The thing about Cerealia is, there really isn't any nature to be found here. Sure, you can go outside the walls of the city and explore the land beyond but who wants to risk a terrible, horrible death just to sniff the flowers? Not you, that's who! CERES understands that, CERES sympathizes, and sometimes CERES decides to take action when such problems arise. As part of the company's current "Healthier and Happier YOU" initiative, they've decided to let everyone get back in touch with nature a little.
Via ViViD.
Of course, this being CERES, the nature they've sent everyone to is more of a swamp. The place is disgusting, a real marvel of ViViD ingenuity and it smells like the dead. There's strange rustling among the leaves from creatures that may or may not want to eat you, and random pits that open up right under your feet with the goal of sending you straight into the marsh. It's not really that fun. There's no welcome sign either, no nothing except for swamplands as far as the eye can see.
Welcome to ViViD!  This is Mosley. One of our programmers forgot to include a welcome greeting for the level this time. How incompetent can you get? He's been fired now, it's fine. Instead, I will greet you today. Lucky you! You've been invited today to participate in CERES's "Healthier and Happier YOU" level where we've combined both physical exercise and relaxing meditation into the ultimate ViViD experience. Isn't that fun? You can... go camping and stuff. Or whatever. I don't... know...
Honestly, I don't even care. Have fun.
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PHASE I [ 6 00 ] Welcome to your new healthy living training ground! What does a swamp have to do with healthy living, you may ask? Absolutely nothing! To make up for it, CERES has outfitted all players with the proper equipment for their new healthy living lifestyle. They also may or may not have let you keep your shoes based on how benevolent the ViViD gods were being at the time. (Not very.)
Oh, and all newcomers will have something additional on their fancy new yoga shirt. It will be displayed loudly and proudly all over the front and back of it. And if you're one of the few not wearing a shirt, it will be on the back of your pants. As in, your butt. It will be on your butt.
What’s ViViD trying to say, anyway?
Regardless, it probably doesn’t matter as much as finding your way through the swamp. Some sort of dry land would be really nice right now, wouldn't it? You'll have to watch out for the mud that will suck you right down under the marsh, and the creatures with lots of teeth that will never surface from the mud but won't hesitate to snap up an unwary foot or two.
CERES is sure you'll be fine. Totally and completely fine.
PHASE II [ 800 ] Eventually, if you try really, really hard, you’ll make it to a house. Actually, it’s more of a shack, really. If you clamber your way out of the mud and the gunk and the marsh into said shack, you will find it to be empty aside from a table. A table hosting a huge pile of... well, health drinks. See, there's totally a health theme in this level. CERES would never make a ViViD level that wasn't thematically appropriate. Never! Health drinks of all sorts and types and sizes can be found here and there’s even a sign too; it simply says:
Take one.
Well, that seems safe.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to leave said shack until you do take one. And drink it. The door will lock shut and cover itself in more swamp until you do. Yay. Depending on your luck, the drink may do the following to you: ➟ Cause your ViViD experience to glitch. This may involve phasing through walls, seeing everything in 8-bit, or hearing really annoying old video game music everywhere you go.
➟ Cause status effects. This can include suddenly moving incredibly slowly, being turned to stone for a period of time, suddenly being on fire, suddenly being poisoned, etc etc.
➟ Be healthier. Mmm, kale and hummus smoothie. Taste those veggies. If you try to take more than one, that’s fine too, nobody will stop you, but you probably won’t get lucky more than once.
PHASE III [ 900 ] And back you go, out into the swampy wilderness. Don’t give up! Keep going! Eventually, you’ll find the end of this level. Probably.
Eventually, though, you may stumble across something in the mud and the muck. It’s... a little doll?
In fact, it’s a little doll of one of your most important people (or, alternatively, of someone you absolutely hate). It might be someone in Cerealia currently, or someone who isn’t, but either way, the doll is there and it’s clearly them (covered in mud and all). Be careful, though. If you toss it aside, you’ll suddenly see that important person being tossed aside. If you cut the doll, you'll suddenly see that person bleeding. Even if they aren’t present in Cerealia, whatever happens to that doll, you'll see it happening to them. Is it a hallucination or are they actually there? That's a little more up in the air.
And if they are present in Cerealia, well... doing things to that doll might very well hurt them too -- for real, this time, though.
Be careful! Or don't. You do you, as CERES would say.
PHASE IV [ 1200 ] And then, eventually you reach a quiet, swampy area. Not that the rest of the swamp isn't swampy, this area is just extra swampy.
There’s very little happening here in this swampy place; even the birds are no longer squawking. And for a long moment, everything will remain quiet and peaceful, a place of reprieve... until the swamp begins to bubble. Then suddenly, a new friend will burst out of the swamp, showering mud and gunk everywhere.
