Work Text:
(Total darkness. The screen is pitch black. Faintly, a glowing, pixelated green line pulses in the center of the screen, mimicking a heart monitor.)
(The darkness shatters into millions of glowing polygons. The camera rushes forward through a tunnel of swirling code and floating debris—pieces of different video game worlds. A medieval castle tower, a futuristic neon billboard, a massive scorched mech-suit, all drifting in a purple void. The camera zeroes in on a lone figure falling through the void, hitting the ground of a floating, ruined stone platform.)
(Izuku Yagi groans and pushes himself up. His right hand is enveloped in a strange, pulsating gauntlet made of pure, shifting hard-light.)
Izuku: (coughs and dust himself off) Okay. Note to self: never buy discount VR headsets again. Where... where am I?
(Izuku steps to the edge of the platform. Below him stretches a vast, fractured landscape composed of dozens of clashing video game biomes. Snow-capped fantasy mountains bleed into cyberpunk cityscapes and toxic sci-fi wastelands. A low, guttural growl echoes from behind him. Izuku whips around. Three faceless, twitching humanoid enemies made of red, corrupted code pull themselves out of the stone floor.)
Izuku: (backs away, hands raised) Alright, easy. I don't have any gold. Or loot. Or... whatever it is you eat!
(The Nulls shriek—a sound like dial-up internet run through a distortion pedal—and lunge. Izuku scrambles backward, tripping over a piece of rubble. As he raises his arms to brace for impact, the holographic gauntlet on his right arm violently flares to life.
[THREAT DETECTED.] Archive access granted. Draw your weapon, Izuku.
(A holographic interface expands from Kaelen’s wrist. It looks like a massive inventory screen, scrolling through millions of silhouetted icons at lightning speed.)
Izuku: I don't even know how to play this game!
(Out of sheer panic, Izuku grabs at the swirling interface. His hand plunges into the hologram.
(A loud, victorious 16-bit chime rings out! Izuku pulls his hand back. In his grip materializes a great sword.)
Izuku: (eyes widen, struggling to lift the heavy sword) Whoa! Okay. Physics is turned off. I can work with this!
(Izuku swings the heavy blade in a wide arc. A wave of fire erupts from the edge, instantly vaporizing the three Nulls into bursts of blue experience-point orbs.)
Izuku: (pants and grins) Did I just... summon that out of thin air?
(A massive tremor shakes the platform. The sky darkens as a tear in the sky rips open. A CORRUPTED BEHEMOTH drops from the tear. It is a massive, towering boss monster, resembling a heavily armored sci-fi tank fused with a dragon. Its health bar appears at the top of the screen: a massive, daunting red line.)
Izuku: (smile drops) Of course. The tutorial boss.
(The Behemoth fires a barrage of energy missiles.)
Izuku: (panics) I need something else! A shield! A buff! Anything!
(Izuku slaps his gauntlet. The holographic roulette spins again. This time, two items pop out.
1. A red mushroom.
2. A shield.
(Izuku eats the mushroom and gets bigger while deflecting the missile barrage with his shield just in time.)
Izuku: (breathes heavily, dodging a massive claw swipe from the Behemoth) I can summon items. I can summon weapons. But I can't take this thing down alone!
[ARCHIVE LIMITER DEACTIVATED.]
Character Summons Unlocked.
Warning: Morality filters are offline. You may summon allies of Light and Dark.
Izuku: I don't care if they're the devil himself! Give me some backup!
(Izuku slams his fist into the ground. A massive, complex summoning circle—part magical runes, part digital circuitry—expands across the platform. The light shifts between a heroic golden-blue and a sinister, blood-red. From the golden pillar steps Aerith. From the red pillar steps Bowser, the notorious King of Koppas.)
Aerith: By the light, I heed the call!
Bowser: (chuckles) I answer to no one... but this world is mine to conquer, not yours to destroy.
(Izuku stands between the legendary Hero and the fearsome Villain. He looks at his glowing hand, the realization of his god-like power dawning on him.)
Izuku: (smirks, pointing his Greatsword at the Behemoth) Take it down!
(Aeris leaps into the air while Bowser launches a devastating fire breath. The two ultimate attacks converge on the Behemoth in a blinding explosion of particle effects. The explosion clears. The Behemoth dissolves into millions of data fragments. Aerith and Bowser turn to look at Kaelen, acknowledging him as their summoner, before dissolving back into digital dust and returning to Izuku’s gauntlet. Izuku stands alone on the precipice of the new world. He raises his gauntlet, the interface projecting an endless library of weapons, items, heroes, and villains.
Izuku: A new world... and I've got the cheat codes. Let's go fix this.
(The camera sweeps past Izuku, soaring out over the vast, beautiful, chaotic world.)