Feli's Summer Break Chapter 14: Act 5-1 – The Game Becomes Real, a puyo puyo fanfic

Act 5 Prologue

"No way!"

"Are you serious?!"

"You ran into Monica-chan?!"

"Yep. Pretty much." I said to the fangirl trio the next day at the restaurant while talking about how my date with Yuuta went yesterday.

"Wh-Why was she there?! W-Was it a coincidence?!" Futaba asked.

"She said she was there to do some last-minute promoting for the special last night. Signing autographs and taking pictures and stuff like that."

"Was she this girl with orange hair and a huge happiness aura around her?" Mao asked.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"*sigh* Yep, that's Famitsu."

"Is that her actual name?" Hinata asked.

"Yep. Famitsu Hasumi. We actually went to high school together and were part of the Drama Club. Despite her being just as good of an actress as me, I was completely shocked to find out that SHE got the role of Monica-chan. Working with her again this past week has been…rather nostalgic. At the very least." Mao said that last part with a huge sweatdrop. Making me wonder how she actually dealt with this Famitsu girl back in high school.

Come to think of it, what was Mao like in high school? She never really told me.

"In fact, her being at that waterpark signing autographs and taking pictures is pure classic Famitsu. She always does these types of things to get people hyped up. Despite being told not to do it…like the producer nowadays."

"I see."

"*whine* What?! Why didn't you call me, Feli?!" Amitie whined.

"Yeah! I SO would've wanted Monica-chan's autograph!" Rin added.

"As if I was going to call you in the middle of my first date with my boyfriend." I gained a sweatdrop. "I didn't need a third person randomly showing up in the middle of it."

"Third?" The trio, along with everyone else there, looked at me with confusion.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention…I ran into Risukuma there, too."

"Wh-What?! Risukuma?! Why is he here?!" Arle asked.

"Wait, who's Risukuma?" Hinata asked.

"He's this squirrel…bear…man…thing…that performs a lot of experiments and is an expert on love."

"What the hell…?"

"Well, ain't that sweet! More of them other-worldly freak-a-deaks!" Naoko cheered. "Can't wait to meet dat der fella, ya hear?!"

"Naoko, don't switch to your country dialect during breakfast…" Hinata gained a sweatdrop.

"From what he told me, another one of his experiments backfired and it blasted him all the way here. And apparently, this was 6 months ago."

"6 months?! Wowie…" Amitie said.

"I guess Ringo was right about not seeing him for a good while." Sig added.

"Yeah, but knowing Risukuma, this result isn't all that surprising." Arle said.

"True…" Those of us who knew the squirrel bear agreed.

"If only he would stop using puyos in his experiments…"

"Puyos?" The five Toyama residents asked me.

"Oh, right. You don't know what I'm talking about." I then turned to Arle. "Hey, Arle. Is it okay for them to know?"

"Sure, why not? We already have most of Dream Land aware of what it is."

"Dream Land?" Yuuta asked.

"It's complicated…" Amitie replied.

"You see, in our world, there's this game we play called Puyo Puyo." I began to explain. "In that, you connect four or more of these rainbow jelly blobs call puyos to pop them. In return, they give you power to use for a spell of some kind."

"And if you pop a lot of them in a row, called "chains", you gain a lot of power at once and get to cast more powerful spells." Arle added.

"Puyo Puyo…that sounds oddly familiar." Futaba said.

"Isn't there a video game like that over here?" Rin asked.

"Yeah…but from what I could recall, there weren't any magic spells and it was just "Yippee!" and "Yeehaw!" the entire time."

"Oh, yeah…that was a weird-ass game."

"Knowing this country, it somehow makes sense…" Hinata said with a sweatdrop.

"So, you're saying that you guys play this video game in real life?" Naoko asked.

"Pretty much." I said. "It's basically a part of our everyday lives."

"You basically can't go one day without playing it. It's just THAT common." Lidelle added.

"And you know all know these spells required to play it?"

"Well, each of us has a different set of spells. Hell, a select few don't even have magic powers. But once you get the basics down, it's pretty fun to play. Although, it can get serious at times."

"At times?" The group asked.

"Let's just say…there were moments were a Puyo Battle was the ultimate decision between life and death. Amongst other things."

"Wh-What the hell…?" Was all they were able to respond with.

"And now you know what an average day in Primp is." I said.

"I-I see…" Futaba said. "Well…would it be weird if I said that I wanted to learn how to play?"

"Huh?!" Most of us shouted in shock.

"Get really real, Futaba! You wanna learn how to play Puyo?!" Amitie asked.

