You know what everyone needs after rampant robotic attacks and another iteration of clone wars? A vacation! That’s right everyone, you deserve this. CERES understands what you need. CERES is here for you all the time, so never doubt that this is a pleasure colony, and they are here to look after all of your needs. Kick your feet up, relax, and let CERES Recreation and Activity Necessity Keepers (Team RANK, that is) set you up with your ideal getaway.
It’s as if you can sense the incoming relaxation and luxury before you even completely finish loading. There’s the warmth encompassing your entire body as your code gets transferred into this particular ViViD Level. A cool, refreshing breeze hits you. The sounds of waves gently lapping against the coast fill you with relaxation. The sun, the sand, the surfs, it’s all there – welcome to the beach, baby!
An echoing greeting message from the ocean comes next, if you can translate it.
 OOOOOOOOOOOOHMAHH GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHD.
YOOOOOOOOOOOORRRALL SOOOOOOOOOOOOO KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT.
KYOOOOOOOOOOOT EEEENAAAAUUUUUUUF TOOOOOOOOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.
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PHASE I [ 08 00 ] That said, isn’t that breeze a little… too strong? It feels like it’s brushing up against all of you, if you know what I mean. When you open your eyes and look down, it becomes rather clear why. It seems that you’ve found yourself in some pretty interesting attire. Everyone. No exceptions. You appear to have two options – be overcome and scream like the Victorian maiden your heart says you are, or strut like a model in this stuff. Turn some heads! Work that up do!
But don’t worry, we’re also conscious about safety here at CERES! Therefore everyone’s also been provided a pair of super high-tech safety-tested appendage protection floatation devices (STAPFD for short.)
At least everyone around you is caught in the same sort of attire – and everyone around you also appears to be stuck inside a giant sand castle. It’s entirely malleable to what you want it to be! Want to see a fancy sand bidet? Feel like adding a sand statue in your honor? Think that wall should now be a door? Well, with enough perseverance, you can make it happen!
Just uh, be careful about getting sand in your… everywhere.
PHASE II [ 1000 ] Someone broke it. Not pointing any fingers, even though you sure do seem like a prime suspect, but someone broke it.
It almost starts like an earthquake with how the castle starts to rumble, the sand shaking right beneath your feet. And then the walls right next to you start to cave in followed promptly by the ceiling right… above your head. Oh dear. The sand starts to run and fall, losing its structure and shape. The hallway behind you starts to cave in, ceiling first and then the walls follow suit. Now the sand really is getting everywhere – but not just uncomfortable places. It’s in your hair, your eyes, your nose…. this sure doesn’t seem like a pleasant way to go!
Best to start running – there’s a trusty drawbridge to get over the moat (because what’s a sandcastle without a moat?) but who knows how long until that, too, is going to give way? Best to cross over it before it starts to shake and disappear too. Or if you don’t make it, hopefully you can land some pretty impressive airtime to make it to the other side!
If not, well...there'll be the sensation of sand crushing down upon you, filling your mouth and eyes, and you won't be able to breathe at all – and then you're alive again on the beach (but possibly in yet another new, uncomfortable, skimpy swimsuit). Honestly, be more careful, would you?
PHASE III [ 1200 ] However, once you do make it to the other side, it’s all smooth sailing from there! Or is it? Hah, as they say, life sure can be a beach.
Which is what this is.
Welcome to your Beach Episode, folks. Now that you’ve made it out of the collapsing sand castle, you’ve made it to the luxurious, picturesque golden coastline. Sure, you’re coughing up fine, luxurious, sand dust right now and you’ve definitely gotten sand in all of your crevices thanks to your swimsuit, but that’s okay! Go take a soak in the ocean or something or cool off with a smoothie. There’s a smoothie shack off into the distance, complete with a long chalkboard with… well, probably a few familiar names? And some unfamiliar ingredients. Sounds appetizing right?
That said, once you do ingest some of the smoothie with the name of a newcomer, you might suddenly find yourself feeling a bit… different. You’ll be taking on some of their traits, one of the most intense parts of their personality – or you might need to take a second to sit down because you’re suddenly seeing one of their memories. Whoa. What do they actually put in this stuff?
PHASE IV [ 1500 ] For the brave souls that venture out into the water, you have even more adventures waiting for you. Anyone who’s swimming around, wading in the water—hell, even looking at the water is getting scooped up and deposited in one of these giant orbs. But don’t take up too much room, because someone else is getting shoved right in there with you. Time to get cozy with your new friend, because it's only going to get worse as the waves begin to carry you out into this big, blue, virtual ocean. Hopefully the choppy waves don’t bounce you around too much or – well, you could always get really friendly with a stranger! Why not?
