Hey there! Did you know that yearly check-ups are the best preventative medicine you can give to your darling CYbuddy? Their health is of the utmost importance and from the Pomeranian to the Velociraptor, it's so very necessary to give your CYbuddy what he or she needs to be as happy and healthy as can be. After all, CYbuddies are the first and last defense in the war against loneliness, so you must do your best to protect the ones you have! You wouldn't want to be a friendless CYbuddy-less loser, would you? Through thick and thin, rain or shine, your CYbuddy will love you forever. And ever. And ever. Do not disappoint your CYbuddy.
You blink and suddenly find yourself in what looks like a doctor's waiting room, completely alone aside from the robot receptionist. Posters line the walls in various degrees of friendliness. Actually, is this the vet? It kind of looks like the vet. In fact, when you look down towards your lap, there will be a creature snoozing comfortably on you. Really, how did you not notice? The creature's collar names him Fluffy. (That's a dumb name, why did you name your pet Fluffy? Be more creative!) If you decide to call out to the receptionist, they will ignore you, but soon after you will hear clacking of sharp nails on the floor as someone -- or something -- comes out of the back room.
No worries, it's just the doctor.
 Greetings! My name is Thelonious T-Bone the Third and I will be Fluffy's doctor today. I will take good care of your dear Fluffy and be right back to you with him or her in a jiffy. You can, of course, completely trust me for I am the best in the business! No other Velociraptor can treat and heal pets as well as I, most certainly. But there is one tiny little thing, you see. My nurse is out sick today and my hands are too small and dangerous to work well without accidentally killing your poor pet. So, to make up for this, I will need you to be my nurse today. Do you think you can handle that?
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PHASE I [ 09 00 ] Welcome to ViViD's state of the art pet care simulator. It looks like everyone is ready and willing to get started -- maybe a little too eager to get started. There seems to have been a minor misunderstanding actually and Dr. T-Bone seems to think that... well, that you're the pet. Didn't he see Fluffy's collar? (Still, such a dumb name!)
If you don't think fast, you're likely to be shoved into a kennel or forced into getting really uncomfortable shots (to prevent rabies, you see; side effects include dizziness, nausea, sprouting animal ears for a few hours and the increased desire to bite people). At least you'll have company since it looks like this mistake is happening to everyone. Might as well get cozy and get to know the people stuck in the kennels next to you while you're here.
PHASE II [ 1200 ] It's time to actually be the nurse! And time to treat one of Dr. T-Bone's most prominent clients. You will be led to, well, a dinosaur -- a T-Rex to be exact. And you will be told that your job is to take care of its teeth.
That's right. Someone has to clean all of those teeth. And it looks like you're the lucky sap who got the job. Don't worry, the Tyrannosaurus Rex's name tag proclaims it to be vegan (and to go by the name of Sir Gadzooks) so it should be perfectly safe to reach into that gaping maw and start cleaning those teeth.
Alternatively, you could make your dental assistant do it; looks like you weren't the only one to get dragged into this farce. The question is, which one is handling the sharp pointy objects, and which one is sticking their hand into that mouth?
Also, it's not really a vegan dinosaur, that was a great big lie. And it's very, very hungry -- now might be a good time to run.
PHASE III [ 1300 ] Hope you weren't doing anything important (like sticking your hand into the mouth of a dinosaur), because someone is now throwing a blindfold over your eyes and hustling you right into the basement. A couple of twists and turns later, and you're being shoved into what appears to be an underground... peacock fighting ring? With a jaunty peacock headband on and none of your weapons on you, it seems as though you've been mistaken for a particularly ugly peacock and have been tossed into the ring.
Look out though. Those peacocks look mean. They'll go straight for the eyes if they get the chance, and will peck away merrily at your head. Of course, the walls aren't that high all things considered (they're peacocks), so it probably wouldn't be that hard to escape the ring.
(Or, if you manage to find your way down there yourself, you can always join in on the ludicrously outlandish betting pool. It might be a good way to get some cash -- if you bet on the right peacock.
Actually, is that Mr. T-Bone in the crowd too? Someone get the quack out of here!)
PHASE IV [ 1600 ] There's someone whispering.
It's a quiet, throaty whisper, and no matter where you are in the ViViD level, you can hear it. Sometimes, it's clearer than others. Sometimes, it can barely be heard at all. But it's always there, whispering, "Come closer. Come closer. Come closer."
If you should gather up your courage and follow those whispers, they will lead you to a... bird. Upon seeing you, the bird will begin to speak again in that throaty whisper, this time detailing the destruction of your world, down to the tiniest of details, such as the look on your best friend's face as they died, or the last words of your most important person. It's almost hypnotic, so much so that you can't pull away --
And just like that, the bird squawks, and it's over. What was that about? Hopefully nobody else heard all of that.
BONUS [ xxxx ] You go to speak with the vet, whether to complain about your treatment at the hands of the others, the fact that you had to play dino dentistry or to let him know that there's an illegal peacock fighting ring below his practice, and before you know it there's talk of "just to be safe" and "you never know what someone with an attitude like that will do" -- which, what? All of a sudden Dr. T-Bone and his receptionist are shoving you into a cone of shame. How embarrassing! And no matter what you do, it just won't come off.
