I was with Ciel in a place I didn't even think was still a thing. The kingdoms FBI department. I legit did not think this was even a thing anymore. Guess I was wrong. "I'll need to speak with my informant. She'll get you more up to date on what we know and what we have."
“Cool.” I nodded. “Now onto me completely forgetting that this was a thing when I needed to remember a million and one things every day.”
"Many worlds had departments like this. So rather than replace and move people around the FBI was kept, keeping largely to what they've always done but focusing more on research and intelligence on inner kingdom threats. Here's her office. And please, don't say anything."
I was confused, looking at the name on the office door it said Fluttershy. A Fluttershy working in the FBI… huh. Ciel and I entered and my jaw dropped. I saw the bustiest, thickest, most yes please sex appeal humanoid Fluttershy in my life. "Hello Ciel." Oh My God that voice is amazing. "Mrs. King, a pleasure to have the Crowns face in my office."
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” I said politely.
"They'll be working with me on the Shadow Drugs case. We'll need to get them up to date." Ciel said.
"Alright then." She said, looking through her desk and pulling out two files. One looked about empty and the other was more full. "Officially, we only have the known information. The crates appeared with no trackable signatures of any kind. Each case holds roughly a hundred shadow drug injectors all full. We also know the materials the Injectors are made of and sadly it is all too common for us to pinpoint any one or few locations."
Even though Ciel told me ‘not to say anything’, I couldn’t help myself. “Are the injectors just plain looking or do they have any physical distinctions from any normal one’s you can find on the market?”
"The only difference between these Injectors and the normal ones used in the medical field is that these are not made by any manufacturer. They are machine made, we know that, but they are not from any licensed facility."
“Hmm…” I hummed. “Well at least it kind of narrows it down.”
"It's still a needle in a multiverse sized haystack. Now then, time to discuss the unofficial information gathered." Ciel said.
Fluttershy nodded, opening the thicker file. "Unofficially, as far as we can tell Shadow Drugs came onto the market first in Connection City 2010, September Third. Five years to the date Cript avenged the Non-existent Autumn by killing the Darkness, the creator of Shadow Creatures and Dark Elemental Crystals such as Electronium."
“And why do I suddenly have a feeling the guy who’s selling this is either Darkness itself having come back somehow, or one of his ‘children’ as it were.” I frowned.
"Not likely. Powerful as he was at the time the Darkness was still mortal. As for children long-term exposure to corrupted elemental crystals creates infertility in all who keep them in use for over a period of a month. And from the records we have of him before he had no lovers or family to speak, so no kin. We do believe whoever is behind this however was either an admirer or is utilizing his old bases equipment. However no one has been able to get close enough before or after the changes to reality to inspect." Ciel said.
“Until now I presume?” I asked curiously
"Not even." Fluttershy said. "Before, the amount of dark Electronium on that island fortress of his was toxic and endless shadow creatures. Now, it's still the same size. The building anyway. After the mass multiverse and such timelines it's guarded by a level five arena dungeon, the things that spawn there are as strong as you can imagine and as expected all that dark Electronium just sitting under that place would make a sun exploding look like a fire cracker."
“Sounds fun.” I said simply. “But I doubt I’m here to be Demolition Man in the Dungeon right?”
"You can't. It's a level five. Meaning even Admins like you, like Dad, would have issues getting to the base, which is in the center of that mess." Ciel said. "The base is still untouched. Satellites tell us that much. So we expect whoever was there went in and took only the Darkness's research and left. This had to have been done before the dungeons and mass fusion. We also do believe whoever this person is to either be human or Electronian."
“Oh boy, that sounds interesting.” I said honestly. “About these Electronian’s, I haven’t heard about them before.”
"They're the inhabitants of Electron. A planet on a parallel orbit of Earth. At least, it used to. Since the fusion the planet and all reflections have merged with us and the kingdom. They are typically about seven to nine feet in height and are basically giant anthropomorphic ferrets. They evolved alongside Electronium crystals which their kingdom/world has been known for across all reflections. As such they have the same basic powers as that of one wielding an Electronium crystal. They are intelligent, strong, all in all quite a formetable race. The Non-existent Autumn was the last living descent of their former queen Arora. As such they have been ruled by a council, then Cript killed the Darkness and they let him and Freak Inc. rule their kingdom. Now they actually have a crown and royalty again. They went from over a hundred and sixty years with an empty throne to having so many royals they are ecstatic."
“That is very interesting...also they must look absolutely adorable.” I said, thinking about giant anthro Ferrets and how adorable normal Ferrets.
"Some." Both Ciel and Fluttershy said.
"In any case, we can't get to the base to explore it. Even so we are expecting it to be empty or trapped. We just have no idea what is actually in there, even so, King, dungeons nullify teleporting and even in the fastest flying transportation it would take over six years. It's that big of a dungeon." Fluttershy said.
"And that's well passed light speed including." Ciel added.
“I mean...I’ve moved faster than any of that.” I said honestly. “In some worlds, people move maybe...a few hundred billion times the speed of light? Yeah a lot of us are just straight faster than that.”
"Even so, go too fast, the dark Electronium explodes. It's stupidity unstable. The only 'safe' means of traversing there is to fight, melee only, cause guns and other firearms and such can also set the stuff off, a trip that would take way too damn long." Ciel sighed. "As far as I can tell it's barely an option. So we go after the next best lead we can find." Ciel said.
Fluttershy handed me a photo. It was a pony. Humanoid. "His name is Guider Fire. Well known supplier on the black market. Keeps his own hands clean and on or off wire never says anything self incriminating. Everything he does is through disposable thugs for hire." She said.
“So you want to either capture him or just have someone talk to the guy?” I asked curiously.
"We need to trail him. He has been known to distribute Shadow Drugs but because of his methods we can only hold him for so long. Bluntly we need to set up a buy. Something he will want to deal with personally."
“Sounds simple enough.” I said honestly.
"What's the object?" Ciel asked.
"Hacked Freak Inc weaponry and technology. Illegal by every account. Get caught with it, life in prison."
“So you want someone to openly ask to sell the thing to him?” I asked curiously.
"Buy it from him." Ciel stated. "There are only two groups capable of hacking Dad's tech, Nexus, and Rothmire."
“I forgot, who or what is Rothmire? Cause I know I heard it before but...don’t remember.”
"Rothmire is an underground hacking organization. They're your typical Hactivists, but hacking Freak Inc. Tech put them in our top ten." Fluttershy said.
“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Alright, so the job seems simple enough.”
"Will be risky though. Thankfully your various forms and shapeshifting capabilities will get us the perfect 'buyer'."
Sounds about right.” I nodded. “Need me to take a premade identity or just make one up?” I asked curiously.
"Premade." Ciel said.
Fluttershy typed on her PC, then turned the screen to me. It was a woman. Shaved, human. Green eyes. "Her name is Kaytlin. Well known terrorist. Dead now though." Fluttershy said.
“Cool.” I said while using my Chameleon ability and shifting into the dead terrorist. “No one will question seeing a dead chick around right?”
"It's the underground. People often don't stay dead for long." Ciel said.
“Sounds about right.” I shrugged.
"We'll set up the buy. Will take a few days." Shy said.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” I nodded.
While I waited the few days it would take for the meeting to get set up I headed on out to some dungeons. Wanted to see what all the hype was about when it came to level fives.
“Alright, so let’s just take some precautions.” I said while taking a deep breath, summoning my Lexicon and Archmage Staff and casting every single buff spell on myself as possible, then downing an Elixir to get all my MP back. “Alright...so fifty percent with all the buffs shouldn’t be too much…” I said while raising my power output to fifty percent. I cracked my knuckles and neck as I felt ready for the dungeon. “Alright, floor one, let’s get started.”
