A/N: Yes this is my first TWEWY fic, and yes I know it's a self-insert. I normally don't write self-inserts beyond One Failed Hero and Legacy of Failure. However I'm currently at AAU Nationals for Tae Kwon Do and the tension and stress level is reaching a boiling point. So I decided to write something to diffuse the tension and prep for my competition tomorrow. So here it is, my first TWEWY fic. I'm using events that have happened so far here at Nationals to get started since that was the best bit.
Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You; if I did Joshua/Neku would be more than implied.
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Day One: Morning Raze
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The rain came poring down, cats, dogs, chickens, and frogs. I could barely see where I was going through it, my feet splashed through the dirt and oil laden puddles. The cuffs of my Tripp pants snapped with the force of my stop under the drawbridge, I still had another street to cross before I could even think about stopping. The missing credentials under my jacket made a faint jingle as I pushed my hood back. Nothing like a downpour in Florida to get you soaked. I ran across the second street on the other side of the drawbridge, the rain drowning out the squealing...
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Yoshiya Kiryu, Joshua as he preferred, stood atop the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center, the rain avoiding him comfortably. Now that Shibuya had been perfected it was time to find a new place to play a game. After all the Higher Plane was a rather dull place, and the Realground accompanied by the Underground provided endless entertainment. He turned to his companion and smiled, "well this should prove interesting, right CAT?"
"I don't see why we have to Compose this Game. We deserve a vacation after Shibuya." The artist known as CAT noted.
"This is a vacation, the sun the surf, the strong vibe I sensed on arrival. It almost reminds me of Neku with it's potential." He smirked, "so why not play a Game of our own? We each pick a proxy, and whoever's proxy survives, wins, simple right?" Joshua turned his head and put a hand by his face in his trademark, 'I'll be changing the plan as we go' look.
"Fine, well I was getting bored not making any coffee!" CAT laughed and rubbed his scruffy chin. "Shall we go proxy hunting then?"
"I'll alert the Reapers to get started," Joshua smiled, "this could be interesting."
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Noise... chaos... what was going on? Cars, waves... people...? My eyes opened and I sat up rubbing my head trying to shake out the sand. I sat on the beach, how did I get here? When? What's going on? I tried to clench my hand but a pin pricked the skin, it flew open to reveal a black pin with a stylized skull on it. "What?" I held the pin for a moment before a sense of dread washed over me, and the volume in my head cranked. I stared at a group of people across the street at a shop of beach clothes. The noise died as I lost sight of the pin. I gazed down at it again and the volume picked up. I put the pin up to eye level, and the volume held steady and a series of red shapes floated around. A large shape with even bigger tusks floated by and I tried to touch it. When I did I was faced with huge black dragon that had escaped from a tattoo parlor. The head and a lot of the body had been replaced with tribal designs, I gave the artist credit, but then it launched a gigantic torrent of pitch colored fire.
"Bad, bad, bad!" I threw myself to the side and rolled out of the way. Something fell out of my hood when I did so, my Vincent Valentine plushie. I scooped it up and held him close. But then the plushie jumped out of my hands, landed on the ground and glanced back at me.
Help me fight! We must be one! His voice resonated in my head.
I moved my right hand back and raised the left one to assume a fighting stance. The dragon charged forward and I sidestepped then threw a solid kick. My plushie leaped into the air and kicked the dragon, the beast flew and crashed into the ground. But it stood up and snorted, "Um I think we got him good and pissed." I snatched up Vincent and turned tail. My legs pumped while the dragon roared and took off into the air. I put Vincent in the hood of my jacket and ran hard. The dragon charged after me and I dove around a street vendor. The dragon let out a round of fire and I pushed through a group of partiers on the street. Not through like past but through like a ghost. My palm itched and I stopped to scratch it, only to find a counter on it with 30 minutes and 40 seconds on it. Then the dragon roared and I remembered I was supposed to be running from it. I dove into a back alley and stopped to catch my breath while the dragon stuck his neck in but fell short, it launched another round of flames and I climbed the fire escape on one of the buildings. The dragon glared at me, snorted a puff of smoke and slinked away. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket then it blared out the ring tone.
I had 50 new text messages, all from the same number, 000-000-0000, I wondered who that could be so I opened the first message.
"Head to the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center, and obtain the red ribbon of authority. You have sixty minutes, fail and face Erasure.
- The Reapers"
My hand twanged and I pulled it up, the timer read 15:42. I had wasted forty-five minutes running from that dragon and sleeping. Shit, where was the convention center? I climbed to the top of the building and stared around. One of the road signs indicated the Convention Center was towards a massive bridge not too far away. The tops of sailboats poked over the trees, a water system? The convention center was clearly over the water, maybe a speedboat could work... Unfortunately the smell of singed hair filled the air, and one very pissed off tattoo dragon came at me full tilt, I started to run but I hit a wall. A wall of what? NOTHING! I was stuck between nothing that wouldn't move, a wall of invisible whatever, and a pissed off dragon.
