Scrapped Stories

Re;birth Apocalypse [Original] Ch. 21: Shattered Fields

I pick up a small game console, turning it around before setting it back on the pile. "There's so much here...some of them are in working condition." I notice a Gamegirl Advance with a copy of Bokemon Lettuce Olive laying in the pile. "Yoink~." I take the small handheld and turn it on, the game and console surprisingly working. "I'm gonna have so much fun with this, later." I step away from the pile of discarded consoles and head over to a river running through. I dip my hand in the water...freezing. It also has a very sickly green colour to it, is that a used condom. "And we're done here." I pull my arm out to find a large metallic piranha attached to it. "Hey... get off." I poke the large mechanical creature, but it doesn't release its grip. I reel back my arm and slam my foot down on the ground. "FORE!!!" I fling my arm forwards, the piranha flying off of my charcoal bone-like arm, sailing into the distance. I shake my wrist as I continue wandering through the scrapyard.

"One hundred, million, thousand glass in my @$$, one hundred, million, thousand glass. You take one step..." I step on another shard of glass, quickly sliding my foot across the ground and kicking up scrap metal and glass. "What is wrong with this nation?!" The sound of sparks alerts my attention to a broken down robot sitting on one of the piles. I approach the robot as it jerks its arm up, before falling limp once again. I place my hand on the robot's head, as the scrap metal around it form into it. The robot's eyes suddenly light up, its mouth opening and closing, not synced to its voice. "W-W-Welcome to L-L-L-Lowe-e-e...! Hope you h-h-have a j-j-j-jolly good t-t-t-time!" The robot falls limp once again, as I step away from it. "Something tells me that this whole nation was like a mechanical theme park...but what happened here?" I continue walking through the fields of glass and metal, seeing a large factory off in the distance. "Civilization at last...! I wish...as far as I've seen, there's nothing here." Something flies out from the factory, hurtling towards me. "What was in that water?!" The figure crashes into the ground in front of me, kicking metal and dust into the air. An axe rips through the dust and nearly cuts me, as I lean backwards. The figure emerges from the dust, throwing its axe towards me. I duck down as the axe flies past me. "What the hell...?" I look back as the axe comes back around, ducking once again as it returns to its user. None other than Clubs. The Apocalypse Caller slowly approaches me, twitching as it raises the axe. I quickly slam my arm down into the ground, the metal and glass forming into a long rapier as I parry Clubs' axe swing. I thrust forward, striking Clubs in the gut, before leaping back and throwing the rapier at him. Clubs stands still as the rapier just barely misses its head. The ground starts to shake as metal and glass fly towards Clubs, attaching themselves to its body. The mass of metal becomes a seven foot tall mechanical monster, equipped with a buzzsaw. Clubs roars as I will a wall of metal to rise in front of me. "Crap, crap. C'mon Future... Think of something." I notice a large pile of metal laying just a few feet away. The wall breaks down as Clubs charges forward, just as I point to the pile and quickly swipe over to Clubs. The pile is immediately launched towards the mechanical behemoth, only to be sent flying towards me, instead. "$#!%!" I duck back as the pile flies past my head. "Hey! You're littering!" The small black flame in my eye glows brighter, as I point towards Clubs. "Taste some corrosion!" Acid shoots out from my fingertip, spraying onto Clubs' metallic armor. The metal starts melting, before being ejected off of Clubs' body. I will a wall of metal to appear in front of me, blocking the melting metal. Clubs quickly starts gathering more metal to its body, just as I rush in. "Too slow!" I spin-kick Clubs in the head, its neck clicking as I drop to the ground. Clubs immediately drops the piles of scrap metal around him before falling limp. I lower my guard, slowly approaching the Apocalypse Caller. "Huh? It was THAT easy..." Clubs suddenly twitches, prompting me to turn some scrap metal into a gun. Clubs' eyes glow for a second, flickering in and out. "V-V-V-Vessel of Jok-k-ker... No... They c-c-call you F-F-Future... D-D-Don't they?" I lower my gun. "Y-Yes... Why aren't you trying to kill me?" Clubs twitches again. "B-B-Believe me... If I-I were m-m-merciful, I-I-I w-would kill y-y-you... W-W-Would you l-listen to m-my story?" I sigh, placing my hand on Clubs. "Let's fix that voicebox first." Clubs sparks for a second, before standing up. "Follow me, there's something I need to show you..."

Clubs leads me to a small area outside of the factory, a campfire already lit. I take a seat on one of the chairs made out of metal rods, as Clubs projects a screen in front of me. "This nation used to be beautiful, a wonderful amusement park filled with all things mecha. I was a passive Apocalypse Caller, someone who just wanted to see his nation prosper. But the others thought otherwise. They believed that the purpose of all machinery is to pump out products, day in day out. They turned my amusement park into a factory riddled industry, forcing my citizens to work under inhuman conditions. But Spade took it even further. He devised a plan to make the machines fight the other nations, in order to rule over them himself. When the fighting was over, Spade had placed the blame on me. Please, believe me. I'm on your side." I sigh, looking at the screen. "How can I believe that you aren't trying to deceive me?" ~ "You say that like you're used to it... I have information that will help you. I can tell you how Diamond's Trump Card works." ~ "His Trump Card?" ~ "The Apocalypse Callers never share what their Trump Card does, we are always at risk of being taken over by each other." ~ "So about his Trump Card...?" ~ "It's control. He represents the power hungry. His ability takes complete control of whoever looks at his Trump Card. That's how they continue to abuse me. Somehow Spade had convinced Diamond to help him with his plan, without telling him why." ~ "You said represent? That means the Apocalypse Callers stand for something?" ~ "Correct. Diamond represents Control, Heartz represents Discrimination, I represent Pollution..." ~ "And Spade?" ~ "He..." A quick flash of purple shoots across the sky, landing right behind Clubs. "You called?" Spade quickly slashes Clubs with his katana, ripping a hole in his chest. Spade grips Clubs by the neck, pulling out a sphere of light. "You seem to be awake. We can't have that...no no no. We'll have to fix that." Spade inserted the sphere into Clubs' chest, a bright light exploding out from him. When it settled, Clubs was sparking wildly. Spade looked to me before flying off back to his nation. Clubs raises its axe as a large amount of scrap metal gathers around him.

End of Chapter