The ride to Armageddon was going to be a fairly long one. We stocked up the ship and we're off. Even at three times light speed it was gonna take a few days.
My room was upgraded to accommodate my two… new additions.
"This ship is fascinating." Sweetie Bot said, looking out the window which only displayed a blur of black and colors.
"It's definitely impressive." Maid added as she sat on my room's new couch.
“Yeah, also I’m surprised how far away Armageddon is, three times the speed of light and we’re only a few days away?”
"It was one of the earliest planets created after this reality was made." Maid informed. "Not sure how or who made it. Or why, but it's one of the original first few hundred."
“Wow.” Button said in surprise. “But…well, someone had to decide ‘where’s the obvious death trap going to be?’ and then made it or something?”
"No idea. But, people have been terrified and fascinated by it since the beginning."
“Well…when it’s every end of the world scenario as it’s own planet I’d have to agree.” I nodded.
"So, what should we do while we wait to arrive?" Sweetie Bot asked.
"Well, where is Scootaborg?" Maud asked.
"She placed herself in the storage bay." Sweetie Bot said with a sigh.
“Uh…why?” I asked carefully. “There’s…no reason for her to be in the storage bay to begin with…right?”
"No, but her being a military model of robot, Greg's free will chip has a far less effect on her. She still believes herself a weapon and object."
“Curse you programming!” I said, raising my hoof and shaking it theatrically. “Well that sucks…anyway to change it or…will it have to be a thing until later?”
"Given her programming is far more protected and more advanced than my own, it will have to wait until we can find her OS/AI installer."
“Well…as far as I was told, Armageddon can give people great loot if you can live long enough.” I said honestly.
"And survive the natives." Maud added.
“Since I might as well ask, is that a term for the creatures there or do they actually live on that planet?” I asked.
"In this case, the prior." Maud stated. "They're a unique classification of monsters specific to Armageddon or other Apocalypse based locations. They range in type but the vast majority are smart, capable of learning, adapting and crafting as well as a special way of obtaining abilities."
“And they’re all bound to those places, how?” I inquired. “Like…are they only allowed to exist there or something?”
"Some spawn, some are born. Some have left Armageddon, either as a captured prize or by stealing a ship. Some of the worst are The Hunter Shadow Creatures."
“And those are?” I asked worriedly.
"You know about Shadow Creatures, well the Hunter class are humanoid, and extremely dangerous. They can enter dungeons and craft tools and weapons, armor and have a unique Ability to self heal repeatedly and replace lost limbs with special prosthetics. And if they get old enough, they can morph into a Shadow Lord."
“And at some point I still have to wonder why the monsters just haven’t overrun the place.” I frowned.
"Because not all the Natives get along. They're all in tribes or factions and rarely do they get along enough to trade let alone join forces. Often times they'll fight each other and adventurers."
"Hm. What is a Shadow Lord?" Sweetie Bot asked.
“I can only imagine that it’s some high end boss type being.” I said honestly.
"Kinda. You see, if a Shadow Hunter lives to be a certain age, they can undergo a transformation that merges them into the corpse of an Adventurer. When it's done they not only gain the person's looks, but also their abilities and their skill trees. Copying everything the person had and can get."
"I regret asking…" Sweetie Bot gulped.
“And they haven’t formed their own guild and tried to take over…why?” I asked nervously. “Cause I know it would have to take a long ass time, plus you’d have to kill an Adventurer, which both can be really unlikely…but still.”
"From what people have studied they mostly just act as leader/protectors of their own tribe. They don’t really do much aside from dealing with the deadly stuff that can attack their settlements.”
“Huh…alrighty then.” I nodded. “Is it weird that I legit thought they would form a Guild and support their tribes better? But…that might not be a good thing cause their extremely powerful monsters.”
“Do they settle in the safe zones too?” Sweetie asked.
“No, there are no safe zones on Armageddon.” Maud answered.
“... Well, guess I should have expected that.” Sweetie sighed, jumping onto the bed and collapsing.
“Goodie…” I sighed out. “Can this place become a Safe Zone if need be?”
“The Ship? To be honest I won’t be too surprised if it gets shot down upon entering the atmosphere.”
“Ah man, we spent good money on this thing.” Button frowned.
“Didn’t Echo gift this to you?” Sweetie Asked.
I frowned. “We still had to spend money to upgrade the place.” I said, trying to ignore the fact that I was gifted the ship in the first place.
We mostly tried to keep busy over the next few days. I mostly played games or spent time with Sweetie and Maud. Both date stuff and… other stuff. In the realm of dreams I spent some time with Cheat since that’s where they have a body. We haven’t done anything aside from some safe for work stuff since I still find their whole Big Sister of mine identity… awkward.
Finally though Armageddon was in sight and… sweet… gods…
The whole planet was a mess. On Fire, frozen, polluted, massive chunks missing or floating, flooded and barren. Dead and alive all at once. The moon and sun… I don’t think I can describe those either.
“Sweet Celestia’s ass…” I said in absolute shock.
“Given the amount of cake she eats…” Maud started, earning a laugh from most of us which helped calm the mood.
“We’re entering the atmosphere now.” Victor said as the planet got even closer. “Hopefully we don’t run into any Anarchists or Chaos Guilds while we do…”
“Both of those things would be extraordinarily bad…” I said carefully.
The landing started off smooth enough. Things seemed to be going well as the ground was in sight.
KABOOM!
The explosion knocked a hole in the side of the ship and shook us around hard.
“Shit!” I heard dad yell as the hole was sucking out air and us.
Another explosion and Cheat covered me as I fell out of the smoking ship and free fell down.
I woke up feeling… sore. Ouch…
“Okay…that happened.” I groaned. “Anybody around?” I called out carefully.
“Present…” Cheat answered weakly from the back of my head.
I looked around where I was. It looked like… a mall. Looking up I crashed from that hole in the roof into what looks like a plaza area.
“Well…at least you're still here..” I grumbled, getting up shakily. “Ugh, the hell happened?”
“My bet, some fucktards attacked us. No idea where the others are though…” Cheat seemed to grunt as I got up as well. Looking around some more I caught the whiff of… rot, mold, and dirt. No enemies on my mini map, that’s good…
“No enemies but this smell.” I wrinkled my nose at the rot and mold smell. “Alright…no safe zones, and in the middle of god knows where…oh boy.” I grumbled, starting to move around the area, trying to get my bearings on where the hell I am.
As I walked around and began to explore, I noticed there were a few signs of a battle here and there. Old gunshots, scorch marks and blade and claw marks were around but they were not fresh.
I gulped and continued on. Everything around me was so… aged, and broken and… oh sweet stars.
The next turn led into a hallway caked in flesh and bones broken and melted into the walls, floor and roof. What and whoever the people were before was unreasonable from the fire structure.
“Okay…what in the absolute fuck…” I said carefully, taking a step away from that weird flesh hallway.
I backed away until I bumped into the wall behind me, looking back and seeing the broken down door to the broken shop windows and door.
“Jeez…everything is not good…” I muttered, looking into the shop carefully.
It was a bookstore, it looked like. Old magazines, books and such scattered around old dusty shelves and the register counter.
I looked around, trying to avoid looking back at that… whatever that was outside. Hmm. 1001 used for barrels.
"Yeah I don't blame you for avoiding that… gore thing." Cheat said.
“I have no idea what that was…and I really don’t want to know.” I shuddered nervously.
"Ugh, ouch…" I turned, seeing Cheat mentally projecting/appearing next to me in their genderbent me form body. "Crap, that fall did a number on me. Even doing this sucks…"
“That bad huh?” I asked nervously. “That’s not good at all..”
"Tell me about it…" She groaned, a hoof phasing through a book. "I don't think I'll be up for armor duty for a while Button…"
“That’s gonna suck…” I said. “But at least I have my other skills.” I brought up, picking up an old book carefully and trying to read it’s contents.
