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Short Story Community Competition!
#11
IGN: Beifong
Genre: Dark
Words: 736


Billy the Master Angler

Billy was the nicest of boys, born into a family of proud anglers. At an early age it was clear to him that he too would become an angler, just like his father and grandfather who both fished through the hard times where boats were difficult and expensive to get.

Growing up, Billy loved to watch the other anglers fishing on Beta. He wasn’t very fond of the cold weather, but he knew a master angler would have to endure any kind of weather, even paralyzing cold. Beta was a very popular place because of its packed frozen seas. Anywhere you decided to poke a hole, you would be guaranteed fish for days.

Billy hadn’t the faintest clue how so many fish could survive down there, but that wasn’t so important either, all he had to know was where the good fishing spots were. And that he knew.

As time went on, Billy spent all his time practicing fishing techniques. He wanted to be the best and have the most experience he could, so he would pretend to fish in a dried pond, throwing the tackle out and reel in day in and day out. Other people he knew would quickly bypass him, becoming much stronger and much faster, they often asked why Billy was still so weak. “I’d rather get there strong and prepared than strong and unsure” was his respond.

He cared not for his short term or long term physique, nor how fast he grew, just that when he one day would become strong enough to fish, he would have the biggest advantage of them all.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and months turned to.. well, it only took him a few weeks, but while he was patient, it also felt like an eternity, but finally the day arrived where Billy was greeted with the message he had so long sought for; he was finally welcome to fish with the others. Finally he was strong enough.

It was time to venture to the frozen ponds and begin the fishing he had so long waited for. He could not have been any happier, he was singing all the way.
As Billy arrived to the pond, he found it empty. Empty of people, empty of movements in the water. He gave it a quick thought but dismissed it just as fast. He was just eager to fish.

He moved his rod back and threw it forward with mighty strength and had his tackle landed very far away. He waited patiently, knowing it shouldn’t take long for a fish to catch on, no one waited too long when he was around and watch and learn earlier.

Minutes went by and he reeled his tackle in to try again, maybe in another pond nearby. Alas, the result was the same. “Maybe it’s the bait,” he thought to himself and swapped it out and tried yet again. Once more the result was the same.

Billy was getting slightly annoyed by now. He had waited so long, trained so hard, and then no fish bit on. Desperate times takes desperate measures, so he put his head into the pond to have a look at the situation.

Empty.

Not a single fish was to be found anywhere. The water was crystal clear, he could see from shore to shore, but there was nothing down there.
Confused, he went to another pond and wasting no time, took a look under water. Also empty. This went on for another 4 ponds, and every time he got more and more frustrated.

He tried to fish on the shores of Zeta, in the bacterial sea of Eta, the slimy lagoons of Theta, even the oily oceans of Iota and the lava pits of Kappa didn't go untouched. He went far and wide but it was all the same. All the fish had been fished. None was left remaining, every single fish had been cleared from the universe.

But Billy still wanted to become a master angler. He had to. But how?
It didn’t take long before he thought about a different solution. He recalled the Sharken, roaming the seas on the Delta planet. Instead of fishing in the water, he decided right then and there to fish for sharks.

Without giving any extra thought, Billy bought a boat and set sails for sharkens.

Nothing was going to stand in his way.
#12
IGN: Lolledmonkey
Genre: Comedy?

In the deep wilderness of the planet Kappa, lived Stoopid Bird who was always looking for an adventure. One day Stoopid Bird decided to go to the nearby river to catch some River Elders for lunch, on the way there he saw an old house he had never seen before, so he decided to go and take a peek inside. Once the stupid bird was about to peek through the window the door opened and a weird looking creature came out. After a while of awkward silence, Stoopid Bird explained why he was there and the creature invited him in and introduced himself as Djinn.

When in, Djinn asked if Stoopid Bird would be up for an adventure. Being adventurous, Stoopid Bird said yes without even knowing what he just signed up for. They sat down and Djinn gave the task of killing all the monsters in Kappa excluding himself and an unknown beast, and off Stoopid was. Excited of the task, Stoopid Bird rushed to the nearest town to get himself weapons, supplies and a Roc as a mount.