Without warning, that creature is going to try to grab for the nearest person (it might be you!) and let out a mighty roar when they have them. Then, they'll hold them up to... read the nutrition facts on their shirt? What?
Of course, it will try to gobble you or whoever else it grabs if it finds, say, the salt content to be acceptable (the monster is watching their carbs). If it's not, then they'll just fling you away and move onto the next snack. For those without a handy nutrition facts label on your shirt, well, it might just take a gamble and try to eat you anyway.
Great. A health-conscious monster. That's just what this level needed.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Finally, you’re free of the game. Without warning, you’re dumped into Cerealia properly and you’re able to scrub the mud and gunk from your clothing (wait why did that come back with you and where are your normal clothes?). You're able to then make your way to your new place of residence (or old) and...
There is a tiny tree there waiting for you. Isn’t it cute? And if you take care of this tiny tree, it will eventually bear fruit! Tiny fruit. Itty bitty fruit.
Depending on which tiny tree you get, it will be one of the following: a tiny dildo tree, a tiny bacon tree, a tiny kazoo tree, a tiny carolina reaper tree, or a (dumb) tiny hats tree.
Everything will, naturally, be tiny. Enjoy your new healthy CERES gift!
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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i
Hey, you okay?
[Like her, Naruto's got the same nutritional fact printed on his shirt even if some of the details are different. Maybe it was a sign that they were both new here.]
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[...how...was he doing that?]
[Hikari looked up at the strange boy approaching her. She didn't recognize him, but her first thought was that his hair was very bright. Like Yamato and Takeru's, only shorter and spikier. ]
I'm fine. [She certainly wasn't panicking, or looked anywhere close to tears. Her eyes fell to the words and numbers on his shirt, noting that it looked kind of similar to what was on her shirt, and her curiosity grew. She pointed to herself as she looked up at him in question.] Do you know what this means, mister?
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In all honesty, Naruto doesn't really give off a dangerous vibe. It's more like he's a giant kid with way too much energy. Especially since he's grinning and jogging all while waving until he pulls up short in front of her.]
That's good. [This was certainly one brave little girl. Dropped somewhere in a swamp with potentially dangerous creatures and not a tear in sight.
When she brings his attention to her shirt, Naruto looks over it.] It means that you're probably pretty tasty to the creatures out here.
[Don't listen to him, Hikari.]
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They want to...eat us?
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They might. There's bound to be a few animals that live here that would eat anything that moves.
[Naruto points to her cat. Clearly he's already figured out that it's not an ordinary cat.]
Good thing your cat's here to protect you, right?
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[She glanced back down at Tailmon, who was looking back up at her curiously. Either he really thought that Tailmon was just a normal cat, which meant he'd been teasing her this whole time, or else he suspected something was different about her. Maybe he even already knew.]
Tailmon's always protected me. Ever since we met.
[Although Tailmon's eyes lowered for a moment. Looking guilty. Since we met... That wasn't entirely true. Before she'd learned the truth, she'd actually tried to hurt Hikari. Though there had been something stopping her each and every time.]
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Hikari doesn't seem like one of those owners who dresses up her pet (though what does he know about what normal children do to their animals) so Naruto's simply thinking of Tailmon as a ninja animal. There isn't any teasing in his voice, just cheer.]
That's good. Tailmon is an excellent friend and partner.
[Naruto smiles at the Digimon now as well, not saying anything about the guilty look on the animal's face. Don't worry, if he knew, he wouldn't hold it against her. Even he's had issues with the creature that's been with him forever.]
My name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto.
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She is. The best.
[...and now Tailmon might have been blushing ever so slightly.]
I'm Yagami Hikari. [Placing both hands in front of her, she offered a polite bow of her head.] It's very nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san.
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Nice to meet you, Hikari-chan. [Even if they have some Japanese formalities, everyone in Konoha goes by their first names so he doesn't see himself as being rude for doing so now.] And Tailmon too.
Are the two of you gonna be okay out here or do you wanna stick with me until we find a way out of here or you find some friends?
[Not all children are training to become ninjas so while he's sure Tailmon can look after them both, Naruto can't just abandon them in the middle of a swamp.]
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Would that be okay? I wouldn't want to keep you from something important.
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A huge grin spreads across his face.]
Of course it's okay! I don't really have anything important to be doing right now.
[Besides, he'd feel bad if he didn't help her in some way.]
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Maybe we can find oniichan and the others! [A smile appeared at the thought.] I was with them a little while ago. If I was brought here, then they must be somewhere around here too, right?
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