This was a tower based one going up. The first… enemies… were all Common Shadow Creatures. A fuck ton of them. Normally these weaklings are nothing… in here. With all those buffs they hit me for two thousand health each AND it takes nine hits at fifty to kill them. Full power was half that and at some point I high tailed it out of there. So those are bullshit, in every way imaginable. But… not gonna lie, the ones I killed dropped some epic rewards.
“Alright, so looks like I’m gonna need to go full out here.” I muttered to myself.
So I did. All the buffs, Max power, and headed in dual wielding Lunatic and Skysplitter at Max power. It was still a bitch. Room one, cleared, two shot everything but their numbers were still crap. Next room fucking Dragon Shadows, nine Litch fuckers, black knights and suicide bombing giant rats. I got out of there on four health and seriously pissed off. So, I left to rant to Cript in their office.
“So yeah, about level five dungeons being bullshit.” I frowned.
"How so?" Cript asked.
“So, every single buff I knew I had on, going at a hundred percent, even Dual Wielding Skysplitter and Lunatic, I barely made it to the second room.” I frowned. “I know level five is supposed to be difficult, I’m not denying that or going to rant about that part, what I am going to rant about is it being that difficult where you can barely beat a single room.”
"Then it's doing its job." Cript said. "King, Level five dungeons aren't meant for normal people, not even normal Admins. They are meant for Deathless like us."
"I know, but I could barely beat the first room even with being Deathless." I said honestly.
"That's the whole point King. I've seen many timelines, many Deathless Cripts falling to Madness. Many other Deathless suffer the same fate. And I've discovered that those who can always find purpose and challenge last the longest. To this day even. These dungeons, the level fives, are made this way to always provide us a challenge, and stave off Madness."
“I never said I disagreed about it being difficult...but that kind of difficult.” I said. “It’s okay to have a challenge, that’s fine, but when even at a hundred percent, and every single buff I know helping me, just barely being able to beat a single room in that dungeon seems less ‘challenge’, and more ‘trying to see how long you can keep your hand in a blender on full blast’.”
"That's because of the radar settings. For normal people or normal Admins it's set to the lowest settings and stays there. For Deathless it auto reconfigures the enemies to get harder and stronger, adding buffs just tells the radar to make it all stronger."
“Cause of course that’s how it works…” I grumbled.
"You telling me you can't figure out how to clear the first floor? Want some basic specs on how level five dungeons work?"
“Sure, I’d love to know.” I said honestly
"The first floor will hold anywhere between two to six thousand rooms. Each room can be between seven to ten thousand miles big at all angles, and they get bigger and the rooms double or triple the amount of rooms each floor."
“Oh goodie.” I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just play Dynasty Warriors while we’re at it.”
"And the amount of floors range between fifty thousand to over a million."
“Sounds repetitive.” I said honestly.
"Not meant for the faint of heart or even the sane of mind. Clearing a Level five is basically the ultimate goal of all adventures."
“Sounds about right, but still…” I frowned. “If a single room is that big, and there’s way too many floors, it shouldn’t be ‘barely beat one room’ kind of difficult.”
"Hence the fun of it. Lord and I can make some tough ass things. Besides, there is an alternative motive to them."
“And what is that?” I asked curiously.
"Clear a level five, you can take Vincent in an unfair fight."
“Sounds about right.” I shrugged.
"So, gonna take it on?"
"I mean, I am cause I'm stubborn." I said simply.
"Heh. Good luck then. Furthest I typically get is floor five, after that the Starfish clone body gets destroyed beyond the regeneration capabilities. Beat my record and I'll reward you."
"And what's the reward?" I asked curiously.
"That depends. Got anything in mind?"
"Not sure at the moment." I said honestly. "Oh, but I also need to beat the Mushroom 13 Coliseum to get Belief's body back…"’s body back.” I said honestly.
"And Void Mother's heart I assume?" Cript asked.
“Also that if possible.” I said honestly.
"Well it looks like there is a lot on your plate then."
“Then there’s also me hunting down Vilgax and Spoiled to get to Void Key, helping run our kingdom, helping Ciel deal with Shadow Drugs, and a bunch of other crap that’s honestly getting a little annoying when I have to ‘be the face of the Kingdom’.” I frowned.
"Well, in regards to the Shadow Drugs case those have been a thorn in my side for a long, long time. But I might have a means of helping you in this in the form of advice."
“Go right ahead.” I said honestly. “Any information helps.”
"Make a team. Teams, work with them and stop doing it all alone."
“Sounds about right.” I said honestly. “And working with others does help sometimes…”
"Including yourself, keep it to three. Basic, functional, ect. That aside, there is someone I'd like you to meet."
“Oh? Who’s this new mystery person?” I asked, intrigued by who Cript would want me to meet.
"Well, you still have your gauntlets as a weapon but you have not mastered them. So I found you the perfect teacher. You remember Adam, the current King of Hell and now member of this family."
“Funnily enough,” I started while bringing out my Gauntlets. “I had a place in mind to learn how to use these...but then I completely forgot about it cause I’m normally too busy.” I sighed out. “But yes, I do know about Adam.”
"They'll be teaching you hand to hand combat along with Spike. Between the two of them you'll more than learn how to handle yourself, gauntlets or not."
“I already know how to handle myself in a lot of ways.” I said. “But alright, let’s get going to meet Adam.”
Cript took me over to where Spike and Adam were. Once I was with them Cript took off. "So you're King?" Adam asked.
“Yes I am.” I nodded. “And you must be Adam, I remember you helping Joy out with Diamonds family curse.”
“Yeah. And this is Spike. The one who died and came back cause Cript says fuck you to the rules.”
The purple and green drake in question chuckled. He looked well built, dressed in an orange vest and white shorts. “Glad to finally meet the new kid who got as strong as dad through sheer stubborn will.” Spike said, shaking my hand.
“Yeah, I think I remember that...you saved me, Eclipsa and Heart from Max a long time ago...certainly pissed Max off that’s for sure.” I said honestly.
“Heh. A simple passion for wrestling turned me into the family’s top fighter. Least til I died.” They said with a shrug. “I was one of the first kids adopted by Cript, back then it was just me and Scootaloo. So then.” Spike said, holding up an open hand. “How hard can you hit?”
“I can hit pretty hard.” I said while equipping my gauntlets. “I know how to punch at least, so how strong do you want me to punch?” I asked while stretching my arms real quick.
“First, off.” Spike said, pulling my weapons off. “Before you cover your fists, hit the stone against your skin to break your bones.”
“So...punch your hand with a bare fist?” I asked, not entirely sure what the hell he meant.
“Yeah basically. Got that from my middle school coach. Just sounds cool mostly.”
“It took me a moment to figure out whatever the hell you meant.” I said. “Also, your coach is weird for making a saying that sounds like Buffalo Bills ‘put the lotion on the skin or else you get the hose again’.” I said honestly. “But how strong do you want the punch?”
“Don’t hold back. Relax, I can take it.”
“Dude.” Adam said.
“You know what I meant, perv.” Spike spat.
“That’s for later.” I said honestly. “But if you insist.” I said while taking a deep breath as electricity crackled across my fist. “Thunder Punch!” I said as I threw an extremely powerful punch added with the lightning attribute.
I hit Spike’s hand. A shockwave of energy and wind speed blew up everywhere. When the dust faded Spike was gripping my fist. “Not bat at all. Lots of power but you need to keep it straight and more firm… less…” They said, pushing my hand back and dislocating my wrist. “Could also be worse but for not, let’s help you learn to keep it straight.” Spike said, popping my wrist back into place.
