Homura's Short Stories and Poetry Corner

**Homura** · 03-22-2014, 01:17 PM

Welcome to Homura's short stories. I'm posting some of my old stuff here, and hopefully new stuff as they come along as well.

Pokemon Shorts:
Ahead of You
Entwined World

Non-Pokemon Shorts:
Your Kiss
Weather
Thousand
Perfect Havoc

Poetry:
Untitled, Salt and Pepper, Dihydrogen Monoxide

**Homura** · 03-22-2014, 01:17 PM

Ahead of You (2009)

Come here sonny. Honestly, I don’t have any idea as to why they still let them volunteers come in anymore in this retirement home. I mean, I totally told them about the amount of time I have left anyways in this bed. It was more like talking to walls sometimes with them nurses.

What’s that? I’m that darn chatterbox that nobody likes to listen to forever? Ah, what can you do about that, you know. It’s against my religious principles. You’re doing pretty well for a volunteer though, I mean, living through the agony of listening to me for 45 minutes is apparently closer to seeing whatever Palkia or Arceus would do to you if you weren’t good or something like that. I don’t mind it though; I only have about 30 minutes and 28 seconds left anyways. You don’t have to deal with the whole 45. I do encourage you kids to stick around though, if you really want to get into that medical career of yours. What are you, some Nurse Joy addict, or something?

You know them kids. Them nurses always talking about how I’m like the worse they’ve ever seen, or how the volunteers would do anything to get out of volunteering with me around, or some other things I don’t remember. I really don’t get it you know. It’s just how I’m like for the most part. You know, they always say that I have some insanity talking about prophecy this and prediction that. I honestly think that those people are idiots for not knowing what I know. It’s like totally gold stuff. Apparently, somebody took what I talked about and totally made a fortune on pokeball investments and stuff.

Speaking of pokeballs, I remember the olden days when people were people, not those dang trainers runnin’ around when they’re like ten years old. Kids those days were good kids, taking care of the family and stuff, instead of being walking ball throwing machines and stuff. Good for you to try something different, kid. We don’t have enough of those kids around.

What’s that? Oh the pills. Yeah I gotta take them again right now huh. I told them nurses I don’t need it anymore. Seriously. Oh, how do I know? Really, I don’t have much to talk about here. It really has to do with my religion you see. Oh, what is it? Not many people know about it nowadays huh. Yeah it’s the “Order of the Chattering Teeth.” Honestly, I’ve seen the truth and all that, being a monk of that Order (or rather it's like the most annoyingly chattering monk in the world you will meet in your life). Oh, you want to hear about that huh. You’re the first to say that kind of things eh. It’s like my sole moment of glory in my entire life or something.

No seriously, this is between me and you. I gotta admit it though, I'm not too sure why I joined the Order in the first place. When you think about it, it seems rather weird. Everybody else is going on about Lugia this or Ho-Oh that. I joined some random occult reference that nobody cared about. What made it so important to my life was simply the fact that there were people that cared about us. You know, you want to hang around people you genuinely like for the bulk of your time in churches. Or in my case, somewhere outside, which usually ends in pouring rain. I attribute that entirely to Arceus' entire non-approval of the actual Order itself. It made us feel special anyways.

One thing that does confuse the lot of people about my religion in general is like how this all actually came together, sonny. I don't have a clue. We read stuff like prophecies like the rest of yous people. Ours was of an unpopular breed though. Honestly, not many people think something like The Awesome Prophecies That Will Come True by John Smith would actually work or anything. No, I don't think so either.

I mean, I didn't actually believe in this in my religion either. I just thought we read them for fun, like how everybody else had prophecies to tell and I read them with my grandchildren or something. Turns out that I never got any grandchildren, like what it said in page 794, line 55: Humpty Furnace hast no children of age. For some strange reason there would be random quotes like that one that actually talk about the few of us who are followers. It's actually pretty awesome, considering that if I had the financial capabilities and insight to actually take those prophecies to heart, you know, like how the book didn't predict, I would have been rich beyond believe.

Why you say? There are like so many different predictions that made no sense before things fell into place. Like I remember vaguely something like page 512, line 10: Investe in thy pokeballs. Honestly, who would have thought pokeballs were the next biggest thing since sliced bread? I thought he meant “buy some pokeballs, they might be worth something 50 million years from now” or something like that. But what has past is past, and I'm on my deathbed in my last...oh 15 minutes before I take the plunge to see how Arceus goes to pummel me for knowing the future, or thought I know the future or something.

