Mega Pleat

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Mega Pleat by OrigamiLuke100

Level One: Origami Bomb Man

By Doug Corlett

I have had the puppet of Mega Pleat for a while now, and I have never had to spend any time using it. That weird kid, Linkedin (I think that’s how you spell the name…), gave it to me after the whole… Super Smash Bros stuff. Like, the first one. Not the most recent one that happened.

I know, I know, it’s weird that I haven’t used it. But, to tell you the truth, I feel really guilty even having it on my person. To be honest, I had gotten it through lies.

Lies that I didn’t want caught up with me.

I’m starting to think, though, that it’s happening. Much to my ire, things are catching up with me, and I don’t know why. I’m so scared… I’m so mad.

There was a bomb threat in Rapids Middle. Mainly toilet bombs. I knew just who it was that was doing it. I haven’t heard from him in a long, long time.

A large, annoying buffoon by the name of Barry. I worked with him before, and I don’t quite like him.

Anyways, I waited in the bathroom, on a gross, green toilet. I sat on edge, waiting for the boom! That rang through my ears.

Barry was at it again, and he just dealt massive damage to the toilet next to me. I ran out, and I came face to face with the toilet bomber, holding an orange and red puppet, who held a bomb in his hand. 

“It is I! The Origami Bomb Man! And I am so, very, very, happy to get you out and about, Doug.” Barry had… changed. He had a orange mohawk, and he grinned when I just froze, the smoke filling the bathroom, “You like the cut?”

“No.”

“Come on, Doug! Be nice—”

AND THEN I STARTED PUNCHING AND KICKING HIM!!!

Just something came over me, the rage, I don’t know if it was the bomb going off, the shellshock, but with Mega Pleat on my finger, I realized the power I had. I was different. I was important, and so — I started punching and kicking him. 

He was taken out. I stood over him, and he looked up at me, breathing heavily before succumbing to his injuries.

“Heya, kid. You good?” I turned around, coming face-to-face with a kid in a blue jacket, holding a puppet of a skeleton in the same blue jacket.

“What?”

“You good? There’s smoke coming through here, and that kid… is… passed out.”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay, well I’m Steven, and this is Origami Sans. If you… If you need me, like, just, come around, y’know?”

“Thanks.” I liked that, because of the puppet on my finger, no one questioned what I am doing, what I was, I was a hero. That was that. I knelt down, and picked up the firecrackers that Barry was using. The SROs and firefighters will find him. I make my swift escape.

Level Two: Top Pen

By Doug Corlett

Cooling off from yesterdays bombing (most of the kids were sent home anyways), I laid on my couch, home alone. I had my dog, Rush (named after the Mega Man dog), laying next to me. He was a lazy, old boy. But whenever danger approached, the hound-dog would perk up, mad and ruthless. 

He perked up.

His ears raised, and a low growl building within him, he approached the front door. I walked over to the door as well, and looked through the peep-hole.

I hesitated, seeing the familiar face. I was getting tired of all the familiar faces coming back into my life. It’s been a year. One stinking year since I last saw these people. And now they come to my house, they blow up toilets, and they’re back on their grindset. 

I stared at him.

“Hey, Doug, are you in there?”

Rush continued growling.

“Doug, I can hear the shuffling of your feet, and Rush growling his socks off. I know you’re in there.”

I said nothing, I reached for a firecracker near me, one from Origami Bomb Man’s own pocket.

“Doug. You’re looking at me through the eyehole. Check out my puppet, you know, because you’re a big hero now?” He held it up to me. It was an origami top, with a stupid smile on it, “It’s not a puppet, exactly.”

Still no answer from me. He breathes heavily, “Did you hear about Barry?” Tyler, the Top Pen, said, “He blew up a toilet. Straight up knocked him out. He’s expelled, probably.”

Doesn’t know the full story, I guess. I open the door.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“Because, well, we’re kids. At Rapids Middle. We’re supposed to fight. You have a hero puppet, I made a villain puppet. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to go, Primid number 28?”

