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Cakewalk, or Gēmā no rakuen: a Horror Story

Part 1 of 3: The Game

~October 27, 2013

Hello everyone, this is Miles Noble, head of Gamer's Paradise!! I have exciting news!! First of all, Kingdom Hearts III has been announced at long freakin' last!! And Sora is armed with PISTOLS, apparently. ….whatever. Anyways, My good friend & co-founder Daryl has FINALLY managed to track down that rare SEGA Genesis game Cakewalk!! It was made by the underground gaming industry Jabberwocky Games, and if Nintendo World Champions is the Holy Grail of gaming, then this is the sword of Michael, as there are.... three known copies in existence? At the end of week, Daryl & I will be playing this game LIVE for all of you lucky viewers! Stay tuned, and may the bits be with you!

A young adult, Miles Jackson Noble, leaned back in his chair, sighing in relief as he posted a new blog on his website. He ran his fingers through his thick, brown & unusually sweaty hair and stretched, grunting in relief as he felt his back pop, even though he felt like he should have written some more things that he couldn't quite remember, but he brushed it aside, content & very happy. He smiled, glad to have shared the news about his friends' discovery. They had been spending their whole lives searching for the game, ever since he & Daryl read about it on a post when they were kids.

Miles stood up, and decided to go & have a snack. He went towards his kitchen, scratching his left shoulder as he went. He started to fix himself a sandwich with some corn chips. He got himself a Diet coke & popped one open, carrying it back to his room along with his sandwich, passing by his mother as he went towards it. As he ate his peanut butter & honey sandwich, Miles turned on his small stereo, which began to play the soundtrack of Sonic & the Black Knight. He looked around his room, which was covered in framed posters of various video games, movies, & homemade drawings. Next to his desk & chair was a short, simple bed with green covers & pillows, while across from it sat a bookshelf holding different games for nearly every console ever built.

Glad that he got food out of the way, he decided to check his eMail, but was confused to see thirty different emails, all from an account he didn't recognize called “rrewsdnowj!!@Gmail.com”.He was about to click on the earliest email when he heard someone knocking on the door. He closed the tab and looked towards the door. “The door is unlocked.” he said, sitting up a bit. A woman in her mid-forties came in with his mother, but the latter was comforting the crying woman, who Miles realized was Daryls' mother. Beside her was a man in a Californian Sheriffs' clothing, looking grim. “What's wrong, officer?” Miles asked, worried about his mother.

“You're friends with Daryl Jay Rivers, right?” the officer asked in a hesitant, and reluctant tone, as if he didn't want to speak.

“Y-yeah, he's my best bud, h-how come?” Miles asked, nervous from the officer's tone & his mothers' crying.

The sheriff sighed & took off his sunglasses. “I'm sorry..... your friend.... killed himself last night.”

Miles was stunned. He tried to move his lips, form a few words, but all he could do was tear up and cry horribly.

Later that week, they buried Daryl, and even though there was only a few people at the funeral, grief was heavy in the air. Miles stood there, crying as the day looked the same as any other day. The sun was bright, the grass was bright green, there were only a few small clouds in the sky, and it looked hideous to Miles. He hated how the world looked bright & cheerful, when he felt the day should have been sad, crying for his lost friend who laid deep within the earth.

Miles looked up when he saw the police sheriff from earlier that week walking towards him, a small frown on his face, and a man in a suit carrying a box in his arms. “What do you want?” Miles snapped, not caring about his manners.

“Mr Rivers said that Daryl would have liked you to have all his old possessions.” the man in the suit said.

“Oh.....” Miles said, no really caring.

The man handed Miles the box, and left without saying another word. The sheriff, however, remained, but looked unsure about if he wanted to talk or not.

Miles glared at the sheriff. “What is it?” he snarled.

“I know this is painful for you to deal with,” the Sheriff said sympathetically. “But I know it will get better, trust me.”

“No it won't. I can't get better...” Miles said angrily.