So yeah, my moment of glory. I swear I don't get sidetracked too much for the most part, but it's just that I just really speak my mind whenever I can, want, or feel like it. I think some of those verbs might not even matter. In any case, I should talk about that sole moment of glory. You know how they say that people would have like 3 peaks of luck in their lives and stuff? Apparently I just have one. Isn't that ridiculous? I mean, it apparently says in the prophecies too in page 1049, line 24: Great Fireplace Man hast lucky shoe when age 24. Yeah, I clearly have that lucky shoe or something, it was clearly that moment that solidified my life as a human being.

Totally, I saw Arceus. I mean, I'm not a trainer or anything like that, but when you see something like that, you have to admit that it would be the highlight of your life too. In any case, what happened was something like this. I was walking down from my weekly meeting with the rest of the Order of the Chattering Teeth. You know, it's like the most normal thing you can do. Did you know that during that time I had like a girlfriend and all as well? Interesting huh. I wasn't a monk until much later. Like basically after she went kaput. By kaput I mean she left me because I really didn't have much in terms of capabilities to live, let alone support a family. Anyways, I was talking down the street as usual when some guy apparently pulled up to my house for no reason. He drove a nice car you know, it was ridiculous. He came up to me and was like, “Yo this the house of Humpty Furnace?”

I was, “Yeah.”

Then he just took me, sonny. Like it was just like that. He apparently worked for the Order too, but like he's one of them higher ups, or at least a guy who actually took the prophecies to heart, invested in the pokeball stock market, and won big. Crap, I forgot if John Smith ever wrote down lottery numbers. Oh wait, then again, John Smith probably don't know what lottery is, knowing him. Jerk didn't know anything about the future, he just saw parts of it. He even wrote stuff like: Gary Bravo hast a flaming chariote flying after Great hand of Lord, since cars don't exist in his time. But that's something clearly I'll get to.

Anyway, we drove down to Goldenrod City in some back alley when we stopped. Then 15 different guys came out, Alakazam blazing. You see, back in those days, we had primitive forms of pokeballs, and we generally just tame them pokemon instead of capturing them for the most part. So I was like, “I'm finished here already?”

That wasn't the case, because that guy Gary ended up doing something causing them all to go kaput. But like kaput in this case is more like disappearing kaput, not the “I'm leaving you because he has money” kind of kaput. It was like the heavens were twirling around in circles by the time I calmed down enough to observe my surroundings. Apparently it took Gary a while because he knocked me out a couple of times.

So what was happening was like the world actually is observing the birth of like the new legendary guy, almost like how it would be like them godly people up somewhere creating gods or something. Anyways, the world was twirling around the city, and I swear that nobody is seeing this at all. Gary was saying something like, “Yo man, this looks like it would be the Apocalypse if we don't do something.”

So I asked him what was going on, and he filled me in about this. Apparently basically the world is witnessing the birth of one of its latest legends, which is causing the world to actually be shattering under its sheer weight or something. Basically speaking, we needed to find the thing before the legend blows up our world, and probably like send it up to Arceus or something. So we split into two different groups...err...people. But you get what I mean about that.

We really had no idea where this guy is, you know. I seriously think that this was madness. Madness? This is the Order of the Chattering Teeth I'm talking about here. We are the definition of madness. So I took it and ran. You know how I had like a lucky shoe stuck up my bum or something? It turned out that this was the time, since it took me maybe 15 minutes to find the kid. Yes, it was some kid apparently dreaming of some ginormous pokemon that controlled the minds of people or something like that. He also just happened to imagine it to be 500 million tons in weight. The kid was probably a ton himself anyways: a ton of dumb dumb that is.

Anyways, I found the kid who was with his mom or something. Hottest woman I've seen, by the way, in my life. Since both parties were oblivious, I did the most obvious thing, which was to chatter as much as I could with the two of them. As I took that initiative, Everything became less scary and more of a pitiful state. Awesome. I even got her number at some point in time. Lost it by the time I left town though. Anyways, Apparently that was what happened to cause the world to lose this 500 million ton legend that was supposedly to have been born in order to destroy the world.

