his center of gravity back.
"Mr… Cla…" Jung…
"Quiet." Clark said flatly.
Destiny is a cruel Goddess, and how arrogant you must be to think she pities you solely, for She does not have the luxury to weep for you alone. As you suffer in silence, don't delude yourself. You are NOT the only person who can visit THIS room, my friend…
Clark heaved his entire body forward and threw the aluminum magazine in a torpedoing baseball pitch that sent it twirling over and under like a spinning knife to the back of Ralf's head.
But, rather unceremoniously, the magazine stopped in mid air behind Ralf's skull, easily deflected by the portable shield generator and clattered on the floor.
The clattering sound of the aluminum as it hit the concrete floor.
Rattling to a silent skid.
Clark's lips mouthed silent words, pacing himself, then click…
The magazine slowly skidded on the ground.
Clark puckered his lips, then grit his teeth slowly as he mouthed the word.
Clark clicked his tongue over the top of the palette of his mouth.
He puckered his lips again, pushing it outwards, mouthing another word.
Not daring to speak, Jung turned away from Clark and looked at the half full AR-15 magazine that slid on the on the floor, gazing back at him.
Then finally, Clark's grinning mouth exposed all his teeth like a gleaming Cheshire cat – the edges of his lips curling wide and upwards as he said…
THREE laser beams slashed across the hallway instantly subdividing the magazine and its contents into multiple triangular pieces in an instant.
"UGH!" Jung gasped, instinctively jumping back at the fear the lasers would come for him too like a poisonous snake.
"So… Simple. So, so, simple…" He chuckled.
"Mr…!" Jung was not sure if he should break his silence just yet, but could not help but say out loud…
{It's been a decade since I've done this, and I don't know if I can still do IT.} Cracking his knuckles as he curled them into a hard fist, the blonde haired man took a deep breath. {I wonder… IF this tired, old body can still do IT?} Clark rolled his stiff and weathered shoulders.
"Are you there? Old friend?"
Clark thought out loud again…
Do you hear me?
…
"Master Rugal, we have to go. We have to go NOW!" Mature shouted with great urgency as she began to retreat.
"Are you stgroner tahn her?" The Second Childrens asked, just as its bloodied lips curled to a slight smile at the end of its masochistically painful journey to give voice to a small and desperate wish.
…
Clark leaned forward, and with his right hand, fingers splayed then clawed inwards like a spider, he lowered it toward the ground. As the fingertips touched down… facing down a hallway of red eyes ready to judge him at an instant. Clark Steel hunched his upper torso until his spine was perfectly parallel to the floor.
Four fingertips on the ground, Clark hunched downwards looking at the floor. He did not notice it at first but everything began to feel cold… very cold as the pressure mounted around him. A loud screeching silent sound only Clark could hear, it painted his mind into a stark white.
Then SQUARES subdivided the once plain ground.
{I need your help AGAIN.} Clark was very far from religious, but in a certain way perhaps he wanted to try his hand at negotiating with a higher power – like a prayer. JUST as you told me, how pitiful human beings are, living in decadence, yet dying unsung.
If you do… maybe I can offer something in exchange in the future, my friend.
…
"ARE YOU STOREGNR TAHN HER?"
It sneered, the sound of its own garbled words leaving its lips – the pleasure he gave ITSELF far exceeded the immense pain. "IF YOU ARE NOT…"
…
Clark lifted his face up JUST as the immediate rapture overcame his body, sending a warm spear through his chest to cleave the frigid cold. Clark opened his eyes and it was entirely black save for white pinpoint pupils of white light.
{Save my friend.} Clark pleaded with forceful gnashed teeth. {…and I will give you your WISH in exchange.}
…
"Punieshmnt."
For how you made my friend SUFFER. I will kill you. That, the Second Childrens decrees.
…
The outside of Clark's eyes were pitch black, and at its center where white pinpoint pupils. A frozen claw grasped his heart and he could feel himself hard of breathing as a familiar black water gradually filled his lungs, overflowing and bubbling at the edges of his lips.
A deathly, yet reassuring familiar feeling that would come for all of us eventually – only to US who came to grips with our mortality. But for Clark Steel, it was something, long lost, and eagerly welcomed. Because. We, at least once in our pitiful lives, wanted to END it all.
For our mistakes. I am sorry… sorry for what I did to you… To convert REGRET to THIS.
To do so - We wanted to TAKE EVERYTHING else with us, destroy everything.
"Yes!" The Second Childrens replied.
A circular outline circumvented Clark's eyeballs, then imploding inwards, overwhelming and painting over the black sclera with a bright white light. When it came to the center, it reversed, Clark's pupils were now transformed a deep darkness.
