Redwalgrl-RG: Hello! (waves) I've decided to get down to business and create a serious fic! This one is about N. Gin's past… and his future, how I see it!
N. Gin: Oh great. I get to be tortured more than usual.
RG: You don't sound very happy.
N. Gin: I'm ecstatic. (rolls eyes)
RG: . Okay then. On to the stuffies!
THE STUFFIES:
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe
GENRE(S): Angst (I don't know what else…)
ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: To be announced
OUT OF CHARACTERNESS: Yes, there shall be lots of OOCness
PAIRINGS: To be announced (if any)
SPOILERS: There might be some for Yin Yang later
DISCLAIMER: Redwalgrl-RG owns nothing that appears in this fic, except for her image of N. Gin's past and his "name"
OTHER: Please review. If you like, I might think of doing another one for one of the other unappreciated characters. Maybe KJ…
RG: On to the summary!
THE SUMMARY: The story of N. Gin's life (which explains quite a few things that appear in my fics). Also the retelling of the missile accident! YAY!
RG: It is better than it sounds. Trust me. It is. Now, please read, enjoy, and review! Maybe this will inspire some other authors? (shrug) Oh well! ENJOY!
A tall, thin scientist who appeared to be in his late thirties walked down the hall, pausing at one door. He tilted his bald head to one side as he silently debated about what to do. Shrugging, he reached out a hand and knocked on the door. He called into the room, "N. Gin, Doctor Cortex would like to speak with you."
The door was thrown open to a shorter man with wild orange hair. His one dark blue human eye fixed the taller man with a dark glare. "Then I'll just be going, Brio. Good luck today… I hear you have prisoner duty." He smirked and walked off down the hallway.
Brio glared after him. "Yeah, well I hear you're in trouble due to your last experiment!" He yelled down the hall.
N. Gin rolled his human eye and proceeded down the hall to the room where Cortex would see him. The short scientist opened the door and quietly walked in, boots clicking on the tile floor. "Doctor Cortex?"
"Ah, there you are, N. Gin. I was just wondering if Brio was going to wake you." Doctor Neo Cortex walked over and nodded at his colleague. Standing almost an inch shorter than the other scientist, Cortex still retained the title of, 'most vertically challenged scientist,' a title he hated.
"I was already awake." N. Gin stated. "What is it?"
Cortex nodded over to a machine. "I can't seem to get it to work. You can fix it, right?"
Nodding, N. Gin simply replied, "Of course." He set to work on the machine while Cortex hovered over him. "What?" He asked, noticing that Cortex was watching.
"Erm… I was just wondering what I was doing that was wrong." He stated.
Arching an eyebrow, N. Gin noted that Cortex was acting strangely, but didn't think anything of it. He continued working until he became aware that Cortex wasn't hovering over him anymore. He glanced over to where the main control pannels were to see Cortex standing there. N. Gin's human eye widened in shock, realizing what Cortex was going to do. "No! Don't you dare—!"
He was cut off when Cortex rapidly hit the button. Above the sudden noise of the machine whirring to life, Cortex yelled, "We need to see what the machine does, and since you've already survived a missile accident, you can surely survive anything!"
It was too late for N. Gin to do anything, he couldn't move out of the way in time. Suddenly, the machine seemed to grab at his right arm, and he heard a sickening crunch followed by an immense pain, causing him to black out.
"Where am I? Who are you?" He heard himself ask.
"We're your new parents! You're in Venice, Italy. Welcome to your new home, Neron." a painfully familiar voice replied.
Suddenly, N. Gin was seeing his life play before him. This scene was from his early childhood. He had been only three when his parents had been killed. To this day, he still didn't know how or why. He was adopted quickly and was moved from Ireland to Italy.
"I miss mommy an' daddy. Where are they?" The younger version of himself asked, scared.
"I'm sorry, Neron, but they're dead."
"What?"
That's right. I remember now. N. Gin thought to himself. I was too young to understand what death really was.
"They won't be coming back. We're sorry, Neron."