Of course, if that was it, it would have been quite the feat already, but that was not just it. I saw Arceus himself, remember? So basically after that happened, I was knocked out by some sharp object or another. And then I awakened in some dream-like state or something. Then I saw his majesty you know. He stared at me for a while before stopping. My guess is that he didn't really appreciate what I did to his newest legend. Honestly, I don't think that was that big of a deal. Legends pop up a dime a dozen anyways.

By the time I woke up from that, I knew that the Order was my calling. You know, I did the whole “becoming a monk thing” too. I was also in a hospital for sharp trauma on the back of the head, similar to something like a purse with a brick in it or something. Anyways, Apparently Gary lost his car because Arceus torched it. Actually, from that point on, I wasn't so lucky anymore either. That was all of the luck I've got, or at least whatever I had Arceus took from me anyways. Hey join the Order of the Chattering Teeth would ya? I vaguely recall you being in the book somewhere too.

Ah well, so that's how it all happened sonny. Sounds like it was a blast right? I'm sure it was. Hey, you've got one of those magnifying glasses or something? I want to read that out-of-order prophecies book again before I go. Oh right, page 15, line 65: Thou shall not re-

**Homura** · 03-22-2014, 01:19 PM

Entwined World (2008)

The field had settled down after the vicious assault of doom desire. White smoke slowly cleared away from the debris and destruction that was caused in this mountainous cave. First, the Jirachi, proud and floating in mid air as though the match had been decided. What the clearing showed was not the victory it had assumed, but a standing Smeargle amidst the rubble and debris, panting away as though fatigue was quickly catching up to it. The Jirachi showed little signs of distress, as it had seemed to know it was wishful thinking. The attack had missed, only grazing the masterful painter. Its trainer, the challenger, showed no signs of emotion.

“Just as I'd expect from a tactical specialist to come back from a three-on-one. You now only have this one obstacle left, and she won't be easy,” The Champion across from him spoke. After a short pause, she added, “I'm sure you know that already.”

The challenger looked directly at the champion. Her smile was proud, like that of an unwavering champion to any challenger. He tried to speak, but he knew that words would not come out of his larynx. It simply wasn't the time, and he wasn't capable of speaking out anyway. He looked at her once more; she was a sign of beauty and grace, standing still with her flowing white dress, folds of ripple seemingly suspended in perpetual midair.

She wore that same dress the day they met. He was just one of those silent trainers people ignored, and she was a flamboyant as ever. She was running away from a number of suits, swiftly passing him by. Her back as she ran burned an irreplaceable image into his head. He wanted to know this person; she didn't fit into the natural mold of the world he lived in. He would simply follow her and make observations about her as a person, such a fascinating specimen.

The suits themselves were lost as they went into the forest. He knew this forest well, as he had faced his earliest challenges there, and this forest also housed that woman, complete with a twisted ankle from tripping clearly over a branch on the path. “Ow, ow, ow,” she repeated as he walked by. “Hey, you're not going to help or something?”

He, showing no signs of emotion to her, proceeded to carry her on his back toward Pewter City. He had no interest in the suits themselves. His interest was directly on that single woman there. “Hey, you don't talk much, do you?” she said. “Oh, how rude of me! I should introduce myself, considering the circumstances. I'm Serra. Oh, I bet you're wondering why I was being chase by those suits. You see – and don't tell anyone – I'm actually the caretaker of the hall of champions. People all aspire to be in there, you know. So they always have all those people around to keep me in there. But you know how it is, it's so darn boring up there.”

“Earth to Quintus,” and she spoke to the challenger once again. “There you go again with that bad habit of yours. Ever think that it's getting a bit repetitive? Then again, I've read that your type always seem to be in some train of thought all the time. Strategic thinking maybe? Perhaps you're thinking about what you'll do after you lose? Oh I don't really know what you're thinking, but you're holding up the line here.” She paused for one second. “Look, if you're not going to move, I will.”

To him, she was always outspoken, the life of the crowd, the jewel of Kanto. Without her, his life would have been dull and boring. At the same time, he could never fit her into the world he so precisely constructed. Who was she? What did she like? Why would it even matter? He could never figure it all out. What was apparent was their affection. He wanted to follow her, observe her, and see her through objective lenses. At which point in time did this all change? How did he go from an observer to an actor? How did she drag him into her world, and not him fitting her into his world? How did he begin from not caring about her traits to becoming jealous of her outgoing attitude? He wanted to understand, but understand her he could not.

