So, this is like a mini-story I wrote. It’s in my style, whatever that style is, plus a bit of experimentation. I wrote it on Notepad because Microsoft Word isn’t available on this laptop, but whatever. Technically, this story is based on my theory of the Five Elements as I relate each element to one aspect of personality. In other words, all five can exist within a person… The setting is a VR-based future as conceptualised by me (wrote a whole utopian novel on it before).
1 Brown
Matching complete. Members all present and available. Temp avatar rendering in progress. Entering virtual space…
I feel a rush from head to toe as the transfer completes. From pure white, my surroundings slowly shift into focus.
We are in a classic spaceship environment. By we, I mean the five of us who have been matched by the system. Hopefully something comes of it.
Right now, we are all firmly strapped into these seats with tall backs. It’s just like the ‘ready for takeoff’ state. Wait…are we seriously going to take off?
“Yo! Ningen ka?” A voice rings in my right ear, coming across as direct and enthused even through the simulated robotic tone.
Wait…did I make a mistake with the country settings or something? How could I have made such a basic mistake!
“Yes, even though we all look like welcoming avatars, that we are the five who were matched probably isn’t such a far leap of logic to make,” The blue avatar says from all the way across the aisle.
“All the better for us to welcome each other with!” The green avatar chimes in from the middle.
“Okay, I think we should start with introductions,” I conclude.
“Hello! I’m silver. That’s red. That’s green. That’s blue. You’re brown! Here’s to a lasting relationship!” The silver avatar person cheerily cuts in, a semicircle of a smile appearing on his avatar’s face.
“Huh?” I unconsciously retort.
“You got the window seat. You know what you should be doing right now? Looking at the view! I wanna look too!” The silver avatar person tries to lean across and over the blue avatar to make it to the other side window.
I unconsciously look out of the window. There are metallic hues everywhere, tubes and whatever moving. Just like the silver person, if you think about it. Wait, why am I!
“Isn’t that silver a bother, Blue?” I ask hopefully, feeling a bit annoyed.
“Oh, it doesn’t really bother me,” Blue replies coolly.
Silver withdraws, though, and starts looking toward the rest of us with an innocent neutral avatar face.
“So how’s the view?” Green asks.
“Actually, it’s just like me!” Silver proudly exclaims, “Spaceship Silver!”
I facepalm.
“Ah!” Red’s voice finally resounds again, and I look to my right in puzzlement.
“Mitsukatta!” As Red exclaims this, the words ‘Found it!’ literally appear in the air above Red’s head.
Now that I think about it, Red was tapping the air since earlier. Adjusting some virtual settings?
“Sugoi! Ne, dokodoko?” Now that Silver starts to go all Foreignspeak as well and join in the fun.
“I want it, just in case,” Somehow Silver manages to sound innocent even through the robotic avatar tone.
And now Silver and Red are leaned over Green in the middle seat tapping and jabbering in hushed tones – well, it really sounds a bit weird saying that when you can literally see the words being translated over Red’s head!
I sigh. Are these weird people?
“Oi, you two! Stop being a nuisance to Green!”
Silver looks at me, taps about and speaks, “Oi futari tomo! Green ni meiwaku sasenaide!”
And above Silver’s head appears the words, “Oi you two! Stop being a nuisance to Green!”
What the…translating my words for the system to translate them back? What the hell is this!!!
“You…”
“Omae…” Accompanied by a mock ‘boiling over with fury’ tone, the word ‘you…’ appears over Red’s head.
I just…I just can’t already! I throw my hands up in exasperation and focus solely on looking out of the window, ignoring the laughter and solid high-five sounding behind my head.
2 Green
I just…I just can’t already! I can’t help but stifle a giggle.
To be honest, I don’t really mind Silver and Red coming so close to me. Even though I am being ignored, this snuggling feeling makes me feel closer to them! Not that I could ever say that out loud, of course. Ahem.
As for Brown, I actually find it hilarious how he was baited by them! Some people just take things way too seriously. They should just chill out a bit!
Oh, Red…that ‘you…’ was classic. An avatar was saying it in a robotic tone, but somehow, the ‘rage’ was transmitted over perfectly…
“It looks like we’re set for takeoff,” Blue announces.