I browsed through this for a while, pocketing a few things before I got out and walked back down where I came and away from the gore hallway.
Looking around this plaza and finding a map, the area next to the gore hallway leads to the west plaza and parking lot. To my right leads to the food court and mostly entertainment shops. And to my left is the south plaza dubbed ‘Clothing Isle’ on the map.
“No idea how long til we find the others. Best go find some food.” Cheat suggested.
“If there’s anything that’s actually consumable.” I said carefully.
“We can hope.” Cheat said as I sighed and headed down towards the food court. As we walked I spotted the first ruined restaurant. It was some italian place. Jumping over the counter and walking into the kitchen, I spotted a few plates of rotten and stale pasta. I found some bottles of cooking oil, uncooked pasta still in the boxes, and a can of pasta sauce. I took a pot to cook them in and hoped I’d find water.
The next restaurant was a burger place, at least I assume it is. The only thing I can see from the order sign is a large dirty burger on the screen. “If the electricity is still going in here, maybe the freezer meat is still good?” Cheat offered.
“Hopefully it does.” I said, hoping the freezer was still good as I walked towards the freezer. “Oh also…I should be letting out some power here and there…I don’t remember turning off my ability…”
“Loop requires you to be in a party, remember? Alone it’s unusable. And I don’t count as a party member as your symbiote, remember?” Cheat said.
“Oh, alrighty then.” I nodded. “I don’t think I was told that but that helps make sure I don’t blow up.”
“It also means any really nasty monsters come around we’re kinda screwed…” Cheat sighed as we walked into the back of this-
Crunch!
I froze, Cheat and I looking forewards as I spotted some lizard person, tail missing all it’s skin and chunks of muscle exposing bone, left arm missing as it rested crouched over a small pile of rats missing their guts and upper bodies. Their body was half rotten, missing skin, muscles and exposing insides.
Holy shit…
“Zombie.” Cheat said simply.
“Right…” I said carefully, setting my hooves on fire as I was ready to kill the thing quickly.
“Hold up, it’s a Reptilian, It’s bones and skin will be a lot harder than pony or human skin and bones. You might need those Power Hooves Mei made for you.”
“Oh yeah…” I nodded, quickly equipping my Power Hooves. “Now…I don’t know if these undead are only weak to slashing damage…but let’s hope for the best.”
I moved slowly, not wanting to make too much noise. Once I was close enough I turned around and bucked it with my real weapons. The fire damage plus the natural excess blunt damage they gave sent a loud CRACK through the room as it was sent into the nearby wall. Another loud crunch as it hit the wall and fell to the floor. It didn’t seem to be moving but I rushed back over and slammed it’s head with my front hoof. It’s skull caving in, covering my hoof in gore and blood.
I gagged, breathing deeply as I spat up a little bit of puke.
“You good?” Cheat asked.
“It smells like Sweetie Belle’s bad cooking!” I gagged. “Ugh, this is so gross…”
“Well, given where we are, it might become common for a while.” Cheat sighed. “Hmm…” They hummed as I put my power hooves away and started picking through the stuff.
The freezer was indeed working, but only a few patties were in here. There was a small box of apple juice in the back storeroom.
“Well…” I started. “At least Apple Juice is a thing…”
I stored that away with the rest and began heading to the next sight. “Hey Button, mind keeping an eye out for an Equine undead preferably?”
“What reason for an Equine undead specifically?” I inquired.
“Well, I need a body for us to… enjoy each other, and I can modify and heal something like that, change appearances and such so long as I… borrow some DNA from you before I leave and I will have myself a fun little puppet for fun.”
I took a moment to think about what she just said. “Uh…alright then.” I nodded. “I’ll look out for it…”
“Look, I know it’s weird but trust me, it will work and it’s better than buying a blank body. Things cost a small fortune. Yes, I checked.”
“Right then.” I nodded. “So let’s get you a body cause you are just straight horny.”
“Better than us rutting and I give birth through you.”
“That’s one thing I really don’t want to happen.” I said quickly.
“Good. Now, given that undead and the gore hallway… is this all undeads or is this… something worse…”
“I really hope that weird flesh hallway isn’t something worse.” I said nervously. “But…what’s worse if I may ask?”
“On this planet… anything…” Cheat said.
We headed on over to each restaurant. We Looted what was good and managed to clear out a few more zombies. Most were humanoid, and one was a dog but it wasn’t as bad as I feared. Eventually we arrived at our first media shop. It was full of broken TV’s and tossed DVD boxes. I spotted an enemy on my minimap and checking in the backroom, I spotted them. An Undead Pony mare. Whatever mane and tail she had was long gone, fallen off as their coat did, replaced by hide long since rotting and partly charred.
“Alright, just sneak up close enough to them and I can jump into them. Also, when I do sorry in advance for the feeling of dizziness you’ll feel.” Cheat said.
“Alright…” I said, carefully moving over to the zombie mare, hoping this won’t get too weird.
I got close enough to see more details of the undead figure than I would like. Suddenly A dark grey mass pooled from the tip of my muzzle and jumped into the undead mare. I backed up, spooked a little at that as suddenly the undead mare began to twitch and spasm.
I did indeed feel dizzy after that, almost like vertigo. I held myself up against the wall as Cheat’s armored body form suddenly covered the thing. They stood still for a while as the sounds of cracks, sloshing and popping echoed from inside.
“It will take a moment…” Cheat said, their voice thankfully sounded normal.
I sat there while the armored Cheat stood still for a while. Eventually though, a bit after that light headedness of their jump left me and Cheat’s armored form retreated into the body. What was before me was definitely not the same undead mare that Cheat jumped into. They looked, well, like Cheat. So a genderbent me… though, their mane and tail were different… They were the color of Mom’s coat. “Wow that feels weird, and different to be in complete control of a body.” She said, touching and poking at their new body. “Still, it worked, yes!”
“Nice.” I said honestly.
“Man I got worried when I jumped in, this body had some issues. At least it worked out, and hey, I can still and officially say I’m your big sister since this body is in their mid twenties.” She chuckled, succenly tackling me on my back. “So, what do you think about it, young stud muffin~” Cheat purred.
My body betrayed me immediately as Cheat felt something rise to the occasion. “Uh…you look great…” I said carefully, hating every moment that my body liked this.
“Heh, glad. The best part, check this!” Cheat said, kissing me as that same mass of dark grey that must be her true form flowed from the body and back into me.
Their body broke the kiss, staring at me blankly. It then sniffed me… what?
“See.” I looked up, seeing… Cheat? “I managed to fix their noggin enough to let them be smart enough to look for food and such without me needing to inhabit them. As mindless as a goldfish, but it’s enough to keep themselves alive for a while… though, might have to see if I can bathroom train them. Rather not have that be an issue later…”
The whole time Cheat spoke, their new, Goldfish level intelligence body just kept sniffing at my mane. Then it tried to eat my mane.
I immediately tried to push them off as I did not want my mane getting eaten. “No, my mane is not for eating.”
When I placed a hoof to the basically mindless body, Cheat jumped back in. “So, now that I have a body I can help out in fights more, and when I don’t need to use it, I jump back to you. Unless we can find other parts of my set, in which I can be both your armor and in this body.”
“Alright.” I nodded. “I’m surprised you didn’t also…just have at it.” I said sheepishly.
“Oh believe me, I’d love nothing more than to feel what’s between your legs inside every opening my new body has. But, this place isn’t exactly safe and frankly I’d rather not get attacked while in the middle of a reverse anal cowgirl.”
I blushed hard at that, but nodded. Cheat does have a point. Can’t really fool around when something around the corner is trying to kill you.
“True…” I said carefully. “But you feeling better after our impromptu landing?”
“Yes and no. Taking over this body and such took some of what I was healing back up to back out of me, but it’s not as bad as I was worried about. I can move at least, and help search now! Even better, if I get an assistant on this body I can count as a part member for Loop to work.” Cheat said with a grin. “Till then, I best find myself some bags and a weapon.”
