The following Volume of The Saga of Vincent Dawn is a condensed retelling of Punky’s Post-Apocalyptic Adventure. A novella released as part of The Body of Raiyne novel on April 1, 2014. Readers who are not interested in this summary are advised to skip to the Aftermath.
Part I: Silhouette of Ruin
On July 5th, 2016, the world underwent a cataclysmic event known as the Melding. A massive Rift opened up in the sky across the entire planet, and it infected the Earth with matter and lifeforms from the Rift world detailed in Raiyne’s Whimsy. Millions of Rifters suddenly appeared around the world, wreaking havoc wherever they could. They were destructive beings who overwhelmed humanity with their alien abilities, but what proved to be most damning about the Rifters was the devastation they brought with them.
The mere presence of the Rift caused the planet to erupt in a flurry of natural disasters powerful enough to decimate entire cities. And as these Rifters spread across the Earth, they brought with them a foreign miasma of destruction. One that spread the DNA of Rifters and Earth animals alike, mutating whoever breathed this infected air. These mutations proved to be beneficial for some, detrimental for many, and lethal for most.
As the entire planet became infested with this aroma of destruction and the end of all human life was nigh, the Rift in the sky suddenly closed, and as it shuttered, so too did the Rifters, who found themselves unable to survive in this foreign world for more than a few days. And so, they left the survivors of the Melding on a tattered planet, their bodies transformed against their will, and all semblance of society in shambles.
17 years later, in the fall of 2033, not much has changed, and survival has been a constant struggle. The miasma mutated not only animals, but plants and topography as well. Edible food became a scarcity, and humanity could not advance society beyond small tribal communities. It is a hostile landscape where death is ever present, and survival remains the only goal for those fortunate enough, or unfortunate enough, to still be alive.
The Scenario begins properly in the remnants of Funke, Colorado, a once moderately-sized American city that, like all others, crumbled when faced with the Melding, and was little more than ruins at this point. Within this tattered landscape, there is a lone traveler by the name of Yuccot Kikansky. A 37-year-old man with a tall stature who underwent a mutation where his body gained the DNA of a lobster. A mutation that proved to be somewhat useful, thanks to the splotches of a hard red shall that appeared across his body, protecting many vital areas. He also had a secondary mutation that had affected his right hand, darkening its color and weakening it with the frailty of age.
This is akin to winning the lottery for most, and Yuccot’s fortunes showed with his possessions, for he was dressed in a durable leather jacket, sturdy jeans, and boots that had yet to crumble from the jagged terrain. While the beat-up yet reliable backpack along his shoulders held a rifle, a crowbar, some rope, and a dirty blanket.
Following a fruitless day of scavenging, Yuccot looks up at the violent pre-evening sky, sighing as he comes to terms with his wasted efforts. However, as he looks at the sky above, he notices a glowing sparkle. As Yuccot fixates on this sparkle, he realizes that it is a meteor and one that swiftly lands not too far away from him. After hiding behind a wall for protection, Yuccot eases his way to the crash site and investigates the sedan-sized meteor… by bashing it with his crowbar. Doing so causes the rock to break open, and it releases a stinky honey-like liquid that leaks out of the space rock and into the crater below. As the liquid drains, Yuccot looks within the meteor and sees an unconscious, tall, and hairless, young woman with a dark skin tone.
Yuccot pulls the goo-covered young woman out of the deflating meteor and takes her away from the impact site, where he places her down on his dirty blanket. As he looks at her, he thinks about how valuable someone like her is, referring to her as a Pure Human. A person who has not been mutated with inhuman DNA, and is highly valued for breeding, as the Melding left the majority of its survivors sterile. Before deciding on what to do with her, Yuccot decides to make the most of her body by whipping his penis out and masturbating to the unconscious naked woman before him. He finishes quickly, and right after shooting his load onto her gooey form, she begins waking up, causing Yuccot to panic as he shoves his penis back in his pants and pulls the rifle off his back, aiming it at the woman as her eyes flutter open.
