
Out with the old, in with the new as they say, and this ViViD level is no different. Ever progressive and ever mindful, CERES has decided in their war against the evil carbon footprint to give citizens both new and old a lesson in healthy living. To show this, they've created a level all about... recycling, or as close to recycling as a company like CERES can get. (Which isn't very close at all, honestly.)
This, of course, means that when you're dumped in to today's ViViD level, the first thing that will hit you is the stench. It's vile and rancid and the type of stench that makes a person want to give up smelling altogether, and when you finally open your eyes, you'll see why. There's trash everywhere. The buildings are decrepit and crumbling, the cars are broken down and rusted, and overall, it looks like the apocalypse rolled right on through. Which is weird because this is definitely not a post-apocalyptic game. Yet wandering around this pathetic excuse for a ViViD level will just reveal more of the same -- it's a total wasteland.
And if you look up, you will see a billboard.
RECYCLING AND YOU: HOW NOT TO BE A DIRTY WASTE OF SPACE
You'll only have a moment to be offended by the sign before, amongst the piles of trash and rubble, there's another, smaller pile of trash and rubble. The only difference is this one can talk.
 Welcome to The Dumpster Dive, my cool cats and sweet kittens. A brand new ViViD level, created and innovated to you by CERES's very creative and innovative technicians. We're all here to help you learn to Reuse, Reduce and Recycle, givin' you kids some tools to help you lessen your impact on the planet. After all, we're all here together on this great planet of Tellus. Wouldn't want to ruin it, right? Ha ha!
Happy Trash Day to Cerealians one and all!
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PHASE I [ 6 00 ] So, you're here.
You're probably sitting in a pile of trash because, well, everywhere is a pile of trash. You're in a landscape of trashiness and there's no escape. Your only option is to give in to the sweet, sweet pull of the garbage. The buildings are crumbling, the sidewalks are a mess of bottles (but no bottle caps), rubble, and empty chip bags, and you're stuck in this... trash. This garbage. This hellhole.
Wasn't recycling supposed to be clean?
It probably takes a rat skittering over your foot to get you going but like any good game, the protagonist needs to move. If you're going to find out anything in this trash heap, you'll need to explore a bit. See if you can find someone else! Or something else. Maybe someone more experienced with ViViD can help you figure out how to log out. Even if logging out doesn't seem to be working right now. You should be careful too because one wrong step might cause the pile of trash you're standing on give way and send you into the sewers below.
Which means there are rats, there are bugs, the ground is unsteady and... yep. It's starting to rain.
Good luck.
PHASE II [ 8 00 ] And then come the... trash drones.
They zero in on any living thing in this ViViD level -- if you’re moving, if you’re breathing, if you have some sort of a pulse, they’ll be there. And they’ll grab you and take you away. No matter how many you shoot down, more and more and more will come, never stopping until you're swarmed completely by them. They have to get you! You're garbage, you're garbage, you're garbage! You're garbage!
And so, you're snatched up.
Don’t worry, though. After a short flight (wave hello to your fellow drone-napped neighbor!), you'll arrive at three huge trash chutes with three equally huge signs above them. GARBAGE, RECYCLING, and COMPOST hang above the chutes and the drones pause just momentarily before announcing one of these options in a robotic voice. You've been sorted and without any preamble, the drone will dump you in whichever one it decides.
Hopefully you don’t end up in the compost. Gross.
Of course, once you down there, there's plenty to poke around in (or not much if you're still not into the whole trash thing). It's piles and piles and piles of trash as far as the eye can see! Again! If you're especially clever, you may be able to use the trash to build a way out of the chute. The very, very long chute. Maybe there's someone around that can help you? And better do so quick, who knows what CERES has deemed to be "recycling" this time.
PHASE III [ 11 25 ] CERES's standards continue to shine on again, because after some time, those chutes will finally start working. So if you've been separated from a friend through any of this ordeal, don't worry about it. You're all gonna end up in the same place anyway.
