[Interactive story] 'Real Life' Tanki

[missingknight 408]

‘Real Life' Tanki, an Interactive Story

 

 

Ever wondered what it could be like if Tanki wasn’t just on your computer screen?

Well, this is a random imagining of what could happen if you gained the power to use Tanki turret effects in ‘real life’. And you’re part of the story! – you can choose how you will use your new ‘superpower’.

(Instructions: Read through the story, and when you come to a choice, pick an option, and open its spoiler to find out what happens next.)

 

 

The Beginning: Morning

 

 

You wake up to your alarm clock blaring. Slamming a hand down to silence it, you jump out of bed, then quickly get dressed. Now you can hear your mum shouting for you, so you make for the door. You head downstairs to find your mum standing next to a big cardboard box. It seems that the new TV your family ordered last week has finally been delivered. Apparently the delivery men just dumped it in the middle of the room, which means that it’s in the way. It needs to be pushed backwards a bit, to be against the wall. But your mum says she can’t push it on her own. You try to help, but even with both of you pushing it, the box still doesn’t shift – it’s just too heavy. You stop and think for a moment: maybe you can use your new ‘Tanki power’ to move it…

But which turret will you use?

 

Option 1 – Twins

Symbolically, you reach for a brick (although you’re inside, so a Lego one will have to do), and clamp it down on the trigger. Immediately, a seemingly never-ending torrent of green plasma balls stream towards the box, slowly driving it backwards.

A few seconds later, and a gentle thud indicates that the box has reached its intended position against the wall. Job done! You smile, and go to remove the brick. But that piece of Lego is stuck fast! It. Simply. Will. Not. Budge. As you struggle with it, the box is still being relentlessly bombarded by plasma. And now you can hear an ominous sound of ripping cardboard. You tune it out, concentrating on the Lego. You just know you can get it free if you keep trying…

Finally, you yell out triumphantly, as you wrench off that pesky brick. But your face falls as soon as you look up to where the box is, or rather, was. The box and the TV are smashed to bits.

You are in so much trouble.

 

 

Option 2 – Ricochet

Facing the box head-on, you confidently fire off a yellowy-orange plasma ball.

Success! The high impact force knocks the box backwards. But… did you forget something? Ricochet’s key characteristic? Ricochet’s projectiles, well, ricochet. As soon as that plasma ball strikes the box, it rebounds, and rebounds, and rebounds, hitting anything and everything in the room. Nothing is safe, as that plasma ball leaves a trail of destruction in its wake, and savagely tears apart all in its path.

Now, the box may be in the perfect position, but everything else is completely destroyed. And your mum is not happy.

 

 

Lunch

 

 

After the disaster with the TV, you decide to leave your Tanki power for a bit. That is, until it gets to lunchtime and Steve appears. Steve is always bothering you when you’re eating lunch, throwing bits of his leftover food at you, and making rude comments. Worst of all, his favorite thing to do is to steal your chocolate bar and eat it for himself.

So, with your Tanki power, you’ve decided that today will be the day you’ll get revenge...

But which turret will you use?

 

Option 1 – Freeze

As usual, it’s not long before Steve has his grimy mitts on your chocolate. But now you’re ready to strike back. Once his back is turned, you unleash a jet of frost, immobilising him. You then wrench the chocolate out of his ice cold hands, taking one satisfied glance at the shocked expression now frozen onto his face, before running off, knowing that Steve (‘the ice statue’) will now be too slow to catch you.

But in your haste, you accidently fire some frost towards the tarmac in front of you. One second later, and you’ve run right over the newly-placed ice patch and have face-planted the ground. As you flail about helplessly, Steve has defrosted, and caught you up. And he’s not going to let you live this down.

 

 

Option 2 – Firebird

Just like always, Steve grabs your chocolate, waving it in front of your face, taunting you. Although this time you’re not going to sit by and do nothing. Without hesitation, you fire off a blast of flames. Ha! Now the chocolate has melted in Steve’s hands, and he won’t be able to eat it. But… neither will you. Not much of a revenge. You pause. Then you have an idea… You decide to try your luck, and attempt a lame trick.

‘OMG, Steve!’ you say suddenly, pretending to be disgusted. ‘You’ve got bird poo in your hair! Ewwwwww!’

Without thinking, Steve automatically puts his hand to his hair to check it. His hand covered in melted chocolate.

‘Hahaha got you!’ you laugh. ‘No bird poo. But now there’s chocolate all over your hair!’

