Path of the Ming-Cho

Path of the Ming-Cho is a pending short story in the Legacy volume of The Gerosha Chronicles, set in the Cataclysmic Gerosha timeline continuity in Dozerfleet Literature. Initially planned as a free-for-view comic, it is based on the canceled Despair Gerosha DSHW machinomic to of the same name. Originally envisioned as an interquel to Ciem 2 and Ciem 3, it has been bounced around until it became a part of the fourth volume in the Earth-G7 timeline. The story intends to contain illustrations made with AI, being the first AI-illustrated book in the history of Dozerfleet.

Synopsis
Rob Marrington and his sister Hannah must team up with SCALLOP agent Jake Asawa, a Japanese-American who is a fan of the work of Imaki Izuki, to rid the world of a dangerous radioactive device known as the Ming-Cho. The story is set chronologically around the same time as Sodality: Determination.

Plot
While the Sodality of Gerosha and Task Force Black Rat join forces to destroy the Ming-Yo and defeat Captain Aardwulf, the sister experiment from China, dubbed the "Ming-Cho," remains an unaccounted-for missing nin-chyo-based experiment. The Hebbleskins claiming both led to Task Force Black Rat being deployed. However, they are unable to locate the Ming-Cho. With Tin Dragon and Teal Hog dead, the rest are reassigned to Alaska to guard the McLaine Science Center. Other, less ethical teams of MSS are deployed in search of the Ming-Cho, feeling it is now their responsibility to reclaim it for the Chinese government.

However, a SCALLOP agent named Betty Harmin steals it from the Hebbleskins. Discovering that a mob boss named Luigi Montana is also looking for it, she hides the Ming-Cho in the back yard of one Charlie Raymond, unaware that it is faulty, and will likely leak radiation into the environment. Betty finds Luigi's men continue to give her chase, and then distracts them. They eventually gun her down, but are unable to recover the Ming-Cho from her. They begin a search for the Ming-Cho, but the search proves fruitless. However, Jake Asawa, a Japanese-born SCALLOP agent who once met and admired the work of Imaki Izuki, took notice of Luigi's gang searching the area. Given the clues she gave about the back yard being "run-down, and full of tires" over her comms to Jake before dying, Jake begins reconnaissance of the neighborhoods in Conroe, TX.

Meanwhile, Rob Marrington discovers that his hotel's chain was bought out, and that he's been laid off from work. He is slightly disheartened, since he has to take care of both himself and his special needs sister Hannah, who herself sometimes gets involved with charity. Among the elderly that Hannah frequently visits is none other than Charlie.

Charlie call Hannah one evening, complaining about feeling really sick - and that his dog Taquito is breathing heavily. When Hannah arrives at his house with Rob, Rob calls his paramedic fiancee Ann Kim, to see if she can figure out what's wrong. Ann, conveniently owning a Geiger counter, considers using it. Its readings register very high when nearing the house. Charlie reveals that Taquito found a glowing blue rock inside a tire near the house.

Jake, having bugged some homes in the area, intercepts that Charlie's home is the key location. He arrives within minutes, and introduces himself - urging them that the Ming-Cho's discovery must be kept quiet. Hannah reveals to Rob that she and Jake have a history together, during their time in high school, when they visited Japan for a few months. Jake quickly seals the Ming-Cho to keep it from leaking, and explains to the others what it is.

Charlie is taken to a hospital with Ann overseeing his recovery. Taquito is declared dead, and is set up for burial. However, Jake insists the Ming-Cho needs to be sent to a facility in Nevada where it can be destroyed. This requires him to take Rob and Hannah with him on a perilous road trip. They need to hide the fact that they're doing official SCALLOP business in trying to have the Ming-Cho destroyed, lest other interested parties do with it what Capp Aard almost did with the Ming-Yo. While Jake and Hannah reconcile their old relationship, Rob and Ann begin talking about their wedding plans over the phone. The whole time, the trio of adventurers must evade numerous sources of danger, and destroy the Ming-Cho before their enemies reclaim it. To avoid another major confrontation, and other political drama, the trio must avoid letting the rest of SCALLOP - or the Sodality - get involved. This would draw too much attention. This latest threat to world safety needed to be addressed by ordinary, mundane heroes.