His stare became ever so intense, and yet still not showing visible signs of emotion. With what was his stare so intense? He could not understand this feeling he had. He was indeed under a large amount of stress, but shouldn't stress breed courage or fear? If so, why was it that he felt no fear to attack, and yet he had no courage to finish the battle? What was the intense feeling he had, and not understand?

“Hey Jirachi. You know that double move we've been practicing just for this occasion? Hey why not? Let him have it for a change,” she boomed across the field, ever so tauntingly, as though she was the little girl eluding capture in a game of tag.

His Smeargle looked at him for a split second, and turned around with a nod. He had conveyed his message to his Smeargle, though he did not have the confidence to see it through without its help. “You know, Quintus, you should believe in yourself more,” her voice echoed. The echo was like a spring breeze to his frozen self. But he knew this was of no use in such a large battle. He had to rely on his teammates, and his Smeargle, to complete the task for him. It was there he could never break the barrier. He did not want to break the barrier.

The Jirachi wound up for another doom desire. The attack became clear: a double psychic and doom desire. She wanted to box Smeargle in with a psychic, and finish him off with the doom desire. This was easily countered by a mirror coat that led into a lock-on finish. It seemed to him that she wanted to finish this with a quick gamble that would simply end the battle.

It was funny how they even started the battle in the first place. They had fought just before the Indigo Plateau tournament. He could not understand why she would fight with him about the most simple of problems. So what if he would not give her feedback? Did it matter? “You never tell me how I look, or how you feel around me,” her voice began to ring as though it was still yesterday. “I want to know too. I want to understand you as much as you understand me. But it's so hard. It's so hard.”

He fought and won the tournament. Why did he even bother? Did he have some hope behind all of this? And then when he finally defeated the Elite Four, she decided to show up right in front of him. The nerve of her to keep this a secret from him! “Hey Quintus,” she said to him, ever so solemnly, as though this would be the last he'll see of her.

“Hey,” he replied.

“I see,” she retorted. “I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here. No, you've figured it out by now. I'm no caretaker. I'm the champion herself. So how does it feel to have loved and been loved by a champion? How does it feel to be deceived by the one you trust the most?”

Surprisingly, he was not angry at her, but rather disappointed. At some point in time, he no longer needed to fit her into his world. He simply accepted her. He was not angry. He was not angry. But who was he kidding? Why wouldn't he be angry? He fought all the way up to see her only to learn that she had deceived him entirely. She was there to destroy his last ounce of hope to return to her. Was that not why?

The Jirachi loaded its psychic attack and blasted it straight towards Smeargle in an attempt to hold him down. Smeargle began to glow, and with a sharp crashing noise, the painter broke through the psychic and sent it right back at the legend. The result made Jirachi thrive in visible pain, causing it to crash land with a sickeningly loud thud. Smeargle, sensing the change in the flow of attack, jumped toward the yellow one through the piles of rubble and debris, with the impending doom desire ever so close. The attack went off even though Jirachi was still temporarily trapped by its own psychic, multiple beams of silver light flew off from the central glowing light as though it was a silver hydra extending each of its heads to capture its prey. But it was entirely futile, as the little puppy twisted and turned away from each beam of light, with the light catching only as much as that of the paint in its tail. Smeargle took off into the air as the finale of the attack took flight. “Lock-on! Now!” The final, and largest beam of light, flew with intense velocity, utterly destroying the land below it. However, that was all the explosion took, the Smeargle had escaped another doom desire. It stood in front of the Jirachi, unmoving, pensive as to what it should do. After several long seconds, it helped the legendary one up from the ground. The battle was over.

Quintus looked toward the former champion and saw her wear yet another smile. She wore a different smile than before, one that took a much warmer tone. Her smile was one of a woman to her man. The battle was over, and he understood her actions. The fight they had just before the tournament, her deliberate attack on his lack of ego, all for the fact that she thought he had the talent to become the champion himself. That was the reason. She wanted him to succeed. She wanted him to become the one to replace her as the best of the best. Serra ran towards him, across the debris, almost slipping on a large indent where the bulk of the final doom desire had made its mark. She gave him a long passionate embrace. It seemed to him that he had missed those days for an eternity. “Welcome, champion,” she said gently, carrying an echo of satisfaction.

