Shinra High Chapter 54
Life as a Pet
Chapter 54). - in which WHO LET THE DOGS OUT (woof, woof woof)?
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"Very good." Hojo nodded in satisfaction as the last of three syringes full of Makou anti-Mary Sue serum drained into Sephiroth's arm. Today, the only ones receiving the Therapy were Sephiroth and Julia. Everyone else was on a two day rotation, and this happened to be one of the days that no one else required the dosages.
Iscariot: This must surely be important and not at all contrived and totally pulled out of the author's ass! I'm sure we'll hear about it again.
Sephiroth rose from the chair, scowling at Hojo as he returned to his corner of the room. He watched as Julia cautiously approached the accursed chair and took a seat, her teeth gritted tightly together.
"And you still aren't used to this, are you?" Hojo sneered.
"Does it matter?"
"No. Just curious." Laughing, he continued. "The others haven't seemed to take as well to this treatment...for which I am disappointed. Ah...no matter though. At least two of them aren't even truly SOLDIER candidates anyway."
Lian Hua: Reno and Rude, I gather?
"Cut your banter and get this over with." Julia sighed, closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the massive needle penetrate her skin.
Lian Hua: Maybe she’s afraid of needles because they subconsciously remind her of phalluses? Nah, I just remembered that the author hates needles as well. It would have been an interesting theory, though.
"Such disrespect." Hojo scolded, though he was in such good humor that he couldn't be bothered by the specimen's lack of reverence towards him. In accord with Julia's wishes, he shoved the needle into the crook of her arm and injected the first of the two 200ml doses that she would receive today.
Julia winced. The needle didn't hurt, but it freaked her out to see the thick metal rod piercing her flesh, digging under the soft tissue like a metallic worm.
Lian Hua: I thought she closed her eyes so she wouldn’t see that.
Iscariot: Just how big is that needle?!
Hojo nodded curtly as he finished with the second injection. "You both will now be escorted back to your cells. Have a pleasant day, bitches!..." he sneered.
"Yeah, right..." Julia grumbled, as she was shoved towards the door of the room she had seen for too often. The guard gave her another push, knocking her to the ground.
Lian Hua: An endless sea of Final Fantasy VII fans gave the guard a thumbs up.
"Move it!" He grunted roughly.
Lian Hua: Julia abuse is always welcomed, as far as I am concerned.
"Damn you all to the very depths of hell from whence you came!" Julia cursed, sitting up and lunging at the guard who had shoved her.
Lian Hua: It takes longer to shout that than to actually get up. Unless she spoke that with Chipmunks-style speed. Also: is Julia indirectly inviting him to her home? *wink*
Backing up quickly, he drew a tranquilizer gun from the holster on his belt. "Don't make me have to use this, missy."
Julia hung her head. It was a pointless battle.
Lian Hua: Yeah, why struggle for anything? Just accept your defeat quietly. There’s no point in fighting for a better life, you will never succeed. Ever heard of “breaking someone’s spirit”? Sephiroth and Julia have had their spirits broken long before this story began. For all their arrogance and holier-than-thou attitude, they’re not making any progress, they’re not changing. Throughout the story, we see two people whose spirits have been crushed move through various settings, never leaving their position as spineless victims. Words cannot express how much I hate this tale of perpetual surrender in front of hardships.
The walk back to their cells seemed to take much less time then than normal, and Sephiroth was rather irked by the time they reached the cold steel doors. The whole way there, the guards had been giving Julia hell, and there was nothing wither either one of them could do about it.
Lian Hua: She deserves it.
They parted with a quick embrace before being tossed back into the holding chambers they were each designated to.
Inside his cell, Sephiroth could hear Reno having a rather lively conversation with his wall:
"...So then he put me on the track, and put a pair of Pit Bulls behind me.
Iscariot: No reason for pit bulls to be capitalized.
Lian Hua: They are important pit bulls.
They damned things were foaming at the mouth, I swear it! Then he tells me to run, and so I do, and then he lets the Pit Bulls go! And they chased me!" Reno sounded angry.
Lian Hua: Contrary to popular belief, talking to yourself is a good thing. It works as a stress releaser.
"Oh, he used that method to push your limits, did he?" Sephiroth asked quietly, having been listening.
"Yes, he did! I was chased around a track by two rabid Pit Bulls and was able to do nothing to shake them off! Talk about injustice..." Reno was currently nursing several deep bite marks from where the Pit Bulls had caught up to him.
Lian Hua: After the dralions and cage cleaning incidents, I’m surprised he still has a leg to nurse.
"You're alright though?"
"In a manner of speaking. The Professor is trying to kill me off, I know he is. I notice how I'm currently the only one that has been subjected to that form of torture as of late."
"I'm sure the rest of us will be joining you in that shortly. And believe me...it only gets worse. He'll increase the size, speed, and ferocity of the creatures as we progress in this Therapy. I already have done something similar to what you described."
Iscariot: I can't believe the author thought we could take this seriously. "Oh how tragic Sephiroth's past is! His father totally used to sic rabid pit bulls and dogs on him in craaazy science experiments!" It's almost comical.
"Lucky you."
"I know." Sephiroth laughed quietly. "The six of us just have all the luck."
"Do you think Hojo will actually let us go when this month is up?"
"Probably not. I think We'll probably have to find a way to break out of here without him noticing. Once we're out, I doubt he'll give chase."
Lian Hua: Why wouldn’t he? And if Sephiroth knew that his father wouldn’t give chase, then why didn’t he take Julia and flee while they were still living in the Hojo mansion?
"I don't. He'll follow us to the ends of the Planet for his dumb experiments. We're his guinea pigs now, right?"
"...Yes..." he sighed.
Lian Hua: Stop accepting this! You are human beings with free wills and individuality (at least in theory) so don’t contend yourself with the status of guinea-pigs! Can anything be more demoralizing than this?
It’s creepy how they start defining themselves by Hojo’s standards. Not to mention effing unrealistic. Are they developing Stockholm’s Syndrome or something?
Over on the other side of the enclosure, Julia was talking to Korokou. "He really did all that?"
"Yes. Testing to see my resistance to drowning my ass. He was just taking pleasure in the fact that he could shove me under the water with his damned tentacles and hold me there until I was half-dead."
Lian Hua: This struck me just now: since Hojo’s alternate form seems to be so damn powerful, why doesn’t he transform others? Why does the President spend so much money on a shaky project such as SOLDIER when one of his scientists has acquired almost godlike powers by experimenting on himself?
"That's bull shit bullshit if I ever heard it. But...did you notice that you could hold your breath for longer, perhaps?"
"Yeah. I think that was probably what he was really testing."
"Of course. Not that I'd put it past him to try to kill us all off."
Lian Hua: Just one of you, to be more specific. Her name starts with J and ends with -ulia.
"He would, and we all know that."
Julia shook her head. "The man is purely evil, that's what he is. I feel somewhat privileged that I've so far escaped such horrors."
Lian Hua: Not for long, we hope.
"You should." Korokou made a face. "Well, whatever. In any case, I want a nap before he comes to put ups through our paces again."
"Good idea." As Julia lay down on her fold-down cot, she thought, 'so this is what it feels like to be a pet.'
Lian Hua: So this is what it feels like to have your brain flowing out your ears and nose because you read such a bad story.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the short chapter...I promise I'm leading up to something good. Lots of action on the way, so stick with Shinra High!
Lian Hua: You mean something other than your fictionalized autobiography is finally going to happen?