Having everything he needed for the task, Stoopid Bird headed towards his first target, Bast. Bast was a catlike creature with a golden stick he poked others with, who lived in the desert. Even though Bast's location was thousands of miles away, it only took Stoopid Bird a few hours riding the Roc. Getting to the destination, Stoopid Bird asked the townsfolk where Bast could be. Getting the info he ran to Bast, bashing her skull on the ground, and continued his journey. Next monster on the list was Sphinx, who lived close to bast, so it was a freebie...

After killing all (excluding Djinn) of the 44 monsters of Kappa, Stoopid Bird only had one target left, the unknown beast. Knowing the fight would be really tough, Stoopid Bird decided to go back to the jungle to his home to train for days, to prepare for the battle. After 4 days of heavy training Stoopid Bird jumped on his Roc and headed towards the beast's den. Arriving at the den Stoopid Bird, ready for the battle of his life, walked towards the entrance just to be blocked by a huge sign saying " Coming soon ".

the end
#13
Username: TKChino
Style: Dark?


My cousin and I were fishing for Quartzilon one night at one of my dad's ponds over on Kappa world. The night started off  weird, we started fishing at about 9 pm. The place we were fishing was only accessible by animals from the sides of us, there was a creek behind us, and everything was basically the woods.

We were talking about all kinds of things throughout the night, and then we started getting into discussing being killed by fish. We were hearing weird noises that were out of the ordinary awkward noises you hear in the woods, they were like Succubus talking. We weren't getting any bites so we decided that we would leave at 11pm if we didn't catch anything. As 11 came closer we weren't close to leaving, but still not a touch of the bait.

At 11 all of a sudden I heard the loudest growl that shook me, I felt something on the right of me and jumped as high and as quick as I ever had before. I turned to my cousin, who was sitting on my left and saw a terrified look on his face. Not wanting to jump to conclusions I asked him what was wrong, he said "did you hear that?' I asked him "what'd you hear" he said, "that crazy growl, it shook my whole body!" I looked at him and asked, "Are you sure?" He was sure, so I told him what I heard.

After it happened it was completely quiet, no rustling of the leaves, nothing, almost like everything just shut up. We drove around the pond a couple times to see what we might be able to find, but nothing. We decided whatever it was didn't want us there, so we went back. As we arrived back at our fishing spot, our reels were spilling out line like we had never seen before. My cousin ran as fast as he could and struck the rod hooking the fish on the end.

A good half hour had past as my cousin was reeling in what we think is the Quartzilon fish. We hear a rustling in the bushes, we see the trees moving all around us in the sky and the noises had started again. What ever it was that was here before had come back again. My cousin didn't care about all this he wanted the fish on the hook. As we see the Quartzilon near the surface we see it about to jump out the water.

The Quartzilon was a magnificent sight to see, 7meters long, beautiful baby pink scales and fins that sparkled like diamonds, well untill it swallowed my cousin whole and chased me half way around the pond to my car, i was next on the menu for this fish. Luckily i was able to escape, but that hasn't stopped me trying to get the Quartzilon fish again.
#14
Username: erebs
Genre: fantasy?

Long, long ago, in the dark times of IOU, where ville Yahoo was causing mischief and pets sucked hard, there were many Mystics who tried to survive. Like many others, the Mystics were obsessed with dreams of power - making offerings to gods in hopes of achieving it faster. This was not as effective as nowadays, but it still gave them hope. One day, a stranger appeared and he wanted to join the Mystics. He was very clever and proved that his rise for power was real, so he easily merged with the Mystics. Days passed, and the stranger shared his stories with the Mystics, teaching them how to obtain even more power faster. They were confused and doubted him at first, and yet the stranger proved his words and the bolder Mystics approached to achieve greater power.
Tragically, one day without warning, those who received the stranger's gifts were exiled from IOU Lands, for giving fake offerings to the gods, making them terribly angry. The stranger disappeared suddenly, while one of the exiled Mystics prayed to the gods so that they would hear his concerns. And so it happened, that Ray, God of creation, heard the prayers, and after listening to how the Mystics were tricked by the stranger, Ray lifted the banishment of that one Mystic.
Upon returning to his fellow Mystics and looking at the damage wreaked by the stranger, this chosen Mystic left his fellow companions and went on a long journey to explore more of the Lands of IOU...