The woman wakes up with a groggy moan before taking her hands to her violent eyes, rubbing the sleep away from them. Once she wakes up, she begins nonchalantly greeting Yuccot, speaking in a child-like manner while not so much as looking at the gun in front of her. Yuccot aggressively questions her, but she remains blissfully unaware of her situation and insists that she does not remember much of anything, not even her name.
Following a remark by Yuccot, the woman adopts the name Punky. And when asked about how she came crashing into Earth in a meteor, she rambles about how she was on the moon sometime ago and turned part of its surface into a spaceship. Yuccot asks her to elaborate, to which Punky explains she has the ability to turn anything into anything. She demonstrates this skill by reaching down to the dirt beneath her and transforming it into a honey and jalapeno grilled cheese sandwich. She gobbles it up as Yuccot watches in awe, inspiring Punky to create a sandwich for Yuccot consisting of turkey, strawberry jam, and corn flakes on crustless white bread. Punky hands the sandwich to Yuccot while saying that partners like them should eat together.
After the two eat their sandwiches, Punky, aware of her lack of hair, rubs her head to grow a pair of eyebrows, eyelashes, and a black pixie cut for herself. This move once again leaves Yuccot amazed, but he chooses to not ask questions for the moment, given how the sun has already set, and how confused he is by Punky’s mere existence. As such, the duo make their way to a dilapidated building where they rest for the evening, sharing a blanket and each other’s body heat as they slumber.
Part II: Rondo of Gore
After waking up at dawn, Yuccot begins the day by requesting Punky to make herself some clothes, which she promptly does, creating and dressing in a pink jacket with an absurd number of pouches, cargo pants, and some hiking boots. Yuccot then asks why Punky did not make any underwear for herself, and Punky explains that with her limited Real Booting ability, she only wants to make the essentials. A comment that confuses Yuccot. Punky explains that while she has the ability to create anything from anything, her powers have become limited, and it took her, as far as she is aware, a very long time for her to create a spaceship in order to leave the moon. She actually sacrificed body parts in order to speed up the process near the end, including her hair and retractable penis.
Yuccot takes this information in stride, packing things up before heading down the forestry road to the outskirts of Funke. Punky, having no idea where she is or where to go, eagerly follows her part-lobster companion. As they walk, Yuccot begins to explain the past few years to Punky as best he can with his fuzzy memory. Namely how the Melding brought the destruction of human society, caused rampant mutations, and made Pure Humans a rarity. He also mentions his intended destination, a place known as V-City.
V-City is the largest known establishment left in the world with food, water, electricity, and everything else one could ask for. However, entry into the city is forbidden and all who try are punished by death. But Yuccot believes that with Punky’s abilities, they may be granted entry into this city and be allowed to live in safety and comfort. Yuccot says this with the implication that he wants to break into the city using Punky’s Real Booting abilities. But in actuality, Yuccot is planning to sell Punky to the leader of V-City in order to be granted citizenship and a peaceful life away from the tattered ruin he had been scrounging in for nearly two decades.
As he finishes talking, Yuccot asks Punky to make him a cup of water, which she does, turning some roadside dirt into a ceramic cup and filling it with distilled water. Yuccot drinks it like a fine delicacy while remarking how long it has been since he last had clean drinking water. Yuccot tells Punky that she should make some for herself, but she says she doesn’t need food or water, as she is immortal.
Yuccot questions what she means, and Punky demonstrates by cutting a gash in her hand using a piece of roadside debris. While the wound heals shortly thereafter, it takes roughly 30 seconds. As her wound heals, Punky explains that she is a lot weaker than she used to be, likely due to her prolonged exposure in a vacuum, and cannot do some of the feats she has vague memories of once accomplishing, such as creating a nuclear bomb powerful enough to destroy half a country.
This triggers something within Yuccot, spurring him to ask Punky if she is familiar with the name Abigale Quinlan. She claims the name sounds familiar, only to be attacked by Yuccot, as that is enough to confirm his suspicions. He holds her at gunpoint and blames her for myriad things. The death of his father, Dick Kikansky, the Oransen High massacre, and murdering over 52 million people during The Devastation of Mexico.
