SubversEd

A/N- This is loosely based on Andrew Hussie's MS Paint Adventures, with a scenario similar to Homestuck and other stuff I can't think of now. In this story, feel free to post, alongside your review, an idea for an enemy, scenario or boss or whatever, but remember DON'T TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT IN THE REVIEW IF IT'S PLOT IMPORTANT. This chapter will hopefully be the shortest one at about 4000 words, and you can be assured that chapters will end up averaging around 6000-8000 words once the adventure officially begins.

Anyway, enjoy the show!

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CHAPTER ONE- End of the World

/

There once was a game-making company called SUBNET.

Nobody had ever heard of SUBNET unless they combed the internet thoroughly, more thoroughly that a lobster combs a rock for food. They existed for one year, and in that one year, they did absolutely nothing notable to the public. The one game they even began to make was called "Shadowsun", and was quite hyped about by computer gamers- though they never knew who was making it.

Rumour stated that the game was so realistic you would feel as if you were living the game- indeed, you would almost become a part of the world inside. Talking would be done by real speech, not rapidly clicking "A". You would have to walk yourself to get anywhere around. It attracted quite a bit of hype before SUBNET disappeared four months before the release date. Nobody could trace where Shadowsun and its mysterious creators had gone, and when they found out a factory had burned to the ground the mysterious game was forgotten forever.

Nobody noticed the SUBNET logo, barely visible in the corner, and they never wondered why the total mass of the factory was less than half the size it used to be. And so the legacy of Shadowsun ended abruptly, ten years ago from the present day. Even years after the incident, with those people who comb videos for errors and solutions to crimes, the connection was only established in late 2008, and quick searches revealed that no disks had ever been made and Shadowsun had been ended.

Or so they thought.

/

It was raining tonight. Not just raining, deluging, with torrents of water spilling from the heavens in coruscating, overlapping patterns that could drench a man in seconds.

Yet, even on such a dark day, a figure was walking around the streets of a strange city. The rain was so thick it disguised its footprints and its visage- one would have to get very close to it to see what it looked like.

The figure broke into a run, sprinting past shops and houses and fences in a straight line. The world began to tighten around the figure, and, when it reached such tension it would shatter, loosed and propelled the figure a mile away through all matter in its way, its mass slinking through the subatomic structure of walls, people and machines. The figure was now at the edge of an old forest, with a sorry-looking building that had obviously been damaged by fire standing just at the edge. A roof of corrugated iron was stretched along the length of the top, barely keeping out the rain. The figure entered by moving through the wall (there were no doors to go through) and lit an oil lamp on the wall. The old-fashioned light spluttered and then lit, allowing the room to be seen in dim light. The figure pulled up to a table with an armchair beside it and set the lamp on it. Now illuminated were twelve brown paper envelopes, all of them identical in every way. The figure opened its black coat, pulled out a small pen and began to scrawl a message on each of them. As it wrote, it tucked the envelope inside its coat and stored it away. Every message was the same, and it hesitated as it picked up the last one. The oil light illuminated it, and the figure took a check on the text written there.

help us

Stowing away that last one, the figure pulled up its coat and bent the universe around it, shooting it forward several miles to a quiet, suburban area that had been recently redesigned. The rain wasn't pouring as hard here, but still nobody wanted to be outside. The figure pushed an envelope through the doors of most of the houses, putting two disks through one door at one time. The three it had remaining were deposited through the letterbox of a single house, which perturbed the figure- how many people lived in there?

The figure looked up, and saw the sun rising. For a moment its features were shown by the light- and then it melted into thin air, motes of black dust forming into sharp, angled pieces of circuitry that floated around before lancing outwards in sharp, short bursts of intermittent light. And at once the figure wasn't there.

But had it ever been there?

Nobody would ever know.

/

Ed couldn't sleep. The new cul-de-sac was too different to the old one- he could feel it in his bones. Ever since they lost the old area to new industrial development, they had been moved into council housing at the bottom of Peach Creek in a chain of buildings that were at the foot of a hill. Ed found a bit of comfort in how similar the room he was in to the one he had before- underground, window onto the street. Even so, his new room was strange. Too clean. Too modern.

Too… different.

So it came as no small surprise when the letterbox opened and two objects thudded onto the floor above him.

Looking out of his window, he saw a flash of black coat and a figure running through the rain. Stealthily, he slipped out his bed and crept to the stairs that lead to his door. Slipping through the blackness, he opened the door incredibly slowly and stepped out. There were two envelopes on the floor, by the welcome mat, and as he moved towards one his eyes met a sight that surprised him.

Sarah stood on the stairs, walking down to the door as well. One meaningful glance between siblings allowed for Ed to know that the girl hadn't been sleeping well. Ed moved towards the door, and picked up one of the objects on the packages. Wordlessly indicating to Sarah to pick up the other one, he gripped the bag in his hand and crept down his stairs. There was some writing on the envelope, though in the stygian gloom he couldn't read it. Inside was an object that he couldn't identify.

