11:03:14
Inside the Underground Waste Disposal Shaft, B-12.
“Uhmm, Vix. Are you sure that we’re going in the right direction?” Cypher nervously asked.
“According to the map in my hand… yes, we are,” Vix stiffly replied. His tone, however, sounded unsure.
“Gods, the smell…” Fox remarked with disgust. She used both her hands to cover her air-filtration mask. “It smells very bad!~”
“Don’t tell me you have your olfactory setting turned on in your mask?” Vix turned around and asked his captain with shock.
Waving her hands in denial, Fox replied, “Of course not! I would’ve died already if I had it turned on.”
“Then how are you able to smell the air?” Vix asked, narrowing his eyes. “There shouldn’t be any scent if you have it turned off.”
“It just smells, okay!? Jeez!” Fox replied in exasperation.
Sighing aloud, Vix shook his head and turned around to continue leading. Just as he was about to take his first step, he caught sight of something from the corner of his eyes.
His eyes widening with great horror, Vix screamed, “MIDAS! Stop touching the walls!!” His scream caused the other members of the party to turn toward the culprit.
Midas, having strayed away from the party at some point, seemed to be busy running his hands against the walls of the passageway. The lights shining on him revealed a viscous, blackish-brown substance messily strewn across his hands.
Cypher covered his agape mouth in horror. “Holy Father! He’s not wearing any gloves!” He then closed his eyes in disgust.
Fox seemed to have begun dry-heaving at some point as she was busy looking away from the scene. Vix seemed too stunned to talk and was rendered speechless after having caught sight of Midas’ innocent expression.
Aether, the oldest and the only person within the party to have come to these filth-ridden caverns before, looked at Midas with a weird expression. He found himself unsure whether to cheer at his bravery or cry at his stupidity.
“You shouldn’t be touching that without gloves, Midas.” After sighing to himself, Aether kindly warned.
“Whoa! It feels so weird to touch, man!” Midas remarked with sparkling eyes. He then brought it near his mask and whiffed at it. “Whoa! It smells weird too!”
The rest of the party stared speechlessly at his actions. Words failed them.
Midas then turned around to face the other members. He pointed his filth-covered hand towards them and asked, “Do you guys want to try touching it too?”
Fox finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and began vomiting. Cypher backed away and joined his captain in her ventures. Aether began laughing to himself, finding the entire situation to be ridiculous.
Vix, with unconcealed disgust shining in his eyes, coldly barked, “Put that down. Now.” His tone threatened more than it suggested.
Midas looked shocked at Vix’s words. “But, Vix–”
“NOW!!” Vix bellowed at the top of his lungs.
With a startled jump, Midas hurriedly dropped the lumpy substance in his hand and wiped his hand against his clothes. “Alright, alright, there. I did it, man.” He showed them his now ‘clean’ hands.
“You’re staying in the back. Don’t touch anything. If you do,” Vix’s eyes flashed, “I’ll kick you from the team!”
Midas was stunned. His mouth opened to say something, only to then immediately shut after catching sight of Vix’s glare. Hanging his head down like a defeated puppy, Midas walked to the back and followed behind Aether.
The distraction passed, and the party continued with Vix in the lead. Silence returned to the underground cavern with only the sound of their footsteps and breathing endlessly reverberating within the walls.
Aether, who was looking around the darkness with the flashlight in his hands, suddenly spoke up, “Did you guys know? I was here when they closed the operation of these waste disposal shafts six years ago.”
Seeing his party members’ interest in his story, he continued, “In fact, I worked in this exact shaft.” He chuckled. “Ah~ B-12. Just recalling the memories from that job makes my stomach churn with revulsion.”
“Was it even more disgusting than this?” asked Fox, pointing her flashlight at the corners of the large corridor. There, the party could see strange, murky substances pulsing and bubbling within the darkness. Just the mere sight of it caused one to coil with disgust.