As he cites the numerous atrocities Abigale committed, Yuccot takes out his rifle and prepares to shoot Punky, only to pause as he remembers that Punky is an immortal superhuman who could transform him into chocolate tapioca pudding if she felt like it. With this revelation, Yuccot submits himself before a confused Punky, who claims she would never hurt him without a reason, and that she considers Yuccot to be a friend. She hugs Yuccot as he cries due to an overload of emotions, and after a moment of sorrow, he regains his composure, allowing the two to resume their journey to the enigmatic V-City.
Part III: Beast of the Moon
Hours later, the two have reached the conclusion that Punky has dissociative amnesia and discuss how Abigale Quinlan has been largely forgotten in the past 19 years, after President Ji-Hyun Xing announced Abigale’s death. As midday approaches, the two decide to pause and have something to eat before continuing. Punky reaches for the asphalt beneath her to create another pair of sandwiches for the two. As she does this, the two are unknowingly being watched by a pair of Nytekin. The Nytekin, also known as Homo Canis, are a group of mutated humans who received very beneficial mutations that effectively transformed them into tall and athletic werewolves.
Before either of the duo can sink their teeth into their sandwiches, they are knocked out by the pair of Nytekin and are taken through the woods. Being such agile and dexterous creatures, the Nytekin reside in a shelter made within the trees of the dense forest around them, elevated high off the ground. Their homes are crafted from rope, lumber, and are designed around the abilities and needs of these creatures.
Punky and Yuccot wake up hours later to find themselves tied up high in the trees, deep within the confines of the forest. As they awaken, a guard notifies the other Nytekin with a whistle, summoning the majority of the population, including the leader of the group, known as the Nyte Queen. She stands significantly shorter than the typical Nytekin, has brown fur, more human features, and is dressed in a somewhat tattered regal-looking dress.
One of the Nytekin who apprehended Punky and Yuccot explains how they observed Punky’s Real Booting abilities, though the Nyte Queen is apprehensive to believe such a thing. She then turns to Punky and Yuccot and asks the two why she should allow them to live another day. Yuccot explains that he has no quarrel with them, and, because the Nytekin do not eat human meat, there is no real benefit in murdering him like this. As for Punky, Yuccot claims she had no reason to fear death because of her immortality, which intrigues the Nyte Queen. She has one Nytekin free Punky from her constraints, in order to test her immortality firsthand. After being freed, Yuccot shouts at Punky, telling her that unless she kills the Nytekin, they will kill him. Punky, startled by the concept of losing her new friend, Real Boots an explosive that sends shrapnel and fire flying at the surrounding Nytekin, killing dozens along with the Nyte Queen.
Through some careful aiming on Punky’s behalf, Yuccot avoided the brunt of the explosion, and his constraints were loose enough for him to break free. Upon getting his bearings, Yuccot immediately pulls his rifle from his backpack and aims it at the pile of viscera and fire before him, ready to take out any surviving Nytekin. Right as he finishes adopting a stance, a bloodied Nytekin rushes towards him, but Yuccot lodges a bullet squarely in its brain.
After enjoying a second of relief, Yuccot realizes that he is in the epicenter of an act of war, and more Nytekin will be heading his way soon. With only seven bullets left in his pocket, he considers death a certainty. At least until he looks over at the burning impact site of the explosion and sees Punky reform herself from fleshy goo. While exhausted from the process, she still rushes over to Yuccot, where she pulls a bladed weapon out of the tree and uses it to attack an approaching Nytekin. However, the Nytekin is relentless in their attack, and pushes the two off the elevated platform, causing them to fall to the forest flow several meters below.
Part IV: Strife of Sorrow
Punky cushions Yuccot’s fall, and the two rise from the ground, dazed, but no worse for wear. Before either can get their bearings, a stray Nytekin attacks Yuccot. As he holds off the Nytekin as best he can without his rifle at the ready, Punky Real Boots a loaded gun that she uses to shoot the Nytekin in the face. Yuccot thanks her, but she is exhausted from her rapid Real Booting, and claims that she feels there is something that may help her hidden away in the burning camp. Yuccot recognizes this as an absurd request, but given how everything about Punky is absurd, and how she saved his life several times these past few minutes, he feels obligated to help her.