Hearing my old origami name, my old self ring through my ears angered me. I wasn’t friends with Tyler. I didn’t quite like him, but this made me unreasonably upset.

I step to the side, Rush growling louder, and then he breaks into a bark. Tyler stands still, and then Rush lunges at him, attacking him. Top Pen crawls away, pushing the old dog off of him, not without some scars.

“Are you crazy?!” He yelled, “It’s thumb wrestling. Thumb Wrestling. That’s how it’s supposed to work! That’s what we do! Not sick a dog on a kid!”

I hold out my hand, “I won the fight. Give me your special ability.”

“What!?”

“Your ability. Hand it over. I took the bombs from Origami Bomb Man. I’m assuming that these are just levels you all are making me play in some sick game. Give it to me.”

“You were a bad guy. Just like me. Just like all of us. What makes you so different?”

“I’m Mega Pleat.” I said.

“That’s not an answer!”

“Give me your special ability, or I’m going to take it from you.”

“You’re the villain here!” He yelled, “I just wanted to talk!”

“With a Top Man origami Top? From Mega Man 3? You think I’m some fool?”

He threw down a Beyblade Top. I picked it up as he walked away, “One day, you’re going to realize you’re just a bad guy, dressing up in blue, enacting ‘justice’ as the judge, jury, and executioner. You’re not Mega Pleat. You’re… Freaking, Roborigami Cop.”

I ushered Rush back into the house, and I closed the door, leaving Tyler, the scratched up loser from my past at my doorstep.

I went back and played Mega Man 2 on my dad’s old NES, and didn’t think about any of this.

Level Three: Knight Fold

By Doug Corlett

Night swiftly approached, and I tossed and turned in my bed, haunted by dreams.

I am an eighth grader. I am about to enter the big leagues. I’m living the life I want to live, being who I want to be.

I’m Mega Pleat.

And because I’m Mega Pleat, something is calling my name. Conflict is that thing.

Like a droid, I walk out of bed, down the stairs, and I slip on my shoes. I walk outside, and I start lurking the streets, looking for stragglers in the Cul-De-Sac.

My neighbor used to be my best friend. He was Primid number 27. We joined at the same time, just for the fun of it. To be counter cultural. 

Turns out, he was lurking in the streets as well. Kyle wears a knight’s helmet, and carries a foam mace. He locks eyes with me, and I look at him.

Slowly, he starts to walk towards me, and I stand still. It shows dominance. Make him come to me. Show that I am not scared.

He reaches me, and we stare.

“You hurt Tyler and Barry.” He said.

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Those were our friends, man.”

“One blew up a toilet, the other one came to my house for no reason.”

“I don’t know why… I don’t know why you’re this way.”

I laughed at Kyle. He didn’t get it.

“You don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“You’re still playing for the wrong team.” I said, “I learned I was on the wrong team when given this puppet.”

“You didn’t need to take it. Heck, there’s not many kids at this school that use puppets! We have Pokemon, yeah. Undertale, Zelda, Donkey Kong, but that’s… It doesn’t feel like it’s the majority.”

“You’re right, we’re not the majority. Yet we’re squabbling, fighting for scraps of heroes and villains, and when you could’ve been Mega Pleat X, Mega Pleat Zero, Mega Pleat ZX… You chose to be the Knight Fold. Knight Man. A villain.”

He sighs, “I’m worried about you.” He says, “I’m worried that my best friend has become something he’s not.”

“And I’m disappointed to find out that my best friend is an enemy.”

He takes off the helmet, and drops the mace, “I’m not playing this game.” He said, “We’re going to go into high school soon. You shouldn’t be playing this either.”

With that, he walked away. And I was so mad. I was so mad that I didn’t get to kick him down. I was stunned, watching him go back into his house. I picked up my earnings, and I completed the level, and I continued to walk towards SpeedWay.

Level Four: Cut Man

By Doug Corlett

Pause for a moment.

