Full Summary:
Welcome to Hyrule: A story about living out any Zelda geek's dream come true.
Two young women, best friends Kristie and Pheno, won a sweepstakes that got them the tickets to be the first people ever to test out and play a game that has become a global phenomenon and has the internet absolutely buzzing-
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Welcome to Hyrule
No, it is not some virtual reality game that requires a headset and a comfy chair. No no no, this game is a full immersion adventure that drops the players right into a full-scale model of the entire country of Hyrule. Players must defeat holographic monsters, solve puzzles, outsmart bad guys, wander the giant expanse of Hyrule Field, get lost in the Lost Woods, and dig around tall grass for Rupees. In short, this is your chance to actually stick yourself into the game and play all the way through.
So of course, Pheno and Kristie are ecstatic, being the first to test the game out. What Zelda fan wouldn't be?
Though something goes wrong as their adventure progresses. Something very wrong. Something that makes the monsters able to draw blood and their fake swords able to cut flesh. Something that sends them to a place they only thought existed in a game. Something that is supposed to be just a game.
...
Well.
Welcome to Hyrule.
This is actually mostly just a way for me to practice my writing while givin' my buddy a present, since this is about the two of us being total geek-oids, hurr hurr xD I thought it'd be cool to post it up on my fanfic page since I need to update more things here anyway. Feedback and constructive crit is always amazing (but if there are any typos, noting every single one of those doesn't really count as concrit xD) I mean structure, pacing, all of that. Any tips would be wonderful :3
Anywho. Enjoy, I suppose. Ho ho ho.
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The two girls were surprised at how quickly the paper-signing went. In all honesty they had been expecting a stack that would take hours, at least. But as the two friends sat at a heavy wooden desk in a small, boxy office with bare walls, they found themselves pausing over the last sheet.
Well, it was to be expected that they were asked to sign a waiver. It could supposedly be a dangerous game, what the two of them were about to step into. The company running it would not take any responsibilities for any injuries the two of them might ring up along the way, and they wanted the girls to know it, plain and simple. Lawsuits were never fun, so getting that bit out of the way was a good idea right from the start.
The hesitation lasted only a split second, and the two scrawled their names on the right lines, and placed the waiver on top of the small 'finished' pile in front of them. The instant they did, the door in front of them, on the other side of the desk, swung open, and in walked the tall man, Charles, whom had led them along this far.
"Paperwork all done then?" he asked, grinning wide, business suit unwrinkled, blonde hair neatly trimmed, face cleanly shaven.
"Yyyep," drawled the smaller of the two girls, her short red hair bobbing a bit as she nodded, glasses staying put on the bridge of her nose.
"Wasn't a whole lot to deal with in the first place," said the other, placing one hand on the wooden armrest of her chair while the other brushed back the ponytail of dark hair off of her shoulder and back to its proper place behind her.
"Makes things easy, doesn't it?"
"I guess," the dark haired girl began, smiling a bit as her friend cut in, saying the words that had been spinning in her mind for weeks now.
"So does this mean we can finally start?" the red-head asked, steel eyes wide and unblinking, like a child begging its mother for something expensive and wonderful for Christmas, all that hope and excitement so evident behind those irises. "'Cause I'm ready right now. You ready?" she looked at her friend.
"Yes, Kristie," she laughed. "Calm down for a second."
"Ican'tcalmdown."
"Yeah I know."
"Yes," Charles grinned. "Yes, you can begin right away if you want. I'm sorry for the delay yesterday. You were supposed to start then, but one of the main virtual cores was acting up and we had to fix it."
"No worries," said the dark haired girl with a wave of her hand. "I'm probably going to miss bacon and eggs for breakfast for quite a while anyway, huh?" she grinned.
"Pheno shsh," Kristie hissed. "Don't jinx us. We might get bacon and eggs. You never know."
"Yeah. Okay, sure. You ever see bacon and eggs in the game?"
"…Well we still might get some."
Charles cleared his throat and the two narrowed their attention back on him. "Your gear is in the other room. We can suit you up whenever you're ready."
"Shit if I'm not ready," Kristie all but sprung from her chair, the wooden thing creaking across the floorboards in a rush as Pheno pressed her own chair back and stood. "Shiiit if I haven't been waiting for this for like. My whole life. Am I right, or am I right?" she grinned, looking at Pheno.
"Oh, you're totally right."
Charles motioned for them to follow and the two left the desk, their finished paperwork, and the door they had come in through only a short while ago from the outside world. A world they wouldn't be seeing for what could be a good long while.
The second door led into another room, and though a big larger than the previous room, the look of it changed dramatically. It felt as if you were stepping back in time; the wood was old and worn looking instead of polished and brand new, and where there was paint it was cracked and dry looking. There was a countertop at one end, like that of a store, and a door beside it. The dull din of a crowd could be heard just outside, and sunlight filtered in through the cracks around the sides of the door.
Charles stepped up behind the counter and began digging around behind it.
"You start out with these, of course," he said, and placed two pairs of thick leather gloves on the counter. "As well as wrist braces, these are also how you track your health," he told them as the two girls snatched up the gloves greedily, slipping them on and grinning wide when each was a perfect fit. "The three leather bands may feel a bit strange at first," he went on, reaching out and tapping at Kristie's wrist on one of the thick, strong bands that covered her wrist and a good part of her lower arm as well. "But they're important, seeing as how they protect your health meter. Turn your left hands. Palms up. I need to turn them on."