“I did want to tell you some things though, if you don't mind.” the Sheriff said hesitantly.

“I already told you at the station: I don't know why Daryl slashed himself with a shard of glass!” Miles snapped.

“But see, that's the thing: I don't think it was glass or suicide.” the Sheriff said in a slightly nervous tone and looking around, as if someone were listening in.

“The fuck are you talking about?” Miles said.

“See, officially, Daryl committed suicide by hacking open his wrist with a broken piece of glass.” the Sheriff began to explain, looking around nervously. “But off the record, it was impossible for that to happen.”

“Why's that?” Miles said, feeling curiosity for the first time in what felt like a long time.

“The body revealed that there were shards of glass within the skin of his arms & hands, yes, but none of then were any bigger than a few slivers, and he wasn't holding any glass, nor was there any in his room. Also, it was thick, heavy stained glass, like he had thrown himself out of a church window. And the shards, though they were hick, broke easily into tiny pieces.” the Sheriff muttered, still nervous. “Also...”

“Also what?” Miles asked.

“There were other injuries on his body: small burn marks, a couple of wolf & bat bites, a few cuts on his face, a bleeding side, as if he had been stabbed there, and....”

“And what?” Miles asked.

“You wouldn't believe me.” the Sheriff said nervously.

“Tell me!” Miles demanded.

“His heart was missing, but it it looked as if someone cut it out with a jagged knife, or that an animal attacked him.” the Sheriff said.

“....you're saying he was attacked?” Miles asked, with the Sheriff only nodding in response. “Why are you telling me this?” Miles asked, still trying to understand what he was hearing. “And why hasn't it been released publicly?”

“The higher ups don't want it let out, because they think that if all the information got out, people might assume a killer or some... rabid animals were on the loose, and since its' close to tourist season...” the Sheriff said.

“Lower income.” Miles said with disgust in his voice. “Just like in Jaws!”

The Sheriff nodded. “Personally though, I think you and the family have a right to know, even if its going to cost me my job, and it goes against my better judgment.”

“....thanks, either way.” Miles said, getting the box and going to his family's car, lulling over the information in his mind. On the drive home, he thought about the information revealed, and he continued to think about it even as he put the box away.

Miles sighed and sat down at his computer, and for the first time in weeks updated the Gamer's Paradise which was full of people questioning where the playthrough was, though he did not go into the details of Daryl's death. Almost immediately the post got several comments from the subscribers, all saying their condolences and promising to pray for Daryl's' soul & other things Miles' didn't really care about.

Miles sighed & just decided to go to bed, so he shut off his game and went to bed.

He was inside a pixelated forest that seemed to be made out of 16-bit sweets such as lollipops, gumdrops, and taffy, running through the grass, gathering chocolate gold coins along a narrow path. He stopped though, thinking he heard a scream for help. He moved towards the source of the scream, stopping only to pick up some coins on the ground, and soon found a young man in a black coat with a wide brimmed hat, making him almost resemble a gunslinger, but Miles found himself stiffening when he saw who it was.

“….Daryl?” Miles asked.

Daryl suddenly sat up, rasping, his eyes bloodshot & terrified, with bags under them as if he hadn't slept in days. “Miles!!” he said in a hoarse voice filled with fear.

“Daryl?? What's wrong??” Miles asked. In response, Daryl grabbed him by the collar of the tunic he was wearing & pulled him close.

“Run...! Run before the One Who Understands gets you...! The thing will put you in an everlasting he-” before Daryl could finish his warning, he started choking while the area around them turned black & dead, the area also seemingly glitching.

When Miles turned around, he caught only a flash of orange & red before his face was grabbed by a pair of yellow gloved hands.

“Ti-Ti-Ti-TiMe'S u-u-u-u-u-uP, gAm-gAm-gAmEr!!!” a distorted & ethereal, yet glitching voice said while her claws dug into his-

Miles woke with a start, covered in a cold sweat. 'What.... the hell....!? Miles thought, panting a bit. Miles turned on his light & sighed, rubbing his forehead.“Damn nightmares, I gotta let go of Daryl's death....” Miles stopped and glanced over at the box containing Daryl's belongings, and quietly opened it. He rummaged through the items, soon finding a small black cartridge depicting a small blue cake & the words “CAKEWALK” written on it with white icing.

