Perception unraveled. Sensation became a dissonance of sight and sound that dissipated into the void. Tim's essence dissolved, adrift in a boundless expanse that transcended understanding. He teetered upon the precipice of an enigmatic horizon, his being stretched thin across the fabric of existence. Fragmented thoughts scattered like ethereal debris. Tim was a morsel swallowed by the cosmos, digested, and then expelled.
Form materialized anew, and in an instant, Tim collided with the ground, an electrifying jolt of agony surging through his frame. A trio of resounding, meaty thuds reverberated, followed by a symphony of anguished exclamations.
Gasping for breath, Tim lifted his face from the unyielding cold beneath him. His eyes flickered open through the haze of pain, and a chilling sense of unease tightened its grip on his heart. Summoning his strength, Tim pushed himself into a seated position, a low groan escaping his lips as he surveyed his surroundings. A sprawling display of enigmatic geometry extended beneath him, an intricate mosaic etched upon the floor's cool gray expanse. Intricately woven with glistening metal, the pattern rippled and sparkled within the dim chamber's ambiance. Tim's gaze was fixated, entranced by the mesmerizing interplay of cryptic shapes and symbols.
The chamber he now inhabited mirrored the enigma of the floor, its very essence borne of the same gray stone. Above, an expansive dome loomed. Veins of the enigmatic metal meandered along the walls, an ethereal tapestry etched into the rock like ivy. However, in place of leaves, intricate polygons emerged – triangles, squares, and circles, each adorned with a cryptic sigil.
"Frick, I think I broke my coccyx!" Randal's voice cut through the still air as he rubbed his backside.
"Ha, ha, ha, you said broke," McKenzie said as she rolled across the floor in pain.
Tim's attention snapped away from the situation as he pushed himself up. His legs shook as he fumbled in his pocket for his phone. The upload was complete. Tim breathed out a sigh and tried to check on Yvonne's status. Panic in his soul crystallized. No service.
"That… hurt more than expected," Genzo Uchida complained.
The words floated in through Tim's foggy mind. Something was off. There was no delay, no words repeated back. Tim's eyebrow twitched. "You can speak English?"
"No, I can't," replied Genzo. "I'm speaking Japanese."
"Hunh?" Replied Tim, Randal, and McKenzie in a chorus of confusion.
"What," Genzo replied, his words dripping with snark. "The cheaters who stole my grand prize don't understand? Well, let me spell it out to you geniuses. We just got sucked over to some primitive dirt world. Automatic translation should be a given." Genzo's face twisted into a scowl before he looked away. "Menu. System. Status. Yes, that's it!"
"Wha' cha mean automatic translation?" Asked Randal.
"Open your menu and look for yourself, fool," Genzo replied.
"But how to do..." Randal started to ask.
"Keyword [Status]," Genzo cut him off.
Tim whispered, [Status]. His jaw fell as an interface imposed itself across his vision, much like in MOBO. His health, level, and physical conditions were in the corner of his vision.
"How do you know about this menu?" Tim asked cautiously.
"Dumb Americans. Of course, you wouldn't know," Gonzo replied, then sighed. "Hundreds of Japanese people get taken to other worlds every year."
"Wait," Randal interrupted, "y'all is sayin' that every year over a hundred Japanese, what, just up an' get whisked away to wherever? Well, I'm callin' bullshit. I think we're still inside MOBO, wherein we whooped your asses moments ago. This has gotta be some sorta glitch with the SyncDive. The screen is a dead giveaway."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"That's the thing," Genzo replied, "returnees created the full-dive system, and that screen is based on their experiences. Most of the returnees have gone on to do great things. It's because of them that Japan has re-emerged as a superpower."
"Y'all really think we're in another world?" Randal asked while scratching a hand through his dark brown hair.
"Yes, cheater," Genzo sneered and strode to confront the towering Randall. The deep furrowed lines in Genzo's forehead somehow scrunched even more profoundly as he glared at the oaf. "How else do you explain where we are? How else am I talking to you? Did MOBO translate anything? Think about it, you stupid. White. MONKEY!"
