AN: Back at this, sorry for the wait to any fans of just this single story. Let us get right back into it.
CHAOTIC- AMZEN DROME
JON
"Jon! Explain this now!" Robb yelled, shaking Jon out of his stupor.
The idea that his brother could come to Chaotic one day was one that Jon had expected. They were both quite good at the game, and Jon believed the only reason he got in first was in part because Robb had additional duties as heir of Winterfell that kept him from playing the game as much. Jon figured when the time came, he would go with him and show him everything, but he had not expected it to happen while he himself was already in Chaotic.
"Robb, I know this is hard to believe, but you are perfectly safe." Jon assured him. "Now tell me, what is the last thing you remember? Were you just playing the game?"
Robb calmed down a bit, but there was still panic in his eyes, he glanced up at the floating Chaotic symbol as it constantly spun around.
"We played a bit before going out with Ser Roderik to train. I beat both you and Theon. Then after practice, when we were putting away everything, I noticed a small part of my container- the part that has the symbol up there- was glowing red like a small flame, or a firefly. You saw it yourself, then told me to touch that part. You apologized, said you wished it was different, but said to trust you, that you didn't want to ruin the surprise. So I pressed it, I felt myself being enveloped by light, and suddenly a bunch of strangers were grabbing me and dragging me here. And then you show up!" Robb explained.
"PLAYERS, PREPARE FOR THE MATCH. WHITEWOLF, YOUR OPPONENT HAS CHOSEN THE NAME ICEBLADE AS HIS CODENAME." The voice of Chaotic announced.
Jon looked at Robb. "Why that?" He asked. He got what it was, a reference to their family's ancestral blade, but why would he pick that over any other suggestions.
Robb shrugged. "It wouldn't answer me, just kept telling me to pick one. So I picked the last one it said."
'Fair enough.' Jon thought.
The two metal stands popped out of the ground.
"Alright Robb, you just need to place your container right on it." Jon said as he demonstrated. "Once this is over, I will explain any questions you still have. I swear to you."
Robb did so, and the screen appeared in front of both of them.
"ICEBLADE, THIS WILL BE A ONE ON ONE MATCH. SELECT ONE CREATURE, BATTLEGEAR, MUGIC, AND TEN LOCATIONS." The voice commanded.
'Alright, while Robb gets familiar with that on his own, I need to come up with my own strategy.' Jon thought.
'On the one hand, I didn't exactly have a plan for what I would do, I was more focused on helping the new player acclimate. I could get an easy win, or let Robb get one.' Jon mused before deciding against it. If Robb was to win, it would be with his own skills. He would help explain how to attack and everything, but then once he got a hang of it, there would be no holding back.
'Might as well try out my new scan.' Jon thought as he found Slurhk and placed him on the field. 'He can use Earth and Water attacks. A Vlaric Shard will help with Earth.' He slid it onto the scorpion creature.
'He doesn't have any mugic counters.' Jon noted. 'But there are locations I know Robb has that can give mugicians to creatures with good enough disciplines. So a Song of Resurgence might be useful, but probably will not be.'
'Robb is here for his first match. He will attack. So my locations don't matter much.' Jon thought as he filled it with locations without thinking too much on them.
As Jon finished, he peered over at Robb, who appeared to be scrolling through his locations and putting them in.
"PLAYERS, LOCK YOUR DECKS BY HITTING THE TOP BUTTON". The voice said.
Jon did so, followed by Robb. As soon as they did, the screen expanded, showing the two creatures.
WHITEWOLF - - - SLURK (VLARIC SHARD) - - - - (ARIAS) - - - ICEBLADE
'Overworlder vs Overworlder.' Jon noted. 'I figured as much.'
"When did you get that card?" Robb asked. "I've never seen it before."
Putting his hand up to Slurhk's image, his stats appeared on the screen for him, letting Robb examine the creature.
"I'll save that explanation for later. It will be better to finish this one first." Jon said. "As for now, we are all set to start."