'Tomorrow, I'm gonna play this game, and prove to myself there's nothing wrong with it.' he thought with determination.

~October 31, 2013

Hello loyal readers, today i have an announcement:

I will be recording myself playing Cakewalk, and though Daryl won't be with me physically, he'll be here in spirit. I will post the video at 7:00 tonight. That is all.

Once he posted the announcement on Gamer's Paradise, Miles immediately set up his filming equipment in the living room, glad that his family was out for the day, and put in his game. The title screen came up, showing a cake identical to the one on the game's cartridge, but this one had red frosting upon it.

“Weird.... oh well.” Miles said into his microphone with a shrug as he pushed start. “Okay.... according to these cutscenes. there was a baker who knew magic and resembled a cross between Groucho Marx, Robin Williams, & Chef Boyardee, and created a cake that could heal any wound & cure any disease, possibly even make you immortal.... the ruler of these lands wanted the baker to work for him & produce these cakes for the king to stay alive, but somehow the baker knew the king was an evil asshole, so he said no even after that huge as pile of money was offered. So the king has him captured, but the baker sends his fairy friend to have his son save him & this is a stupid backstory.” Miles said with an eyeroll as the game began inside a village that appeared to have been made out of gingerbread.

“Well, despite the candy & treats theme, the game looks like a Legend of Zelda clone, but the control feels a bit slippery.” Miles said, pressing forwards, passing by what looked like a red & blue firefly, making the game stop for a second so that a short, yet annoying beeping could play, and text box could pop up.

“HELLO, I AM NAOMI, THE GUIDING FAIRY. YOUR FATHER SENT ME TO HELP YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY, CHILD.” Miles read aloud from the text box. “Great, another Navi & Omochao.... fuckin' great..” he groaned as he journeyed on into a forest.

”PRESS THE A BUTTON BUTTON TO USE YOUR SWORD, AND USE THE B BUTTON TO SHOOT ARROWS THAT CAN HIT SWITCHES FROM AFAR.” Naomi “said”.

“And what does the C button do? Shut you up so I can continue playing? Cause that would be nice.” Miles said with a tone of sarcasm as he attempted to cross a river, but only drowned.

“THE C BUTTON IS USED FOR MAGIC, SUCH AS FROST SPELLS TO FREEZE WATER, YOU IDIOT.” Naomi's box typed out.

Upon reading it Miles paused for a second. '.....did..... the game just..?' he thought, but shook his head, figuring it was just the game's way of teasing the player for falling in the water. So he continued on through the game's stages, fighting gummi bears, lollipop porcupines, chocodile alligators, and other weird candy creatures,

“Urgh!!” Miles groaned in frustration when Naomi popped up again to deliver advice on beating a small, fire breathing dragon made of peppermint in a mountaintop covered in ice cream snow. “I know the water spell can affect him, but you could have told me I had a water spell three stages ago when they first fucking appeared, you dumb bitch!”

”DON'T CALL ME A BITCH, MILES.” the box suddenly said. When Miles read it, he nearly had a heart attack.

“It..... it can....!” Miles stuttered in shock. He immediately grabbed his camera to make sure he was capturing it on footage, but when he looked into it, all he could see was a distorted image of a young woman with angelic wings emerging from the TV, and holding out her hands towards him.

”Miles.....” the voice said before grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the TV.

“LEMME GO!!! I DON'T WANNA DIE!!!” Miles screamed in fear, grabbing whatever he could to slow down, but he was still dragged into the TV by the spectral hand, with Miles only having enough time to grab his cellphone on the ground before being completely sucked into the now blood red television screen, and once he vanished, an orange face appeared, chuckling as the screen glitched a bit.

