Author's Note: Hi guys!
I thought I'd try my hand at writing a fanfiction for a crossover of two things I like a fair bit (why not hey), and hopefully I don't abandon this immediately like everything else I do (I procrastinate on procrastinating. Don't ask me how).
If you want to leave a review, go right ahead. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but if you feel like submitting an OC, send it in thru a PM.
Thanks guys!
-FF-
June 23rd, 2024
2:45pm
3 hrs 36 mins before FF incident
As Alex looked over his birthday haul once again, he was content with what he saw. For a 16th birthday, a NerveGear rig and a copy of the newest VRMMO game, Fallout Federation, was almost overkill. His parents were well-off financially, but the NerveGear would've still set them back a pretty penny. But then again, after the overwhelming success of the Japan-exclusive Sword Art Online, it was practically a faux pa to be without a rig of your own.
Fallout Federation was the highly anticipated sequel to Fallout 5, which drew massive praise for its immense map size, integral dialogue system, and general freedom to do whatever you wanted in the wasteland of New Orleans. However, this promised to be all Fallout 5 was and more, with improvements around the board, a map rougly the size of the United States, and a global server which would soon hold up to 3 million people, with universal translation technology. The list went on, and the creators were surely filling their pockets with the funds from the now 2.2 million worldwide copies sold.
However, there was only one way to find out whether what Bethesda and Obsidian were saying was true, and that was by diving in. But, the launch wasn't for another 3 hours, so Alex still had some time to kill. He scampered down to the beach for a while, hitting it off with a few ladies, before heading back without a single phone number. Alex thought he was charismatic. Alex was, apparently, quite wrong. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn't ugly per say, but he wasn't exactly a golden boy either. He was slim, but no six-pack. He was tall, but yet, was still shorter than half of the guys in his year. He had a sun-bleached dirty-blonde hair which mopped to his shoulders, but not the classic surfer complexion. He had good teeth, but his nose was all out of joint from the countless times it had broken, being hit with shoulders, knees and the occasional fist. He didn't get into fights very often, but when he did, he always seemed to cop one in the nose. Of course, his avid interest in rugby didn't do it much help either.
Sighing, he turned away from the bathroom mirror, and walked over to his bed. 4:15. 2 hours is more than enough time to create a character and go for a wander right? He chucked on a comfy shirt and some tracksuits, flopped onto his bed, and flicked the Nervegear on. His mother would be home soon enough to unplug him for dinner, and so he glanced out the window to the beach below, watching as the waves rolled in lazily. He smiled a half-smile, and lay back on his pillow. "Link Start!" He said, and instantly he felt his world give away from under him.
Alex found himself standing in a white space with countless menus popping up and closing before him, before finally a quick opening cinematic began to play.
An image of Vault Boy flashed in mid air. "Hello Player! Welcome to the world of Fallout Federation, the biggest global VRMMO to date with currently over 2.4 million logged users and counting! Before you jump into the wasteland, there are a few things you need to know" a voice stated with enthusiasm, and the image flashed to one of Vault Boy posing as the Thinker. "Step one; you'll need to choose a name. It may be tempting to just use your real one, but we at Bethesda recommend an Alias that will show up to those who aren't on your friend's list. Step two; you'll need to create a character. We have worked to make the character creator as flexible as possible, but there is also the option of recreating your real body's image to use or modify from. Step three, the longest step, is to go through the S.P.E.C.I.A.L Test! This involves using a combination of real-world and game-assisted abilities to determine your base stats for the game. After that, it's off into the wastelands with you!" The voice continued. The initial image popped up again, as the voice once again spoke. "Once again, thank you for joining us on Launch Day, as such you have been given the gift of 3 extra S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points to allocate as you like in the game! We hope you enjoy yourself!" It stated over some cheery music, as the room morphed into a character creator screen.
