After a few hours of reading manga and destroying n00bz at call of duty, Jason noticed it was getting dark. "Time to make some money~" he said joyously. He quickly got dressed. Since he was playing the casino tonight, he decided to dress up so he could get into the higher stakes games. He put on a pair of grey pants, perfectly creased, with a matching sports jacket which he wore open over a black satin button-up shirt. he combed his wavy hair back and put a black fedora hat with a silvery trim on. Ugh I look good!] he thought to himself.
Usually he played smaller games like poker night in some affluent neighborhood in Baton Rouge, making only as much as he needed so he didn't attract attention to himself. But tonight, he was hitting the biggest casino in New Orleans. Why? A certain owner of collectible cars was selling his bleach-inspired sports car, arguably the best one on the market: The Bankai.
It was a deep, glossy black on the outside, with faint, wave like traces of red on the trim, reminiscent of an attack from the orange-haired MC himself. The inside was darker than Mugetsu itself, until you turned it on, then the central lighting and the control system all glowed a blood red. What made it so great was that as you sped down the highway, because of the patterns of red on the outside along with those inside, the car actually began to look like a focused Getsuga Tenshou. Jason had to have it. The bidding started at 5,000,000 yen(around 41,000 USD) but everybody knew it would skyrocket.
Jason only had a week, so he would need to hit every major casino in Louisiana to make enough money to win the bidding war. Jason pulled up to the casino, and took a moment to adopt a new persona: a confident, rich kid. He walked into the casino with a swift, powerful gait. The entrance was extremely important so he couldnt mess it up. He knew a few people would be watching, and if he didn't look like a VIP, there was no way he was getting in the VIP section.
After passing through security, he promptly went to go and exchange his money for chips. "Gimme five thousand sweetheart, I think I'll keep it light tonight." said Jason, winking at the young lady at the booth. Although he said that, five thousand dollars was all he had. This was an all or nothing situation. five thousand wasnt enough to buy in to a high stakes game, he would need at least five times that.
He already knew which games to play. first, he went up to the blackjack tables. After years of practicing, he had learned to count cards fairly well, of course he cunningly loss a few rounds so security wouldn't detect his cheating. He then took his money to the table games, starting with craps tables. He repeated his strategy of winning and losing in a 2:1 ratio. He played several other games as well, and sometimes let himself lose more heavily, to allay any suspicion. He was sure to talk to people, flirt, and generally be likable wherever he went. Jason was doing all this for a reason however.
After a few hours, he had the buy in he needed for the poker game. Jason approached the blocked off section as if it were only natural for him to be allowed in. Just as he was about to enter, security stopped him. Dammit! Did i mess up? He thought as he turned towards the guard. "Is there a reason you're blocking my way officer?" he asked in voice that sounded indifferent, yet slightly annoyed.
"Sir we need your name for verification..." the guard said nervously. "The name's Delacroix." Jason said shortly. The security guard began to hurriedly look through the list. Come on, come on. I know my name's not on the list, so there's only one other way I'm getting in there. Jason thought to himself, praying that his scheme worked. Just as the security officer was about to tell Jason his name wasnt on the list, a group of young people approached.
They were some of the people Jason had been extra nice to, as he could tell they had money from their designer clothing. They quickly pressured the guard to let him in, stating that he was with them. Safe! He thought to himself in a Japanese accent. When he got inside the VIP lounge, he hung out with the group that got him in for a few minutes, talking about things he cared nothing about. He stayed a few more minutes to get the girls' numbers. He may be an otaku, but he certainly wasn't the type to only like 2-d girls.
When he approached the poker table, he noticed that everyone playing looked experienced. This wont be easy...Jason quickly took his seat. He noticed they were looking at him as if he were an undesirable. Then he realized why. He had only used the minimum buy-in to join the game, while the others had hundreds of thousands on the table. To those experienced and wealthy men, he looked like a child who had barely grown enough to sit at their table. They turned their attentions to the others, mentally planning how they were going to play. Jason grinned cunningly. If they were going to underestimate him because he didn't have as much money, that made things much easier.
