Violet: Where should we go first? It looks like there are seven different buildings here.
Ryan: With the way this is laid out, I'd assume this whole area is the center of the city, you know like Times Square.
Violet: Is this place even a city?
Ryan: It has to be just look at the buildings, defiantly don't have places like this where I live.
Violet: You remember where you're from?
Ryan: Uh...no but being in a place like this just feels, unfamiliar to me, you know what I mean?
Violet: Yeah I understand, but if this really is a city then...why is it so empty?
Ryan: I don't know, must've been abandoned for a long time.
Violet: A whole abandoned city? That seems incredibly unrealistic.
Ryan: This world is full of mysteries madam. Now come on, let's check this building out.
(Violet and I walked towards a rather small building that was to the left of where we were standing; it was directly next to the subway exit.
To the right of the building we where entering there where two other buildings of various sizes.
Directly across from these three building was another set of three buildings a fair distance away.
Between the two sets of buildings was an astonishingly huge sky scraper that seemed to be triangular shaped, its corner was facing the city square. Attached that building is an oversized monitor screen that's probably used for advertisements.
This place appears really legit and modern, why the hell is it abandoned?)
(Violet and I made our way into the small building. At first glance of the interior it was clear to see what this place is, it's a bank.
Just a typical bank with a boring atmosphere, a few teller booths, computers, and free pens.
Also there are two other people in here, two people that came to help me and Violet a few minutes ago. It's that "Conversationalist" girl and some guy.
Violet immediately tried to start conversation with them.)
Violet: Oh hello guys, guess you two already got this place covered huh?
"Conservationist": Yeah, but there doesn't seem to be anything of value in here. I was expecting to find a city name on a brochure or something but there are no details anywhere. Literally everything is just labeled as "BANK".
(The other guy walked up to us.)
?: There isn't even any money in the vault! What kind of bank doesn't have money?!
Ryan: You got into the vault?
?: It was already opened and it's filled with an astonishing amount of jack-squat.
Ryan: They must've taken all the money out when they abandoned this place.
"Conservationist": It does certainly appear that this city was abandoned, maybe even evacuated.
(Don't those mean the same thing?)
?: Ya know what though? I did actually find something important in here!
"Conservationist": Seriously? Why didn't you say so?
(The guy jumped over the teller desk, bent down to open a drawer, and pulled out a handful of-)
?: There are still lollipops here!
"Conservationist": *groan* That's not important at all!
Ryan: Well I mean...we might need food.
Violet: We can't live off lollipops they'll rot our teeth...can I have a purple one?
?: Yeah sure.
(The weirdo handed Violet a purple lollipop, have fun with your rotten teeth kids.)
"Conservationist": That's crazy!
Ryan: Oh did you learn something?
"Conservationist": Who likes purple lollipops?!
(Are you serious right now?)
Violet: I do, they're grape flavored I love grapes.
"Conservationist": Grape-flavoring is significantly different from the real thing! Mankind's always trying to recreate natural flavors, that's absolutely disgusting. Humans need to stop-
?: Ah geeze looks like your "Ultimate Conservationist" side is coming out at full force again! You two should have seen her when she got a paper cut earlier, she was all "Why is mankind cutting down trees? We need to start recycling resources and regrowing the tress we chop!"
"Conservationist": You be quiet.
(Whelp, I can't stand to be around these people.)
"Conservationist": S-Sorry about that, enjoy your lollipop Violet.
Violet: I am...by the way what are your names?
"Conservationist": O-Oh my you're right I never properly introduced myself!
(That's because you were too busy arguing about a damn piece of candy.)
"Conservationist": I'm May, the "Ultimate Conservationist", but you knew that part already.
?: And I'm...actually I don't know who I am.
Violet & I: Huh?
?: For some reason I didn't get a name tag like everyone else, I don't even know my talent.
Violet: That's odd.
(And suspicions.)
?: Yeah but ya know my primal instincts are telling me that my name is Benny, so just call me that for now.
Violet: Ok then. I'm Violet the "Ultimate Veterinarian".
