Godless
Posted by: Jimothy
Date: 2014-03-28 22:47:11
Glitches. They're commonly regarded as anomalies, errors in a system, even something as simplistic as something that was not meant to be. Some people know these "glitches" by name. They call them things like MissingNo, 'M, and the like. If they saw them on a screen, they would describe - and see - them as large, block-like messes of things…something that just couldn't hold a real shape. Normally, they're contained to the hardware in which they originate. However, for these people, these things are all too real. They're massive, reality-defying monsters held in a spacial rift by a war that ended thirty years ago. Lt. Surge himself had led that final charge against the beasts, calling upon what seemed to be Arceus Itself in order to lock away those creatures. And when that happened, the world as we knew it was finally at peace again, despite the occasional outcrop of roguish outlaws, who referred to themselves as Teams, causing havoc in one place or another.
However, this peace, like all things, would not last for long. Inside that rift lay a land so twisted by the inhuman force of these "glitches" that even so much as gazing upon it would psychologically break a normal man. If it were witnessed on a screen, like the beasts that inhabit it, it would be seen as a garbled remain of a town, and it would look as though a child had taken a toybox full of letters, numbers,and textures, and had dumped it all out onto one spot. This place is referred to as Glitch City by those who remember that long-ago war. The one thing that does look relatively human there is the leader of the "glitches": Jacred.
Jacred himself isn't entirely human, though he was born human. When he was just a teenager, he encountered a "glitch" close up, and saw for himself the godlike power that these Eldritch monsters held. He allowed himself to be taken into the creature's homeland, which covered mile after mile of land; and the city that succeeded it would've been but a mere speck in comparison to the massive homeland of the "glitches". Jacred was accepted into the ranks of the creatures, and very quickly rose to be their leader. To them, he was a deity come to life, a walking god that would lead them to total domination. To Jacred, however, he saw these "glitches" as comrades, as things that had suffered great prejudice as he had suffered during his childhood. He began to gather an army, and when he was finished, he led them to one place: Kanto.
Lt. Surge was in command of his own military unit around the time Jacred's army began to move towards Kanto. Reports had begun flooding in that people were going insane up to the far north in places like Cerulean City. At first, Surge didn't quite know what to do, as this was something he had not been trained to handle. However, when word came in that people were being slaughtered, Surge made his decision and led his squad north toward Cerulean City to figure out just what was going on. What Surge and his fellow soldiers found there was something that terrified them, and let them know that whatever had been here was not human.
People lay dead in the streets, their bodies mutilated and torn. Some of their features had been twisted to look entirely inhuman, as if some sort of Lovecraftian thing had gotten to them and had decided to repaint their features, leaving them heavily deformed. The buildings in the city hadn't suffered a good fate, either. Quite a few of them were no more than rubble, and others were changed in a way that seemed to defy physics, with former flat roofs now jagged and sticking into the air like Gothic spires. Other things, such as rocks, pieces of trees, and even entire sections of the ground were suspended in midair, giving the impression that the city had been beset by things unknown.
Surge and his squad were beset at once by a betentacled beast that tore apart one of the soldiers, and grievously wounded another. The one-sided firefight that ensued took at least 10 minutes. The cost was nearly all of the ammunition Surge and his soldiers had on their persons, a large portion of reserve ammunition, and two more soldiers, including the one that had been wounded in the initial attack. Surge radioed back at once, demanding reinforcements, because he knew that if they were beset by something like that again, the chances were incredibly slim that the remains of the squad would survive.
Soon, reinforcements began to arrive, and they set up camp in the middle of the ruins of Cerulean City. Our tale begins here, with Surge preparing for another potential assault against his fellow men, and we see into the thoughts of Jacred, and what his plans entail for the men at Cerulean City…
—Base Camp, Cerulean City, 0400-
"Damn, if I wasn't tired, I'd probably run some laps. Know what I'm saying?" The question came from one Private Lane Dursey, 23 years old and fresh out of boot camp. He had been born in a small, off-the-map place known as Teal Village. Disliking the way that the village authorities were setting up his future, he had run away to join the Kanto Armed Forces, and found himself before a recruiter's desk at Viridian City. While the recruiter hadn't made much of a sales pitch, that was enough for Dursey to join the army at once.
"Yeah, I get you. Doesn't mean one of those massive freaks would just ignore you while you're running laps around this shithole. 'Oh, look at the widdle-biddy human, he's running around. Better not tear him a new one!' That's dangerous as hell, man." This response came from Corporal James Hammond, who was 33 years old and knew his gun like the back of his hand and then some. He had been born in the slums of Saffron City, and had hated every second of his poverty-ridden existence. At the first opportunity he got, he joined the Kanto Armed Forces, not too unlike the way Private Dursey had.
Dursey shook his head, a grin breaking out on his pale face. It was unmarred, save for a rather small laceration sustained during the previous fight. Blood had trickled down his cheek, and he hadn't bothered wiping it off. "I don't doubt for a second that those things would jump me while I was jogging around. No point in it. Only thing that would happen would be me getting a tentacle through the chest or something."
"Or, rather, up your ass. That'd just be a joy, don't you think?" This elicited a laugh from both Dursey and Hammond.
"Alright, folks, listen up." The booming voice belonged to the CO himself: Lieutenant Surge. No one knew his first name, and whispers went around that Lieutenant was actually his first name, though there was no proof to be offered. He had a shock of blonde hair that stretched upwards in a mohawk cut short. He had no hair on either side of his head, otherwise. He had a sharp gaze for a 30 year old, with steel-gray eyes that could cut to a man's soul. "Orders have came in from the Council at Indigo. We're to move north and figure out just what it is we're up against. You got that?"
The chorus of "YES, SIR!" was all Surge needed to beckon the men to stand. Dursey groaned quietly and stood up. "Dammit, man," Dursey intoned, "and I was getting ready to catch a few winks of sleep. Guess that's not happening anytime soon."
"Quit your bitchin', man. You sound like a girl whining about not being able to get any sleep. If I had it my way, I'd sleep for a whole week, but you don't see that happening." At Dursey's cocked eyebrow, Hammond chuckled. "Relax, man. I'm just as tired as you are. There's not much of a point in getting too worked up over it."
"Guess you're right, James." With that, Dursey hefted up his rifle, and checked it. It was a standard-issue Howa Type-89 "Buddy" assault rifle, chambered to hold 5.56mm rifle cartridges. He quickly cleaned it, making sure to check every nook and cranny of the gun for dust; he didn't need it to be jamming if and when the soldiers would face off against another creature.
At the same time Dursey was checking out his assault rifle, Hammond had already begun reloading his FN Minimi light machine gun. It was chambered to hold 5.56mm cartridges, not too unlike the assault rifle Dursey carried. It had a massive 100-round ammo belt, and a fire rate of roughly 800 rounds per minute, meaning that all Hammond had to do was squeeze the trigger for roughly 3 seconds, and whoever or whatever he had been aiming at would be thoroughly Swiss-cheesed by the time he let go.
When all the soldiers had finished cleaning their weapons, Lt. Surge beckoned the soldiers to follow him. "It's time, ladies. We go north to the cape to figure out just what we're up against. If we get ambushed, then we cover our flanks and open fire directly on the bad boys we're up against. Let's move!" With that, the soldiers, Dursey and Hammond included, began to march north, not knowing exactly what it was they were up against…
(This will be continued in another post. Maybe.)