Neron. That's my name, isn't it? I haven't heard it in so long…
The scene slowly faded out, replaced by yet another. This time, he was about five.
"Don't worry, Neron. School will be easy for you! You'll fit right in!" It was the voice of his adopted parents.
"I don't want to go to school. I like being home more." His voice stated, in English, instead of Italian.
"Now, Neron. You know you have to go to school. And please speak Italian! We're not in Ireland, you know!"
"But that's where I want to be! I don't want to live here!"
Ah yes. How I first started to defy them. I remember that.
Another scene replaced this one. N. Gin was now about ten.
"What happened to them! Where are they!" His own voice, panicked.
"They died in a car crash. You'll have to go to an orphanage. You'll be moving to America."
"Why America? Can't I even stay here? I speak Italian far better than English, anyway."
"No. It was in their will that you be sent to America. They wanted you to experience it."
"Why?"
"That's a question no one can answer."
Losing two sets of parents really hurt. I still can't believe it. But what came next was even worse…
Another scene appeared. This one had an eleven year old N. Gin.
"Hello, Neron. I'm Nagasaki Yumi, and this is my husband Nagasaki Takahashi. We're your new parents."
Silence. And then, "You're Japanese, right?"
"Why yes. We hope you will come back with us to our native country."
"Why? I'm happy enough living here."
"Japan shall be a great place for a smart young man like you."
"I'm not moving."
"Nonsense! You shall come with us! We'll teach you Japanese!"
They didn't bother mentioning to me that they wanted me to rule over their "empire" since they couldn't produce an heir. And they didn't mention all of the studying either.
The scene fades out and is replaced by a much later one. N. Gin is a young teenager.
"I'm not running your company! For the past five years you've been torturing me! I can't stand it!"
"But, Neron! We need someone with your intelligence to run the family business. You'll be great at it."
"But that's not what I want to do!"
"Then what are you going to do with your life?"
"I want to be a scientist."
"I cannot believe this! Neron, you'll never succeed in such a field! You must run the company. We adopted you five years ago and taught you all we knew. Now it is your turn to repay us."
"Who said I wanted to come with you? And I hate all of this! I hate this nation! I want to go back home!"
"Where is your home? It isn't Ireland, or Italy. Could America be more of a home than either of those? You've never really had a loving family, now have you?"
"Stop it! Just stop it! Leave me alone!"
That was the night I left. I don't even remember how I managed to get out of there. They were horrid parents…
Another scene appears. This time, N. Gin is apparently in college.
"Pass me that beaker, will you?"
"Yeah, here." Another scientist handed a beaker to N. Gin. "By any chance, have you heard of the senior, Cortex, who's looking for a lab assistant?"
"No, I haven't."
"You'd be great for it. After all, no one else on campus has such a vast knowledge of mechanics and physics."
"Hmm. Maybe. I don't know."
"Aren't sure what you're going to do with yourself?"
"Something with engineering. Or maybe physics, I don't really know yet."
"Sounds like something you'd be good at. I think you should really look into this Cortex guy's offer. He'll pay quite well. He's from a rich Japanese family, or so I hear."
A sharp intake of breath was heard from N. Gin. "Right. I suppose I'll consider it."
"Good luck then."
From that point on, everything got worse and worse. My accidental meeting with Cortex up until the missile accident… nothing could seem to go right.
Again, the scene fades out to be replaced with a recent one. N. Gin is in his late twenties.
"Someone catch that bandicoot!" Cortex's voice yelled.
Oh no. Why must I relive this horror again?
"W-w-watch o-o-out!" Brio's worried stutter called across the room as the bandicoot ran into a machine. Missiles rose from the machine and flew haphazardly around the room. Suddenly, the entire scene goes black.
"Is he going to be okay?"
"I-I t-t-t-think s-so. T-the m-m-missile didn't d-d-do a-any permanent d-damage."
The blackness disappears and is replaced with a scene of N. Gin and the other two scientists shortly after the missile accident.
"Oh my god! What happened to me!" N. Gin's horrified yell as he looked in a mirror at himself for the first time since the accident.
