So… Here's a concept I haven't attempted and then trashed 20 times already: Take Gaming for Glory, my most successful fic ever, and attempt to use what I've learned since I started it back in… 2015?! Wow.
In 3 years, I've had some time to reflect on the failings and pitfalls I blundered right into, the memes and tropes that were 'edgy middleschool stuff' that I cringe at now and the merits of a greater focus and direction, and also some ideas I've observed since starting GfG that I wish I'd opted for originally.
So, having changed beta readers a few times, and my latest, greatest and loveliest one having been upgraded to my co-author-
Hello! 'Tis I, Saraphima! =^W^=
-and with her help to filter though the ideas, keep track of plotlines and tell me that whatever I have is outright bad, I figure we give this a whirl and try and do Cobalt the justice I never did him in 2016-17.
Movement and awareness are somewhat tricky in an infinite void with nothing to move relevant to, and nothing to be aware of.
Which meant that I was grateful for the beam of light in the world of formless nothing. Throwing comparisons to the 'journey to the centre of the heart' sequences of a well known game series aside, for lack of stained-glass floors, I approached what may have been the most boring and mundane setup for what struck me as something really important.
It was a simple wooden desk, like I'd expect to see in some executive's office, with a pen, several official looking documents with a lot of dotted lines and boxes to fill in, a mirror, and a locked attache case.
There was a flash of blinding light- and once I had blinked the spots out of my vision- I saw that a figure had appeared in front of me, lighting up more of the void as the being appeared to be made of molten gold, sitting in a large padded desk chair clad in leather that wasn't melting ro catching fire.
"Let's get this over with; I'm known as Aurum, and my masters have seen fit to give you some… special privileges." the being said, voice indicating she was female.
I tried to find my voice, but couldn't.
"This comes down from the top, dead guy. You're going to be one of our first for some new augmented reality system they've been cooking up. You know Gamer? Yeah, we're doing that." Aurum continued
"...like, Ryuugi gamer?" I asked
"Yeah, sure, whatever makes you happy Kiddo." Aurum said "Gotta say, you're taking the whole being dead thing rather well."
That caused a flux of various emotions that took some time to sort out before I merely said "It'll sink in later."
I noted that Aurum had come bearing a contract, but most anything made of liquid gold didn't strike me as demonic… but angels didn't come bearing contracts, especially not the eldritch horrors that were the Enochian 'literally anything but winged people' angels… and there really wasn't enough tentacles, mouths, eyes, or Sanity damage to really make me believe she was outright Lovecraftian eldritch either. The Fey folk were a maybe… but gamer was too logic-driven and rigid for the naturally unpredictable, everchanging Fey, and I would be surprised if fairies had so much as heard of vidya.
Having narrowed it down to some modern pantheon of polytheistic 'old' gods, I felt a little better, but was still wary of getting screwed over… because religion-non-specific god knows how many times that'd happened.
"So… what do you need?"
"Fill out these forms, look at the mirror to redesign your dumbfuck face, and then see if your stupid ass can figure out the tutorial and stash the attache case."
"Why are you so hostile?"
"Fuck you."
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed and looked over the form. If ever there was a thinly disguised 'Enter your character's name here' window, this was it. I picked out a name, pulling from an old roleplaying alias for some details. Oddly enough, my age was already printed at 17.
"That's for 'Story' purposes" Aurum explained when she saw me hesitate at that part.
I grumbled and got on with creating my new 'me'.
The mirror provided a more 'traditional' interface, 'holographic' buttons appearing around the hand mirror's edge, allowing for some really in-depth customisation.
Deciding I had no glaring flaws I really wanted to correct, and knowing I was design-blind enough to make that if I tried editing my face too hard I'd go flying straight into the uncanny valley, I decided I was probably going to keep my face and general look as it was- average height, thin build with some muscle, short, straight brown hair, a short 'bit beyond stubble' beard-, but still gave the options a once-over.
The temptation to fall back on the old Guy-In-Real-Life habits was surprisingly difficult to resist, but ultimately I decided against it. Instead I looked at the race options and saw a grand total of two: Human and Beastkin.
