The monstrous rabbit barreled towards V.V. and Alex. With only moments to spare, Alex decided that being inside the oversized tuna can that was his truck probably wasn’t the safest place to be anymore. He grabbed the door handle in an attempt to get out but he had of course locked himself in. The drivers door would open even if it was locked as long as you were opening it from inside but not the other doors. In this split-second miscalculation, time ran out and the death bunny smashed into the truck.
“Oh fuuuuuuuuuu….!!!” Alex screamed as the truck lurched hard to the right side, standing on its front and back right wheels for only a moment before rolling over. The truck fell onto its side and continued to roll as the ground declined into a large ditch. Glass shattered and Alex felt as if he had been transformed into a pinball as he bounced around inside the truck The vehicle made two full rotations before continuing into another half roll where the hood of the truck decided to live in the dirt.
“ck..” Alex’s scream ended as the truck came to a its final resting place. He was dazed but he surprisingly didn’t feel hurt anywhere. He looked around him as he lay in an acquired position on the ceiling of his truck. He moved himself into a more comfortable position and looked around for V.V.
“V.V, you OK?” He said dizzily, looking around to see if the little orb had been slung into the back of the truck or out a window, but surprisingly the little ball floated into his view from behind him.
“I am fully functional at this time, Alex. You also appear to be undamaged.” V.V. seemed completely unphased by the journey they had just gone on and Alex was about to reply when...
SLAM!
The truck was smashed into the ground several inches as muddy ground began to seep into the broken windows. The bunny from Hell wasn’t done with Alex, it seemed. Slam after slam could be heard and felt from above him as he scooted towards the now broken windshield. With each successive slam, the truck was being driven into the ground a little more and it seemed that the roll cage was starting to bend in on itself. It wasn’t much of a choice, but Alex had to choose between facing the monster outside or being buried by it.
“Shit! Let’s go V.V, nice knowing you I guess!” Alex yelled as he scrambled out of the opening and clambered his way across the ground to the grill of the truck. He got to his feet and put his head up above the truck just enough to see the creature. All of the beasts attention was focused on slamming it’s enormous front paws into the metal underbelly of the truck; trying its hardest to get at the delicious meat that was surely inside the thick shell of its pray.
Alex stared for only a moment before ducking back down below the truck. His heart hammered away and his brain whirled with half-baked ideas. Fight the bunny!? Am I insane, screw that! Run!? Where!? Hide!? WHERE!? Inner thoughts fumbled over themselves in an attempt to come up with a viable solution to this unprecedented life or death situation.
“Alex” V.V. said beside him in a lower-than-normal volume but still easily heard, even with the racket of the bunny. “I suggest quickly but quietly making your way behind the hare and attacking it from behind.”
Alex slowly, almost robotically, turned his head towards V.V. and stared in dumbfounded disbelief at the giant marble that surely wanted him to die. He had legitimately thought the little thing had made a joke earlier but now he was coming to realize that V.V. did in fact want him to fight. How was he supposed to fight something that was at that very moment ripping his truck apart.
“V.V, I can’t fight that thing. I couldn’t even break a steering wheel and that thing is turning my truck into scrap with what looks like relatively minimal effort!” Alex whisper-yelled through gritted teeth at his companion. He did, however, think getting behind the rabbit was a better idea than staying in front of it, so Alex began sliding along the side of the truck in an effort to get to the rear of the monster.
V.V. drifted down to Alex’s right ear and spoke softly while he made his way along the truck. “You are capable of defeating this creature in your current state, Alex. Through analyzing both yourself and the hare, I have concluded that you have more than a 90% chance of victory with minimal damage to yourself. With my support, the odds approach 100% with minimal damage.” Alex listened but chose not to respond to V.V. as he approached the tailgate of his truck. The weight of the rabbit had the trucks front end pressed into the ground and the bed of the truck jutted into the air so much that Alex could squat under the back end if he needed to.
The monster continued to rip and tear at the truck as Alex stood at the tailgate. He stood to his full height and was just barely able to look over the bottom of the truck towards the creature. As he looked closer at the gigantic bunny, he took in more details about it. It was a dirty brown-grey color with splotches of red smeared here and there all over its backside. It sported a stumpy black tail that looked more like a short dogs tail than the fluffy bunny tail that he’d expected to see. When it reared up to slash down at the truck, he could see its huge ears poking into the air.
V.V. wants me to fight that thing!? NOPE! Alex thought to himself and began to back away from the truck and towards the woods where the large lizards had escaped to. He would much rather take his chances with those things than this huge bastard. As Alex slowly backed away from the truck, V.V. turned its eye on him and then back towards the rabbit. Continuing to back away, Alex saw V.V. begin to rise into the air above the trucks tailgate. With more horror than he had felt in life so far he watched as V.V. leveled itself with the rabbit and its metallic skin began to darken to a deep black. Before Alex could get any words to come out of his stunned mouth; a beam of dark energy shot from V.V. directly into the back of the rabbit!
SCREEEEEECH!
