Chapter 0: Prolouge
*Tap Tap Tap*
We find ourselves in the point of view of our soon to be adventurer, typing away on his keyboard, in a simple yet comfy room. The room is illuminated by the overhead lights and the bright screen on which has his full attention. It takes minutes for his typing to finally stop.
"Aaaaand…send."
"…haaaaah. What a pain. This job burns my brain out way too easily." He couldn't help but massage his temples, hoping to avoid an oncoming headache.
The figure just sits still in his office chair, focusing on nothing, his eyes fog out, and his mind wanders. After a minute the figure decides to get up.
"Alright enough of that, time to finally eat."
The man ducks his chair back under his desk and heads for a door which would lead him out of his office room. Coincidentally he also passes by a mirror, capturing a full glimpse of his appearance.
Our character just hits the ever desired 6 feet in height (185 centimeters), he holds a somewhat pale skin complexion. With jet black hair, just between long and short. Focusing on his face, we see quite the mess, fairly chubby cheeks, dark bags under his eyes, both from the cause of an unhealthy lifestyle. With medium eyebrows that seem to have a keen sharpness, and below them holds a pair of brilliant blue grey eyes. Onto his nose we see a fairly average nose. His lips can be considered wide, not too full nor too plump, but also slightly chapped. His attire is extremely casual, as in a pair of shorts, a plain black shirt and a pair of black crocs.
This is Francisco Sol, but his friends call him Chico. Francisco Sol was raised in the same state he currently resides in, California, born of Mexican descent, he was raised to be a hard worker within a large family, his looks are much more catered towards his mothers side compared to his father. Simplifying Chico's life, he was raised in a whole and loving home, while not as well off as many other families in his state, his upbringing had brought upon a kind, caring, young man. Yet lately, life had become…stagnant. After college, Chico's life got into an extremely steady routine, while he became some-what well off and he felt grateful, it felt too mundane, and with other outside factors, like the drifting between his friendships to focus on his career, and his lack of social life…again, stagnant.
'Hmmm…maybe it's time to go on a vacation, maybe do something fun? Not gonna stay young forever…24 is still young, right?'
As our character begins to plan, something…unexpected and unprecedented happens.
*zzzzzzmmmmmmm*
"Hmm?"
"…?!"
Time seemed to freeze the moment he felt the hairs on his neck rise, with goosebumps all over his arms, he slowly turned his body to face the disturbance. What he saw was strange…so very strange.
Right in the middle of the room was a black…hole. A perfect circular pit, that seemed to radiate some sort of aura that could even be felt to the normal senses of humans.
Perhaps his curiosity got the better of him, he began to drag his feet, very slowly, across the room. Standing on the tip of his toes, he tried to get any kind of view that would prevent him from getting closer, yet it made no difference. Wanting to quench his curiosity, he bit his lip, and came even closer.
It was exactly what the name intaled, it was a black hole, it was just a void of darkness, the light above him seemed to have no effect on it.
Chico's mind buzzed with the thrill of discovery, his earlier fatigue now completely washed away by sheer adrenaline.
"Okay… okay, don't panic," he muttered to himself, pacing back and forth, eyes never leaving the swirling void. "This is… insane. But I need to know what's in there."
'I've always wondered what's on the other end of a singularity.' He thought with excitement.
He glanced around the room, spotting an old pen on his desk. "Alright, test number one."
Carefully, he stepped closer, stretching his arm out as far as possible, and dropped the pen in. His eyes squinted, trying to catch any sign of resistance or noise as the pen fell.
Nothing.
It simply disappeared, as if it had been erased from existence.
Chico pulled back and rubbed his chin, eyes narrowing in thought. "Hmm. That's…kinda what I expected."
He looked around again, grabbing an empty water bottle this time. He tied a string around its neck—no way was he wasting more stuff—and slowly lowered it into the black hole. The string fell smoothly, and when it reached its full length, he waited a moment before tugging gently.
To his utter shock, it came back up without resistance.
"Haha! Yes!" he exclaimed, fumbling to grab the bottle. He turned it over in his hands, inspecting every inch.
"…Looks…totally fine? What the hell?"