“That would be for the best.” I nodded in agreement. “Better to make sure you're not defenseless, even if you might have undead traits.”
“Nope. Those got erased in the conversion. Think… caterpillar becoming a butterfly for reference.” Cheat said as we got back to it. Sadly this end of the mall ended in a dead end. So we walked back, heading down towards the ‘Clothing Isle’ and hoping for something. Majority of these places are untouched. Clothes still in the displays and majority of windows unsmashed.
We did manage to find a saddle bag for Cheat, and the ‘Mall Jail’ was also here.
Entering this room, Cheat and I were greeted with a humanoid skeleton at the main desk, and an old taser and baton on the table. The taser was dead, but Cheat kept the baton. “Ah, my first weapon. Only slightly disappointing.” She chuckled.
“It could be worse.” I shrugged. “At least it’s something solid and still usable.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. With nothing else at the end of this part of the mall aside from a few more Zombies we headed towards the center plaza. “Well, looks like the only way out of this place is through that Gore Hallway. Map says it leads to the parking lot.” Cheat said, tapping that part from the map.
“Goodie…” I sighed out. “Well…let’s hope it’s not alive.”
“Given what we’ve been encountering so far, maybe Alive isn’t even the right word…” Cheat muttered as we headed back towards the Gore Hallway. We stood at the entrance to it. The Exit was far towards the back, but it was clear and visible. WIth a deep breath, trying not to smell the stench, we walked through. The gore squishing and crunching underhoof as we walked through.
It felt like way longer than it was, but we finally reached the exit doors and walked outside. The sunlight almost felt blinding. The sun seemed to pulsate, as it was beating like a heart in the sky as a red tint filled the air. Looking around, the Gore continued on along the parking lot, covering cars, bikes and the like for a while.
“Shit…” Cheat said as we continued through the parking lot, reaching the road and finally stepping on non-gore covered ground. “That… I can’t tell if that was part of how it spawned or if… that was made…”
“I’m concerned that the sun has something to do with it.” I said nervously.
"Well, either way we shouldn't stay in the open. I'd rather not find out what makes a mess that big…" Cheat said as we hurried down the road towards what looked like a city.
"Please let there be at least a settlement of some kind…" I muttered, hoping that things might possibly be better than whatever the hell that was.
I was sadly proven wrong. When we got to the city proper there was a lot more of those undead around and gore structures built along and inside some alley ways, parts of the road and inside the lower parts of some buildings.
The only thing that seemed helpful was a large painted message higher up a tall building.
'Safety in Height!' and 'Beware The Night!'
"I guess we should get up high before it gets dark…" Cheat said as she looked out at the sun as it was reaching the mid afternoon mark.
"Yeah, hopefully there's someone around here that isn't an undead or whatever those weird gore bits are…" I said carefully.
We quickly took shelter in an almost abandoned apartment building. The place already had some makeshift barricades and only a few undead were in here. We quickly fortified a room, cleared out the undead inside the floor we were gonna be on and more or less waited.
"Maybe you can try calling the others on your Assistant?" Cheat asked.
"That's if this world doesn't jam all communications…" I said, bringing up my Assistant and trying to call the others. "Or if bigger things won't hunt us by the signal…"
Sadly, all I got when calling them was silence. Not even dial tone or anything.
"Well, guess nothing on this planet is easy…" Cheat groaned as she flopped onto our makeshift bed of couch cushions and pillows.
"Damn it…" I growled. "Great...so we should hold up here for tonight then try to explore more tomorrow…" I said, trying to think of what to do next.
"I guess that is our best and only option. Giving the giant warning sign saying to avoid the ground and night I sure as shit Don't wanna find out why."
"Neither do I…" I said carefully. "And here I thought this would have been simple…"
"Heh. I guess we forgot that this planet is a Mother Forsaken deathtrap…" Cheat said with a weak chuckle as we watched the last bit of daylight fade.
The moment it did and total darkness consumed the outside, there was a choir of wet, demonic roars that signaled into the night that the roar's owners were out and hunting.
I felt a primal fear in my gut as I heard it. Cheat too as we kept close to one another, the roars dying down quickly but the fear still hung in the air heavily. "I hope the others are at least safer than this…" Cheat said in a low voice.
“This sucks…” I muttered, holding Cheat closely as I felt scared for whatever the hell was down there.
We didn't get much sleep that night. We tried to stay at least half awake or take a shift each but to no avail. We awoke tiredly to the morning sun.
Rubbing the gunk from our eyes we looked out the windows, seeing everything was largely the same and it seemed whatever made that roar last night was gone already. Must not do well in the sunlight.
We ate a quick breakfast of canned corn each before heading up to the roof and looking around. It was here we discovered that someone broke windows and left ramps to run and jump along the rooftops to avoid the rather occupied ground roads.
"Yeesh, now I wish Tiara was here...unless…" Cheat said, an idea seemingly coming to her mind.
“What up?” I inquired. “What idea do you have?”
"I have a few ideas. They would be easier if I had an Assistant but I can make due without one." Cheat stated. "Firstly, I might be able to mutate my body to give myself wings and I can fly us over, but without… prior Pegasus DNA I'd be making myself a massive fucking chicken."
“So we’re going to have to find a pegasus or a winged zombie and you have to…eat them or something?” I asked.
"... Basically, but the alternative is we try and make these jumps as is or maybe I can augment and assimilate this body into you temporarily to give us some advantage. I have never done either option before though. So I don't know what I'll be doing."
“Well this sucks…’ I frowned. “Too many unknowns…wish we had more practice beforehand…”
"Tell me about it. As is, I wasn't even sure if making myself this body would work properly. It's just something another symbiote in the realm of dreams told me we can do and I figured it would help… out." Cheat said, a small blush hitting her cheeks. "In any case, maybe if we get a long and good galloping head start with the ramp, we can make it to the next building."
“Hopefully.” I said. “Should be simple enough if we can find a ramp…and also I’ll think about that…bit later.” I blushed, thinking about what she meant with all that.
"Well, there's planks around here. With luck we can jump from them to the broken window there in the next building." Cheat said.
We quickly make the ramp, a simple wood plank elevated slightly by the edge of the building.
Despite my insisting, Cheat went first. She galloped fast, leaping at the ramps edge and managing to soar clear into the broken window. "Owe!" She yelled.
“You okay!?” I called out worriedly.
"Fine! Just crashed head first into one tough coffee table." She replied, walking back over to the window, a hoof rubbing her head. "Whatever wood that's made of is better bareacade than the fridge they put by the door in here."
“Alright, I’m coming, so careful about me.” I said, taking a few steps back and running up the ramp and leaping through the air.
All went well till I reached the window, feeling my rear left leg bump the frame as I crash landed on my side in said rather hard coffee table. Ouch…
"You okay?!" Cheat asked as she looked me over.
“Stupid coffee table…” I grumbled, getting up carefully. “Ow…”
With a snort of a laugh she helped me up, the soreness would longer but I'll live. "Well, looks like another apartment building." Cheat said as we looked around some. It was a rather trashed living room with little in terms of items left. "Think we should scavenge what we can before moving on? At this rate I do not know how long it will take till we find more people. Hopefully friendly people."
“That would be great if we can find some other living being here that won’t try to murder us.” I nodded in agreement.
This apartment unit didn't have much. Nothing food wise but the bathroom had a small bottle of over the counter pain meds of which I took two for my soreness. Cheat did as well for her head.
Moving the fridge that was barricading the door was a bit tough but once we did we found the hallway thankfully empty as well. I didn't smell rot or blood, just dust and some mold.
We started with the apartment unit in front of the one we arrived in through and after some trial and error, broke the door down. Inside this unit was more well kept, but still abandoned unit where it looks like the prior owners, if there ever were, just up and left.
