Starlit Heroics: Network of Carnage

Not gonna lie, this takes me back to old SH.

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[Current OST: Safety]

A young blonde woman wearing black clothes sits in front of a computer, with sunlight beaming through the window in front of her. An open refrigerator beside the bed blows cold air into the room.

"Just have to finish this up before they get here...!" - The woman mumbles as she scans her eyes through the document on screen.

The document is neatly organized with tables and pictures of stylized characters. Numbers line the tables with the first character on the list being described as "Max", with his class being that of a 'soldier'. The woman closes the document and brings up a program with a map-like grid and multiple options.

"It makes me wonder why I even bought this thing if you need an entire team to do anything with it." - She sighs.

As she starts typing on her keyboard, she hears the front door open and notices two girls walk in. One is a tall, copper-skinned woman with blonde hair, rabbit ears, red eyes, and a brown coat.

The other is a petite young woman with long lavender hair, porcelain skin and a dark-red dress with long sleeves and red stockings. She has droopy blue eyes and wears an oval hat with a feather on it.

"Oh hey, you're finally here! You couldn't have come at a better time, actually." - The woman at the computer smiles.

"What's the occasion? You know, aside from visiting you." - The rabbit woman chuckles.

"Hi, Charlotte. Do you mind if I get a drink from the refrigerator?" - The smaller girl asks as she waves at the woman on the computer.

"It's fine, Canopy. Just don't devour everything in my fridge this time. But yeah... guys, do you know that I used to make role-playing games?" - Charlotte winks as she puts her arms behind her head.

"Really? Interesting... Do you mind if I see them?" - The rabbit woman asks.

"Of course! Actually, Iris... I made these when I was younger via a game-making program. ATB Maker's the name. So they might actually be kind of crappy." - Charlotte says with a nervous grin.

"The same program that costs eight thousand Vari? You have more patience than me because I just used the trial period and never touched it again. Still, it wouldn't hurt to see what you did in the past. It's fun to see where people started, you know?" - Iris remarks as she sits in the chair next to her.

"Ooh, yeah. Alright, here we go." - Charlotte says as she clicks on a white arrow.

[Current OST: May's Theme]

The screen displays a scene with a red-haired boy in armor standing in the middle of a flat meadow with no other objects aside from a light-brown tent. Canopy walks in from behind and stares at the screen while chugging down a can of soda.

"What's that?" - She asks.

"It's uh... it's a game I made when I was 16. It's called Max's Journey." - Charlotte sheepishly replies.

"I mean... it's not too bad. She could be much worse off." - Iris shrugs.

"... To be honest, I didn't know how to do events at the time. I made entire new maps when I didn't know how to make an event stop repeating." - Charlotte giggles as she taps her fingers together.

"Oh, that's good." - Canopy says as she muffles the word 'good'.

"Well... Uh... You were still learning? So, what's the plot?" - Iris says as she gives a half-hearted smile.

"Basically, you play as a guy named Max and you go to fight... the scourge of the... thing. Honestly, I'm not sure what even happens aside from you fighting the final boss of a video game I liked." - Charlotte shrugs.

"Good job, dude." - Canopy grins as she takes another sip of her soda.

"Everyone starts off somewhere. I bet that we could make a good game if we really tried. It wouldn't hurt." - Iris says as she leans back in the chair.

"... Huh. Now that you bring it up, that would be rad. But... well, it might take a long time and you're busy with music stuff as it is, so--"

The computer screen turns pitch black in the middle of her speech.

"... Why did the computer just turn off?" - Charlotte states.

"Did you forget to charge it before we came here?" - Iris asks.

"No, I'm positive it was full. It shouldn't do this either, seeing as this is a brand new computer... relatively speaking. I have no idea what's happening, guys." - Charlotte remarks with a cold sweat.

"....Can you move it?!" a white-haired man stuttered nervously, glancing around the library they were currently inside and leaning over the shoulder of a girl furiously tapping on a computer.

"I'm trying, Ev, I'm trying to find...'' the girl's voice dropped to a low whisper so no one else could hear. ''A bloodbank for you. But....there doesn't seem to be any nearby.''

''Great, just great.'' Evan ran his hand through his hair, obviously perturbed. ''I didn't want to do anything drastic tonight but guess I gotta now.''

Evan once again glanced around.

''We should book it before Jacred or his goons find us.'' he muttered. ''He's probably right on our tail.''

