Game 4Game 4 Outline| Game 4 |
Game 4 Outline |
Struggling to remain calm, you force yourself to think logically. You decide that first you need to check to see how far the change has gone - namely, if anything else in the house has changed as well. You are able to quickly determine that no, nothing has. All the old photos, all the clothes in your closet are the same. The only other thing that has changed is your drivers' license, which shows a photo of the new you and identifies you as "Alexis Jensen", age 17. You realize with a start that only the things you had on your person when you touched the rock have changed (the license had been in your wallet in your pocket). That confirms it. It had to be the rock, there's no other explanation. Thinking quickly, you grab a shoebox and a pair of tongs (from the kitchen) and rush out to the yard where you threw it earlier. Fortunately, your parents take good care of the lawn, so the rock is relatively easy to find - it's the only one there larger than a pebble. Careful not to touch it directly, you use the tongs to transfer it to the shoebox and bring it inside to examine it.
Hours later (and after eating dinner), you have learned nothing new. No matter how you look at it, the rock has absolutely nothing to visually distinguish it from an ordinary rock, and you're still afraid to touch it again. You're about to give in when you remember something - the school genius, Shunri Yamamoto, the Japanese boy. He's always had a fascination with fantasy and the occult, so you figure he might be able to help clear things up.
Trembling with fear and nervousness, you pick up the phone and dial Shunri's number. You tremble as you hear the ringing on the other end. What if Shunri's not there? What if one of his parents picks up instead? What if-?
"Hello?" Relief. That's Shunri's voice on the other end. You quickly tell him who you are (who you were, rather) and that you've been turned into a girl by something that you don't understand, and you thought he could shed some light on it. After considering for a moment, Shunri promises to be right over.
While you're waiting, you sink into an armchair in the living room. You're understandably scared. The rock had to have caused it; it had to, but how? Who sent it? And why? You try slapping yourself, then yanking on your newly-long hair, hoping to wake yourself up from a terrible dream, but to no avail. No matter what you do or how you look at it, everything just manages to confirm the fact that yes, you are a girl, and yes, this is very real and really happening to you. You sigh and bring out your wallet, staring at your new identification. Alexis Jensen...this is who you are now, you've determined that much, but...what are you going to do? Are you going to be this girl -Alexis, you correct yourself- for the rest of your life? Are you-?
You are snapped out of your thoughts by a knock at the door. You crack it open and see Shunri waiting there, easily recognizable with his black jacket and mid-length white hair. He's holding a box with a strange symbol on it, an inverted pi resting in an omega. You guess this is where he carries his occult stuff. As you open the door to let him in, you see his eyes widen in surprise when he sees you. His fascination is motivated by interest, not belief (not entirely, anyway), and even though you told him the situation, it is another thing to see it yourself, so it's not a shock that he'd be surprised.
Once inside, you tell Shunri as much of the story as you think is relevant, starting with Scott's distraction and ending with your being unable to find anything from the rock. When you are finished, Shunri considers for a moment, then asks to examine the rock, so you show him the shoebox you put it in, still in your room.
Shunri examines the rock through a silvery lens he takes from his case. You watch as his eyes widen and he lets out a low whistle. "Amazing..." he whispers, barely audible. "I've read about these. This is a Hakedo, a device used to induce transformations in living beings. As you've seen, it can cause a transformation at a mere touch, and even alters reality to conform to the transformation. You were lucky, you let go of the Hakedo quickly. Had you held on to it for much longer, the change would have been far more...complete. And you were wise to refrain from touching it afterward, as it is still possible for it to continue where it left off."
"So...what can we do?" you ask nervously.
Shunri sighs. "I don't know. According to what I've read, the only thing that can reverse a Hakedo's transformation is another Hakedo. And since the change was interrupted, I'm not sure even that would work."
"Great," you mutter sarcastically as you sink into your chair. "Just fucking great."
Written by kurai
(This page has not yet been checked by the maintainers of this site.)