Description
Cakewalk, or Gēmā no rakuen: a Horror Story

Part 1 of 3: The Game

~October 27, 2013

Hello everyone, this is Miles Noble, head of Gamer's Paradise!! I have exciting news!! First of all, Kingdom Hearts III has been announced at long freakin' last!! And Sora is armed with PISTOLS, apparently. ….whatever. Anyways, My good friend & co-founder Daryl has FINALLY managed to track down that rare SEGA Genesis game Cakewalk!! It was made by the underground gaming industry Jabberwocky Games, and if Nintendo World Champions is the Holy Grail of gaming, then this is the sword of Michael, as there are.... three known copies in existence? At the end of week, Daryl & I will be playing this game LIVE for all of you lucky viewers! Stay tuned, and may the bits be with you!

A young adult, Miles Jackson Noble, leaned back in his chair, sighing in relief as he posted a new blog on his website. He ran his fingers through his thick, brown & unusually sweaty hair and stretched, grunting in relief as he felt his back pop, even though he felt like he should have written some more things that he couldn't quite remember, but he brushed it aside, content & very happy. He smiled, glad to have shared the news about his friends' discovery. They had been spending their whole lives searching for the game, ever since he & Daryl read about it on a post when they were kids.

Miles stood up, and decided to go & have a snack. He went towards his kitchen, scratching his left shoulder as he went. He started to fix himself a sandwich with some corn chips. He got himself a Diet coke & popped one open, carrying it back to his room along with his sandwich, passing by his mother as he went towards it. As he ate his peanut butter & honey sandwich, Miles turned on his small stereo, which began to play the soundtrack of Sonic & the Black Knight. He looked around his room, which was covered in framed posters of various video games, movies, & homemade drawings. Next to his desk & chair was a short, simple bed with green covers & pillows, while across from it sat a bookshelf holding different games for nearly every console ever built.

Glad that he got food out of the way, he decided to check his eMail, but was confused to see thirty different emails, all from an account he didn't recognize called “rrewsdnowj!!@Gmail.com”.He was about to click on the earliest email when he heard someone knocking on the door. He closed the tab and looked towards the door. “The door is unlocked.” he said, sitting up a bit. A woman in her mid-forties came in with his mother, but the latter was comforting the crying woman, who Miles realized was Daryls' mother. Beside her was a man in a Californian Sheriffs' clothing, looking grim. “What's wrong, officer?” Miles asked, worried about his mother.

“You're friends with Daryl Jay Rivers, right?” the officer asked in a hesitant, and reluctant tone, as if he didn't want to speak.

“Y-yeah, he's my best bud, h-how come?” Miles asked, nervous from the officer's tone & his mothers' crying.

The sheriff sighed & took off his sunglasses. “I'm sorry..... your friend.... killed himself last night.”

Miles was stunned. He tried to move his lips, form a few words, but all he could do was tear up and cry horribly.

Later that week, they buried Daryl, and even though there was only a few people at the funeral, grief was heavy in the air. Miles stood there, crying as the day looked the same as any other day. The sun was bright, the grass was bright green, there were only a few small clouds in the sky, and it looked hideous to Miles. He hated how the world looked bright & cheerful, when he felt the day should have been sad, crying for his lost friend who laid deep within the earth.

Miles looked up when he saw the police sheriff from earlier that week walking towards him, a small frown on his face, and a man in a suit carrying a box in his arms. “What do you want?” Miles snapped, not caring about his manners.

“Mr Rivers said that Daryl would have liked you to have all his old possessions.” the man in the suit said.

“Oh.....” Miles said, no really caring.

The man handed Miles the box, and left without saying another word. The sheriff, however, remained, but looked unsure about if he wanted to talk or not.

Miles glared at the sheriff. “What is it?” he snarled.

“I know this is painful for you to deal with,” the Sheriff said sympathetically. “But I know it will get better, trust me.”

“No it won't. I can't get better...” Miles said angrily.

