Path of the Intern
 

Chapter 1: Scrab Soup

The Intern woke up earlier than usual. He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. He put on his red baseball cap, reaching for the light switch. He saw that there were pieces of paper on the table, and his yPod. He disconnected the yPod from the wall charger and put it in his pocket. He scrolled to his favorite heavy metal mix and pressed play.

Utter bliss. Nothing like the heavy metal thrashing of the Slig band Yuutoo. He especially liked the main singer, Dondo. They released such popular hits as "Get in yer Pants" and "In the name of Odd". At the moment the Intern was still waking up, drowsy from his late night at the labs. He knew the Vykkers would probably call him in an hour or so, so he decided to make his way to the lunch hall and get some food before they could boss him about.

As he walked along the corridor, he saw a few Sligs. They waved their guns to say 'hi'. The Intern mumbled back to them as he walked by.

He entered the lunch hall, finding the nearby vending machines and metal tables. He took out some moolah, chose something on the vending machine, watching as soup poured into a container. Noodles were then added to the soup, with a few toppings as well. This Intern especially enjoyed the smell, Scrab-tastic! He took his soup, got out his straw and began to eat.

A few minutes later, the Intern's friend came into the lunch hall. He walked over and smiled. "Hey Yan", Yan nodded and ushered him to sit down next to him. As the Intern finished the last of his soup, he faced the other Intern. "What brings you over here, Drew?". "Ah you know, gotta have a break... That Vykker kept me up all night looking after these Fuzzle thingies!".

Yan took his bowl and placed it on the cleaning tray. "So, not got much sleep then?". Drew shook his head, "Nah, I've been up all night. Reminds me of that techno song I listen to sometimes". Yan smiled, "Oh, you mean Faithful right?". Drew nodded.

A few more minutes past, and a pager on Yan's belt was making some noise. "Oh well, that's me then. See you later Drew!". "Bye Yan". Drew headed back to the bunk beds and sat down.

Meanwhile, Yan made his way to the Vykker's office. His boss wasn't too bad. The Vykker let him have a day off every few weeks, and didn't ask him to do much, physically. The Sligs often helped more with training and physical testing of the subjects. Yan's job was more of an assistant.

Yan walked into the room. He mumbled to the Vykker to let him know he was here. "Ah good", the Vykker said happily, "Listen, I need you to go over to the Scrab pens and check their heart-rates and tell me if they seem out of the ordinary. I think they might have been affected by the serum I gave them a few days ago." Yan mumbled and nodded, walking into the next room.

Thankfully he didn't have to press his ear against the Scrabs, the Vykker had already attached heart-rate monitoring devices on each of them. He just had to take the average of each Scrab's heart-rates and write them on a piece of paper.

A few minutes later he returned to the Vykker, handing him the piece of paper and mumbling. "Hmmm, looks like Scrab Number 4 has a higher heart-rate than normal, perhaps I gave it too much.", the Vykker looked at a piece of paper, shrugging, "Well, the dose doesn't seem overly high, maybe it's just reacting in a bad way". Yan nodded and walked to the computer terminal.

= = =

Hope that sounds alright so far. The Interns can only communicate with each other, to all other races it just sounds like they are mumbling. I tried to slip a few little music references in there now and again as well to inject some humor!

I think you placed the personality of an Intern very well.

I think I'll like this.:D

Chapter 2: Vykker's Groove

Yan pushed the shuffle button his yPod. The inspirational sounds of an Intern youth band rocked his mind and made him want to head-bang all day.

He was assisting his Vykker superior in the lab. The Vykker asked him to do a stock count. Yan wrote the following on a piece of paper;

15 medium-sized syringes
100oz Oddnesium
15oz Cobon Proxide
105ml Gluco Benzine

Yan hurried off and showed the piece of paper to the Vykker. "Ah, seems I could use some more Oddnesium. Go and fetch me some please". Yan mumbled and nodded, heading out of the room.

Oddnesium is primarily solid, but turns liquid if heated sufficiently. Oddnesium was used as both a knock-out drug and as a temporary muscle relaxant. It was mainly used to control the Scrab's behavior, to make them less aggressive. The Scrabs didn't enjoy being in cages, and would often kill each other... especially the males.

Yan walked through the automatic doors and entered the pharmacy. He ordered the new materials and headed back to the Vykker lab.

Yan assisted the Vykker in feeding the Scrabs and used the rest of his time to document the Scrab behavior.

A few hours later, Yan was finished writing down the activity log of the Scrabs;

3:45, Scrab #2 paces around the cell
3:46, Scrab #3 walked towards Scrab #2
3:47, Scrab #2 howls at Scrab #3, Scrab #3 backs away slowly...

And so it went on. Finally it was time to finish up. The Vykker gave him a list of chores to do before the day was out, and then said goodbye.