“Oh, it was far, far, terrible. It was the stuff of nightmares,” replied Aether. “My job back then involved going around and breaking up any build-ups or chokes in the pipes and waterways that you see around. Not only did I have to stand waist-deep within this filth but I also had to use my hands to dig through them. The things that I felt and touched were at least a hundred times worse than the one that Midas touched.”
“Wasn’t it dangerous?” asked Vix. Seeing the other stare at him with confusion, he explained, “I mean, wasn’t the waste gathered here full of radiation and other nasty things?”
“Oh. No,” Aether shook his head. “Before the ‘cleaners’, that’s what my job was called, by the way, came, the tunnels and shafts were decontaminated and cleansed of radioactive waste multiple times. That being said, it still wasn’t entirely safe.”
With a grim look on his face, Aether recounted, “If I remember correctly, three cleaners still died even after all the cleansing and safety measures that were taken. One of them fell through a weakened floor and was crushed by falling rubble, while the other two, I heard, died from radiation poisoning. It seemed that something they touched was still full of nasty radiation.”
The party members looked horrified at his recount. Midas seemed to turn pale and hurriedly wipe his hands against his clothes.
Catching sight of his nervous expression, Aether laughed and said, “Don’t be afraid. They decontaminated the tunnels a few more times after that incident. I’m sure that the waste you see here is absolutely safe.”
“Why would you take such a filthy job?” asked Cypher. His eyes revealed how utterly confused he was about Aether’s undertaking of the cleaning job.
“Cause it paid well,” Aether answered with a shrug. “Also, it seemed interesting you see.”
“Interesting how?”
“Well, for one, I got to see this magnificent structure that expands underneath the entire city.” He opened his arms wide and gestured at the wide walls and high ceilings that surrounded them. Filthy or not, it was true that the structure was a rarely seen wide-scale engineering behemoth. Almost nothing built aboveground equaled the scale of the underground waste disposal shafts and processing plant.
The Underground Waste Disposal Shafts that the party found themselves journeying through currently was built and maintained by the now-defunct Van Dyne Company. The company operated shafts A through F and Waste Processing Plants (WPP) 1 through 3. This network of shafts stretched underneath the southern sector of District 4, home to the lowest strata of society; the Slums.
Having said that, it was now evident why the company went bankrupt and shut down its operations.
“Second, it marked a historic day in the history of District 4,” continued Aether.
“Historic day?” questioned Midas.
Nodding his head, Aether replied with a bitter smile, “It marked the day when the big shots of District 4 decided to abandon the southern sector of the city, letting its people fend for themselves. It was from that day that the ‘Slums’ as you know it now was born.”
The party members looked at each other with shock.
The Slums. The only people who hadn’t heard of that word in District 4 were unborn. Its areas encompassed the majority of the southern sector of the city and were home to the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low. All in all, it was a terrible place.
Suddenly curious, Aether asked, “Have any of you ever been to the slums?”
All party members without exception shook their heads. “I see,” said Aether. “That’s good. Nothing good comes out of going there.”
“Have you been there, Aether?” asked Cypher.
“A few times, yes. But most of those times were before the Slums fell into its current state.”
“Is it true then?” asked Fox, curiously. “What people say? About how it’s a breeding ground for demons and devils?”
“Demons and devils?” Aether laughed at her question. “A breeding ground for disease maybe. But definitely not of monsters. Hahahaha.”
After whole-heartedly laughing for a few seconds, he then wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and said, “Either way, you kids need to keep away from there. It’s a bad, bad place.”
Everyone earnestly nodded their heads.
“If it weren’t for the fact that the next round of the tournament was somewhere deep in here, I wouldn’t have taken a single step into this gutter mine,” Fox said with a crumpled face. She wasn’t enjoying this excursion a single bit.
It was then that Vix, who was leading the party in the front, suddenly stopped. The rest of the members following behind him also stopped with Fox asking, “Hey! Why did you suddenly stop?”
“We’re here,” replied Vix, looking around unsure.