The two girls did as they were told, all but bouncing on their heels, eager for him to really just stop talking so they could walk out that door, but at the same time overly fascinated with what else they were going to receive.
Charles took out a small remote from the counter and forced the black button down over each of their upturned wrists in turn, and as he did so, three red lights came to life beneath a thin layer of leather, bright enough to see clearly. The lights were shaped like hearts.
"You start out with three," Charles went on, putting the remote away. "I'm sure you know you can earn more as you go along?"
"Yep yep," Kristie nodded.
"We both played through most of the game as soon as we found out we won the sweepstakes for this," Pheno nodded. "So yeah, we know."
"Oh, good," Charlie grinned, pleased. "You also get these." When he lifted two short swords up from the guts of the counter, the two girls all but buzzed, reaching out and taking the weapons eagerly. The swords were very light, and the blade smooth, not sharp at all. Even the point was dulled, and the handle was wrapped in something soft. "When you fight something, you don't have to worry about actually cutting it of course. Everything you run into, for the most part, will be holographic. Everything else…well, you'll have to figure out what to do with those enemies when you reach them."
The girls continued to buzz, looking over their new lifelines, excited.
"You can also buy different weapons if you want, during the game. Might be a bit expensive, some of the ones you can choose from, but save up I suppose. Some different weapons do more damage, or have some other extra feature on them. You'll have to keep an eye out for things like that. Oh! Also."
He lifted up two pair of boots then from behind the counter. "Like your gloves, they're designed to fit you perfectly."
While the two girls took the boots, he cleared his throat again. "I'm sure you read that this is a full immersion type game. A sweatshirt and jeans won't really work." He looked over both of them, and at the hoodies they both sported. "The changing rooms are right back there," he nodded towards a small door in the back of the room beside a rickety looking table. "Here are your clothes. When you're changed, leave your old set on that table, and we'll hold them for you until you're both finished with the game."
"How long do we have again?"
"Long as it takes," Charles shrugged. "Oh, or," he began, perking as if remembering something important. "of course, when or if you want to quit. We're not forcing you to complete anything. If you want to stop, you will be let out. Don't worry about that. If you are injured, again, we'll either escort you to the nearest hospital or toss some antibacterial bandages your way. Whichever you prefer. You read the papers on that."
He paused.
"…Though…try. Not to get injured. Please?" He laughed a little. "You are our first players, winners that you are. It would be a horrible mark on our record for the first group to try the game to get hurt. Just be careful. The terrain can get a bit tricky, but we've downsized some things to make them…well. Not deadly." Another laugh. "Do you have any questions? Any more concerns we didn't already talk about over the phone?"
"…Uhm." Kristie glanced up at the ceiling, thinking.
"How much would all this cost if we hadn't won that drawing?"
"Oh, quite a bit," Charles said truthfully. "But honestly the price isn't set in stone yet. The first few players will probably get some sort of discount, and as popularity to play increases we may lower prices if enough people come in. I mean. The place is certainly large enough to hold many, many players at once. And then we would get those who would just like to explore."
"But we get it all to ourselves, right?" Pheno arched a brow.
"Completely," Charles nodded.
"Oh maaan," Kristie squeaked, voice shrill. "Okay. Okay, I'm all good."
"Alright then. I'll leave you to it. If you have any questions, feel free to stop by this office while you are in the town. It doesn't count as backing out, coming in here. Oh! One more thing, I'm sorry," he held up a hand as the two girls turned to head back for the changing rooms. "I'll leave these on the counter for you," he said, placing a couple small, paper-thin squares on the countertop. "Maps. I almost forgot about these. They give you your location, in case you're lost. There's also a feature where you can ask it for a hint about where you need to go next if you're stuck, and a small dot of light will appear for you as an answer. Though as soon as the voice command is made, you lose one heart of health as a consequence."
"Pffft, hints," Pheno scoffed.
"I know right," Kristie grinned.
Charles circled back around the counter and went back into the small office-like room with the desk, leaving them alone. The girls entered a small hall-like room for changing that reminded the two of the sort in clothing stores, and hopped in their own stalls.
"Can't believe we're totally doing this," Kristie hummed, looking over her new clothes for the first time. Gray pants that came with a leather belt, gray-green undershirt and a dark brown overshirt that was meant to be held together by only a few buttons at the front. "Man I'm gonna feel like such a girl in these," the girl joked.
"Pft." In her own stall, Pheno rolled her eyes. "I was half expecting them to hand us some sort of skirt…thing. Yeah, that wouldn't have worked."
"I'd up and mug someone and steal their pants," Kristie said with a laugh, shaking her head. "Oh shit! Sports bra! Least we get these, huh?"
"Seriously."
Along with the actual clothes, they each found a small backpack made of a thin enough leather that it was able to be folded and hidden among the clothing. They each threw those around their shoulders and adjusted the flexible leather straps.
When they were done, they left their old clothes, folded up in neat little piles, on the crooked table like they were asked. They each took their own maps off of the countertop, the material stiffer than paper, but glossed as if laminated, a small white circle marking their places on the detailed picture of the country, flashing every now and then.
"These are kinda cool," Kristie grinned, and reached back, placing her map in her floppy backpack, Pheno doing the same with her own map.
And without another word, the two girls moved across the creaking wooden floorboards to the door that led outside, and pushed it open, stepping into, what the brochures called it, a full-scale, traversable, true to the game model of Hyrule.