Midas Rush: Golden Parkour

Wasn't it weird, Pace thought, to go to the IRL meet-up for a VR game and decide the first thing to do is jump right back into VR? He could have been out mingling with the masses and all that, but he was back in the digital dome of gaming as quick as a whip. What could he say? Shit was fun. This whole thing was going on for four days, anyway, so it wasn't like Pace wouldn't have time to do all that. And games were cool and fun and easy!

As for now, though, he'd made it halfway through. Or, obviously, like three-quarters through - everyone knew the journey back was always way quicker. Grasping a jewelled necklace-or-somesuch-thing in his hand, and beset upon quickly by a growing Infernape, Pace grins in knowledge that he's basically won already. He ducks out of the treasure room and back the way he came, right where the stepping stones across the lava river were-

Pace stops, staring at an empty pit, seemingly bottomless, stretches out in front of him. "...This wasn't here before..." and an issue suddenly came to arise that, actually, games were mean and unfun and bad. He nearly steps back, finds another way to go that might take him back to the river he'd forded once before, but the beating paws of the guardian Infernape are a little too close to comfort.

Noticing the vines hanging from the ceiling in a neat line with one another, Pace decides he might as well bite the bullet, and sprints forward. With the hand that isn't gripping tight to his treasure, he grabs at the vines and attempts to swing his way across. Hopefully, this room was a shortcut that'd get him out as quick as can be.

The moment he saw an opening, Angelo had booked it. As grateful as he is to be able to attend a con for his favorite game, having to rely on his loaded roommate required sacrificing much of what’s left of his pride. Plus, argent was as insufferable to share a hotel room with as he is back at the dorms. A break was much needed.

Now if only he chose something that was actually relaxing.

Wild monkey screaming assail his ears, an Infernape tailing him and hellbent on tearing him to shreds. He has never been more afraid of monkeys until this. And to make matters worse, he hadn’t even nabbed a treasure he liked. He clutches the golden Mankey paw he snagged from the edge of the treasure room closer to his chest, leaping as far as his feet can take him.

The heat of the lava river scares him. He takes an alternate path, only to for the walls to receded and become pockmarked with small tubes. Arrows.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” The maze spits him back out. It had curled all the way back, merging with the other path. The illusion of choice.

He wastes precious time stumbling and picking out arrows from his virtual body. The other players were already ahead of him. He watches as ibis and orioncayge swing across the deep pit, his stomach doing a flip as he sees their feet touch the crumbling end of the opposite platform. A cold gust of air rises from the pit.

“I wish there was an easier way to escape…” Angelo shudders. He’s about to stuff the Mankey paw in his shirt and have a go when he hears a screech from above—

And suddenly, he’s airborne.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

A large claw has embedded itself into Angelo’s clothes, lifting him up. The Archeops lets out a cry of its own, flying across the pit and away from the beaten path. Its species isn’t made to fly long distances. Angelo’s face pales as he spots a nest atop one of the crumbling pillars. A nest full of hungry little Archen.

'All work, no play' doesn't describe Oz at all, and while he had 100% come to UNOVRcon because of his job, when finding himself with a couple of hours to kill before having to drop by the booth, of course he'd head to the arcade first and foremost. See, tattoo booths are no rarity at cons, and it just so happens that one of Oz' closest friends is in charge of one this time and had invited him to join when he had mentioned he has been playing UNOVR too. Apparently, his style lends itself well to Pokémon designs. He had had to pay for his flight, sure, but with his convention ticket covered and with being able to stay at his friend's place, it was a good investment all-in-all. He'd make his money back, earn some extra, hangout with friends he hadn't seen in a while, enjoy everything the convention has to offer, and hell, maybe even he'd run into one or two of his online friends in the process.

That last part happens sooner than expected.