Years passed, and I am Chaos now. Who knows how the story would go, if not for that one stranger...
#15
IGN:  luckiemi
Genre:  Fantasy/Lore


I Only Understand that this universe is like none other i've experienced.
                                                                         
                                                                       ~ luckiemi




                                                                                                                                  2/2 Annual Report

A note to home:

There have been a couple major changes this past year.  I have settled in Sinner city and also found a great group to hang with.  Dean and M are the best miners i know and Lea brings experience and a strong card game to the table.  We get along well and are together 24/7.

Days are busy with side jobs and monster battles.  Sinner is growing and we are constantly digging the mines and chopping wood in the forest to improve our buildings.  Keeping the monster population down on the 10 planets is never ending and at times it takes a group of 6 to kill one!

Of course it is not all work.  The Great Omnipotent NRG from TheCorrectTimeZone threw a hell of a Time Change party that is still going as i write!  We had a snowball fight with an angry santa and play a new game called BINGO.  The last two are Earth things -- ya, i know, Humans!  hahaha!

Loneliness is a constant threat.  The computer, RNG, is programmed to give 'happy' codes and words of inspiration.  She brings warmth to a sometimes cold existence. 

My pet trees outgrew my ship so i swapped them for a couple of germs.  I have sent my pet secre-terror bird to Is'  to be equipped and trained.  It is 21st on the waiting list so i expect a bit of a wait.

Well, that's about all for now.  I'm off to go fishing. I have my eye  on a new rod. I should be getting it soon™.


Wish you were here.
       ~luckie
#16
Username: BleedingMaybe

~The last Breezetroot~

I have collected these notes so that we, the Breezetroot, may live on through our words and ideas after the inevitable march of death stomps out my soul. It's my hope that someday someone will realize where we went wrong and prevent the vicious cycle which ended my species. That no one else will have to bear the sorrows of watching your species crumble to dust in the wind. Let our death knell serve as a warning to those too proud to notice the humble breezetroot.

- internal memo to the Breezetroot Oligarchy
A large sign bearing strange symbols "0.75eta" has fallen into the sea. None seem to understand what it means exactly, though food has become bountiful beyond our wildest dreams near the shores. Our hunter-gatherers have seemingly become unnecessary overnight. We have heard reports of Parrot Fish going missing, but who can really trust them? This food will usher in a new age of civilization whereby our population can give up its concerns for survival and evolve into something beautiful. As lead fish for the breezetroot agricultural department, I humbly advise we begin retraining our populace to thrive in our new environment beginning immediately. A society of engineers and architects, doctors and poets, these will put our species on the map.

- Missing Persons column -Breeze York Times, Jan 27,2017
Allan - last seen swimming with 2 Dark Crawlers, believed to be in possession of 1 pearl
Allana - last seen swimming with Amigo Rojo, Clover Fin, and Blue Berny, known carrier of two pearls
Alla'han - last seen with 3 other Breezetroots, pearls unknown
Allaleelo - last seen investigating disappearances near "BOAT"
Alla...(page torn, the rest is missing)