An hour later, the game was over. He had won, using all the cheats skills he had, and had taken the pot. He had made $670,000. He quickly spent 15,000 on drinks for the whole casino. As people began drinking and getting rowdy, Jason quickly and quietly converted his chips into cash. As he was leaving, he noticed security eyeing him. He grabbed a mostly empty bottle as he headed down a hallway towards a side exit.
"Excuse me Sir! Please stop!" A security guard said, catching up to Jason as he reached the exit. Jason asked the officer what he wanted, assuming a drunken tone. "Sir we have reason to believe you may have been cheating." The officer's hand moved towards a holster on his hip and grinned."Now if you'll give the money to me, maybe you won't have to go into custody-" The guard didn't get to finish as the bottle that had been in Jason's left hand slammed against the right side of his face. This was followed by a hit from the briefcase carrying the money, which hit the same area. The guard lost consciousness instantly.
Like hell Jason was going to get extorted for over 600k by some security guard. With that amount of money, he could win the bidding war for the car without even having to hit other casinos, and still have a little left over. He ran to his car and swiftly drove back to his home. I've safely made it back, and now in a week, The Bankai shall be mine! MINE!!!! Jason thought maniacally to himself as he opened the door.
When he opened the door, he saw something which made him drop the briefcase, even with its important contents. The weird statue, which looked like an imp made of bronze, was unwrapped, and was looking at him, swinging its tail back and forth. "Finally, I've been waiting for ages! Oh well, time to go~" It said with a maniacal smile that was made even more intimidating by its impish face. Before Jason could flee, There was a flash of bright light, then ...nothing.
When Jason woke up, he noticed two things immediately. 1. He was outdoors, laying on grass. 2. It was early morning, and the moon was still slightly visible but... there was more than one moon? Shaking his head, he struggled to his feet, feeling slightly hung over, though he hadn't actually drunk last night. Then he looked around, and saw hundreds of people around him. most were still unconscious, but some like him were struggling to their feet, attempting to understand their situation.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Jason looked around him, trying to get a general understanding of where he was. He noticed the grassy area that the people were in was slightly elevated, and that they were completely surrounded by forests. He could see that there was a singular mountain some miles away, with an actual mountain range alot further away. What he was looking for was smoke on the horizon, or something that looked like civilization. He was lucky he had read several survival manga and had an idea of what to look for.
After a few minutes, he didn't see anything noteworthy, and instead began to inspect himself and make a few deductions. He must have been drugged, it would explain his headache and his hallucinations regarding the moon and that statue. That implied that whoever it was needed to move him long distance without a chance for him to escape. He had no restraints on him, which implied that once he woke up, there would be no need for them, which further implied that wherever they were, their chances of escape were negligible, but they probably weren't being held hostage. He pushed his glasses up, imitating a certain Shiroe. Which brought him to another point. His clothes, wallet, everything was exactly as it had been on the night he was taken.
If you don't want our money, and aren't holding us hostage, why are we still alive? Jason thought to himself. As he had been thinking, a good number of people had woken up. Upon further inspection, there were people of all different ethnicities. All sorts of languages were being spoken, and people were taking all kinds of actions. Some had began praying, others began trying to talk to one another, others had began fighting, suspecting that one of them must have brought them to this place.
All of a sudden, a figure appeared over them with popping sound. It looked just like...the statue? "Oh hai folks!" it said in the same annoying childlike voice Jason remembered from the night he was taken. " I'm Vira Zin a.k.a god of misfortune a.k.a The Mad God a.k.a your mommy's secret lover a.k.a OP-ness incarnated! Yous peoples must have lotsa questions... i dont really care though!" The imp-like creature spoke while switching accents several times in a way that was incredibly annoying.