"Sure, why not? It sounds fun."

"Futaba, are you insane?!" Hinata asked. "A game like that in our world…who knows what could happen!"

"Oh, come on, Hinata. It worked out for Dream Land, from what I'm getting."

"That's because Dream Land is, for one, SOMEHOW REAL! And it was able to handle something like this because of Kirby!"

"To be fair, we did had to teach them how to play, too." Amitie said.

"Not helping, Amitie!"

"Oh, come on, Hinata. It can't be that bad." Naoko said. "After all, we've got a lot of people here who are experts on it."

"So, you're saying that if anything goes wrong, we could just leave it to them?" Yuuta asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. Well, mainly Feli."

"Don't leave all the work on me!" I yelled.

"And besides, it's only Futaba that's learning it. If it's only her, then it shouldn't be a problem."

"You mean you're not doing it? This is right up your alley for "other-worldly stuff"."

"Yeah, but…Imma not too keen on the whole "life and death" aspect of it, ya get what I mean?"

"I see. And what about you, Rin?"

"I'm totally siding with Futaba!" Rin cheered. "If popping a bunch of rainbow jellies makes me a magical girl like Erica-chan and Monica-chan then I'm 100% committed!"

"Could you at least think this over?" Hinata gained a sweatdrop.

"Come on, Hinata. We promise it'll stay a secret between us." I said.

…

"*sigh* Well, if it stays between us as a group, then I guess it should be fine." Hinata gave in. "This game isn't dangerous is it, Feli?"

"Not really. You just gotta watch out for the Garbage Puyo that will fall over your head."

"Th-The what?"

"I'll explain later."

"Well, in that case, we can start tomorrow!" Rin cheered. "Let's do it, everybody!"

"We can't, Rin. We've got exams starting tomorrow." Hinata said to her.

"Oh, right…" Rin then gained a pale look on her face. "Aw, crap. I-I'm actually gonna go home now. See ya guys later!" She then rushed out of the restaurant in a quick panic without even finishing her food. And knowing Rin, her not finishing her food is a huge sign that something is wrong.

"She just realized that she needs to study extra hard, didn't she?" Hinata asked.

"Yep. Pretty much." Futaba said.

"Hard to believe that she has three learning disabilities." Naoko said. "I had always thought the little girly was only playin' dat der stupidity game. Can't believe it ain't fake at all, y'all know?"

"Seriously, Naoko. Ease it up with the country dialect." Hinata retorted with a huge sweatdrop.

Act 5-1 – The Game Becomes Real

Futaba's POV

"Ugh. I think I failed big time, you guys…"

"You did study, right?" Hinata asked Rin as she was laying on the ground defeated. "You made it such a big deal when Futaba made you tell us what exactly was going on with you."

"I know, but…even though I studied really hard, these damn disabilities kept getting in the way! Especially the Dyscalculia! That one just LOVES screwing me over!"

"You sure have it rough, Rin-san." Ichiko said.

The week of exams were now over and on the first official day of summer break (being a Saturday), residents of both worlds were gathered up at the park for the very first lesson of how to play Puyo Puyo.

It was still only Rin and me participating. But Hinata and Naoko still came along to watch. Along with Yuuta, Sanji, Rei (the girl), Ichiko…and Rin's siblings Eri and Jin. Who, thanks to Rin's big mouth, wanted to see exactly what the hell their older sister was talking about. And so we had to explain EVERYTHING to them and made them promise not to tell anyone. To which, they agreed.

"Alrighty, girls! Welcome to your very first lesson in the basics of Puyo Puyo!" Amitie said to us as she was starting off the lessons. "So, here are the basic rules. The whole objective of the game is to connect four of the same color of these things here called puyos in order to clear them. Clear enough of them and you'll send Garbage Puyo over to your opponent. And the game ends when someone's board is completely filled. Sounds simple, right?"

"I guess." I said as I looked at these five rainbow jelly blobs in front of us. "So, these things are called…puyos?"

"Why does that red one look pissed off?" Rei asked.

"Red puyos are always pissed off. We don't know why."

"They have emotions?" Sanji asked.

"Red puyos are always pissed off. Blue puyos are always sad. Green puyos are always neutral. Yellow puyos are always happy. And purple puyos are always annoyed."

"Annoyed at what?" Naoko asked.

"Again, we don't know."

"They're just odd little things that we pop." Feli added.

"Huh."

"Well, they do look pretty cute." Rin said before crouching down to the green puyo. "Ain't that right, little guy?"

"Puyopuyo~"

…

"Do they normally do that?"