Vincent sprang out of my hood and I jumped up and launched a combo at the beast, but it dodged and roared again. Shit, I was gonna be food before I could even get in a solid hit... When a blue vortex erupted and I felt myself tied by an invisible string with someone else. I landed and I tried to attack the dragon again, this time when Vincent hit it with a flying sidekick it disappeared in a flurry of static. A split second after a young man, about my age stood and pushed his fedora back to reveal a pair of dark tinted glasses. He had a button down shirt, vest and sandals on, which seemed oddly appropriate for a beach go-er. "Thanks for that," I smiled slightly, something told me that he was the one who'd created the blue vortex thing.
"No problem, Partner," he smiled and held out a hand. "Name's Hane, that's ha like a laugh and ne like a horse."
I shook it, "nice to meet you. Name's Wallace, though Ace is what I prefer." I introduced myself. "And this is Vincent," I introduced the plushie settled into my hoodie, clutching my shoulders.
I touched where the wall was and found it gone. Okay, what the hell? I was stopped by air?! O-okay... Well either way Hane had just saved me a one-way ticket to being the next exotic meat on a grill. "So then Ace, are we off to the center or what?"
"Right sorry," I shook the thoughts out of my head. "Hane was it? You know where we're going?" I stared up at the sky when the clouds shifted darker.
"Yes, now if you'll follow me we only have fourteen minutes to get to the center and fulfill our mission." He smiled at me and we ran towards the nearest dock two blocks down. Hane climbed into a boat and started to rev the engine of a small motorboat. "Unhook the mooring line please."
"This your boat? And what was that dragon?" I asked dumbfounded.
"The mooring line, or do you want to be Erased?" He glared at me from under his small black fedora.
I undid the line and hopped in the boat before he started to turn and we sped along the waterways towards the bridge I saw earlier. "You still owe me an explanation."
"That dragon was a Noise, a sort of monster built out of the negative emotions of people who've been erased." He pulled the boat hard to port for a short cut. "And no, you and I have commandeered this boat for our own gain."
"Right... and I suppose there're more of those dragon things flying around?"
"You're curious, I like that, but one thing at a time. After all we're running out of time." He noted and we passed under the big bridge to a port with the largest swordfish behind it I have ever seen. Okay it was a statue but that was one hell of a fish. Hane jumped out of the boat and took off running. I climbed out and followed him over a pair of chain link fences to the convention center. As it turned out the statue was part of a fountain, and apparently there were three fish rather than one. I chased after Hane but I missed the curb and fell. Hane reached forward and took my hand before I hit the pavement.
As soon as Hane grabbed it a person in a red hoodie walked forward with a pair of black wings growing from their back. "Objective met," he turned and walked away but then a sense of dread overcame me. I turned and shoved Hane out of the way as the swordfish from the fountain lunged at us head on. But this swordfish was orange with maroon stripes, but the stripes reminded me of the tattoo dragon. Hane pressed something into my hand before he vanished. Vincent hopped out of my hoodie.
Are you ready? He asked mentally.
I nodded and set in a fighting stance. "Let's go!!!" I leaped into the air and threw a flurry of kicks. The fish reeled and then lunged again, the nose grazed my shoulder with a jagged edge. I dropped to one knee but kept my legs kicking. I needed something electric and the storm brewing overhead was perfect! I concentrated then hoped that the lightning would hit the massive fish. At that moment a bolt of lightning shot from Vincent's left hand. I blinked but had no time to focus on that. The pin in my hand started to feel warm and I looked at it distracted. "Well worth a try!" I concentrated the power from the pin, through me to Vincent. At that moment Vincent changed, from a cute little plushie to a giant purple wolf with a red mane and two black horns. He charged for the fish and let out a wave of fire. The fish flailed for a moment then disappeared from view, a pair of pins dropping to the ground.
I ran over and Vincent climbed up into my hood, I picked up the pair of pins, one was blue with a big yellow lightning bolt in the middle of it, the other was a black and white, with some grey, picture of the massive fish. I held them for a moment then stood as Hane hovered over me, "take your pick," I held up the two pins.
He took the fish pin and I pocketed the lightning, "thanks, now let's get going."
We ran inside through a door marked with a styled skull and a painted X. I frowned and stared at my hand, 9:02, and we still hadn't found the red ribbon of authority. "Now what could the red ribbon of authority be?"
I stared around, a lady in a suit with a red tie was leading a whole pack of people dressed just like her. I thought for a moment and watched people bowing as they passed. "The tie! They've clearly got authority but it's worth a try!"
He smiled and walked up to one of the younger people in the suited throng. "May I borrow your tie for a moment? I'm trying to find mine. I lost it in the laundry the other day and haven't seen it since then."
He took off his tie, "sure, why not."
My hand twitched and I noticed the timer had disappeared. "Did we do it?"
"Yes Ace, we've finished day one," he replied. "One down, six to go."
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Day One: Morning Raze
End
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A/N: Well Day One is over, I think this will end up being seven chapters for seven days. So now it's onto day two! And don't worry, other TWEWY characters will be showing up too! ^_^