Breathe.

You’re in a headspace now that is that of revenge. Unnecessary going from point A to point B, while thinking about a past that is no longer there. A past that fails to exist.

Cut it up. Cut it up. Cut it up. Destroy it. Destroy it all. You are Mega Pleat. You weren’t a villain. You were never a bad guy.

At the speedway, in the middle of the empty parking lot, I see him, and I don’t want to. It’s late at night, he has no reason to be out. I don’t even want to name him, but he was Primid number 29. Now, I think he is Cut Man. He holds scissors in both his hands, and he stares at me.

“The play of the game is that if we’re able to destroy your puppet, you quit doing this.” He says.

“I never agreed to said game.”

“When did this start?” He said, “Doug, was it this morning? With the toilet bomb?”

“I’ve been researching all of your movements after I left the Subcrease Army. I knew you all were plotting something against me.”

“Doug, how many people have said you’re not a hero?”

“Enough.”

“What does that mean to you?”

“That I am in the right. You’re all villains. You have the puppets of them.” 

“We’re not villains, Doug. We weren’t planning this at all. Stanley told us that he was—”

“Do not mention him.” I grumbled, “Don’t say his name.”

“He was worried about you. Yeah, Barry might’ve gone too far—” I took out the firecracker and lit it. I lobbed it towards him, and he ran away from it as it exploded, leaving a dent in the concrete, the explosion loud in our ears, and there it was… that ringing again. That same, familiar ringing.

Something snapped. It keeps snapping, and eventually I know it’ll break. I ran towards the Cut Man, and I tackled him. He was caught off-guard by the explosion, and even more off guard when I started hitting him with the mace. He dodged, left and right, until I thunked him in the head, sitting on top of him. He started to cry. 

“I don’t know you, man.” He said, “You’re not Mega Man.”

“I’m Mega Pleat.”

“You’re a monster…” 

I tore the scissors from his hands and pocketed them. I then walked into the speedway, bought a taquito, ate it, and made my way back home. I got the satisfaction of conquest, I was satisfied. I went to sleep, fine.

Stanley needs to learn to keep his freaking distance. Tomorrow will be different.

Level Five: Woodigami Manigami

By Doug Corlett

I walk into school and I pass by the School District Attorney, who is standing outside of the bathroom that Barry had blew up. He saw me pick up pace and grabbed me real quick.

“Do you know what happened here, son?” He asked.

I looked into the bathroom, at the chunks of green porcelain strewn out across the ground.

“Yeah. This kid with an orange mohawk, named Barry, blew it up.”

“Well, some kids say that you were there too.”

“I was. I stopped him.”

“After it happened?”

“Yes.”

He looked suspiciously at me, and then he sighed, “You can go.” He grumbled. I quickly walked away from the scene, trying to avoid eye contact.

Woodigami Manigami, Walter, was the first person I met when I had joined the Subcrease Army. He was headstrong, hard-as-wood, and impossible to break. He didn’t deserve to be a Primid. He should’ve been Petey Piranha, or someone else entirely. He saw me in the hall, and I started to approach him, and I saw something within him that I had never seen before: fear.

Fear of me. 

Since yesterday, I’ve wanted that. I craved that fear from my old friends, now enemies. This puppet was supposed to be that tool for that. It calls my name now, tells me ‘Doug, you’re the message these villains need to hear.’ But then, seeing Walter, the strongest kid I know (besides one other…) take out the plank of wood he was going to use, and drop it, and run away… I suddenly felt weird. The hallway stared at me, and I at them.

I picked up the plank.

Level complete.

Level Six: Origami Hard Man

By Doug Corlett

This was it.

I haven’t seen Stanley in a while, and so, I figured that this was it. Origami Hard Man, Harold. He was the toughest one, the strongest, probably the smartest too, and he always wore football pads. 

It was annoying, the football pads — made him stink. I don’t like smells.