“Fine fine.” I said while shaking my hand a little bit. “Alright, so how to start learning to punch.”
“Here.” Spike said, stepping to my side. He took my arm, holding it by my fist and elbow. “Keep your first tight, arm firm, and in one straight motion, move.” He said, moving my arm in the motions. “Same applies to the other arm. Firm, straight, and apply the force in the swing, not in your hand and you’ll get way more bite for your buck.”
“And don’t forget to put your hips into it.” I said simply. “From fists to swords, it’s all in the hips.”
“True.” Spike said.
We practiced keeping my first and arm straight in the swings for a few hours before Spike had me speed it up. “A fast and strong punch is key in a fight, you got speed and power, but the faster you swing the harder it is to aim them and you can miss. Now, punch this.” Spike said, a snap of his talons and this… ragdoll looking thing appeared before me, standing up of its own power as it looked at me with a stitched in smiley face. “Be fast and accurate.”
“What? Not going to throw a high level enemy at me or something?” I asked. “Or...that’s Agamemnon’s whole thing...never mind.” I shook my head as I took a deep breath to focus myself. “Alright, so head and chest…” I said while throwing two punches swiftly, one hitting the head and one hitting the chest.
“The torso and head are good areas for good damage, but an enemy that can’t punch back is better. Hitting the right areas on the arms can dislocate, or break their arms. Same applies to kicking, which in hand to hand combat is also an important part. Now, given your legs as a Dire Wolf, normal kick styles won’t work well with you. I know you can shapeshift and all that, but let’s stick to your current form. In the case of the legs you have, you’ll be focused on more direct front and back spring kicks.”
“Yeah, even though I had normal knees for a long time, I had to adjust quick to these.” I said while gently hopping on my legs that were more like werewolves where the knee was inverted instead of out like a normal person’s.
“Yeah. You have strong power from them, so kicking with all your force will be easy.”
“Yep.” I nodded. “Legs are powerful, even if they all went to my thighs…” I said while looking down at my thick thighs, and even though they looked lovably squeezable they had strong toned muscle underneath it and the fluffy fur.
“Training, not showing off.” Spike stated firmly. “Enemy isn’t gonna be admiring you, they’ll be trying to kill you.”
"They haven't done both?" I asked curiously while snap kicking the dummy in the solar plexus.
"Trust me, they haven't."
"Their loss." I shrugged. "But either way, onto more training.” I said simply, wanting to master my Gauntlets.
"I will be teaching you hand to hand combat and Beastial Fighting as well as something else dad wanted me to teach you. Once I've taught you everything Adam will step in to teach you how to apply it to gauntlets and other fist based weapons." Spike said.
“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Well, let’s get started then.”
Day One.
"First, to make sure you truly know how to handle both yourself and your power, let's see if you can shift into the Ultimate Race form." Spike said.
“Ultimate Race form?” I asked curiously. “Like what Cript turned into?’
"Exactly. But there is a catch to it."
“What’s the catch?” I inquired.
"You get stuck like that. Like dad, and while it's useful the learning curve is pretty hard at first when it comes to it. While you can alter the appearance you can't alter the form itself. Like how dad did. Illusion spells and such can work and work well but they are still just illusions."
“Well...I can’t really do that since I’m the face of the Kingdom.” I said, already having images of how I’d look in my ‘Ultimate Race’ form.
"Maybe. Maybe not. Up to you really, but something tells me with Lyra's help in tweaking it you can keep that face of the kingdom thing."
“Well then...let’s test it out.” I said simply. “So how do I do it? Cause I thought it would be using a hundred percent of your power, but that doesn’t really work.”
"Well, in short even at a hundred percent, you Max out at a hundred. You have to go over a hundred and break your Max cap. From there, power and such has no limits anymore."
“Alrighty then.” I nodded while letting my power go up to a hundred percent. “Any specific way to get past a hundred percent?”
"When it feels like your cells and code are gonna explode, keep going."
“Oh, I remember that feeling.” I said honestly. “But should I do it with or without all those rage abilities?” I wondered as I tried to force myself past a hundred percent.
"Without is faster."
“Alright.” I said while pushing myself deeper past my limit. “Let’s...get past one hundred…” I growled, trying to keep myself together even if every fiber of my being was starting to feel like it was going to explode.
So the entire thing felt...weird to say the least. My entire body felt like it was going through a massive evolutionary jump from where I stood, my body shifting to accommodate the new changes. So the changes I could actively feel was that I grew about a foot taller, I felt a third eye growing in my forehead, my fur felt like it was getting more thick and dense, my claws and teeth grew sharper and serrated, and an indescribable amount of pain as it felt like my body was actively making an exoskeleton, bone creaking as Spike could see what looked like a tribal bone armor formed underneath my fur, while a wolf skull helmet grew out of my head and fluttered ancient dire wolf shaman ornaments. "God...that fucking hurt…"
"Looks like it did yeah. Lost your boobs, but that's one of the few changeable things."
"Cause that makes sense, the Ultimate Den Mother loses her ability to be a Den Mother…" I grumbled while looking myself over.
"I don't think you lost it, more it just changed how it works." Spike said. "We don't know a lot about how the Ultimate Race works. And yes while Cript's version is human and yours a wolf they are actually classified as the same race."
"That's...weird." I said. "I thought this would have worked like Ben 10's ultimate alien forms. Where each was just a hyper evolved version of the race, not a completely new one."
"Well It's new to us anyway."
"Not to me." Spike and I turned around, the tiny Admin of Genetics, Asmith, walked into the room and up to us. "I haven't seen this race in years. An eternity actually." Asmith said as he stood before me.
"Hey Asmith." I said while raising my arm, only for a four inch blade shot out from my elbow on accident, the material looked similar to Dark Monofilament but...weirdly didn't feel like it. "Uh...sorry, don't know why that happened." I said sheepishly.
"It's fine. And I know why, I designed the race your body and Cript's now are. Ultimate Race, heh. They're real name is The Godhood Race, and with good reason. Only race born with the power to match an admin. Part of why I never actually gave them a World or even let them evolve into existence."
"So...why can Admins turn into them by going past their limit?" I inquired.
"Frankly I'm as confused on that as you are. I can only assume the lack of a limiter Cript, and now you have achieved, triggered the transformation. But this is good, as this new body you now own is beyond anything of any other existing race."
"He's right." Symbi said. "This body and its functions are unbelievable."
"Hope it isn't too much for you Symbi." I said nervously. "But...now I'm as strong as I need to be or something?"
"That's the thing about the Godhood Race, they can always get stronger. Despite being one of their makers not even I know their full potential. But I can help you with what I do know."
"Anything can help." I said honestly. "But...why the third eye for starters."
"You haven't noticed? Take a good look around with all 'three'."
"If you insist…" I said while looking around with all three eyes of mine, wondering if there's a difference here.
It took me a while but I noticed something. I saw well above my normal field of view. Well above my, even somehow below me.
"Well….I can certainly see more things." I said honestly.
"A wider field of view-" I saw something falling towards me in the edge of above my filed of view. I grabbed the small rock. "Means a faster more noticable chance's to protect and counter incoming attacks. On top of that each eye can view in multiple different visions. Heat and cold vision. X-ray, inverted, night vision, all of them. Sense of smell, all of it, but, and this is something you might enjoy a bit more, how to best customize the Godhood Race. Their physical appearances are all largely the same in eyes and colors, but shape can be different."
"Cool." I said honestly. "Good to know I can keep my previous look...but the bone armor might need some getting used to." I said, even if the bone armor was fitted like a second skin it still needed some getting used to.