We began going through the kitchen first and I smiled at seeing lots of canned goods in here.
“Thank lord there’s a lot of supplies.” I sighed out.
"About time this place threw us a bone." Cheat nodded in agreement as she helped me store most of this in my Assistant and some in her saddle bags. The bathroom just had some basic items. Tooth paste, spare brushes we took and used. I haven't brushed in a day and technically Cheat never has. A few more meds, mostly over the counter stuff and some bandages which we took it all. The bedrooms were empty. One master bedroom and one second bedroom.
"Ya know, were it not for the location this unit would be quite lovely, what do you think?" Cheat asked as she chuckled, sounding like a potential renter for the place.
“Yeah, this would be a pretty nice place to live in if it wasn’t in some weird zombie apocalypse area…” I said honestly.
"Bet that the cost of rent is next to nothing." She added with a laugh, jumping onto the master bedrooms bed. She sighed as she tossed around on the rather comfy looking bed before poking her head out, half covered by the blanket. "Well, are you just gonna watch or are you going to join me in here~"
I smiled, happily closing and locking this bedroom door just in case as I jumped in with her.
It's been a month since we crashed here and still no sign of the others. No calls still and not a single sign of another non undead being in this fucking city.
Cheat and I spend our time mostly just trying to pass it by. Cheat and I managed to well fortify the lobby and main entrances and exits of this and the building next door, scavenging all that was useful from them til we had enough food for a good while if we ration properly. Water wasn't an issue thankfully as the pipes still work.
Mostly now to kill time we watch whatever movies we found while scavenging these two buildings and keep it on a low volume. Day or night. If not that we're reading or making use of one of the several hundred beds we have access to for more physical fun. We do that one often.
"Is it weird that… this is kinda nice?" Cheat asked me, leaned against my barrel on the couch as some random movie we played went on but we weren't really watching.
“Yeah…this is really nice.” I said softly, nuzzling Cheat softly.
"I still can't believe it's been a month. Just us is fun but I'm pretty worried. We can't be the only two in this city, right?"
“Yeah…there has to be someone else here.” I said honestly.
"Maybe we should put up signs or… something." She sighed. "Sucks that we can't even go to the Realm of Dreams while we're here."
I nodded. That discovery came our second night here. We slept better In this unit, more building and more soundproofing around us, and not once since then did we go to the realm of sleep, just… dreamless sleep.
“Yeah…this sucks majorly…” I sighed out. “But…maybe I can throw a fireball up in the air every now and then?”
"We'll need something more noticeable. Both from the sky and from the ground and other rooftops… and I think I know what." Cheat said with a smirk.
It took a bit but we eventually managed to paint 'Safe Here' along the roofs of two buildings we made safe. And with some doing, makaged to use a ladder and some pipes to fly flags with my Cutie Mark painted on them from up there.
With that done we went back inside. It was almost night again.
I saw the monsters that make the roars every night once. It's an image that still haunts me thinking about it. So deformed and mutilated, bodies twisted into a shape that was built to hunt and kill.
I shook the memory away as Cheat and I prepared for the night, checking the barricades, locking our main unit's door, barricading that then the same to the bedroom door.
“Sooner or later we have to try and fight…one of those things.” I said carefully. “We can’t just hide in here forever…”
"You've seen how fast they move. We don't even know what they are since they are never still enough for Scan to read them." Cheat reminded me as I climbed into bed and grabbed around her barrel. "Plus, we don't have much in regards to weapons or fire power. With luck the flags and rooftop signs will bring something good to us."
“Hopefully.” I nodded. “Also surprised that not even some of the…dangerous groups aren’t trying to get here.”
"Odds are they have their bases in the 'safest' Apocalypse locations on this planet." Cheat huffed. "I'm just hoping they're taking so long to fix the ship and all that. It did take some bad hits and after we fell out I don't know if it was hit again."
“Would be best if it didn’t.” I admitted. “Sadly we haven’t really fought against the zombies, at least we could get stronger from them right?”
"I guess. We can clear out more buildings, gather more stuff for the long run and with luck find weapons and maybe figure out where those Night Monsters hide in the day." Cheat said. "Might get lucky and find me an Assistant to use and then we can really start making progress."
“Oh yeah, cause when we get Loop started, it’s all downhill for those monsters.” I said with a smile.
"Hopefully." Cheat added with a chuckle. "Now, hurry up, you know how I like it before bed~"
The next morning came like any other. I started some coffee for us while Cheat went over our supplies. We are so used to the general silence of this place, that we about jumped when we heard the faint thuds of… footsteps?
We both turned to one another than up to the ceiling. We were on the top floor, all that was above us was the roof.
“That’s either a good thing…or a massively bad thing.” I muttered worriedly.
"... Well, nothing has blown up yet… so, hopefully it's good."
With that, Cheat and I headed up to the roof. Slowly we opened the door and we spotted them. They were a human it seemed, seated on the buildings edge, dressed in some all black armor. A helmet sat next to them, letting us see the back of their head which was covered in unkept blond hair.
"Uh...hello?" I asked carefully.
They turned around. Their skin was a bit pale and their eyes were emerald green. "So, this is your flag?" He asked, pointing a thumb at the flag.
"Um, yes. We haven't seen… anyone other than the undead in a month…" Cheat spoke up.
"Sounds about right." He said with a nod. He spun to face us, still sitting on the edge. "So, who are you two?"
"I'm Button Mash and this is Cheat Code." I said carefully. "Who are you?"
"Parker. I take it you two didn't arrive here as expected?"
“We got shot down from our ship by some asshole.” I answered. “And we haven’t been able to contact our group and…well we’ve been hiding from whatever the hell those weird night creatures are.”
"Volitials." He said. "Nasty fuckers, but they hate UV lights. Natural and artificial. And yeah, that sounds like a typical Armageddon welcoming committee."
“So how’d you get here?” I asked. “Just hanging out or did you get shot down as well?”
"I live here. Well, not here here. I live on Armageddon. I travel it and explore all the different doomsday locations."
“That’s a…rather interesting choice of work.” I said honestly. “Must have seen a whole lot of bad things around here if you live and explore it.”
"Lots." He said with a nod. "As for the lack of communication, this whole section territory has scramblers in the atmosphere. Unless you can get to a really high up transceiver tower, nothing gets in or out of this place communication wise."
“So that’s why.” I said. “Also that’s bullshit…as far as I know there isn’t a place high enough for that, or a transceiver tower that high…”
"Not around here." Parker said with a shrug. "Closest one you might get a shotty reception at is a couple thousand mile drive east, and a long boat ride."
“Damn it…” I grumbled. “But…it’s at least a start to be honest.”
"It's a distance though and I'm guessing this Antenna is not easily reached?" Cheat asked.
"It's about as hard to reach as you'd guess. Plus a few Natives seem to be making a new tribe there." Parker stated.
“Cause nothing can be simple now can it?” I grumbled. “What’s the kind of Natives around that Antenna?”
"You can try and make one." Parker added. "Will take a lot of smaller Antennas and transmitters hooked up to send out a signal. And a while to put together, but it's doable."
"Well, how long?" Cheat asked.
"If you scavenge well and loot every place with the right equipment, and wait for the bi monthly respawns… maybe a year?"
“And…how long would it take to meet certain death at the hands of a Native tribe?” I asked carefully. “Oh and uh…also, is death…permanent here? I don’t think I asked that before…”
"No, but respawns are changed. Normally when you die you respawn where you last slept, but on this planet, you respawn in a random location."
“Goodie…” I sighed out. “Cheat? What do you think?”
"Honestly, I'd rather take the year approach. If we get split up then we might never find the others." Cheat stated.
“Yeah…I’d rather not get separated again.” I nodded in agreement. “Now…how the hell do we make an Antenna strong enough for this?”
"I could help. For a price." Parker stated plainly.
"How much?" I asked nervously, not sure if we'd have the money even after our trip finished here.