 

 

The Route Home

 

 

After an interesting lunchtime, the afternoon drags on almost in slow motion, so you’re glad when it’s finally time to walk home. You decide to take a detour today, through the park near your house. It’s so peaceful - it’s practically empty (apart from a few ducks on the lake).

You wander through some trees, across the grass, and are just heading along the path that skirts the edge of the lake, when you suddenly notice a man burst through the trees you’ve just come through. He tears across the grass, constantly glancing back over his shoulder, looking panicky. He pauses for a moment as he reaches the lake, deciding whether to take the path along the edge (like you’ve chosen to do), or to use the long bridge, which stretches right across the middle of the lake. He seems to decide to take the bridge, but as he makes to step onto it, he quickly takes another glance backwards. And just as he does, two more men suddenly surge through the trees, then bolt across the grass. And they’re wearing police uniforms. The man by the lake jumps, startled, and now starts frantically rushing along the bridge, tripping over himself in his haste.

Your mind suddenly wakes up. You could stop the running man using your Tanki power! If you could shoot at the middle of the bridge and damage it, then the man’s route forwards will be blocked. And the police will soon be on the bridge behind him, so he’ll be trapped, with nowhere to run to. But you’ll have to think carefully – you don’t want to make any mistakes.

Which turret will you use?

 

Option 1 – Railgun

You focus, line up your aim, and shoot. Your Railgun shot packs a punch, and with a blast of damage going straight through the weak point you’ve targeted, the bridge stands no chance. The middle section collapses, stopping the running man in his tracks. But Railgun’s penetration power means that your shot has pierced through the bridge and gone on to also hit the boathouse beyond it. And you can see that it’s taken some bad damage.

You glance back to the bridge, and see that the police have now apprehended the man. They have also noticed you, and as one of them leads the man off in cuffs, the other comes over to talk. He says that causing damage to property can get you into serious trouble. Luckily for you, the man they were chasing was a serious criminal, so they appreciate you assisting with his capture and you’ll get away with the damage to the bridge. But as for the damage to the boathouse, you’re going to have to pay for the repairs.     

 

 

Option 2 – Thunder

You face the bridge, and fire. The shell hits its target, dealing a powerful blast of damage. You’ve successfully destroyed part of the bridge, halting the man’s escape. But wait. Have you forgotten about Thunder’s well-known splash damage? And that there are ducks on the lake?

Two poor ducks were peacefully swimming under the bridge when you fired your Thunder shot, and they were thrown backwards by the impact of that splash damage.

You may have helped catch a criminal, but I hope you’re happy living with the guilt of injuring two innocent ducks!

 

 

Option 3 – Smoky

It only takes a few Smoky shots, and the bridge is broken. That man is not going to get away now! The police grab him, and take him off to their police car. Then they come to congratulate you. It turns out that the man was a dangerous criminal, so you’re going to get an award for helping to catch him.

 

 

Evening

 

 

After an eventful day, it would be nice to have a quiet evening. Unfortunately your little 5 year old brother’s going to his best friend’s birthday party, and your mum has just told you that she’s volunteered you to help out. She’s going to do some face-painting, and you’re expected to help out with anything that needs doing. You smile through gritted teeth. Great. Sounds. Like. Fun.

At the party, you’re soon drafted in to help with food prep. You spend a very very long half hour cutting many many many (oh, so many) sandwiches into the shape of dinosaurs. But the torture isn’t over yet. Now you’re expected to supervise the piñata.

You head outside, and spot it - a pink and blue dinosaur surrounded by a gaggle of excitable 5 year olds brandishing sticks. You step back, and they all start enthusiastically whacking the piñata within an inch of its life, presumably fuelled by the excessive amount of sugar they’ve consumed from the first round of party food.

Somehow, after several minutes, the piñata is miraculously still intact – I mean, what is it made out of? Steel? - and the gaggle of kids seem to be losing steam. Before long, they’ve all stopped hitting the piñata and have turned to look at you.

‘You smash it,’ one says.

‘We want the sweets!’ some of the others shout impatiently.

‘Ok, ok, I’ll do it,’ you say, sighing. At least I can use my Tanki power, you think to yourself.

But which weapon should you use?

 

Option 1 – Hammer

You take a shot, feeling confident – the high impact force looks like it’ll do the job. You take another shot, and another… Almost… But 3 shots are just not quite enough.