Which is the incinerator, of course! (Wait, that’s not how recycling works.)
The ground beneath you shifts, enough to knock over whatever flimsy excuse for an escape plan you have, and suddenly all of the trash, compost or recycling will be dumped down into an underground furnace -- along with everyone stuck there, of course. Bit by bit, everything moves ever closer towards that red hot furnace and it’s clear that everything's going to be dumped straight into the fire and burned. Say your farewells. Make nice with your neighbor. Finalize your will because --
Oh. It stopped.
Looks like it jammed.
It doesn't remain jammed for long because CERES is, if anything, highly efficient. So it starts up again. But then stops again. And then starts again. And then stops again. This may be a glitch in the level, actually.
So, you're still getting ever closer to fiery death, but... slowly. Very slowly. In fact, you could probably walk away from said fiery death faster than you're going towards it. It's like they can't even program a near death experience right!
PHASE IV [ 11 25 ] Maybe you avoided the incinerator. Maybe you ended up in a different part of the level altogether. Maybe you just got lost. Either way, now you’re stuck with the age-old hobby of enthusiasts and the exceptionally desperate alike.
Dumpster diving.
And CERES wouldn't send you down there without an incentive, you know. If you look, it seems like there might be something valuable, something incredibly important and just for you. A shiny item that you’ve always wanted right from home and it’s right there in your grasp, something precious that you could never get in Cerealia. How it came to be there, nestled between an empty carton of eggs and a half-eaten cheeseburger, no one knows, but you'll be filled with the inescapable, all-consuming urge to go get it. Just jump right into that dumpster and get it.
The more you resist the urge, the more it'll hurt. (As in, physically hurt actually. The feeling will be comparable to your fingernails slowly being plucked out.)
This is ViViD though and the moment you hit the trash, the spell breaks. You'll see that your most precious thing, whatever it was, was never actually there. Instead, you seem to have actually grabbed something else and whatever it is, you can't let go of it. Be it an empty bottle of bacon soda or a bicycle tire with a giant hole in it, it's attached to your hand now and no matter what you do, you can't get it off.
Hopefully whatever you grabbed wasn't too big because it looks like you're not getting rid of it. Not till you beat the level.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] The odd thing about being stuck in a trash wasteland is that you can go for ages without seeing another person. Ages. Of course, CERES doesn't like that very much since ViViD games should be co-operative! Player with player! Player against player! Players who shouldn't be playing at all. That's the type of play CERES supports.
Which means the longer you go without seeing another person, the more you might feel an itch. It gets under your skin, making you feel dizzier and dizzier, and shorter and shorter of breath until -- you pass out. Vision going dark, breathing cutting out, and down you go into the trash and whatever this ViViD level has planned next.
It won't take long. You'll wake up feeling slightly confined and there will be a moving body next to you. It seems as if you've finally, finally found someone -- and they're really, really close. In fact, maybe a little too close? When you open your eyes, you'll see that the two of you may be bound together in a way that might be familiar to some.
But instead of a shirt, it's just a garbage bag. A really, really strong garbage bag that can't be broken out of no matter how strong you happen to be. No laser eyes, no super powers, nothing will separate you from this person other than, well, getting along.
There really is only one question you have to ask yourself now. Just one.
What the hell does this have to do with recycling?
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
Yagami Hikari ☼ Digimon Adventure
[Hikari had been forced to sleep on some uncomfortable surfaces recently--the pile of dirt down in the sewers immediately came to mind--but this? This was the worst yet.]
[Wincing as something dull but pointed poked at her back, the eight-year-old slowly sat up. And glanced around. Tailmon was still unconscious at her feet. Otherwise, she saw nothing but...garbage. Piles upon piles of wood and concrete and rotting food and bits and scraps of metal and plastic. That, in and of itself, didn't bother her quite so much as the slow realization that...she couldn't remember how she'd gotten here.]