Yan went to the lunch hall, getting an evening meal before the night shift began. Drew walked up to Yan. "Hiya, how was work?". Yan sighed, "It was alright, could have been a lot worse. Have you dealt with Scrabs much?". Drew replied, "Nah, usually it's Paramites or Fuzzles. I don't actually mind the Paramites too much, they are kinda funny when they just walk along behind you... They pack a mean bite though". Drew was still aching from the last time a Paramite accidently bit his hand instead of the chunk of meat he was holding. "Darn, I'll have to get my bandages changed soon". Yan sighed and ate his food quietly.

Drew finished his food and looked at Yan. "Hey, I heard that one of our favorite bands is coming here soon". Yan was surprised, "Oh wow, which one?!". "It's the Meech Munchers", Yan jumped up, "MEECH MUNCHERS?! THEY ROCK!". As if anyone was in any doubt about how much of a fan Yan was, he did an air guitar, followed by a few bars of one of their songs. "Alright alright, sit down before your ego gets too big!". Yan sat down, excited.

Yan went to his room and lay on his bed. "Wow, the meech munchers...", he thought to himself, "It would be so cool to be in a band". He put his yPod down on the table. He took of his cap and closed his eyes.

The life of a glockstar... would that be fun?

= = =

Hope you like the way this story is heading. I'll make it as unpredictable as possible :D

Wow, I totally ignored the rhyme between Yan and Fan. Reminds me of an Eminem song;
"Truly yours, your biggest fan, This is stan"

I can't really see where this is going, but a mystery ride is fun too.

Rather like sitting in the back of a car with no veiw of the windsheild while someone keeps firing off good jokes. Fun but a makes you a little curious.

Chapter 3: Rock Steady

Yan woke up feeling refreshed. Only one day to go until the big concert in the lunch hall, he could hardly wait. Even a couple of Vykkers would be there, I guess it's not every day that a Slig band shows up in a factory to play to the workforce. I bet this was Sernek's idea... it's typical of a Glukkon to think of a cost-effective way of boosting morale without breaking the bank. The Slig band was probably promoting it's new album. Yan was going to download it as soon as it was uploaded onto the megaNet store.

Yan started singing one of their songs, taking his yPod with him to the laboratory. As soon as he entered, he could smell something bad. He ran into the other room to see the Vykker looking at the Scrabs. "This is a problem", the Vykker said. One of the Scrabs was lying on the floor, his blood oozing on the floor. The other Scrabs were a bit shocked by this, pacing around the cell in a menacing fashion. "I can't see a wound anywhere, it must have been ill or something". Yan nodded. "Get the Oddnesium, we need to tranquilize the rest and separate them from the body. Yan nodded and ran into the other room to get some supplies.

They analyzed the body for a few hours, turns out it had some kind of medical condition that was not detected by conventional scans.

"Some kind of rare disease", the Vykker theorized, "Thankfully it isn't contagious so we don't have to quarantine anything". Yan then proceeded onto his daily routine, checking supplies, looking at the Scrabs behavior, feeding them. The Vykker came to him just before lunch. "I trust you'll be going to see the Meech Munchers tomorrow evening?". Yan nodded enthusiastically. "I see, well that isn't a problem. Are you willing to do some overtime tonight to cover your time off?". Yan nodded again. "Alright. One errand for you, go to the Stockyards Officer and get a Scrab from him. I'll need a replacement", Yan mumbled and left the room.

Finally he finished his work and crashed out on his bed. He woke up the next morning and got ready for a very entertaining show tonight.

He went into work as usual, completed his chores, getting ready for the show.
He met Drew in the lunch hall that evening and they both got some good seats in the lunch hall.

There was a big crowd of people there. About a few hundred Sligs, fifty Interns and ten Vykkers. There was a massive black stage where the lunch tables at the far end of the room normally resided. The band's symbols, a red pitchfork and a black shield logo were placed on either side of the stage. There were big TV monitors at the back of the stage which showed zoomed-in footage of the band.

A smoke machine was turned on, people started cheering. Suddenly, the lead guitarist Manny walked onto the stage his metal pants whirring, lots of applause was heard. He did a couple of guitar riffs and then shouted to the crowd, "EVERYONE READY TO ROCK?!". There was a loud cheer.

Yan was going to enjoy this night very much.

You know what... I can't really think of anything to say except that it's still good.:D

Well, you could write about which are your favorite characters, and what you think of the story so far. Please feel free to point out any problems with the story as well. I'll be happy to make modifications to it.

I might even let Yan go to a kind of Rock Festival. Bet that hasn't been done in a fanfic before ;)

I'd go as far to bet there's never been a fan-fic about an Intern and music.

I have difficulty pointing out bad things about something I like.:D

Chapter 4: Rock Shocker

Suddenly the band started playing one of their best songs. "WOOO YEAH!", the crowd were cheering and clapping and going wild. "HOWDY TO EVERYONE FROM MAGOG MINERALZ! LETS ROCK THIS HOUSE!".