As you wait for the clip to reload, the kids are getting increasingly riled.

‘Why isn’t it smashed yet?’

‘I’m bored!’

‘I don’t want sweets anymore!’

‘Yeah, this is taking too long!’

Then, suddenly: ‘Let’s hit something else instead!’

‘Yeah!’

Before you realise what’s happening, the kids have turned, and are looking at you, smiling mischievously. They’re still holding up the sticks they used to hit the piñata. Although now it seems that they’ve got another use for the sticks in mind… Hitting you.

‘Arrgggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!’ you yell, as you start running away as fast as you can, the mini mob of 5 year olds hot on your heels, laughing and shrieking.

 

 

Option 2 – Vulcan

You hold down the trigger, aiming at the piñata. Within seconds, that pink dinosaur is dancing around in a frenzy, being violently tossed and turned through the air by the sheer power of Vulcan’s continuous fire.

It isn’t long before the piñata is torn apart, and a mountain of sweets cascades down upon the kids, who shout with delight, clutching at the air, trying to catch some.

But distracted by the sweets, you haven’t noticed that you’ve been firing Vulcan for too long, and now you’re starting to overheat. You immediately let go of the trigger, and scan your surroundings. You feel like you’re burning! You need water, or something, anything, cold, you think desperately. You suddenly notice a parent walking out into the garden carrying a massive bowl of ice cream. Without thinking, you rush over, and hurl yourself forward, landing with your face right in the bowl. You stand up straight, your head coated in ‘Strawberry Surprise’ – a human ice cream cone.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2016 by Hexed

[Hex 11,520]

Necessary changes made:

 

- Formatting

Edited October 15, 2016 by Hexed
Corrected.

[ToHoYoNTaDa 1,147]

GuD

[missingknight 408]

Necessary changes made:

 

- Formatting

- Grammar; including spellings.

I've checked through to find the changes. (Sorry, I'm just annoyed if it turns out I've made spelling/grammer mistakes).

 

Changing "railgun" to "Railgun", I obviously agree with. But I don't think the other changes were necessary. And one of them, I think you've actually changed it to be wrong.

 

You changed "accidently" to "accidentally" - "accidentally" may be a more accepted spelling, but you can actually use "accidently".

 

You've also changed "immobilising" to "immobilizing", and "realise" to "realize". The "s" is an acceptable spelling. The "z" is more American, and I'm not American.

 

Also you've changed one of the "5 year olds" to "5 year old's". That is wrong, and what I put is right. There should not be an apostrophe.

Idk whether maybe you think it's because it's shortening "5 year olds is", hence have added the apostrophe for that reason. But there is not meant to be an "is" there.

[missingknight 408]

Story edited to change back the mentioned^ grammar/spelling edits (apart from the capitalising of 'Railgun').

(Sorry, I appreciate editing and criticism, but I don't think you should change something if it's not wrong in the first place).

[Hex 11,520]

I've checked through to find the changes. (Sorry, I'm just annoyed if it turns out I've made spelling/grammer mistakes).

 

Changing "railgun" to "Railgun", I obviously agree with. But I don't think the other changes were necessary. And one of them, I think you've actually changed it to be wrong.

 

You changed "accidently" to "accidentally" - "accidentally" may be a more accepted spelling, but you can actually use "accidently".

 

You've also changed "immobilising" to "immobilizing", and "realise" to "realize". The "s" is an acceptable spelling. The "z" is more American, and I'm not American.

 

Also you've changed one of the "5 year olds" to "5 year old's". That is wrong, and what I put is right. There should not be an apostrophe.

Idk whether maybe you think it's because it's shortening "5 year olds is", hence have added the apostrophe for that reason. But there is not meant to be an "is" there.

Hence the differentiation between British and American English :P

But, I have this software that corrects all red-lined words and corrects them to the appropriate spellings. Sorry :)

[Penguin40 1,714]

Hence the differentiation between British and American English :P

But, I have this software that corrects all red-lined words and corrects them to the appropriate spellings. Sorry :)

Exactly the problem with such softwares :p Human checks are better :p

[Magenta 5,165]

*reads TKP's Reporter simulator*

*reads this*

*says*

"I didn't know such writing was possible!"

 

Edited October 12, 2016 by Magenta

[Skills_From_Pyton10 0]

My favorite topic yet.. :D

[missingknight 408]

Hence the differentiation between British and American English :P

But, I have this software that corrects all red-lined words and corrects them to the appropriate spellings. Sorry :)

Sorry that I made a sorta fuss about it.

