[Hey guys! Just wanted to make a quick little note up here for y'all before we get this started. So I'm a very special person, and I cannot stand making unnecessary oc's, because why bother making all you guys learn their names and personalities when they're only gonna be here for like a chapter or two and then you never see them again? So this story contains none. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Or at least, that's how it should have gone. Imma be real, I don't own a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, so I couldn't find any background characters to fill this one little role for like the first and last chapters, so I'm using just one little character of mine, but you'll meet her in a moment. So sorry about that, but other than her, Every Single Other Character In This Story Already Exists. I spent so frikin long in Breath of the Wild gathering data, so everything here is accurate. The locations, the characters, even the majority of the day/night cycle is synched to the game. So go on, check my work, have a good time. This note ended up longer than intended, so without further ado: the project that I put off for way to long!]

"This looks like the place!" Reyn called out to the group, as they wove their way through the busy midday market traffic. Off in a little secluded corner stood a small, brand new building, boasting a sign that read "Extended Universe: Otherworldly Adventures." Dunban glanced down at the flyer in his left hand, displaying the same title.

"So it would seem," he nodded.

"Man, I've really been needing a vacation."

"Are we missing anyone?"

"Just Sharla, I think," Shulk chimed in. "Unless.. Where'd Riki go?"

"Riki here!" the Nopon shouted, bouncing up and down, trying to be noticed.

"Well, she did say she would be running a little late today," Melia reminded the group. She ducked to avoid getting hit over the head by a pedestrian carrying an enormous crate on his shoulder. "Shall we wait for her inside?"

"Good idea," Fiora grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her out of the way of the heavier traffic. The group made their way toward the tiny establishment, the door of which was just a little too small for Reyn without ducking. Just as they started to go inside, a voice called out behind them:

"Hey, wait up!" Sharla came dashing out of the sea of bobbing heads and through the door. "Sorry I'm late, got caught up organizing the medbay staff for the week."

"You're right on time, actually!" Dunban smiled, closing the door behind her.

The room they entered appeared much larger from the inside than it did on the outside. Covering the far wall were a few gigantic screens displaying maps of some sort, which cast a mysterious blue light across the room. The rest of the walls were decorated in various vacation posters for places they had never heard of before: Askr? Mobius? Shulk recognized a few of them - Hyrule and the Mushroom Kingdom among others - from his conversations with the other fighters in the Super Smash Brothers tournaments. In one corner of the room stood a tall wooden desk with a large computer monitor on it, covered in miscellaneous papers that were probably meant for the nearby filing cabinets. Sitting at the computer was a young woman with very short, brown hair who turned around at the sound of the door closing.

"Hello there everyone! You guys excited for your adventure?" The group nodded in agreement. "Then let's get started!" The woman got up out of her chair to address the group and pointed to a row of five seats across from the map wall. "Go ahead a take a seat, if you can. Sorry, you're a bigger group than I'm used to."

"Eh, no big deal," Reyn took a seat on the floor with Riki, who jumped in his lap. "Really furball?"

"Riki comfy!" he argued. The woman laughed.

"Alright then, time to get some exposition out of the way! My name is Trish, and I'm gonna be the game master for you. You're going to be playing Meet Up this week. Has anyone here played before?" Everyone shook their heads. "Ok, so Meet Up is a team based rendezvous game, where the object is to find your fellow players and get home. You'll each be given a piece of what we call the Ether Relic, and once all the pieces are put together, you'll fight the final boss and be brought back home. If you fail to perform this task in the allotted time, you have a week, you lose, and everyone comes back sad and disappointed. Make sense so far?" The group nodded. "Perfect! A few more little things: First, you don't want to lose your ether relic! The game is won when all the relics are combined, not necessarily by all the players. Second, you can, and some of you possibly will, die in this game. It's not permanent though! You're given five hearts at the start of the game, and enemies, fall damage, and other occurrences can and will try to take those hearts away from you. If you run out of hearts, your piece of the ether relic is dropped where you died, and you'll be teleported out of the game. As pleasant as that sounds, it still hurts - and you may sustain some injuries from the game when you return - so I suggest... not dying! It's a lot easier to win if you don't have to waste time combing the entire world for someone's dropped relic anyway.

"One last thing to note: the world you're visiting is very real, even if we're only using it for a game today. So please be respectful of the people living there; they're real people! I know it might sound fun to go on a murder-hobo rampage and destroy everything in your path, but Extended Universe has set up a network of treaties and pacts with these other worlds to allow us to play our games, and by adhering to the rules we can allow other people come in and play in the future. All of the legal information regarding inter-universe travel and our pacts and rules can be found on our website, [], or in your printed copy of the wavers you signed when you registered for your game. Any questions so far?"

"I got one," said Reyn. "How many times 've you had to give that speech there?"

"So many," Trish laughed. "If there's no other questions then, let's get started!" She walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out seven, glowing gemstones. They glittered bright ether blue, and each was given a small leather pouch to house it. "These," Trish said, passing them out to the group, "are your ether relic pieces. Take good care of them! Remember, you'll want to keep a good eye on them during the game. Now that all that housekeeping's out of the way, let's figure out where to drop you in, eh?" She hopped back into her computer chair and pulled up a map. "You guys chose 'Breath of the Wild Hyrule,' right?"

"That's the one!" said Shulk. He turned to his friends. "You guys ready?"

"This is going to be so fun!" Fiora beamed.

"Can't wait!" Reyn pumped his fist. Over at the computer, Trish started placing several colored markers across the map, muttering to herself.

"Let's see… you over here, you over there-" Shulk, intrigued by the technology the woman was using, quietly made his way over behind her chair. "Hmm, that'll work for you…" He slowly leaned closer to the monitor, completely entranced, until she suddenly shouted. "AH! Sorry, you scared me there for a second." Shulk was equally startled. The rest of the group chuckled.

"Give her some space, Shulk, sheesh," Reyn shook his head.

"I just wanted to see what all this was!" he replied.

"You know what," a wicked smile grew across Trish's face. "Just for that, you get to start-" She dragged one of the markers all the way to the edge of the map. "-all the way... over here!"

"Oh come on!" Shulk pouted, at which everyone laughed some more.

"Aww, you'll be fine, kiddo." She patted the top of his head. "You know, I think I'll give you a little extra help too." She tapped away at her keyboard for a minute before returning to the group. "You're all set! Now if I can have everyone stand in the middle of the room, please."

The group stood up, exchanging excited looks and smiles. They gathered in a small circle drawn on the floor. "Alright everyone, hold your relic pieces in both hands, and you might wanna close your eyes." As she entered some commands into her computer, a bright blue light began to emanate from the relics, growing brighter and brighter. It filled the group with a strange feeling of lightness, becoming stronger and stronger as the light grew more and more blinding. "Good luck everyone!" was the last thing they heard as they were suddenly thrown into darkness, and the world they knew disappeared from beneath their feet.

[please leave a review on this chapter or the next if you want me to keep going with this, I have 18 total chapters planned if anyone wants me to]