"Simple. I can tell what you'll all need to stay alive in this place. These fortifications are good but should something worse make its way here they won't hold."
"So, what, you'll sell us stuff to help?" Cheat asked.
"You're gonna be here for a while. You'll also need a teacher. Lucky for you both, I have nothing better to do with my time and a fair amount of stuff I don't use."
"And aside from money, what do you get out of it?"
"Not so much me, more what all travelers on Armageddon need more of. There's no safe zones here. People can make settlements and camps but when out in the harsh world this is a nice place to spend the night without worrying about something that's trying to kill you."
"Ah, so we help build safe shelters for travelers, a win for everyone."
"Yes. So, deal?"
“Well...sure." I shrugged. "If it'll help everyone...just wish there was a 'safe zone' item to make certain places Safe Zones."
“Closest thing to that would be various barrier and fortification items, but not real Safe Zone maker to speak of really.” Parker stated.
“Well that both sucks and…maybe doesn’t make sense.” I said carefully. “I mean sure, portable Safe Zones might break something or another but…not even allowing a simple tent to be a Safe Zone sounds weird.”
“That’s Armageddon. If you want fair, go to another planet.” Parker stated simply. He pulled out a few items from his Assistant. A large piece of cloth then put various items on top of it. One being a book of maps of the area. Another being a book of sewer and subway lines. A package of medicines and potions. Various bladed weapons, a few guns, surprisingly ment for ponies, and bullets as well as some other odd items. “Here, consider this on the house.” Parker said, handing me a small notebook with the title ‘Harran Zones Guide Book’.
"Thank you, this means so much to us." Button said happily. "This'll help us so much through the year."
“Definitely. So… how much are these things?” Cheat asked.
“For the medicine and potions, a thousand rem. Weapons vary from six hundred rem to a hundred. Guns are two thousand rem. Ammo is two hundred rem per box. And all these odds and ends range from twenty to two hundred rem depending.”
“Sounds kind of steep.”
“Maybe, but have you looted the ones you killed?”
“Well… no?”
“Check their pockets. Trust me. It’s in the book.”
"The one thing a gamer should always do...and I haven't…" I sighed out. "Damn it...well we're going to fix that, and well at least try to pay you back in some way cause...that's a lot of rem in gear you're giving us."
“Oh no, the guide book is free, this stuff is for sale.” He corrected me. “But, lessons for dealing with the shit out there are on the house.”
"Woops…" I said carefully. "Sorry just uh...been a month without anyone alive besides Cheat here." I said sheepishly, taking the book.
“You said that. In any case, take what you can afford and I’ll be back every day at first light for trading and if you need it, teach.”
Cheat and I had a grand total of twelve thousand rem. We bought the medicine kit, and some melee weapons. A metal hammer for Cheat and the same for me, leaving us with a little over ten thousand rem. After that was done, Parker left off, somehow racing across the rooftops and climbing everything like some kind of monkey.
“Damn.” Cheat said as we watched him run and jump across the rooftops well out of sight.
“Wish we were that agile…” I started…but then remembered. “Wait, do I have some skill points left?” I muttered, looking at my Skill tree real quick, as I know because of Cheat I started doing a Rage style build, but wondering if I could do something to help support my less than agile form.
“I think you had a few?” Cheat said as I browsed through my Abilities.
I had three still. I began browsing through Agility based skills, finding one that looked very useful. Double Jump.
“Oh thank lord, Double Jump is a skill.” I sighed out happily as I took that ability real quick. “Alright, double jump…now if memory serves that would only take one skill point right?”
Thankfully it did, so I browsed through and found another one that took the last two. Jump Point. I can basically launch myself from walls and edges to gain a major boost for speed and height.
“Fantastic.” I said happily. “Gonna make navigating this place a hell of a lot easier.” I nodded.
“That will definitely help.” Cheat nodded. “So, what’s in that notebook then?”
I picked up said notebook and opened it up.
Apparently, this Harran Virus that makes these undead is transferred only through bites.
“Alright…so how good are you with dealing with zombie virus’s?” I asked carefully.
“Well, I ate the one in the zombie I took over so, I think so long as I digest them I should be fine? I know that sounds weird but Symbiote Biology is really weird.” Cheat said with a shrug.
Okay. Let’s see. The bites while not immediate will turn the infected over time. It starts with seizures and cardio vascular episodes and vivid hallucinations right before the transformation is complete. These can be put off with a treatment known as Antizin. It suppresses the symptoms and holds back the transformation. This medicine is most often found in hospitals, military outposts and in Quarantine Buildings. If you find an item known as the Supply Drop Radio there’s a small chance a box of the medicine will be among the items.
Additionally one can make a cure of use certain magics to remove the virus entirely. The easier alternative is to respawn and ensure the former body can’t resurrect. Yeesh.
“Well, it makes it painful to transform then…” Cheat said as we read along the notebook.
“Yeah…” I said carefully. “But…maybe Symbiotes can cure the disease? Cause you were able to get rid of the disease since you said you were no longer an Undead subclass right?”
“Yes but like I said, I had to digest the whole body to do that. I don’t know if I can target it from inside you. Plus I’d rather not have to digest your whole body just to rebuild you.”
I nodded. That sounded… painful.
The next thing the notebook was talking about was the infected. There are three primary categories. Standard infected which are the slow moving droning ones. Second are called ‘Recently Infected’ and are also classified as Volitials. They are faster, stronger and can climb, jump and run as good as they did when alive as well as dodge and use basic weapons. Lastly are the Mutated Volitials. These vary from type to type and all but one type can roam the daylight. The Night time bound ones are called Nightmares. These Volatiles are faster, stronger and far more aggressive than the other variants. They hunt by sight and sound but they hear far better than they see. The only true way to suppress them is to utilize UV lights to form a barrier they can not enter as UV lights seem cause them extreme sunburns. This is why they only come out at night as Sunlight is lethal if they can not enter a dark place after five minutes.
More common volatiles are the special infected such as the Bruit, Frog, and… Child. Each has their own unique attack ability and are typically more difficult to dispatch of.
Headshots are the easiest means to kill them however the infected are extremely drawn to loud noises. They will swarm a source of noise rapidly. However this can be used to your advantage as the majority of common infected are easily distracted and will even lose interest in their target if there is a source of loud noise to distract them. This can be utilized to craft traps and clear paths.
“Right then…looks like my plan on grinding won’t be a good idea.” I said nervously.
“But we can.” Cheat said. “It says they’re attracted to loud noises. We can use that to lure some into a spot then maybe set them on fire or crush them to death and loot what they drop.”
“Yeah, that was one of the ways, the other was me going full rage mode and beating the shit out of a lot of them cause Rage Skills are…really strong when you combine them together.”
“True, but we’ll save that for these… really beefy monsters the book mentions. That aside, let’s see what we can do now…”
"Alright, let's get some payback on these things." I said with a smile, ready to do some fighting after a month of hiding.
To start off we followed the books instructions to make better fortifications. We'd have to find where we can locate UV lights. Maybe a hardware store. We spent the rest of today hammering in window barricades along the first floor windows and planning on where to put these UV lights when we get them. It was hard work but I actually felt… good, doing it. Maybe it's my earth pony magic but the hard work felt nice.
When it was done we were browsing through the notebook again. There was a recipe for making something called firecrackers. Basically like the fireworks you buy but made from simple household items. These are short lived but good at distracting the undead.
“Alright…so what do we need for firecrackers?” I muttered, looking at the recipe carefully to see if we already had the items.
The recipe was fairly simple. Duct tape, string, finely ground flour or baking soda. Apparently if ground finely enough and placed in a sealed off environment it can be a nice substitute for gunpowder. And some form of plastic to house it. If done right you light the string like a wick and once the flame goes inside the bottle it makes an audible pop. Doesn’t deal any real damage but if they are string together in a certain way they will go off just like actual Firecrackers.
