Hello and welcome to my newest multi-chaptered fic! This one will hopefully be very interesting for you all to read and for me to write.
Enjoy!
Warnings: Hmm, I do love me some AUs... oh and an OC
~I do not own TWEWY~
"The Wonderful World is soon to be the hottest virtual reality game around and is produced by none other than Gatito's CAT himself! Enter this world, inspired by major cities like New York, Paris, and Tokyo, and fight alongside your friends against the Reapers! Realism is at a whopping 99%! In stores today! Warnings..." The voice then trailed away at a volume and speed that was impossible to pick up, much less decipher.
Neku grumbled in discomfort as the crowd in front of the store started cheering as the doors opened and the lights flashed on. He stood apart from the group, trying to look as if he was there by coincidence, though he wouldn't have fooled anyone with his limited edition CAT designed headphones and t-shirt. The fact that he was standing in front of this store at 5 A.M. in the morning was a dead giveaway.
"Welcome everybody! Oh, are you here for CAT's new game, too?" Neku silently nodded as he fiddled with the headphones around his neck.
The employee grinned broadly. "Great! Since you're here on the first day, it'll come with the sleeping headset for free. Lucky you, huh?"
His attempts at a conversation were met with an irritated stare and silence and finally, the employee shrugged in defeat. "...I'll go get it for you."
Neku didn't respond as the man walked away, grumbling under his breath.
He carefully placed the headset on his bed before plopping down and opening the instruction manual. He grinned slightly to himself. Even the manual was designed by CAT and was adorned with rising skyscrapers and the words The Wonderful World in graffiti style text.
He flipped through the booklet, skimming the text and picking out what he needed to know.
"Mom! Can I use Dad's computer?" He shouted, too lazy to get up and ask her.
"What for, honey?" Mrs. Sakuraba asked from her son's doorway. She had been walking by his room when he suddenly shouted.
"I need to make an account for this game," he explained, holding up the booklet and gesturing to the headset.
His mother frowned in return. "Why don't you go out and make some friends instead of playing some video game? I'm honestly thinking that this CAT person is preventing you from properly socializing with kids your age." Neku grit his teeth, but didn't respond. He and his mother had this conversation many times before and he knew how it would end if he provoked her.
She just didn't understand that his idol was the only thing that kept him moving forward whenever he fell into a pit of despair in his short life. They were mother and son, but they were vastly different, with separate thoughts and values.
She would never see things in his perspective.
"Can I use Dad's computer?" He repeated, his face a perfect mask, devoid of emotion.
She frowned at him, her eyes blazing with irritation before melting into a sad, blue hue. "Sure, just don't break it or anything."
"Right," he mumbled and walked to his father's study.
The room was relatively small and was covered in a thin layer of dust. No one had used this room in a while.
Neku cleaned the dust off of the computer and turned it on. As he waited for it to boot up, he doodled in his sketchbook that he had brought along. The page was already littered with human figures and buildings, but was predominately filled with graffiti-like scribbles. He was putting the last touches on a snake that spelled the word "hip" when the computer beeped, reminding him of his original purpose in this room.
He opened the Internet and went to the official Gatito website. CAT's signature Brainy Cat greeted him as he found and clicked on the game's logo on the page.
Welcome, are you making a standard or a challenger account?
'Challenger?' Neku wondered and clicked on the ever helpful blue text that read What is a challenger?
A challenger is a special account where the player must defeat all of the major bosses in The Wonderful World. Players will have a time limit of 30 days and if they are to die at any point of the game, they will suffer from an automatic game over. There is a limit of one challenger account per person.
"Why the hell would anyone want to do this?" Neku muttered as he scrolled down.
Challenger accounts have more privileges than a standard account and grow far more quickly. However, if the player fails the challenge, the account will be immediately terminated.
"Harsh."
Those who succeed, however, will be allowed to keep their accounts and will win a front row seat to an exclusive CAT art exhibition as well as meet CAT himself.
Neku stopped, his pencil dropping to the floor with a loud clatter as he reread the last sentence.
Meet CAT himself.
He quickly returned to the previous page, missing the "Challenger" button multiple times in his haste to click it. He quickly filled out the personal information page and checked the terms and conditions box without a second glance.
Who really read those?
The next page made Neku stop for the second time that day.
It was a survey to determine the player's personality. The player's stats and abilities were decided based on what would suit them the best, leaving it in the people's unsuspecting hands. The questions ranged from simple ones like "What's your favorite time of day?" to odd ones like "If you were shrunk to the size of a raisin..."
Neku had little trouble filling out the first half of the survey- often filling in the "other" option due to many answers being as bizarre as the questions asked- but at the second part, he was slightly unsure. It requested a "friend or close associate" to fill it out about the player.
Neku briefly pondered if it would be worth the trouble of asking his mom to do it and instantly decided against it. It would give her more reasons to force him into making "friends." He filled it out himself, mumbling quietly under his breath.
"Friends... Who needs 'em?"
Neku grinned excitedly as he laid down for bed. He took deep breaths to calm himself and checked his clock.
It was 9:00 o'clock.
It was a weekend, so his mom wouldn't bother him in the morning about oversleeping, and since he was playing this game, that was almost guaranteed.
He put the on his headset and turned it on. He then closed his eyes and laid back as he waited for sleep to claim him.
"Welcome to our wonderful world! What's your name, cutie?" A perky voice chirped, forcing Neku to groggily open his eyes. "What the hell..." He muttered, feeling completely disoriented.
"Ooh, a carrot top. Is it natural?"
"Huh? ...Uh, yeah," Neku answered as he slowly rose to his feet. "Who are you?"
The voice belonged to a black haired girl who was wearing an odd blue-green dress that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie. She was also wearing an earpiece with a mic attached to it.
"Me?" She grinned. "I'm Haruka, the GM in charge of your avatar personalization! You can call me Haru-chii if you want," she added with a wink.
"GM? What does that stand for, game master?" Neku asked obliviously, his brows scrunched up in confusion.
Haruka studied him critically and gave a disappointed sigh, "What a noob. It means game moderator, obviously."
He scowled at her. "Whatever, let's just get this over with," he snapped.
"Why is it always the hot ones..." She muttered quietly to herself before turning back to him, a bright smile in place. "Right! Since you're a challenge player, you have more options in terms of your avatar. Do you want to-"
"How I look now is fine," he interrupted, tapping his foot impatiently. He noticed her eye twitch slightly in irritation but she quickly brushed it off. "Riiight... Well, here are the available clothing choices you have. Clothing power ups are decided randomly for a starting player, so pick one you like," she said, waving her arm with a flourish toward the floating clothes that suddenly materialized in front of him.
Some of the clothes were traditional kimonos and yukatas (how the hell could he fight in those?) while others were more modern and looked similar to Haruka's futuristic dress. He carefully looked through all of them before deciding on a simple black and blue themed sleeveless shirt with a turtleneck and a pair of white shorts. They would be comfortable to move in.
"Should I put these on now?" He asked Haruka, holding the clothes up, expecting a changing room to suddenly poof into existence.
"Oh no, I'll do that for you," She chirped, her grin mischievous. "Have fun in the game!"
"What do you-" He broke off as his vision suddenly begin to swim and darken. He must have dropped the clothes as he collapsed on his side, but didn't feel anything- not even pain- as he drifted off into sleep for the second time that night.
Exposition, go!
Concept and idea is very similar to the manhua 1/2 Prince, but oh, this will be nothing like it. *cue evil laughter*
Haruka is an old OC of mine. You'll probably never see her again, so you can forget about her. :3
Please review! They feed my dying muse... ;w;