While we were all having fun, Blue was looking out of the window over on that side.
“Is there a countdown?” Silver asks, “Rocket launches always have countdowns.”
We all look around.
Then, as if in response to Silver’s words, a large holographic screen flickers on in the air before me.
“Kita zo!” (It’s here!) Red exclaims.
The word ‘Launch?’ is there, accompanied by a red button.
We all stare at it for a moment.
“Oshite oshite!” (Push it push it!)
“Buttons…exist…to…be…pushed,” Silver purposely speaks in a mechanical tone like a robot.
“Well, can’t argue with that logic. At times like this, shouldn’t we just go with the flow?” Blue agrees.
I look to the last member of our party, Brown, for confirmation.
“Oh, just do it already,” He grumbles.
What a party pooper.
Without hesitation, I push the button.
An automated voice resounds: Rocket…launching…in…10, 9, 8, 7, 6…
“Brace yourselves and hold on tight, everyone!” I call.
I was responsible for pushing the button, so I guess I should go all the way?
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blastoff!
There is an incredible whoosh as we zoom into space. My ears feel like they are ringing for a bit. Then there is this strong sinking sensation for some time.
The next moment I feel miraculously light, like the straps are the only thing keeping me in place. Well, they are, probably, because of gravity and all that!
We’re spaceborne!
“Woohoo!” A lively Red cheers with robo-arms upraised, this time not speaking Japanese and saving us from reading the translation.
“Yay!” Silver throws all four limbs up in the air and thrashes them about wildly.
And then Silver quickly restabilises before literally flipping over and turning upside-down. This is space, after all!
Brown and Blue have upsidedown semicircle smiles on their robo-faces as well. Really, who wouldn’t be excited by this!
But then Brown realises, “Hey, Red, you didn’t use foreignspeak just now!”
Red asks coolly, “Sore de?” (And so?)
“You clearly speak English! So why not just use it already!”
“Brown-chan, dame yo!” (That’s a no-no, Little Brown!) Silver exclaims.
Even I am starting to feel a little annoyed.
“There’s no rule that says everything must be factory-made! Seriously, don’t act so surprised! Let people do whatever they want to do!” I exclaim indignantly.
Blue looks at me and says, “In other words, you should respect individualism. Just as we are not factory-made robots, we too need not all act in the same way.”
“Mmm,” I nod.
Brown says, “Sorry, Red. I meant no disrespect. And thanks for the reminder, Green.”
“Mmm,” I nod again, relieved, “No biggie.”
Now looking from left to right at us, Silver interjects, “Blue! You just served as Green’s translation mod! Any comment?”
Red nods thoughtfully, “Yoku dekita jan.” (Well done)
As I look from left to right and right to left in panic, Blue replies, “I was just rephrasing words in a way that conveys the message across more effectively.”
“Yeah,” I say aloud, “Exactly.”
And I sit up straight and try my best to look unconcerned. In truth, it’s a bit uncomfortable when their liveliness is targeted at me! Oh my clumsy statement…
3 Blue
“Yeah,” I think to myself, “Exactly.”
So words usually have a certain intent behind them that people want to convey. And words can be rearranged to precisely deliver that message in a concise way.
Still, that was somewhat surprising. Before that outburst, at least, Green seemed like the easygoing sort, a little shy even. Now that presence is stamped in.
“Anyhow,” I say, “Let’s review the situation at hand. Before, at least it was clear that the next logical step was takeoff. Now? We’re just moving blind here.”
“Sounds good,” Brown replies.
“Alright,” I continue, “So, the five of us joined a queue, more specifically the express queue for those new to the Universe, to be matched into hobby groups.”
“Now, I don’t know why the number is five exactly…”
“Maybe because good things come in five!” Silver chimes in so very productively, “See, we have five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot…”
Very pointedly ignoring that statement which was clearly said in jest, I continue, “Henceforth, we will be doing lots of stuff together. But first, we must finish this tutorial.”