A Cheshire cat, spanning ear to ear! {It's been a long time, a long time… my friend!}
There's no time… it's [happening].
CLARK GNASHED HIS TEETH, gritting HARD against each other.
"MR. CLARK!" Jung Kim pleaded. "Wait…"
…
"Master Rugal, we have to go. We have to go NOW!" Mature shouted with great urgency.
…
"Mr. Kim." Clark said with a smile. "Do you want to see, a gift from GOD?"
Very well… Clark's pupils were a pitch black DARKNESS.
"…I will SHOW YOU."
WITNESS!
…
If you are NOT stronger than HER.
"Tehn as puinehmsnt. You will DIE."
For what you did to my friend. I will kill you. That, the Second Childrens decrees.
"Master Rugal!" Mature said as she turned to retreat.
…
Time retracts back into the 10 minutes that spanned eternity. Here. In Johannesburg.
The BEAST – part 16.
…
Ralf Jones was not even three feet forward when the motorized orb slid down the rails of the metal wall on his left side, and at the end of its path – like a monstrous beholder's eye it swiveled on its axis and exposed a penny sized red dot in its center.
Ralf turned to his left, both his arms like pistons swinging wide in the belief that he could somehow make himself run FASTER – yet despite all his best intentions that hundred pound metal box, with its annoying voice chained him to reality.
Then the world degenerated into a quagmire's slow motion. That red dot grew brighter and brighter. "GGHHKK!" So soon into his journey, Ralf could do nothing in mid stride but bite his lip and instinctively steel his gut.
'WHIIIRRRRR… BUUU.' The eye stopped moving and fired a blinding laser beam.
Ralf closed both eyes and grit his teeth, bracing for impact – the red laser beam ran down the ground, tearing up the side of Ralf's left leg, ripping up the side of his chest, his cheek then finally an inch under his eye.
"Shields are on… Have a nice day."
'WWVVOMMM!' A slight blue hue glowed, leaving in its wake a wavy stream of translucent light not unsimilar to how a low flying plane would part the surface of the sea.
Ralf, unhurt from the attack turned forward with the same determination, trying his best to outrun a pack of lions. "AAGGHH! GADDAMIT! OLD MAN!"
HEIIIDERRNN!
"You have, fifteen seconds, remaining." The disembodied computer voice said.
GOD DAMN IT. What next, are you going to tell me I got mail?
…
Had we met, under different circumstances… maybe, if you had walked through that door that afternoon in 1977 instead of Rugal, things would have turned out differently. And I would have fought alongside YOU instead.
…
1990, 11:5X PM. CLARK STEEL.
Then I shall show you.
It does matter what [happened]. I will prove to you, that you made the correct choice, Heidern.
I PROMISED TO BE YOUR SWORD! AND I WILL SLAY ALL OUR ENEMIES!
…as we promised to each other a long time ago.
"Witness."
…
In 1988, the Summer Olympic Games was held in Seoul, Korea. The athlete Carl Lewis of the United States of America set a new world record for the 100 meter dash at 9.92 seconds.
"AGH. GOD DAMN IT." He kept on running.
"You have… ten… seconds… remaining."
"Dad… You have to stop this… It's time to go home…"
Ralf could not even hear the crunching sound of the tendons and sinews of his knees wail in screaming pain.
A seasoned, adult male athlete can complete the event with an average time of 12 to 15 seconds for the Olympic event, the 100 meter dash.
BREATHE IN.
HOLD.
BREATHE OUT.
FFFVVVUOOM! Another vertical red beam ran up the blue protective shield that protected Ralf at the last moment. Despite all that the man couldn't help but wince, thinking, at the slight possibility that the bitch machine would fail at the most inopportune of times.
An out of shape man averages 20 seconds at the same event.
"You have… three… seconds… remaining."
Buckling at the immense pressure. Ralf's tendons began to rip and tear – suffering in silence. But come to consider – if you had committed to jump over a wide chasm, the least of your concerns is a gnawing crippling PAIN.
"GG… God." Ralf snarled in his raspy voice. "God damn you. Why…"
Ten bodies long, 60 feet away was the door. 18.29 meters. 20 yards.
Even if a mildly seasoned athlete can complete the 100 meter dash in 15 seconds, the problem is, that, Ralf Jones had a hundred pound metal box on his back.
"Three… seconds…"
"Heiiid…" Ralf reached out with his right hand.
…
DO YOU KNOW, WHO RALF JONES IS, OLD MAN? DO YOU?