The rabbit roared with pain as it staggered forward, only to tumble off the front side of the truck. As the weight of the animal left the trucks front end, the back of it slammed back down towards Alex. Luckily he was already a few feat away by that point and he was only showered in mud, rather than crushed by his own trucks back end. Alex staired at V.V. in shock and anger before his eyes flicked to where the rabbit fell. Alex watched as the beast regained its balance and slowly turned towards where it had been attacked. Finally, Alex could now see the face of his would be murderer much closer. It was just as horrifying as he imagined; beady, black, dead eyes and far, far too many teeth. He began to turn towards the woods for an escape and as Alex moved to run for his life, he glanced back at V.V, only to see them start to float towards the monstrosity of fur and teeth.
“V.V, lets run! Come on!” Alex yelled at his companion. Even though V.V. had done something monumentally stupid in Alex’s eyes, he still didn’t want the little fellow to get hurt. He had already started to get attached to the only being he could talk to in who knew how many miles.
“Unnecessary, Alex. Defeating this enemy now is the correct course of action. Fleeing into unknown terrain is far more dangerous than eliminating a known threat.” V.V. said with its all too casual tone and continued to move towards the rabbit.
“V.V!” Alex yelled, but the orb continued towards what Alex knew was death.
ROOOAR!
The rabbit screamed a war cry at the tiny thing that had hurt it and kicked off the ground with a smooth and powerful hop, back onto the front of the upturned truck. As it landed, it forced the backend back up into the air, almost like a seesaw. The sudden jerking of the trucks bed back into the air was so fast that V.V. didn’t seem to even notice or have any chance of moving before they were hit. The ball shot high into the air as it was hit by the extremely heavy truck and sailed far away. Alex was once more stunned into motionless disbelief as he watched his cueball companion be launched into the stratosphere, only to leave him alone with an extremely angry bunny.
“That… Didn’t just happen. There’s no way that just fucking happened! Ha.. Hahahaha!” Alex yelled and felt that he was about to devolve into either a full mental breakdown, absurd hysterics at the absurdity of the situation or maybe he would just start to cry. The choices all seemed like death was the end result, so why not just let his emotions go to wherever they wanted to lead him.
Stolen story; please report.
The hare watched the little ball fly up into the sky for a moment before turning its gaze on Alex. Alex’s laughter was what caught its ears and now Alex had its full attention. The orb was all but a fleeting memory now as dinner presented itself to the hare. Food was all it could think about now, ripping, shredding, devouring flesh from tender meat. The hare could remember flashes of before this insatiable urge to consume took over its mind; fear, shelter, survival and of course hunger. But now, hunger was all that remained and it was indeed, hungry.
The rabbit hopped again; this time landing on the back end of the truck. The truck immediately slammed down again with the tailgate digging deep into the muddy ground. The rabbit kept its footing as it stared at Alex and let out a guttural, mind tingling growl. Alex still stood in the same spot he had been in when V.V. decided it would get itself launched to one of the moons. He still kept having little bursts of chuckles hit him even as he stared back at the rabbit that was surely about to eat him.
“Oh man. What a wild ride. I thought I’d have pissed myself by now but I think I’m still dry down there.” Alex said this directly to the rabbit. He knew he was about to die and trying to run wasn’t going to do any good. So, he may as well say his piece and try to go out fighting.
The hare leaped at Alex and expected to have a mouthful of delicious meaty goodness in that next moment. There was only the snapping of overly sharp fanglike-teeth, however.
Alex had not even realized what he’d done at first. He was several feet away from the rabbit, crouched on the ground, feet dug deep into the loose soil, ready to make another attempt at evasion. He had wanted to dodge the deadly cavern of teeth flying through the air at him, so he jumped to the side and rolled to his feet. That’s what he wanted to do, and he did it, not thinking for even a moment that it would actually work.
Panting from fear, not exhaustion, Alex spoke. “How.. did I? What is happening?”
“As I have informed you, Alex. This monster is not a threat to you. You are fully capable of defeating it.” V.V. said, just as calm as ever, over Alex’s right shoulder.
Alex jump-dove to the side at the sudden words beside his ear. His head snapped towards the offending voice only to see a small metallic orb with a black pupil staring at him. “V.V! How are you here! You got absolutely obliterated by that homerun earlier.” Alex said with surprise at seeing his little companion back but even more shockingly, unharmed. Not even a dent could be seen on the cueball.
Before either of them could say more, the rabbit launched itself at Alex again and once more, Alex dove out of the way. This time, Alex stood from his crouched position and examined himself. He flexed his arms and legs, feeling for the first time that something was truly different. He knew the stats had changed and were much higher than any normal human had any right to be, but he still had felt relatively normal. Did the stats not activate unless he was in a fight or something?
“Alex.” V.V. said, once again beside Alex’s right ear. He only flinched a little this time. “While you are superior to this hare, you still need to pay attention.”
