Monster Hunter NEO: Video Storm

Chapter 1: Graphical Errors
The first time I had seen true light in ages was when I left my house this morning. Being an old war veteran has its tolls on you. I’d almost forgot what the outside world even looked like. All of its glorious colors in harmony to form the perfect scene. My joy, however, would be short lived. You see, I had been chosen as one of the people to see the D.M.B.C. A 3D printer… that makes animals. It was the work of science fiction. That, and Trey Willow, an old friend of mine. He had confined himself to creating this machine for years, utilizing technology as it appeared. I started walking to the lab, trying to put together all of the ways this test could fail. Whatever they try to print may attack, the printer could explode. I could only think of the worst.

After almost being run over by a teenager and being called some very colorful names by a young woman, I stood outside of Trey’s laboratory. The door was glass, but it appeared to be one-way, with no handle in sight. Instead, a keycard scanner sat on the wall. I knocked on the door a few times, waiting for somebody to let me in. But nobody came. I thought back on my training, thought of ways to get around this obstacle. I grabbed a small knife from my pocket. It had a Delta symbol printed onto the blade. You must find ways to work around obstacles, rather than giving up. You need to be able to hack a system with a knife and power a jet with a potato. You need innovation. Those were the words of my commanding officer. I looked at the scanner again, and noticed two screws holding the main device in place.

I used my knife as a screwdriver, loosening the bolts. When the main device was off, I saw a few wires. Red was linked to a circuit labeled ‘alarm’, black was connected to a circuit named ‘unrecognized’, and green was connected to a button. Seeing nothing else of use, I pressed it. Behind me, I heard a loud hissing sound. The doors had been unlocked. I walked into the lab, and noticed it was suspiciously empty. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. “Trey! Trey, are you there?” I shouted. No answer. My footsteps echoed in the dark as I looked for my friend. But the echo wasn't loud enough to cover up the sounds of something following me. I spun around, knife ready. When I looked at the thing that had been following me, I was calmed instantly.

Trey stood, looking down at my knife, which I almost embedded in his chest. "Woah, woah, man! It's just me. I heard you coming, so I decided to try and scare you." His voice had a nervous tone in it, but whose wouldn't if a six inch knife was pointed at their heart. I put my knife back into my pocket. "You know better than to do that, Willow." I told him. He just rolled his eyes. "Please, come with me. The D.M.B.C. is ready." he said. As we walked in the empty halls, I decided to ask a few things about this test. "What does D.M.B.C. even stand for, anyway?" I asked. "Digital Material and Behavioral Creationist. We can make a model, animate it, program behaviors into it, and then set it free." he replied. "Our first test," he said as we neared the entrance to the Testing Room, "went off without a hitch. Neo Animus did exactly as it was told to do by it's code." I looked at him for a second. "What's Neo Animus?" I asked. "You'll see." he replied, slipping a disc out of his pocket.

The Testing Room was dark and damp, with leaks dropping into my hair and splattering onto the floor. The D.M.B.C. was a computer system linked to a drum filled with some kind of jelly-like substance, which was linked to another computer terminal, which finally linked to a platform. Trey went to the first terminal, and typed the words Open Program1.exe. A window popped up on his computer with various settings and input boxes. He tinkered with a few settings and variables, then pressed enter. He made his way to the second terminal as a ball of the mysterious substance separated from the rest of the goo. He put the disc I had seen earlier into the CD drive and pressed enter one final time.

The jelly traveled through a pipe and spread out onto the platform. It began to wiggle and form bumps throughout. Suddenly, a large, light green ridge appeared in the jelly. More goo collected, forming structures that could be seen as part of an animal. The goo turned milky white, then distributed colors to the rest of the body. Neo Animus, I assumed. It looked like a green dragon, with a ridge on it's back and insect-like eyes. It was looking at me, blinking. "Execute program." Trey said. Neo Animus just stared at him. "Maybe you didn't hear me. I said execute program." he said again.

The webbing of Neo Animus' wings receded, and replaced itself with binary code. Ones and zeros flowed into air and disappeared on the edge of the webbing. Trey began to back away. "Maybe... we should... get out of here." he stuttered. I pulled out my knife. Neo Animus just looked at me, amused. I took a few steps forward. "Defiant, aren't you." a distorted voice croaked. "Your struggles would be in vain. I cannot be killed by you." It became clear what was happening. I threw my knife at Neo Animus. It simply stuck into his jelly-like body. He looked down at the knife. "Weak. No power behind you, just a shadow." he said.

All I remember is my knife flying out of his chest and into mine. I fell onto the ground, bleeding. Trey began to drag me out of the room, and I saw Neo Animus shatter the room and fly out. Then everything went black.