I think the smell of the smoke after the explosion activated within me this anger, this rage. I’ve been living off it for a day now. 

It’s recess. He doesn’t expect me to approach him on the football field, to tap him on the shoulder, and then…

I punch Harold in the face.

I feel like my bones crack as Harold stares at me, totally unmoved.

“Why’d you do that, bro?” He asked. He doesn’t even hit me back.

I take out the plank from Woodigami Manigami, and I whack him with that too. His face is red now, and a crowd is surrounding me.

“Hit me.” I said, “Hit me!!!”

“I’m not going to.” He said.

I fell to my knees, “I need you to hit me.” 

“For what?”

“For the puppetry.”

“You just hit me with a plank of wood.” He said. I jam the top into his foot, and he steps back as I stare at him.

“Come on, fight back!”

“Woah… That Doug kid has gone crazy…” Some girl said.

“Yeah…” Another mentioned, “He’s weird.” And their voices continued to pile on me as the circle came closer and closer. Harold faded out.

Then… He stepped in.

Level Seven: Doctor Wiley

By Doug Corlett

He knelt down in front of me, and looked me in the eyes, and suddenly… I was back in the Subcrease Army.

I was back in a time when I was free, free to be bad, free to do good, and I wasn’t thrown around with obligations of good versus evil… I just gotta have fun, and I got to have fun with Kyle, and Stanley. Stanley was a nerd, much like me, and he loved Mario. He loved Mario so much, in fact, that we constantly bickered about which was better: Mario, or Mega Man. Sometimes, I was on the side of Mega Man, other days, it was Mario. It depended on the generation, on what game we were talking about, and more.

But Stanley was smart. He was smart, and kind, and it’s why when we were given these puppets by Linkin (I got the name right), I was confused when he threw his away. We were given these, by the Origami Link. The hero that had just helped everyone in the Smash Crease. He said that it was just a stupid game, and it meant nothing, and that we were getting older, and it was time to move on.

I didn’t get it. I held onto this puppet for a year now, and when it was my turn to be the hero, suddenly everyone was mad at me. I was just doing what everyone else was doing.

They were mad.

But Stanley… Stanley wasn’t. He was understanding. In his shirt pocket was an Origami Doctor Wiley… A villain.

But he wasn’t a villain. 

“Stop doing this, man.” He said to me.

I started crying, and Stanley looked at everyone around us, “Y’all should go away.” He said. They all left, and then… Kyle, Harold, Walter, Tyler, and Charlie (Cut Man) all came over, and they sat down with me, their hands on my back.

“I just wanted to be a hero.” I said.

“We know.”

“And you guys were my enemies…”

“We were friends that were worried about you, but you beat our crap in.” Harold grumbled, “That’s not what friends do. We haven’t seen you in so long.”

“But the Subcrease Army—”

“Forget about that. We’re a year out from that. We’re better people. We’re good people.” Stanley told me.

“How?”

“People change, Doug.” Charlie mentioned, “People get older, they get tired of their old ways, and they seek a change.”

“I… I want to still be the Mega Pleat, though.”

“You can… But, you need to not hit people like you have been. You need to take chill pills before this. You need to not lose sight of what’s good. Your friends care about you, and they want what’s best for you.”

“So…?”

“No more punching and kicking.” Kyle said, “And… I’d like my mace and helmet back.”

I laughed, and then I sighed.

I got this puppet through lies, lies that Linkin Rhoades did not know about. He didn’t know I was an ex-member of the Subcrease Army, and he didn’t know that I didn’t want this change. I used this puppet as a lie. A lie to hurt those that I thought were bad. That I thought were pure evil beings, unable to be good. I could drop the puppet. I could finish my eighth grade year without the stress of the heroics. Yet, I feel something coming. I feel as though danger is soon. It’s why I have the puppet now.

It’s why I am Mega Pleat. Not to punch, not to kick. But to do good. Actual, serious good.

The End
Click Here to Read “OriMario 2: The Tragedy of Joe Martinet.”

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