"Is this it?" Robb asked. "We just play a one on one match in this building? I didn't pick any attacks."
"You don't need them, trust me." Jon said, a small grin forming. Despite himself, a part of him couldn't wait to see Robb's reactions to what the battle would be.
"ICEBLADE, AS THIS IS YOUR FIRST MATCH, YOU HAVE THE ATTACK. SPIN THE LOCATION RANDOMIZER."
Robb did so, and several locations flashed by on the screen before it stopped on one.
The Storm Tunnel.
Jon's grin faded.
"Why would you pick that location?" He asked, somewhat panicked.
Robb shrugged. "I just put them in as they appeared. I wasn't thinking too much about it."
Jon sighed. "Well, this is going to be a bit harder than I hoped." He muttered under his breath.
"ICEBLADE, DECLARE YOUR ATTACK TO BEGIN THE MATCH. THEN PLACE YOUR PALM ON YOUR CREATURE."
Robb nodded, having given up on objecting to the Voice. "Arias attacks Slurhk."
He placed his hand on Arias' card, and then suddenly took a step back as the screen disappeared, while the now familiar light surrounded his feet, encroaching upward his body, transforming him into the bull creature he had chosen.
"Wha- What is this?" Robb asked, panicked.
By this point, his torso was transforming, and soon his arms began turning from his hands upward. Even lifting them did nothing to change him back.
Jon pressed on Slurhk's image at this point. The light surrounded him, but he did nothing to resist it. A strange sensation came over him, as his legs suddenly doubled, while his actual feet disappeared into just blunt ends, as if he was constantly standing on his toes. He also felt the tail come into being, as well as the armored carapace that had given Jon trouble in fighting back.
His arms grew longer, and he soon felt his fingers merge together and sharpen into a single pincer, while his thumb moved downward and became the bottom halves on both hands.
Finally, it reached his head as he felt his hair disappear and his teeth sharpened into fangs. His eyes were now red, and he could feel his tongue split so it was forked.
By the time he was done, Robb's horns had just finished appearing, and he was looking at his own feet in confusion. He looked up, just now seeing the giant scorpion where his half brother used to be.
"Surprise." Slurhk said with a menacing tint. "Now then, Let's Get Chaotic!"
ROBB
THE STORM TUNNEL
The previously smooth floor of the strange building called a Drome suddenly faded, and was instantly replaced by the rough and rocky floor of a cave.
Arias, unused to his body height and weight, fell down to his knees as he found himself in another new place.
He tried to gather his thoughts, but a loud noise kept him from focusing. Turning, he saw the exit of the cave he was in. The sound was coming from there. Slowly getting up, he approached it, the sound getting louder the closer he got.
When he reached the exit, he could finally tell what the sound was.
'Wind?' He thought, feeling a strong breeze come through the cave and hit him. He held out his hand to feel the full strength of the current.
That was a mistake.
The wind used his arm to pull the rest of him out of the cave, and once he was in the main chasm, he realized that this was the Storm Tunnel their Chaotic battle was to take place in.
The wind lifted him up into the air, and he went flying all over. He tried to move from side to side, hoping to grab onto the walls of the tunnel, but he only ended up striking his head against the wall itself.
A- 45 (90%)
Before Arias could refocus and try to come up with a better plan, a voice yelled out, "Vine Snare!" and Arias found himself being entangled with some form of rope. Just when he thought he was safe, the rope tightened, squeezing the air from his lungs. He then felt himself being pulled towards another cave, but the force of him flying did result in him hitting the wall of this cave as well.
A- 30 (60%)
The ropes, which Arias could now see were green and made of plants, retracted. Arias followed them, until he saw what looked like one of Maester Luwin's images of a Manticore, only much bigger, with a crystal tied to its right pincer, and all a bluish green color.
"Sorry," the manticore apologized. "Never used an attack to try to save someone before. I guess I let the instincts to deal damage take over."
The memories of what had happened in the moments after Robb had turned into Arias came back. "Jon!?"
