Bonobo - the Video Game (Stage 1)

 

 

This is a beat-em-up (or as I like to say, beat-em-off), with elements of an action RPG. You can pick either single-player mode or multi-player mode.  The following will assume single-player mode (story mode).

At the beginning of the game, you do some character customization.  You choose a basic body shape, which can be in a variety of formats.  The default is a pretty feminine-looking woman, but you could also choose a variety of female body shapes, a variety of male body shapes, and quite a few nonbinary or intersex body shapes.  You can also, to some degree, pick the height, adjust general thinness or thickness, and some other slight bodily adjustments.  Nonetheless, at this point, your character will look like a normal person, and your choices are somewhat limited.  You also have much greater flexibility and room for creativity and individuality in terms of the design of the face.  You have a few voices to choose from.  You have a few, limited options for hairstyles.  

You can also pick your preferred pronouns.  The rest of this will be written with the pronouns "she/her."  If you have picked other pronouns, these will of course be substituted in.

Note: all cutscenes are skippable.  In this text, a cutscene will be prefaced with an angle bracket, like this: >

Gameplay begins with an asterisk, like this: *

Sometimes there will be multiple cutscenes in a row.  You can skip one cutscene, and it will take you to the next cutscene.  Between them will be both symbols, like this: *>

 

 

...The game begins: 

>Exterior shot of a coffee shop in a busy, bustling city.  On the sidewalk in front, a few tables, with people chatting.  People walking by in a hurry to and from work, walking their dogs, etc.; cars and taxis driving by. 

Cut to inside the cafe.  Just inside the front window, your character is sitting at a table, sipping coffee, enjoying a nice day with two friends, talking and laughing.   

Suddenly an alarm goes off.  The cafe proprietor shouts: 

"Monster alert!  Repeat!  We have monsters!  Everyone, get yourself into the safe zone!  There's an emergency escape door in the back room of the cafe."

The room erupts into chaos.  Everyone is screaming and shouting.  Children are crying.  Their parents pick them up, trying to comfort them, carrying them down through the back door, down a long set of stairs into the underground emergency shelter.

"Everyone remain calm," the proprietor continues.  "Please, people!  Calm down.  It's okay.  Let's line up in an orderly fashion and walk single file.  Pick a buddy.  So long as we don't panic, everyone should be safe in the shelter.  Come on, that's right.  Don't worry about your belongings.  Let's go.  No time to waste."  He turns to one of his employees.  "Laura, can you check to see if anyone's in the restroom?"

Laura, the cute barista, replies, "Already checked.  All clear."  

"Okay," says the proprietor.  "Great.  So everybody, let's get down into the emergency shelter.  Don't worry, this should only take a few minutes.  Yes, that's everyone."  He turns to you and your friend.  "That includes you two."

Your friend, Justine, stands up.  With a look of seriousness and determination, she quietly but forcefully replies, "No need."

You're shocked, and a little scared.  "Justine!" you cry.  "What are you talking about?  Didn't you hear?  Monsters are coming!  They may be here by now!"

Justine holds up a badge you've never seen before.  She declares, "I'm a Soother."  Reaction shot: you are shocked.  

Next to you, your other friend, Therese, is also upset, but in a different way from you.  "Justine, what are you doing?" she demands, in a whisper, an edge of suppressed anger in her voice.

As Justine heads for the front door, the proprietor and the barista nod and salute her, with an obvious, deep respect, even reverence, and go into the back room.

Just then, there is a loud crashing sound outside, and something else.  Something... unearthly.

"They're here.  Quick, get yourself to safety.  We'll take it from here," says Justine, and runs out the front of the building.  

"Therese, what's going on?" you ask. "Did you know that Justine was a soother?"

"I... uh...." says Therese, unsure, distracted, irritated, and looking off in the direction that Justine just went, "No... no time to explain.  You have to get yourself to safety."

"Wait, aren't you coming?" you ask.  Then you peer at her.  "What are you hiding?"

"Go!" Therese insists.  "Go now!  You're going to miss your chance!"

"B-but..." you say, but Therese gives you a forbidding look. You turn around and run.

You head for the back room, but to your dismay, you see that the door has already closed.  You grab the doorknob, and try to twist it, but it's locked. You bang on the door.

"Let me in!  Let me in!" you scream, raw panic rising in your voice.

Eventually, a quiet voice responds.  "You're too late.  We can't unlock the door.  It would put everyone in danger."

"But - but -" you stammer, and with a look of desperation, you're pounding on the door.  "Please!  They're coming!"

"I'm sorry," the voice quietly responds.