"The form is more adaptable than you'd think. Rather than the normal shapeshifting which completely alters your DNA into that of the desired form, the Godhood Race has all other species DNA within their complex networks. Many unlocked already by you and the others, it's more a matter of gene suppression and dominance. A feat admitibly harder but much more stable than typical shapeshifting."
"But King can't change certain aspects?" Spike asked.
"Correct. The color, three eyes and such can never be reversed, as for the exoskeleton skull, making wolf less dominant to shift your form to that of another's will remove it, but your bone density will remain the same. That Symbiote in your head, Symbi, I am sure if she herself also becomes her Godhood Race form can rapidly aquire a better and faster understanding of the body she resides in as hers will be the same."
"That could work. Sorry for the headache this will cause." Symbi said. She was right, that headache sucked. Five minutes though and I felt, everyone felt Symbie become a Godhood Race. "Hold crap this has way more features and abilities and everything than I was expecting! Good news with you and I working this it will be easier. For example King." I nearly got kicked back a bit as suddenly my boobs came back in like car air bags going off. Gone for a short while, but I missed the milk maker girls. "This is beyond amazing."
"I created them originally as soldiers for the Admin War, but my fellow life admins and I all decided that to create something living for war alone was to stain what we stood for, so the race never saw the light of day. But, perhaps their kind can see the light of day again, in you all." Asmith said.
"As they can now see the world in a view that isn't war and death." I said honestly. "But question, for Godhood, aren't they the ultimate of each race? Why do they reduce something that a race has, like Den Mother's and that whole thing?" I pointed out
"They were, originally, crafted for war. Something they still have use for but it shall not be their, your sole purpose. Hence why I pointed out to Symbi to turn herself into one. So it can be easier for the two of you, and most likely more to come. You, Symbi and Cript make three of all the shapes of the Godhood Race, I'd even argue that perhaps that race is the form we Admins should have taken. Perhaps, but that is for us each to decide. Now then, any more questions?"
"What's with the Dire Wolf tribal ornaments? I know these things are ancient just on their magic but I'm not sure how ancient." I said while softly touching the ornaments made of fur, bone and claws..
"Sadly, I don't know. We never brought them into existence, so we don't know what they would have developed. The only ones who would know are Diva and Vincent."
"Who's Diva?" I asked curiously.
"Vincent's other half, her first name and life. Diva and Vincent, the Admins of Life. Those days are so, so long ago."
"Well right now it's Connor and Dinky, and well...Cript already made sure none of Vincent's personality stayed in Connor, while Dinky is still fine." I said honestly. "But...should I bring up their past lives or no?"
"Another time. For now, it's time to really ensure the royal family you have created is the rulers and heroes all of creation needs. I shall speak to Cript about matters. Best get certain things over with sooner than later." Asmith said, taking leave.
"So… should I turn into a Godhood to properly teach you or?" Spike asked.
"Way ahead of you." Adam said, already a Godhood. They had wings, each half demonic half angelic, a broken Halo over their head and horns. Three eyes and ash grey skin like Cript and i, but also their eyes looked more like how a demons would/should, and they also had the classic devil tail.
“I’m not surprised you have a demon and angel motif.” I shrugged. “But I wonder…” I muttered while going into my skill tree, wondering if there was a new racial skill tree.
"Guess that's a yes. Well, this will be interesting." Spike said. His change wasn't all that much actually. His scales changed color, grew a foot taller, got the third eye, grew a fancy pair of wings, but other than that nothing too different. "Huh. Kinda underwhelming." Spike said.
“I mean, even if you're an Admin, True Dragon’s are still considered one of the strongest races in all of Existence.” I said simply. “How do you ‘Ultimate’ the second to third, give or take, race in all of Reality?”
"I know, but still." Spike said with a shrug. "So, ready?"
“Sure.” I said while stretching my arms. “Let’s get to it.” I said. ”God, John and the Foretellers are gonna fucking flip with how much we’ve changed…” I thought to myself worriedly, hoping those six were all okay due to all this crazy crap.
"Alright, so you know how to swing and hit properly as well as the basics of kicking, so now onto an actual fight. Against a monster mind you."
“Just what I was hoping for.” I said with a smile. “Time to also test out my new strength.”
"Great. Izzie, run combat simulation number 88, equil stat numbers." Spike said aloud.
"Yes Spike." Izzie said from seemingly everywhere in the room. The entire area was replaced by what seemed like a large open grass and dirt plain field. Before me spawned this Shadow Creature that looked like a six armed boxer. No head at all and was all muscle.
"That's called a Combo Shadow Creature. The simulation is rigged so it will be equivalent to you in stats and strength, so we can get a good view on what you can do." Spike said, giving me and this Combo space for the fight.
I cracked my knuckles and neck. “Well then, this is gonna be fun.” I said while getting into my fighting stance.
I charged at the Combo, it's many arms and fists impacting mine, the burn of pain from a challenge felt like a fine high. God I did miss a challenge. This thing hit hard but so was I. I was able to block most of the hits and counter others.
“Now this is a challenge!” I laughed, dodging a punch and throwing a snap kick into the Comob’s leg, just above the knee and hearing a solid ‘crack’. “Not some bullshit skill ceiling like in a Level Five dungeon, but something on par that can take hits as much as dish them out.” I laughed in glee.
As we hit each other, the both of us try to slaughter one another. I lost two teeth so far and grew them back and loved it. With a hearty swing I uppercut the monster into the air, jumping high into the air and spin kicking it back down to the ground. It died on impact.
“Woo!” I cheered happily. “That was fun.”
"Good job." Spike said. "I'd say you scored about an above average."
“Good enough start considering I don’t know how strong my body is now and also being a bit new to hand to hand combat...oh, Symbi, didn’t you say you could give me multiple arms or something?” I asked curiously, trying to remember what my Symbiote spouse could do.
"Yes and easy. " She said.
"Now that we have a good spot on you for hand to hand combat, let's do beastial combat."
“Now when you say ‘bestial’, do you mean in Feral form or less ‘precision’ and more ‘raw power’?” I asked curiously.
"Feral combat is different than bestial. We stay on two feet for one, but focus on using our feral qualities. Claws, teeth, tail for me."
“Sounds simple enough.” I said honestly. “Plus it’ll help me with these.” I said while showing the spikes coming out of my legs and elbows. “Though I do wonder what these are made out of, cause they look like Dark Monofilament but...not.”
"Huh… strange. Well, best way to test them out is by cutting something apart… you will like this. Izzie, Fun Combat Round number seven."
"Yes Spike." Izzie said.
The room changed again. Now it was a large and colorful funhouse type thing. And before me was a beast made of… various… delicious… plump meat in a tall bipedal form. "That is a Feast Beast. Have fun."
I was drooling at the delicious looking beast, before shaking my head. “Wait, I have it all to myself?”
"Yup. Settings are still set to equal you, and regenerates fast. So cut it, bite it. Eat it. Have fun."
“Yay!” I cheered while leaping towards the beast, my beastial urge to devour such a delicious looking animal taking over as I started to carve into the thing with reckless abandon.
As I used my claws, teeth and tail as best I can to carve it up and eat it up, it's body growing as fast as I cut it. My elbow sliced up parts of it too and My tail basically made what I hit into ground meat. All in all getting ahold of Beastial style combat was easy, my body felt natural when doing this.
“Hmm, this tastes so good.” I said happily.
After a While I got a real good hang on this beastial combat style, mixing in some normal types of hand to hand to make a few unique attacks. Just as I was about to bite this things ham-turkey-beef head off again it vanished as I was about to Chow down. Spike ended the fight and the room was blank and normal again. "Not bad at all. You pick up quick and hit a lot of lethal areas."
