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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no subject
Did I identify them all, Sasuke-kun?
no subject
First and foremost, let's address the main issue. ]
Where your friends are is no concern of mine, but tell me... do you actually believe that?
[ Really, Lee? Really? There has to be an explanation that isn't absolutely insane, and it's probably all just an elaborate genjutsu or something. ]
no subject
To be honest, Sasuke-kun, I am not sure! I have been in this world for almost half a year now. And I have seen many incredible and unbelievable things in that time! ...But I still have not found anything to conclude for sure whether or not CERES's story about our home worlds is true! [He tried to be a good ninja, he did.]
no subject
Honestly, though, he can't quite tell if Lee is trying to answer him seriously or mock him, but something in what he says raises a major red flag. ]
Half a year? How is that even possible? I literally just saw you.
[ If Lee's been here for half a year, did he somehow end up in the future? Please don't let this be the future, because it's kind of disgusting and is definitely not the sort of future he had in mind.
And please don't be an afterlife either. Sure, he wasn't exactly the nicest guy, but was he really bad enough to deserve to wander around a dump for eternity? On second thought, don't answer that. ]
no subject
[He wants to entertain the possibility that Sasuke is from the future and that their bond has been reforged now that Sasuke is back on their side. ...Although if he applied some logic, it would be obvious that there is one detail which dis-arms that logic.
He does decide to clarify one thing, however.]
Ah... As this is an entirely different world, sometimes we come here from different times! We are... outside of our own timeline! So, our memories may not match up, Sasuke-kun...
no subject
Kaguya was sealed.
[ Alright, half-a-year-here-Lee, you know what he's talking about, don't you? Because he doesn't want to have to explain it if you don't, but it's the fastest way to figure out if what he's saying is true. If their memories don't match up, then he'll know since he refuses to believe that he would be the one behind. ]
So this is some sort of time and space jutsu? [ That'll be an easy enough fix with the rinnegan if it is. ]
no subject
But he hears that about Kaguya and nods seriously. It sounds like Sasuke is from the past after all. Always so behind the times.]
Yes... That seems to be the best way to describe it!
Sasuke-kun, I am from your future!!
no subject
But hearing those words -'I am from your future'- gives him pause. That Lee didn't react too strangely tells him that he's probably still alive in whatever la la land Lee's living in, but if it really is a jutsu that warps time and space, how did he end up going backwards? Or did he go forward? Or is Lee the one who moved times? ]
If that's the case, then it's only a matter of opening the right dimension to go back. [ Because he doesn't know if he wants to hear about this 'future' Lee claims to be from, and he hasn't tested using the rinnegan to get back to where he should be yet. ]
no subject
And yes. Rock Lee is the time traveler's bowlcut.
But as Sasuke says that, Lee's eyes widen in alarm, and he leans forward.]
S- Sasuke-kun... Could you truly do that?!
Is that... safe?! [If Rock Lee is questioning the safety of your actions, it might be the time to examine your life and choices.]
no subject
And if he could figure it out, safety is a thing there's no guarantee for. ]
There's a way here, so there has to be a way back.
[ So Lee, want to be a guinea pig for this experiment? ]
no subject
But, despite how mixed feeling were in the past, Rock Lee believes in Sasuke. Sasuke, along with Naruto and Sakura, was one of those people who did the impossible
beat the unbeatableand saved the world from both Madara and Kaguya. So, he trusts in Sasuke's abilities and he nods.]That makes a lot of sense! Sasuke-kun, I will cheer you on in this endeavor and do anything that is required of me! [Did someone order a guinea pig with gigantic eyebrows?]