"Story." Aurum said
I sighed and looked over beastkin, and found some odd rules and a warning about being the target of racism, but at the benefit of great stat boosts- better senses in general, nightvision, boosts to my dexterity, agility and strength with no real loss in intelligence... Being the munchkin I was, I decided to make the mandatory animalistic trait a pair of bright blue fox eyes. They'd be hard to spot and I liked foxes, okay? They're cute… even if they were the canid (technically vulpine) equivalent of cockatoos (and other large noisy parrots).
Now a stealthily disguised Beastkin, I was presented a choice of weapon. Previous thought experiments and some debates had tempered my initial enthusiasm for spellblade styles, at least when playing Gamer. In the end, sacrificing endgame spellpower for physical prowess was just not worth it, and worse still, CoDzilla was still a thing you could do, assuming layering buffs didn't make your arms explode or something… and even if it did, cool magitech robot arms and telekinesis.
As I opened the tab to make my choice, I did a double take when all that appeared was a wooden stick that could loosely be called a "dagger". Not even a proper branch to beat a goblin or rat over the head with or shape into a crude warclub or blackjack, but a wooden 'icepick'.
And to top it all off, the thing was blunt.
It was official, I was going to do my level best to murder Aurum in her sleep.
"Good luck with that. I'm an essential character."
I grabbed the attache case as I began to brainstorm fates worse than death to make her regret her choice in immortality. A few quick tutorial messages popped up, and I followed their advice, using the menu that appeared on the underside of my forearm whilst I held a special handsign to access my inventory, the alrge panel appearing mid-air and moved the thin metal briefcase to my inventory. This opened up the storage, and dumped the attache case's contents into my inventory.
A New Beginning
Find Headmaster Ozpin
I immediately felt the need to perform the 'bows of frustration' at the realisation of what had been sat there, staring me in the face all this time.
"You fucking bit-"
There was a flash of light, and all Cobalt saw before disappearing was Aurum's shit-eating grin.
Cobalt Lucis Jinn stumbled as he appeared in a forest, quickly taking stock of his surroundings before freezing up when he heard a deep growl close behind him.
An Ursa rose above Cobalt, who immediately threw himself forward to duck under the bear-grimm's swipe.
"Aurum you bitch!"
Clawing his way up and away from the grimm, lest it slam its apws onto his chest and kill him that way. Cobalt scrambled for room to pick himself up and run. Unarmed, untrained, having never seen a normal bear in his life, let alone a grimm grizzly?
Aurum could get fucked if she thought he was going to fight. He wanted a big gun that shot chunks of lead measured in single-digit fractions of a pound before he took on an Ursa
Unfortunately, some kind of forcefield blocked his attempts to flee, and forced him to face the music... The music that sounded a lot like roars and growling.
If he couldn't run, then he was going to have to try something bold and stupid. Grabbing the stick, he followed age-old advice: "Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!"
Screaming his best impression of a warcray, Cobalt surged forth and got batted aside by a paw. Ignoring his scratches, Cobalt charged again and ducked back as the Ursa tried to slam him into the ground with its paws before attacking desperately with the stick.
Later he would question how he- a civilian schmuck- had the balls to do any of that, and discovered that Gamer's Mind was suppressing the worst of the fear and panic responses, and put him in the mindset of someone playing his life as a game.
Glynda's eyes widened in horror while she was flipping through video feeds, drawing Ozpin's attention.
"Glynda?"
She wordlessly turned her scroll towards Ozpin, causing him to freeze up and for him to drop his coffee mug.
They shared a look and Ozpin nodded. "Go. We can't let a Civilian get killed- today of all days."
Glynda nodded and leaped off the cliff, floating down like gravity's pull on her was lessened, pulling out her riding crop to clear her path and prepare for battle.
Desperate to win, Cobalt had taken several nasty claw wounds already, figuring the trade in health for another chance to attack the Grimm's eyes was worth it in the end, or he was fucked anyways.
Attacking once more, Cobalt dodged a swipe, twisted out the way of the follow-up charge and turned on his heel in time to get run over.
Now underneath the grimm, Cobalt was as good as dead, and he attacked it as soon as he possibly could, swinging the 'pick' with as much force as he could muster.
By some chance, instead of glancing off the armoured eye socket, Cobalt's stick struck straight and true, blinding the Ursa who reared back and roared in pain, freeing Cobalt.