"Well I've learned a lot of Dire Wolf fighting over the years." I said honestly.
"Good. Let's spar and practice all that more then Adam can take over."
Day 2
Spike was a good teacher, and this whole thing was a good brother/sister bonding experience, as Spike made it clear he only saw me as a sister, mainly cause of my looks which I was fine with. Being a herm meant what comes out comes out, guy, girl, eh. "You really improved your reflexes a lot overnight." Spike said, he and I stretching after a four hour spar.
"I've always been a fast learner, even without copycat." I said honestly.
"Pretty sure I've taught you what I can. The rest you can find other teachers and review texts and videos like I did. So, Adam's turn."
"About time." Adam said, he and Spike swapping. Alright, time for the gauntlets.
“Alright, now for gauntlets.” I said while equipping my Nothingness Gauntlets.
"Hm. Not bad." Adam said, looking over my gauntlets. "Well made, potent energy."
“I got this a long time ago, and have made sure that they’ve stayed about the same upgrade wise as my other weapons but I haven’t used it...like at all.”
"I can see that. They are sickly clean and polished."
“No need to sound disappointed.” I frowned.
"I've fought with brass knuckles since I was five and gauntlets since I was seven, if they aren't stained with dents, scratches and blood, I take offense." Adam said.
“I’m sorry I haven’t had the time to use these things.” I frowned.
"Well, better late than never." Adam said, their arms flashing in fire as two bright glowing red gauntlets irradiating Hell's Heat. "Put em up."
I got into my fighting stance. “Alright, lets get it on.” I growled while dashing forward and throwing a lightning fast jab at his head.
They sidestepped it, delivering a hard slug to the gut. I got skirted back a good five feet… I can feel my breast milk boiling… ouch… that things heat is potent.
“Alright, so those things are hotter than I first thought…” I muttered while taking a deep breath, before rushing in again, this time weaving from side to side as I threw out a precise haymaker towards his jaw.
To my surprise they tanked the hit, jabbing up into my arm I hit them with, then uppercutting my jaw with their other gauntlet. I was knocked up and back two feet. "Sometimes taking a hit let's you dish out your own. Remember, tank hits and dish them out twice as hard."
“Sounds about right.” I said while rubbing my jaw. “So let’s try another thing…” I muttered while Nothingness Thorns softly wrapped around my gauntlets as I threw out three jabs, nothingness thorn’s shooting out from my Gauntlets and towards Adam like a bullet.
Two blocked with his own gauntlets and the third got his leg. "Not bad. Try mine." They hit the ground. Lava and fire cracking from the ground, at first none hit til the lava began exploding in molten shrapnel, lots of little bits burning through my clothes… damn it. Oh, fuse with Rarity, make the best and preferably indestructible outfits. Gonna get on that asap.
“Well, at least I came up with an idea during that.” I muttered. “So lava pillars...sounds about right given your gauntlets.” I said. “Let’s see…” I raised my fist and punched the ground, my Gauntlet pulsating as the ground slowly cracked before Nothingness Thorns burst from the ground and tried to skewer Adam.
As they got close Adam he slammed both his together, the shockwave disrupting them. "The best uses of gauntlets rely on their AoE attacks when range is required in combat."
“Right…” I muttered, sending out more Nothingness Thorns as a Feint as I bolted behind them, enough Thorns to hide which way I was going to come in for a right straight.
I managed to get in a clean hit but as I did Adam got me square on top of my head, the two of us hitting the ground hard. "Heh. Not bad at all."
“Still got a ways to go.” I said while getting up quickly. “Ow…”
Adam jumped up, clashing their gauntlets. "Let's try something different. Impact Damage. Know it?"
“I mean, besides what the name says?” I asked. “But what is Impact Damage? Cause it sounds like there’s more than just the obvious.”
"It is basically as the name says. Small point of impact with maximum damage. We charge up power in the swing and in the gauntlet and then we hit. Perfect for creating large-scale explosions and area of effect attacks. "
“Sounds about right.” I said simply. “So is that going to be the next thing I’m learning with these?”
"Yes. It's an easy to learn, borderline abusable move every gauntlet fighter with their teeth should know."
“Sounds about right.” I said simply.
"No best way to practice it than with a good, old fashioned mountain." Obliging without an order, the room spawned in a Mountain easily the size of MT Everest. "Deliver an Impact Damage hit to the base, the goal is to level the whole thing."
I thought about how I could do it, given that just a single full on punch isn’t really what Adam was looking for...but then I remembered something from Ruroni Kenshin. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that ability.” I muttered to myself as I raised my hand, softly knocking the stone and feeling how tough it was. “Alright...here goes nothing.” I said while I punched the base of the Mountain, Adam noticing my punch seemed a little light, before I clenched my fist and the entire Mountain was leveled and...quite a distance away from it. “Wow, that has a lot more kick to it.” I blinked in surprise.
"Not bad."
“I remembered this technique from an old Anime, the ‘Mastery of Two Layers’.” I said. “The main concept is that things have resistance in some way shape or form, so you effectively hit something twice with one attack to punch through all that ‘resistance’.” I explained.
"Cool. Speaking of resistance, show me your Shield."
“Um...I don’t think your talking about Frozen Pride here right?” I asked nervously, not entirely sure if he means my actual shield or something else.
"Yeah. This is also an important move to know."
“Alright.” I said while pulling out Frozen Pride. “Is this another armor piercing ability or is it how to get past a shield?”
"One of two ways, yes."
“Alright, so what do you need?” I asked, preparing for him to do something.
"I'm going to demonstrate a rather mama heavy use of bypassing shields. Phasing Punch."
“Nifty.” I said honestly.
"Ready?"
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I said while preparing to get punched as I held up Frozen Pride at the ready.
I saw Adam's gauntlet look almost ethereal as he swung it. It phased through Frozen Pride, my hand and punched me right in the boob hard. Hard enough to force out a good gallon of milk from it… ouch that made my nipple more sore than the punch...
“You punched me in the boob.” I frowned.
"Given your torso I can't punch your body anywhere torso wise without also hitting a boob." Adam countered.
“Still hurt…” I muttered. “So that’s a nifty ability, how much MP does it cost?”
"Half. Doesn't matter how much mo you have, always half."
“Damn.” I blinked. “That’s...quite a bit.”
"Yeah, sucks but eh. Next one takes no magic though, and I promise I will fix your Shield."
“You better.” I frowned while preparing myself for the attack.
Nodding, Adam punched, his gauntlet glowing with unfiltered power, and I felt a part of me die inside at hearing an audible crack…Only for Adam to stop his attack as his gauntlet fell off his arm in pieces, Frozen Pride unscratched. "That's one tough Shield… cause that attack has never failed before."
“Okay so...what the hell did you try to do? Just brute force it or something?” I inquired.
"Overclock Pierce. It breaks even dark Monofilament."
“Wow, so this is even stronger than Dark Monofilament huh? That’s incredible.” I said happily.
"Looks like I'll have to upgrade my gauntlets then. Well, that embarrassment aside, looks like you understand more than enough on hand to hand combat. Both armed and unarmed."
“Good to know.” I nodded. “Always a fast learner, but always glad to learn new things.”
"Well, you're good for now. Head off, go have fun, fuck someone, we're done here."
“Really? That’s it?” I asked curiously.
"Spike taught you hand to hand, using gauntlets is just a few steps up from that."
“Alright.” I nodded. “Thanks for the help, but I’ll need to look for others to learn more about hand to hand I suppose cause I know there’s a lot to it.”
"All sorts of styles and all that yes."
“So I’m gonna have to do some world traveling after this...like normal.” I shrugged.
"Have fun with that."