At the prompt, Alex input his full name, Alex Bowman, and entered the alias Bowman. He used this alias because he used it for everything else, why not this? Plus, it was a name that he would already instinctively respond to, were someone trying to catch his attention. Once in the actual creator, Alex used his own body as a template, and then began sculpting what he believed was the peak version of himself - rippling muscles, tall and heroic stature, tanned to perfection, symmetrical face, a true 'lady killer'. Once he was content with his mass of sex appeal, he continued onto the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Test, and was first greeted with a room that looked similar to the gym he sometimes attended. The system walked him through numerous exercises and regimes, and was left with a Strength Stat of 5, Agility of 2 and Endurance of 7. Then the scene changed, and he was greeted with a warehouse-style space. He was instructed to find a way out and take any valuables with him along the way. He found numerous hidden caches of caps, bullets and varying degrees of weapons and armour, and stumbled across a hatch to let him out. After this exercise, his Perception and Luck Stats were revealed, at 7 and 5 respectively. The scene then changed to a lecture hall, where a young female professor was teaching a subject on who knows what. After attempting to bullshit his way through most of the class, and his shoddy attempts to get the teacher's phone number, his Intelligence and Charisma were revealed, at a shocking 3 and 1 respectively. While mostly content with his results, the Charisma stat astounded him. Sulking a bit, he felt the scene change again around him, and began to enter the wasteland for the first time.
June 23rd, 2024
5:04pm
1 hr 22 mins before FF incident
The first thing he noticed was the smell. It was musty, yet sterile at the same time, like a storage chest in the attic that your grandfather kept his memories in, mixed with the smell of a doctor's surgery. When he opened his eyes and looked around him, he was met with pale, cold, metal walls that encased what he presumed to be his bedroom. In said bedroom, he saw 3 other bunk beds, and multi-levelled dressers for each of them. So, I guess this is my starting vault. Not bad, I wonder what number it is? Alex pondered, and quickly checked his inventory with a press of his Pip-Boy. He was met with minimal stuff - an empty Nuka Cola Bottle, 30 caps and a Vault 553 Jumpsuit. Vault 553? There's this many vaults? Wow, I was expecting something in the low hundreds! he thought, slightly taken aback by the number on his suit. Looking in a mirror, he saw the reflection of a man who looked familiar, yet different at the same time. Of course, it was just him, but a better version. V2. Yeah. Exiting his room, he looked over the railing of a connecting walkway to the large, bustling common area below. He saw people of all different shapes and sizes, girls and boys, and all different races. Hell, he even thought he saw a few Ghouls chatting up a group of cutesy, busty girls - whether they were actually girls or not was another story entirely. In a way, he was happy he kept similarities to himself in his avatar - should he meet anyone in game who he'd meet outside the game, he'd like it not to be too much of a shock, and hoped that others had similar mindsets, but it was hard to tell with gamers.
While focusing on the crowd below, he barely noticed a group of what could only be described as frat boys clambering towards him. Using his instincts, he turned and hugged the railing to allow the large group of larger guys barge past. This prompted a window to open on his HUD, stating 'Awareness levelled up to 2!' Huh, so its a progressive levelling system, but it still has S.P.E.C.I.A.L. menus? Interesting concept. Alex thought bemused, as he began towards the masses below him.
As Alex pushed through the hordes of people in the commons, Alex noticed how unaware some of these people were. He saw on at least 3 separate occasions people getting blatantly pickpocketed, and yet, they remained unaware. Well, I guess a few extra resources couldn't hurt he reasoned with himself, and began looking for a target. One ditzy looking buxom blonde was caught up chatting to a group of 6 mountainous men, and was visibly quite overwhelmed. Moving in and engaging sneak mode, he dug into her inventory, and was surprised at the amount of caps she had. It was then when Alex noticed the stolen tag attached to at least 200 of them - she was robbing the men herself! Steeling his resolve, he took 120 of her stash of around 300, and slipped away into the crowd. He retreated back to his room, and found a dresser marked "Bowman's Dresser". It was a personal storage that had a permanent link to his avatar, so no other players could access it. He dropped his stash of caps into the dresser, and went back down into the crowd.
After another half hour or so, Alex had accrued a large sum of 648 caps, and even an Auto 10mm Pistol from an unsuspecting guard. His Pickpocket level had skyrocketed to 8, and his awareness and sneak skills had also increased to a decent Level 3. As he prepared to go back for another trip, another window popped up on his HUD. 'Attention Players! A major server announcement is about to take place! Force teleport to Vault Commons will occur in 20... 19... 18...' Surprised, Alex grabbed his amassment of stolen goods, and anything else of remote value in his room that wasn't nailed down. With an inventory full of caps and junk, he felt himself blink down towards the common room, and found that he was secured in place. Attempting to pickpocket didn't work either. A guard took to a platform that extended out from the wall. "Please refrain from chatter as the server announcement takes place. Outbursts will be dealt with by a temporary mute. Thank you for your co-operation" he said in a monotone. As he finished, a figure emerged behind him, in a bright royal blue and gold jumpsuit that read 'Overseer' on the chest, but, less noticeably, there was a faded but copious amount of blood around the neckline. He began to speak.