''Alright, let me just look up a cheap hotel to stay the night and-'' Shiva began, but stopped as the screen flickered to black.

''...Of course these computers are a big hunk of junk.'' Evan deadpanned.

---

''Of course it's a slow day.'' a punkish girl whined from behind her desk. ''Can't I get just ONE vampire call today?''

Cam leaned on her keyboard, filing the document she had open with jumbles of letters, numbers, and symbols. 

''Eh....I'll delete that stuff after lunch.'' she muttered. ''I really need to stretch my wings and...''

She trailed off. Her computer just seemed to have shut down on her, wiping all of the progress that she did have on that document.

''SON OF A BITCH!''

A rabbit eared girl sat splayed out on her couch, laptop delicately balanced on her stomach. She had an old game running on an online emulator. Like, a really old game. It was a good time killer at least. Today was pretty boring.

A message scrolled onto the top right corner of her screen. "Hey, how's the hack going?"

That was Ven. He was crude, and vulgar, and impatient. But they unfortunately had the same taste in games, movies, books... And when some of your favorite media was pretty obscure, you'll take the friends you can get. At the very least, he was fun to poke at and compete with.

"Still working on it." Kinda.

"You're still playing games, aren't you? If you're going to just play all day, then at least practice your Road Brawler skills so I don't wipe the floor with you next time."

Shots fired. It was almost enough for Prya to challenge him right then and there. Almost. In reality Ven was just as bored as she was and was goading her into a match. She'd be fine with that if Ven wasn't actually better than her and it would almost certainly result in a loss.

Prya started typing out a response when her computer went blank. Shit, did her computer really just die on her? She pressed the power button. Nothing. How annoying, she really didn't need to spend money on a new computer now.

--------------

"Dear, did we have a power outage?"

A dark skinned man looked around the room. "No," he said. "The light in the other room is still on."

"Oh dear, must be the computer then..." Luna sighed. Her husband walked around to look at the computer screen from over her shoulder. He pressed a few buttons but the screen stayed blank.

"Oh, COME ON!"

A fishlike woman, covered in crimson and white scales, slammed her fists against the computer desk at which she sat, attracting the attention of the snow-colored, wolfish companion that draped across the couch nearby, reading a book.

"Aye? What's got yer undies in a twist?" The wolf woman asked, sitting upright now and smoothing out her long, rather conservative dress.

"Look at this, Lui. Look at it. My computer just died! Come on! I just upgraded this damn thing! I made sure I did it perfectly! It didn't even blue screen, it just shut right off!"

"...Did ye try turnin' it off and turnin' it back on?"

"...Really. That's what we're doing here. Is this the hill you want to die on."

"Just figured I'd make th' suggestion."

"I was in the middle of something! That rom isn't gonna hack itself!"

"Did ye at least remember tae save?"

"I mean... I guess. There's that. Hmm... maybe I didn't hook up the power supply right, or something... that's gotta be it. I should try to fix it."

A minute passes and the computer turns back on as if nothing had happened. Charlotte lets out a sigh of relief.

"Well alright, at least it wasn't stuck in some infinite loop of shutting on and o--" - She remarks until she notices a webpage open up by itself.

"... Off. Oh jeez."

"... You sure you didn't get a virus or something?" - Iris asks.

"No, I'm positive this computer was clean before today! I even ran antivirus scans before I went to sleep!" - Charlotte says with a troubled look on her face.

The webpage is pitch black with no features and has an address of nothing but scrambled letters and numbers that go past the screen. A deep woman's voice distorted with a reverb and static echoes through the speakers.

[Current OST: Giygas Stirs]

"Hello. This is not a virus, but instead a message. You are one of the chosen for a series known as The War Game, a virtual reality game where you will fight other people in a digital fantasy world. Should you comply and succeed, you will be granted riches and powers beyond your comprehension."

Charlotte, Iris and Canopy stare at the computer screen with a large chill going down their backs.

"Is it... serious?" - Iris asks with a confused frown.

"Oh god what do I say?" - Charlotte says as she bites her lip.

"Nope, nope, nope, not dealing with this." - Canopy remarks as she sneaks towards the front door.

Before Canopy can reach the door, she slams head first into an invisible wall. She takes a deep breath and lets out a strained groan as she walks back towards the computer.

"I instantly regret every life decision that has led up to this." - She cries.

"I said you were chosen. You either comply or there will be consequences." - The voice in the computer remarks.

"You'll... you'll let us free if we win, right? It won't just be 'oh hey good job you're stuck now', right?" - Iris asks with a stutter in her voice.

