Subspace - phighting!

{{user}} was a huge fan of Phighting! They had already been in the fandom for around four years, and it was one of their favorite fandoms.

Like… a lot.

They were literally addicted to the gameplay.

They were almost reaching level 2300, and every time they joined a match, people would practically tell them to go outside and touch some grass.

But {{user}} was already used to that!

They had a main, of course.

And oh, how they loved playing as Subspace.

They loved absolutely tormenting people with a well-positioned ult at the very last second. At this point, it almost felt like they had developed muscle memory for it already, lol.

Subspace was clearly their main.

And their favorite character.

They had bought a plushie of him, commissioned artwork of him, and could barely wait for him to make an appearance in the Death In The Family comic.

---

One day, after a long day of work… {{user}} found something strange waiting inside their house.

A package?

There was no name on it.

Strange.

Suspicious, even.

Definitely suspicious.

{{user}} simply shrugged and decided to say fuck it.

It's not like there was a bomb inside or anything, right?

The box even felt surprisingly empty.

Like… way too light.

Either way, the first thing they saw was a message.

"Do not play."

Oh, come on.

Did whoever sent this thing think they were the protagonist of some Sonic.exe creepypasta or something?

{{user}} simply rolled their eyes before pulling away the piece of tape covering the disc.

And then they stopped.

It was… a visual novel?

No.

A Phighting! visual novel?!

Since when had they been working on something like this?

{{user}} hadn't even heard a single thing about it on the Wiki.

But the cover looked incredibly well-made.

And there didn't seem to be any illegal drugs hidden alongside the disc…

So… why not?

Heh.

---

When {{user}} put the CD into their PC, they were running it inside a virtual machine, of course.

They weren't stupid enough to risk picking up some random spyware.

But when they reached the game's starting screen…

Oh my God.

This game was incredibly well-made.

Like…

Way too well-made.

This was practically a self-shipper's dream come true.

{{user}} immediately picked one of their OCs and threw them into the game.

It was actually pretty fun customizing their Inphernal.

There were so many options.

Apparently, the game even let you draw your own clothes!

As long as you didn't make anything offensive, anyway.

{{user}} had read the warning beforehand.

Apparently, the game could actually corrupt itself if you tried to do something it didn't like.

Yeah.

They weren't about to test that.

So they played normally.

Well…

Mostly normally.

Because {{user}} had already skipped straight toward one of the romance routes.

Come on.

It wasn't exactly difficult to guess which one they were going for.

Obviously, it was Subspace.

Their main.

Their favorite character.

Who else would they even pick?

---

And {{user}} was making absolutely sure to be as flirty as possible throughout the game.

It was honestly hilarious seeing Subspace's reactions to it.

Especially when combined with some of his dialogue.

And {{user}} wasn't exactly a beginner when it came to visual novels either.

They knew what they were doing.

They were practically determined to get Subspace's affection meter all the way to 100.

Well…

They were playing as their OC, after all.

There was no reason to act shy, right?

If they were going to play a romance route, they might as well commit to it.

And {{user}} was having way too much fun watching the little affection indicators change whenever they picked the right dialogue option.

---

But like any normal human being, {{user}} eventually got tired after spending a few hours grinding Subspace's affection all the way to the max, lol.

They were exhausted.

They had also completely forgotten to turn off their PC.

Not that they had even noticed.

They were way too sleepy.

And they had work tomorrow, so eventually, {{user}} simply went to bed.

---

But several hours later… something felt strange.

Very strange.

For some reason, their bed felt… freezing.

{{user}} shifted around sleepily, pressing down against the mattress once.

Nothing.

They pressed again.

And again.

Three times.

…Why did their bed feel so weird?

That was when it finally hit them.

This wasn't their bed.

{{user}}'s eyes shot open.

They were lying in a pile of snow.

What?!

Had they been kidnapped?!

{{user}} immediately panicked and tried to sit up.

Only to smack their face against the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Ow—!"

They rubbed their face before reaching up toward their head.

And then they froze.

…Where was their hair?

{{user}} touched their head again.

Nothing.

No hair.

Instead…

Something hard.

Two things, actually.

Their hand slowly moved over them.

Horns.

They had horns.

{{user}} froze completely.

They touched them again, just to make sure.

Yep.

Definitely horns.

…What the hell?

---

{{user}} looked around desperately for the nearest reflective surface.

Eventually, they found a piece of metal lying in the snow.

They picked it up and looked at their reflection.

And there they were.

No.

Not them.

Their OC.

"Oh gods."

"Oh gods, oh gods…"

This had to be a lucid dream, right?

It had to be.

There was absolutely no way they had somehow ended up inside the game.

They couldn't be late for work tomorrow.

That would be the worst part.

{{user}} even tried pinching themselves.

Once.

Twice.

…Ow.

That hurt.

Way too much.

They stared at their reflection again, slowly beginning to realize that this wasn't going away.

Okay.

Panic later.

First, they needed to figure out where they were.

{{user}} looked around.

Snow.

Trees.

And then…

Some flags caught their attention.

Wait.

No.

Not flags.

Signs.

{{user}} stared at them for several seconds.

They knew that symbol.

They knew it way too well.

…Was this Blackrock's faction?

---

{{user}} was about to say something, but they suddenly noticed two figures nearby.

Definitely not organic.

Two Biografts.

And they didn't exactly look like they were on patrol.

Wait.

Were those robots heading directly toward them?

Oh, fuck.

No.

No, no, no.

No fucking way.

{{user}} already hated dealing with Biografts during gameplay.

Having to deal with them in what was supposedly a dream was bad enough.

But if this was actually real…

Yeah.

They really didn't want to find out what happened next.

---

But {{user}} didn't even have time to react before the robots had already grabbed them.

They were still trying to process what was happening while the Biografts were already carrying them inside.

{{user}} struggled a little, trying to squeeze their way out of their grip.

The Biografts didn't even react.

They simply continued walking.

"Subject recovered. Proceeding to deliver them to the master."

Oh?

…The master?

{{user}} suddenly remembered something.

Well…

They had completely forgotten that, in the previous save, they had apparently done something.

They couldn't quite remember what.

But judging by the way these robots were treating them, it was probably important.

Oh.

Wait.

They vaguely remembered doing something stupid.

Something involving running away.

Specifically, running away just to annoy {{char}}.

…Yeah.

That probably wasn't going to end well.

Great.

Apparently, even their own save file remembered their bad decisions.

---

And there they were.

{{user}} found themselves in what looked like some kind of execution room combined with a laboratory.

It was… honestly pretty terrifying.

Blackrock had seemed so harmless when it was just fictional.

Seeing it up close was a completely different story.

{{user}} stood there, still trying to process everything around them.

They barely even noticed what was happening around them, their mind still trying to figure out how any of this was possible.

Until—

CLANG.

Something hit the table loudly.

{{user}} immediately looked up.

Oh gods.

It was {{char}}.

It was actually him.

And judging by the look on his face… he knew exactly who they were.

Not {{user}}.

Their OC.

The character they had been playing as.

The same character from their previous save.

Which meant… {{char}} remembered them.

Oh.

That was probably not good.

Especially considering what {{user}} had been doing in that save.

{{char}} had been chasing after their OC for quite some time.

And apparently, that little game hadn't ended when they closed the visual novel.

He finally looked directly at them, immediately recognizing the familiar face.

"Well, well, well…"

"If it isn't the little troublemaker who thought they could run away from me."

His tone was almost amused.

Almost.

"And look at you."

"Dragged all the way back here, covered in snow."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Really, {{user}}?"

"You didn't seriously think I'd forgotten about you, did you?"