In fact, if nothing else, it seems magnetically attracted to the walls and anyone else wearing one. If one of those poor fools happen to be within a ten foot radius of you, prepare yourselves for a massive collision. What a pain, right? It seems like the cones won't come off until you (and your magnetic partner) get out of this confounded level. If only you could find the exit (and Fluffy too -- where'd he get off to?)
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[ He'd offer to fill Togami in on Cerealia alone but feels more comfortable with the others there for back up in case he forgets anything, mostly. And by "others", it's mostly "Kirigiri". ]
Er...we can always just try to leave? If they want us to buy something somewhere again, I can cover that. They wouldn't let us leave the convention a while ago until we bought something. Although I...maybe we're in ViViD? [ Backtracking when he realizes that's sort of vague: ] A virtual reality program. I'm not sure - I didn't intend to come here, but it's pretty clearly still Cerealia. Anyway, if we can get out, we can probably find something to get it off with more easily, right?
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[ He doesn't know much yet, but he feels pretty confident about that. There's no way any of this stuff could be happening in reality. With the experience he's had in seeing what virtual reality can do, he's all the more confident. ]
But it is still obnoxious. How did you get here? You can find us the exit from however you came in, Naegi. [ He defaults to ordering Naegi around without really thinking about it. Maybe Naegi shouldn't be so easily ordered around??? ]
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Well, he complained a little about being a bomb detector, but he still did it, so... ]
I'm not actually certain...I just blinked and then I was here. But surely if we look around we can find it! I don't know if we should split up - that is, do you mind coming with? [ Or...are you going to stand here and wait for him to do the dirty work...
Naegi actually wouldn't be surprised either way. ]
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[ And he's crap in a fight so uh if they're countering anything it's going to be all you, Togami. Or maybe Kirigiri will show up out of nowhere to save them both??? Either way Naegi will be pretty much dead weight if they have to fight their way out. ]
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Still, he nods slowly. He's not too worried about it, and honestly didn't expect Naegi to be able to fend for himself. The important part is that they can try to go after Naegi and not him, and then he can fight them off more easily. ] Hmm. Very well, then.
[ So he just walks in that direction, careful to keep his distance from the walls or other collars, expecting Naegi to follow. ]
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He hurries to keep pace with Togami as soon as the other boy starts moving, casting a nervous glance around - is that dinosaur thing still there...? - and having to move a little faster than usual to keep up with the taller boy's gait. ]
Honestly, I've just mostly been lucky that other people have been around when things have tried to eat me, up till now. [ Apparently multiple things have tried to eat him in Cerealia. His luck is truly terrible sometimes up until the point he catches a one in a million lucky break. ]
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You can't expect me to bail you out every time something happens.
[ I mean as long as we're referencing "times Naegi was in danger that the other person wouldn't know about" I've got one fresh on my mind right now from recently-in-the-future!! ]
Or anyone else, for that matter. So it would in fact be wise to try defending yourself a little.
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[ He seems truly unbothered by Togami's statement about not bailing him out every time; it actually gets a small smile, since it implies he'd help him sometimes. Is...that really something to be happy about? Apparently...Naegi considers it to be a sign of friendship, anyway. ]
Er, speaking of, you should be careful around ponds and things. Some of the fish are very...hungry? And big. With lots of teeth. I'm not sure if it's just in that one area or not, I've just been avoiding all of them...
[ He probably doesn't have to warn him about Christmas elves. It's no longer Christmas, so they're probably safe, right? ]
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Although at least the Future Foundation gave the future Naegi self-defense training already. ] You "had planned" when exactly? How long ago was it that you almost got eaten in a pond? ...And what kind of self-defense classes would teach you how to subdue a giant fish, regardless?
[ However annoyed he sounds as he keeps up the lecturing, it's at least more comfortable to fall into this routine than acknowledge the fact that he barely knows what he's doing here in Cerealia at all. It's much better being the one who gets to feel confident and superior. ]
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[ Well, maybe "cannibal" isn't right, since they were trying to eat people, and people aren't elves.
At any rate, knowing how to fend those off would have been super cool. If only he had Future Foundation training, he might be less useless...! At least he still has the power of Hope and Friendship.
Which means jack all to cannibal elves. ]
The pond thing was when Kirigiri-san got here. There was a winter ball thing - anyway, she noticed it before I did and got me out of the way, so that was okay. But that aside - there have been...upheavals? Recently. It's kind of worrying, but everyone's been pooling information so we're trying to figure it out...oh, by "everyone" I mean a handful of the other class, and then for us, just Kirigiri-san and Kuwata-kun and I. And you, now.
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You've been working with the former Remnants of Despair?
[ He says it pretty pointedly: he wants to make 100% sure that Naegi actually understands who it is he's collaborating with. But, after they exited the program, things did seem to have gone well... so he's not too concerned that they pose a threat.
What's more confusing to him is: ] ...And... Kuwata?
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[ Because he thinks Kirigiri's opinion might help, here, um. ]
...As to Kuwata-kun, like I said, people come from different times. Even people who have...
[ Vague hand gestures, but he does manage to say it. ]
Died.
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[ Part of him feels like he should be mad, for some reason. Offended just on principle at this distortion of reality and the proper order. And he is, but this is just one drop in the bucket compared to all the other distortions of reality he's experienced and been told about, just in this short amount of time.
So it's probably fine. ] That's a far cry from mere amnesia... But we can worry about more of the details once we are no longer in this place.