“I never knew...” Quintus whispered back. “I never knew --”

“When you are the best, there should never be anything holding you back,” she reassured him, giving him a peck in the cheek.

Serra stopped clinging onto Quintus afterwards. She led further into the hall of champions, where greats such as Ash Ketchum had placed their names onto immortality. The hall, untouched by the world, was enshrouded in darkness with two beams of white light on either side of the pathway. At the end of the pathway, a pedestal with the plaque of champions lit up by three spotlights shining upon it. It was his turn for immortality. He placed his hand upon the pedestal and looked back towards Serra, who walked behind him, tear jerked and smiling. Just like that, the ceremony was over. Two names were side-by-side on the plaque of champions: Serra Yufian and Quintus Yufian.

“Well so I guess I'll be the janitor of the hall of champions or something,” Quintus said, jokingly.

“Don't guess, Quintus. Just do,” Serra replied with a clear tone.

Quintus made Serra a promise in his heart. He would try to become the greatest champion since Ash Ketchum. “Don't try. Just do.” his love would say to him. As they both walked out of the hall of champions, their two main pokemon had already begun playing with each other, chasing one another around the battlefield. He thought of his life as a succession of failures before she had come. She turned his world around, and took him to newer heights. Their fates were entwined the moment she took it upon herself to persuade him to pursuit the title. He was not pulled into her world; she created a new world with him. He guessed...no, he knew her much better than he had thought, after all.
~~~~~~

**Homura** · 03-22-2014, 01:21 PM

Your Kiss (2006)
Song by Hitomi Yaida, lyrics translation by Hikari-sama of animelyrics.com

“Hey boy, you look so happy...
is it true?” The man asked as he stood upon the glimmering bridge.

The boy did not answer his question, but walked away without taking a look at the man. This man walked around and down to the rivershore below.

“Hey girl, you look so lonely...
is it true?” That man asked the girl as she caught his eye.

She looked at the man. It was not a coincidence that this man looked at her. She had lost something dear to her. They looked at each other. The man had gentle eyes that touched the girl, who showed only grief and pain in hers.

“If I go looking for something, chances are it will get broken,
so I'm shaking
There is a beautiful rose blooming there upon that cliffside
I long to pick it,” she finally spoke after the long pause. Clearly she had lost a piece of herself.

The man was puzzled by her lyrics. It had seemed to him that she spoke as if she was trying to answer his question, but was never able to fully comprehend her own status. She was confused, and alone. He took as if her reference to the rose was from breaking up with her boyfriend. He finally gave himself the courage to hold her hands.

“Your hands, the way you fold them
is so warm...” he whispered softly into her ear, crouching slightly to compensate for her height.

“I do not wish to damage these words that stain my cheeks
with tears
And even now, my heart is so filled with all this agony
that has followed me here...” she immediately exclaimed.

The man did not care for any of that. In front of him was a girl, heartbroken, and all he could do was comfort her pain and sorrow. He could do nothing else. He was not the one who could doctor her wounds.

“Up to this moment, the endelss sadness of all
of your memories;
Take all of that pain and pour it into
this kiss you give me,” she again spoke, this time in a much more passive voice.

The man was confused. Did she mistaken him for her lost boyfriend? That was the only conclusion he came up with in ths moment of blindness this girl was having. Clearly something was amiss with this girl, and he needed to help her as much as possible. He looked across the riverbed into the setting sun.

“There was a time when all you knew was suffering...
but you know,
You can never fully heal
until you finally learn
to throw what's broken away...” he told that girl.

He pulled her hands. She was hesitant, but she gave in soon after. He took her into town, and showed her many things. The sun was setting, and he knew that he had to show her what he wanted to show her. But it took time, and he needed to deal with that problem quickly, as his time was about up. Still, he took her out to a date. During the short film they went to see, she gave him a quick kiss.

“Up to this moment, the endless sadness of all
of your memories
I am longing to taste the agony of you
within this kiss you give me,” she whispered to the shocked man.

Was this all a delusion in the girl's part? Why did she comment on that kiss? He didn't understand, nor did he care. He was a lost man, who lost his all, and this girl did not seem to care. She continued to kiss him each time he introduced a new activity to her. Finally, he took her to the mountain top nearby as their final stop. His mind had told him that this was all just an illusion. He was just about to say something, but the girl placed her finger on his mouth softly.

“Now I understand what has brought us here,
but I am frightened...
But I believe in each and every kiss you give me,
and everything will be okay...” she said with a smile.

“Your hands, the way you fold them
is so warm...” he slowly replied to her, his grip slipping off her hands.

“Your eyes, they tell me so much about you
just the way they are...” she said to his disappearing self.

The sun had set. The girl looked on to face the world anew.

