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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Worst Jedi Ever | That thing with the light swords and annoying amphibians
[He's been stuck in trash compactors that smelled better than this. The only difference is that the lesson then had been a far reach, an "everything happens for a reason, Anakin," where this seems to be a sad attempt at...what? A public service?
"Sad" seems pretty apt.
He sours on this "welcome" for a long moment, heaved with a heavy, dramatic sigh that could say nothing but 'of fucking course.' In the next moment, he's up, lightsaber out, handily dealing with the first rat to wander out of the woodwork (or trashpile, semantics), because that's certainly not overkill.
The glower (or, perhaps more appropriately, pout) lingers even after, should you stumble upon him stumbling around in this hell hole.]
This is too good an opportunity to pass up
He's not sure what rank this Jedi is, so he gives a quick but respectful bow in any case.] I'm glad to see another Jedi here. Are you here with anyone else?
Yessssssssss my hopes and dreams
many a poutaggravation, and it spares them both thetantrumdiscussion. Small favors.In any case, he easily recognizes the braid and robes he's only just recently outgrown himself, and his growing tension eases. It's something familiar in a maelstrom of nothing else that is, and it's a welcome "coincidence." (The face, too, feels even more familiar, but distant enough that he can't place it immediately. There will be time enough for that later).
Anakin looks upward, as if the sky will open up and provide a different answer for that question, but nothing happens, and he's left shaking his head in mild exasperation.]
Was. [Typical.] Looks like it's just you and me.
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Neither have I. But I'm not sure a commlink would work all the way out here anyway, wherever this is.
[Stuck on an unheard of planet, separated from almost anything familiar, he has an inkling that finding a signal would be a long-shot, even at short range. But that leaves him with the problem of a tailing padawan, though it's not exactly unwelcome.]
We'll get back, don't worry. [And he hopes he sounds more confident in that than he is, because those same communication problems aren't minor ones.] It might smell like death down here, but I'm not about to pitch in.
[Not without a fight, at least.]
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I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padawan to Qui-Gon Jinn. [He doesn't recognize this particular Jedi, but maybe he's heard of him before.]
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I-- [He clears his throat; play it cool, Skywalker. Act casual. This might be an anomaly of the highest calibur, especially when it's common sense that time can't move backward, but there's no such thing as coincidence. It's impossible, and yet...it does explain that nagging familiarity.]
Anakin Skywalker, Jedi m-knight.
[It's more wishful thinking than a slip, an almost-intentional lie that he thinks better of immediately upon consideration, though the thought does cross his mind.
He hasn't earned it (officially, anyway, though he'd argue that clearly his experience and contribution had more than done so in practice), but moreover, he'd never be able to explain that if questioned about it by anyone who might know better.
Any padawan in the damned galaxy, and this, this is, what, the Force's sense of humour?]
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In any case, Anakin is the higher rank, so Obi-Wan will follow his lead for now. He gives another nod of his head in acknowledgement of that.] What do you think we should do?
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If it's not luck, and he'd be admonished for mentioning the idea aloud, the universe sure likes its humour slapstick and uncomfortable.
What is he supposed to do in this situation where, inexplicably, the man usually giving the "suggestions" (or orders more like, but they both know to avoid that terminology whenever possible when around one another) is looking to him as the adult instead?
He's wanted to be taken seriously as one for so long now, it feels strange to not have that presence (metaphorically) hanging over his shoulder.]
Find a way out, for starters. We're not going to find anything in this dump.
[There might be clues to their whereabouts hidden under all those layers of waste, but he's not about to dig around on the mere chance. Obi-Wan is going to kill him if he takes too long finding his way back--well, back home, anyway. In the present, where time isn't relative, and this excuse would fly worse than droid army pilots.]
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The... whatever-it-was mentioned levels. Do you think this might be some kind of game?
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[Well that was. A thing. A yelp, really. Because this is so not what he signed on for. Not even a little bit. Sure, he could whack the "attacking" creature with his own sword but --]
[But that's a really. Really big rat.]
[Congrats, Anakin. Somewhere in your vicinity of Sighs And Sulks(C), there will be a large red robot, seemingly made of awkward teenage limbs (all gangly and lanky), scrambling backward on his metal butt away from that large, and menacing rodent.]