"I know this is a lot to take in, but this was the final surprise for you." Jon/Slurhk said. Then a moment later, "Well, one more surprise, but we can take a break and get you focused on that later."
Arias stood up. "We- we became the creatures?"
"Yes. And as you may have noticed, we use their attacks as well." Slurhk explained, pointing a pincer out to the larger tunnel. "Pebblestorm!"
Out of his pincers, small pebbles materialized, flying into the tunnel, where they continued forward until the wind overpowered and took them down the tunnel.
"Go on. Try some attacks. I won't hit you anymore until you get the hang of it." Slurhk promised.
'I know Jon means it, but something about that voice just makes me not want to trust it.' Robb thought.
Nevertheless, Arias held his own hand out, and thought of an attack.
"Ektospasm!"
A small ball of light left his hands, and shot forward into the tunnel.
"Whoa." Arias mumbled. He looked at his fingers in amazement.
"Nice first try." Slurhk said. He held his pincers out. "Go on. I got you with Vine Snare, I'll give you a free shot."
Arias looked back at his hands. There were still many, MANY, questions he had, but he supposed he might as well enjoy this while he could.
"You asked for it." He said before shrugging his shoulders.
He focused his attention on the crystal attached to one of the pincers.
'A Vlaric Shard.' Arias noted. 'Didn't I choose that for myself?'
No sooner had he thought that then he felt an additional weight get added to his right arm.
He grinned. Thinking of the first Earth attack he could, he jumped up and slammed his fists down on the ground.
"Rock Wave!"
The moment his fists hit the ground, the rocks jutted upward, moving forward and striking Slurhk square in the chest, throwing him against the wall.
S- 35 (70%)
Slurhk stood back up.
"Good, now we can have a fair fight."
Both creatures ran forward at each other.
Arias may not have much wisdom, but he was a great warrior, and Robb lacked real combat experience, but was great in both spars and strategy that Ser Roderick and his Father had drilled into him.
'I saw Slurhk's disciplines before this match started. They are relatively decent, but only courage and speed were over 50. He will likely rely on his elements instead. But I don't have to.'
"Power Pulse!" Arias threw his fists together as green light emanated from them and shot forth like the Ektospasm had. Unable to move out of the way in time, Slurhk took the hits head on, and his low Power meant the challenge was in Arias' favor.
S-15 (30%)
Arias jumped forward, hoping to press the attack. "Flashkick!" He yelled as he swung his leg in front.
Unfortunately, this time Slurhk managed to move quickly enough to dodge.
"Spirit Gust!"
A horde of wailing spirits erupted out of Slurhk's mouth. Before Arias could even think about moving, he was surrounded by them as they screeched or struck him.
A- 25 (50%)
While he was distracted by the attack, Slurhk took the opportunity to recover his bearings and come up with a plan.
Arias broke through the spirits, and saw Slurhk right in front of him.
'Gotta end this now!' Robb thought from within.
"Inferno Claws!" He yelled, thrusting his hand forward, forming claws of molten hot lava. Empowered by the Vlaric Shard, it should be enough to end Slurhk.
"Sediment Stormshield!" Slurhk yelled as dust and sand raised up to block the claws. As he did so, his body glowed a bit, and some of the visible damage Arias had inflicted on him disappeared.
S- 20 (40%)
Suddenly, the sand then shot forward, enveloping Arias himself.
Normally this attack would just heal the user. But with the Vlaric Shard Slurhk had, as well as the location, it was a legitimate attack.
A-15 (30)
"Always remember the location's effects. That is the same as the cards. But also using the actual location is just as important. Ser Roderik drilled that into us since we were boys." Slurhk said, giving some final advice before trying to end the match. He had moved around, so that his back was to the cave's entrance.
"And always be mindful of our weapons." Arias repeated another lesson. "Slime Slam!"
Green slime shot forward and struck at Slurhk, covering the Vlaric Shard and rendering it unusable.
S- 15 (30%)
"Good move." Slurhk said. "Now we are even."