Full song lyrics:

Hey boy, you look so happy...
is it true?
Hey girl, you look so lonely...
is it true?

If I go looking for something, chances are it will get broken,
so I'm shaking
There is a beautiful rose blooming there upon that cliffside
I long to pick it

Your hands, the way you fold them
is so warm...

I do not wish to damage these words that stain my cheeks
with tears
And even now, my heart is so filled with all this agony
that has followed me here...

Up to this moment, the endelss sadness of all
of your memories;
Take all of that pain and pour it into
this kiss you give me

There was a time when all you knew was suffering...
but you know,
You can never fully heal
until you finally learn
to throw what's broken away...

Up to this moment, the endless sadness of all
of your memories
I am longing to taste the agony of you
within this kiss you give me

Now I understand what has brought us here,
but I am frightened...
But I believe in each and every kiss you give me,
and everything will be okay...

Your hands, the way you fold them
is so warm...
Your eyes, they tell me so much about you
just the way they are...

**Homura** · 03-22-2014, 01:22 PM

Weather (2007)

He took the massive piece of machinery out toward the back of his home for the second time that night. It was a rather cloudy night and he wanted to see how much of this piece of machinery actually worked. To think that he would ever work with such a boss was rather unsettling. He didn't have the answers to why he chose this job over the other, he just simply did. Whether or not that was a good idea, he never really cared too much. He turned him on for a second time. A ribbon of red scattered.

Strangely enough, he puffed and puffed, but did not exactly do as he had wanted him to work. Rather, the machinery in himself did not see the problems of it all. He was perfectly fine with the fact that he could not look into the sky and predict the weather. Or rather, was it he who wished that his invention would wish to see his skies? He looked around into the silence. To say that the scenery had stirred due to his prescence was probably wrong, since it was fairly clear that he had not the ability to change the scenery, nor predict the future. He didn't really care, he tried anyway, and he came up with snow next morning. Or was that sun?

The winds had already picked up. He ostensibly should just head back inside the house. Afterall, this was the mountains. He never really understood why the mountains would be the place where knowledge would become abound. Then again, he didn't seem to know much in terms of anything and everything. It was still night, or had a day passed already? He could hardly tell. He went about to what he should do during the night. Obviously there were things that he had to do, but he couldn't put a finger to what he wanted to do during that time either, as if he had lost memory of why he wanted to be there in the first place. He looked around the rather small cabin. He could have sworn that it was a house, but apparently he just used the wrong noun. The cabin was rather small and had no mirrors. It was funny, since a mirrorless cabin was just the sort of house he would have wanted. Mirrors were not his friends, afterall.

He made his way back into the bedroom, a bright and overly lit room by all means, but it was comfortable, especially during the times of cold spells when his joints would become stiff. The warmth of the light was enough to make him feel much better, and in essence that room had become his favourite part of the room almost instantaneously.

There were knockings on the cabin door. It would seem rather urgent, as the knockings were fast paced and relatively loud as well. It would seem that an emergency had arrived. Was he to be summoned for support as well? He slowly, but surely made his way through the bedroom door and slowly opened the light heavy door of the cabin. Three men stood there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whether it was amazement or agony, he didn't know. He only knew that the rain had started. Red was definitely the colour the cabin needed, and he definitely did a very fine job painting the cabin walls. He walked out of the light heavy door of the cabin. It was raining. How he hated the rain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rust had begun to form outside the cabin door. It was heavy, and did not budge for the most part, but the rain kept telling those who would listen about a life that never realized.

**Homura** · 03-22-2014, 01:23 PM

Thousand (2007)

The night began to sink its deafening claws into the mountains yet again, just like two years and two hundred and eighty seven days ago. Ever since that day he could not care to continue his studies. He was, in essence, paralyzed in a stasis that he could not shake. The only thing he could do was to write his words over and over again, past every single day, hoping for a better time. A time long lost that would never return to him.

He lived near the base of the serene mountains. Interestingly enough, those who wished to study and gain more knowledge lived on the mountains. He wondered if the thinner air would help their pursuit for knowledge, or whether or not that was just a physical barrier to stop outsiders from going in. What was ironic, however, was the fact that an easily accessible library was on the same cluster of mountains at the border. It went against everything their philosophy would be, if that were true. Or it could have been a front for something more sinister. He was probably reading too deep into that, though.