Back into VR he hops once at the arcade, returning to the UNOVR avatar that he's still not quite used to. Still, Oz smiles, because see, this is exactly the sort of stuff he likes. Running? Obstacle courses? Sign him the fuck up. The man doesn't go to an American Ninja Warrior type gym every week for nothing. So, there he is; running, jumping climbing, swinging, and keeping momentum throughout all of it, until he ends up with a basketball tucked under his arm. A basketball signed by Kyle Lowry, no less! This game knows what's up!

Good thing other players apparently have the treasure guard Infernape distracted, unintentionally allowing him to just sneak past. Among these players is the familiar face of ibis who is in the middle of swinging over a pit, and chuckling at the sight, Oz makes a mental note to catch up with him soon enough. Sure, he could also swing over the pit, but seeing someone getting snatched up by a bird (Saint), he decides that avoiding the pit is a better idea.

Just like @kallisto, he takes a sharp turn, continuing to run parallel to the ravine. It all seems to be going well for a wonderful couple of seconds, and after those couple of seconds pass, Oz hears it: something is chasing after them. Not the Infernape but something bigger. Something that is... rolling? Oh, shit. What is this, an Indiana Jones movie?!

"Hey, man!" He calls to the other player, decisively moving closer to the wall and away from the ledge that now seems much more dangerous than ever. It's like their choses are to fall to their deaths or to get crushed to death. Neither is good. Death is a no-no even when having three lives. "Any ideas?!"

Can they outrun this thing?

He doubts it.

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THERON LOVES PARKOUR.

So, yes, obviously if there is a parkour event he is going to go to it. This one was a little different because it was VR parkour, but he also loved Assassin's Creed II so it counted.

He spawned in, Viridian Jones statuette at hand, and started running. And it was fun. Outrunning boulders! Sneaking past guards! Not getting eaten by a bird! He even got to rappel over a fire pit like that one Warehouse 13 episode!

And then he saw another player, paused at the edge of a cliff. Theron almost said hi, but Taro had jumped down before he could. He peered after the kid, and saw nothing.

Nothing, but a well placed haypile off to the side. Having the time of his life, Theron moved level with it, closed his eyes, embraced Ezio into his heart, and fell.

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This place seemed to loop around in on itself in a way that Pace wasn't sure made much sense. At least, not to him?! Other people seemed to be running this way and that just fine, though. He barely has a chance to land on his feet after the vine-swing before the Infernape that was chasing him before bellows and leaps the chasm in one fell swoop, zooming past other competitors as it did so. What, was this thing only focused on him? Ugh.

He runs forward again, and finds himself at a crossroads. Left, or right? Pace peers down the left path and sees a kid with bright orange hair (Yggy Br00ks ) getting darts to the... well, just about everywhere, with monkeys scrabbling after his heels, just the same as Pace's own. Oh, right, the monkey. Well, Pace certainly wasn't following the redhead down into the dart corridor, so it was right he went instead. As he runs, his own foot sinks a little into a stone square on the floor, and he winces at the inevitable punishment as something slowly pops out of the wall... was that a gun?!

It makes a sweet little pop, and out comes the "bang" sign. Ah. Right. Well. That was embarrassing, then - had he squealed at all? He hoped not. Alongside it, up pops a pop-up (as they do), alerting him of a newly acquired treasure: PLAYER STAMP ACQUIRED!

Huh... well, no time to ponder that. He had to get a move on! The room after the crappy fake gun room was... cold? And long. So long, in fact, Pace wasn't sure if he could make it to the end without freezing. The more he lingered the colder it felt. Hurry, hurry.

The run wasn't silent, it was full of screeching and screaming, but because of that, if any other particularly suspicious and loud noise broke into the cacophony, it would immediately draw Remmiel's attention. In this case, it was deep rumbling, of the ground shaking and groaning, and he made the mistake of turning around. It also turned out that there was someone else running beside him (he didn't recognize this person, but it wasn't like he was going to know every player in the game, being a relative newbie).