As the flames grow from beyond the Nytekin home and to the woods as a whole, Punky leads Yuccot further into the woods before he reaches the object that was calling out to her. A small leather pouch that likely fell from one of the burning homes above them. Yuccot opens the pouch and uncovers three baseball-sized violet rocks that Punky grabs as they cross her vision. Upon touching these strange stones, their light is absorbed into Punky’s body, causing her to radiate with a purple energy for a moment. As the light fades, Yuccot sees Punky standing upright, her body rejuvenated, her hair now shoulder-length, and her naked form now covered in a skintight violet jumpsuit
After regaining her composure, Punky expresses her confusion over this entire situation, unsure what these rocks are or how she could sense them. However, she knows that they, for some reason, restored her weakened abilities. Upon hearing this, Yuccot asks what Punky will do with this power, to which Punky tells her friend not to worry, as she will never wind up like Abigale Quinlan, as she’s a good friend. To demonstrate this, Punky stoops down to the ground and Real Boots a metal lunchbox full of food in a matter of seconds, which she chucks at Yuccot. Yuccot curiously undoes the latch and sees that it is full of sandwiches. Yuccot chuckles at this, and thanks Punky, saying how he has never met anybody quite as odd as her.
Just as everything is going splendidly, aside from the whole burning forest thing, the two are ambushed by a group of militarized personnel dressed like a SWAT team. Yuccot sees them and immediately recognizes them as an organization known as Zil.
After the disposal of Abigale Quinlan in 2014, Civil Protection was officially disbanded, yet remnants of the initiative formed to create Zil, an armed security company that spread rapidly across the nation. After the Melding, Zil miraculously maintained a foothold and saw it as their duty to restore order to the world. However, their impact has proven to be rather… minimal.
After Zil soldiers surround the duo, they are approached by their leader. A stern, spry, and short woman in her mid-twenties with splotches of reptile-like skin, mostly concentrated around her neck, leaving her elegant face unscathed. As she examines the two, she expresses shock when she looks at Punky, quickly identifying her as “Quinlan”. Seeing Punky triggers a PTSD episode in the young woman who, after shooting Punky a few times, reveals herself as Reb Kikansky.
She explains that she used to be known as Dick Kikansky before she was nearly murdered by Abigale Quinlan… twice. Her life was saved through an experimental procedure where her consciousness was placed in the body of a young girl. After many hardships adjusting to her new body, she joined Zil shortly before the Melding, and eventually became a Duke of Zil, the leader of this sector.
After identifying the lobster-man before her as her son, and momentarily accepting Punky as a non-threat, Reb and her allies escort the two back to Zil headquarters and away from these burning woods. They all travel several kilometers before arriving at a well-fortified and maintained concrete building. Before entering, Yuccot momentarily wonders if his life can get any more outrageous and weirder than it has this past day.
Part V: Order of Zil
Punky and Yuccot find themselves in an interrogation room at Zil HQ, where Yuccot provides some insights into his past. He was a student at Oransen High, and lived through the massacre enacted by Jad Spencer in September 2014. However, he never believed that Jad Spencer could perform such a feat. Instead, he believed that Abigale Quinlan was responsible for murdering many of his friends and peers. His disdain for Abigale was solidified after he was told that she killed his father. With this sense of rage within him, he dropped out of high school in early 2015 and enlisted in the military in order to keep this nation safe and prevent anything like this from ever happening again. But then the Melding happened, and the US military, along with most of the world, crumbled.
Upon concluding his backstory, Yuccot is interrupted by Reb, who claims that Yuccot must become a Knight of Zil to reduce any complications, and says that Zil will protect Punky and search for more violet power-enhancing crystals. In return, they expect Punky to provide them with ammo, food, water, and various materials. Both parties agree to these terms, and Reb takes the two out of this interrogation room. As they leave, they encounter a member of Zil with a horse’s head. Punky reacts to his mutation with childish splendor, much to the chagrin of the large horse-faced man, who proceeds to argue with Reb about his decision to recruit Punky. However, there is little to debate as Reb holds a higher rank, so his decision still stands.