For what could this be if not a tutorial, right? It’s clearly for us to cooperate, bond, get to know one another better and all that. We’ll probably lose robo-avatar form after.
“Yoroshiku ne,” (Here’s to a lasting relationship) Red says.
“Hehehe,” Silver interjects, “Now if you’ll remember, I already said it earlier! But none of you did! You people semi-suck! But hey, hey it’s cool. I’m big hearted and all that.”
Silver appears mighty full of Silver’s self for a mere bot. Still, I must admit that that logic is watertight. Some formalities should not be dispensed with.
And so Brown, Green and I also wish for our lasting relationship, feeling a little beaten by Silver’s silver tongue.
And then we are distracted by and go ooh at the sight of Red floating into the air, having evidently undone the straps tying her to her chair.
Green cheerily breaks the silence, “When you want to identify the next objective, sometimes, all you need to do is look!”
I keep silent. Ouch… I gotta admit, though, Green’s right. It’s just that you know, sometimes, you want to finish processing all the information at hand before proceeding ahead!
It’s like when playing an RPG. You end up talking to every single NPC to make sure you don’t miss out on anything before proceeding with the main storyline! Isn’t it?
I don’t believe it’s just me.
And as expected, Red soon self-propels and straps back down, waving a booklet at us.
Beside Red, Brown takes one look at it and exclaims, “What the hell? Don’t tell me you changed the language settings!”
Since they’re all the way down the aisle, I can’t really see the booklet, but that must mean…
“It’s in Japanese,” The ever-helpful Green says from the middle, “Or, at least, traditional Chinese characters.”
Red flips the booklet open, glances at its contents and shrugs, “Tashikani nihongo da. Demo kankei nai yo!” (It’s indeed Japanese. But I’ve got nothing to do with it!”
Brown sighs and takes the booklet from Red, “Really. Are you sure it’s relevant?”
Silver says, “Actually, you could say that it’s relevant. Do you know what disease Red is afflicted with?”
“Huh? What?” I ask blankly, wondering how the subject of a disease has come up.
“It’s eight-grade syndrome,” Silver proclaims proudly, “Do you know why we are allowed into the Universe at our ages? That’s why! It’s at this age that our minds come alive! And it was the Japanese who discovered this! So the language is homage to this!”
I am rendered speechless. I cannot believe that I vaguely understand what Silver is talking about.
“This is like the manual for some kind of giant robot,” Brown says, having been studying the booklet and totally ignoring Silver’s grandiose proclamation.
“See! I was right!” Silver announces triumphantly.
When finally Green is kind enough to ask ‘why’, Silver replies matter-of-factly, “This is homage! Homage! Mecha! Giant robots equal Japan!”
I decide that it’s time to move this conversation in a more practical direction, “Very nice. And what does this manual ask us to do?”
Brown says, “Well, I can’t read it, obviously! But the pictures are intuitive. I think we need to delegate tasks for this robot’s systems.”
Red cheers, “Uchuu sensou da!” (Space fight!)
Silver exclaims, “Sou da!” (Yes it is!)
I ask Brown, “So, what systems are there for us to delegate?”
Brown replies as he flips through the manual, “The first is primary movement, including a sword. To coordinate with the thrusters for acceleration. Then there’s a main cannon in the middle. Next, this deployable energy shield. Finally, rocket launchers.”
“Ugoki!” (Movement) Red exclaims.
“Wait,” I interject, “We should delegate tasks in a way that best plays to all of our strengths, shouldn’t we?”
“Um, actually,” Green says, “I think it’s fine if everyone just chooses whatever they want. It’s just a tutorial, right? So, the difficulty should be somewhere around casual.”
I find myself lost for words. Indeed, there is truth in what Green says. And yet, I somehow feel like my strategic role has been totally superseded… Blast it!
“Well, go ahead then,” I say, feeling somewhat sulky.
I cannot get let myself feel all down and get last pick. Let me at least choose something I want…
“Dibs on main cannon!” Silver calls.
That leaves…
“I’ll take the rocket launchers then,” Brown says.
Okay, guess I’ll go with…
“Um, I choose the energy shield,” Green says.
Blast it! Is this the (anti-) power of indecision?!!!