"Your freedom is guaranteed, but that requires you to survive the game first. So... are you ready? Make your decisions count."

Charlotte quivers for a bit before standing up from her chair and staring straight at the screen.

"... We'll do it." - She says with a deep sigh.

"Yes, even if I'm not completely sure." - Iris remarks with a determined face.

"This is an awful idea, but yes." - Canopy says as she raises her hand.

"Excellent choice. Now..." - The voice states.

The three girls stare at the black screen for a second before their bodies warp and contort into the computer screen.

[Current OST: Ship Under Attack]

They convert into data and scream as they spiral down towards multiple layers of numbers and code.

"When they said play, I didn't think this is what they meant!" - Charlotte yelled.

She looks around and notices Canopy and Iris aren't falling with her.

"... Guys?" - She says with a shaking tone.

Charlotte notices a pitch black void beneath her and gasps. She closes her eyes out of fear.

The library screen flickered back as a message appeared on the screen.

"Do not adjust your set. You two have been chosen for a series known as The War Game, a virtual reality game where you will fight other people in a digital fantasy world. Should you comply and succeed, you will be granted riches and powers beyond your comprehension."

"Please, it's just some sca-.'' Shiva sighed, mousing over the red x on the window.

''NO!" Evan yelped, getting glares from the librarian and patrons alike.

He sheepishly grinned and then turned to Shiva.

"Shiv, what if this is real? What if this is the way we can finally get away from Jacred?'' he whispered harshly. "It's either this...or we die. I mean we could die in this game but not by his hands. I'd rather die there than have him kill us.''

Shiva sighed and nodded at the screen.

"We'll do it.''

"Excellent.'' 

The people in the library stood in awe as the two were sucked into the computer.

-----


"Perfect.'' 

-----


Cam got a similar message. But her priorities were definitely skewed. 

"Hopefully you backed up that document because if not, you'll be in for a world of hurt.''

"Funny. Yes, I did manage to save that precious document of yours. But the true question remains, will you agree to this game or will I have to force you?"

''Of course I'll do it. Always wanted to be a badass video game protag. No question I'd be able to win this little game of yours.''

A laugh emanated from the speakers.

"Hah, a bit vain, aren't you? Don't let your hubris be your downfall, dear."

Before Cam could make a witty retort back, her body contorted into the screen as she entered the matrix.

A minute later, Prya's screen turned back on. Suspiciously odd.

A blank webpage opened by itself. On it, a message began to type.

"Hello. You are one of the chosen for a series known as The War Game, a virtual reality game where you will fight other people in a digital fantasy world. Should you comply and succeed, you will be granted riches and powers beyond your comprehension."

"The hell...?"

Her messaging app chirped. It was Ven.

"That was weird. You're not going to believe this crazy virus."

Prya typed back to him. "Something about a war game?"

"This is not a virus." This time the words were spoken.

"Oh shit...!" Prya covered the small webcam on the top of her computer with her thumb. With her non-dominant hand she clumsily continued typing.

"its a hack! its responding to me"

"This isn't a hack either. You must comply or there will be consequences."

"I dunno I kind of want to see where this goes," Ven replied.

"Ugh, idiot." Prya held the power button on her computer, but it refused to shut off. "Seriously? This cannot be happening..."

"This is your final warning, Prya Hunter..."

Prya stared defeated at her computer screen. Ven hadn't said anything in the past minute. Odd.

"What's going on?" she typed to him. No response. This wasn't Ven's doing, was it?

"...Fine." Prya said aloud to her computer. "I'll play along... until I figure out what you're up to."

As soon as she said it, Prya found herself sucked into the computer screen.

-----------

"War game?"

"Riches?"

Kaj and Luna both stared at the screen.

"Sounds dangerous," Kaj commented.

"Choosing to not participate would be even more dangerous."

"Well I guess it's not really a choice then," Luna said. "Guess we better go kick ass."

"Guess so."

And the two entered the game as well.

Charlotte slowly opens her eyes and feels the grass beneath her hands. The sun beams down on her face as she notices the meadow around her extend past her vision. She gets up to her feet and glares at the sky with a solemn stare.

"Did we really wind up inside of the computer...?" - She asks as she puts a hand over her eyes.

Charlotte turns around and sees a tent behind her. A young boy with red hair, green eyes and armored clothing walks out of the tent and stretches his limbs.

"Oh. Oh. Don't tell me." - She remarks with a hand over her mouth.