“I did want to tell you some things though, if you don't mind.” the Sheriff said hesitantly.

“I already told you at the station: I don't know why Daryl slashed himself with a shard of glass!” Miles snapped.

“But see, that's the thing: I don't think it was glass or suicide.” the Sheriff said in a slightly nervous tone and looking around, as if someone were listening in.

“The fuck are you talking about?” Miles said.

“See, officially, Daryl committed suicide by hacking open his wrist with a broken piece of glass.” the Sheriff began to explain, looking around nervously. “But off the record, it was impossible for that to happen.”

“Why's that?” Miles said, feeling curiosity for the first time in what felt like a long time.

“The body revealed that there were shards of glass within the skin of his arms & hands, yes, but none of then were any bigger than a few slivers, and he wasn't holding any glass, nor was there any in his room. Also, it was thick, heavy stained glass, like he had thrown himself out of a church window. And the shards, though they were hick, broke easily into tiny pieces.” the Sheriff muttered, still nervous. “Also...”

“Also what?” Miles asked.

“There were other injuries on his body: small burn marks, a couple of wolf & bat bites, a few cuts on his face, a bleeding side, as if he had been stabbed there, and....”

“And what?” Miles asked.

“You wouldn't believe me.” the Sheriff said nervously.

“Tell me!” Miles demanded.

“His heart was missing, but it it looked as if someone cut it out with a jagged knife, or that an animal attacked him.” the Sheriff said.

“....you're saying he was attacked?” Miles asked, with the Sheriff only nodding in response. “Why are you telling me this?” Miles asked, still trying to understand what he was hearing. “And why hasn't it been released publicly?”

“The higher ups don't want it let out, because they think that if all the information got out, people might assume a killer or some... rabid animals were on the loose, and since its' close to tourist season...” the Sheriff said.

“Lower income.” Miles said with disgust in his voice. “Just like in Jaws!”

The Sheriff nodded. “Personally though, I think you and the family have a right to know, even if its going to cost me my job, and it goes against my better judgment.”

“....thanks, either way.” Miles said, getting the box and going to his family's car, lulling over the information in his mind. On the drive home, he thought about the information revealed, and he continued to think about it even as he put the box away.

Miles sighed and sat down at his computer, and for the first time in weeks updated the Gamer's Paradise which was full of people questioning where the playthrough was, though he did not go into the details of Daryl's death. Almost immediately the post got several comments from the subscribers, all saying their condolences and promising to pray for Daryl's' soul & other things Miles' didn't really care about.

Miles sighed & just decided to go to bed, so he shut off his game and went to bed.

He was inside a pixelated forest that seemed to be made out of 16-bit sweets such as lollipops, gumdrops, and taffy, running through the grass, gathering chocolate gold coins along a narrow path. He stopped though, thinking he heard a scream for help. He moved towards the source of the scream, stopping only to pick up some coins on the ground, and soon found a young man in a black coat with a wide brimmed hat, making him almost resemble a gunslinger, but Miles found himself stiffening when he saw who it was.

“….Daryl?” Miles asked.

Daryl suddenly sat up, rasping, his eyes bloodshot & terrified, with bags under them as if he hadn't slept in days. “Miles!!” he said in a hoarse voice filled with fear.

“Daryl?? What's wrong??” Miles asked. In response, Daryl grabbed him by the collar of the tunic he was wearing & pulled him close.

“Run...! Run before the One Who Understands gets you...! The thing will put you in an everlasting he-” before Daryl could finish his warning, he started choking while the area around them turned black & dead, the area also seemingly glitching.

When Miles turned around, he caught only a flash of orange & red before his face was grabbed by a pair of yellow gloved hands.

“Ti-Ti-Ti-TiMe'S u-u-u-u-u-uP, gAm-gAm-gAmEr!!!” a distorted & ethereal, yet glitching voice said while her claws dug into his-

Miles woke with a start, covered in a cold sweat. 'What.... the hell....!? Miles thought, panting a bit. Miles turned on his light & sighed, rubbing his forehead.“Damn nightmares, I gotta let go of Daryl's death....” Miles stopped and glanced over at the box containing Daryl's belongings, and quietly opened it. He rummaged through the items, soon finding a small black cartridge depicting a small blue cake & the words “CAKEWALK” written on it with white icing.

