Ready Player: START (Parzival x Reader)

Tonight we are Victorious

You sat at your desk, trying to homework when your headset gave a little sound. It was some sort of notification, and you picked up your headset to check it. Anything to stop doing English homework. It was a message from Parzival. You mentally braced yourself and opened it up.

'Hey! I got this idea and I'm headed towards the Halliday Journals. You should join me so we can bounce ideas.' You frowned. As much as you loved playing in OASIS, and as much as you loved theorizing about James Halliday and the race. You feared meeting Parzival again. Would you be able to hold yourself together? Aech already noticed you were acting weird. 'Please?' You sighed, you couldn't stop now. Parzival had you. Hook, line, and sinker.

You quickly put on the vest and pulled your gloves on. Once you were sure everything was secure, you put your headset on your head and typed in a response 'on my way.' The game loaded up and you were back in OASIS.

You were dropped in the main lobby, and you made a beeline for the portal that led to the Halliday Journals. A message from Parzival popped up in front of you that read, 'waiting for you at the entrance.' You jumped through the swirling blue portal and quickly walked to the front of the large glass building with the fluorescent words 'HALLIDAY JOURNALS' glowing brightly. It didn't take you long to locate your friend's gray jacket and you ran up to him. "Sup Z." You smiled.

"You made it!" he grinned and your heart cracked again, "come on, let's head inside." He led the way and jumped up the few steps to the building, "so when I was talking to Art3mis, she said something that caught my attention."

You raised an eyebrow dubiously, "something she said? Or was it just her in general?"

He hesitated, "maybe a bit of both."

You sighed and tried to hide the glare forming on her face, "so what was it that she said?"

"Halliday hated making rules." Was his short answer.

You furrowed your brow, "that's it? What does that mean?"

"Think about it, there has to be a way to get past Kong." He continued to talk as the two of you entered the glass building.

"Well, that much is obvious." You snorted.

"So maybe we're looking at it wrong," you crossed your arms. Still seeming dubious about what he was getting at, but followed him anyways. The two of you stopped in front of the curator and his desk.

"Parzival. (g/t)." He deadpanned, "oh joy! And how will you eat up my valuable search time today?"

"Gregarious Games, 2029," Parzival explained as he leaned forward, "office party."

"Office party. Yes, you've only seen it a thousand times. Why not go back?" you rolled your eyes at the Curator's sarcasm. For a bot he was definitely sassy. You looked at the metallic back of the curator, maybe he wasn't a bot. Though, he did seem to have the emotional range of a teaspoon.

When the three of you arrived at the scene, you and Parzival bounded up the steps to take a look. The two of you watched the scene unfold in front of you. Nothing new seemed to be popping up. You perked up when you heard Halliday say, "I don't wanna make any more rules." You glanced at Parzival when he parroted the words under his breath, "I'm a dreamer. I build worlds."

"This was what Art3mis was talking about?" you questioned.

Parzival sighed, "probably, nothing new came out of it though.

"Are we finished?" the curator questioned and Parzival sadly looked back at the scene in front of him.

"Yeah, we're finished." He trudged down the steps as the curator walked away, but you loitered by the scene for a while. It just occurred to you how the curator always drew you away from the scene after these few lines. He always asked if you were done at the same time.

"(g/t)?" Parzival stopped and looked back at you when he noticed you weren't following.

"Why can't we go backwards, for once?" Halliday questioned and you spun around so fast you almost gave yourself whiplash. "Backwards, really fast. Fast as we can. Really put the pedal to the metal, you know?"

You looked at Parzival with your eyes alight, "you heard that right?" you asked excitedly.

Parzival leapt up the steps to stand next to you, "go back 10 seconds!" he shouted to the curator and the scene reversed itself.

"Why can't we go backwards, for once? Backwards, really fast. Fast as we can. Really put the pedal to the metal, you know?"

You grabbed Parzival's arm, "this is it! It has to be it!" you cried excitedly.

"Oh my gosh." He gasped, "when's the next race?"

"In 10 minutes," you pulled up your hologram to see the map, "let's go Z!" you cried out excitedly, "put the pedal to the metal!" the two of you sprinted out of the archives without a look back, but if you did, you would've noticed the curator looking at the two of you with a slight smile.

By the time you reached the track, all of the spots in the front were taken, leaving only a few in the back. Both you and Parzival threw out your cars before hopping into them. You were giddy with excitement. And fear. If this was wrong, the two of you would smash into the wall behind you.

A pink motorcycle settled into the spot next to Parzival, and you scowled. You couldn't hear your conversation, but based on Art3mis' concerned face, she probably knew something was up.

The fireworks were thrown into the air, and the race started. Everyone rushed forward and you faltered. Were you really about to risk everything you had for a hunch? You looked over at Parzival who gave a nod, before he opened his door, looked backward, and the two of you lurched backward.

Lucky for you, a door opened and you didn't smash into a wall, but ended up on a racetrack under the mayhem above. "Oh my gosh," you gasped at the world. It was green and opaque, and it was honestly gorgeous. You watched as traps were sent up into the racetrack above. You watched cars crash and explode into coins. The T-Rex seemed to notice you and it smashed its head into the ground. It was crazy.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Parzival's face popped up in the side of your screen as the two of you weaved around beams on the thin track.

"We better be," you joked. Your car followed his as the two of you raced backwards underground. "That's Kong!" you gasped as your cars sped past him. The floor turned into a steep ramp back up and the two of you shot up it and out. You stopped your cars at the cul de sac and looked around at where you were. You let out another gasp as you realized you were at the finish line, across the chasm that had stopped everyone else. Parzival leapt out of his car and you followed him as you watched the floating instruments serenade the two of you.

"Nice racing, Padawans." You spun around to see Anorak appear in a whirl of leaves, "you're the first to finish."

"Mr. Halliday," Parzival stuttered before kneeling down in front of him and you quickly followed, "Anorak. It's such an honor."

"The honor is all mine." The old man smiled and pulled out a floating copper key from his robes. Parzival reached up in shock to take the key. Anorak smiled before pulling out another key from his robes for you.

"It's a good thing there isn't a delayed respawn time right?" you joked and clapped your hands over your mouth in horror. Beside you, Parzival was also looking at you in horror. Anorak laughed and gestured for you to take the key.

Anorak leaned down to the two of you, "get yourself a clue." He gestured to a copper pedestal that rose out of the ground with two scrolls floating and spinning above it. Parzival was the first to move towards the pedestal. He stumbled forward in a daze, and you were about to follow him when you heard the sound of fireworks. You looked up at the source and saw the gameboard hanging above you get updated. In first place, was Parzival, in second place, with the same amount of points, was (g/t). You smiled. Take that IOI. You hoped that somewhere in the world, the people at IOI were starting to panic. That'll teach them to mess with the die-hard gunters of the OASIS.