Ryan: And I'm Ryan the "Ultimate Educator" apparently.
Benny: Educator? Huh, you look more like someone who takes children rather than teaches them.
(Excuse me?)
May: So you two were on the subway together, yes? Benny and I were too, that's actually how we all split up into investigation groups. There's one group of two people in each of the seven buildings here. Why don't you guys go introduce yourselves to them? Benny and I will continue searching in here.
Ryan: Sounds like a good idea, hopefully you two will actually find somethin' important.
Benny: What's more important than lollipops?
(In both everyday life and our current situation, literally everything is more important than lollipops.)
-
(After that seemingly meaningless meet up, Violet and I left to go inside the building next to the bank.
This building was much taller than the bank and judging from the outside, it's probably some kind of hotel.
The entrance is a revolving door. We walked inside and sure enough, we ended up in a traditional hotel lobby.)
Violet: Wow, this place is surprisingly nice on the inside.
Ryan: Yeah it's weird, just further proves that this place was abandoned recently.
(But why was it?
Why were we all brought here?
That's what we need to figure-)
BOOM!
(Out of nowhere there was loud explosion sound that temporarily shook the whole building.)
Violet: AH! I-Is it another earthquake?!
Ryan: Don't think so, the shacking stopped already. It was more like there was an explosion somewhere in here.
Violet: An explosion?! O-Oh God then the two people investigating here just-AH!
(Suddenly a 'bing' sound played and an elevator to our right began to open, a cloud of dark smoke flew out of it, as well as...two people?)
?: *cough* *cough* What the fuck was that?!
?: I thought it'd be cool! *cough*
(Two ash-covered figures weakly exited the elevator and fell to the ground.)
?: There was nothing *cough* cool about that!
?: eh...*cough* I think there was.
(Once the smoked faded away we could see the two figures more clearly. There was a boy wearing a cap and casual clothes, and a short haired girl with some sort of red jumpsuit on.
Violet snapped out of her shock.)
Violet: A-Are you two ok?! What happened?!
"Hat Boy": We're...we're fine...little-miss-splosions over here just got carried away for no damn reason.
(They both began to stand up and dust themselves off.)
"Girl": There was reason! It was cool!
Ryan: What the hell was "cool"? What exploded?
"Girl": A firework.
Ryan: Where the fuck did you get a firework from?
"Girl": My pocket, I'm the "Ultimate Pyrotechnician" after all, always have to have a firework handy. I've always wanted to set one off in an enclosed elevator and this was the perfect opportunity! For the first time ever there's no staff around to yell at me!
Violet: You could've died!
"Pyromaniac": We could have died, but we didn't! Fireworks are all about chance! The only way to know if you've got a dud is to light it!
(I don't see how that's relevant.)
"Hat Boy": As a pyrotechnician you should defiantly worry about safety before thinking about "chance".
"Pyromaniac": Pfft if I did that then I wouldn't be the Ultimate Pyrotechnician.
"Hat Boy": Whatever, that would've been a really shitty way for me to die, and you defiantly broke that elevator.
"Pyromaniac": Whateves man there are like five others it's fine. Obviously nobody is using this place.
Ryan; So you two have already searched around here?
"Hat Boy": We only searched this first floor, there's nothing but the stuff you'd expect.
"Pyromaniac": There's a pool and a cafe down here!
Violet: *gasp* A pool?!
"Hat Boy": We were about to search the second floor but this chick lit the elevator up.
"Pyromaniac": It was cool I promise!
"Hat Boy": It was not cool!
(Is everyone else here going to be this annoying? I'm getting out ASAP.)
Ryan: Hate to interrupt your lovers' quarrel but, who are you guys anyways?
"Hat Boy": Oh of course, how rude of me! I'm T-
"Pyromaniac": I'm Beck the "Ultimate Pyrotechnician"!
"Hat Boy": They already knew that.
Beck: No! They didn't know my first name was super cute!
Violet: It is a cute name.
(It...it is cute name yeah.)
"Hat Boy": I'm Tom the "Ultimate Delivery Boy" at your service!