'Tomorrow, I'm gonna play this game, and prove to myself there's nothing wrong with it.' he thought with determination.

~October 31, 2013

Hello loyal readers, today i have an announcement:

I will be recording myself playing Cakewalk, and though Daryl won't be with me physically, he'll be here in spirit. I will post the video at 7:00 tonight. That is all.

Once he posted the announcement on Gamer's Paradise, Miles immediately set up his filming equipment in the living room, glad that his family was out for the day, and put in his game. The title screen came up, showing a cake identical to the one on the game's cartridge, but this one had red frosting upon it.

“Weird.... oh well.” Miles said into his microphone with a shrug as he pushed start. “Okay.... according to these cutscenes. there was a baker who knew magic and resembled a cross between Groucho Marx, Robin Williams, & Chef Boyardee, and created a cake that could heal any wound & cure any disease, possibly even make you immortal.... the ruler of these lands wanted the baker to work for him & produce these cakes for the king to stay alive, but somehow the baker knew the king was an evil asshole, so he said no even after that huge as pile of money was offered. So the king has him captured, but the baker sends his fairy friend to have his son save him & this is a stupid backstory.” Miles said with an eyeroll as the game began inside a village that appeared to have been made out of gingerbread.

“Well, despite the candy & treats theme, the game looks like a Legend of Zelda clone, but the control feels a bit slippery.” Miles said, pressing forwards, passing by what looked like a red & blue firefly, making the game stop for a second so that a short, yet annoying beeping could play, and text box could pop up.

“HELLO, I AM NAOMI, THE GUIDING FAIRY. YOUR FATHER SENT ME TO HELP YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY, CHILD.” Miles read aloud from the text box. “Great, another Navi & Omochao.... fuckin' great..” he groaned as he journeyed on into a forest.

”PRESS THE A BUTTON BUTTON TO USE YOUR SWORD, AND USE THE B BUTTON TO SHOOT ARROWS THAT CAN HIT SWITCHES FROM AFAR.” Naomi “said”.

“And what does the C button do? Shut you up so I can continue playing? Cause that would be nice.” Miles said with a tone of sarcasm as he attempted to cross a river, but only drowned.

“THE C BUTTON IS USED FOR MAGIC, SUCH AS FROST SPELLS TO FREEZE WATER, YOU IDIOT.” Naomi's box typed out.

Upon reading it Miles paused for a second. '.....did..... the game just..?' he thought, but shook his head, figuring it was just the game's way of teasing the player for falling in the water. So he continued on through the game's stages, fighting gummi bears, lollipop porcupines, chocodile alligators, and other weird candy creatures,

“Urgh!!” Miles groaned in frustration when Naomi popped up again to deliver advice on beating a small, fire breathing dragon made of peppermint in a mountaintop covered in ice cream snow. “I know the water spell can affect him, but you could have told me I had a water spell three stages ago when they first fucking appeared, you dumb bitch!”

”DON'T CALL ME A BITCH, MILES.” the box suddenly said. When Miles read it, he nearly had a heart attack.

“It..... it can....!” Miles stuttered in shock. He immediately grabbed his camera to make sure he was capturing it on footage, but when he looked into it, all he could see was a distorted image of a young woman with angelic wings emerging from the TV, and holding out her hands towards him.

”Miles.....” the voice said before grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the TV.

“LEMME GO!!! I DON'T WANNA DIE!!!” Miles screamed in fear, grabbing whatever he could to slow down, but he was still dragged into the TV by the spectral hand, with Miles only having enough time to grab his cellphone on the ground before being completely sucked into the now blood red television screen, and once he vanished, an orange face appeared, chuckling as the screen glitched a bit.