LET ME TELL YOU – HE IS THE STRONGEST MAN ALIVE!
…
"Two… seconds…" She reminded droning nonchalantly. "Initiating shutdown…"
…
Ralf Jones, if you believe in me… Me. And. Only I. I shall make you STRONG, so STRONG, that I will make inconsequential, make you forget all those who have wronged you in the past; and I will give you [purpose]. A REASON.
So much so that no one, nothing can ever hope to touch us – not even the fear of DEATH can imprison you nor I.
…for all of IT would seem so frivolous, amidst our high perches, Ralf Jones.
If you can reach me.
…
I can make it.
Ralf reached out with his right hand,
About seven and a half tall bodies laid head to toe, 15 yards left.
Whirring and clacking of gears and pistons, 4 globular metal orbs raced on their tracks at head height, all 4 of them poised, rotating, then with a shuttering halt, all locked themselves onto Ralf's head.
…
"Will you join me, Ralf Jones?
Apprehensively grunting, the boy slapped the old man's hand aside, before standing.
"It's interesting." Ralf growled wiping his lip. "Let's see…"
…
"One… second."
Ralf's eye was clouded with a wide, enveloping sheen of red – now as a red line traced a vertical line over the side of his face.
Chapter 156:
I'LL BE WITH YOU THROUGH IT.
…
Plip!
A soft sound of a drop of water echoed through the large black box, down into a pool of black water an inch high that spanned outwards into infinity. As you ran through with all your might, what felt like an eternity, short sequences of memories passed by…
"Those two angry boys make a good combo, my friend." He said. "Take care of them – they may one day save your life… or… at the very least, they can bring you a cup of water, when you are too old, frail, and lonely to even give a damn."
Plip.
…
The miracle of GOD.
…
"Don't move."
"What!" Ralf hissed with his raspy voice, focusing his entire attention to the voice over his right shoulder.
"Hello." Clark Steel sneered in mid stride next to Ralf Jones, individual pebbles of sweat floated in place in mid air… as the world froze in slow motion, then to a STOP.
…
The disfigured boy smiled a thin curvy smile that spanned ear to ear, grimacing in gleeful pain when the string that sewed its mouth shut pulled on its skin. "So srmat. Clarkie. You are so srmat."
The Second Childrens opened his arms to each side, transforming the world into a vortex of perpetual darkness. Forcefully rewinding time 15 seconds prior.
…
Clark launched forward with his entire strength, propelling his body forward despite knowing full well that there was no way he could outrun a hallway of laser beams.
"Clark Ajussi! No! Wait!" Jung screamed.
Almost as if responding to Jung's scream, the first three rows of red eyes lit up with a slight hum, three dozen orbs ran through their rails from the back of the hallway to the front, and stacked one on top of each other to respond to the new threat at the opening of the tunnel - readying and arming themselves. All locked on at Clark Steel.
"JUNG! THROW THE MAGAZINE!" Clark roared as loud as he could.
"Ah…" Jung…
"DAMN IT, JUNG!"
"Yes! YES SIR!" Jung immediately took an aluminum magazine from his belt and threw it as HARD as he could.
The magazine rotated in mid air, and the immense pressure that gripped the men in the room was so tremendous, their hearts beat so feverishly in fear and panic – it made everything seem to flow in slow motion.
The magazine rotated in mid air, sailing easily over Clark's head. When Clark looked forward and upwards he saw a rectangular object block the light for an instant in front of him. As it fell from his line of sight, three vertical rows of red orbs moved on rails twisting and turning like eyeballs twitching until ALL of them trained on Clark's body in unison.
He wasn't going to make it! "Clark Ajussi!" Jung shouted. But what could he say? Get out of the way? Run faster? All these thoughts ran through the Korean man's mind in a split second and he realized that anything he could say was asinine and illogical. There was really nothing he could say. He put his hands together frantically and closed his eyes. "Clark Ajussi!" Praying to anyone and ANYTHING that would even care to listen.
Please. Just, don't die.
Roughly three dozen orbs began to grow brighter, the droning hum got louder as the mechanical jury prepared itself to lay its swift and fatal judgment without mercy as they all trained their lasers at Clark's running body.
"Hmm!" Clark grunted boorishly. {You doubt me?} "What took you so long, old friend?" Clark smiled. {I'm about to DIE, don't you know?}
In times of desperation, we prayed to ANYONE and ANYTHING who would even care to listen… and although not often, but sometimes, some thing would stop and gaze back in amusement…
In front of Clark appeared a familiar sight. Hunched down in poor posture, its elbows touching his knees, and its fingers dragging on the ground, FROM THE FLOOR TO THE SKY the picture perfect thing faced the camera at its slow leisure, a gruesome boy tilted its contorted body up to face Clark. "Clarrrrkiiiieeee…" it snarled with sinister glee.