At least until it’s made very clear that fresh air does not make it back into these balls. That seems like a bit of a design flaw. Now what? Fight the other person who’s inhaling all your air? Suffer through it for swimsuit-clad fun? Or if you break it…. well, you sure are stranded out in the ocean. Or are you?
After enough flailing, you’ll be met by a giant, dumb-looking creature who will then eat you whole.
Everything goes dark. This is surely the end --
And then you're in Cerealia proper; it seems that was the exit to the level (but why there?) and you'll find yourself either in one of the fountains or the pond in the park. Either way, you'll be very, very well. And this time, that's not virtual. But hey, at least you'll have all of your stuff with you.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Do you hear that?
Anyone idle on the beach will hear a distant melody coming from further out into the ocean. It’s a beautiful, elegant song that automatically makes the listener stop what they’re doing and immediately wander toward the noise. It takes you a moment to recall – it takes a moment to think about anything now, really – but you remember hearing the smoothie shack owner say something about mermaids populating the beach. Could this be their song calling out to you? Whether you would normally abide by this kind of call or not, you find your feet walking further and further out into the water, the shallows lapping up to your ankles and up and up as you are drawn in by the song.
A rather classic song, though the usual instances of French are also replaced with the very enticing, enchanting nonsense promise of omelette du fromage........and then they try to drown you.
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no subject
But nope, she doesn't even recognize that name. Seeing as it's not her. She is Sapphire.
She'll do a little more shouting and looking around, but lucky for Steven, she ends up spotting him herself anyway. And then she's quickly approaching him because — man, she's at least glad to see a familiar face. And a Pokemon. ]
Steven? S'that you? [ It took her a second to recognize him in that clothing (or lack there-of)— ] Ya gotta help me! I can't find my Pokemon! [ She just ended up here without them and her clothing and anything else she had!! ]
/2
[ no, his first glance was incorrect. upon a closer inspection, this young lady is definitely not the may that he knows. while the resemblance is almost frighteningly uncanny, the way that she speaks and presents herself is hardly in line with the young hero-trainer that he knows and saw across the hoenn region.
it brings up a lot of questions, many of which he's already formulating theories for. she seems to know him, and that says quite a bit already... ]
no subject
Let's calm down for a moment. Your Pokémon are most likely fine - what you're seeing right now is an illusion.
no subject
And it's hard to calm down when her everything isn't here. Sapphire is not particularly the best at calming down. Sorry, Steven. ]
Whaddya mean it's an illusion? [ Okay, maybe some of the things here are a little ridiculous, but — illusions can't get rid of whole Pokemon like this can they ... ] And what makes ya think they're fine if ya can't even see 'em?!
no subject
[ despite the discomfort of the situation, he's quite calm himself. hopefully some of that will rub off on her soon... hopefully. ]
This world is notorious for playing tricks on those who aren't accustomed to it. Barring Cradily, my team is missing as well. Still, I'm confident that we can find them all with patience.
[ it's by complete chance that cradily is with him at all - he had her poké ball at the ready when he entered ViVid, predicting that having at least one at the ready would be good preparation for whatever was to come. thankfully, he was right. ]
Surely you trust my word?
[ that's a piece of information that he'd like to know. does this girl even trust him at all? ]
no subject
She listens to him, clearly still a little impatient and worked up but she's trying!! Though she feels kind of bad that he has to ask if she trusts his word. ]
'Course I trust ya! [ And then back to being a little panicked because this just brings up other issues entirely. ] Wait, so what yer sayin' is all that stuff they just told me was true?!
[ What about their world and the Pokemon and her family and friends and Ruby and — ]
no subject
still, the very idea is daunting to think about. while the idea of other universes has been clearly debunked with those that he's met in cerealia, the idea that there are ones that are similar to his own in structure, and yet subtly different... it echoes what zinnia told him back in hoenn, and pings of guilt are beginning to arise in the back of his mind. for the time being, he keeps them there. ]
Good. [ though he should probably figure out her name at some point. ] To an extent, yes. There are still things that we don't know, but do take the idea of our worlds being destroyed with a grain of salt. There's plenty of evidence that says otherwise.
no subject
Alright, I'll try not to worry 'bout it. [ At least not too much. ] What're we s'posed to do in the meantime then?
[ She can't just hang around in this weird place doing nothing. And she needs all her stuff back anyway! ]
no subject
At the moment, we should focus on finding our way out of this simulation. Once we're back in the colony, we can talk at length - I have quite a few things I'd like to ask you about.
no subject
Ya do? [ Is it about the final battle or something maybe? Who knows. ] I'll answer anythin' ya want once we get to that colony place then.
[ But for now ... getting out of the ... simulation. Thingy. Whatever that is. ]