"Except I still have mine." Arias pointed out. "Now to end this. Trampling Tackle!"
Arias glowed red as he charged forward, ready to end the match. This attack, empowered by his Vlaric Shard, would do just enough damage to win him the match.
Before he could slam into Slurhk, the giant manticore jumped to the side, avoiding the attack.
Arias tried to stop, but his momentum carried him forward too much. Before he could do anything, he saw Slurhk from behind him. The manticore creature suddenly started to glow. Only when Arias' attack glowed red, Slurhk's glowed white.
"Streak Strike!"
Slurhk slammed into Arias from behind, adding his own weight and momentum to Arias'. As he was pushed, he felt his feet be lifted off the ground. Arias realized that he was out of the cave, and in the center of the Storm Tunnel. But the force that pushed him was enough to shoot him to the other side's wall.
A moment of fear at the realization he was about to die was Arias' last thought as he erupted into code as he slammed into the wall.
AMZEN
Robb immediately fell to his knees and gasped in exhaustion. His actual body was by no means tired, but his mind was still reeling from the battle. The actual moment of death was blocked somehow, but he still knew that he had essentially died.
He looked up, and saw that Jon was still in Slurhk's body. But before he could say anything, the same blue light that caused them to turn appeared around him and returned Jon to normal.
"THE WINNER OF THE MATCH IS WHITEWOLF. CONGRATULATIONS." The voice of Chaotic announced.
"ICEBLADE, A DRONE IS WAITING OUTSIDE TO GIVE YOU AN OFFICIAL INTRODUCTION-"
"That won't be needed." Jon interrupted. He took his Scanner, as they were apparently called and walked over to Robb. "I will explain what I can to him. He will probably respond better to me than a drone."
"VERY WELL WHITEWOLF. PLEASE INFORM HIM OF EVERYTHING YOU CAN. ICEBLADE, IF YOU STILL HAVE QUESTIONS, SIMPLY ASK IT OF ONE OF THE DRONES, AND THEY WILL ANSWER YOU TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITY."
Jon kneeled down and offered Robb his hand. After a moment, Robb accepted it and was pulled up by his brother.
"So… You have some explaining to do." Robb said.
"Aye." Jon agreed. "But first, let's get out of here. We don't want to keep others waiting, and I think some food will help."
With nothing else to say, Robb nodded, and followed Jon out.
PORT COURT
'This was undoubtedly, the strangest day in my life' Robb thought as he watched the floating metal statue… things, deliver food to various tables, while around him he saw people wearing clothing from almost every trading civilization Maester Luwin had taught him of. He also understood them all, despite the fact that some of them had confirmed they did not speak the Common Tongue.
Some of the food available at least looked familiar, but others seemed to just be strange in Robb's eyes.
Sticking to somewhat recognizable food, Robb listened as Jon gave an explanation of where they were, why they were there, and how things worked around here.
"So, this is how we got here? And how we will get back?" Robb asked, holding up his 'Scanner.'
Back at Winterfell, it was a simple metal box Robb got when he first got into the game, meant solely for holding cards. But here, it was apparently some magical object that brought him here. Or brought Half of him here, while his other half just threw it on the bed after thinking it was his imagination that made a light glow on it.
"Yes." Jon said, holding up his own. "These scanners are probably the most important thing here. Otherwise we would be stuck."
"And we don't just use it for coming and leaving." Robb said.
Jon pressed down on part of his scanner, and Robb started to make a sound. He pressed down on the center button, and suddenly Jon's face was on it as well.
""Communication, travel, trading, basically everything revolves around these."" He said from both Robb's Scanner and across the table.
Robb undid the Scanner's communication, then faced Jon once again.
"And this… All of this amazing magic, or technology, or whatever it is… All of it for a game that didn't even exist a few years ago? And didn't even arrive in Westeros in large numbers until a year or so ago?"