Characters

 * Marrington family
 * Rob Marrington
 * Hannah Marrington
 * Lewis Marrington
 * Cassie Marrington


 * Raymond family
 * Charlie Raymond
 * Belle Raymond
 * Taquito Raymond


 * Security-Centric Alliance Lending and Learning of Phaelites
 * Betty Harmin
 * Jake Asawa


 * 19th-century merchants
 * Min Lin
 * Zhoo Lin


 * Task Force Black Rat
 * Shing Xú / Black Rat
 * Mingmei Chéng / Stung Hornet
 * Miriam Flippo / Sniperbadger
 * Steve McLaine / Guan


 * Zize Choi / Plum Bixie


 * Ann Kim


 * Lancia Crime Family
 * Luigi Montana


 * Richard Sartor


 * Pam Alino

Locations

 * Conroe, Texas
 * Mercury, Nevada

Development
In late April and early May of 2006, the Dozerfleet founder decided to branch off with what could be done with both the Gerosha format and with DSHW. New standards needed to be formalized. Coming up with the styles for Path became an exercise in teaching himself CSS, since that was not taught in school. Inspired by a TV-edited release of Novocaine, the Dozerfleet founder took a bit of inspiration from the life of a former high school classmate, and some other women he knew. Their mix-and-matched life story was then applied to a fictional Hannah Marrington, whose personality was then peppered with traces of the Susan character played by Helena Bonham Carter in Novocaine.

That movie's color schemes and visuals went on to further inspire the aesthetic sought for Path. Rob was created as a commentary on the Dozerfleet founder's own frustrations at the time with inability to find a job. It seemed to make sense to have the reason for Rob's being laid off be that his position was made obsolete due to "a business politics shuffle." Advances in the Dozerfleet founder's place of work at the time in terms of technology rendered his position nigh-obsolete.

Jake Asawa (originally named "Inuki") was added to the story for the sake of variety, and also as a way to bridge Imaki Izuki into the mythology to cement a secondary bond between Path and Ciem 2. Charlie Raymond was added largely so that he could add the "redneck flavoring" that was seen in Novocaine character Harlan, as portrayed by Elias Koteas. Ann Kim was added to the story as a tribute to Younhee Kim, an exchange student at Michigan State that the Dozerfleet founder came to know through the WELS Campus Ministry building located there. Another version of Younhee appeared in Lo-Mun's Cooking Adventure, though that version was intended for comedy purposes.

As Path was being planned out, the Despair Gerosha version of Ciem was also being made. Production was slowed down on both, as the Dozerfleet founder prepared to transfer from Lansing Community College to Ferris State University. Around late September and early October of 2006, the decision was made to cancel production on both Despair Gerosha entries. Discontent with how footage was turning out led to a desire to reboot the entire Gerosha franchise. The need for a wiki as well became also readily apparent.

December of 2006 resulted in the Dozerfleet founder getting a laptop: a used 2004 Dell Inspiron 6000. While not the most powerful, it could handle The Sims 2. January of 2007 saw a reboot of Gerosha in the Classic Gerosha continuity, with Ciem taking two years to complete. By the summer of 2009, production for Ciem 2 was well underway. However, health complications in late 2009 resulted in a delay. When The Human Centipede was released, it forced Ciem to drop its subtitle, to avoid public confusion of the two works. Discontent with how centileg physics worked also resulted in an end conclusion that Classic Gerosha itself needed to be rebooted.

In 2010, Comprehensive Gerosha was organized. Ciem was going to be replaced with a book called Ciem: Vigilante Centipede. Path, likewise, was going to be rebooted as a novella rather than a webcomic. Most of its planned continuity from Despair Gerosha remained intact, however, as there was very little about Ciem 2 that was to be changed for Nuclear Crisis. With few changes necessary for that work, almost nothing transferred over that would have had any major impact on Path in either plot or style.

In 2012, as Cataclysmic Gerosha was being envisioned, a lot of timeline revision was needed for the events of Path of the Ming-Cho to still make sense. The timeline was revised to make Rob and Hannah be living in Texas, not Indiana, when the story unfolds. Likewise, Charlie's house is relocated. However, much of Charlie's history with Belle, and details of her time as a cheerleader, remained canon.

The would-be novella's planning stages sought to minimize how many actual serious plot modifications would be made to make it conform to its new timeline. Of all works happening after 2016 in Cataclysmic Gerosha, Path is probably the least altered from its original form. Meanwhile, Pilltar 3 is only possible because of a revised timeline. Other works, like Blood Over Water and Sorbet, took advantage of being set between 2008 and 2009, to minimize how much a Gerosha timeline revision would have impact on their roles.

While Path was later shelved for many years, with consideration of making it a Sims 4 comic, the decision was made on December 31st of 2022 that it would be a short story, with illustrations made with AI apps. This was to cut down on the demands of production for Path, as well as to make more time for the remaining five productions that would follow Corando's "Don't Lose Hope" getting a remake: Blood Over Water, Volkonir 2008, Ciem / Anarteq: Kahoopiliana, Sorbet, and Sniperbadger: Fall of the Critter Resistance. In addition, it freed time for Dozerfleet Studios to pursue potentially lucrative freelance opportunities, as well as to clear the way for completion of sequels to The Gerosha Chronicles, According to an AI; sequels that would give a similar treatment to the Eccentriaverse and the Dromedeverse.