Yan was in his element, he was very happy and danced along with all the other Interns.
The lead guitar player was hamming up his part well, he was dancing along to the riffs and waving to the crowd. The guitarist had a variety of different kinds of face paint, the most prominent would be the white paint around his eyes on the mask. The keyboardist was more modest, but he did wave to the crowd occasionally. He was wearing a black bandana with a skull on it.

The lead singer was fairly muscular, his brow was sweating and his voice was getting quite husky. He grabbed a bottle of water and sloshed it over his face. He had a pair of golden Slig pants and a gold necklace around his neck, along with a long black cloak which was attached to the back of his mask. The drummer was a bit more muscular than the lead singer, possibly an ex-Big Bro. He played the drums well, and often ended each song with a massive drum solo followed by a cymbal crash. He wore a green mask.

"YOU SAY, BRING IT BACK TO MAGOG? KISS MY SLOG!". The drummer finished the song and the crowd went bananas. The band played for a further hour, with a lot of their popular songs getting played.

"Alright folks, we have one more song to play. Everyone ready?", the crowd cheered their loudest yet. Yan was so excited he was jumping up in the air in happiness. Drew was looking at him and smiling.

"Thanks to everyone from MAGOG MINERALZ! (pause for crowd cheering) Many thanks to our sponsors for making this possible; Flubby Blubber, Sliggies Youth Academy and The Mudokon Live Ate Federation... Alright everyone, just for you, here's "I've become so dumb!".

The crowd waved their arms in the air and joined in with the song. Near to the end of the song, the tempo decreased, most of the Sligs in the audience were now waving their lighters. The Interns took out their Shock Rocker batons and started waving them along with the song.

Finally, the lead singer sung his final note, and the drummer went wild. It had to be the most insane drum solo, but the drummer nailed every hit perfectly. Finally the drummer hit his final note, while the guitar player played a final chord.

The sound was absolutely deafening. All of the crowd were cheering and clapping. The performing Sligs were waving and saluting everyone. They left the stage and then a few seconds later, the Lunch Hall lights came on again.

Yan was absolutely exhausted and very happy. Drew put his hand on Yan's shoulder. "Now THAT was rock!". Yan smiled and they walked back to the Vykker's Labs.

Yan logged onto the Meech Munchers website, he noticed a section where you could e-mail the band and ask questions. He decided to send one off, just in case the band could read it.

= = =

Sorry for the long gap, I was just waiting for the writer's block to disappear :D. In another note, I created a map of Magog Mineralz. I have decided that this facility will be the setting for Forbidden Tentacle, Armament and Path of the Intern.

Silpher's Pack and Imadaeth are both set in different research facilities somewhere near nature.

I quote:"And the crowd went absalutely bananas." I hate to just say "I like it", but it seems I have to as I've used far to many witty responses.

Chapter 5: Mail Munched

Yan came back from his busy work day to find a new message in his inbox. He hurriedly rushed to the computer and opened it.

"FROM: MEECH MUNCHERS
Hello Yan,
It's nice of you to send an e-mail to us.
Yes, we do a lot of concerts all across Mudos.
We often travel across the country in our tour bus.
Being the lead singer, I often have to keep bottles of water nearby and while on stage. It's not easy keeping a strong, powerful singing voice!

We get paid quite a bit, although our management still take quite a bit out of our profits... Still, it's better than scrubbing floors! We met up about 10 years ago and formed a thrash metal band called Manny's Stoned Boners. Thankfully we changed the name several times, eventually sticking with Meech Munchers... although I guess that name doesn't mean a lot anymore... oh well!

Our drummer Terny is quite popular with the female audience members... although there aren't a lot of them going round really. There was a rumor that Ms.Skillya fancies him, but I doubt that :-)

The lead guitarist is called Manny and our keyboardist is the well known Welbert Waxxy, who toured with the Waxxy Wonders a few years back.

Anyway, we have a lot of fanmail to answer tonight before we head to another one of those Breweries. Take care.

Drebna."

Yan stared at the screen, a big smile on his face. Suddenly he heard a voice behind him, "Want to be a Radio DJ?". He turned around in his chair and couldn’t believe who was standing right there in front of him.

=*=*=

Thanks for reading this one. I think I'll give this one a bit of a rest for now until I think of some more witty ideas. I think it would be interesting to have an Oddworld DJ out there somewhere, so maybe I might do this in the same style of FM/Good Morning Vietnam.

Glad you like this fanfic so far. It's been fun playing around with Interns :D

An intern as a DJ sounds sounds realistic even by Oddworld standards.:D

I suppose this story should be called "Path of an Intern" so that it sounds less epic. To be honest this entire fanfic was a test to see if I could write a likeable Intern character. I think a Radio DJ thing could work quite well, because I can include interviews and news into it as well.

I was also thinking of doing interviews with some of my other fanfic characters.

Hmm. I like. I like this alot too...

Yeah an Intern DJ would be interesting. I'll try and make it a bit like those funny radio shows and a bit like Space Ghost.

What on earth is Space Ghost?:D

It was a cartoon chat show thing. It was very obscure and weird.