"Sometimes. But that's basically all they say." Arle said.

"I-I see…"

"Yep. This is a weird-ass game." Hinata and Ichiko said with huge sweatdrops.

"I kinda understand why Rin wanted to do this…" Eri said to Jin.

"This game was simply made for her…"

"Oi! Yamete, o ni-ri!" Rin yelled at them both.

"Okay, then. What do we do first?" I asked.

"Well, first off…you gotta have spells to use." Feli said. "Or, in your case, attacks."

"Attacks like what?"

"Well, since neither of you have any magic powers, you could just base them on whatever hobby you like to do. Got anything?"

"Hmm…" Rin and I each thought for a moment. Trying to think of something we can use for attacks.

…

"Okay. I got one." I said.

"Me too! Let's do this!" Rin added.

"Suit yourself. Lemres…"

"Sure thing, Feli." Lemres said. He then took out his magic wand (didn't even know he had one) and spawned more of these puyo things for Rin and me to use. Each of us having a different set.

"We'll start off with a simple 3-chain." He said to us. "Stack up the puyo accordingly and when you think you have it ready, just set it off."

"Sounds easy enough." Rin said. "Let's see who can get to it first, Futaba!"

"You're on!" I yelled as I grabbed hold of my first pair of puyo.

"Ready? And…BEGIN!"

On Lemres' mark, the two of us started stacking the puyo. Remembering that it takes four of the same color in order to clear them and that we needed to make a 3-chain. The latter taking a few trial & errors.

Geez. It's kinda hard keeping track of five different colors while doing this. I'm constantly clearing only a single set of them. If only I could plan out where to put them for like a few seconds before dropping them…

…

Wait…there is that technique from the game. I could probably use that.

And so, I started stacking my puyos in a way that I remembered from that game I played. A way that made it looked like they were in the shape of stairs. And then once I believed I got it right, I used a yellow puyo to "set it off", as they called it.

I hope this works…

(Quick Note: What's not bold are the chants and what are bold are the spells/attacks. Just a head's up.)

"Seeno!"

"Iku yo!"

"Nage-Waza!"

"Kiri-Waza!"

"Kumo-Ashi!"

"Gyaku-Tenshin!"

"Ushiro-Ukemi!"

"Woah…" I heard everyone say as I had realized what I had just done.

H-Holy crap, I did it! I-I actually did it!

"Nice one, Futaba." Lemres said to me. "That's gotta be the first time I've seen someone get a 7-chain on their first try."

"Well…I did remember that video game that played really similar to this. I just applied what I learned from there to here. Though, I am shocked as well to have gotten it down so easily."

"I see."

"W-Wait, what was that just now?" Hinata asked. "Those moves…"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I did some Shōrin-ji Kenpō back in middle school."

"Shōrin-ji Kenpō?!" Both Hinata and Naoko yelled in shock.

"What's Shōrin-ji Kenpō?" Feli asked.

"It's a type of martial art here. Its training methods allow you to kenzen ichinyo. Or "train both body and mind as one"."

"Wow…"

"I didn't know you knew Shōrin-ji Kenpō, Futaba-san." Ichiko said.

"Yeah, it's true." Yuuta said. "But Dad made her stop because she kept breaking everything. She was really into it."

"Hey, it's not my fault we have such a small living space." I said. "Mom and Dad should've gotten a bigger house."

"You're blaming your parents…?" Hinata, Ichiko, and Arle each gained a sweatdrop.

"Aw! No fair, Futaba! I wasn't even ready!" Rin whined as we took a look at her board full of puyos.

And it was…uh…rather tall. A lot taller than mine ever was.

"R-Rin! That's too big! You gotta set off already!" Feli yelled in a panic.

"I'm trying! But I can't get a freaking green puyo to show up!"

"H-Holy crap, that's huge…" Naoko said. "Th-These things don't topple over, do they?"

"No, they don't." Arle said. "But there is a limit as to how many you can stack at once. And if you were to break that limit…"

"F-For God's sake, Rin! Get rid of it already!" Hinata yelled while in 100% panic mode.

"Like I said, I'm try…Ooh, there it is! A green one!" Rin cheered as she had finally got the color she wanted and placed it down. Setting off this massive puyo tower and started clearing some of these puyos.

This is going to be insane…

"Yuki kō!"

"Jigoku un!"

"Hiso!"

"Shiankabutsu!"

"Benzen!"

"Mākyurī!"

"Riakushon!"