With time to kill I decided to have some fun and payed Heart a visit in their office. Show off the new look and all that. "Woah… that's different." Heart said.
“Yep.” I said while striking a pose. “If you felt a massive headache before, then that was Symbi going through a similar transformation.”
"Ah. So, care to talk while I do paperwork?
“Sure.” I said simply. “So, want me to start with what the hell I am?”
"First." Heart said, snapping their fingers as I felt magic flow over me. I was shrunk to the size of a Barbie doll and Heart used their tail to snugly tug me between their top cleavage. "Okay, go on." Heart said with a smile.
I chuckled. “Well to start, me, Symbi and Cript are all now a ‘Goodhood Race’, something Asmith made that rivals Admin’s in power...but the only thing that confuses all of us is how Admin’s turn into these after going beyond their limits…”
"Huh… that is weird. And there is no clear connection?"
“Not as far as Asmith said. And he created the race.” I said simply. “But all I know is that there is now physically no limit to my power...and yet it feels natural.”
"Cool. How's having three eyes feel?"
“Well I can see more things, and can see in many, many different ways.” I said honestly.
"Cool. Oh, by the way, Eclipsa is down there too. If she starts to blow you, just let it happen."
“I want a cuddle though…” I huffed. “Blowjobs are nice, but sometimes a wolf just want’s a cuddle.”
"Eh. Hence why I keep her in my bra. Sexy cuddles. Course she has starfish clones too so she does all her normal stuff too."
“Alright...I should spend time with Eclipsa sometime…” I said while resting in between Heart's breasts. “So I learned a bunch about hand to hand combat from Spike and Adam.”
"Cool. Who are they again? Late to joining this family and I don't know much of anyone."
“Spike is Lyra and Cript’s first adopted son, the one that Max...killed and then came back cause death legit means nothing half the time.” I said. “And Adam, the first Man, is the current ruler of Hell.”
"Ha." Heart laughed at the part about Adam.
“Yeah, it is kind of funny.” I shrugged.
"So, enjoy being tiny?"
“I mean, is it any different from when I’m normal size? I mean...sure I did grow an extra foot but eh.” I shrugged.
"Well you can't fit between my boobs when you are normal sized."
“You still shove my head between them every chance you get.” I pointed out. “But I think I should shrink down like...two feet, cause at the moment I’m like, nine, ten feet tall at this point.”
"True. That is a tad massive. Oh, and I spoke with Lyra, our little… daybut, is scheduled. People in attendance are expected to be close to a few… thousand. Course they think we will be shapeshifters, so you best get that new look of yours in the public eye so they don't suspect."
“Already on it.” I said honestly. “My new look might cause a few head scratches, but it shouldn’t be too bad.” I said sheepishly.
"People find you sexy regardless." Heart said, grabbing more papers. "So, excited your fantasy fetish is gonna happen in a few days?"
“Well...hope I don’t get too excited.” I said sheepishly.
"Heh. It's gonna get views live, live streamed, recorded and then sold in a video. DVD and digital. Gonna feel some dirty pride from that?"
“Whoever’s gonna be with me is probably not gonna be moving around for a while.” I said sheepishly.
"That will be yours truely." Heart said with a giggle that made their breasts and me jiggle a bit, making me sink deeper into their soft mounds. "I did promise after all."
“Well then have fun not slithering about for a day or two.” I said sheepishly.
"Oh I have a good resting place in mind, just make sure to give the girls and my throat equal attention you'll be given my cunt."
“Oh I’ll be making sure everything is filled.” I chuckled.
"Ooh~ some days I wish Floof Noodles had asses. Anyway, that aside, do anything else?"
“I tried out a Level 5 dungeon, it’s bullshit.” I said simply.
"You call a lot of things bullshit. Care to explain in a paragraph long rant?"
"Not really a paragraph." I shrugged. "The main problem about it is that level five is said to be challenging, not 'can barely get through the first room'." I frowned. "There's a difference between the two."
"You ever play a dark souls game?" Heart said with a chuckle, making me sink more between their breasts. "Or Flappy Bird?"
"I have, and neither of them are difficult, or unfair with what they are doing." I said simply.
"Now that is bullshit. At least the part about Flappy Bird. So, if you sink completely into my chest flesh, what ya gonna do?"
"Well I'm not going to." I said while starting to get out of Heart's cleavage. "But what's the point you're trying to make?"trying to make?” I asked curiously.
"No point. An offer though." Heart said, putting a finger to my head and pushing me back in a little. "Care to listen?"
“Alright.” I nodded. “What do you have to say?”
"Well, I have a strong feeling you'll be keeping a starfish clone at the porn studio to endlessly endulge, correct?"
“Maybe?” I thought. “Who knows.”
"Well, in keeping fairness I figured we can all endulge one another. As you know Eclipsa enjoys being the submissive pet, especially in a good mood like she is now, her date with Shy went great and they're going on another one later in the month. So, how's about you and Eclipsa can be my pets, and in the same boat Eclipsa and I can be yours, and I'm sure somewhere we will both be Eclipsa's while also enjoying all we can do with one another. Sound fair?"
“Even if I get off on being dominant...I’ve never been a fan of that cause...it feels degrading to me, either being the pet, or being the master and...I don’t fully know why.”
"I mean, in the end it's all roleplay, no different than our little teenage romances back on Earth. It's all about trust with roleplay. And sex, of course."
“I know I know.” I sighed out. “Just wanting you to know, alright?”
"Fair enough. And hey, we won't go too far for you to handle alright? The same better apply to me with your public sex thing. I better be Invisible and sound canceled to all but you if we do that throne room bit you fantasized about."
“Don’t worry, I won’t go too far.” I said with a raised hand.
"Until I'm ready at least~" Heart cooed, giving me a kiss that shoved me back between their breasts, this time all that was out was my head. "If you're willing, this can be your first submissive pet play role. Sit snugly between my breasts while I work."
“Fine fine.” I said while enjoying the soft furred breasts.
As Heart worked I enjoyed the soft, fluffy/fleshy embrace if their breasts, wrapping around my body like a blanket. Heart just read and signed or stamped away at documents as I began to doze off."
[He]
I woke up unsure when but still happily wrapped in Heart's boobies as they were still writing and stamping away at paperwork.
“Jeez, how much paperwork have you been doing?” I yawned.
"Pretty much endless. You've been out for about seven hours by the way. So, how's it feel being a bra stuffer pet?" Heart asked with a grin.
“It’s fluffy in here.” I said warmly.
"Warm too I hope."
“Yes it is.” I said happily.
"Now then, how did you sleep?"
“I slept wonderfully.” I said happily. “A good sleep after a hard day’s work.”
"Well send another out there for work and keep your sexy, tiny ass there and you can be relaxing all you want in what I consider the most comfy place in the multiverse."
“I mean, you should have a racial skill that let’s your fur act like it’s own demi-plane.” I said honestly.
"Probably, just lazy to check."
“I mean, you have a lot of things to check with your skill tree’s.” I said honestly.
"Likely. So, going to enjoy your stay in my breast fluff?"
“Of course.” I said with a smile.
"Need a drink?"
“Yes please.” I said politely.
Nodding, Heart magiced in an ice cold large cup of soda, placing it between their boobs in front of me and handing me the straw. "Enjoy." They said with a wink.
“Thank you.” I said while magicking a straw and drinking the cold soda.
"So how's the others?"
“Gonna need to be a little specific there.” I said honestly.
"Jenny, aunt Nancy… is she still my aunt?" Heart pondered. "Just the others in general. Or have you met anyone new in the family?"