Ed decided to check it again in the morning, and suddenly found himself tired as he walked to his bed. He fell asleep just as a mote of black dust embedded itself in his window, because sharp and shattered.

/

The figure re-materialised inside a black citadel, similar rain pouring down on the mountainous fortress. As it stood up, the skies became red as a gout of flame immolated it, issued from a grounded lizard-like beast with two small wings and red hide. The guard-dragon had found it.

Suddenly, with a flash of world-defying light, the flames froze and shattered, releasing the figure from their grip. The figure leapt up and landed on the back of the dragon, extending its hand and punching its spine. As the creature roared in pain, the figure withdrew a blade from the folds of its coat and sliced the beast in two. The creature roared, its stomach bursting and coating the battlements in acid.

As soon as it died, its figure flickered and vanished, along with all the fluids that had covered everywhere. Where the beast had stood was a vial of amber liquid, three metal ingots and a sphere of liquid. Upon contact with the figure, they melted into light and flew into the folds of its coat.

Once again, the figure bent reality and shot itself twenty meters into the air, flipping over to another battlement. Knocking on a trapdoor four times, the door opened and a gun was aimed at the figure's chest, but the lowered at the appearance of it. Running down the trapdoor's steps, the door closed and locked. Inside, there were five figures- three men and two women, all in black fatigues and seated at tables, either containing maps, weapons or beverages. The figure threw off its coat, revealing it to be a young woman with brown hair. She walked down and seated herself on a seat and gratefully took a flagon of steaming alcohol. A man with black hair and a limp arm walked over to her, sitting down beside her with his own drink.

"Did you deliver them?"

The woman gave a stiff nod. She relaxed as she belted back the drink, restoring the damage she had taken from the fire and stomach acid. "Been up at the top by the gate to Plane 11. Are you sure those kids will beat the game? Will they even bother after the opening?" She shook her head. "We made the game to be impossibly hard psychologically. It was our own fault that we came here."

The man nodded. "And what do we do about that? We sort our own problems out. All we need are those twelve to get to Plane 10, get up to 13, and help us beat the Final Boss. Then we can kill this damned game forever."

The woman nodded.

"Then let us-"

The roar outside told them they had no time to prepare as a serpentine, horned head came into view from the windows. The wall shattered as another massive head ploughed it down, and all six of the black-wearing figures drew weapons. As the woman charged with her blade, the beast attacked.

/

When Ed worked up, the first thing he touched was the package on the side of his bed.

In the morning light, he slipped the object out of the bag before even getting out of his bed. It was, strangely enough, a disk case, similar to the ones you would find a DVD in. The front, oddly enough, had no words, only a black circle that looked like a dark sun. The back was equally blank, and so was the disk.

Sarah ran down into his room just as he was about to go to hers. "Ed? You know what this is?"

Sarah had changed a lot over the three years since the legendary journey known as the Big Picture Show, her figure developing and she becoming more mature. Sarah did not shout at Ed anymore as she thought it immature (after all, he made terrible sandwiches) and, due to her age and hormones had started crushing on most every boy she saw. She instead looked to Ed as a source of guidance, which lead to more than one awkward conversation.

Ed indeed had changed a lot over the years. After being generally accepted in the social echeladder, he conformed less to the role of "the idiot" and started learning via Edd's tuitions. His room, up until he was forced to move, was still dirty, though he hadn't the time to mess up the new one.

Ed studied the disk holders in his hands. They were identical in every way. Perhaps the logos were of some use?

He pulled up his laptop and logged on to the network. At once, a window opened on the IM program, FriendLog. It was Eddy. Humouring him, he opened the window and began to type.

grymloqRecapitator has logged in
cashflowFacilitator has logged in
CF: dude, what the fuck's up with this case
GR: i dunno, eddy. no text, no nothing. it's weird
CF: i woulda thought you of all peple woulda known
GR: looks kinda like the logo of a game
GR: wait
GR: you have one too?
CF: yeah dude, came through the mail
GR: that's just freaky
CF: has that horno-bitch got one?
GR: ya
GR: and don't call her a bitch
GR: she ain't like that anymore
GR: anyway, i gotta go
GR: breakfast :D
CF: fine
CF: herp turp
GR: i saw that
CF: damnit
grymloqRecapitator has logged out

Sarah had already left while he had been talking to Eddy. No doubt she had gone to talk to Jimmy, Nazz or May, her best friends, by the little princessPanther icon that had opened up on FriendLog. He got out of bed, still in underwear, and walked to the kitchen where his dad was drinking coffee.