“Oh, good. Just what I wanted. I’ll coordinate with you, Red.”
“Hai!” (Yes!)
“So, next, we’re supposed to make our way over to…” Brown begins, gesturing.
Green, Silver and I unstrap ourselves and gingerly maneuver over to Brown, who shows us along with Red our respective posts on the map provided.
Silver extends a hand, “Basic ritual. On the count of three, fight!”
And so we hype ourselves up, albeit rather shakily, with four ‘fight!’s and one ‘fighto!’.
As we scatter our various ways, I shoot a final glance at Green whom I got owned by.
Man! I somehow feel as if the value of my existence was undermined!
Though excited by the upcoming battle, I fret a little as I make my way over to my post.
Ugh, whatever. Let’s get fired up. Time to redeem my self-worth!
4 Red
Though excited by the upcoming battle, I fret a little as I make my way over to my post.
What am I going to do? In the upcoming battle, they won’t be able to see me. There will surely be comms, but they won’t be able to see above my head!
I’ll have to speak in English! Oh, the horror! Anything but that! That’s so basic it’s cringe! Nooooooo!
In the haze of my agonised thoughts, I arrive at my destination.
There is a big screen in front which shows the vastness of outer space. Four other, smaller screens to the corners reveal my four allies, already in position.
I step into this glowing white circle in the middle of the room.
Wait, I know what is going to to happen!!
As my feet match the virtual footprints and my arms match the virtual arms, there is a mechanical whirring sound. Then, futuristic mech thingies zippie onto my limbs!
Woohoo! Just like Iron Man!
A freaking sword pops up from the ground in front of me: Initiate Transformation? Y/N
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
I thrust it out without any hesitation.
There is the hissing sound of gas being released as a holographic spaceship 3D model appears. Before my very eyes, some parts detach and start to rearrange! Mecha transformation – initiate!
“Yossha!” I can’t help but cheer.
“Red? Is that you?” Comes a voice.
Whoops? Who’s that? Who’s that? Is someone spying on me?
Wait, no! I know who that is. I look at the side screen. It’s Blue!
Okay, don’t panic, don’t panic. I got this.
“Yes, it is I, Red.”
Oops. Even I know I’ve gone wrong on that one.
“Red? Are you speaking English?”
It’s Brown this time. That persistent brat!!!
Okay, got no choice. Gotta go all the way!
“Negative. It is thanks to the assistance of the built-in translation system that my words can reach.”
I try to bluff my way through somehow. Come on! It’s gotta work!
“Oh! What a cool translation system! Let me try it sometime!” Silver sounds happy.
I don’t answer that. Hopefully Silver will just forget about it! Whew, crisis averted – for now.
“Everyone, the transformation is complete. Now, pray answer my question. Can you all see one another?”
I’ll never admit that this is not a translation. I’ll take it to my grave.
Four ‘nos’. Looks like this is the main control room after all, because I can see them! And I initiated too!
Now, is there a way to minimise their screens? Else they’ll only hinder my vision…oh. Metallic googles clinked over my eyes. Cool.
Blue says, “Hey Brown, you made a mistake. I got radar too.”
Brown says, “Oops. Sorry, Blue. Didn’t really get that pic.”
“I leave support, reconnaissance and strategy to you, Blue,” I say, trying to sound cool.
But then I immediately regret it. Wait, do they seriously think my Japanese is better than my English? How do you even say reconnaissance in Japanese?!
“Got it. I won’t let you down.”
Blue sounds so cool too!
Now, I’m basically just standing on a thin layer of energy in space. You know how ninjas can run on trees and water in Naruto? Well, it’s probably the same principle that lets me run about in space too! And if I want an additional boost, there’s Blue.
“Blue, have hostiles been detected?” I ask.
“Negative…wait, there’s a host of them coming from 3’o clock. And several from 9’o clock, fast! Prepare to engage!”
“Understood.”
I guess that second, fast-inbound group is the priority? Alright.
With my sword behind me and to the side in a ready-to-slash position, I dash in space in my 9’o clock direction. As my actions in the control room are being reproduced out in space, there is no feeling of disorientation whatsoever.