-Last known private phone call between the minister of defense and his wife, as transcribed by the ministry of Breezetroot patriotism
"I can't believe how dense this Ray-damned government is. We know these abductions are tied to our pearls, there's no other explanation, yet they just sit there, refusing to do what needs to be done. No matter how many times I try to tell them, no one will listen to me. I can't take it any more, Suze, I just can't. "
"Oh hon, you mustn't speak like that. Surely they must have another plan if they won't use yours."
"I love you, but your faith in the government is entirely missplaced. Maybe before the seven-five-eta event, but there's simply too much turnover in our government for anyone to govern. Ever since the Oligarchs were abducted we've had at least 8 different forms of government and three times as many leaders. I fear I may have to attempt a coup if the current head of our government(I think he's a king now?) won't listen tomorrow. If we can't offload our pearls onto the River Elders we won't last another three months."
"Well... I may have some good news for you."
"Oh?"
"Yesterday, a rainbow coalition of all fish lead by a Spectrumo came to our door. They claimed that these abductions were actually a calling from a higher power. A chance to serve a higher purpose. They call themselves the cult of sacrifice, and they say they can get us abducted. We can be with your brother, and our daughter, we can see our parents again and everyone who's been taken. Our suffering will finally come to an end. "
"NO, please tell me you haven't joined them! They're a bunch of nutjobs, don't join them. Don't take anything they offer! Please no! "
"I've already taken the bait... Join me..."
"Nooo! Wait, don't leave me!"


-Personal journal of BleedingMaybe the last Breezetroot
May 1st, 2017

Nothing good comes from above. Last night, poison began pouring into our water. I managed to be right under the first dumping site when it began so I can assure you, it is poison. Some of it landed on my left fin and immediately started burning into me. The red substance coming from the wound is like nothing I've seen. I can no longer keep pace with those last few of us guarding The Bait. I pray that those left guarding The Bait will persevere, but if this dumping continues I don't believe they will be able to. No one has any explanations for the dumping, however just like with the seven-five-eta event I fear many will die.
#17
IGN: Ultraschall
Genre: Comical

What an iou pets Life actually looks like

My sister the mammoth, Dilcus my owner and I, the Ent, looked upon the steel door that was located down the alleyway. Dilcus sorted his cards for the last time and checked if he had all his orbs together.
“It‘s about to start, you must be strong now“, he whispered, grabbed my flowerpot that I was seeded in not long ago and started to move towards the door.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" I shouted indignantly. The Mammoth walked alongside us and i noticed that grin she always threw at me every time the owner carried me around... oh, I hate that so much! "SHUT UP!!!!" Dilcus grumbled angrily.
He carefully opened the large steel door to the Galactic Snackbar. Big clouds of dust came towards him and - as always - he covered his face with my flowerpot as protection.
With a dull bang the door closed behind us and immediately a decent portion of ice cream dripped from the ceiling on his head. "Shit, how am i supposed to get this clean now", he ranted. Well... as long as it doesn't concern me, everything is fine. Controlled by his anger he stomped around, still holding me until he slipped on a glibbery piece of pizza and let me fall into a huge pile of half-eaten up burgers. The Mammoth frightenedly followed the scenario.

"Time to strike back!" I said to the two of them. Disgusted by that scene Dilcus straightened up himself and rose to speak:"We should split up, we‘ll be much better. You, Ent, clear the path for me, I'll wipe each side, left and right. Mammoth, dry up the path behind me, go on! we shouldn‘t loose any time"
He unpacked his cleaning equipment and I began to drag my leaves across the floor in the hope of creating a central passage. These French Fries there were clearly expired....
Dilcus opened his cardpacks and started wrapping the cards around the coarse leftovers of food to finally stow them in a sack. He moaned,"I would really like to have some extra cards this week."
I used all my abilites and now I managed to penetrate into the jungle of food. The smell, I‘ll never forget it.
I looked up and saw Mammoth lively rolling over the floor. That was all we needed....
After a while Dilcus took a look around and said,"That was exhausting, but I'd say we‘re done," He took the leftover food sacks "Here Mammoth, take these out to the Wishing Well, I'll take another look at all the corners in here to go sure“.
I only hoped that soon there would be an opportunity to clean myself
"There's only the garden of vermin left now," I sighed. Dilcus lifted me up and we all headed towards the backyard. He noticed the sign with the 'Infested' inscription. "Here we are on the right place, come on, it's the last one, then we've done all the work."
Afterwards we proudly looked at our now complete collection of medals and followed the signposts up the staircase to the upper floor.
We entered the room where Ray sat on a throne in a black cloak and looked at us. "You have to clean your pets including yourself, Dilcus," he pointed at me,"Is that ketchup on the little tree there?"I shook myself powerfully. Ray's royal room was no longer as white as before. Dilcus opened his mouth "Sir, we mastered all challenges. We need new work."
He replied:"That isn‘t on top of my priority list".
So I asked:"When will there come new ones?"
He rose up, came closer, and leaned slightly towards me:
“Soon“