I think I was just like, 'Noooo, I didn't make spelling/grammar errors!'  D:

I mean, my actual story content might not be that great, but I at least want to have used correct spelling/grammar etc.

 

*reads TKP's Reporter simulator*

*reads this*

*says*

"I didn't know such writing was possible!"

 

 

I knew someone would mention that.

I actually started writing my story last week, the day after I finished my first article, which was a couple of days before the newspaper was published. If I knew there was going to be an interactive story in the newspaper, I wouldn't have written one myself. I only decided to post mine as I'd already spent time on it, and it took me a while to do the pictures (Ik they're not great, but I'm not very good at drawing).

Ok, I'm taking this a bit seriously, but I just hate if people think I've 'copied' an idea when I actually haven't. It is just an unlucky coincidence <_< :(.

[missingknight 408]

My favorite topic yet.. :D

Thx :).

[Quarks 2,255]

Hence the differentiation between British and American English :P

But, I have this software that corrects all red-lined words and corrects them to the appropriate spellings. Sorry :)

Grammarly?

[ethanisme 1,115]

Grammarly?

No. Gramparly

Edited October 12, 2016 by ethanisme

[mydoom.exe 5,154]

Hence the differentiation between British and American English :P

But, I have this software that corrects all red-lined words and corrects them to the appropriate spellings. Sorry :)

I use Microsoft Word as well.

[Magenta 5,165]

Sorry that I made a sorta fuss about it.

I think I was just like, 'Noooo, I didn't make spelling/grammar errors!'  D:

I mean, my actual story content might not be that great, but I at least want to have used correct spelling/grammar etc.

I knew someone would mention that.

I actually started writing my story last week, the day after I finished my first article, which was a couple of days before the newspaper was published. If I knew there was going to be an interactive story in the newspaper, I wouldn't have written one myself. I only decided to post mine as I'd already spent time on it, and it took me a while to do the pictures (Ik they're not great, but I'm not very good at drawing).

Ok, I'm taking this a bit seriously, but I just hate if people think I've 'copied' an idea when I actually haven't. It is just an unlucky coincidence <_< :(.

hey nope i dont mean that. i mean i personally dont like the story much......especially so after reading TKP's story.

[BlueDragon_tamki 3,204]

Amazing :lol:

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

This.Is.Good. Lacked a little depth, though, but well written!

[missingknight 408]

hey nope i dont mean that. i mean i personally dont like the story much......especially so after reading TKP's story.

Ah ok, I get you. (It wasn't clear to me exactly what you meant, so thx for explaining :))

Amazing :lol:

Thx. :)

This.Is.Good. Lacked a little depth, though, but well written!

Well, I didn't intend it to have any depth at all. Just meant to be silly and random :P. Anyway, thx :).

[Hex 11,520]

Just did the story now, and I sorta enjoyed it. Nice!!

[missingknight 408]

Good work :D

It's a bit of a comedy story in some parts for me, and i like it c:

Just did the story now, and I sorta enjoyed it. Nice!!

Thx :).

[GoldRock 6,165]

But, I have this software that corrects all red-lined words and corrects them to the appropriate spellings. Sorry :)

Exactly the problem with such softwares :P Human checks are better :P

I was unaware such software was being used in checking articles - in light of this, such software will not be used from now on. Thanks for raising valid issues with the checking of your article, missingknight!

[Cyborg 3,189]

Nicely done actually. Tkp's reporter sim is kind of this one but not enough to be plagiarised.

[Penguin40 1,714]

I was unaware such software was being used in checking articles - in light of this, such software will not be used from now on. Thanks for raising valid issues with the checking of your article, missingknight!

Nice one goldy!

 

i almost thought you had locked the article for plagarism :p

[Hex 11,520]

Nicely done actually. Tkp's reporter sim is kind of this one but not enough to be plagiarised.

This one has awesome images xD

[missingknight 408]

Nicely done actually. Tkp's reporter sim is kind of this one but not enough to be plagiarised.

Thx :).

 

(I don't think my story is actually similar to the newspaper one. Only in the way of it also being an 'interactive' story. But interactive stories, where the reader is part of the story, and can choose different options, are a known story format. I have a few books in that format, and have written my own stories in that format before, which is why I thought of writing one related to Tanki. And when I was writing mine, I didn't know there was going to be one in the newspaper.)