Any ideas?! (ozone)

They were actually on a downward slope, so that huge rock that starred in so many Indiana Jones movies was picking up speed. Even in VR he was already feeling fucking exhausted. ❝Keep running!❞ which was absolutely silly but that was all they could do. Suddenly, a fallen pillar came into view, and it reminded him much like in the original Temple Run where one could slide underneath. Would he even be able to control his speed when doing that? What if he slid too far and got crushed under the boulder anyway? The stranger also picked up on this quick, about to say something about it, when he suddenly dropped from his line of sight, and the distraction also made him trip, and he could only manage to process a moment of terror before he was plummeted into darkness.

It almost felt like a trapdoor opened underneath him, preventing him from feeling how it'd be like to get squashed under a round boulder. Phew. That was...traumatizing.

You have two more lives left!
Try again?
[YES] / [NO]

Obviously, it was a yes, and for participating he also awarded the PLAYER STAMP. Right, he forgot to pick that up from the counter earlier, but at least he was able to earn it in game as well. That was thoughtful of them. Four more stamps in other places of the convention, but for now, he desperately wanted to win (he had two more lives left!) so it was back into the game he went. Without his shiny golden egg, of course, he needed to find that again or something.

He wondered if he was going to see that other player again, maybe they could work together? For now though, he made a split second decision to barrel into another hallway, after noticing that there were some large holes on one of the walls (he wasn't going to get skewered by arrows again).

This time, he made it to the throne room relatively unscathed (that part seemed to be easier than the escaping, for some reason), and he decided to look for the lightest thing there. Aha! A necklace, that should work! He grabbed that, which immediately made the room rumble angrily. Ah, he could hear some monkeys already from behind the walls--

But they were much larger than the monkeys last time. They were big, monochrome, and looked like they got burned with how frizzy their hair was. Their screech was something else, and it almost made Remmiel drop the necklace he was holding. ❝Oh come on!❞ he cursed as he made a run for it from a newly made corridor - he swore he could hear the sound of stone walls collapsing as the much angrier monkeys stormed the halls.

Was this it? How he’d lose his first life? Being eaten by a nest of hungry little muppets?

Angelo made a noise of frustration. This game was even simpler than UNOVR’s open world mechanics — how could he die so easily? The Archeops’ grip on him is tight; he can’t hope to rip its claw off him. But he doesn’t have to.

The longer it flies, the lower the Archeops dips, exertion clear despite how persistently it tries to reach its nest. When he feels the claw’s grip flag, that’s when Angelo begins to struggle, thrashing wildly in the air. Below him are the rest of the players, if he could just—

RIIIIIP!

He falls, screaming.

“Don’t splat, don’t splat, DON’T SPLAT!” The ground is rapidly heading towards him.

He feels something stir in his shirt: the golden Mankey’s paw curling another finger.

A boulder bursts into view.

“SHIT!” Angelo’s feet barely hit the top of the rock. He immediately begins running backward, moving with the runaway boulder’s momentum as its dragged by the slope.

“I’M SORRY! JUMP! GET OUT OF THE WAY!” he cries, flapping his arms like a duck as he watches ozone and @kallisto run like mad in front of the boulder. If it didn’t mean losing his balance and becoming pancakes, Angelo would cover his eyes; he didn’t want to see players get flattened!

But the two runners disappear. A large trap door under their feet had opened, swallowing them up, and Angelo is knocked off the boulder as it slams into the fallen pillar.

“Ughh…” He groans, lying on the ground. Another player, a huge one by the name of Vincent darts past him, slipping under the boulder. And then Angelo hears it: the monkeys.

“Goddamn it…” He scrambles to pick himself up — grabbing the accursed Mankey’s paw as he stands — and tries to chase after the other player.

Which turns out to be a mistake, of course.

A huge monkey — the biggest one they’ve encountered so far — blocks the path. Vincent attempts a jump, and Angelo at this point decides he’s not risking his nerdy ligaments.

“Look! Shiny!” He cries, taking out the golden paw from his shirt and tossing it to distract the oversized guardian. He scurries across as it turns away from him, tugging on a thread he had wrapped around the treasure to pull it back as he runs.