1034/Tempest at Present || Phigros Fanfiction

Chapter 1

picture of Ruby/EK, generated at waifulabs.com, inaccurate

PART ONE - 207

Ruby held his tablet close to his face.

He did it.

After two weeks, he'd mastered nearly all the songs in the GOOD collection, and phi'd every one of them.

Except one. The final song of the pack, rumored to be the hardest.

He set down his game and let out a long sigh, his frequent fingertaps still echoing in his mind. He didn't feel anything when another golden phi showed up along with the words new highscore, just more and more silence until he goes working on another, and another.

Tap notes, hold notes, drags and flicks. Those were the basics of Phigros, the game he plays and the neighborhood he lives in. Ruby lives at 1034 Pigeon Lane, Taptap City, with some of the world's best Phigros players being his neighbors. Every few weeks or so they would organize a meeting where they share their new scores and achievements, and Ruby would always top out.

Ruby was your normal boy - about average in height, with short hair the color of sun-flecked field mice and striking red eyes. Normally, on a lazy day like today, Ruby sports a white T-shirt tied with a sash around his waist that says the letters "EK" - his alias. He lived alone on 1034 Pigeon Lane in Taptap City, but he visited his friends nearby every few weeks or so. He works at the City Hall, which was the most normal place to look for a job in all of Taptap City. When he appeared walking out of 1034 Pigeon Lane, nobody would know what he had hidden under that smile, that he was secretly a rhythm game master. When his best friends Miele and Myosotis were asked about it, they usually turned away and said "Ruby's just too into that one video game called Phigros, but everyone in the city plays that, that's all." But don't let his appearance deceive you - he was not someone you would want to mess with. Especially if you're a Phigros chart.

Now that Ruby had finished tapping on the last few notes that appeared on his tablet, the song ended and the level was completed. Ruby had achieved another phi, or highest score you could get on any level in Phigros. It was the fourth one today. In Taptap City, there was the tradition of calling the action of getting a phi, or "phi'ing", a rhythm game chart "killing" the chart. Even though the word sounded morbid, it was just a metaphor, and nobody took it seriously.

But that couldn't be true, right? Ruby would sometimes wonder, in his spare time, what would happen if those Phigros charts were alive, and what would happen when he phi'd them...but he dismissed all those as wishful thinking a second later. Taptap City was a perfect place woven by rhythm games, where most rhythm gamers live. No chart could survive Taptap City. If they did, no chart would survive EKRuby.

That's why even the officials decided to do something about it. And that was to seal away Ruby's left hand with a magical spell. He looked down at his left wrist, where enchanted chains bound his hand tightly, preventing him from using it. He couldn't break away, they would just magically appear on him. But even that wasn't enough, as he just kept on playing with a single hand.

The Pigeons - the name we call Pigeon Lane residents - began doubting his identity as human, and even Ruby had no idea what he was. But he doesn't want to find out anytime.

Those tapping sounds still lingered in his mind. Ow. He'd better take a walk.

Pigeon Lane stretched west to east before him. He turned left. That was the place every Phigros player in Pigeon Lane should go to at least once, Ruby himself lost count how many times he went there.

Near the end of Pigeon Lane, where Muse Dash Drive diverged, is a field of green and color. The MopeMope Meadow, of course. It is filled with MopeMope flowers of all shapes and colors, but all having that same round yellow center complete with a smile. Of course, a Pigeon should know that you should only visit MopeMope Meadow in the day, in the night these untamed flowers turn into something else.

Ruby was a rulebreaker, but when he did cross into MopeMope Meadow at midnight one day, he was still freaked out by the black and red, glowing from both from the flowers and his face.

This time it was barely past noon. As he treaded in, he immediately caught sight of a small house with the words Misui's Mopery on the door. This was the only tourist attraction at MopeMope Meadow, a small shop opened by the girl Misui which sells tamed MopeMope flowers - those that don't turn into nightmares at night.

Every Pigeon has had at least 1 MopeMope flower as a pet or a present. Ruby had one, until it saw him phi the song MopeMope (which was written for the MopeMope flowers), and it wilted days after. Cowardy flower.

While Misui, on the other hand, was the only person Ruby thought was actually a Phigros Chart in disguise. But when he showed his green tablet that glistened with golden phi's to her, she just barely laughed. So much for the great hypothesis.

He has decided not to go in and meet Misui. He could meet her any other day, and sometimes she would even come to the Phigros player gatherings where his friends Miele and Myosotis would ask him to play more songs. No, she doesn't know how to play the game, she just appears as a watcher. And today was not the day for a new MopeMope flower in his house.

Ruby turned back and walked down Pigeon Lane. The sun was setting, showering golden glamour on the land below, just like how Ruby sends golden phi's to the songs.

When he saw the doorplate 1034 in the distance, he could make out a small figure in the dim light. They, whoever it was, was looking up at the number, arching their head a bit.

Adrenaline shot through him as Ruby's mind spun quickly through fight or flight. That person looks weak, maybe he could fight them, and get into his house, and lock the door...they probably couldn't bust through, right?

He walked closer, holding a chain that linked to his left hand in his right. He could maybe swing it at them and take them out...but all those violent thoughts were disrupted by a quiet and hollow voice muttering

"beautiful..."

The voice was feminine, as Ruby curiously approached he could see that it was a small girl. Her hair was green, flowing down her back to her waist. Ruby shook his head. He had seen thousands of these girls with weirdly-colored hair down in Arcaea Avenue.

But he had never told them his address.

She was wearing a dark green longcoat that faded into light green at the edges. She also had long white cuffs around one leg and one arm respectively.

Definitely from Arcaea Avenue.

"He...Hello?" Ruby, consumed by curiosity that overtook his insecurity, loosened his grip on the chain, carefully went up to her and asked.