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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IV-A because clearly he needs to be stuck with his dad
Now he's stuck inside a clear bubble that is definitely not any jutsu he's come across before. And there's someone running into him. Naruto puts out a hand to grab on to Boruto's shoulder to prevent him from falling over inside the bubble. He has already stuck his feet to the bubble to prevent himself from doing the same.]
Calm down. [When Naruto is sure that his son is steady, he lets go.] Use your chakra to stick to the bubble.
[He really should just pop the bubble because they can surely get to the shore faster without it.]
bonding time~
Uncharacteristically quiet, Boruto stares out at the ocean for a bit. At least he's taking up less air with his tiny lungs that way. Between being forgotten by both parents and all the weird things going on in ViViD thus far, he is more than ready to wake up back home now. ]
... This place sucks.
nothing like almost being eaten to do that
Eyes on the water, he tries to judge how far they are from the shore and almost laughs at those words - an unamused one but Naruto holds it in.]
Yeah, it does. The first ViViD place I was in was literally nothing but trash. Got dropped into a trash chute for disposal. Then it was a swamp and this huge tentacle monster tried to eat me.
[It isn't what Boruto meant and he gets that but somehow - talking about feelings while they're stuck inside the plastic bubble doesn't quite seem right.]
sounds like a theme of moby dick
I guess I should consider myself lucky then, huh? Rotten ramen was smelly enough.
[ Shifting so he could see the shore a little better, he prodded the globe a bit with his finger. It didn't seem like it would be hard to pop, but nothing about this place had felt very logical thus far. ]
There's no airholes in this thing.
at least it's not cannibalism.
A corner of his mouth turns up.]
Not nearly as bad as rotten milk.
[Trust him on that. Boruto's mom does a good job of throwing out spoiled food and the entire Uzumaki family should be glad of that because Naruto sucks at it.
He reaches out to touch the plastic. It doesn't seem so tough but if he tried to attack it, it might backfire on him.]
I don't have any kunai to cut it open so we might have to resort to something a little more drastic.
[Something that could be dangerous to the both of them.]
........ YES THANKFULLY.
He looks back over to Naruto, raising an eyebrow. ]
Eh? What'd you have in mind?
NOT YET... DUN DUN DUUUUUUN
[And Naruto knows he's terrible at it - he sometimes wasn't all that great at looking after himself and now he's got a kid to take care of? Here's hoping that Boruto does like ramen because he doesn't know how to make a whole lot else.]
Rasengan. One that's not too powerful in case it bounces back. [He'll have a second one ready to counter it if it does rebound.]
PAPA PLEASE
His eyes lit up slightly at the idea, though the excitement was stifled down as quickly as it had come. Boruto was still riding off of the excitement of having gotten to fight with his father and Sasuke. He had gone from all the shame of losing his title as a ninja to saving the village and he wanted to continue to be of use. To show he wasn't just some burden of a kid to a father who didn't know him as well.
Which is why he's moving across the bubble to come stand next to Naruto as he talks. ]
Eh, Tou-san - we could try mine, if you want. It's not too strong, it shouldn't be too bad if it comes back at us. [ ... If you could... see it, but he leaves that part out. ]
IT COULD HAPPEN, NARUTO IS A WEIRD ENOUGH SERIES
As it is, it's strange actually being called Tou-san without any memories of having a kid but he lets it happen. Others will probably look at them with a ton of curiosity considering Naruto definitely is not old enough to have a twelve or thirteen year old kid. Any of their friends who are here will be surprised... and he doesn't even want to think about what Hinata will think. They only just started their relationship and now he's got a teenage kid. (Someone should probably tell him soon that Boruto is Hinata's son too.)
He looks down at Boruto with intense interest. Of course his kid knows how to do the Rasengan - it's his kid and the Rasengan might as well be a family jutsu at this point. Naruto steps back, as far as the ball will let him without it tipping them both over. There's absolutely no hiding the proud grin that takes over his face.]
Do it. [Even though he looks casual, Naruto is ready for the possibility of it coming back at them. Ready to protect the both of them just in case.]
THIS IS VERY TRUE