Before Alex could respond, again, the rabbit was flying towards Alex with maw agape. This time though, Alex didn’t dive away, but instead, crouched down and launched himself towards the rabbits mid-section. He slammed into the monster with all his might and managed to knock the wind both out of the rabbit and himself. The rabbit fell back onto the ground, dazed and wheezing while Alex managed to stagger himself to a somewhat standing position.
Wheezing “Oh, that hurt more than I thought it would.” Alex said while he held his chest and his head which had taken the brunt of the hit from the rabbit. As Alex got himself back under control, the rabbit was also beginning to rise from the ground. Just as Alex was about to leap onto the bunny, a blast of dark energy hit the monster.
SCREEEEEE!!!
The rabbit screamed in pain as once more, V.V. blasted it with its Consume ability. Alex watched with mixed emotions as the giant furball of a monster writhed in pain. “Alex, this is not over! Defeat the hare before it regains its footing!” V.V. said in a much louder voice this time.
“Oh, right!” Alex yelled and jumped onto the rabbit. His legs straddled the throat of the monster and he began to punch it in the head. This was all Alex really knew how to do after all, punch, punch, punch. He had lost his trusty flashlight in the tumble into the ditch and had no idea where it could have been flung off to. Punch, punch, punch. The rabbit screeched and roared at its attackers but Alex had it pinned. How the much smaller creature was holding it down was a mystery to the hare but it needn’t worry about how for much longer.
CRUNCH!
FWOOMP!
Alex felt it when it happened, the caving in of the rabbits skull. He knew it was over, but he hit the monster several more times for good measure. Along with the noise from the beasts brain being decimated, he also heard a familiar sound that the System had made before. He looked up from his bloody deed and was welcomed to a new System screen hovering in his face. Alex looked at the screen for only a moment, looked back down at what he had done and without really knowing why, he leaned back onto the dead animal and began to cry. Tears rolled down his face in waves, so many emotions bombarded his mind at once and the only thing he could do was sit there. V.V. remained stoically floating beside Alex’s right shoulder as usual and waited for Alex to finish processing what needed to be processed.
Sigh “That… really took me by surprise.” Alex said after letting out a sigh of relief, both at finally getting the tears to stop and at the current perilous situation coming to a close. “I.. don’t know what I need to do now.”
“Loot the corpse, acquire any usable materials that are available and then complete your timed quest.” V.V. listed off like he’d asked the ball to tell him his itinerary.
Chuckling “OK, well let’s do that then...” Alex said, while laughing at his own mental image of V.V. as his own get-shit-done, no-nonsense secretary, who also happened to shoot black laser beams.
Sighing again, Alex felt the edges of his sanity settle back into place. Every time something impossible happened, he felt like he was losing himself, little pieces at a time. Now, however, he felt that those pieces that were being broken off weren’t being lost but maybe transforming into something sturdier. At least, that’s what he decided to tell himself in an attempt to keep this new calm that was seeping into him. Alex breathed in deeply once more and let it out. He looked to the System screen that he had ignored and decided that moving forward was the only way he was getting through this nightmare.
System Alert.
Combat initiated with Mana Crazed Blacktail Jackrabbit Level 7.
Combat finished. User defeated 1 Mana Crazed Blacktail Jackrabbit Level 7.
System experience has been acquired.
System rewards are awaiting retrieval.
“This damn thing’s broken.” Alex said, exasperation thick in his voice.
“Have you told the System that you would like to be notified once you’ve entered combat? It’s default state is set to not distract its User during combat or other distracting situations.”
“Oh, well… That does make sense I guess.” Alex said, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.
Hmmhmm
Alex cleared his throat and called for the System to display his rewards.
System Rewards
System Reward: 50,000 System Credits
System Reward: Armory Box
System Reward: Weaponry Box
“Ooh, something new! Open Armory and Weaponry Boxes!” Alex said, with more joy in his voice than he’d expected to hear but he did enjoy presents after all. Two boxes appeared before Alex and immediately started to dissolve into flecks of light that floated away into nothingness. Although the boxes disappeared, several things remained.
Raging Rabbit Runners
Slot: Feet
Armor: 13
Durability: 113
Effect: Water Resistance 3, Comfort 4, Stamina Up 2
Ability: Water Walking 3/3 Uses
“Oh, shit! Boots!” Alex exclaimed and immediately ripped his muddy sneakers off and shoved his feet into the too large boots. This time, his game knowledge served him well as he assumed the boots would resize to fit him and they did. He watched as the size 13-14 hiking boots shrank before his eyes to snugly fit his size 11 ½ feet. “Finally, something that my gamer brain got right!” He admired the boots for a moment longer but his attention was pulled away by the small tan pouch that sat next to an unassuming brown box, roughly half the size of the box it had come out of. Alex reached out and touched the pouch.
Repair Powder
Doses: 10/10
Effect: Repair 3
“Huh. That’s useful.” Alex said, and began tying the pouch to his belt but stopped. “V.V. can you store this pouch in your inventory?”
“Yes, Alex. You may however wish to store it in your own inventory for quicker access.”
“...My own inventory?”