"Imma still give a lil back story though, so pump ya brakes! Right now, the one true God is busy keeping the universe from breaking and shit. I could explain why its breaking, yet I fear thine mortal brains shan't be able to handle it. Basically, its like totally expanding reaaally~ fast, so like, God is totes holding it together using his own being as a catalyst, awesome right? As they say though, if the cats away, the mice shall play, and I decided to steal a few of you from the world he treats oh so well!"
The imps voice suddenly became serious. "You earth humans seem to have completely forgotten your place. I dont see why God favors you, at least humans on my planet can actually do magic! And then you earth scum actually went so far as to create your own worlds, as if you were on the level of gods. Your virtual reality is an insult to us, though the others are to cowardly to do anything."
After this, the mad god seemed to regain is original annoying air. "Some of you may be asking 'well what does this have to do with me?' and the answer is absolutely nothing~! I chose you guys at random, I couldnt take that many though, or God would notice, even if he is holding together the universe. You totally don't wanna be punished by God, trust me. Anway, I'm bored. You peoples are here to fix that. Entertain me and you may be rewarded~. You may possibly even be able to go home! Although this world is closer to the brink of the universe, so time runs faster here. Its already been a week on your planet! So anyway... at.. ng..."
Whatever the imp was saying was currently being zoned out by Jason. It's been a week? Then.... the auction's already over? I went through all that trouble, made hundreds of thousands of dollars which is probably gone now, and am possibly a wanted man for beating down that guard...only to no even have a CHANCE to get the Bankai? All because of the damned imp????!!! I dont care if it is a god, I want to kill it! Jason's rage was almost palpable, and people around him all moved away instinctively. Little did Jason know that the god sensed his killing intent, and had mentally marked him down as one of the possibly interesting ones
"So now its almost time for me to cast ye out O little lambs! to make it more interesting for myself I'll give you guys three presents,cause you would probably die in the first week without them~! first *snaps* I've given you all the ability to speak one language, the language of this world. the second, is up to you. It's a transformation ability, say whatever animal you want to be able to turn into, and its done, i suggest you pick something that's most like you though~"
"Dragon!" "Unicorn" "god!" People began shouting out all kinds of things, mostly mythical beings. Fools. Jason thought to himself, lamenting the foolishness of the people around him. The imp-god had said pick something most like you, obviously this meant something. And why would you just shout it out? now everyone around you knows what you are! Whatever, I have no time to think about others, I need to choose my own... Jason thought about the way he his personality traits. He was mainly cunning, patient, analytical and adaptive. There were several animals which could fit that description, but two main ones stood out. He knew he didnt want to be a spider, so he chose the alternative.
"Snake" Jason said quietly. It wasnt exactly what he wanted to be, and it certainly wasnt heroic, but that was the closest thing to what Jason was from his point of view. After a few minutes, the imp said it was time for the last gift. "Now my puppets, choose an active ability like shooting out fire or something. Its up to you morons, but u should probably choose something you actually know alot about."
Jason was stuck now. Sure he was smart, but he payed no attention in high school and eventually dropped out. This was due to his self-diagnosed ADW, a disease that makes him only (A)ble to (D)o what he (W)ants. He had this disorder in common with a certain Kagami Junichirou. But he didn't really know much besides gambling and anime. He had an excellent understanding of plenty of anime abilities... but he wasn't sure if that could be depended on as most of them broke physics. should he choose something pertaining to gambling? But every thing aout that, he could do without some special ability. Then it hit him. He understood anime! "Animation" Jason said. He immediately regretted it. How would he use animation to defend himself?
"All right kiddies~ you guys do whatever you can to entertain me if you ever want a chance at going home! This world is pretty hard to live in so do your best to live, or die. I dont really care! Oh by the way~ The way your abilities work, if youre not satisfied with them, you can get new ones by somehow eating the other earth peoples! I hope you guys chose carnivorous transformations! Bai Bai now, and remember, I'm always watching!" The mad god vanished after that, leaving the people with a sense of uncertainty as they looked around, some wondering if people would actually eat each other just to survive, others wondering which among them would be easiest to eat. All of them however knew one thing: Very few of them would ever make it home.