"No!  Let me in!  Please?  Hello?  Is anyone still there?  Can you hear me?"  But there is only silence.

Dead silence.

And then... crash!

Your head jerks around.  What was that?

After a few, hyperventilating moments, you tip-toe out from the back room.  

You step slowly into the main room of the cafe.  "H- hello?" 

The front window of the cafe has been smashed in.  There's glass everywhere.  

You look around the room.  You feel terrified, and so alone.  You see nothing.  A slow pan over the room... and then you suddenly swivel back to a spot you had already looked past, and suddenly you see it.

A little blue furry creature.  It's less than 2 feet tall.

You gasp, and it responds to the sound with curious little eyes.

"Oh..." you say, "You're... kind of cute, actually."

*As far from the little creature as you can get, you kind of slide your back against the wall and walk sideways towards the exit.  

>You're just about to pass in front of it.  Wincing, you turn away from it, but your eyes linger just long enough to see a different side of the little furry thing.  It opens its mouth to reveal lots of sharp-looking fangs and hisses at you.

That does it.  You shriek and run.  Now it's chasing after you.  Fortunately, you can move a lot faster than it can.

You trip over the leg of a chair, and fall.  Now it's gaining on you.  It's just about to catch up to, with all those teeth.  It's looking pretty menacing.   Is this the end?

A voice suddenly comes in through the broken window.  "WAIT!"  It's Justine!

The voice continues.  "Those are bamsters.  Nothing to be afraid of.  They just want a little attention, and affection.  Just pat it on the head."

"What?!" you call back.

"Just do it!  You'll never make it out otherwise!"

"Uh... um, okay...." you reply, nervously.

You turn around, and after a lot of trepidation and hesitation, *give the cute little thing a pat on the head.  >Immediately, it transforms from this aggressive, blue furry creature into a pink, mellow little guy.  Now he seems really friendly.  He snuggles up to your leg, and instinctively, you pick him up.  He immediately starts nuzzling and purring.  Your experience points go up from zero to two points.  You eventually let the little one go, and he scampers off.

You walk through the door out onto the street. "Justine?" you call, scanning the area for your suddenly very mysterious friend.  All around you, the shops of the city of Endover have closed.  What had been a bustling metropolis is now a ghost town.  There's no sign of any human anywhere.  The monster siren is still echoing through the street, hauntingly.

You look around.  Instead of any sign of Justine, you see that you are surrounded by 8 blue bamsters.  

"Uh oh."

*One by one, you make your way around this area, patting each bamster on the head, before it has a chance to snap one of your fingers off.  One by one, they all turn pink.  As they turn pink, they become friendly, relaxed, seemingly a little sleepy and dreamy.  One of them stumbles over and bonks his head on the sidewalk and then drifts off to sleep.  They're so cute when they're like this!  For each of the bamsters you get 2 experience points.  Your total is now 18.

The voice again: "This way!"  

You follow, up the street a bit, and are surrounded by more bamsters.  You can see some people in one of the storefronts, boarding up their windows from within.  If you approach the window, you shout, "Hey, can you let me in?  Please?"  They just shake their heads in mute horror and cover the last transparent part with a big wooden board.  You shout "Ugh!" in frustration, but you can understand their fear.  A sign above the window reads "BODY MODIFICATIONS." 

Okay, there are about 12 bamsters here.  One of them looks a little different.

You go around and pat each of the normal bamsters on the head.

The voice comes again.  "You're doing great."

"Justine?  Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me.  You see that one, in the corner?  It's raging a little harder.  You're going to have to stroke it on its head a few times.  Go ahead, don't be afraid.  You can do it."

You nervously walk up to the bamster in the corner.  It's a little bit larger than the others, and it's baring its teeth and growling in a fairly intense way.  Nervously, you pat it on the head, but this has no effect.

[Hold down the "pat" button to stroke.]  You stroke its noggin.  For a moment it seems to respond to this, but then it goes back to its aggressive stance.  You stroke it three more times, and it suddenly relaxes and changes color to pink, shrinking down to normal size.  Victory!  Your experience points go up by 2 for each of the normal bamsters, and 3 for the bigger one.  You've levelled up!  You are now level 2.

>You walk further down the street.  And you see her!

"Justine!"  You run up to her and give her a big hug.  "Is it true?  I never knew you were a Soother!"

"Yeah," she mutters in a deep husky voice, all business, not looking at you, peering around the periphery, scanning for hostiles, as she pulls a pair of big mirrored aviator sunglasses out of her back pocket and puts them on with one hand.  "That's right."

"You're a hero!" you gush.