“She’s technically a new person since she lost her old memories for new ones.” I said honestly. “Jenny’s doing fine, joked about me bending her over and dominating her cause of course she would.” I rolled my eyes. “So many people to meet and I haven’t finished meeting all of them…”
"Well… are you?"
“Am I what?” I asked, wondering what Heart meant.
"Are you gonna have sex with Jenny?"
“Um...maybe?” I said nervously. “I don’t know really.”
"Well, as her cousin, all I can say is it will likely be as awkward as it was for me with Eclipsa the first few days. Given from earth we were cousins."
“Sounds about right.” I shrugged. “But as long as it’s all consensual I suppose.”
"True. I mean hell, technically speaking I am both yours and Eclipsa's child and we fuck all the time."
“Yeah, that is true.” I shrugged.
"So, got any plans by the way? While prepping Eclipsa for her date with Shy the other day she mentioned the lower district has amazing smokehouses, lower meaning Underground, central means on the ground and upper means up in the air. God this kingdom is cool."
"It is. But I don't really have much planned. I still have to finish the Heroes Tomb with Coco, Kexez and Jericho, I have Kite's whole thing, and a whole lot more." I shrugged.
"Think you can squeeze in a date night with Eclipsa and I at a smokehouse then?"
“Sure, I can do that.” I said honestly.
"Great. This is gonna be a great date."
While a copy of me stayed with Heart and Eclipsa eternally in Heart's office as a mini bra pet, another me went into research about Shadow Drugs in my own office. In short I was hitting the same dead ends as everyone else.
“Jeez...even though I have eyes damn near everywhere, how do I know nothing the FBI doesn't already know?” I muttered with a frown.
All in all I can not find anything about it's point of origin, no known factories, no known anything, just the dealers all sharing the same proven story, the crates just appeared and that was that. “How the hell have they been doing this for so long without any leads?”
I was looking through the lists of all known dealers who actually sold what was given to them. One of the earliest were random terrorist and purest groups, but one, a human named Cameron Savves, had a history with Cript, the two having clashed from well before he was all powerful and these days Cameron occupies a cell in a prison called The Vault.
“Well...I should be able to go there…” I hummed while deciding to head off to the Vault to figure this shit out.
The Vault was two hundred miles underground, ready to blow at any escape attempts notice and guarded to the teeth..
“Well...this place is...something.” I said while I carefully moved over to the receptionist to see if I can talk to Cameron.
"Oh, hello there Royal King, how may I help you?" The receptionist asked.
“I’d like to see Cameron Savves please.” I said. “I have some questions I need to ask him.”
"Oh? Very well, I'll call a guard up to escort you."
“Thank you.” I nodded.
After a bit, a guard came and took me. Four elevator rides, nine security checks and fifteen ten foot thick locked doors later, we arrived at Cameron's cell. The man was thin, tall with a shaved head, sporting a prisoners orange jumpsuit behind bars and a wall of energy. "Been a while since I had a visitor. What's the occasion?" They asked, not even standing up from their small spring bed.
“You knowing something about Shadow Drugs is a good start.” I said simply.
"Shadow Drugs? I know they sell well, forty thousand rem an injector, got a killer side effect. What do you think you can pick out of me cops and Cript himself couldn't already?"
“I’m just curious as to how you obtained them. Because from what I heard they just magically appear out of thin air.” I said simply.
"They do. Went to bed in my hideout, woke up with a crate of them in the corner of my bedroom. There something familiar in that sentence?"
“It’s the same thing I heard, but I know you know something about them.” I said simply while turning to the guard. “What am I allowed to do to him if I may ask?”
"Nothing Royal King. Nothing goes in or out aside from his meals and the tray."
“Alright.” I said while looking at the convict and blinking, my eyes glowing green as I scanned him and his very code, looking into what this bastard truly knows.
I saw all the crimes he'd done and they all made me wanna kill him. Scanning his memories leading up to that day he sold some weapons and such to random buyers behind an alleyway. Looking at the crate when it appeared it was simple wood. When he opened it inside were the drugs and a note, typed and it said Sell. And he did, sold to many people… looking between who bought weapons and who bought the drugs, one face was the same person who bought both. An Equestrian.
“So who is this Equestrian that seemed to be one of your favorite buyers?” I asked curiously.
"Gonna be specific or am I gonna have to guess?"
“Someone that always bought your drugs and weapons, a very common buyer from what I can see.” I said honestly, also giving a quick description of the Equestrian.
"Heh. Don't know his name, just that he pays in cash always, like all my customers. Started off buying guns then bought an Injector, and mostly bought ammo after that."
“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Well I have the looks of the Equestrian, so now I can start going off of that.”
"Have fun with that."
“Don’t worry, I will.” I said simply while taking my leave.
Searching the databases of names and such, looking for the face that belongs to this equine was taking forever.
“Jesus hell it shouldn’t be taking this long, especially with the supercomputers we have…” I frowned.
The main thing that was taking so long was that this equine face seemed almost generic. As much as I would hate to admit this, if not for their unique colors and hairstyles Equestrian Equines would look a lot alike. "Find anything?" Ciel asked as he stepped into my office.
“Well, I’m trying to find literally the most generic Equestrian I have ever seen in my life because Cameron Savves apparently had a pretty frequent buyer of his, especially when he started selling Shadow Drugs.”
"Hm. Can I see the photo?"
I brought out the photo of the Equestrian in question to Ciel. “Know them?”
"Hmm. No, but I know why you can't ID them. See the nose area and lips? They're slightly fuzzy, and not in the means of hair. It's an image inducer, everyone from celebrities to people in witness protection use them for public outings to be undetected."
“Would have loved to know that before…” I grumbled.
"There is a way to bypass them, even from a photograph, but we need a TechnoMage."
“And where would they be?” I asked curiously.
"I know of one who works with the Grim Reapers, others do largely freelance work across the kingdom."
“Alright, so let’s go meet the one you know.” I said simply.
"If you insist. I'll send him a message to see when he can arrive." Ciel said, sending a message via assistant.
“It’s at least a lead.” I shrugged.
"True."
“Even if it’s just a buyer, the buyer was around Sevvas way too much for it to be a ‘regular’.”
"You believe him to be either the distributor or linked to him?"
“Either he’s linked to it, or he knows something about it, cause no random Equestrian would just have an image inducer, even if they were buying shit off the black market.” I said simply.
"True. They are expensive to buy. And as far as I know they don't get dropped in dungeons below level fives as a boss drop, so anyone aquereing one that way is unlikely… it might be hand made and if that is the case we may have a possible lead."
“Hooray for a lead.” I said happily.
"The key item in making the circuit boards in an image inducer is Kioltrian Crystals, and within the kingdom there are only four dungeons that drop it as an item. If we scan their entry data from over the years and before Cameron got the drugs we can see who has frequented them all as the crystal is a one in ten thousand drop chance and only from floor bosses."
“Perfect.” I nodded.
"I'll message dad about sending us access to the dungeon records."
“Alright, so we got stuff to do to figure out where these bastards are cool.”
Ciel and I got the records and began searching through them all for anyone who made very frequent trips. We had three suspects, all Equestrian. Sunburst, to my surprise, Holly Sunflower and Daisy Day.
“Well, that’s curious.” I said honestly. “Didn’t think it was one of these three…”
"You should never have expectations when it comes to the underworld. So, how should we go about this then?"
“Just visit them, nothing too special, just casually head into their work and I can do a quick scan of them. Simple.” I shrugged.
"I doubt that."
"Why do you say that?" I asked curiously.
"These people have gone through incredible leaps and bounds to not be detected, I doubt a scan of their code will be enough or even bear fruit if they are trying to keep hidden."