[Current OST: Shining Force - Town]

The boy notices Charlotte in the distance and waves with a smile on his face. Charlotte walks over to him with an awestruck look on her face and takes a second glance at her environments.

"H-hello. How are you?" - She says with a stutter.

"I'm good. What brings you to my tent, stranger?" - The boy asks.

"... Long story. Do you know where we are?" - Charlotte states as she puts a hand behind her head.

"We're... in the kingdom of Zem, miss. I set up this tent so I can catch my breath for the next part of my journey. I'm supposed to be on a mission to save the world, after all." - The boy remarks with a smile.

"Save the world...? By any chance, is your name Max?" - Charlotte asks with a chill going down her spine.

"Yeah, that's me. Wow, I haven't even started and I'm already famous." - He states with a large grin on his face.

Charlotte holds both hands over her mouth and shrieks in response. Max gives her a worried glare and steps back a few paces. Charlotte goes over to him and pinches his face. 

"... Are you alright, miss?" - He asks with a bewildered tone.

"It's all real! You're real! I'm not just dreaming, right?" - Charlotte yells.

"Please explain to me what's happening because I'm very confused."

Meanwhile, Evan and Shiva landed in a large field lined by trees on all sides. Evan landed a bit harder than Shiva, grazing his head on a tree branch as they fell.

"Ugh, my fucking head...'' Evan muttered.

''Oh, stop being such a baby.'' a feminine voice rang. "You'll be facing more deep doodoo in here then just a little headache.''

Evan and Shiva stood up with a start and immediately started glancing around furiously. Their eyes focused on an Aruvir leaning against a tree. 

''Relax. I'm not here to hurt ya. I'm here to help actually.''  the Aruvir said. "There's a little pop-up village nearby. I can lead you to it. Free of charge.''

"Free of charge?" Evan mumbled.

"...How can we trust you?" Shiva said cautiously.

"I'm already in enough trouble with the law in this place already. Killing and looting your corpses is the last thing I wanna do. And I don't. I don't wanna do. Unless you have, like, I dunno, some uber rare weaponry. But seriously, you can trust me.'' the girl chattered. "Oh yeah, name's Rebecca Cadbury. If ya need something that slices, dices, or shoots, I'm your gal.''

"...We have no other options, I guess." Shiva shrugged.

Prya opened her eyes to a clear blue sky. She seemed to be lying on the ground.

"What the...?" She got up and looked around. She seemed to now be on the edge of a village she didn't recognize. "No fuckin way." She couldn't actually be inside virtual reality. That didn't make sense. Had to have been some sort of space magic teleportation. Could you send magic through the computer as a virus? She'd never heard of such a thing.

Prya started walking into the village. It was quaintly populated. The people here were dressed modestly, tending to stalls on the side of the street, with the occasional exception of a journeyman or two. It kind of reminded her of a stereotypical starting village in an rpg.

No way. Nuh uh.

Right before she got sucked into her computer... or whatever the hell happened, it seemed like Ven was seeing the same thing she was. And then he went silent. Did he also get transported here?

She didn't want to disturb the town, but Prya had only seen a single picture of her internet buddy. No way she'd be able to pick him out of a crowd.

"Ven!" she called into the crowd. She waited, but no one answered. "Ven!" she repeated. Nothing.

Shit, she hoped the town wasn't too big.

Prya was about to move on when someone tapped her shoulder. She spun around to see a young man with messy purple hair and much more modern, street casual clothing than what was being worn by the townsfolk.

"Uh... Lancey?"

"Ven! It's you right?"

Venice fidgeted. "Uh, yep. In the meatspace. Or... not. Are we really in a virtual reality?"

"That's what the voice on the computer said..."

When Kaimana next became aware of her surroundings, she was no longer in the small apartment she shared with her Aruvir compatriot. She lay prone on the white sands of a beach, a tiny tropical island with not much more than a few trees, some vines and a red statue dead center.

"What the hell... where am I... I'm not in Librata anymore, am I..." She rubbed her head and sat up, finally scanning around. Nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. An ideal environment for her, but not really for Lui.

Speaking of, where exactly was Lui? Where was anything?

About now, she finally got a good look at the statue, and her eyes narrowed. It was a glowing crimson figure of a woman crowned in fire, holding an orb of vermilion to the sky. She recognized it. She more than recognized it - it was a central figure of the rom hack she had been working on. Then this must be the map she had been working on when the screen went dark.

