Prologue - Say Uncle
So, this is something me and my brother Tech have been working on together, inspired by him and his best friend - aka the infamous Julie the snow fox - 's newfound interest in an obscure anime called Sword Art Online. I fully expect that no one likely to read this has ever heard of it, so the basic plotline of SAO is that this nutjob Akihiko Kayabara creates the world's first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) and uses it to trap 10,000 people in the fantasy floating castle world of Aincrad, where the only way to escape back to the real world is to beat all 100 levels of the game. Once the final boss had been beaten, Aincrad self-destructed and everyone who had survived that long returned to reality alive and well - yep, I said survived. The twist was that if you died in Aincrad, you died in real life too. When one's HP dropped to zero, a microwave would fry the player's brain, killing them instantly.
Anyway, it got me wondering. What if Skylands had a similar design, similar structure? Obviously there's differences, large differences - for starters Tech already used the VR thing in the original DC so I'm not doing that - though there's similarities as well. All in all, it's pretty different to a lot of stuff on here, though similar to some at the same time. So, this is an introductory prologue chapter - Tech thought it would be a good idea to, since this requires a fair few OCs, post an introductory chapter. The 'submit form' is at the bottom.
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Skylands. A world filled with magic and wonder. A world filled with endless possibilities, infinite potential, legends older than time itself, and nothing that could not be done. A world that was a heavenly paradise to those who lived in it . . . . . . and an unreachable goal to those who didn't.
Case and point, Dr. Peter E. Kritted. We find this ageing man in his study, desperately attempting to unlock the secrets of an ancient artefact.
Dr. Kritted was a professor specialising in archaeology and cryptozoology. He was convinced that the human legends of beings such as dragons, griffins and unicorns had originated from extra-dimensional beings visiting Earth thousands of years ago. And the way he saw it, if a gate had been opened back then, it could be opened now in reverse.
He had discovered a mysterious artefact, composed entirely of a form of blue crystal, in small, a hidden forest in the Alps. Extensive testing on his part, including analysing it's molecular structure, comparing it's composition to other similar crystals and hitting it with a rock, had lead him to believe it was like no other crystal in the world. In fact, that it was not even from Planet Earth. The archaeologist had, in a stroke of 'brilliant inspiration', named it Krittanium.
Dr. Kritted saw the existence of the Krittanium as proof that his theories and beliefs were correct, and felt sure that if he could just find out how to use it, it would prove beyond a doubt the existence of an alternate dimension. A dimension that he, and only he, would have access to.
"All I have to do is get this blasted thing to work it's magic!" Dr. Kritted fumed, bashing his fist into it in anger. As expected, the blow had no effect and he merely injured his hand. "Blast," he cursed, but paused for a second in confusion as he heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. "Who could that be?"
Clattering down the stairs, he almost tripped on the last step and hastily grabbed the banister to prevent himself from falling. Slipping the lock, he swung the door open and came face to face with his younger sister Lucy. "Peter?" she gasped. "Hello, sister dear," Dr. Kritted weakly smiled. "Look at the state you're in!" she demanded.
The man looked himself over. His trousers were unbuckled, revealing a triangle of underwear, his flannel jacket was stained and dirty and the shirt he wore underneath only half buttoned up and in an equal state of disrepair. His feet were lacking both socks and shoes. "I've been extremely busy," he replied, and, anticipating her next question, cut her off in a continuation, "Yes, too busy to worry about personal hygiene,"
Lucy was suddenly worried about her choice. "Well, I hope you didn't forget that you promised to take care of Leo and Madeline for a couple of weeks while I'm out of the country on a business trip,"
She stared in irritation at his blank face and tutted in irritation. "You did, didn't you?" Lucy snorted. "And after all that trouble you surely went to to prepare their rooms," If it were possible, his face grew even blanker. "Brilliant," she sighed. "Leo! Madeline! Get your things and bring them inside!" she shouted. "This is going to end badly, I just know it," Dr. Kritted heard his younger sister mutter to herself as her two children appeared, both carrying backpacks and carrying a large plastic box between them.
Their mother sighed in resigned dismay. "Did you have to bring that with you?" she asked, though it appeared to be a moot point, their uncle noted, as evidently, they did.
"Well, duh, mom!" the older, Leo, retorted. "It's not like Uncle Peter has any Skylanders, or even a gaming system,"
"I think you might be surprised there, kids. Right, Peter?" Lucy demanded. "Er, no, they won't," Peter replied, having no clue what they were talking about. His sister snorted. "I told you to go to the shop and buy some of those Skylanders figures! That way you could play with them!" she commanded in anger.
Dr. Kritted sweatdropped, that was something he remembered. "I'll be right back," he winced, dashing towards the garage and leaving his front door open. "Not right now!" Lucy shrieked at him. "Help the kids get their stuff inside!" she added. "They can take you shopping for those toys later!" She then turned to her two children. "Make sure he does that, okay? And don't let him just spend all the time in that study of his, make sure he actually does things with you,"
"Yes mummy," Madeline nodded. "Like he'll ever beat me and Wildfire," Leo snorted, remiving one hand from the plastic storage box to pat the barely-exposed Skylander in his pocket. "Leo!" Madeline whined, and he hastily grabbed the box again.
Lucy stalked over to her brother and glared him in the face, raising herself on tiptoes to increase her intimidation factor. "If anything happens to those kids, anything, I'll . . ." Rather than words, she drew a finger across her own throat in the universally infamous pirate gesture for slitting one's throat. Dr. Kritted gulped nervously. "Yes ma'am,"
"Good," Lucy whirled back to her kids. "You two have everything?" she questioned, and they nodded. "Good, good. See you two in a couple of weeks,"
Their mother took a second to kiss each of them on the forehead, before returning to her car and starting the engine. Lucy waved and blew kisses to her children as she drove away, and they waved back until the car turned the street corner and vanished from sight.
"Alright, kiddies," Dr. Kritted smiled. "Let's show you inside,"
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Alright, here's the OC Submission portfolio;
Name:
Gender:
Appearance:
Personality:
Favourite/Signature Skylander:
Other:
I tried to keep it simple. XD And my writing will improve that much with my discovery of the magic known as italics! XD Shine bright! Yes, that's my official sign-off. ;)