V and the Beast

V was driving home from the Badlands, having won another race in his climb to the top of the underground racing scene. Life as a mercenary was one full of danger, adventure, and fun, but most importantly, money. To pay for upcoming gigs requiring heavy guns and ammo, he'd take side jobs like helping the little folk out, selling off rare items, or engaging in gambling or races like the outback derby he'd just finished. Out in the Badlands of Night City, there was always something to be done when profits needed to be raked in.

Suddenly, he received a text from Panam, who was calling for V to stop by her encampment immediately for urgent matters. Panam was part of a pack of nomads known as the Aldecaldos, tech-savvy campers who made their money scavenging and taking up manual farm labor. The Aldecados were a peaceful group of nomads who chose to abandon city life and sustain themselves off the fruits of the land. When the mercenary arrived, Panam notified him that her camp was being attacked by an unknown source at night, destroying their vehicles and supplies. The village elders called this beast "Orochi," named after a folktale of old. The Aldecados had been unable to defend themselves against this beast due to their weaker firearms. If this kept up, the Aldecados would be forced to relocate their encampment since they couldn't fend off this mysterious monster that would starve them in the dry sands of the Badlands.

Realizing that the beast never went after people, but merely supplies and tech, V laid out a trap for Orochi the next night. V was an experienced bounty hunter, and using his skill set to capture and sometimes incapacitate dangerous targets was nothing new in his day to day life. Prepping fuel canisters and a container filled with ammunitions, he set a ring of eight fuel canisters surrounding the ammunition meant to bait the monster out. His prey was most likely human since no creature would have any sort of need for weapon supplies, but the possibility of a rogue droid couldn't be ruled out. As night fell, V set up behind an outcrop waiting for the monster to arrive. The monster did not strike on the same schedule, so his only option was to wait out and pray he would be awake when the time came.

Suddenly, he heard thumping noises in the distance, and activated his scanner. In the center of the ring was not a monster, but a cyber-psycho piloting a mini-mech unit hunting for ammo and fuel to keep going. Cyber-psychos were an ever-increasing phenomenon in Night City, as there was a small chance for anyone with cybernetic implants to completely lose their mind down the road. While everyone was aware of this chance, the problem was so minute that most continued to operate their implants with no worries. Taking aim at one of the fuel canisters, V cocked his tech pistol and fired, blowing the mech to pieces and finishing off the cyber-psycho.

Waking Panam and the rest of the camp the next day, he informed them they would be safe from raids for now, much to the delight of Panam, winning V more of her affection and trust, and further boosting his reputation as a legend amongst mercs.

Author's Notes: Using the plot of the Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi, I took elements of the story and placed it in the setting of Cyberpunk 2077, taking place in the Badlands of Night City rather than Japan. The original story follows Susanoo, the son of a great god, who stumbles across villagers who lose their daughter every year to a hungry beast. To save the villagers, Susanoo asks for the current princess's hand in marriage, and goes off to set a trap for Orochi before killing him. I kept Orochi's name the same but replaced the monster with a more appropriate adversary in the world of Cyberpunk. Susanoo was replaced with V, being a local hero rather than renowned legend. The original plot involved heroes and deities, but within the world of Cyberpunk, I replaced both protagonist and antagonist with more feasible characters that would be common within the environment of Night City. The damsel in distress was replaced by a friend of V's in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, who happened to live in the wastelands where the monster Orochi would wait. When Susanoo killed Orochi, he baited him out with barrels of sake that ended up putting the monster to sleep so that he could slay him quickly. I changed this in my version by having V bait the monster out with ammunition and fuel that would keep the mech unit operational, and had the monster killed with an explosion, but carrying the same amount of effort as Susanoo. One swing of his blade to finish off the beast, and one perfect shot from V's gun to take down the terror.

Bibliography: The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi, from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney. Web source.