His name was Hollance, half of a noble. He was a product of a noble and his young servant (which was allowed back then, the one with the power could essentially do anything he wanted). The good thing was that he was still considered somewhat of a noble, but he would continue to be the “bastard” only child. It didn't matter to him many years ago, when he stepped out of the house to pursue his studies. He wanted desperately to get himself out of that house anyway.

He went here, the mountains. More specifically so, the cluster of mountains known as Vestura, which laid on the border between the two countries Dakoius and Harminia. He lived on Dakoius's side of the border, and consequently enrolled himself into the academy for the rich, in which his father paid full price for. Well, it might not have been full price, but he didn't have a clue, nor would he even bother to dig that deep into the darkness of his entire corrupt country.

He would visit the library often during his study breaks. The thing was that the breaks literally made themselves too long most of the time. In between his courses in philosophy and literature, there would often be five and six hour gaps. What to do as a young male in pursuit of knowledge? The library was the answer. He studied light magic for the most part while inside this library. Partially this was out of spite, other times it was because it was so completely different from the material he was exposed to. He at one point did not know which to believe, either.

His meeting with her was during this time. A miracle, as they would call it. She was young and rather beautiful woman approximately his age. They met while he was looking at light magic that lightens mood and just happened to pick the same book, “The Art of Light Atmosphere, second edition”, at the same time. She was beautiful in a sense that she lacked had the composure of a refined woman, but it turned out that she was from Harminia. They had hit it off from that point on. They dated, so to speak.

The times during the four years were arguably the best times of his life. They nearly did everything they could possibly do together. It was paradise, and nothing in the world would he trade for a life as simple as waking up in the morning next to the woman he loved. His heart would race every time he had anticipated to see her. Sometimes even before his anticipation. He read about this insanity, this crazy insatiable hunger for the other person, in books, but he never thought that this was how it felt like, nor how wonderful this feeling really was. The word “paradise” was to describe this time.

But like all things good, it had to end. His father opposed his proposal for marriage. At first his father only thought that he was using her, but as time went on, his disapproval went up. The decline for marriage was obvious. That would not stop the two lovers. Facing pressures from both families to separate, their flames of passion burned even greater than before, and they began eloping from those worlds for a chance at a simple life outside. This obviously wasn't possible from his father's end, and certainly as things had stood, she wasn't really inclined to leave her family even though she had thought of it.

All things had to come to an end. The second day of the third month of their rebellion, “Hollance... I'm leaving you,” were the final words that she told him as she left the door. Those were indeed, the only words that resonated in his mind. It was from that point on he went to his static life knowing no joy, only pain. Eventually he took over the family's work, engorging himself with the finest of women, power, and everything else that came with power. But he wrote letters to her every day of the year. He had hoped that while the letters were not mailed to her, that she would receive them anyway. He had hoped, a faint and lonely hope that his words, his feelings, and everything he had held from within would reach her.

The sun already was on the rise as he had awakened from his slumber. His letter, however, was finished. He left his letter in the same drawer as all the other ones he wrote the two years before. His trip today was slightly different, as he had to drop by the border to deal with some territorial issues. It was then that he saw her. Time came rushing back into a life locked in stasis.

One thousand words. One thousand feelings. One embrace.

**Homura** · 03-22-2014, 01:24 PM

Perfect Havoc (2007)

High time! Night time, a time when most would be at home, sleeping away in the quiet town of Vitas. It is often said that the town of Vitas was just a single town amongst many towns of similar size, shape, and even the population would be similar to others. Few had managed to verify that claim, but it would seem that some of the messengers that move between towns seem to agree, considering the fact that Vitas was practically walled in.

Something strange Vitas had was a rather large and complicated system to control its population. The outer wall was simply made of a simple heavy and strong wall that was rather flexible and can easily perform many different activities that defied modern science. Two of the most amazing things these walls did were the ability to encapsulate and the ability to fuse with other walls of similar material. The interior of the city were also made of these walls, with the town hall being layered twice with this gray wall.