Some kind of treadmill technology like in Ready Player One? I wonder about it for a moment, but decide there’s no point dividing my attention.
Enemy contact!
The first group of enemies is a bunch of inferior sword-wielding robots. With my trusty sword, I parry their attacks and short their circuits – permanently!
Man, they’re slow! Meanwhile, I observe in the background that Brown is literally owning a host of drones with his rocket launchers.
Something more challenging will come, surely? The rest will be bored!
“Something big is coming!” Blue cries, “It’s…it’s a gigantic red dot!”
Yeah, called it. These mobs were nothing more than a teeny little warmup!
But wait – what? A mothership? First robots, then drones, then not even spaceships, but already a mothership?! That’s breaking the genre! Is this Star Wars?
And even without Blue’s radar call I can tell that more of those robots and drones from before are swarming over like flies.
Well, I guess there’s nothing in this world I cannot break through with my trusty sword!
I ignore all else and dash in the direction of the mothership. Be it sword of robot or laser beam of drone, I can react! I can block them all and crush ’em!
“Hey Red!” Blue calls, “Strategy!”
I ignore Blue and concentrate on the intensity of the moment.
Now a new form of attack is inbound. The mothership is throwing a gargantuan beam at us! What in blazes?
A timely thruster propulsion from Blue shoves me out of its way.
“Nice assist, Blue!” I must reluctantly admit.
And now the mothership is launching rockets too – ones imposingly bigger than Brown’s.
“I can try intercepting them with my own,” Brown says, “And the splash damage should hurt the drones.”
“I should save my main cannon for that big boss. Each shot needs some time to recharge,” Silver says.
Oh, right, we had a main cannon too!
What were you doing before!
“And my shields are still ready in case anything gets through,” Green says.
Wow. You guys had it too free!
So in that case. A headlong charge still seems perfectly fine, does it not!
“Let’s go!”
Ike! I inwardly hype myself up and rush, clearing a path. The gargantuan beam is slow and unwieldy and has stopped after blasting after a few seconds, no doubt to recharge. I wonder if our main cannon is a similar weapon? Well, I trust Silver knows.
As all these thoughts flash through my mind, I gulp as I notice spaceships being released from the mothership.
Seriously! We’ve got to take it down now!
“Silver!”
“Present!”
“Get ready!”
“Roger that!”
“Wait!” Blue cries.
“What!”
“First of all, what’s our main cannon?”
“Energy like a cannonball!”
“They probably have shields too! Wait till they are firing their main cannon and attack there point blank! For now, just focus on defence!”
While I would like to just charge in and do battle on instinct, I have a feeling that I shouldn’t just ignore Blue.
And so I take a roundabout path, prioritising evasion as I get close enough to the mothership for Silver to get a good lock on our target.
In the meantime, Green has been put to work too, deploying shields right where the stray bullets from the spaceships would land.
Finally, the mothership fires its main cannon!
I leap.
“Blue!”
“On it!”
I am thrusted out of the firing path.
“Again!”
Another energy layer temporarily forms as I move to take another leap, and this time, Blue sends me rocketing towards the mouth of the enemy’s main cannon!
I thrust my chest out before me to give the main cannon a smooth run.
“Silver!”
“Todome da!”
Silver actually has the leisure to yell a finishing line before firing the main cannon.
The recoil from the energy cannonball sends us rocketing backwards.
The energy cannonball collides with the mouth of their main cannon.
Boom! Then, boom! And boom! Flames! We are propelled even further back! I think I can hear screaming or something.
The shockwave from the explosion vaporises all the nearest mobs, and the rest turn tail and flee.
“Yatta!” I whoop in elation.
Oops.
It’s your fault, Silver.
No, I turned it off! Now if you think I would say that and give yourself away, think again! Haha. Phew. Hopefully no one noticed.
“Weren’t you using a translation system, Red?” Blue asks.
“Yeah, why wasn’t that translated?” Brown asks, catching on.
Curse you, Blue! Now if only you were useless in that last battle and didn’t save our skin!
In the end I pretend not to know anything at all, “Mou owatta kara! Mou owatta yo!”