…

"W…Woah…" That was all we could say after witnessing that monstrosity of a puyo tower shrink dramatically as Rin showed off her attacks with extreme flair. Repeating the last one over and over…which involved a flask exploding in the air and expelling a MASSIVE purple liquid all over the ground.

So, she used THAT, huh? She definitely caught me off-guard.

"So, how'd I do?" Rin asked. "Pretty good, right?"

"O-Oh, my…"

"N-No way…"

"G-Get really real…" Lemres, Arle, and Amitie said. Still in disbelief of what just happened.

"What?"

"R-Rin…th-that was an 18-chain! The biggest chain you can do without overfilling the board!" Feli yelled.

"For real?"

"No one has ever been able to do it without messing up somehow and overfilling the board…and yet, you managed to do on the first freaking try without even noticing!"

"Woah…that's so freaking cool!"

"But you almost freaking killed us, Rin!" Hinata yelled.

"Huh? How?"

"Well, for starters…what were those liquids you kept bringing out?" Naoko asked.

"Chemicals."

…

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET CHEMICALS FROM?!" Both girls asked in a fit of rage and confusion.

"It's Rin's hobby." I said. "She has a huge fondness for chemistry and she'll conduct these chemical experiments whenever she has the chance."

"It's true." Eri said. "Onee-chan even has a chemistry set at home. She uses it all the time."

"It's basically the only thing she loves as much as the Miracle Cure series." Jin added. "Maybe even more."

"Wow. I never would've thought." Sanji said.

"Yeah, me neither." Rei added. "That's really interesting to hear, Sugihara-senpai."

"*giggle* Thanks, guys. I'm glad I get to express my love for chemicals in a fun and exciting new way. Hope we can all go dokan together!"

"R-Rin, no." Everyone sitting out (and knew what that word meant) gained a sweatdrop.

"You know, I wasn't sure if I could bring this up before, but now…Rin reminds me A LOT of Dalida." Arle said to Amitie and Feli.

"I know, right? The resemblances are uncanny!" Amitie said.

"The light-green & turquoise pineapple-topped hair, the blue & pink customed to their outfits, their love for chemistry…aside for some minor differences, they're completely identical."

"Hey, Lemres. Do you think it's possible that Rin and Dalida are the same person?" Feli asked him.

"Hmm…it's possible. But I can't be too sure myself."

"Huh." Was all the girls said.

Rin looking like someone else in a different world? That's unexpected. And interesting. I might just have to bring this up with Feli at a later time.

"*clears throat* Well, now. Since you girls have a good understanding of Puyo Puyo, I say we end off here for today." Lemres said. "Tomorrow, we'll introduce you to the concept of battling with puyo."

"Battling with puyo?" We both asked.

"That's with the Garbage Puyo you mentioned earlier, right?" I asked.

"That's right. Think you can handle it?"

Rin and I looked at each other for a bit before each gaining a smirk-like grin on our faces as we grabbed each other's hand in pure confidence.

"You ready…Rin Sugihara?"

"Damn straight…Futaba Okazaki!"

"Then let's…"

"PUYO BATTLE!" We both shouted with intense glee.

This is going to be so freaking awesome!

Author's Note: After an 8-month hiatus, Feli's Summer Break returns! This was a story that originally gave up on but really wanted to see completed. And so, two-thirds of a year later, I'm back at it.

I'm going to be adding some changes this time around. Probably gonna remove most (if not all) of the swearing back in the previous chapters. Looking back at them, some of it wasn't really necessary.

I'll also add detailed descriptions of the original characters in this story. Specifically in the endnotes. As that's been something I've been wanting to do.

For this chapter, specifically, Futaba and Rin's spells/attacks are based on their newly-added personalities that I've been working on. They are as follow:

Futaba

Spell 1 - Nage-Waza (Nage Technique)

Spell 2 - Kiri-Waza (Killy Technique)

Spell 3 - Kumo-Ashi (Cloud-Foot)

Spell 4 - Gyaku-Tenshin (Reverse Dim Sum)

Spell 5 - Ushiro-Ukemi (Back-Passive)

She's like Rulue, in a way. Which is great because she's my favorite character at this point.

Rin

Spell 1 – Hiso (Arsenic)

Spell 2 – Shiankabutsu (Cyanide)

Spell 3 – Benzen (Benzene)

Spell 4 – Mākyurī (Mercury)

Spell 5 – Riakushon (Reaction)

Spells 1-4 are all deadly chemicals while spell 5 is a reference to Dalida. I've said in a previous story that the two are near identical to each other (the main difference being their personalities). And this will most likely be Dalida's spell list, too.

Thanks for reading. Later.