(Beck erupted with laughter.)
Tom: What's so funny now?
Beck: "Ultimate Delivery Boy at your service"?! Ha ha ha! That's so lame!
Tom: I don't see why my talent is so funny to you, my talent is incredibly useful!
Beck: Yeah 'cuse you gotta get there thirty minutes or less! Ha ha ha!
(I'm just about done with these two morons.)
Ryan: I'm Ryan the "Ultimate Educator"-this is Violet the "Ultimate Veterinarian". We're gonna go investigate somewhere else now good luck you two.
Violet: What? We can't just-
(I grabbed Violet by the arm and began to walk out.)
Ryan: No, we're defiantly out of here.
Violet: Hang on I need to ask them something.
Ryan: Fine...
(I let go of Violet and let her ask one last question.)
Violet: How come you two seem so familiar with your talents? I mean, I don't remember ever being a veterinarian let alone the ultimate one.
Beck: I don't know, blowin' stuff just feels natural to me!
Tom: You should rephrase that...
Beck: Well actually, when I first woke up on that subway I didn't know anything about myself, but as soon as I walked up the exit stairs it all came on me.
Tom: Rephrase that too...
Beck: I did that one on purpose to bother you. Anyways, maybe it's just taking you two a little longer to remember your personalities but it should come to you eventually, it seems like everyone else here has remembered themselves by now. Well, aside from that one guy who has no name tag.
Violet: Oh ok, that's peculiar. I hope we remember soon.
(Me too.)
Violet: Anyways Ryan is getting antsy-
(I'm not "antsy" I'm frustrated, big difference.)
Violet: -so we're going to look somewhere else. I hope you two find something useful!
Beck: I hope there are more fireworks around here somewhere.
Tom: That isn't useful at all.
Beck: It totally is!
Tom: Whatever, good luck you two!
(Violet and I finally exited the hotel and escaped the clutches of moron #1 and moron #2.)
-
(The net building to the right of the hotel was another small one that was about the same size as the bank.
To right of this building was a huge wall dangerous-looking rubble that was covered up with tons of barbed wire.)
Ryan: Looks like this is the last building we can get into on this side. There's no way we can pass that heap of rocks.
Violet: Maybe if we strengthen our bonds with everyone we'll be able to push the rubble!
Ryan: What?
Violet: Nothing that was just a joke; it happened in a game I played once.
(Sounds like a shitty game.)
Ryan: It's weird though, this junk was defiantly placed on purpose to block the way, why else would there be barbed wire on top of it all?
Violet: So someone set this up to keep us in? T-That's terrifying! Who would do such a thing?
Ryan: The same person who put us all on a one-way train, and the same person who caused an earthquake to block that train.
Violet: We've...we've been kidnapped?
(She didn't piece that together already?)
Ryan: Yeah, that's the only explanation that makes sense.
Violet: W-What do they want with us? D-Did they give us amnesia too?! O-Oh God I'm gonna throw up!
Ryan: Please don't. Maybe there's a bathroom in this building so you can go and have a nice quiet panic attack by yourself.
Violet: A-Alright.
(We walked into the small building and found ourselves inside of what looked like a restaurant.
The place had a very "old-timey" feel to it.)
Ryan: Guess we won't have to live off lollipops after all.
Violet: This place is pretty nice, I wonder if there's actually food in here though.
Ryan: Let's look around, try not to barf.
Violet: No I'm ok now I swallowed it.
(Gross.)
(Violet and I walked around the dining area of the restaurant looking for anything suspicious, but there was nothing.
Much like the Bank and Hotel, this was just a normal restaurant in a strange location.
There was even a bar that seemed to be fully equipped with drinks, nice!
I could really use a drink right about now. I got behind the bar counter and started looking around)
Ryan: Hm, wonder if there's any strong stuff...oh this looks good-
(Violet jolted over to the bar.)
Violet: What the hell are you doing?!
Ryan: Oh hello miss, what can I get for you today?
Violet: What? Nothing! I already told you I don't drink and you shouldn't either, especially not right now!