"So I hear you've got an odd disc in the mail?" The middle-aged man, Roy Winters, was balding and had a tiny chin, which he had passed onto his offspring. He was wearing pyjamas and a brown bathrobe, and reading the newspaper while supping his coffee. Ed's mother was away on a business trip, allowing for him to work later without being forced home.

"Yeah, Dad. But I can't make sense of it. It's just a black sun. No words. No nothing."

Those words struck an odd note with Roy. "Sounds like Shadowsun to me. It was in production back in 2000, when you were five. Made by an oddball company called SUBNET. The company burned down to the ground before it could be released. It was supposed to be some kind of virtual reality game, or something. Impossible lark, I always said."

"Then what's it doing here?"

"Probably some half-baked sequel coined by a fan. Play it! It'll probably be fun." With that, Roy went upstairs to get a shower. When he got back down to his computer, he found another conversation waiting for him.

grymloqRecapitator has logged in
entropyReactor has logged in
ER: Hello, Ed! I have a few questions about a disk I got through the door this morning. Any idea what it is?
GR: hey double d, you got it too? black sun, nothing else
ER: Yes… (a scientific improbability if I may add)
GR: my dad said it was a crappy sequel to a game called shadowsun, heard of it?
ER: Yes, as it happens. It looked to be a great blast. Virtual reality and whatnot?
GR: 0_0 you were reading gaming magazines when you were 4?
ER: Ed, I built a mech out of trash and a vacuum when I was seven. Reading a magazine at four is hardly a big leap.
ER: But do go on.
GR: well, you know the factory burned down ages ago
GR: and he thinks some fanatic made a sequel
GR: i'm gonna run it
ER: Careful, Ed. It may be a virus disk.
GR: i will be
entropyReactor has logged out
grymloqRecapitator has logged out

Ed opened the disk drive to his laptop and inserted the Shadowsun sequel disk into it. All his windows closed, except, strangely enough, for FriendLog, which hovered around the window.

An interface opened up, written in computer basecode in a basic font, grey text and black background. Unintelligible code ran around the screen, moving at a pace too fast for the human eye to see. Eventually, a loading bar, in monochrome, opened up and began to fill- but at an incredibly slow rate. After ten seconds, the bar had filled, according the gauge on the side, a grand total of 1.2%. Getting the idea that it would take a while, Ed opened FriendLog, looking for his friends online. He found everyone in the council houses was online. Clicking an option, he opened up a text window and began to type.

grymloqRecapitator has logged in
commandantShepherd has logged in
CS: hello, no brain ed boy how are you this day
GR: come off it rolf, you haven't called me that in years
CS: truth truth
CS: i trust you are messagophoning me about the disk doohickey that we all have
CS: i know about this shadowsun
CS: one of rolfs forefathers came to america to work on its production
GR: i thought you were the first of your family to come here?
CS: well cousin lovikov was always an oddball
GR: have you started running the disk yet?
CS: yea
GR: woah, mine's 42% done! faster than i expected
CS: so is mine
CS: how strange
CS: but I must leave now
CS: there is spongebathing to occur
GR: see ya rolf
commandantShepherd has logged out

/

Edd's copy of Shadowsun was working away in the background when he noticed he had mail.

Edd hadn't changed a great deal since the Big Picture Show. He was still completely obsessed with science and technology, having graduated from school with highest honours. He was still a haemophobe, afraid of blood, and he was obsessed with cleaning his room every time something happened to scuff the floors. Unlike the rest of his friends, he had taken to the new council houses as clean areas to perform his work from, and even though he only had been in there a month, he had covered the room from floor to wall with labels- from "chemical closet" to "laptop" to "pillow".

Edd had been subscribed to all the mailing lists that the intelligent would be interested in. Normally he was only given the routine newsletter, but this was marked "URGENT!" and from the American Institute of Meteorology. Intrigued, he opened it.

Subject- URGENT!
Sender- aiom
This is a PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT- our far-reaching satellites have detected several strange objects moving at a massive perpetual motion in the edge of the Solar System. These objects seem to be head-

But that was all he read before the Shadowsun installation window manually closed the window and changed the screen, banishing the grey text- instead, there was what seemed to be a camera shot in a completely white void, which soon flickered down into spots of starlight and three numbers at the bottom separated by a colon.

Edd stared at the number.

That's a countdown!

Edd's eye caught the envelope on the side of the room. Flipping it over, looking for some sort of a clue, he saw the message left by the figure in black. He manually opened the message again and read it through.

He put two and two together as the solar system came into view on the screen.

"Oh my god!"