It was dry, untouched, perfectly normal. Chico stared at it, more puzzled than before.
"Alright…time for the big one."
He grabbed his phone and secured it onto a selfie stick (which he purchased years ago and had finally found a use for), rigging it so it could record while hovering over the hole. He hit record and slowly lowered it into the abyss, eyes wide, heart hammering.
The seconds ticked by agonizingly slow. He still had a couple more feet of room to lower it, he kept going. He waited, holding his breath, counting in his head.
"…Okay, let's see what you got," he said, starting to bring it back up.
That's when he felt it.
A jolt—subtle at first, like something down there had suddenly… noticed.
He froze. The hairs on his arms stood up again, a chill coursing through his spine.
"…What the hell?"
Suddenly, a violent pull yanked the stick downward, and Chico instinctively gripped it tighter.
"W-Whoa! Hey!" he shouted, trying to dig his heels into the carpet as the force grew stronger. It felt as if he was playing tug-of-war against 100 people, and he lost…violently.
He tried to let go, oh how badly wanted to let go, but his fear had locked up his muscles—his arms jerked forward, and the next instant an overwhelming suction slammed into his chest. His body dragged forward uncontrollably.
"No no no no no—!"
His fingers gripped the stick even harder, perhaps hoping his adrenaline would help him break it—but the pull was relentless. His feet left the ground, his body twisting mid-air, sucked helplessly toward the black hole.
One last, heart-stopping beat as his brilliant blue-grey eyes, which began to fill with tears, widened in pure disbelief—
—and then gone.
The room fell silent once more, only the soft hum of the overhead light remaining. The black hole pulsed once, then shrank down to nothing, leaving no trace of Chico… or the incredible phenomenon that had just occurred.
————————————————————
Nothing.
Chico's body floated weightlessly, utterly limp, as though suspended in a sea of ink. Time had lost all meaning the moment he crossed the threshold. For how long he drifted unconscious—minutes, hours, days—there was no way of knowing.
Then…
A flicker.
His fingers twitched. His breathing hitched sharply.
With a sudden gasp, Chico's eyes snapped open.
Blackness.
Everywhere.
Total, consuming black.
His chest heaved, sucking in breath after ragged breath, the sound of his own heartbeat crashing in his ears. He scrambled to his feet—no, he thought he scrambled, but it was as if his limbs moved through molasses, the sensation all wrong.
"Wh-where… what the hell?!" he shouted, but his voice barely echoed. It was swallowed up by the void, like it didn't matter.
Panic clawed its way into his chest, squeezing tighter with every passing second.
*Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.*
His heart raced, faster and faster, his breath coming in rapid gasps now.
"HELLO?! ANYONE?!" Chico spun around, flailing wildly, searching for anything—a point of reference, a crack of light, something real. But the void stretched on, endless and suffocating.
"STOP! STOP!" His voice cracked, trembling with fear, sweat beading on his brow despite the cool nothingness pressing in from all around him.
He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head violently. "This isn't real. This isn't real—"
And then—just as his anxiety threatened to hit a fever pitch—through his eyelids…he saw it.
A Flicker.
A single dot of shimmering color appeared in the darkness ahead of him, pulsing gently, like the first star in a pitch-black sky.
Chico froze. His breathing hitched mid-gasp, eyes glued to that one spot. Heart still racing.
Suddenly, it multiplied.
Dozens…then hundreds…bursting out like fireworks. Swirling, morphing, growing brighter and brighter.
The darkness cracked apart, and in its place bloomed a dazzling kaleidoscope of color—patterns twisting and twirling like living fractals, waves of brilliant blues, fiery reds, radiant golds. The shapes danced and folded into themselves, infinite and mesmerizing, as if the universe itself had decided to reveal its hidden mechanics.
Chico stared, mouth agape, heart still hammering but now with a strange mixture of terror and awe. His hands trembled, reaching out instinctively toward the spectacle.
"…What is this…?"
The colors continued to spiral around him, folding in tighter, almost as if they were preparing to pull him in again.
And all he could do was stand there, utterly transfixed, at the edge of whatever new mystery awaited.
…
…
…
Welcome to the Chaos Gatcha!
…
…
…what?
End Chapter 0