"Hello players! Welcome to the world of Fallout Federation! Now you may have been expecting an appearance by Todd Howard or another member of the Bethesda team, however unfortunately, they have been... predisposed of. However, don't fret my fellow players, because they had their usual mediocre plans for this game. It would receive a few DLCs, and then it would be left to eventually bleed out and die. However, some of my peers and I have decided that treating a game like that just won't cut it, especially considering how much this game has to offer. And so, we've decided to... well, pretty much take you hostage. To make this the most realistic world possible, we've removed the log out button. This is your world now! In fact, to increase the realism, the pain absorption will be decreased, and the microwave receptors in the rig have been repurposed to kill you should your avatar's HP reach zero. Now I know what you're thinking. 'Holy shit, he can't be serious! I have *insert responsibility here* to get to! I need to see *children/family members/friends* again! I know, we'll just kill them!' Well, even if one of you managed to come close enough to our level during the... half hour or so of the vault doors opening, we've enabled god mode on ourselves - and only ourselves - for the first month of the game, more than enough time for us to return to our base of operations and begin maintaining the game."
"So. If, for some reason, you do want to leave the game, the only way you can do it alive, is to clear the game. What do I mean by 'clear'? You need to eradicate the Institute from across the wasteland, and also clear every outpost of Raiders, Gunners, Ceaser's Legion and so on. However, feel free to join up with these groups, as it was programmed in for a reason. Now, enough blabbering. The vault doors will require opening, and if it is not achieved within 10 minutes, the entire Vault will be gassed. Good luck players, you'll need it." The figure said with great enthusiasm, an enthusiasm which was not shared with the rest of the crowd. "Oh, and one more thing, check your inventories, there's a little... gift from us, to you. Enjoy!" he added briefly, before retreating to the Overseer's office. The crowd instinctively equipped the gift, named 'A Piece of Reflective Glass', and in a flash, the shape and size of the crowd changed again. Alex felt his heart sink, as he stared back not at the lady killer he had created, but at himself, and saw others encountering the same dilemma. This was not good.
Suddenly, the unfreeze occured, and chaos ensued. People rushed towards the door of Vault 553, and the higher Strength players attempted to move the door aside by hand. Intelligence mains took a look over the door controls, looking for any clues to leave the vault. Some ran to their rooms, crying and embracing their demise. Alex scanned the entire expanse of the vault, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small hatch marked "Emergency". He immediately bolted up the stairs, and made for the hatch. People followed him as he went, and tried to push past, but Alex barely made it first, and he leaped up towards the door of the hatch. It came open with a bit of force, and he began up the old rusty ladder, followed by countless others. Peeking his head out, he found himself in what looked like a train corridor, yet there were no tracks or signs of trains in sight. There was a door to his left, which he shot open, and sprinted down the stairs towards the bottom.
When he arrived at the bottom of the stairwell, another door met him, which he swung opened with ease. He burst through it, and was surprised to see the other side of the vault door. There was another set of Vault Controls, which were on a platform connecting to the door. Looking it over, he spotted a 'Low Power' warning, and looked for a connection. The wire that connected the control panel to the fusion generator was frayed, and sparks were flying everywhere. Examining the wire, a prompt appeared on Alex's HUD, saying it required 5 intelligence to repair it with his current resources. Sighing, he opened his skill menu, and invested 2 of the extra 3 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points into intelligence, and activated the prompt. It took a few seconds, before the wire appeared fixed, and the controls lit up. He plugged in his Pip-Boy, and smacked the 'Door Release' button. It creaked open, and a flood of dwellers spewed out of the opening, and before too long, the vault was empty. However, the gas had started to release, and so he reactivated the door, and it rolled to a close before the toxin could escape. As the door shut, he found a small (...) icon next to his name. When activated, a menu appeared which read 'Titles', and the first one on his list was 'Savior of Vault 553'. He smiled, but it was no sooner wiped off his face as an inhuman roar echoed throughout the tunnel system. He may have been out of the frying pan, but he was right into the fire now.
A/N: Well, that was interesting. I'm keen to write more, so I'll upload another one soon.
But until then, drive safe, and catch ya later :3