Seeing an opportunity present itself, Cobalt grabbed a rock and leapt onto the Ursa's back before bringing it down on the end of the stick, and, like killing a vampire, drove his stake straight into the ursa's think-case.
As he rolled free of the collapsing corpse, Cobalt was in no condition to fight any longer and knew he was losing a lot of blood; but he'd done it. With zero experience, training, and with nothing but a blunt stick, He'd managed to slay a small Ursa. He'd gotten phenomenally lucky to do so, and he was under no illusions that by all rights he should be very dead, and was soon to rectify that if he kept bleeding everywhere.
Still, the relief was palpable, and Cobalt even managed a small whoop of celebration... right up until Mama Bear showed up.
Cobalt felt his stomach sink, and he prepared himself for death until A woman wielding a riding crop emerged from the bushes and grabbed it with what he could only guess was telekinesis, and snapped it in two before it could so much as stop roaring.
"I think I love you" Cobalt said in his delirium before passing out.
Cobalt awoke in the infirmary, to a rousing declaration
Welcome to the Gamer ARG v0.9.16
You are well rested! XP gain and health regen x2
You have slept in a medical area, rest effectiveness and well rested bonus x2
During your sleep, you were trained in the skill Aura
Aura creates an energy shield that slowly recharges outside combat
That didn't stop Cobalt feeling terrible. With a groan he collapsed back into his bed. Eventually, he had to pull himself up, and face the music.
He groaned as he tried to sit up, dull pain lancing through him as alarms started beeping around him, likely calling the nurses and doctors. Cobalt paid them no mind, painfully shifting himself into a sitting position.
Instead of a nurse or a doctor, however, Professor Ozpin entered the room. At the same moment, a quest started
Playing the Game
-Make Ozpin believe you are a potential major player in his game with Salem.
"So, how are we doing?"
"I feel like shi- death warmed up, but I suppose that's to be expected. I don't suppose they left… I dunno about codeine, but heavy-duty paracetamol tablets would go down a treat right now."
Ozpin reached to Cobalt's bedside and handed him a pair of white tablets and a cup of water, and waited for Cobalt to finish.
"Thanks… now, I'm sure Ozpin the great and powerful has a lot of things to do in a day, and paying courtesy visits to randos- even randos who manage to down an Ursa- isn't the sort of thing you'd concern yourself with." Cobalt said, trying to sound like he was more experienced than he was.
"And what, exactly, do I concern myself with?" Ozpin asked
"The usual enigmatic finishing school headmaster stuff. You know, paperwork, dealing with student shenanigans, letting a certain silver-eyed 15 year-old girl join Beacon. You know, normal things."
Ozpin narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Cobalt "How much do you know?"
"That there's a buzzing, incessant reminder that the weave of fate swirls around team RWBY every time I look at them. And enough to know the would-be queen should be stopped as early as possible."
"You are precognizant?"
Cobalt made a noncommittal noise. "Time is not set in stone, ser. We are who we chose to be, and make our own decisions. As I move or peer forward in time, I can only choose one amongst the infinite sea of possibilities, an ocean vast enough to make even the most well-constructed minds pull apart attempting to grasp at its enormity. Not to mention that the very act of forecasting the future- as you are suggesting I do- would change it, no?"
Ozpin pursed his lips and moved to be in front of the window, facing away from Cobalt as he considered Cobalt's words.
You have gained a new skill!
Bullshittery
Level 22
The ability to pull lies out of your ass and get away with it.
Unknown to Ozpin, Cobalt quickly navigated his menus to get a bearing on his situation. He came across his settings menu and had to suppress an eye twitch when he spotted the option for Gamer's Body being set to off.
Visions of turning Aurum's fingers into expensive rings entertained him as he moved to turn it on. Immediately his injuries sealed and the pain all but stopped, dropping to a dull ache like he'd gotten a bruise instead of narrowly avoiding being mauled by a very large, very angry, and very evil bear.
Bonus Objective:
-Pull a Batman
Cobalt took a while to figure out what the system wanted, until he remembered Comissioner Gordon. Looking at the doors and seeing it was particularly heavy, Cobalt crossed out actually escaping, and went to his next best: hiding.
Looking around, and seeing no handy closets or anything, Cobalt went for the old classic. Making sure to replace the blankets to seem like he'd just vanished, Cobalt laid out the attache case he was meant to give Ozpin, and hid under the bed.