“I doubt they even know I can look into someone’s code.” I pointed out. “Plus, considering how things are, it’s now just ‘pick the liar’, two are innocent one is guilty. That’s why I said start off casual.”
"How? Royals like us can't exactly be casual around normal people, and citizens of the kingdom. And if one of them sees a pair of royals arrive at their doorstep they'd bolt. And from what I gather you can't hide in that form, can you? Or rather, shapeshift like normal in that form."
“The only thing that stays is the third eye and my new skull helm.” I said as I shapeshifted into a being that Ciel knew had three eyes. “I can shapeshift freely just as normal, and the race I chose to hide as has a history of shamanism, so the wolf skull with ornaments won’t be too out there.” I shrugged.
“If you insist. I will take an Image Inducer of my own.”
“Alright.” I nodded. “Well, let’s get going then...now which one should we see first?”
“Sunflower, she seems the lowest profile and from appearance she seems the least likely.”
“Alright, let’s go meet Sunflower.” I nodded.
Ciel and I went over to Sunflower’s house. She lived in a loft in a nice neighborhood. We knocked on her door, Ciel’s Image Inducer made him look like a blonde haired green eyed teen with tanned skin. "Alright, according to Izzie, Sunflower's daily routine should place her at home about now. We'll be fast and quick."
“Alright, fast and quick.” I nodded.
We knocked on the door, Sunflower was a pegasus mare, bright yellow hair with acorn brown body fur and. “Yes, may I help you two?”
“Hello.” I said politely, my eyes glowing green as I scanned over Sunflower. “I was told you were one of the two most well known Equestrian Herbalist’s am I correct?”
“... No, I’m a professional Adventurer. I kill monsters and sell the loot I don’t use or need. Mainly from dungeons.” She answered.
“Sorry, must have gotten the wrong address.” Ciel said.
My scan was done and we headed off.
“Kind of thought she would have been into plants given the name…” I muttered. “Equestrians all have names based on their special talent…”
“That’s Equestria, this is our Kingdom. For Equestrians they do still have Cutie Marks and special talents, but it’s not much related to their names anymore given the endless possibilities.”
“Alright, that’ll be a thing to figure out…” I sighed out. “But I got all her info, now to check if she’s clean or not…”
Reviewing all her memories and code, she was. Her trips to all those dungeons were for business. Requests for a weapon or item or just for fun and profit. So, onto Daisy Days.
“Alright, so Daisy is probably also an adventurer…” I muttered.
“It is a fairly common and easy to acquire job.” Ciel said. “Let’s get going.”
“Alright, hopefully we’ll figure this out soon…” I said worriedly.
Daisy Days lived in a house, blue paint and white fence. Two kids playing in the yard. “Don’t get sidetracked.” Ciel said as we walked up to the house.
“So we’re probably going to get side tracked.” I said.
“I mean the children. If she is the culprit, don’t let the kids deter you. Family or not, if she’s our target, don’t let her being a mother affect your choices here.”
I closed my eyes. “You’re making this a little too hard for me just on that alone…”
When the kids saw us they ran inside, Daisy Days walking to the door. “Hello? Who are you two if I may ask?”
I scanned Daisy quickly. “Hi, I’m going door to door sales person on King’s new book about Mothering.” I said while pulling out a book I did legitimately make. “All sorts of tips and tricks that you didn’t know were there to help with taking care of kids, no matter if it’s your first or god knows how many cause King lost count.” I said as that was the main tagline of my book
“Heh. No thanks, I’m good. Books are good but parents help way better. Are you selling anything else?”
“Actually we can ask you that.” Ciel stated. “We heard you are a professional Adventurer?”
“My husband and I, yeah. We swap every week or so. You looking for something?”
“Well what do you have?” I inquired curiously.
“My husband focuses on the big sellers, armors, potions and weapons. I grab those too but I focus on raw materials.”
“What kind of raw materials are we talking about?” I asked curiously, wondering what raw materials she found in her adventures as my scanning was closer to getting done.
“Basic stuff mostly. Iron ore, gold, copper, diamonds, the usual. Sometimes get a few rare things, that is where the money is for raw materials.”
“Well what are the rare items?” I asked, my scan complete now but just curious as to what she found.
“Rarest thing I ever found was Kioltrian Crystals. Those got me ten grand each.”
"Care if we buy one if you have them?" I asked curiously.
“Little late on that pal. My whole lot was bought by someone a year ago. Haven’t gotten to find another yet.”
“Did they give a name?” I asked curiously.
“I sold it online. Pretty sure I can find the address I shipped them too, might be able to hope they still have one to sell.”
“Alright, thank you.” I nodded. “Any information is welcome.”
The address we followed was that of an apartment building. We spoke to who was there and they were not who we needed. Records and their code say that the prior renter moved out months ago. We checked records of who rented the unit from before and got two people. Guess who was roommate number one… “So it looks like this Sunburst is our man.” Ciel said as we saw the same Sunburst on our to check list was one of the prior renters.
“Well...let’s just hope he won’t take this too hard.” I said nervously.
We headed to where Sunburst lived, in a loft in a small town area of the kingdom.
“Wonder how he’ll react to all of this…” I muttered.
"If he is our guy he'll run. If not then we are back to square one."
“But it’s at least something…” I muttered as I knocked on Sunburst’s front door.
There wasn't a response. Ciel and I gave each other a look. All I needed to do to unlock the door was touch it. Still being a living X-Blade and all. Inside I was startled to see Sunburst was dead, a single gunshot to his head with a note on printed paper saying 'No Loose Ends'.
"God damn it… we should have come here first." Ciel huffed.
“So about me making this a none issue.” I said while pulling out my Lexicon and Sage Staff. “Grand Resurrection.” I said as I casted a very powerful revive spell on Sunburst as his head wound started to patch up and Ciel literally saw Sunburst coming back to life.
As Sunburst's body moved his eyes… still looks lifeless. "I was worried as such." Ciel said, grabbing Sunburst by the jaw and examining his eyes. "His soul was taken, but not by a Grimm Reaper. But… the heart holds records too. Care to put Heart's powers to the test here?"
“Sure.” I said while focusing on using Heart’s powers. “Cause even if his soul is gone, his heart is still here, and also his code so I...don’t really know what they thought would happen here…” I said slowly.
"Hmm… either they don't know you are with me, or it's a trap of sorts?"
“You mean you aren’t fully expecting this to be a trap?” I asked curiously while starting to get his heart's memories as well as scanning his code cause, even though he’s dead, his code was still all there.
His memories of his death were corrupted, but his memories of getting those crystals were clear. He and his roommate seemed to have made them into the computer parts they are needed to make, then sold them online. Thankfully the address is nearby. Guess he just makes parts out of the raw materials.
“Well alright, our next lead is nearby actually.” I said honestly.
"Good. Lead the way."”
“Let’s hope they’re also fine…” I muttered while heading off to finding the next person quickly.
We got to them and they lead us elsewhere. And that led us elsewhere and repeat until we somehow looped back to Sunburst. I am not sure when or how that even happened but it was then we realized this trail leading in circles was the trap. We were back at square one with no leads.
"Well that was a waste of time." Ciel sighed, the two of us back at his place.
"Well, did you get any messages from your friend?" I asked curiously.
"Not yet. Sometimes it just takes time, but with luck he will send the news tomorrow. If anything we found hunt down a few black markets and take at least illegal weapons off the underworld markets for a while."
"Alright." I nodded. "Sorry for getting us caught in a loop...could have sworn it was something…"
"So, how does it feel, knowing that who we have been chasing made you Chase down your own tail without you realizing?"
"I'm going to torture this bastard for making us waste our time." I frowned.
"I'll join you."
To be continued...