Reb then brings Punky to a partially collapsed room filled with rubble. Reb instructs her to clean up this room by Real Booting the debris into something useful. With Punky preoccupied, Reb brings Yuccot into an isolated room and refers to him as her son. They both realize just how much they changed since they last met. Yuccot developed from a cocky and fat ne’er-do-well into a man who, while not admirable, has done well to survive this long. While Red is in a completely different body, and one that is actually a few years younger than Yuccot.
They exchange stories of the assorted oddities they encountered, such as a flying whale, a crustacean elitist group, chameleon ninjas, and other assorted nonsensical sights far zanier than anything else seen in this Scenario. However, their storytime is cut to a close when Punky returns to the two, exhausted, saying that the room has been cleared. She then leads the two to a room packed with water, rations, and munitions, much to the surprise of the two Kikanskis.
Part VI: City of Shadows
Five weeks later, things resume on a cloudless autumn day. Where Punky is standing outside of the completely renovated Zil base, wearing little and with her hair down to her knees. She clenches the tattered, uneven ground beneath her and morphs it into a crate filled with ammunition. The process takes her only a few seconds, and she accomplishes it with ease and a visible lack of fatigue. She is then approached by Reb and Yuccot, who mention how well equipped the Zil base is, thanks to the various renovations Punky has made over the past month. They further explain how Punky has received 52 of the strange purple rocks, which they refer to as Punk Rocks, causing her power to increase by roughly 5,200% since she first crashed on Earth.
Their conversation continues as the topic of V-City is brought up. Punky is eager to visit the city and uncover its mystery, but both Yuccot and Reb express concern. Punky retorts by claiming that she is powerful enough to handle anything, and may even be more powerful than Abigale Quinlan at this point. A fact that she demonstrates by creating five fully loaded revolvers at once, jumping 20 meters into the air, and rapidly firing the revolvers at the ground as she descends. She falls onto the ground with grace, and as Yuccot and Reb look on at the scene, they see that Punky aimed her shots to make the indentation of a smiley face in the ground
Impressed by her power, Yuccot agrees that Punky is ready to enter V-City by force, but requests to join her, as he has wanted to see what lies beyond its walls for over a decade. Reb begrudgingly accepts this arrangement, saying that Punky is the best protection Yuccot could ask for, and that while she does still care for Yuccot, she came to terms with his death long ago. So she would not be too broken up if he were to die as he traveled to V-City. Excited, Punky embraces the ground beneath her and Real Boots a two-person aerobatic biplane within no more than 20 seconds. Punky does this as she assumes the city’s aerial defenses are weak and believes that such a small aircraft could covertly get past any defenses.
With the plane prepared, Punky Real Boots two WWI aviator helmets for her and Yuccot to wear before the dynamic duo take off into the skies. The two only have a vague idea of where V-City is, and spend hours flying towards the northwest, hoping to come across the settlement along their way. As the hours pass and night falls, the two see vibrant lights in the distance, drawing them to their destination.
Looking down, they see that the outskirts of V-City are littered with a ring of corpses that stands parallel to a 100-meter-tall wall surrounding the city proper, with a deluge of armed turrets placed along the top. Beyond the walls, they see a city adorned in a rainbow of lights, with architecture akin to something out of a classic science fiction novel, a population of thousands of humans devoid of any mutations, and a massive tower with a distinctive V-shaped structure at its top, likely V-City’s namesake.
Just as they pass over the city walls, a defense turret spots the duo’s plane and begins shooting at them. The gunfire damages the internal components of the plane, and it begins crashing into the city below. Punky Real Boots part of the dashboard into a parachute before grabbing Yuccot and jumping out of the plane. They land in the middle of a small park, where they draw in a sizable crowd, and see the smoke from the crashed airplane looming not too far away.
