Cyberpunk Discord

Chapter 8: The Artist's Anecdote

"Ohhh...my head hurts..." Manghua groaned "H-huh..? Wait. Where the f*ck am I?" Manghua examined his surroundings and found that he was in the alley city with glowing lights and a bright shining moon above.

"Hey kid," a gruff sounding voice said.

"What-hey! Who are you?" Manghua asked the big burly man in front of him.

"Oh what meee? I'm just your...friendly ol' neighbor! I just saw that you looked a little hurt and wanted to help you!" The man said in a drastically different tone. Manghua noticed this and became wary, but for whatever reason decided to play along with it because he "felt like it." The man led Manghua out of the alley and into the main city.

"Woooooah this place looks cool! Where are we anyway?" Manghua asked.

"This is Cyber City, the main hub of Cyberpunk Discord. Do you need a place to stay? You will stay in our apartment for the night," the man said.

"Oh I just realized I haven't even learned your name yet! What is your name?" Manghua asked the man.

"My name is nothing important. How about yours?" The man asked. Manghua noticed that the man had said "our apartment" and not "my apartment" and suddenly became even more wary yet interested at the same time, so he still played the role of the idiot.

"My name is...Jeffery Johnson! Nice to meet you, Nothing Important!" Manghua spoke in an innocent tone. "Hopefully he'll take the bait hehehehe..." The man looked bewildered at this but kept his composure. Eventually, they arrived at the man's "apartment," which actually looked more like a dumpster.

"Welp, here we are! There's a bed you can use over there, and there's food as well," the man said happily. Manghua observed all this and noticed that not only were there multiple other "beds," the "food" also looked like a potion you would make in the shower when you were a kid.

"Thank you very much! The food looks...yummy!" Manghua said hesitantly. He smelled the food and nearly puked. "Actually I think I'm good, but thanks anyway." Manghua tried laying in the bed-which was actually just a pile of fluffed up dirt-and somehow fell asleep almost instantly, drawing the attention of the hiding gangsters.

"Hey Boss, I think he's asleep. Should we kill him?" One of the gangsters asked the big burly man.

"Nah, I think we should keep him for a bit. He might prove useful, given that he seems to wield some kind of power, and he's funny. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but we'll find out soon when he wakes up," Boss said. The night passed by as quick as ever, and Manghua waked up before the rest of the gang.

"Huh, guess this wasn't a dream after all," Manghua thought to himself. "Guess I was right. The big dude was the 'boss' of all these gangsters. Better run while I still can and find out what I can do in this world." Manghua, quiet as a mouse, slipped away unnoticed and went into the nearby park where he found out that he had a robotic right arm with some sort of cartridge in it. "Hm, wonder what this does..." Manghua thrust that arm forward and ink shot out into the form of a paintbrush and became a paintbrush.

"Woah..." Manghua said, surprised. He took the black-tipped paintbrush and attempted to paint a picture of a cow, which came to life according to Manghua's desire. "Oooooh sheeeet...I can paint things into reality! Guess I should make some weapons then. Weapons, weapons, weapons..." After an extensive amount of thinking he decided.

"You know what, I'm just gonna make more paintbrushes and have them do whatever! It would make it convenient for painting anyway." Manghua then made seven different brushes: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. "Not sure what these will do but they look cool," Manghua remarked. By this time the rest of the gang woke up and were searching for Manghua.

"The damned brat ran away! Boss, what were you thinking?!" One of the gangsters asked, frustrated.

"Let me cook. It's all part of the plan..." Boss said with a devious smile. Eventually the gang came across Manghua in the park and decided to spy on him, watching him make the seven brushes.

"Hey did you see that? He just made seven brushes out of thin air!" One guy said.

"I knew there was something special about him! Alright gang, go snatch those damn brushes and see what he's up to!" the Boss commanded. The boss approached Manghua who was still figuring out how to control all seven brushes at once.

"Heeeeeey! How're you doing? We kinda lost you there. Oooo what are these? Brushes? Coooool. Say buddy, since we kinda took care of you and all that last night, how 'bout you join us? Waddya say?" Boss asked in an inviting tone.

"Uh. Yeah. No thanks. I kinda just stayed with you for the amusement last night...sorry, haha," Manghua said politely though with a slightly mocking tone.

"'No thanks?' Sorry buddy, 'no' wasn't an option. Either you join us, or my gang and I will kill you and take your oh so precious brushes," the Boss threatened as he closed in on Manghua. Manghua was slightly shaken by this, but kept a calm demeanor.

"Hmmm I think I'll take the third option," Manghua said calmly.

"What third option?" Boss asked, confused. Manghua smirked.

"PEACE!! HAHAHAHAHA!!" Manghua taunted, quickly dashing away. Unfortunately, Boss had surrounded the park with his gangsters, so there wasn't an easy way out.

"A circle of gangsters, huh? Do you guys not have anything better to do with your lives than to chase down a little artist?" Manghua asked mockingly while sneakily drawing a helicopter.

"You little sh*t!" The gang screamed in unison. They all lunged at Manghua, but the green paintbrush suddenly created a hard green barrier around Manghua, who had just finished drawing the helicopter. BOOM! A helicopter appeared and began to take off with Manghua in it, flipping off the gang.

"Helicopter helicopter!" Manghua yelled from the sky, leaving an image of Ley Rickast on the ground, which apparently now is his signature. While Manghua was flying, a plane suddenly came rushing at his helicopter at what seemed to be the speed of light, but it dodged with extreme precision. Manghua was shaken to the core, but decided to turn around and follow the plane and eventually landed somewhere on the border of Cyber City.

"Huh. The green brush protected me...very interesting. I wonder what the others can do." Manghua proceeded to test the orange brush, which had the ability to create explosive paint on a nearby tree, completely obliterating the top half of the tree. Then the red brush, which fired an energy beam that knocked Manghua back due to recoil, the yellow brush, which shot what appeared to be slightly homing bullets, the blue brush, which created a selection of weapons, the cyan brush, which had telekinesis, and the purple brush, which did nothing.

"Wow, this sh*t's crazy!" Manghua exclaimed. Suddenly a loud rumble shook the ground beneath. Turns out, it was once again, just Manghua's stomach. "Welp, I guess I'd better find some food."