PHASE I [ 6 00 ] You wake up, and you're in a camp ground. The graphics aren't bad here, not really, but they're definitely last gen -- not the type of quality expected out of ViViD. On top of that, every once in awhile, the scenery sort of... glitches before going right back to normal as if nothing ever happened. If you're particularly unlucky, your own body parts might glitch out for a moment too, appearing as nothing more than broken code and then back to normal. Pretty weird, right? Oh well, don't worry about it. Totally harmless.
Glitches or not, you're still in a camp ground along with everyone else. There's a fire, there's some tents, some trees. Maybe some s'mores? You got it all. You're also not wearing what you were before. No, now you're wearing some sexy shorts, or maybe you've got a whip at your side, or maybe you've got a really classy fedora. And if you're one of those lucky few who have all three at once? Good for you! Try not to blind everyone with all that sexy.
Or, you know, the game will glitch out again and you'll be stuck wearing something else. That's definitely not as sexy.
PHASE II [ 730 ] If you decide to finally go exploring that crazy jungle, you'll find that you have a wide range of exploring options. Seems ViViD's taking a crack at their very own open world game -- this one modeled after your run of the mill adventure game. There are rivers to swim through (complete with alligators)! There are cliffs to scale (complete with angry birds ready to peck at your face)! There are even ravines to swing across on vines (just like Tarzan)!
Actually, the game is made to allow you to do just that -- those vines are all conveniently lined up for everyone to use them to swing across. Go on, it'll be fun. If you miss, you'll just lose a life, right?
Of course, if you overshoot your goal, you might run into one of the other glitches; the white space that you'll stumble into implies that you flew right off the world map and are now in unprogrammed space. Don't worry, you'll dissolve eventually, slowly but surely, and will reappear on the cliff so you can try again. There's no other way around that ravine either. Still, it's only a little frightening watching your body disappear piece by piece, right?
PHASE III [ 900 ] If you manage to scale one of those cliffs or swing across that ravine or cross that river, you may find yourself a chest. It's a treasure chest, and you don't even need a key to open it! Open it right up, a cute little jingle will play, and… nothing will be there.
Or the item will be there, hovering in the air, something amazing, fantastic, incredible that you've always dreamed of having and wanting, and -- you can't touch it. No matter what you try, it hovers right out of reach, and you can't interact with it at all.
Oh, and the cute little jingle is going to follow you around now, on constant loop.
PHASE IV [ xxxx ] So you died.
No big deal. Perhaps you got eaten by a crocodile. Perhaps you fell off a cliff. Perhaps another player stabbed you (that's rude). Either way, you've only lost one life and you have two more so it's nothing. After all, this is just a video game, right? It's fine.
Except it's really not fine.
You'll find yourself in a graveyard, tombstones all around you (maybe one of them has your name on it -- hope the epitaph doesn't suck). It's nighttime, it's foggy, and you're with the other players who have also lost a life. For a while, nothing will happen. The cold and quiet of the night will start to seep into your bones -- and then a figure appears. It can't be killed, it is silent and grim, and it does not speak.
Instead, it approaches each person there, reaches out and touches them on the forehead. Even you. All you can see for a long moment is corpses around you, the dead faces of everyone who had been with you in the ViViD level, flesh rotting away and faces caught in expressions of horror --
And then you're all dropped back into the camp ground together again. It's sunny and cheery and everything is fine, and you're down to two lives. Just, you know... don't lose the rest, okay?
BONUS [ xxxx ] You have a butler now, congratulations! He's following you around everywhere. He's an NPC, and not a very well-made one; sometimes his face glitches out, and he doesn't so much walk behind you as just… appears right next to you. He's handy though because if you ask him to, he'll pull up the start menu. You can sort out your inventory there and exit the game if you wish (except no matter how many times you press the "quit" button, you... can't).
Sometimes, though, that doesn't work out so well. Not the start menu but the butler himself. He might appear next to you on a narrow cliff face, knocking you right off the edge, or appear right on top of a hornet's nest, making them angry enough to go after, well, you. Maybe he accidentally summons a bear when all you were trying to do was ask him where the next dungeon is. That's unfortunate.
You can't seem to get rid of him either, no matter what you do. How annoying. Hopefully he doesn't cause you too much trouble because that bear... well, that bear's pretty angry.
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It was a mistake to look back. He doesn't have time to correct course when the thing disappears. He doesn't have time to pull himself up short when he quite literally crashes into it. And it's too late to do anything by the time the creature, whatsoever it is, lifts a hand to caress his face with the gentle touch of a lover.
With horror blooming across his features, Yu will gesture sharply. Yosuke will find Tetrakarn being cast around him as Yu himself falters and collapses to the ground, Isis disappearing. The creature itself comes for Yosuke. ]
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[ Yosuke can only watch in absolute horror as Yu crumbles and falls and deteriorates right before his eyes - all from a single touch, from that thing. And there isn't a damn thing he can do to stop it. He's frozen, rooted to the spot, mouth working to try and form words that aren't coming, eyes wide with both outright despair and stubborn absolute refusal to accept what the hell he's just witnessed.