As Yuccot and Punky regain their composure, they begin discussing their next plan of action, and if they should be peaceful in their approach. Before they can reach a conclusion, however, the ground beneath their feet gives way, and the two are sent falling through a smooth dark tube, akin to a plastic tube slide, which leads them to a cavernous prison.
Immediately after landing in this cell, Punky and Yuccot are confronted by two prisoners. One of these individuals is an Asian man with a fighting spirit and a body coated in lacerations, and the other is a Blasian woman missing one leg and a mouth that had been sewn shut. Upon recognizing the state of these people, Punky rips through the prison bars, only to be immediately stopped once a shadowy figure snaps their fingers, causing Punky’s head to explode. Several more snaps then follow, reducing her entire body to a pile of viscera.
Yuccot and the prisoners back away as Punky reassembles herself, but the shadowy figure stomps over her in order to reach Yuccot. As the figure draws closer, Yuccot is able to get a better look at them, and he sees a tall woman of a dark complexion with short black hair, modest assets, and blue-grey eyes, all adorned in a bloodstained suit. Or in other words, they look just like Abigale Quinlan… and Punky… and Raiyne Underwood.
Part VII: Sacred Judgment
Yuccot looks at Punky’s doppelganger with confusion, only for said doppelganger to turn to Yuccot and ask him why ‘Quinlan’ would ever associate with an abomination like him. Yuccot tries to explain that Punky is not who she may appear to be, but the doppelganger does not believe his words. Punky, having regenerated herself, runs towards the doppelganger, calling them a monster. The doppelganger laughs in response and refers to Punky by yet another name. Wheatley. Punky reacts to this name with confusion, before asking her doppelganger if the two can talk things through, rather than fight.
Punky’s words baffle the doppelganger and demands an explanation. Yuccot answers in her stead and summarizes events up to this point before asking for the doppelganger’s name. They identify themselves as Lou Underwood, and briefly recap the events of Raiyne’s Whimsy, the death of Raiyne Underwood, and the birth of Abigale Quinlan. He describes that Wheatley, or rather Abigale, sent him into the world beyond the Rifts before severing the connection between the two domains, all in an attempt to trap him there forever.
Trapped in this hostile alien world, Lou had to fight for survival on a daily basis. Fortunately, he was aided by several Rifters who viewed him as a deity and helped him locate the same substance that granted Abigale Quinlan her immense power, these peculiar violet crystals. Once Lou found a sufficient amount of these crystals, he tried to regenerate his left hand, which he lost when trying to traverse a Rift. In doing so, his body morphed into the form this power last resonated with, that or his niece Raiyne Underwood.
This transformation mortified Lou, for he could no longer so much as look at his reflection or speak without being reminded of his niece. However, with this form came power. Power that Lou used to break the seal Abigale Quinlan placed long ago, reestablishing the connection between the world beyond the Rifts, and the world he called home. But in doing so, he triggered a trap set by Abigale Quinlan. As he reopened the connection between these worlds, he caused Earth and the world beyond the Rifts to meld into one. For Lou, this happened a few months after he entered the world beyond the Rifts, but on Earth, this happened on July 5th, 2016.
Lou witnessed the destruction of the Earth firsthand and did his best to slay the Rifter menace, but his powers were limited, and he could only make a small dent in their population before the Melding ended. As the ruination settled and Lou continued to traverse this tattered world, he found even more violet crystals, which helped him amass power several magnitudes greater than what Abigale Quinlan possessed. With his immense power, Lou constructed V-City, a utopian society meant to renew civilization in the wake of an apocalypse, and one that was to only be populated by Pure Humans.
Lou speaks highly of this city, but his lofty claims are shot down by the two tortured prisoners, who Punky healed during Lou’s story. They reveal their identities as Maxxie Flare and Zoe Xing, Jad Spencer’s former friends, and mention how Lou is a control freak, constantly monitoring the city, refusing entry to refugees, and torturing those who question or oppose him, if not outright killing them.