Jon shrugged. "I'm just a player, like you. I've asked around, but no one seems to know much about this place's origins. I thought about asking some of the oldest players, the ones who would have been among the first to come, but most of them either were just as clueless as us, or refused to speak to me outright. All they would say was that the Drones and Dromes have been here since the beginning, and everything was already set up."
Robb nodded as he turned to look at his drink. He had just asked for a water, yet even the cup it came in was strange. It wasn't made of any material Robb recognized, didn;t have a handle like a mug, and was just so strange to Robb. Jon had said he had a similar reaction, but that the food was actually quite good.
He leaned back and drank the water. At least that was the same.
"And the entire purpose of this all, is to actually become the creatures, use attacks and environments, rather than just add and subtract energy, and fight each other." Robb continued.
"That about sums it up." Jon agreed.
"And the only reward for doing so, is fighting these 'Codemasters' who are almost undefeated, and only ever show up when they announce a challenge." Robb finished.
"I assume they have the answers." Jon said. "But otherwise it is as you said. There really is no downside to this, at least that I can see. We battle here, but our other selves live our lives as we would normally. And we can return and come back whenever we wish."
"True." Robb said, but he was still uneasy about the whole thing. And he had a feeling that there was still something Jon was hiding. And there was one area that Robb still had unanswered questions Jon could say "So you got Slurhk from here then? I assume you traded for it."
"No." Jon said, a small grin appearing on his face. "I did get it from here, I suppose you could say. But I didn't trade anything for it. But I will probably never get another the same way. Too dangerous."
Robb frowned. They had just said how amazing this place was. What danger was there. "Then how did you get it?"
Jon slid his Scanner over to Robb's side of the table. On the screen was an image of one of Jon's locations.
"I want you to go through that. Find a location we both have."
Slowly, a look of realization dawned on Robb's face. He met his brother eye to eye. "Do you mean…?"
"It's real." Jon confirmed. "Perim is an actual place. The creatures, tribes, mugic. They all actually exist. And you can go there and get new cards based on them."
That was perhaps the second biggest surprise, right after actually coming to Chaotic.
He looked down at his brother's Scanner. Where his was blue, Jon's was yellow, showing a preference for Mipedians, even though Jon did not really care about tribal affiliations.
Slowly, Robb began going through the locations, imaging what each would be like.
'Definetly not that one.' He noted as he passed Jon's version of The Storm Tunnel. He kept going through until he found the location he most wanted to check out.
He showed the Scanner to its original owner. Jon grinned.
"I figured you would want to go there."
They soon finished the little food that had been brought to them, a Drone coming by to clear the table as Jon led Robb to the white circles he had first arrived by.
"Got it ready?" Jon asked. Robb showed his own Scanner's screen, showing the same location.
"Alright. I'm not sure if we will end up in the same area, but we should try to meet up in the center. And we can also contact each other if something happens." Jon explained.
With a nod, Robb pressed down on his Kiru City location seconds before Jon did.
AN: And we are back with this fic. Probably my most niche one, but one that I enjoy making as much as the others.
Funny thing, the original outline I made for this chapter would have had Arias just get coded by the Storm Tunnel, to show how an inexperienced player needs to learn to use the locations strategically, rather than have it be a regular fight. But I decided that while it would have been funny, an entire chapter could not have been made around it. So I made it a full battle, but Jon held back at the beginning to let Robb get used to it, rather than seeing it as an easy way to an extra win like most would view fighting a rookie. He still does win, but that is more because he has more experience, and he wouldn't do the disservice of holding back against Robb once he got the hang of it.
So now we have Robb. He and Jon can split focus, so I could have one in a match or Perim while the other does something else. This will help, as one of my issues I had writing this was just that I am more used to writing several POVS in my other fics, rather than just one the whole chapter through. More POVS to come, but it will be slow.
Robb gets the full rundown after the battle, and now they are off to Kiru City, the capital of the Overworld. What will they find there? You will have to wait for the next chapter, which I will begin writing right now.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I wish you all luck in your personal endeavors.
See you next chapter.
Jaehaerys . Joestar