I tried making a few, and made due with some old plastic bottles that were here already. They didn’t look the best but I tried them out when morning came, Lighting the string and tossing it away. The larger bottles didn’t go off as I wanted but the smaller ones did well enough, and a fair amount of the undead did walk along towards the source.
When Parker showed up again I decided to ask him some questions.
“Alright, so we got plenty of zombies corralled into one area…try to burn them all to death before they notice?”
“They rarely do. A simple Molotov should work well enough but use strong drinks, Whiskey, Vodka and the like. Regular beer won’t do much.” Parker said as below us in an alley way were ten or so undead. He stuffed a cloth into a still full whiskey bottle and lit it, then let it drop. The explosion of fire covered them rapidly. “Fire spells can burn them individually since a simple fire spell won’t cause too much noise. You can also use flammable fluids like Gasoline, lighter fluids, and pitch to set a trap for them. You should also make what’s known as a Light Trap for the dumb bastards.” He said as we stood over them. The smell was nasty, burning rotten meat…
“Ugh, the smell…” I groaned, waving a hoof in front of my face.
“Trust me, there’s worse stenches on this world.” He said, the last of the on fire ones burning out and falling over. We carefully made our way down. “Just touch them with the arm you got your assistant on.” He said as we stood over the burned husks.
"Alright." I nodded, gently tapping the body with my Assistant hoof.
Loot Obtained! 57 Rem.
"The stronger enemies of course drop more, but these ones only ever drop one item at a time and not always is it money."
"Fair enough." I nodded, starting to tap the other bodies to see what other loot I got.
In total I got 217 rem, a bottle of whiskey and some batteries. Not the best loot but useful.
"An important rule of thumb to remember is that everything has a use, so even if you don't need it or know how to use it, store it away."
"It's why you should always hold onto stuff, no matter how long you have to wait." I said honestly.
"Now then, do you know how to utilize the Assistant's built in crafting systems?"
"Kind of?" I said sheepishly. "Not really since I haven't had to really...craft stuff outside of now."
"Hm. Fair. Here, in your inventory section there will be a small side table that takes you to the crafting options. It's easier than by hand. Or hoof, in your case and with the right abilities you can double to triple the amount of items you get compared to the items needed. Abilities that do this are a necetfor people here on Armageddon."
I did as he told, surprised how little I could craft so far but then again I didn't have all that much in terms of items.
"That's pretty cool." I said honestly. "Gonna be great when I can start collecting a lot more things."
“It will definitely come in handy. I’d recommend investing in it a lot from now on.” Parker showed me a few more things after that, including a map of the area with marked locations of interest. “Of all the places on this map, the most useful is the Lone Baptist Hospital Ruins, the local Police Department, and the Quarantine Zone here set up by the lake. As you can guess the Hospital is a great place for medical supplies, and sometimes potions even, though those are fairly rare. The Police department will be a great weapons location, but there’s three Bruits guarding the parking lot around it. They’re huge, and carry clubs made from broken concrete and rebar. Lastly, the Lake Quarantine Zone has a lot of common infected but has medicine, weapons and there’s always at least one Supply Drop Radio that respawns with the other Bi-Monthly loot respawns.”
“Why does the loot restock Bi-Monthly?” Cheat asked.
“Dunno, but I do know that not every place respawns every two months. The better the loot, the longer the respawn wait.”
“Does that include our current base?”
“Yeah, but Armageddon seems to know when someone has a camp or settlement set up someplace. The stuff in the units you left vacant will respawn daily, but less than the normal amount and hidden around. Lot of people think it’s who or whatever runs Loot Spawn messing with them. I agree with that statement.”
"And whoever the hell runs the Loot Spawn to begin with cause I've heard it's just...a thing that happens?" I asked.
“Loot Spawn is where all the stuff that Dungeons and Hazard Zones give away to the adventurers comes from. It’s a physical place, but it’s also like an omnipresent ghost. Everywhere and unseen to all times until it restocks the items meant to be here or there. It’s why people around here when they’re Scavenging keep certain places marked for a point of reference. If there’s an item that spawns when the respawn happens, they’ll want to grab it fast. It’s part of why people keep revisiting dungeons. Free stuff and all you gotta do is kill monsters, not too many folks would argue against that philosophy.”
"Has anyone seen this ghost before?" I asked curiously. "Like just seeing some random store clerk putting loot back into chests or...just handing items to monsters that phase into them?"
That earned a chuckle from Parker. “Not that I've heard of, though I’d pay to see that happening.”
"So we'd have to stay up to see them stocking… neat." I nodded.
"Heh, you can try but I doubt you'll see anything. Oh, also not every place respawns it's loot at the same time. You'd best mark the days they do so you don't miss any opportunities."
"True." I nodded. "This got a whole lot more complicated…"
"One of the many sayings Armageddon embodies."
After that, Parker left and I did a few bits of undead killing and scavenging in one of the apartment buildings we haven't touched yet. There was a fair amount of food in this one.
"Well, now we've got this entire city at our mercy now that we know what we're doing." I said happily. "At least...during the day."
I got back to our base with more canned goods, two more packs of instant coffee, and various other odds and ends I hope to use for crafting.
Upon entering I spotted Cheat in the bathtub. "How was the outing?" She asked, soaking in soapy water up to her neck.
“Went pretty well.” I said honestly. “What did you do while I was out?”
"Mostly just kept checking the supplies, scouted the other empty units like Parker said for some small things that pop back. Nothing major, just some toilet paper and more canned foods. I was trying to think of someplace we can scavenge that might get us more useful stuff."
"Which Parker answered for us." I said. "He said we'd either have to go to the Hospital or the Quarantine Zone to find some really good supplies, also I figured out the full length of the Assistant as a Crafting Table."
"Impressive. Hmm… Well, we can probably scout out those places tomorrow and see which one would be the safest bet to start with." Cheat said with a nod, rubbing her temples.
"Something up?" I asked, wondering if she had a headache or something from her temple rubbing.
"Think I got a migraine. Which Is weird, but I've never had my own body before so it's just new to me." She sighed. "was hoping a warm bath might help.
"Have you been drinking enough?" I asked worriedly. "Have you done anything...can you control when you get pregnant?" I asked nervously, since protection was one thing we did not give a single flying buck about.
"What? You think I'm knocked up? Doesn't that start with morning sickness or whatever, not migraines?"
"I don't know…" I said nervously. "This is a first for me, and also because I don't know how symbiote pregnancies work…"
"Well, I mean… oh shit…" Cheat said, paleing now. "Well, if I am then… this body would be giving off those hormones in my urine so… I'd need to… test that."
"Uh…" I started. "Looks like I'm going to have to rush to the hospital then."
"No no! There was some here in a few of the other units bathrooms. I took a box… in case. Heh, given how often we've… I guess if I am, then we shouldn't be too surprised…"
"Maybe parker will know...a lot of things about this…" I said nervously. "At least about Symbiote...children and the like...oh Luna why did it have to happen here of all places?"
"Heh, to be fair we go at it daily, several times sometimes and in terms of protection, well I guess our luck was bound to run out when we kept at it after the… last of that supplies ran out…" Cheat chuckled, looking down. "This is… well, I guess if I am then… it's just an incentive to really build this place into a proper fortress huh?"
“Yes, yes it is.” I nodded. “And…yeah we really shouldn’t have been going at it like rabbits in heat…or at least use the…other hole…”
"Well, we did, but having nothing else much to do kinda… circled around back to… anyway, just um… mind stepping out so I can take that test privately?"
I nodded, leaving the bathroom and sitting in the living room, waiting. It's been just a few minutes but so far it's felt like hours.
Eventually, Cheat finally walked out of the bathroom.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked worriedly.
"Well… we best start scavenging for diapers…" Cheat said a bit weakly. "And soundproofing this place…"
“Oh no…” I muttered. “Wait…but if it’s half symbiote…wait, how would that even work?” I asked nervously.