"It sounds like you know a lot about things like this, Captain Genzo," Tim said cautiously as he tried to interpose between them. Maybe Genzo's explanation held some truth, but it was just as likely that he was in some fever dream after suffering a stroke onstage. Or perhaps he was still trapped in MOBO, like what had happened with the pre-gen testers.
"So disrespectful," muttered Genzo Uchida, who twisted his head away and glared off into the distance.
Tim's mind raced, pondering the worst-case scenarios. Being trapped in another world would undoubtedly be the most harrowing fate. At least if he was in a coma, nothing could be done. If he were trapped inside the game, eventually, tech support would figure something out. But a summoning to another world, no matter how unbelievable, would leave him without resources and hope of getting home to work with Yvonne. But people had made it back. Genzo had said as much.
Tim started to pace as the thoughts whirled through his mind. "Okay, Captain," he said, "I saw everyone get into crash positions when that ring of purple light appeared. Well, everyone except us. That would mean that enough people went and came back to know that you'd need to protect yourself during… whatever just happened." The pieces and patterns started to fall into place in Tim's mind. "The Japanese government wouldn't let this go on without doing something, would they? Returnees are valuable, so wouldn't there be something like mandatory training? There must be some information on how to get back, correct?"
"How'd you figure that out?" Genzo said as he slumped against the wall. "It is as you say, and that is how I know just how screwed we are. The government has outlined a series of common scenarios. Each scenario has a particular route or path to getting back home. There are 70 theorized scenarios, broken down into groups of ten."
"Assuming you are right," McKenzie interrupted, "that is good news, and maybe getting home won't be so hard if we work together?"
"We're not getting home." Genzo Uchida said coolly.
No way home? Tim's eyes went wide. He rechecked his phone. With no updates and no signal, Yvonne would be lost to her own vices. Without the periodic operation packets, he had yet to upload or even finish programming, her results could be disastrous. Years of careful budgeting and living off instant noodles would be wasted. He would graduate and never again get access to the Quantum Field 6 and yottaflops of server power.
It was clear that Genzo was convinced their arrival was more than some convoluted simulation. Perhaps because of that, Tim had also started to accept that reality. Other scenarios just didn't fit. The translation, the pain, it just felt a little more real, more vivid than in Full-Dive. Especially the pain.
"Group summoning," Genzo continued, "that's series 40 through 70. Group smaller than seven, that's the 60 series. No one to greet us after five minutes of arrival; scenarios 68 and 69. In scenario 68, there is something that binds the large group together, like that thing with Hajime, where they are all classmates. But thanks to you, I think we are in scenario 69. With no way home."
McKenzie glanced at Randal and giggled. Randal got the joke and, unable to read a room, started in, "Uh, so, we're in game sixty-nine scenario?" Randal asked.
"Yes," replied Genzo. His deep-set brows furrowed further. "And this is no game."
"You'n me, were stuck together in a sixty-nine situation?" Randal asked again, trying to keep a straight face.
"Yes, we are all stuck in a sixty-nine scenario together!" Genzo roared.
McKenzie fell on her butt laughing.
"What the hell is wrong with your bitch?" Genzo asked as he rose to his feet.
Tim saw where this was headed. "It's a problem with the automatic translation. I'm not sure it is processing idioms correctly." He said in an attempt to defuse the situation.
"So, about this sixty-ni…." Randel asked in between snickers.
Genzo's fist flew into Randal's gut, interrupting him. Genzo was too short to hit Randal's face, so he settled for the solar plexus. His fist flew into the black helmet logo and dug deep into Randal's stomach. Randal doubled over, the wind knocked out of him.
Tim and McKenzie stepped in to separate them, but Genzo's eyes glossed over. He stood silent and still as he stared at his clenched fist. "I unlocked a skill," Genzo said bluntly.