N-Nice animal! Relax! Okay? Just chill. I'm pretty sure I don't taste good!
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the one he programmed) C-3PO. Aside from the higher level of mobility and relaxed speech, the resemblance is pretty striking otherwise, and admittedly funny coming from a machine that should have no issue tackling a rodent, even of unusual size.]Calm down.
[He sounds half amused and half agitated, and takes his time coming over, even if the swing of his lightsaber takes care of the rat problem swiftly afterward. (Temporarily, at least. As far as he knows, there's no telling how big the colony of them is.) It's not exactly ]
It's not often you see a droid so skittish, you alright?
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[So when the human steps in, he whips his head around, perking up tremendously.]
Hey, tha--
[Oh.]
[That's. A dead rodent. The smile fades.]
... oh. Uh. Y-yeah, I'm fine. Who're you?
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He hopes.]
I'm Anakin Skywalker. Apparently here to rescue you.
[But truth told, he's had worse jobs.]
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The coolest name!
[Aw, look how jazzed he is about that! Rolling over to sit up and beam at Anakin, hands out and fingers splayed excitedly.]
So, what, do you? Walk on the sky I mean! Can you fly?
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Depends on what you mean by "fly," but it's not literal.
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[He sulks -- literally sulks -- over that revelation. Folding his arms across his chest sullenly. Sorry, Anakin, you've met a robot whose entire knowledge of humanity is television.]
... It's still a cool name though.
i am sorry for this smug shithead
Oh, I do. Flying without a ship just isn't on the list. [Could he sound more self-satisfied? Probably not.
Or maybe the world just isn't ready for the unrestrained id of Anakin Skywalker.] Yet.its okay i am sorry for this shitty teenager
[He could get back to Cybertron and HAHAH take that Strongarm. Time to break the rules without her hovering over his shoulder.]
flies at this!!!
And she is watching him. Watching that lightsaber, more specifically. Her eyes are glued to that. A cold discomfort grips her, as she tries to identify the unfamiliar figure wielding it. Who could he be?
The trash pile she's crouched on betrays her then, an empty bottle scattering from under one of her feet down towards where he's walking.
She's got a bad feeling about this. ]
screams!!!!!! really loud!!!!!!!!
The glance upward, following the wake of that minute disturbance, could almost be written off as a reflex. (Could be, but it isn't. Coincidence isn't that lucky.) He spies someone--too big to be a something--up atop one of the surrounding behemoth trash piles, and tightens his grip on his lightsaber hilt reflexively. (Notable when his track record is lose-or-break every seeming few minutes.)
Anakin has an inkling, however, that he's not the only one "spying," and it gives him an unsettled (read: "bad") feeling of his own.
But he's not about to find anything out milling about down here, and thus, he glowers at the trash pile for a moment before making his way upward.]
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Instead, since she's evidently been spotted, she stands, hands on her hips as she glares down at him. ]
Are you looking for something? [ Though it's a question, there's a warning note in her voice. ]
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or that she knew that he knew that she knew,he would be very inclined to make some "witty" quip about how Jedi aren't supposed to believe in coincidence, and "uncanny" is just a taciturn denial, but--Well, he isn't really one to talk, first off. And second, he doesn't know anything more than her wary body language to match her voice. She puts on a show, certainly, but the stern glare is a stark contradiction to the sneaking about she'd been doing only moments before.
The lightsaber (unbeknownst as "the") is hooked onto his belt then, and he holds his hands outward, a long-ago learned (and rarely used) gesture of diplomacy. They could argue upper hands all day and get nowhere--or end up fighting--and the last thing he needs in the middle of whatever this is is to end up having to explain that later.
He has enough questionably "moral" blood on his hands already.]
I should ask you the same thing, considering I'm the one being watched.
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Unless it had been duplicated, but she doesn't get the feeling that that's the case.
So she glances up, scrutinizing his face instead. There's a lot to be scrutinized here, honestly. ]
This is a dangerous place. Droids have been capturing people and taking them away. [ It pays to be cautious. ]
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Ooh, do that more, that thing with the glowy sword~!