[Rising to her feet, she tried vainly to brush some of the grime from her shirt. Tailmon stirred, and she knelt down in hopes of waking the poor little digimon. When that didn't work, Hikari picked her up and held her close to her chest. Subconsciously, Tailmon burrowed that much further into her chest, seeking the warmth from her lithe frame. It was no wonder she was so tired. The last thing Hikari remembered...they had defeated Piemon. A harrowing battle, during which time--at one point--it had been down to just herself and Takeru. The two youngest, and only a single digimon between them. A seemingly hopeless situation...or, at least, it would have been, if it hadn't been the Bearer of Hope himself protecting her.]
[Only now, it seemed, even Takeru wasn't here.]
[No one was. She took a few steps, head darting around in search of a familiar face. In search of Taichi. Sora. Koushiro. Jou. Yamato. Mimi. Anyone.]
Hello? Is anyone there?
[The only response was for the clouds above to open up and...unleash a cold downpour of rain. She was soaked within a matter of seconds.]
Phase IV
[The drones had been pretty scary. The incinerator, more so.]
[Then came the realization that, somehow, along the way, she'd lost her whistle. It had been hanging around her neck the last time she checked, hanging right beside her Crest of Light. Now it was gone. Hikari sharply inhaled once, her heart beating just a little bit faster at the awful thought of having lost it. Her eyes stung with the threat of tears. She always had that whistle with her. Always. Ever since she was a little girl, tweeting at her big brother when she didn't always feel like talking.]
Where could it have gone, Tailmon? I--ah!
[Relief washed over her when she caught sight of it. There, at the bottom of a dumpster. How it gotten there, she couldn't guess, but she was more than willing to jump inside in order to...to...]
[She thought she had it. That silver whistle. Only, when she finally picked it up, she realized it was...just an old piece of tinfoil.]
[Worse than that, it was now stuck to her hand. And it wasn't coming off]
BONUS!
[She wasn't coughing this time, at least. And she didn't feel warm; she made sure to check. Several times.]
[And yet...the longer they walked, Tailmon faithfully at her side...the longer they went without encountering another soul...the dizzier Hikari started to feel. Light-heated. The world spinning around her. It was different than the last time. Only not really. But she couldn't have been sick--maybe she was just getting a little tired--and so, without a word, she pushed on. Not wanting to stop for fear of missing out on finally running into--]
[Eventually, the dizziness grew too much for her to bear. The last thing she heard before collapsing was the sound of her ever faithful companion calling out her name:]
Hikari!
Bonus, I sure am spamming your inbox aren't I?
On top of that, they could be just as sick as he was! (Not that he was going to mention it but the other person came first!)
However, by the time he felt like he was ready to pass out? That's when he heard a familiar voice. Wait, it couldn't be...could it?]
...Tailmon? Is that you? [Takeru shouted before Patamon started to fly around in search for their familiar friend] Hey, where are you...?
I don't know how my inbox will ever recover
Takeru!
[Even standing, she was quite small, but she still waved her bright yellow paws as high in the air as she could, until the young boy and/or his digimon companion could see her.]
Takeru! Over here! Quick!
It's Hikari. She...
[But Tailmon's voice trailed off as they grew closer, knowing they would soon enough see for themselves.]
All them wonderful spam
Although, it seemed like Patamon got there first while his partner was trying to catch up]
What happened? [The Digimon said before getting a closer look at Hikari] She's not sick...is she?
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She was fine before. I know because I was worried when it started to rain, so I made sure to watch her extra carefully. But...
Look at her. She's not red. Humans get red when they're sick, right?
[Granted, she only had one prior experience in this sort of thing. And she had been all but useless then too.]
Where's Takeru? Is he with you? What about Taichi and the others?
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I'm pretty sure they do but I know sometimes they don't. But it would make it a little harder to figure out what might be wrong...
[Just when Tailmon asked, that's when Takeru finally came forward! As he started to pant a bit, his eyes widen with excitement!]
Tailmon! Boy, am I glad to see y- ...Wait, what's wrong with Hikari-chan? She's okay right? She doesn't have a really bad cold again right?
