TWEWY OST: Underground
Day 1 Chapter 1: Underground
Looking around the plaza, Rip had yet to see anyone that seemed out of place, so he tried to leave and try his luck elsewhere. The whole thing was weird, being here among all these people, yet not being there at the same time. Makes the name Underground kind of appropriate.
Flashback
"The game will be played in a place we call the Underground or UG" Explained the Reaper up on stage. "Think of it like a parallel world next to the world of the living. We call the living world the Realground or RG, and you'll be able to see and hear what's going on in the RG, but you won't be able to interact with it directly. In fact you'll find yourselves exactly like ghosts, passing through people and most objects, though not things like building or fences."
Present
Three of the plaza's exits had force field-like walls that Rip was unable to pass through, which annoyed him greatly. The plaza has a hexagon shape to it so there were still three more that were open. Now that I think about it, he thinks as he turns towards the large tower visible over the buildings on the opposite side, those paths lead away from the goal, so it kinda makes sense they're closed off. He goes over to the closest exit for the plaza, one of the three leading toward the tower, though slightly off to the side. I still have no idea how I'm going to find a partner just walking around like this, and it's not like I can take my time.
Flash
"The game will start on Sunday, so in 2 days; it will take place over the course of an entire week" Rip heard a few groans at this, and he didn't blame them but them asking for this to be over quickly was a bit much. "Each day you'll all be given a mission by the Gamemaster via your smart device, the details will change between days, but they all have a time limit, and all players will share the mission for that day. That means if any player clears that day's mission it's cleared for everyone, but only those who contributed to the clearing will get points for it based on the amount of contribution. Still, if no one clears the mission for the day, then all of you, every single player, will be erased when the timer hits 0.
And there's the big catch, thought Rip. We'll basically be competing against each other to complete the missions, when they'll likely need cooperation to complete.
"That being said, there are other ways to earn points besides the missions, however I can't tell you those. Think of them like hidden objectives, you just don't know if you achieved them until the end."
Present
57:32...31
The timer on his hand was slowly counting down, they hadn't quite mentioned that part but it was easy to keep track of. Even so he couldn't even start the mission without finding a partner.
Flash
"Oh and before I forget everyone is required to find a Partner and work in pairs at a minimum. Otherwise you won't be able to fight the monsters called Noise, yes you'll have to fight monsters. If you don't think you can handle that we can always erase you here."
Now Rip was stunned; they expect a bunch of normal people to fight monsters all of a sudden? Forget fighting against each other this is even worse, especially if you can't find a partner or they're dead weight.
"So when the game first starts, finding a partner is the first thing you need to do, when you do you need to form a pact like my associates here will demonstrate." The other two reapers walked over to each other before the female one spoke up.
"Form a pact with me." She reached out her hand.
"M'kay" The other shook her hand and they both became surrounded in soft blue lights momentarily.
"And that's it!" Shouted the first reaper. "Simple consent between two people and a handshake to seal it. Once you've formed a pact your fates are tied together. You won't be able to choose another partner, and if one partner is erased, the other has 7 minutes before they're erased as well. Of course if you're extremely lucky you might find another player without a partner whom you can form a new pact with, but don't count on it. Here's a personal hint though, "I'm sure some of you have already found one of these among your things." He points up above him and an image of a button pin appears on a weird screen in midair.
Rip recognized it as the pin he found in his pockets when he searched for his phone. "The pin has three functions on it that will be needed for the game," Continued the reaper. "The first is 'scanning' which, when you come into contact with the people in the RG, that is you pass through them, you'll be able to hear what that person is thinking about. The second function is 'imprinting' which will implant a thought into their heads. This can influence their actions to a certain degree and maybe needed to complete a mission or task. Finally, player pins prevent other players from using the other functions on you. If you want to know more about each other, you need to do it the old fashioned way. By the way, reapers are also immune to the player pins."
Several people seemed uncomfortable with going into other people's minds and messing with them. Rip wondered how many people had been influenced in such a way in the past, and how much trouble it might have caused them. Depending on what the goals of this game are we may be causing people harm.
"Now, if you focus your mind on the pin, you'll perform a 'wide area scan' which lets you sense other people's minds very slightly with strong thoughts or emotions being easier to detect. Since you can't read other players you'll only get static, it's a good way to find a partner on day 1. A small warning though, scanning in this way also reveals Noise monsters hidden in the area, and Noise will sense the scans of unpartnered players and chase them down, so be quick!"
Present
In other words don't do it unless you're running out of time. Rip figured there would be plenty of people trying this hint immediately only to get erased by these Noise creatures. That may be the real reason he told us, though to be fair I wouldn't want someone that stupid or impulsive as a partner anyways, and it's less competition...ugg did I really just think about other people like that?
Rip felt ashamed of himself for such thought. Sure he was a loner, but that didn't mean he wanted to see others hurt, even if they're already dead. I just don't want to deal with them if I can help it. It's not like people ever really cared about me as 'Rip.' I was always just 'Rev's lazy younger brother', or 'that kid from the wealthy family.'
Rip looked at the people in the RG going about their business, unaware of what was going on right beside them. They seemed rather carefree, something Rip hasn't felt since his early childhood, before his dad started pushing Rev as his heir. Rip never understood why his dad focused so much on Rev to start with. Sure Rip wasn't as interested in science and machines as much at the time, but he was 9 and was just trying to enjoy being a kid. Rev was probably the same, he just wanted to have fun, and enjoyed building things; then dad jumped in and pushed him into it full force.
It was ironic, one brother didn't get enough attention from their father, while the other was smothered with expectations. I hated Rev for being the favorite, when he probably had it harder than I did. After all, he decided to leave and live on his own while I stayed to keep trying to prove myself. Among the passers by there were a few families on an outing, some of them with multiple children, and all of them seemed happy. Why couldn't we have just had a normal family like that? No family business for dad to obsess over, no extra expectations….I wonder where I'd be now. Rip pulled out his phone and looked at the picture on his unlock screen of himself and Rev, who was in civilian clothes for a change. They had taken it the first time they spent the day together after the Robo Amigo incident, it reminded him of the promise they'd made that day to support each other no matter what, even if it was against their parents.
Part of the timer on his hand was visible beneath the phone, reminding him of the present situation. He moved his phone and looked at the timer on his hand, 48:32, it had been almost 12 minutes since the mission started and he was still probably 10-15 minutes from the tower on foot. He needed to find a partner soon, though maybe he'd have better luck closer to the goal. No use standing around here either way. He continued onward down the path trying to make his way as close to the tower as he could.
Notes:
Okay so I know there's a lot of Flashbacks, but I felt it worked a bit better than explaining things without them. Anyways this will probably be the only chapter with this many in it.
Also I'm now working with a couple to people to revive the Loonatics Revamp by PurpleLuckyStar from DA. She gave permission so hurray! There will be small rewrites to episode 1 to prepare Rip for a bigger role, and to introduce a new character. No they won't be on the main team, but they will be another super hero, because I found it hard to believe in the original that the 6 were there only people in all ACMEtropolis who got powers and wanted to help people. On that note there will be more heroes/teams to a certain degree in this AU, but also new villains.