"Just doing my job."

"What's going on here," you ask.  "There haven't been monster attacks for more than 50 years."

"Yes, there have been," says Justine. "They've been happening more and more frequently, but the government covers it all up.  There's a condition, which spreads around.  We don't know what causes it.  We call it Enragement.  All kinds of creatures can become enraged.  Even humans are susceptible.  That's where we come in: the Soother Corps."  She flashes her badge again.  You notice an "SC" tattoo on her left shoulder with a symbol that matches her badge.  "We do whatever it takes.  Watch out!  Grobons!"

The two of you duck behind a dumpster.  Peeking through, you can large, frog-like creatures - just under 4 feet tall, and almost as wide.  They're marching back and forth, almost like soldiers, but much more chaotically.  One of them suddenly crashes its body into a brick wall, smashing a big hole in it!

"You see?" says Justine.  "They're very dangerous.  We have no time to lose.  You take the one on the left, and I'll take the one on the right.  Go!"

She pushes you out, and the grobons see both of you and come hopping toward you.

"What?" you stammer, bewildered and somewhat afraid.

*Fumbling forward, you attempt to pat the grobon nearest you on the head.

>"This isn't working!" you shriek.

"No, not like that, like this!" shouts Justine, and kisses her grobon right on the mouth.

"What are you DOING?!" you shout.

"It's the only way," replies Justine.  "Haven't you ever heard of the Princess and the Frog?  It's the same idea!"

Sure enough, the grobon in front of her reacts to her kiss, its cheeks turning bright red, and slowly it transforms into a small, meek humanoid form, but with pointy ears, like an elf. 

The ex-grobon sighs and seems to faint in front of her, a wan smile curling on the corners of his lips.

*Now it's your turn.  "Well?  Go ahead.  Hurry up!" taunts Justine.  A little nervously, you sidle up to your grobon.  >"Well, here goes nothing," you mutter, and you grab the thing by both sides of its head, close your eyes, and plant a big smacker on its lips.  You're just about to be disgusted, but then you open your eyes and see a gorgeous man in front of you, with pointy ears just like the one that Justine kissed.  

He has a very suggestive smirk as he looks deeply into your eyes.  "Thanks," he says, and he holds a little bag out to you.  Then he passes out, and the bag falls to the ground, gold coins pouring out onto the pavement.

"Grab that," shouts Justine.  

"But it's not mine," you reply.  

"The rules of the Corps.  When you're on a rage hunt, anything a monster drops is yours to keep.  It's the law - look it up.  That's how the Corps makes its money.  How do you think our organization is so well-funded?"

*You grab the bag and walk a little further with Justine.  Your gold goes up by 10.  Soon you are once again surrounded by monsters - a mixture of bamsters and grobons.  You and Justine go around, patting, stroking, and kissing them.  For a normal bamster, you get 2 experience points, for an especially raging bamster, 3, and for a grobon, 5.  By the time you have completed this area, you have gone up a level again - level 3.

>"Justine," you begin, "I had no idea that this was what being a Soother was like.  You're going around kissing monsters?"

"Oh, we do a lot more than kissing," says Justine.  She strides ahead of you, towards another area, full of bamsters and grobons.  You run to catch up.

*After the two of you transform them all to benign cuties, together, you walk on.  Up ahead of you, you see Therese!  "Therese!" you shout, joyfully, relieved to see that she's safe.  

"What are you doing out here?" Therese looks very angry. "Why aren't you down in the bunker with the other civilians?"

"Therese..." Justine starts to explain, in a conciliating tone.

"You!" Therese flashes, furious.  "What have you done?  You're supposed to be keeping her safe!"

"What about you?" you demand from Therese.  "Why didn't you come with me to the bunker?"

Therese and Justine exchange a meaningful glance.

It starts to dawn on you.  "Don't tell me... you're a soother too!"

"And that's another thing!" shouts Therese at Justine.  "Why did you blow our cover?"

"It had to be done," says Justine, in a cold, emotionless tone.  "It was an emergency.  I made a decision." 

Just then, you're surrounded by monsters.  "Uh oh, we've got company," says Therese.  And then, the anger returning to her voice, "Don't think for even a minute that this conversation is over."

*The three of you transform all the monsters into their harmless forms. 

Triumphant, you collect more gold and experience points.  >Afterwards, Therese says, "Finally.  Now, can we please get this civilian to safety?"  

You balk at this.  "What the heck?  'This civilian?'  Therese, you're acting like you don't know me!  We've been friends for years!"  You pause a moment, confusion and dismay spreading across your face.  "...haven't we?"