Ozpin turned around to ask Cobalt his next question only to do a double take at the empty room. Looking around, Ozpin saw only a metal breifcase that hadn't been there before, and curiously, saw that it was unlocked. Opening it, Ozpin frowned when all that was inside was some sort of plastic device with a small screen and a single button. Below it was a note that simply said "Use in Emergencies Only".
Cobalt stayed perfectly still, trying to avoid breathing too deeply for fear of giving himself away, watching his Sneak and his rapidly developed Aura Suppression skills slowly ticking up as he successfully hid himself from what he could only guess was some level 200-odd monster of a man; and listened as Ozpin called someone on his scroll.
Cobalt listened intently, ignoring Gamer as an Eavesdropping skill appeared and began ticking up from the 'super intense training' he was receiving in its use, and was glad that Ozpin had switched to video call. He purposefully didn't read it right at that moment because he knew that what Ozpin was saying was important, wouldn't be repeated if he missed a bit, and the human brain could only process one language input at once, and if he tried to read it he'd miss the conversation.
"Glynda, did you see our guest leaving the medical wing?"
"No. Why?"
"He must have teleported then" Ozpin said
"He's not there?"
"No."
"Who is this guest?" A voice that sounded like Ironwood said.
"Yesterday a seemingly random civilian appeared during Beacon's initiation." Ozpin informed Ironwood
"And this is important, why?"
"All in good time, Jim, but if you must know, he claims to bear some knowledge of the future, of Miss Rose's early recruitment. He even knew about who he called the 'would-be queen'. I suspect that's the person responsible for the attack on Amber."
There was a silence "What are you suggesting we do?"
"He clearly knows a lot that could hurt us if he joined this Queen he spoke of… but he came to us, and mentioned wanting to stop this Queen. I think we should leave him be for now. He could prove to be a very powerful player in this 'game', and it wouldn't do to scare him off. We keep an eye on him, and, if he proves to be genuine, we extend to him an invitation."
"Is that it?"
"Jim, you know as well as I that you can't cage a person who can teleport. Remember Raven?"
James grumbled angrily at the mention of her name.
"What if we have to kill him?"
Cobalt could practically hear Ozpin rolling his eyes.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that, James. If his powers are as I suspect he could well be as powerful as me. You do not want to fight someone like that."
Cobalt made a mental note to rush out haste, dangersense and teleport spells ASAP. Cobalt returned to Ozpin's conversation to realise that he was walking out the room already. He listened as Ozpin walk out the door and he counted to twenty in his head before peeking out from under the bed and seeing the room was empty now.
Now he had to make good his escape. The window was the obvious choice, no doubt he'd be seen exiting from the door… and no doubt there were more than enough cameras to document the entire thing… so Cobalt quietly opened the window, and poked his head out.
"Remember: Just aim for the bushes… and do it better than Sam Jackson and the Rock did."
Cobalt carefully climbed out of the window, and using all his nonexistent skills in parkour, promptly got tangled up in the bushes.
Quietly ignoring the fact his health bar was now visible in the bottom left of his vision and angrily blaring at him, Cobalt stumbled from the bushes, scratches and bone breakages eliciting little more than a horrid crunching noise and a brief spray of blood.
Cobalt caught his breath and quietly choked down the pain as both his tibias and fibulas shattered and reset themselves in the space of less than a second. He still made a strangled, pained noise despite himself.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah… Aura caught the damage." Cobalt replied, half telling the truth.
Looking up, Cobalt stared directly into a face of that could only belong to Coco Adel. Behind her was the rest of her team.
"You jumped out a window. From three stories up" Coco said
"I said a few brash things and I'm trying to avoid someone whilst they cool off. I need to get into Vale so I can lie low for a bit." Cobalt said. The best lies were always more mis-truths and omissions than outright fabrications.
"Uh, sure." Coco said
"Look, I don't really have a lot of time… I need to make it to the airship pad, and the best way to go unseen is to move with a crowd… could you guys help me?" Cobalt asked, trying to look convincing and hoping his charisma check came through okay.
As Cobalt said his goodbyes to team CFVY and boarded the airship, he couldn't help himself but look for one of the cameras. Finding one pointed straight at him, he couldn't' resist being cheeky, and waved directly at it with a big self-assured grin.