3:28 REMAINING

/

It wasn't often that Ed got invited to a group conversation. But Edd, or entropyReactor, had called all 12 of the kids into one group conversation. Ed humoured him and joined.

entropyReactor has logged in
grymloqRecapitator has logged in
princessPanther has logged in
azureScorpion has logged in
cashflowFacilitator has logged in
vermillionAvian has logged in
yellowPiscine has logged in
bikechainQuarterback has logged in
commandantShepherd has logged in
hottamaleKitty has logged in
arborAdvocate has logged in
albinoSquire has logged in
ER: My fellows, I have bad news! These disks we have got through the mail- how many of you have run them?
AA: I RAN MINE
CF: duh you know i ran mine
GR: i did mine double d
HK: I think everyone did
ER: Oh my…
BQ: And what's the damn holdup? you said you had bad news.
ER: Do all your screens show the solar system and a countdown?
ER: With 2:41 remaining?
AS: Yes What Does That Mean
ER: I got a message from the American Institute of Meteorology, saying that objects had been discovered by satellites scanning outside the Solar System, moving at a speed exceeding three thousand miles an hour.
ER: The views from those objects are on your screens now.
AS: whaat aaree theey theen?
ER: I believe…
ER: …meteors.
ER: Each big enough to kill all life on Earth.
BQ: What the fuck double d? And we were running these?
VA: WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! AAAARGH!
ER: The countdown is how long we have until impact.
CF: you mean the world is gonna end in 2 mins
CF: thats bullshit and you know it
ER: Look at the video feed on the Shadowsun loading screen.
ER: It's true.
YP: i never thought i'd die so Young!
PP: Jimmy, hold on, I'm coming!
ER: Say your goodbyes now, because the whole word is going to break apart.
ER: I'm sorry.
ER: I should have known.
entropyReactor has logged out

The rest of the conversation was solely consisted of the rest of the kids panicking- everyone worrying about their parents, who had gone to work. Their mobiles weren't connecting, and they had no idea why. If they looked outside their windows and out past the edge of the council housing estate hard enough, they would see squares of black energy, flickering in and out in a barely glimpsed forcefield, blocking their connections and strengthened by every Shadowsun disk active. But nobody cared what was outside apart from the meteor. They knew they were about to die. There were no odds about it.

Every one of them was about to die.

0:40 REMAINING

Kevin locked his door and sat on his bed, thinking about what might have been. What could have happened? He could feel the world outside heating up. Looking out of his window, he saw twelve burning objects enter the atmosphere. He could see the world below on his laptop, spiralling ever closer. The countdown remorselessly ticked towards the end of the world.

0:30 REMAINING

Jonny hugged Plank to him as the ground began to shake. The meteors penetrated the lower atmosphere with a bang, and he could see the rugged meteor surface, battered by smaller meteorites in the depths of space. The countdown fell again.

0:20 REMAINING

Nazz was in her room, looking out the window as the asteroid came ever nearer. She had planned to die as an old woman, having lived a long, excellent life. She had hardly lived that in her childhood.

The number on the screen unabatedly fell.

0:16 REMAINING

The Kankers were in a group hug, one that they wouldn't break until the countdown, which ticked on a bit more, fell to zero.

0:09 REMAINING

Jimmy was looking out the window as he saw every object in the way of the bottom of a meteor be stripped away and burned. His house cracked and he screamed as the clock ticked away.

0:07 REMAINING

Edd looked upon the sight with sadness at his lack of identification as the clock ticked down.

0:06 REMAINING

Rolf muttered a prayer to his native gods as the clock ground down to zero.

0:05 REMAINING

Sarah hoped that someone could avert the crisis as her laptop announced there were five seconds to go.

0:04 REMAINING

Eddy regretted ever running the program in the first place.

0:03 REMAINING

Ed wished he had taken Edd's advice when he ran the disk.

0:02 REMAINING

The woman's blade bit bone as she swung her sword right where the horn joined the creature's skull.

0:01 REMAINING

The world began to crack with all twelve meteors less than fifty metres in the air.

0:00 REMAINING- IMPACT ACHIEVED.

The world shattered apart as every meteor impacted. There were twelve chain explosions as crust splintered, gouts of fire as the mantle of the planet left its confinement of rock. The seas splashed down ravines in the surface and reacted to create massive bolts of steam in the splintered atmosphere. Half of America careened into the moon, knocking the satellite out of rapidly decaying gravity and into the planet, yet another meteor. The new impact blew apart the core, causing a shockwave to lance out of the broken planet and slice the rock left apart. Every person on the broken world died in bloody explosions, their corpses flying through the air and into space before burning up.

The human race became completely extinct.

/

PLANE ONE ENTERED

END OF CHAPTER ONE

/

A/N- So how was it? Sorry about the massive group FriendLog conversation, but it was necessary to carry the story along (as well as allowing characters to talk to each other when far away. If you hate these conversations with a passion, I won't include any more on request. There WILL be some action next chapter, and remember, they WILL be playing a video game- they will have battle menus, hit points and all that stuff. R&R please!