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.
[ 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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LITTLE BRO!
[ Franziska merely shrugs but then it comes to her in that second. She's standing in front of Miles Edgeworth! That raises more questions for her. Why does he look so different? There's no doubt in her mind that this is her little brother, but he seems to have built up some muscle over time. The scar's something she takes notice of too and she glares at him for it. ]
Miles Edgeworth! Where have you been all this time?
[ That's her cue to try and whip Edgeworth. ]
NNNGGHHOOOH
Though he has combat reflexes now, he hasn't faced Franziska's whip in ages, and so he actually tries to dodge. Unfortunately speed isn't his strong point and the whip strikes him on his shoulder.]
Ouch! [And it doubly hurts because much of his body is bare.] I've been in this blasted place for far too long! [The stories he could tell.]
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[At the very least, Edgeworth's still in one piece. Franziska's just taking her anger out on him because she knows she can. Getting angry because she cares, wow.]
What happened to Sebastian and the trial with Patrica? Some evidence went missing and it's no where to be found. Don't tell me you forgot!
[ Edgeworth had an important role to play too. If he was really here for so long then nothing's adding up. Does time just stop magically? What on earth? ]
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We found Sebastian and the missing evidence. Was that trial the last thing you remember before coming here?
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[ She adds extra enmity to the word "wretched". ]
Although I suppose things turned out for the best. The trial went smoothly after I presume?
[ With Sebastian and the evidence in place there's not much else Franziska's worried about. The PIC's corruption should come to light with that. ]
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Sebastian had a little difficulty confronting his father, but ex-Warden Roland and Blaise Debeste will not escape custody.
[Edgeworth decides to leave it to Franziska to keep pressing him if she wanted. That trial would be okay but Lang had barged in to indict John and Justine for the murder of President Huang. THAT part of the case was still a mess at the point Franziska remembered.
He has to wonder...surely, if Franziska came from the same point in time as he did, she would have heard of the following events...]
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[A smile comes to her expression as she speaks.]
A foolish fool like Blaise Debeste has no right to call himself a father nor can he call himself a member of the law enforcement. He's a despicable man and he should pay for his own crimes.
[They have law for that, and it's something they should trust. ]
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...he only realizes now that she probably still remembers him as having turned in his badge. She won't believe him until he can produce his badge, which he can't do in this ViViD level.]
By the way, there are other people you may know here. Have you encountered them?
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[ Hey, that's Athena for you! This is Franziska's first time meeting Athena personally! Edgeworth might be able to shed more light on that. ]
A peculiar Shrine Maiden seem to recognize you. I hear you're friends with Rei Hino.
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And yes, I know Rei.
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[ She's gonna have a talk with Athena later. Woops. ]
Rei Hino seems to hold you with high regard. I trust that you haven't been doing anything foolish during my absence?
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There is the briefest of hesitant pauses before he can look her in the eye and say:]
Hmph. Of course not. [He's...certain MOST of it isn't foolish, but the rest is probably justified foolishness. It's too long a story to tell within ViViD so he'll save it.]
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You will tell me the details later. There are more pressing matters for us to attend to.
[ Getting out of ViViD comes first. ]
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[On the bright side, nothing bad has happened to them yet apart from being stripped of their clothes and made to wear very revealing swimsuits they normally wouldn't choose.]
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[ She looks at him in the face again and stares intently. ]
You look different. I can say that with certainty now.
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Boy, he must be so different now. There's not much he can say.]
So you've noticed.
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[ Franziska's instincts tell her that she should strike Miles Edgeworth with her whip. ]
Only a fool wouldn't notice the differences. I just saw you a few minutes ago and you looked much younger!
[ This is so weird, it's like seeing your family member go through a time machine. ]
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You said yourself that there are more pressing matters to attend to. My appearance is best discussed later.
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A foolishly foolish fool who knows nothing but foolishness can only be a foolishly foolish fool. You owe me an explanation and I don't want to her any excuses later.
[Wow, chill girl.]
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[This time, he didn't even have time to dodge. He yelps; he's not going to be surprised if he walks out of this sand castle all red from being whipped.]
I never said I wouldn't explain, Franziska!
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