[Cue panic!]
no subject
[Her eyelashes fluttered. Her nose wrinkled. A deep inhale, followed by a soft moan. Slowly...her eyes opened...blinking back into focus...and her head turned towards a familiar green hue.]
...Takeru-kun?
[She didn't sound sick. A little sleepy, maybe, but her voice otherwise came out clear. Her breathing, too, gave no indications of struggling or heaviness to it.]
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[He shouted before giving a sigh of relief. While she didn't look sick, at least she was awake! That gave them a chance to find somewhere safe!]
You're okay right? You're not feeling sick are you?
[Although, the more that he looked around his surroudings? The more he could see how she would turn out the way she did. This place isn't exactly the more ideal place for someone like her]
no subject
[She sat up, bracing herself for another wave of vertigo. It didn't come. A hand was placed on her own forehead to check. No fever.]
I'm not sure what happened. The last thing I remember, we were looking for everyone and I started getting really dizzy. Then I heard your voice.
[A faint smile, which disappeared all too quickly as she looked around and realized she still had no idea where they actually were.]
Only...I don't remember how I got here, either. [She bit her lower lip, looking uncertain.] Where are we? And oniichan and the others? Are they with you?
no subject
[Oh boy. How was Takeru and Patamon going to explain this to the both of them. As they looked at each other, there was a grim look on them before they spoke up]
N-No, they aren't. It's been only Patamon and me for the last couple of weeks and I haven't seen anyone from our world here.
[Pause] Well, maybe you and Tailmon though! But if you're here, I'm pretty sure that Taichi-san and the others might be around here too right?
[....Riigghhttt?]
no subject
[She thought about it. Back to the day of Summer Camp. Taichi had come home acting strange. Talking about some place he had been to for months, even though less than a day had passed. She might have remembered Koromon from when they were very young, but she hadn't known about the digiworld then.]
[What this the same thing? Another world, where time passed differently too?]
We should go look for them, then.
[Whatever worry she had, she pushed aside and focused on the present. What they needed to do.]
[Gradually, she moved to stand. It took almost no effort, given she'd been unconscious until then.]
They'll be worried if we're gone for too long.
no subject
How it could be a month for someone and yet they could have seen them just a few minutes ago. But before he could say anything else?]
Good idea, I'm sure we can find them somewhere around here. I think if we got Patamon to evolve, it would make our search a lot easier!
And you wouldn't have to walk that much right?
[And behold! As Takeru got out his DigiVice, there's a faint glow before Patamon evolves into Angemon!]
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Angemon! [She smiled brightly, feeling appropriately hopeful at the moment.] Are you going to carry us again?
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C'mon, we need to get you to safety! I'm sure there's gotta be some place here that we can rest!
[And as much as takeru would love to gush and show off Angemon to Hikari and Tailmon? This wasn't the time! With them here, he needed to act like Taichi now. Gotta protect them or else!]
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[Right then, Hikari was more than happy to let Angemon pick her up. Tailmon, too, waited until she knew her human was secure in the other digimon's arms before scamping up so that she could sit on his shoulders.]
I
[Ene has never been so grateful to not have feet, this is ViViD's worst game yet! But she does feel a little bad for everyone else who can't float, they actually have to touch this stuff, gross!
Seeing a new child thrown into the garbage pile along with them is what truly makes her angry, and she immediately beelines for Hikari. She intends to be friendly, to smile and try to cheer up the little lonely lost girl, and she is grinning cheerfully when she zips over to greet her, about to say hello...
Then the rain starts.]
Eek!
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[The shriek startled Hikari, and she shut her eyes tight, clutching all the tighter to Tailmon.]
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Aaaah, sorry! Jeez, what a downpour!
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[Hikari risked opening one eye to peek...then, slowly, the other, as her whole body visibly relaxed. Just in time for her to glance upward, mouth opening slightly at the the sight before her. It...looked like a girl, only she was floating.]
Are you a digimon?