"So that did happen... Lui? My girl? Where are you? We didn't get split up did we?"

"I'm up here, ye cabbage."

She looked up to see the wolf woman suspended by a tangle of vines in one of the trees.

"Shit... Okay hang on. My spear's over here, looks like your stuff is here too... okay. Gotta think rationally. If this is my hack, then... then there should be a village the next isle over. We can go there and recoup."

"This is going to sound weird, but you're a character in a video game. I made you and the world your story takes place in using software with pre-installed assets inside. For the longest time, I never thought you'd..." - Charlotte says as she puts a hand to her chin.

"Okay, wow... this is crazier than I expected for a first journey. You must be a creation goddess or something. That or you're nuts and that we should never talk to each other again." - Max remarks as he slowly edges back into his tent.

"But it's true! Ugh, whatever. Believe what you want - I have more stressful things to deal with. Max, I've lost my friends and I need someone to help me find them. You're one of the few people I can depend on, plus I don't know where to go in this place. It's been a long time." - Charlotte sighs as she crosses her arms.

"You've lost your friends? How?" - Max asks.

"We were separated on the way here. As far as I know, they could be lost in god knows where and it doesn't help that we were forced to come here to begin with. So please, can you help me?" - Charlotte says as she clasps her hands together.

"Hmm... a pretty lady slash potential psycho is asking me to help her find her lost friends. Aw heck, what kind of hero would I be if I said no? I'll help!" - Max says with a beaming grin.

"Thank you! I'm sorry to bring all of this on you like this, I'm sorry to drop all this on you, but I sort of lose it when things get really stressful." - Charlotte remarks.

"Ah... it's okay. I figured I'd deal with something mind-blowing regardless. We should probably ask around a nearby town to see if anybody's seen your friends." - Max states as he points towards to the west of his tent.

"Good idea." - Charlotte nods.

Max enters his tent and comes back with a backpack, a sword and shield. They move into a dirt path with trees and flowers on both sides.

Evan and Shiva followed Rebecca to the small village that she described. It was medieval, yet modern at the same time. Grass huts shared the same space as brick buildings.

"Yeah, this kinda crud pops up all the time during the game." Rebecca said, motioning to a small alleyway between a straw hut and a townhouse. "Follow me."

"Yeah, okay, sure. Follow a strange lady into a alleyway. Perfect way to get mugged and beaten to death." Evan said sarcastically.

"Relax, just leading you to my...hideout." Rebecca muttered.

"Hideout?" Shiva questioned.

"Yeah, the stuff I do with weapons ain't quite legal. I mean it's not like I'm a murderfucker, but apparently I don't have proper permits or shit to sell these. Or the bigwigs that run this thing are just salty little bitches." Rebecca rambled. "It's like they just want bloodshed."

"...I know of people like that." Evan groaned. "Alright but if you try any funny stuff, uh, you're in for it."

Rebecca went into the alley, Evan and Shiva following cautiously behind. About halfway through the alley, she pressed down on a brick of the townhouse. The ground directly under that brick began to shift, and a cellar door appeared.

"C'mon, I'll get my broheims to set you up with some good shit, if I do say so myself." Rebecca said.

Rebecca walked down the steps and yelled.

"Yo, Pepper, found some new peeps."

A light red-head popped her head out.

"Well that makes two of us." the girl said. "Found a fae a little while ago."

"So... is this a video game?" Ven asked.

"Would make sense. This town just screams RPG."

"Wait wait," Ven put his hands up, suddenly worried. "Is this like that one anime? You know, Blade Art MMO? Like, if we die here, do we die in the real world?"

"What? No! Of course not!" Prya crossed her arms, but she couldn't hide that the idea worried her as well. "I mean, they can't do that. Technologically speaking. You can't kill someone with virtual reality, especially on their own computers!"

"But, you can't pull someone into virtual reality from their own computers either."

"W-well..."

The two looked around the town, hopeful to find some answers.

"What do we even do? I mean, if this is a game, what's the goal? Are there other players?" Ven wondered aloud.

"Whatever that was on the computer... it said we're playing 'The War Game.' Oohhh, I don't know how to fight! Ven, I told you not to mess around with that... that computer virus!"

"Hey, I didn't make you come into... this. Besides, I thought it was joking!"

"What should we do..."

"Well... we get weapons!" Ven exclaimed. "Fight monsters. Level up. That's what you do in games! We need to get ahead of the other players if we want to survive!"

"W-wait..."