Ah yes, typically in order for HIM to APPEAR, a certain collateral had to be offered.
…and yes, that collateral was, again, as it always was, a wager of life.
"Waht if I say NO? Clarkie?" The Second Childrens asked coyly.
VVWWWWOOOM! 36 lights burst into a bright red supernova at the same time.
"AaaaJUuuuSSssiiiI! AjjJUuuSSiiiiI!" Jung screamed over and over, his voice now muffled, disembodied and garbled as the world ebbed in slow motion.
{Do you doubt me?} Clark answered in thought silently, smirking.
Simultaneously 36 laser beams erupted like hot knives, glowing hot red, ready to destroy everything in its path indiscriminately.
An insane wager… but once raised, even a GOD could not resist, and IT would be rendered speechless, powerless – and could only praise even a common man; No God could resist calling his bluff with a smile.
You DOUBT me?
Chapter 156: Great Race.
36 lasers cut the magazine in front of Clark into pebble sized pieces in an instant, scattering aluminum, brass, lead and gunpowder in all directions.
"One second."
Clark continued to run. Running desperately, heaving both arms as fast as he could, literally as if his life depended on it. He ran through the cloud of scrap and dust when the remnants of the magazine Jung had thrown scattered all around.
Is this normal? Is it normal for a grown adult to argue and bargain against the rigid boundaries of logic, all with an imaginary friend? Isn't this the textbook definition of mental illness?
"Two second."
By his estimates, Clark was likely 5 to 6 seconds behind Ralf, maybe even 7 or 8. Not enough, it was not enough. However, Clark had fulfilled his part of the bargain, wagering his life as it was agreed upon once before. However, there was also one more thing. IF [it] let this body die. Certainly…
If the Second Childrens did nothing, it would NOT uphold its part of the AGREEMENT. Even if the Chidrens entertained thoughts inane or if it was ignorant, this one thing, that is one thing a star CANNOT abide by. And is powerless to resist. And, if you let this body die… then YOUR wish cannot be fulfilled.
"Three second."
A! His right foot momentarily slipped on the smooth floor and Clark felt a sudden chaos overcome his body, garbling the commands he was sending to his limbs all at once.
Clark stumbled in mind stride, his right palm slapped the ground to steady himself as he genuflected to break his fall – fate mocked him, and Clark had fallen. "STAR!"
Red dots littered Clark's face when the lasers readied its second barrage.
Jung and the troupe of men at the other end of the hall held their breath. They wanted to run forward but were terrified, imprisoned by immense fear. Silently screaming, Jung pleaded one last time.
ALL I KNOW IS THAT ALL [this] STARTED BACK in '95.
TRUST, GOD life and our bodies.
A star teetered in place, amongst the dark sky in the wide universe.
"Yes." The Second Childrens lifted up its right hand and curled his claw inwards into a tight fist.
Clark tilted his center of gravity forward, pushing simultaneously from his rear foot and hand with a reassuring smile. Then, a star's purpose was fulfilled.
"THE… [THE] OUTER DARKNESS!" Clark BOOMED.
24 of the available laser beams roared out again, launching a criss cross grid of death, and marking the exposed skin of Clark's body into small sections. In a moment the moving lasers would render Clark into a hundred pieces when it forces the man's entire body into a cutting sieve.
(Michi's PROMISE.)
Clark grinned without a care in he world now.
(LAUGH. Like you really mean it.)
The 61st second. In a silent atomic flash – Clark leaned forward. As he fell - at an instant his existence was distinctly and forcefully REMOVED from the span of time when a dark beast behind him ate Clark whole.
…
The Second Childrens lifted both index fingers in front of his face. His right finger traced a straight line. Then, his left finger traced a deep curve under the line, connecting one end to the other end.
Time does not span the same way, in the real world. And. In the Darkness.
What if… The large curve under the straight line contracted, forcing the straight line of the world to bend upwards into a semi circle. Now the Darkness was a shorter straight line, and it transformed the straight line of the real world into a large balloon, longer much longer than its counterpart.
"Acltauly…" There is no line.
"What!" Ralf hissed with his raspy voice, focusing his entire attention to the voice over his right shoulder.
"Hello." Clark Steel sneered in mid stride next to Ralf Jones, individual pebbles of sweat floated in place in mid air… as the world froze in slow motion, then to a STOP.
…