Various installation projects of doors and other accessories of that calibur were easy with these walls, considering that the fusion methods can take place in seconds. One can place many different things into these walls, and the exterior of the wall was littered with many small message holders that can be tugged for messengers to take messages into town hall, or otherwise be taken in for further investigation. This system made it possible to keep Vitas' population inside the city for most of the time, since each member of this population was terribly important for the city's function.

The city also had a unique feature of getting its energy for its populations. They had incredible abilities of recycling of energy that could turn waste back into useful material, but that would never be enough. They've devised methods in taking in the resources from outside the city using sophisticated technology that took in the resources of energy from outside the city and taking it into the city via many of these channels.

Their target was simple. In order for the areas around to be secure, they had to essentially take Vitas by force, and essentially control the only true teleportation device around. Yes, the job was to enter town hall and steal the device. Or, if that wasn't possible, forcibly take over the city. Diana was to lead this operation.

The first obstacle was the large wall that surrounded the city. On the outside, it was a rather plain wall with different doors and what not sticking out of the wall. A rather simple task of dealing with this problem was to essentially surround themselves with a thin layer of this wall material, and force themselves through. A brilliant move, but definitely not the only way to do it. Sure enough, the infiltration team made it into the city without any disturbance. They sensed no signs of caution.

There were several main streets from this peripheral area to the town hall, but they decided that it was obviously best to move in their formation through smaller streets to this town hall. There was no response, which did prompt Diana to bring more caution in their movements than usual. This mission should not fail if she were to be careful with the guards, which seemed to be crawling all over the place. Guards or not, she had a mission to do.

Without much trouble, they made it to the town hall. It took them another ten minutes to find an entrance to this place, as they already used up their wall material in their initial entry. Diana then commanded the squadron, "The C unit should stay outside and keep watch and whatever's going on. Everybody else should come with me."

A simple request, and sure enough this was granted. Once inside, Diana began her search for the teleportation device. The rest of the squadron members also moved to deal with their respective assignments. And thus the battle also began. The alarms began to ring. The squadron members outside were decimated by the defensive guards, a necessary scapegoat. The entire city was under alert. This also meant that Diana and her teams would have to work much more quickly.

They arrived at a control station of some sort named Neo Dios 10, which they quickly subdued all inhabitants. And it was there that they found the whereabouts the location of the teleporter was, and found out it was not something that could be moved. More importantly, they would be able to control this just by keeping control of the room. She sent a number of her men, in team 0, out to aid in whatever they could do, while leaving the rest in here to begin the transfer of allies into the playing field.

Team 0 was probably one of the most skilled teams in the history of this business. They were advanced in computer technology, and had many ways in dispatching enemies in ways that generally would make people squirm. they were the gate keepers in the balance between the defense and the offense, and they often were the tide-turning teams. They were some of the best, destroying guards left and right.

There were also other teams that seem to be less impressive. Team 4 was responsible for heading to the teleportation device to set the correct coordinates for transport of appropriate people into the battlefield at any given time. Team 22 also had coordinates, but only they had the technical skill to teleport the most powerful weapons. Team 27 had many more uses than all of these. They had the ability to shut down a lot of the alarm systems that alerted the guards, and also destroy the messengers that would attempt to communicate with what is outside the town hall. In this way, the exterior would have only a vague idea of what was going on until it was too late.

Perhaps the most impressive team Diana had was Team S. They were able to completely shut down communication systems outside before the alarm even started. Yes, while Diana and her team was entering the town hall, Team S already decided to finish off things from the exterior. Likely by now Team S would have completed their job, and nobody outside would receive messages from the interior. The outside would forever feel threatened until they would eventually be taken out by Diana's men.

By daybreak it was all over. The entire city was taken by storm. The teleportation device was moving at maximum power, and with the help of the Expert 7 team (including a single Team 9) -only recently teleported in- delivering more and more of their men into the city, and leaving this city to find other cities to conquer.

Vitas' and surrounding cities' destroyed by the special forces, the M. No doubt these men were sent in through a rather powerful force from outside the city. But by that time Diana and her best men had already left the city for another, in a place called Neurasia, where they stayed in the city, waiting for another chance at creating this havoc yet again, for the glory of her nation.