The Sound and the Fury

[Anime Mac]

This was originally a non-canon test on a roleplaying message board, using original characters drawn from two different settings. The whole thing was sort of spur-of-the-moment at the time, simply to test the viability of using voice clips and sound effects in message board RPGs, so I didn't put too much detail or effort into it (hence the unexplained setting crossovers, among other things).

I noticed people putting up fiction in here for others' opinions. Rather than judging the story itself (which is shoddy and underwent no revisions since the first draft), I wanted to hear people's opinions of using sound to enhance text stories and text roleplaying.

FYI, I used Geese Howard voice clips for Walker, Armored Core 1 voice clips for the Gora A.I., and Thousand Arms outtakes for Alan. I've uploaded roughly 1500 voice clips to my website so far, with plans to upload more … once I get around to it. >.> <.<

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Mood Music: <click here>

After many a harrowing trial, Walker finally managed to achieve his destination: the CPU core of the Gora, EGF's main research facility. The spacefaring base had recently gone rogue and had become a staging point for a viral-like software infection that caused other AIs to turn against them. At Andrew MacCragge's request, Walker had joined thousands of others in the strike against the huge facility, as a member of one of the covert infiltration teams that used the frontal attack as a distraction. Now Walker was poised to bring weeks of planning and fighting to fruition by bringing an end to the threat once and for all.

But it seemed that Walker's arrival had not gone entirely unanticipated, for the main mastermind of the malicious malaise revealed itself from behind a row of server banks: Alan MacCragge, a physiologically- and psychologically-twisted mechanical mockery of Andrew MacCragge. “What the hell are you doing here?! Stupid humans aren't permitted here!”

The only visible marker that the thinly-veiled threat had registered in Walker's mind was a slight deepening of his scowl. He took a casual step towards Alan, then another, before calmly stating, “I'll stain my hands … with your blood.”

This didn't sit well with Alan at all, but he hid his displeasure behind a wicked sneer as he taunted Walker, “Pathetic humans! You don't understand anything! … machines are perfect! We are destined to rule! Worthless humans, I'll destroy all of you!” With those last few words, Alan was suddenly upon Walker, mechanized digits wrapping around Walker's throat to lift him up off the ground one-handed.

As Walker dangled from Alan's grasp, the corrupted voice of the Gora's A.I. made itself heard. “Stop such foolishness. Your fate is sealed. Resistance is futile.”

Walker, irritated by how the Gora had ripped off the Borg with that last comment, shouted in rage at Alan as he crushed the offending arm's servos between both hands. Seemingly unaffected by the oxygen deprivation, he maintained his hold on the remnants of Alan's limb and stepped forward as he pivoted so that his side faced Alan, shoulder-slamming the cyborg clone and sending it flying against the wall while ripping the forearm entirely off. “Pathetic!”

Walker harumphed disdainfully as he followed up the shoulder slam with a sprinting drop kick to Alan's sternum, sinking Alan deep into the reinforced walls of the server chamber and shattering Alan's powerplant in the process. Walker slowly stood from the crouch he had landed in and turned his back confidently, pausing only to smirk and offer Alan the simple remark, “You are weak.”

Fuming in impotent rage as Walker walked away, Alan screeched, “There must be some kind of mistake! I can't believe I lost to a miserable human! NOOOOOOO!” An explosion rocked the chamber when Alan's powerplant hit critical mass, the clean explosion's force and heat dampened by the wall material surrounding Alan. The acrid stench of charred flesh and molten metal briefly filled the room before the air scrubbers started circulating and filtering the air, causing the tail of Walker's trenchcoat to flutter behind him as he returned to the server computers.

The Gora, meanwhile, had already called for reinforcements to come, and it tried to stall for more time. “Come no closer,” it commanded Walker, but Walker only laughed quietly to himself. Trying again as Walker laid a hand upon the nearest server array, the Gora AI asked, “… what is your wish?”

Walker simply stated, “You can not escape long death,” before tearing into the electronics with his bare hands….