Ryan: I think now's as good a time as any.
Violet: It's never a good time to-
(Suddenly we heard a voice.)
?: Oh? Who's out there?
Violet: Huh? Who said that?
(A door to the right of the bar opened up and two dudes walked out of it.
One of the guys was huge and overbearing, the other guy was scrawny and was wearing some sort of military uniform that was way too big for him.
The huge guy spoke first, with an incredibly deep voice.)
"Huge Jacked Man": Oh, so more people arrived.
Violet: H-Hello there. We thought we were the only people in here.
"Huge Jacked Man": Suds and I were just looking around in the kitchen, we already looked around out here and found nothing.
Violet: We didn't find anything either.
"Trooper": Did you two just arrive by train?
(I began to discretely open a vodka bottle.)
Ryan: Yeah we got here a few minutes ago, May told us to help investigate and meet everyone. I'm Ryan, I'm the "Ultimate-
(Violet noticed my actions and swiftly swiped the bottle out of my hands.)
Violet: Dirty scoundrel! I will not let you drink!
Ryan: Alright alright geeze mom.
Violet: Don't call me that.
"Huge Jacked Man": So you're the "Ultimate Dirty Scoundrel"?
"Trooper": You do look like one.
Ryan: No! I'm the "Ultimate Educator".
Violet: And I'm Violet the "Ultimate Veterinarian".
"Trooper": Pleasure to meet you two! I'm Suds the "Ultimate Mercenary" reporting for duty!
Ryan: What the hell kind of name is "Suds"?
Suds: I don't know, I'm just going off what my name tag says.
Ryan: What about you? You look like your the "Ultimate Wrestler" or something.
"Huge Jacked Man": That's exactly what everyone else said.
Ryan: Well it's obvious just lookin' at you, you're absolutely huge! You could probably crack Violet like a tooth pick without exerting any energy.
Violet: W-Why would you put that image in my head? P-Please don't do that to me sir.
"Huge Jacked Man": I would never do somethin' like that I'm not a barbarian-
(You totally look like one though.)
"Huge Jacked Man": -I'm not even the "Ultimate Pro Wrestler" or anything like that, I hate unnecessary violence.
(Violet spoke under her breath.)
Violet: oh thank goodness.
"Huge Jacked Man": My name is Cookie and I'm the "Ultimate Pastry Chef"!
Violet & I: ...HUH?!
Cookie: I know I don't look it but I excel at culinary arts. I can make treats so good they'll melt in your mouth like the people of Pompeii!
(That's an offensive analogy dude.)
Suds: We actually found some fresh ingredients in the kitchen of this place and Cookie agreed to cook for us all if that becomes necessary. Ah, it'll be so great to eat something that isn't spam.
Ryan: Spam?
Suds: Yeah! As a mercenary I only eat easily transportable meats...like spam.
Ryan: Must be a rough life you live then.
Suds: Oh it is but it's the life I chose for myself...I think...
(At least these two guys are a little more civil than the rest of the people here.
Guess they've already got this building covered though so we should head out.)
Ryan: Anyways it was nice meeting you two, we're gonna go look somewhere else since you've got this place under control.
Cookie: Ok! See you later!
(Violet and I left the shabby restaurant and moved over to our next location.
I'm glad we met some relatively normal people.)
-
(Since we couldn't proceed further to the right Violet and I walked across the street.
We walked to the central skyscraper.)
Violet: This building is so big it's threatening. It would take a year to search every room in place like this.
Ryan: Yeah guess we just need to go in for a quick glance. It's probably just some boring office building.
Violet: I don't know. Why does it have this huge screen above the entrance?
Ryan: It's likely a monitor for advertisements, I've seen stuff like that in cities on TV shows.
Violet: But aren't there usually multiple screens for multiple ads? From the looks of it this city only has this one screen. It might be for something else.
Ryan: Well I have no clue what that "something else" is and we probably don't need to find out. Let's go inside.
(Violet and I opened the double doors into the oversized building. What was inside came as a surprise to me.