Dong! The heavy sound of something being switched on echoed startling the party members. Just as they were wondering what that sudden sound was, a blinding white light shined upon them.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Everyone raised their hands to block the sudden light while their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Aether recovered first.
“What the hell…?” Aether’s voice dawdled.
[And now… arriving from Exit- B, the new rookie sensation! TEEEAAAMM!~ FOX AND FRIENDS!!] An announcer excitedly announced. [Oh and, love the name, by the way!]
Deafening cheers drowned out the thoughts within the party member’s heads as they stepped out into the light. Their eyes, having adjusted to the new brightness, looked around in a daze.
“Welcome! Welcome! You guys are Team Fox and Friends, right?” A young man, seemingly a staff member, arrived in front of them and asked.
“Uhm… we–” Feeling flustered, Vix seemed at a loss for words.
“Well, never mind. It doesn’t matter. Follow me!” The staff member hurriedly announced and walked away. Team Fox and Friends dumbly watched him walk away.
After walking a few dozen steps, the man suddenly paused and turned back with confusion. Seeing the unmoving team dazedly stare at the dozens of fans cheering their names from their stands, he yelled, “Oi, guys! Start moving! We don’t have all day!”
“Ah? Ah, right! We’re coming!” Vix recovered first and urged the other members to chase after the staff member.
Looking at his surroundings with disbelief, Aether still couldn’t process it. “Holy… hell…” he muttered to himself. “The hell is this?”
Bright lights, loud cheers, floating cameras… wait, cameras?
Grabbing Midas’ shoulder and pulling him near, Aether screamed into his ears. “Why are there video cameras? Is this event being recorded?”
“Recorded? Man, it's being streamed live!” screamed Midas back. The deafening cheers made basic communication a little inconvenient. “Your face is being broadcasted all over the internet! Wait, that’s not right. We’ve still got our masks on. Your masked face is being—”
Aether had honestly stopped listening to Midas’ explanation. His legs stood rooted to the ground while his eyes stared emptily into the space before him. Right now, only a single thought filled Aether’s mind.
‘Shit! Mei’s gonna see this!’
---
At the same time.
Classroom 3-A, Sacred Hearts White Angel Girl’s Academy.
“Tch, tch! A team of hotties. Rawr!~” Chole purred as she excitedly stared into the holographic screen in her hand.
Hearing her friend’s words, Eka rolled her eyes. “Half their faces are covered by a mask. Please explain to me, Ms Chole, how you found them to be ‘hot’?”
“With my woman’s intuition,” Chloe thrust out her chest and proudly declared. She then shrugged and said, “Besides, you don’t need to see a person’s entire face to know whether they are hot or not.”
She then pointed at the navy blue-haired youth on the screen and said, “For example, I can tell that this guy’s the cold and aloof type of hot guy.”
She pointed at the pink-haired girl walking behind him and said, “This girl is the bouncy, vivacious type of beauty.”
The short, golden-haired boy was up next. “This is the ‘protect-and-care’ type of cute boy.”
The bony youth with the crew cut and robotic arm was judged next. “I can tell that this guy’s a weirdo.”
“And lastly, this guy,” she finally arrived at the last member who was staring into the camera dumbly, “he looks like the older, mature type of hot guy. Heh! Look at how he’s staring at the camera dumbly. He looks adorable.”
Chloe then clapped her hands and declared, “That’s it! I’ve decided. Henceforth, I shall support this guy!” She pointed at Aether on the screen.
“That mask,” Eka suddenly said. “Why does his mask look familiar?”
“Huh? Now that you say that, it does look a little–” Chloe was suddenly startled as a hand grabbed at her device projecting the screen and pulled it away. “Hey, Mei! Give it back!!” She lunged at her best friend.
Effortlessly dodging Chloe’s lunge, Mei unflinchingly stared into the paused screen with a shocked gaze. Touching the immaterial screen, she absentmindedly muttered. “...big brother?”