And Silver is nice enough to say, “Yeah, it’s over. It is over, after all.
Thanks, Silver! You da best! Whether or not you know what’s going on, thanks!
“Well done, everyone!” Green says.
“Yeah, you did a good job of keeping everyone safe too,” Brown gets the praises flowing around.
“I must say, rushing straight into the middle of a fight without a plan can be rather… risky, though,” Blue manages to note dryly even through the modulated robotic tone.
Curse you, Blue! I’d hate you if I didn’t need you!
“Uruse!”
“That means shut up!” Silver adds helpfully.
“Thanks, Silver!” Blue says.
“You’re welcome!”
A white light surrounds us.
Nani?
We are all teleported away.
5 Silver
Nani?
You know, the main cannon had about just finished recharging.
I was going to pull a rocket jump, scare everyone for a bit.
But then!
Hmphh, system that doesn’t know how to read the mood! Mehh!
Now, where are we?
We are in a normal room this time, one without antigravity. That means the space theme is over.
It’s something like a meeting room, with a circular table.
We are no longer avatars, well, no longer robo-avatars, really. We are normal human avatars now. Without colour.
Aha! That means that the next step is…
I raise a hand, “Alright everyone! Time for us to figure out each other’s identities without telling!”
I see that our normal voices are back too.
A pretty average-looking guy points at me, “You’re Silver.”
“Huh? Why?” I feign surprise.
“You’re always the one doing the funny stuff,” He says.
A docile-looking guy raises his hand, “In that case, you’re Brown.”
“Because you said ‘funny stuff’,” He adds.
“In other words, you’re the most serious one amongst us,” The short-haired girl says.
Wait, this feels familiar. In other words?
“So you’re Green and you’re Blue,” Brown concludes.
“Matte!” (Wait!) The remaining long-haired girl exclaims, “Omae, onna?” (You’re a girl?)
And this seals the deal. Identities settled.
I say in mock seriousness, “Now, now. Do you know the dangers of assuming one’s gender? Back in Nordic countries in the early 21st century, some parents would raise their children genderless to let them decide their own identities as they grew up. I gather the robot avatars were to present our identities to one another in full, without fear of bias. Behold! The thoughtfulness of our predecessors!”
“Wakaru! Kanchigai shinaide!” (I understand! Don’t misunderstand!) Red replies.
Personally, I always hate it the most when others assume things to be true a certain way and get all righteous about it.
By the way, another thing I hate is sounding serious. Just saying.
“So, is the tutorial over?” Blue asks, cutting in straight to the point as always.
A screen illuminates. Words appear on them and fade:
<There are five kinds of people in this world, each valuing different things the most.>
<Stability. The serious, hard worker.> We all look at Brown, who shrugs.
<Harmony. Good vibes above all.> As if preorchestrated, everyone simultaneously looks at Green, who averts his gaze, embarrassed.
<Truth. The best path forward.> Now we all know who is the most precise and technical with words! Blue smiles.
<Passion. Living in the moment.> A certain battle junkie comes to mind… Red gives us all a thumbs up.
<Idealism. Out with the outdated.> Hehe. I stick out my tongue.
<Initiation (tutorial) complete. Good vibes in the Universe!>
From here on out, this new hobby group will be banding together to challenge new things, blaze a new trail through the virtual Universe.
I can’t wait.
I smile, and, again, extend a hand.
“Just now didn’t count. Everyone, let’s get ready for blastoff. You too, Red.”
Tacitly, we lean out across the table and stack our hands on top of one another…
“3, 2, 1, Blastoff!”
A new moment in history has just been written. Whether it has any significance for anyone else but us, only time will tell. But we will walk, together.
Today, our journey begins.
Note: I received feedback that Silver’s gender wasn’t actually revealed. Now in Silver’s own perspective, it is!, because the others can see! However, from a reader’s perspective, it’s still a mystery… Well, basically, just focus on the essence! As the writer, I know definitively that this character would mind the least if they all just stayed robo-avatar and never had their identities revealed to one another – to Silver’s flexible mind, stereotypes are just off-putting.