Consoulia Chronicles: Booting Up [~ read description]

Chapter 12: Descent

"All right," Zerrin started. Everyone watched as she slid down the banister of the stairs into the basement joining the rest of the team sans Iris. They watched as she finished her slide with a backflip and land on a dusty computer chair. As she rolled, she leaned forward on its backside as it traveled further into the room. "A lot's happened, so let's go over the details, shall we?" 

She flipped over on her back as she recounted the details whilst counting on her fingers. "Larkspur's missing, Mia's missing, Satara and her gang are after us, and we still need to get back home." 

"Don't forget Lady Ari," Spire reminded. He was attached via his Identity Choker to a TV that Clover was using. "Ooh, on your right, Clover! Get the brush, get the brush! He's running with it!" She was silent, locked in on not stepping into enemy paint. 

Zerrin leaned back too far and fell on her backside as the chair lost its balance. She was able to get up, but her hair momentarily stuck to the floor as a few strands of her short, blond locks were pulled out. She landed on a strip of thick, gray electrical tape that was torn in a few places, her fall adding an extra tear to the damage the overall strip had. She noticed that it divided the room in two. "What's all this here?" Zerrin asked aloud. "Usually people put down wires to avoid tripping over wires, not to achieve some sort of aesthetic." 

"Oh, yeah, it's an aesthetic. Good eye!" Zander spoke hurriedly. Zerrin noticed he was playing on one of his consoles. It was a plain gray, but it played an older racing game with realistic physics for its time. "See I'm into older games and consoles, and Clover's keeping up with the times. We both have different aesthetics so we make sure not to blend our stuff together like that." 

Clover sighed, looking over at him from across the room. She looked down over at Zerrin, her hand doing a 'come here' motion. Zerrin sat next to Clover who was winning her paintball game. "You good?" 

With a sigh, she tore herself away from the game as soon as the results were presented. "He has a talent for looking back like he does. Ask him anything, he'll tell you what he was eating in primary school in October, or how much we hated our teacher in middle school, or what game we were playing when we heard.." She trailed off. "I've already said too much. Point is, I never want to look back on anything ever again." 

"I don't know your story, but history's never all that fun. It's still what makes us up, y'know?" Clover didn't respond, and Zerrin didn't press further. She went over to Zander to sit down next to him as he played his racing game. "Something tells me this isn't just an aesthetic choice." 

Zander only answered, "It is. Don't worry about it." Silence dominated the air between them again. "Wanna hook yourself up? What games do you have?" Zerrin proceeded to hook herself up via the cables in her Identity Choker. They both thought alike in terms of choosing a game about teenage rebellion and skating around in a way that celebrated individuality. Not long into his gameplay, he sighed. "I used to always be excited about the next technologies. We always used to joke about the new millennium's supposed advancements, too. But here we are in said future and there's nothing to celebrate. The last decade's been rough." 

"So you stay where you were always comfortable?" Zerrin questioned. 
"Pretty much. Hindsight is 20/20 and I find it more comforting to look at things after they've happened so that history doesn't have to repeat itself." 
She looked back at him with her orange glowing eyes. "I don't know your story either, but history always repeats itself. Take it from me, man." 

Zander put down the controller. "So you lost your father, huh?" She felt a shiver run down her body, but nodded slowly. "I don't think it's your fault. Your sister sounds like she needs to get with the program and see it for what it is." 

"I was never part of the family like those two were because I was adopted, so I wasn't the same Consouloid race as them. Satara was the only one who didn't want me around. After our father saved my life and our mom died from heartbreak, not even Sotoro could stop her. I escaped to Consoulia to escape my home planet's destruction, always wondering where those twins went this whole time." Zerrin divulged her own history as if on autopilot. When she caught herself, it was too late. "I'm sorry, you didn't want to hear all that, did you?" 

"I'm sorry," was all he could muster. "For what it's worth, me and Clover were also-." 

"Guys!" Zander was interrupted by Iris's voice. Everyone else looked up to see her running down the stairs with a rectangular item in her hand. "Guys, guys, guys, guys! Look at this! I found it in the mail. What is it?" 

While Spire, Clover, and Zander hurried to meet her, Zerrin was stuck in a menu. "Hold on, lemme save my game," she muttered. 

"It's a VHS tape," Clover answered. She let Zander take it from Iris he read the title of the tape. "We have her."

"Who would title a movie something as lame as that? Probably a wrong address," Zerrin brushed off. "Unless? No, they couldn't. But who?" 

"I've got a VCR over there. Let's see." Zander led the group over to his side of the basement, but Clover stopped before she could cross the tape. She looked up, thinking she could watch from back here. "I'll allow it this time. Come on," he beckoned. She nervously stepped over it, going into a place she hadn't been in over half a decade. He placed it into the VCR after getting it hooked up to the TV again. 

On the screen, a familiar woman was smirking into the camera as an overhead lightbulb acted as her spotlight. "Not this bitch again," Clover bemoaned. "What's she want now?" 

"Ken, is this thing working?" 
"Shush, Steph!" 
"Oww!" it sounded like she got hurt by her partner somehow. 

"Sotoro! Bring her in!" she commanded.
"Sure thing, sis!"

"Now then, where was I-?" the seriousness of the atmosphere was toned down substantially when what appeared to be a familiar figure with long, messy, black hair with green highlights and a generic outfit consisting of a plain T-shirt and jeans was thrown onto Satara's body. Both of the figures grunted in pain as they collided with each other and fell towards the floor.

Satara lifted the figure by her block locks, much to her chagrin as soon as she rose to her own feet. "I said bring her in, not throw her on me!" she shouted as she turned her face to the other side.
"Should've done it yourself." he defied. 
"You'll pay for that, dear brother, mark my words." 
"Lock the fuck in and finish what you started first." he spat back.