"Well, for starters, it won't be half symbiote. It will be a pure pony. Half symbiotes only get conceived if the father is the symbiote and the mother is, well, the host. Yes this body is my host at the moment but you fertilized the egg, not me."
“Right…” I said carefully. “This is…really confusing…and really worrying.”
"No kidding…" Cheat sighed as she jumped to the couch next to me. "So… is it weird I expected you to knock up Maud first?"
“Yes but…I can understand where you’re coming from.” I said honestly.
"So… how should we go about this? We'll need specific supplies."
“Very specific supplies…” I said carefully. “Then there’s the…milker…” I blushed a bit at that thought. “This is gonna be a headache and a half…”
"I can nurse. They're gonna swell up anyway so why waste what biology provides?" Cheat stated. "Man, when the others find us and see this… I'm betting Maud and Sweetie will be a bit jealous. Your dad is probably gonna be shocked and happy."
“Oh yeah.” I nodded. “And…well…jeez can I not think lewd things about your swelling tits?” I grumbled, trying to keep my head on straight. “Everyone’s going to be shocked at this…but I’m at least happy about it…a terrible time, but still happy about it.”
"True. Well...guess we best start fortifying this place to hell and back starting tomorrow."
"You are gonna need some high grade fortifications to keep yourselves safe." Partner said. When he arrived the next day we told him the news, and his tone seemed to shift. He seemed more… concerned.
“Yes yes we know this is…not a good thing in our current situation.” I said carefully. “So now the better question is…will our baby be affected just by being conceived here?”
"Well, I don't know. Settlements and such exist here but rarely is someone born on Armageddon. I know I've never met anyone born here, but there's one rule almost everyone follows. Children are to be kept safe. In fact most children you do see here are from Prize Pods. Armageddon has an abnormally high spawn rate for the child sub-class."
“That’s…a little strange.” I said. “Maybe it’s to…save the lives of the next generation of the ends of the world scenarios here?”
"Maybe. That's one theory people have anyway." Parker said with a shrug. "Come on, I know a construction site near here. Bricks, rebar and concrete will help a long way in keeping the newborn safe til your friends can find you."
“That would be for the best.” I nodded. “And we still need to make that radio tower…thing’s just keep getting more complicated…”
"Welcome to Armageddon." Parker said with a grin. "Alright, you and I will head there and rush back. She stays."
"Why?" Cheat asked. "I know I'm pregnant but I'm not immobile."
"Because if you die on Armageddon, not only will you respawn, Mother knows where, you'll not be pregnant any more." I felt my blood run cold, and it looks like Chest's did too from our shared look. "Any other planet, you and your baby would be safe and respawn fine, but… not here. Not on this planet."
“So that’s why…” I muttered worriedly. “Alright, we have to hurry and get all the supplies.”
"And I will barricade myself in our apartment bedroom watching Friends on DVD… stay safe, alright?" Cheat asked as she gave me a kiss.
I kissed back and hugged her. “I will, and you stay safe, cause there’s no telling what’s gonna happen soon.”
With a nod and another quick kiss, Cheat headed back inside while I followed Parker along the rooftops. Double Jump and my other ability came in real handy maneuvering around and keeping up with Parker. By the time we arrived at the construction site, I was pretty tired. I've never really moved that much or that fast… ever.
“Okay…I really need to work on my cardio…” I panted, trying to catch my breath real quick.
"That would be smart." Parker nodded. We now stood on top of the half built building. Everything around us was shops and small office buildings. "The construction supplies will be mostly scattered but the main bulk of them should be on the ground floor."
“Right then.” I nodded. “Let’s grab all we can as we make our way to the ground floor.”
We began to make our way through the top floor. There was a few bags of cement mix and some bricks I placed into Assistant storage. There was a few fast undead here, Parker decapitated them with a purple metal machete. "There will be a lot more the further down we go."
“Right.” I nodded, waiting to use my rage abilities when necessary as I kept up with Parker, collecting what we could and looting the zombies that he just decapitated.
The looting proved fruitful. By the time we reached the third floor we have nine bags of cement mix and fifty rebars, and almost a thousand concrete bricks. We also grabbed some copper wires and various tools for working on building the fortifications.
And over eighty dead zombies too.
“Well so far so good.” I said, having looted the many zombies. “So far there hasn’t been any special ones…which might be a little concerning…”
"They'll probably be on the first floor." Parker said as we made it down to the second floor. It was here I encountered my first Volatile. "And there's a Goon." Parker said, an orange jumpsuit dressed, seven foot undead lugging around a large club of concrete and rebar.
“Are they called Goon’s because they…literally look like a random Goon from superhero comics?” I asked carefully.
"Don't know." He said, rushing towards the giant zombie. He rapidly dodged it's slow swing, the impact it made sent a heavy blow through the air. Without waiting he swung his machete and decapitated the Goon as well. "But thankfully they are slower than any other infected."
“All bulk and nothing else.” I nodded, moving over and lotting the thing real quick to see what it could give.
Holy crap! Two hundred and forty rem!
Parker rapidly cleared out the rest of the common infected as I looted all the remaining supplies. Now all that was left was the ground level. Looking down from the stairway showed several pallets of bags of concrete, stacks of bricks and wire tied bunches of rebar all in the center of three Goons and dozens of the Biters, those fast running ones.
“Alright, so how are we going to do this?” I asked carefully. “Cause we can distract the Biter’s with noise and I can set them on fire if they’re not too quick…”
"Fire won't do much against these ones. Too tough. Some explosives would clear them out but the noise will draw the ones outside like moths." Parker stated.
“Crap…” I frowned. “What’s the plan then?”
"Simple." Parker said, picking up his machete. "I make some noise, draw them away, while they chase me you grab everything and head back up and towards your base. I'll meet you there."
“Alright, stay safe.” I nodded, ready to rush in and grab everything I can while he distracts them.
Parker jumped into the small horde, mowing down a few and even taking out a Goon with ease before leaping over the supplies and rushing for the door, slamming his machete against the frame and getting all the other infecteds attention. I watched as the Goons slowly marched towards after him while the faster biters did the same. Soon there was just one Goon and a few biters.
I took a deep breath, rushing in and grabbing the supplies. I managed to grab everything off the pallets-
"GROOOOOOR!"
"SHIT!" I yelped, barely dodging the slam of the remaining Goon's club. It hit the ground with enough force that the impact force knocked me back a few feet. "Ow…" I grumbled, getting up quickly as I started to run, having gotten everything from the pallets and wanting to get the hell out of there. "That was too close…"
I rushed it to the unfinished roof and began making my way back to home base.
I arrived just as sunset began and I saw Parker there already and waiting. "Well, that was a successful run." He said with a smirk.
"A little close on my part, a Goon almost got me, but I managed to grab everything." I nodded.
"Damn. I was wondering if one of those slow fucks would get left behind." Parker said, taking a deep breath. "Well, come on then. We best put that stuff to good use now."
"Yes we shall." I nodded. "Too bad we couldn't find any sound proofing…" I said carefully.
"Makeshift soundproofing using thick cardboard, mattresses and pillows works well too." Parker stated.
We headed to the first floor of the building Cheat and I live in. Our makeshift barricaded using various furnitures and such blocking the door.
Parker showed me how to use the Assistant to craft and assemble the supplies into study brick, rebar and concrete fortified walls, blocking the ground level main entrance and windows. "I'd recommend keeping the door of the other building open and using UV lights to keep the Nightmare Volatiles out and traps along the way as well as heavy duty doors and walls to keep out lesser infected that will probably wander inside."
"Thanks Parker, I don't know what we'd do if you weren't here." I nodded.
"Well, if I didn't help I'd be letting my own family down so, I usually try not to get this involved but seeing as your girl is pregnant, well, that changes things." He said as we finished up the final fortified window for the first floor.
"Thanks man…" I trailed off, wishing I could do more here. "We owe you big time."