‘What the hell are you doing there at a VR tournament without telling me?’ Mei’s eyes blazed with wrath.
---
Waiting room.
Waste Disposal Plant 2. Location of the Round of 32.
“Why does Aether suddenly look depressed?” Midas pointed at the sulking guy, crouching in the corner of the waiting room, and asked.
“I don’t know,” Cypher shook his head. “When I went over to ask him, he simply looked at me and said ‘I’m finished’.”
“Well, that’s definitely not ominous,” Fox scoffed.
“It isn’t?” Midas looked at her with confusion.
“It is, Midas. She’s just being sarcastic,” Vix kindly explained.
“Is he going to be okay then?” Cypher asked worriedly.
“Give him some space. I’m sure he’ll recover before the matches start,” answered Fox encouragingly, having entered ‘Captain Mode’. “Besides, our God isn’t someone who’ll succumb to mere depression.”
Vix flicked at Fox’s head and warned, “Don’t make light of depression. It’s a real and terrible illness.”
“Ouch! I’m not making fun of it,” Fox asserted while rubbing her reddened forehead. “I’m just saying that Aether’s going to be fine.”
“That’s a relief,” Midas sighed in relief. “Man, I thought we were going to be down our best player.”
“DON’T JINX IT!” Fox, Vix, and Cypher exclaimed in unison.
While one man was in shambles and the rest of the party quarrelled, someone knocked on the door to their waiting room. Turning their heads towards the door, the party saw a timid-looking staff member enter.
Seeing the party’s blazing gazes concentrate upon him, the newcomer cowered. “U-Uhm, c-can one of you, p-please fill this f-form?” He nervously stuttered.
Stepping forward, Vix smiled a disarming smile and said, “Of course.” He then received the electronic tablet from his hand and walked away to fill it.
Meanwhile, Fox bounced over to the timid-looking staff and excitedly asked, “Mister! Mister! Do you know how many people have come to watch us today?”
Taking a few steps back, he nervously answered, “Uh-Uhm, I-I think there are 208-something people i-in attendance.”
Fox looked like her mind had just been blown away. “T-two hundred people!?!”
The staff member nodded his head.
“HOLY CRAP! WE’RE FAMOUS!!” She jumped excitedly like a rabbit.
Fox clasped hands with Cypher and Midas, who seemed equally as shocked and excited as her, and the three of them began dancing in circles.
The timid-looking staff member watched this celebration with nervous hesitation. He thought to himself, ‘But most of them are here to watch the other team.’ Fortunately, he wasn’t brave enough to douse their burning passion.
“Jeez, look at you guys.” Vix scoffed from the sidelines. “Getting all excited at the sight of a few hundred people.”
He then looked at his party members and arrogantly said, “When we reach the finals, there’s going to be tens of thousands of people cheering for us!”
He then ignored Fox, who was squealing with excitement and walked over to the nervous staff member. He handed over the transparent tablet and said, “I’ve filled in all particulars and signed at the end.”
“T-thank you.” He received the item.
“By the way,” Vix asked. “Has the other team arrived yet?”
“N-no, they haven’t,” the staff member honestly replied.
“I see,” Vix answered ponderously. Flashing a kind smile at the staff person, he said, “Thank you for your service.”
“N-no. It’s m-my pleasure,” the staff member flusteredly bowed and left the room.
Left to their own, Vix then turned around and loudly clapped his hands.
“Alright, people. That’s enough! Gather around!” he announced. “Let’s go over our strategies one more time.”
Cypher, Midas, and Fox tapered their excitement and gathered around Vix with serious expressions on their faces. Aether, who had more or less resigned himself to his fate, stood up and joined the others.
“Now then, going over the plan one last time…” Vix began talking.
The mood within the room settled as the party sharpened their blades for the match.
---
Twenty minutes later.
The party members walked into the repurposed main floor of the waste disposal plant. They noticed that most of the machines were either stripped for their parts or outright missing from the factory floor.