Wish you all the best!
Cheers, Ultra :)
#18
Ign - Zaritha
Genre - Fantasy

Once upon a time there was a dreadful monster called Mungo who roamed the lands in his mankini of power. One of his companions by the name of Plisskin never fed his pet snake and this is where our story begins.  The poor snake went a year without food, the stomach aches made so much sound it travelled for miles. And one day it reached the ears of a man called Zaritha, he was a proud owner of several pets. Ents, E-colis, Mammoth & Ice porcs were some of the many breeds he had, and he kept them all happy and well fed. The painful sound the poor snakes stomach made Zaritha jolt, and he got a cold sweat, he quickly decided to find the source of the sound. Before he set off on his journey he made sure to put up a stockpile of food for his pets, and put some apples in his backpack. He then headed off, the journey was long and tough, days went by as Zaritha tried to locate the source of the sound, before eventually he found it. There before him was a trembling snake, crying and twitching. The sharp and clever Zaritha identified the source of the sound being the snakes tummy! He quickly took out some apples and offered it to the snake, the snakes eyes lit up at the sight of the apples and it jumped on them. Before Zaritha could even blink the snake had consumed 10 of the apples, and fallen asleep. Looking down upon the poor thing Zaritha tucked the snake into his backpack and started heading home.  The End.
#19
Name: Sorrow
Title: The original settlers
Genre: Dark
Cast: Eric(Son), Sorrow(Grandfather)

Dusting off the cover of an ancient book, Eric wonders what it could be about, it was unlike anything he had seen before. He found it in the attic, tucked behind a mountain of other seemingly ancient relics, all of which belonged to his grandfather Sorrow. As he was pondering, he hears footsteps behind him...

"What are you doing up here? You know I don't like people coming up here Eric." Said Sorrow

"I'm sorry, I was looking for something that belonged to dad, and I came across this book in the back, what is it?" said Eric

"Sigh, I was hoping no one would ever find that. That is my journal from when I was young, back when my kind first came to these worlds" said Sorrow

"Really? That's one of the closest guarded secrets of our people, no one outside of your generation knows of what happened, and they've always refused to talk about. What did happen grandpa? I've wondered my whole life, but everyone knows better than to ask about it." Said Eric

"I'm getting old, I suppose it's not fair for this information to die with me. If you want to know, have a seat. I'll tell you about growing up, but be warned, it isn't a happy story. It is a story filled with pain, struggle, and remorse. Said Sorrow



