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 [ 800 ] 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 [ 1125 ] 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 [ 1125 ] 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?
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accidentally denting the chute so that they have no choice but to go down or break it
There's already one here, we don't need any more.
[Though it would be just their luck if someone else did fall down on them. It would make getting out of here even more difficult because they'd be a pile of squirming limbs in a tight space while Naruto attempts to keep them from falling down. As is, he grunts as Sasuke attempts to situate himself.]
I don't know what you're talking about.
[Definitely pretending that IT NEVER HAPPENED, OKAY? Never ever. He doesn't care who remembers it or who heard about it from those who saw it. Right now they're the only two around and that means if they want to pretend that it didn't happen then it didn't happen.
A irritated huff as Sasuke finally seems to have situated himself.]
I've also got plenty of chakra left. It would be a lot easier if I just used it. [Because he knows exactly where that rope is and the idea of using it is not appealing. Who knows what will happen to Sasuke's clothes if they use it for climbing.]
I can make a bunch of clones and they can give us a boost out of here. [If Sasuke turns that down too, Naruto will just have to take things into his own hands. They're both ninjas - climbing vertical surfaces was something they learned years ago.]
and who knows what will come after them for damaging it
[ But he's all for denying things and casting things aside. It's... something he's gotten to be pretty good at, with the exception of a certain loudmouth who won't let himself to be gotten rid of. For some reason, that one refuses to go away, like a grass stain on an otherwise clean shirt or a cockroach infestation.
But Naruto's comments about his chakra make Sasuke shift his body to stare at him incredulously. Is he serious? Then again, it's Naruto and the guy's got a stupidly high reserve, but had he intended to keep quiet about it that he only now mentioning it (never mind that it hasn't even been 10 minutes that they've been smashed together in the chute)? ]
You're only now bringing this up?! [ Unfortunately, while he hates to be forced to rely on Naruto for anything, this is probably one of those times where pride needs to be shelved for a bit. It's not an easy feat, but he'll do it, because as much as they clash, they also seem to work well together when necessary. If they're able to get out, he'll need time to recover before trying to take on whatever else is out there. SIGH. ]
... I suppose it's worth trying. [ He'd already agreed to letting Naruto use that ridiculous 'sexy jutsu' in battle before, so it stands to reason that a real technique that's proven to be infinitely more useful in the past should be somewhat effective now. ]
probably just more trouble.
[A shove to Sasuke's shoulder that definitely has more force behind it than the last one, not enough to knock the other off but enough to show his annoyance. Also, rude. He is not a grass stain or a cockroach infestation. More like a shadow that appears and disappears but can never be gotten rid of. Can't be destroyed or banished ever.
While he isn't at full strength, he does still have plenty of chakra left - the amount he was saving for the battle to come with the teen now sitting on top of him. After using it to get them out, he wouldn't be able to go toe-to-toe with Sasuke like he'd planned but their predicament wasn't exactly great for fighting.]
The smartest plan would be for me to just carry you out but you're refusing like a giant baby. [It would require the least amount of chakra and was something Naruto could do with his eyes closed even if they would both deny that it had ever happened. Instead Sasuke would rather go with the one that's going to make him use up what reserve he has left. Here's hoping it doesn't run out before they reach the top because it would be a lot harder to stop them from tumbling all of the way down without it.]
Fine, let's get moving. [It only takes a second to form the handsign and just as long for the chute to be filled with a collection of clones lining the walls. All of them sticking to the side and looking down at the pair.
The closest one sticks out a hand for Sasuke to grab so he can hoist the Uchiha up to where the next clone waits.]
then they'd probably end up in a garbage bag
There are so many things he wants to say in response to being called a baby over not wanting to be carried -that if he tries it he's getting electrocuted, that the only way he'd ever let himself be carried is when he's dead, that he'd rather have to hold the blond's hand for a few moments than be carried out, that he's not Naruto's wife- but the response that comes out is none of the above. ]
Why do you keep talking about wanting to carry me? I already told you it's not happening, so get that out of your head already!
[ He's never been so glad to see the clones, though, because upward movement and concentrating elsewhere means getting away from the current conversation. It also means he doesn't have to keep both eyes open to watch for falling trash, so he can hasten a recharge. That doesn't mean he won't try to get a non-verbal jab in though, using Naruto himself as a springboard when taking the clone's hand ...and using the foot he'd stepped in gross lasagna with to push off of him. Sorry, not that sorry, hope he likes having a disgusting footprint on his clothes. ]
probably with their dominant hands stuck inside too.
Naruto would have no trouble tossing the last Uchiha over his shoulder (or a princess hold) and climbing their way to freedom that way but he'd really rather not suffer a Chidori at the moment. Carrying Sasuke is also not exactly something he wants to do.]
Because it's the best solution, that's why! [Not that it matters now that he's already expended the chakra to make clones all the way up the chute.] Just get moving.
[The moment that comes out of his mouth, a foot is being placed in his chest and not only does it sting slightly but now there's a footprint of some weird red and noodly food on his jacket. Of course it's right smack-dab in the middle of the orange section which just makes it stand out even more.]
Gross! What did you step in?
[Pulling off large chunks of noodles and then he drops them down the chute. Well, that's one way to mark the original in order to pick him out of the multitude of Narutos. Even if the original is disgusted, the closest clone grips Sasuke's hand tightly and tugs until he gets momentum to sail right past him to get to the next one.]
like a taste of things to come... or a filler episode
[ Traveling by clone is an odd way to do it, but it's better than exhausting himself to climb out when that chakra can be better put to use elsewhere, and as such, he's quick to take advantage of things, essentially hopping from clone to clone. At the same time, though, he can't help wondering what's going to be waiting for them at the end. Drones hovering nearby to push them back down? Something else they haven't encountered yet?
And just how far did he fall before colliding with Naruto? The light at the end is slowly growing larger, but that doesn't mean the distance is short. ]
they do like their filler episodes
While clutching the hand of a clone, Naruto takes the opportunity to look down at his jacket but it's still fairly dark this far down.]
I don't know. It had noodles, meat and some kind of sauce.
[Plz, his diet consists of ramen and popsicles most of the time - what does he know about lasagna?
Also... what is this totally normal conversation between him and Sasuke?]