The two continue, asking if Lou actually knew anything about running a city before deciding to establish his own. Lou admits that he lacked any prior experience and led a solitary life wherein he spent most of his days either killing Rifters or training to kill Rifters more efficiently, before spending a decade doing nothing but fighting and using Rifters for his own gain. Maxxie and Zoe laugh upon hearing this, claiming that it is no wonder that he is such a poor leader, as he knows nothing beyond killing. Lou, upset by this, proves the two completely right by grabbing their faces and turning them into dust, leaving behind a pair of headless corpses.
Punky, appalled by Lou’s malice, Real Boots a gun and shoots Lou in the face. This does little beyond annoy him. Yuccot, filled with a similar rage, punches Lou. Before his punch can connect, however, Lou grabs Yuccot’s hand and incapacitates him. In doing so, Lou takes a long hard look at Yuccot’s elderly and darker hand. Lou’s eyes shoot open as he recognizes the hand as his own.
Lou orders Yuccot to surrender his hand, but Yuccot does not understand what Lou is blabbering about, so he punches Lou again while Punky grabs his flailing body. As Punky’s hands are placed on Lou’s body, a stream of Purple light erupts around the two as Punky absorbs some of Lou’s power. Lou, immediately recognizing his lack of power, grabs Yuccot and Real Boots a gun that he aims at the crustacean man’s head. Lou orders Punky to surrender or else he will kill Yuccot. Not wanting to lose a dear friend, Punky ignores Yuccot’s orders to keep fighting and submits herself to Lou.
Part VIII: Encore to the End
Things jump ahead to a week later, where Punky has been placed in a special heavily monitored prison cell. Due to warnings issued by Lou that any escape attempts would cause Yuccot’s death, Punky has remained immobile for several days. That is, until Lou pays her a visit.
Once the two are face to face, Lou walks Punky through his life story. Lou describes how he encountered an otherworldly “evil” at a young age, and having the opportunity, he sought to battle it. He dedicated his youth, and most of his adulthood, to battling the Rifters in order to preserve the Earth as he knew it. While trying to defend the Earth, he lost his wife, brother, and best friend. He became a lonely and bitter old man until he met with a glimmer of hope in the form of his niece. But after a month with her… he lost everything. His niece was gone. His mission of protecting Rainy Woods had failed. And he unwittingly unleashed Abigale Quinlan onto the world.
Once Lou could finally escape the world beyond the Rifts and return home, he found the Earth tainted and mutated by the evil he fought against. All because he pursued his selfish desires to see Earth again and refused to spend the rest of his days in an alien and hostile world. Mortified by this, he did the only thing he could think of and tried to preserve the Earth of his memories, leading to the creation of V-City. A faux-utopia that he obsessively monitored and meddled with in an attempt to chase an elusive and ill-defined ideal that he never fully understood.
Mortified by his actions and filled with disdain, Lou kneels before Punky and begs her to end his life, to take his power and use it to forge a better future for the entire world. Punky, confused by this, exits her cage and places her palm against Lou’s back, causing the room to burst into a flood or purple light. This process causes the two beings to meld into one, but in doing so, their mind is sent into a state of flux.
Part IX: Bloodlines
A new entity, known as the Next Girl, finds themselves located in a mental plane wherein they are confronted by five voices belonging to entities that identify themselves as Raiyne, Abigale, Jad, Punky, and Lou. They explain to the Next Girl how they represent the different minds that have belonged to the body over the decades and offer the Next Girl their knowledge and experience, hoping they can become a well-rounded and balanced individual. Someone who truly deserves the divine abilities this body has been given.
Following the introductions, the Next Girl meets with each of the five and hears their stories, strengths, and weaknesses. She hears them all out and determines the following: Abigale is plain old evil. Lou is a violent fool. Jad is a weak-willed and mentally broken child. Punky is a cherry fool. And Raiyne is a bit too trustful, but a good person overall. She ultimately decided that it is important to learn from all of her “past lives.” She takes in the knowledge and experience of the five and awakens as a new person. One who, feeling a powerful bond towards the original owner of this body, decides to name herself Raiyne II. Or as she is more commonly known as Mother Raiyne.