"We originally came from a place far far away, a place that no one remembers. It's like it didn't exist, like the memory was forcefully forgotten with time. We originally landed on the planet that we called Alpha. We were few in number, but gradually grew as the first waves of newborns came and grew. We did what we could to survive; we killed the local wildlife for food, cut trees and mined wood for shelter and resources, we even used the ships we came on to mine nearby asteroids for the minimal resources they held. It was a hard life, but we survived by banding together. As time went on, we became more proficient at surviving, but it came at a cost. Before long we had nearly slaughtered all of the planets inhabitants, and used up all the available resources. We hid this from the young ones by keeping them close by, not letting them see the ravaged wasteland that once was a flourishing environment. Luckily, a string of planets lay in our path, so we knew we could survive for at least a few more eras by going planet to planet. After a few planets we started to realize that this wouldn't last forever, eventually the planets would run out, and we would have nowhere to live. Knowing this, along with our advancement in technology over the eras, a few volunteers from our original group took ships to the previous planets in an attempt to seed them for new life. They knew they wouldn't make it back, but they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of our peoples survival. Several more eras past, and several more planets were destroyed in our name, until we came to the last planet in our chain. At this point our technology was far along, we knew very well how to utilize the resources of the planet to keep us going on a single planet for much longer than when we started out. We didn't however, know how to replace the resources in a way that would allow us to stay there permanently. I remember the last few days on the last planet, looking out into the blackness, wondering where we were going to go. Everyone was panicked, until the day that our leader announced to us that we would be going back to the first planet. That was the only option, if that failed, our now densely populated society would vanish into history. The day came and we boarded the ships and set off. I remember everyone holding their breath as we came around the planet just before Alpha, not knowing what we would see as it came into view. You could feel the weight of thousands of desperate souls lift when Alpha finally came into view, we now knew that we would make it. A few people wondered how the planet could have rebuilt itself naturally so fast, but we were silent. We swore to never disclose the grim fate of our original people. Once we landed, we went about business as normal, setting up our infrastructure for the now 11th time to survive. As far as our technology had come, we were still not savvy in space, reseeding the planets still required one way trip sacrifices every so often. Us being the first, we pledged that we would always make the sacrifice from among ourselves. Some wondered why our numbers dwindled over the eras, but we were sworn not to say. We chalked it up to just old age or the elders wanting to go back home. Life went on like this for many eons, all the way up until where we are today, you and I talking"

With a visibly saddened stature, Eric said "Thank you Grandpa, I know that was hard for you. I swear that that information will never leave me, until the day I have to pass it on to my own son", "But there is one thing I don't understand."

"What is it Eric?" Said Sorrow

"You said your people still have to make the sacrificial journey to reseed the ravaged worlds, and only your people must be the ones to do that deed. You're the last of the original settlers, does that mean..."


With a sad, but hopeful smile, Sorrow nodded his head in acknowledgement. Eric knew what this meant, that his grandfather would soon have to make the one way journey to a depleted world.

With a loving but saddened stature, Eric embraced Sorrow, he didn't want to lose his grandfather, but he knows what must be done.
#20
IGN: Lyrastorm
Category: Dark - actually also a bit funny, in my opinion

The End of the World

It happened a few days before Christmas, under the hot, bright, unwavering sun.

Multiple portals from parallel universes ripped opened, a scientific experiment gone wrong perhaps, and a multitude of Santas and their minions stepped through into our world. And they brought gifts, of course. They offered the younglings cocaine and heroin, claiming these were candy, they offered them whiskey, claiming it was apple juice, they offered them cigarettes, in the guise of mint sweets, and naturally, they offered them weapons, saying they were toys.

It did not take long for scientists to deduce an effective weapon, the universe was at it's height of industry and innovation then, although we had all but depleted its resources, through deforestation, hunting, toxic gases and waste: The great weakness of the Santas was snowballs.

A select group of warriors travelled to Beta, the only place left with some precious snow and ice to forge these elusive weapons.  Then they fought.  They fought for days and nights, diminishing the armies of the Santas, and the Santas themselves.  All the while, rampant deaths plagued the universe: Drug overdoses, fast acting cancers, suicides from depression, murder.  The Santas' gifts were in full effect.  Warnings issued were to no avail, for younglings are trusting of Santas, and disinclined to listen to the fully grown. Even many of the fully grown, who have, for many years, felt betrayed by their government, were not eager to heed the warnings.

As the population diminished and as the warriors fought, more Santas came through the portals, each time their minions were stronger than before, they needed more and more snowballs to destroy them.

I am one of these warriors. The snow on Beta is all but depleted. The questions on our minds now is: Are we fighting a hopeless battle? Is there enough snow left to defeat them? Is there even any point, with our population now down to one tenth of it's former size? And, of course, will the Santas ever stop coming?


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