"That idiotic bandicoot set the missile launcher off. I'm sorry."
"I-it didn't do a-a-any
permanent d-d-damage… t-to y-y-your b-b-brain at least."
Silence. Then, "I can't believe this."
"Consider yourself lucky. Had it been either one of us, we'd be dead. I suppose it's something in your genetics that allows you to suffer through something this horrid."
"There's only one thing to do… Get revenge. Cortex, we've got to get rid of that bandicoot… he's ruined my life forever!"
Cortex nodded, and the scene faded out.
"I can't believe you did that." Brio frowned, crossing his arms over his green labcoat. "Cortex, you knew that the machine was dangerous! We should've tested it out on one of the captives, not one of our own!"
"But at least he's alive." Cortex stated. "And anyway, it won't do anything. He'll be fine."
"Physically, yes. But mentally, no. I still don't see how you could've done that to him. He's your colleague! He's trusted you!"
"What is trust? It's just an allusion."
"Cortex… Come on, you've ruined his life enough already. Let's just see if he's come to yet."
The two walked into the room, Cortex trailing behind Brio. N. Gin is still unconscious. "Hmph. Looks as if we came in here for nothing." Cortex complained.
"What exactly did that machine do?" Brio asked.
"Nothing!"
"Seriously."
"Well, it sort of… well, you see…"
Brio rolled his eyes, knowing that Cortex wasn't going to part with such information easily. He walked over to N. Gin's unconscious form and looked at him. "He looks normal."
"See? What did I tell you?"
"You say the machine caught his arm?"
"Err… yeah."
"Hmm… I wonder…" Brio pulled one of N. Gin's purple gloves off, and then the other. He gasped in shock. "No way! That machine… it… it completely crushed his arm! Cortex…"
"But look, it recovered it with metal, so now he's got a metal arm! Cool, huh?"
N. Gin slowly sat up, rubbing his head. "What happened?"
Brio glared at Cortex. "Explain yourself."
"Erm… Well, you see, I wanted to test the machine out and I figured that it would be safest on you, N. Gin, because you can't seem to be killed off my mechanics. The machine kind of replaced your arm with a mechanical one."
"It did WHAT!" N. Gin looked down at his arm in horror. From about halfway down his arm to his fingers, his entire arm was metal. "No…"
"It's all Cortex's fault, that idiot." Brio glared over at Cortex again. "We're sorry, N. Gin. If there's anything we can do…"
"Yeah, fix it." N. Gin stated, still in a state of shock.
"No can do, your human arm was completely crushed." Cortex stated.
N. Gin looked up to the ceiling as if seeking guidance. "Just strike me down now. It would hurt less than the mental pain I'm going through."
Brio gave Cortex a look that basically said, 'Told you.'
No matter what, I've got to find something to stop the horrid anguish of this life… I was once told that writing it all down would help. Maybe I'll try that… N. Gin thought to himself bleakly, before falling into unconsciousness again.
RG: Damn! I thought that it was good! A little long, but good!
N. Gin: Great! You've gone and replaced my freakin' arm with this mechanical version! This sucks!
RG- As you can see, I love tormenting N. Gin. Oooh! Did you like his name?
N. Gin: Neron! Come on now, everyone can see that it's either Neon with an "r" stuck in the middle, or Nero with an "n" stuck on the end!
RG: Note that Nero was a emperor of Rome. Pretty cool, seeing as how N. Gin lived in Italy for awhile.
N. Gin: If you were confused by all of the flashbacks, don't worry. RG will explain them more in the coming chapters. She's hoping to make this only three-five chapters at the most.
RG: Yep! Couldn't have said it better myself! Thanks, N. Gin!
N. Gin: (rolls eyes) You're quite welcome. So, review. It will make her happy, and in turn, will make her less likely to torture me.
RG-; Figures he'd say something like that. Well, just like he said, REVIEW! Please?
(Side note: In case if you were confused, thought symbols are 's and flashbacks are in italics. Note that only the speech is in italics.)
End Chapter One