Hundreds of pipes of varying lengths and sizes crawled all around them, most missing sections of their length while others remained closed. It was quite an educational experience for these teenagers who had never been to a waste processing plant before.
Aether, who had scrubbed these very floors a few years ago, calmly looked around in reminiscence. ‘Ah! There’s the machine whose chip I secretly stole. I should look around later if possible to see if there’s something good for the taking.’ Of course, his money-grubbing nature reared its ugly head now and then.
The party also noticed the parapets which lined either side of the wide floor. It was from atop of these parapets that the few hundred live attendants were about to watch the matches.
Cameras and drones flew around, capturing every detail of the event. Large holographic screens showing the broadcasted video from the former hang suspended in the empty air. Speakers drowning the air with music, sponsorship reads, and advertisements completed the atmosphere.
[...the Round of 32 of the Ascender’s Cup is brought to you by Laplund Corporation, makers of the industry’s best VR devices…]
The party kept marching on until they came to a stop.
“Please stop here,” the staff leading them instructed. He then pointed at the VR pods before them and said, “These are the machines that you’ll be using today. Please inspect them and log into your accounts. If you require any assistance, don’t hesitate to call for a staff member.”
“Thank you. We’ll take it from here,” Vix politely replied, sending off the staff. He turned to face Fox and asked, “Your orders, captain?”
Having temporarily shed her playful nature, Fox sternly instructed, “Everyone. Choose a pod and begin initial setup.”
The party members nodded their heads and separated, walking up a pod of their liking.
While only five members were present in each team, there were six pods lined up before them. This was to cater to all six character types in the game. And since Aether played both Brawler and Virtual, he had to set up two pods according to his preferences.
Deciding to set up the Brawler first, Aether chose one of the unselected pods and entered it. Seating himself comfortably on the luxurious seat within, he retrieved a flat, rectangular, card-like object from within his pocket. This was an account card. It was within this card that character information like class, stats, etc, and game information like progress was stored.
The account card in Aether’s hand was linked to the Player OneFistMan, Team Fox and Friends’ resident Brawler.
Inserting the account card into the glowing cavity inside the pod, Aether waited for the machine to load. After a minute or so, a holographic screen appeared before him displaying information.
[Account Card verified. Data from Player OneFistMan has been retrieved. Please wait while the device is being set up.] A progress bar appeared underneath the message.
Waiting another minute, Aether was presented with the next step.
[Initial set-up has been completed successfully. Please confirm the ‘Accessibility Settings’ of the device.] This was a big task.
Aether proceeded to spend the next few dozen seconds scrolling down the menu and adjusting each setting. Players at the professional level preferred a certain unique combination of settings. If this unique combination was not duplicated faithfully, it would affect their gameplay in matches.
Aether, having learnt the magic of ‘personalised builds’, was no different. He went down adjusting the settings into the numbers that suited him best.
Arriving at the final setting titled ‘Synchronisation Degree’, he found it locked at 20%. Tapping on this setting, a familiar message arrived before Aether.
[WARNING: It is recommended that this setting remain untouched. Increasing the ‘Synchronisation Degree’ might result in irreversible damages to the player’s body and mind.]
[LEGAL DISCLAIMER: By adjusting this setting, you agree to the following clause; Laplund Corporation will not be held responsible for any damages whatsoever caused by the player’s tampering and will be exempt from any monetary settlements regarding this issue.]
Aether’s mouth could not help but twitch each time he read these messages. Sighing to himself, he closed the messages and clicked ‘cancel’ on the ‘Synchronisation Degree’ setting. He then pressed confirm to save his settings.
After confirming that everything was proper, he exited his pod and walked over to the other one to repeat the same process.
Just as he was about to enter the second pod, Aether heard Midas call out to him. “Aether, look over there.” Midas pointed at the entrance to the main floor. A party exited the entrance and walked over.
Team Coldplay had entered the floor.