This multistory building wasn't some typical office building, it was a mall.
A shopping district, this entire building was a multistory shopping district.)
Violet: This whole building is a mall?! But it has over one hundred floors t-that can't be possible.
Ryan: I guess it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this mall has everything.
Violet: A-Amazing...
(Violet and I slowly walked together around the first floor of the building.
We passed a wide variety of different stores.
Clothing, utility, hardware, there was every type of store you could imagine.
I did not recognize any of the store names and they all seemed to be bad puns.
Many of them used the same exact bear mascot character too.)
Violet: There must not be any other stores in this whole city, they are all stuffed in here.
Ryan: Yeah...and they're all open...and nobody is around...so...we're free to take anything we want!
(After saying that, Violet and I felt a sudden, swift breeze.)
Violet: D-Did you just feel that wind?
Ryan: Yeah that was weird, must have just been the air conditioning.
Violet: I don't know that felt pretty strong.
(Then we felt it again.)
Violet: AH! W-What's going on now?!
?: The act of theft defies the emperor's rules.
Violet: Who said that?!
Ryan: Someone else is here, someone sneaky.
(We felt the breeze again, followed by faint laughter.)
Ryan: Show yourself! Why are you hiding? Are you the one who brought us here?!
?: Destiny is the only thing that brings people anywhere.
Ryan: Huh?
?: You were destined to be here, on this date, at this time, and you were destined to meet...
(Someone wearing an all-black outfit jumped up from behind a plant decoration and landed in front of us.)
?: ME!
(Violet shrieked and hid behind me.)
Violet: W-Who are you?
Ryan: Relax, he's probably just another eccentric weirdo who was brought here too.
?: Fool! I am Jack! And I will be your demise!
(Out of nowhere another voiced shouted out.)
Jack: Would you cut that shit out?!
(Then another guy flew right by me and tackled the weirdo threatening us to the ground.
The guy who ran up was wearing spandex and a luchador mask.
It's like I'm watching a low budget WWE match right before my unfortunate eyes.)
Ryan: Just as I thought, two more weirdos.
(The two stopped wrestling.)
"Luchador": Sorry about him, he's a bit too "in-character".
(Violet jumped out in front of me.)
Violet: Thank you for stopping him! Oh my gosh you're like a mysterious masked hero!
(I guess she's a fan of that overdone archetype.)
"Luchador": I-It was nothin'. I'm Curt the "Ultimate Wrestler" I'll take any chance at wrestling I can get!
Violet: Ooooooo!
(Is she falling for this goofball?
Cookie was ten times the man this guy is.)
Ryan: So who's your "in-character" friend here?
Curt: He's-
(The black-suited guy jumped up off the ground in a bizarre, Power-Rangers-style fashion.)
Jack: No! You cannot reveal my name or talent! A ninja's identity and skill must be kept secret.
Ryan: You're the "Ultimate Ninja" then?
Jack: Huh? How did you-*gasp* You must be a psychic! I was destined to meet someone with such incredible power, please teach me the ways of-
Ryan: I'm not a damn psychic you just said your talent you idiot.
Jack: I...I did?
Violet: Yeah and you said your name earlier too, it's Jack right?
Ryan: You're Jack the "Ultimate Ninja".
Jack: No! You-You shouldn't know that! I...I must escape!
(Jack pulled something from his pocket and threw it to the ground.
It created a cloud of white dust that he used to run off, defiantly wasn't a smoke bomb though.
Did he just throw a handful of pocket flour at us?)
Curt: Uhg, I should probably run after him to make sure he doesn't get into any more trouble. Nice meeting you two.
Ryan: Alright, see ya.
Violet: Good luck masked hero!
(Curt ran off while roaring Jack's name.)
Violet: So...should we keep looking here?
Ryan: Nah this place is way too big, I think we got the gist of it. There probably aren't any clues or ways to escape this dump.
Violet: Alright, then let's go check those three buildings on the other side of the street.
(Violet and I exited the ginormous mall and proceeded to the next set of individual buildings.)
-
TO BE CONTINUED...