There's a loud sound up ahead, and Therese runs towards it, shouting, "Get down!  Hide yourself!"

You turn to Justine.  "Where's she going?"

"That's Therese," says Justine, admiringly.  "She'll always head straight to the area of greatest danger, without a single thought for her own safety."

*Again you are surrounded by monsters, and must transform them.

>Afterwards, you walk on with Justine.  You turn to her and say, "Justine! I can't believe that you and Therese are soothers.  You know, back when I was a kid, I always dreamed about being a soother.  It was my little fantasy.  Not that I really understood what it meant.  But I always looked up to them, and I saw the way everyone respected them and saw them as heroes.... and I was always so curious what happened in the restricted soother areas, like the soother bars.... I'm sorry to go on and on like this.  I just... I can't believe that my friend is a real live soother and I never knew!"

Justine seems to be considering something as you speak.

*After a few more areas, patting, stroking, kissing, >you sense something coming up behind you.  It's just the little bamster from the coffee shop.  As you look at him, he scampers over and jumps up into your arms.  Justine turns very seriously and says, "What's that?"

"Oh, it's just the little bamster from the coffee shop.  He must have followed us all the way here.  Isn't he adorable?"

"Adorable?  You're talking about a monster.  Aren't you afraid?"

"You know," you answer, "I'm surprised to hear myself saying this but... I'm not afraid.  I thought I would be terrified by all these monsters, but to tell the truth, they're kind of cute looking.  And nice.  Aren't you, little Pooky-Wooky?"  You scratch him under the chin, and he preens, happily.

*Together, you and Justine confront another area of bamsters and grobons - and a new kind of monster.

"They're called kitzen," Justine explains.  They look something like house cats, but the size of tigers.  "Try messaging them."  You give it a shot, going behind them, jumping on top, and rubbing their large backs.  Eventually they turn into something like normal sized house cats.

Once you've transformed them all, >you ask Justine: "Earlier you said you do a lot more than kissing.  What did you mean?"

"We in the Corps will do whatever it takes when monsters are attacking.  We call it Release.  Every kind of monster requires something a little different to Release it from the Rage.  For some monsters, the Release is really simple: for bamsters, the Release is a pat on the head, for grobons, a kiss, and for kitzen, a message.  For some, it's a lot more... complicated.  We've been studying it for a long time, but there are some monsters out there that... we don't even know their Release."

*You transform another group of monsters, kissing, stroking, massaging.  >Then Justine catches up to Therese.  

"Watch out!" she says, running out, breathless.  "A little bit ahead is a big grobon, nothing to mess with.  It - hey, what's she still doing here?"  Therese looks at you.  "JustINE?  You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking...."

Justine shrugs and smiles.

Just then, you come up to the boss of this area: a huge grobon.  Pooky-wooky jumps out of your arms and scampers off to safety.  "Be careful," warns Justine, "That grobon looks like he's raging really hard."

*The raging grobon has a huge tongue, just a frog, which he shoots out in every direction.  As soon as you come near him, his tongue flies out and knocks you over.  You get up and dust yourself off, only to see the grobon shoot his tongue out again, this time wrapping itself around Justine's leg.  Soon he's dragging her towards himself.  Oh no!  Is he going to... eat her?

"HEEELLLP!" Justine screams.  

You have to do something!  You run up and try kissing him, a little peck on the cheek. It's enough for him to let go of Justine - who he grabs with his arms and puts behind him - but it's not enough to transform him back into his Released form.  

You know what you have to do.  Steeling up your courage, you grab ahold of him and give him a huge French kiss, putting your tongue into his mouth.  You sense something - a deep emotion you weren't expecting.  You also notice a certain growing lump in his pants.  There's a flash of light, a rainbow swirl of firework-like magical explosions, and sure enough, >he turns back into an Elfin King.  

"Thank you so much for releasing me. How can I ever repay you?"

"No need," you reply.

"Perhaps so," says the Elfin King, "But I am forever in your debt.  Here is a small token of my gratitude." He gives you a 100 gold coins, and you have gained enough experience points to go up another level.

"That's it, my mind's made up," says Justine.

"What do you mean?" you ask.

"Follow me," she says, her eyes narrowing and her finger beckoning.

You amiably follow her down a back alleyway, and onto a new street.

"Justine? Wh-where are you taking me, exactly?"

"You'll see," she says, slyly.

And then, with a sudden turn, she marches you straight through the front doors of the Headquarters of the Soother Corps.

"Listen up, everyone!" she shouts.  "I hereby nominate [YOUR NAME] as our newest Soother."