It's still fast, and before Yosuke can even tell that it's moved at all, it's in front of him, reaching--
-- Yosuke'd completely forgotten about the Tetrakarn, the magical barrier shattering after its use. It snaps him out of it - mostly, as much as one could snap out of something like this - and he has a split second of vague clarity to focus. The figure seems momentarily stunned, and Yosuke uses the chance to get away, turning tail and fleeing, scrambling to get away. But once the figure comes around again, it's relentless in its pursuit. It only takes another flash of a moment, and then it's looming before him, a single bone of a digit pressed so lightly to the center of his forehead...
He falls - but not without first mentally chastising himself for his inability to do shit... ]
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A gasp rattles through his chest as he bolts upright, gasps shaking him as he takes in his surroundings. He's ... back at camp. There are other people nearby, some staring at him in confusion, some with sympathy, obviously knowing what he's just gone through. Ambient sounds filter in as the pounding of his heart calms - breezes stirring at the leaves, the buzzing of bugs, the low murmur of nearby conversations. Some of it supplied by ViViD, some of it by the people around him. But all of it feels unreal. Quiet and peace like this after what just happened...
... what just happened. Yu's head shoots up. ]
Yo--
[ There, beside him, but still asleep (or unconscious? hard to say) is his best friend. Yu pauses, breathes out. ]
... suke.
[ When Yosuke wakes up too, he'll find Yu sitting beside him, hunched over and head bowed. His expression will be calm, but he'll be studying his hands, like he can find answers there he doesn't have. ]
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But then, he's up - with a gasp and a start, his heart jumping clear up to his throat as he sits up, fingers already clutching at the ground beneath him for some sort of stability in all this. ]
Holy--!!
[ He looks around, and with no immediate danger in sight, he swallows down what might have been a scream. And his first coherent thought? ]
Yu--?!
[ He sees his partner, sitting beside him, and relief washes over him in waves. He looks him over, just to be sure, and cracks the faintest bit of a smile - nervous, sure, but real. And thankful. ]
You... ... Hey.
[ Words, Yosuke. Maybe you should find them again. ]
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But then he smiles, too. ]
Hey, partner.
[ Said a little more quietly than usual. He leans over a little so he can nudge Yosuke's shoulder of his own, as apologetic a gesture as he can make it. ]
... sorry for the scare.
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That apology gets a bit of a scoff, though. ]
Hey, c'mon. It's not like it's your fault we got chased. [ He hesitates, his good humor fading a bit, along with his smile. Then he leans against him in return, lets his gaze drop half-heartedly to the ground. ]
No, man. I'm sorry. I couldn't... do anything.
[ And that happened to you, and he couldn't stop it, and... ]
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You're here. I couldn't save you, either.
[ A beat, and he'll look up and around at the campsite. ]
But I guess that was supposed to happen...? We died, got sent to a graveyard, and ... restarted?
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What, you mean like a game mechanic you can't actually beat? [ Beat. ] That sucks!
[ And now he's all indignant!! ]
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[ With a huff that carries an air of finality, Yu will clamber to his feet, offering Yosuke a hand up. ]
Maybe we should just focus on trying not to die again.
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[ He takes that hand up, gets back on his feet and brushes himself off. He nods to Yu. ]
Good idea. You wanna lead the way?
[ Because sticking together is not even a question, okay. ]
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[ But he'll start them walking somewhere, aimless. ]
I never got to ask when you got here before. [ He'll half turn to look back at him, actually taking in for the first time his appearance. He looks alright, which is a relief. Unlike poor Yosuke, he doesn't have the mental image seared into him of his best friend rotting away in front of his eyes.
He does, however, get the gift of his best friend in itty bitty booty shorts, which is another beast entirely. Huh. He hadn't really noticed that during the panic, earlier. ]
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[ Yosuke seems to have forgotten all about his super shorty short shorts, what with the dying and the creepy thing and the watching his partner shrivel and crumble and the dying again though maybe technically that only means one death... thing. Because that all certainly happened. So forgive him if he doesn't catch on right away!
Well, until he realizes that Yu's kinda sorta staring. And he follows the line of his gaze, ends up looking down to rediscover these itty bitty things.
And now he's about fifteen different shades of red in the face. fdjkal ]
Oh hell no, why am I still wearing this?! For the love of--!
[ He cuts himself off with a very audible, very frustrated growl, and contemplates diving behind the nearest bush... in lieu of that, he just ends up standing there, looking anywhere but directly at Yu for the time being. ]
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What's wrong? I think you look fine.
[ Said with that casual, complimentary air, the same way he'd tell the girls they look nice in their swimsuits. It's factual and straightforward in that way he tends to be, and he's looking at Yosuke with a straight face and eyebrows slightly raised. ]
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D-Dude. How do you even say things like that with a straight face?
[ It's a little mumbled, mostly dismissive - he's not actually expecting an answer. Which is further proven when he barrels straight into another point! ]
If we get out of this thing and I don't get my actual clothes back, I'm gonna be so pissed...
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The rest of what he says is met with a shrug. ]
We are in a video game. That makes these avatars, right? Our real bodies probably have their real clothes, too. It's probably alright. Of course, who knows what's really going on with this whole situation... guess we'll find out one way or the other.