Part X: Tranquility of Dissonance
The Scenario resumes in 2035, in V2-City. A futuristic city with a population of 3 million humans who were healed of their mutations by Mother Raiyne, the leader of this city, and a figure with such immense might that she is often considered a god. She gives a speech to her people and explains the prosperity the citizens of V2-City experience on a daily basis. Their every desire is manifested into reality through Real Booting machines known as Raiyne-Makers. And guardian robots that assist them with every task imaginable and imbue them with knowledge once thought lost to time.
While this city has brought prosperity to many, Mother Raiyne feels it is limited by being in one location, and her good gracious needs to travel around the world. To achieve this, she uses her divine powers to lift V2-City from the ground below and has it hover in mid-air. The largest settlement in the modern world is now a floating settlement that, per Raiyne’s decree, will spread prosperity across the land, and establish a bright future for all of humanity. Her words leave the entire city in applause before she departs and resumes her hectic work schedule.
As Mother Raiyne ends her speech, she comments how the technology for the floating city came from government archives on the anti-gravity technology used to contain Abigale Quinlan. Her trail of thought is then interrupted by her assistant, Yuccot Kikansky, who informs her that she has a meeting starting shortly. She thanks him before taking a second to look back on everything that happened in her life. It has been a spiraling and bizarre journey full of much destruction and despair, but she remains confident in her ability, and decision, to shepherd humanity towards a better future.
Aftermath
Yet again, the completion of this Scenario filled Vincent Dawn with a degree of satisfaction, having brought life to a world and story that existed in his mind. In retrospect, however, he felt more mixed about this one than his prior two endeavors. He ultimately felt that he could have done far more with an apocalyptic setting, and the many characters featured throughout the story. Still, the completion of Punky’s Post-Apocalyptic Adventure was a load off his shoulders and one that capped off what Vincent referred to as The Body Of Raiyne trilogy.
Following this Scenario, Vincent returned to smaller projects. However, having gone through the motions of basic body swap and TG stories time and time again, he explored more taboos. He delved into darker subject matter and pushed the boundaries of the depravity and creativity his mind was capable of. It was a very edgy period in Vincent’s life, and it ended with creative burnout. This caused Vincent to enter a stupor where he stopped creating Scenarios and indulged in more games and anime than normal. His significant other, Shin Abigale Quinlan, took note of his behavior and tried to help him out of this slump. She tried to offer him creative aid by highlighting a number of concepts he could pursue. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to stick until Abigale offhandedly mentioned that he should look into his past for inspiration, specifically his relationship with Terry.
Vincent was hurt after his attempted reunion with Terry failed to go how he expected, and while he still felt betrayed by what his former friend said, he was curious if they could patch things up. So he moved time forward on Earth Prime, arriving to meet with Terry in early 2014, when he was 15-years-old. It was a decision made under the pretense that a more mature Terry would see the error of his ways. This surprised Terry, and while he was still reluctant towards Vincent, he did feel bad about how their last encounter went, and offered his apologies. Satisfied, Vincent talked to Terry, asking him if he would be interested in seeing the full extent of his power firsthand by becoming a “character” in one of his Scenarios.
Terry was apprehensive of the offer, but Vincent insisted that everything could be undone. Terry ultimately agreed to his proposition, under the condition that Vincent bring some of his deepest desires to life. He wanted to feel important, to have friends, to have confidence, to go on a life-changing adventure that would have him grow as a person. But most of all, he wanted to see what it was like to be a girl. Vincent reacted to this with the utmost glee and promised to manifest Terry’s dreams into reality with a Scenario that he began constructing shortly after their encounter. Vincent let his ideas flow and flow, but in doing so, he gradually lost sight of what Terry wanted and began to indulge in his own desires instead.
What Vincent came up with was a Scenario that would place Terry in a world not too dissimilar from the one he knew, but with a number of fantastical elements. For the sake of the Scenario, he would not retain any of his memories, and would instead fulfill the role of a modified version of himself. While Terry was a little apprehensive of it all, he nevertheless agreed to Vincent’s proposition and was cast as the protagonist in Vincent’s next Scenario: Terrance & Urabe’s Alien Assassination Adventure.