"Well, like I said, my folks would be happy about me doing this. Brings me back to better times actually. Back when there were more people helping one another survive this deathtrap planet."
"Why wouldn't people help each other in this place?" I asked worriedly.
"Well, they used to. Fact is despite the dangers, Armageddon was a lot like most other planets save the last million years." I have to remember time is basically infinite here. "There was an idea, and a guild. The Survivors Guild, people who proudly lived here. Their motto was 'We Don't Just Survive, We Thrive'. My parents were members. The goal of that guild was to create an artificial safe zone. And they did just that. Not just one, fourteen artificial safe zones were created and all were anchors for safe respawning rather than the random respawning that's always been the norm here…"
"So who or what fucked that up royally?" I asked worriedly. "Also...wouldn't the guild still be around? I thought all Guilds were supported by The Family?"
"Not every guild…" Parker sighed, taking a seat on a spare chair we no longer needed for the barricades. "You know about Chaos Guilds, right?"
"I can immediately see how everything went to hell in a hoof basket real quick." I said nervously.
With a nod, Parker Continued. "Officially the Survivors Guild exists, but their numbers are just a few hundred compared to the millions it used to be. And ever since that day, when Chaos Guilds invaded and destroyed all fourteen artificial safe zones, scattered countless to Armageddon's lack of mercy random respawn locations and enslaved millions. People call it the Final Ending. It's the first and only apocalypse to actually happen on Armageddon."
"Oh…" I started. "Well then...let's fix that." I answered readily. "We're going to rebuild the Survivors Guild and this time you'll get the support you and the others deserve."
He chuckled, looking down at me and gave my head a pat. "That would be a dream come true, but… Armageddon is the Chaos Guilds home turf. Any settlements over a certain size, they'll know… for now, small safe zones like this are enough… although, there might be another way you can help…" Parker said, looking a bit thoughtful.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Also wouldn't The Family immediately bullrush here to stop the Chaos Guilds choke hold on this place?" I asked. "I know it's Apocalypse but...come on."
"Members of The Family are always here. Especially since The Final Ending. This planet is as big, maybe bigger than Homeworld. Finding them is the hard part. Fighting them will be a war." Parker sighed. "But, enough about that. You remember when I told you that Armageddon has an abnormally high amount of Prize Pod People drops?"
"Yeah, a whole lot of children specifically." I nodded. "What? Think we can just gather a lot of them up and open them to help out?"
"That, and it keeps them out of the Chaos Guilds grasp. Chaos Guilds constantly search for the Prize Pod People. Especially the Lover and Servant Class. Ally they will enslave, but Lover and Servant once opened are their next generation of 'members'. Loyal, impressionable, they'll live their whole lives knowing nothing else but the Guild. Doesn't matter how young either."
“Sweet lord…” I muttered in horror. “That’s terrible.”
Again, Parker nodded. "It's the main reason Chaos Guilds keep such high numbers. And it's illegal on every planet. Hence why Chaos Guilds are on The Family, the Mother's Sons, Daughters, Time walkers, and Heroes Guilds shit list. Especially if a member belonging to one of the big ones is discovered. That can end with the scumbag immediately getting Perma killed via execution."
“That’s good.” I nodded.
"So, if we can find them before a Chaos Guild scout does, it's one less member or sale or whatever sick bullshit they put them through and one more life saved from a hell they should never have been put through."
“Yeah, and that would be one more person able to fight them.” I brought up.
"Exactly, and you can help me find them." Parker said, pulling out a rolled up sheet of paper. "These are Loot Maps. They typically spawn in level three dungeons but you can learn how to make them with a high enough skill set in Magic and Crafting. These can tell us where to find the nearest Prize Pod person."
“That’s great.” I said excitedly. “Let’s open it up and see if there’s anyone here.”
"Tomorrow. You can not handle yourself out at night just yet kid. Wait how old are you? I can't really judge given… differences in species and all."
“I’m fifteen.” I answered.
"Ah. Then yeah, still a kid more or less. Anyway, come on, you go up and be with your girl and I'll make myself a space to sleep in one of these empty units. Will feel nice to sleep on an actual bed for a change for a while."
“Go right ahead.” I nodded. “And I just remembered an important thing…but that can be saved for tomorrow.”
With a nod, Parker went looking for a unit and I went back to spend the rest of the time with Cheat. We ate, watched another movie then did… our usual pre-bed activities… she is already pregnant… and she refused to go to sleep without it…
As I fell asleep, cuddling Cheat I felt along her belly. Wow… I'm… gonna be a dad. Heh, Dad is probably gonna be happy. If Mom knew… she'd probably kill me…
The next morning came and after a quick breakfast and kiss goodbye, Parker and I went out. I felt bad leaving Cheat all alone. Maybe this Prize Pods Person we'll save can help keep her company?
"Okay," Parker said, opening the map. It flashed with a yellow-white light before fading, now showing a map of what I think is this city. I recognized the area our base is at, and the mall. There was also a whole lot more I've never seen before. "Closest Pod Person is here, in this school."
“Cool, now how far is the school from here?” I inquired, looking at the map to see where the School was.
"Ten miles from here." Parker said. "We won't make it back by rooftops before night hits. We'll have to use a ride."
“Got any in mind?” I asked.
"Yeah, but just a quick warning. Each Apocalypse zone has a set of rules that everyone recommends following. However, seeing as we don't have that luxury, we'll have to break them and suffer the consequences." Parker said, looking through his Assistant and eventually pulling out a small tube with a button. He pressed the button and tossed the tube, a puff of white smoke or gas and now, floating an inch above the rooftop was a motorcycle, missing the wheels that instead had some flashing metal things there. Awesome! Hoverbike!
“Okay, now that’s cool.” I said honestly. “So uh…what are the consequences besides the fact we’ll have zombies rushing at us like mad?”
"More special infected will spawn and depending on how badly we break this zones rules it will even create and spawn brand new enemies for us to deal with. Luckily we will just be using this to get from A to B and back." Parker explained as he got on the bike. He managed to even pull out a side car for me to ride in and we were off. I have to admit, flying over the undead is way easier… though as we went I could see what he meant. From subway entrances and holes leading to sewer I spotted hordes of them walking and crawling up to the surface.
“Right…” I said carefully. “This is not good in the slightest…” I said. “A lot of experience and loot sure but…that’s way too many for just a simple hoverbike ride…”
"Armageddon is a spiteful bitch. Don't worry thought those fortifications back at your base will hold and most of these fucks will scatter, end up killing themselves somehow or just get killed in general."
We arrived at the school, Parker putting the Hoverbike away as we entered. Seeing piles of rotting flesh and bones in piles along the walls and floors of a school is such a… grotesque and disturbing sight.
“I know school’s a nightmare but damn.” I tried to joke.
"Alright, according to this the pod should be in the gym." Parker put the map away, the hallway in front filled with various undead. I did spot one Goon amongst them, the rest were regular zombies. Alright, that's a lot of them and two of us. How good are you with that fire spell?"
“How good do I need to be?” I asked carefully.
"Instant incineration would be nice, but I'm guessing you can't do that can you?"
“I’d need Cheat here…then with my rage skills along with her being a Berserk style Symbiote I’d be able to.” I said carefully. “I haven’t…done much fighting without her help to be honest.”
"Hm. In that case, plan B."
Before I could ask what Plan B was, Parker pulled out a large, heavy looking rifle from his Assistant. He took aim, and began shooting. The large caliber bullets didn't make too loud of a noise, surprisingly, but they did real damage to the undead. Shredding them into fine confetti. He didn't even reload, by the time he stopped shooting the hallway was clear. If soaked in blood and dead zombies covering the floor.
“Ri~ght…” I said slowly.
"Trust me, guns as Plan B almost always works. And if it doesn't. Plan C." He said as he started walking through the shredded Gore he made. I followed behind, looting what was left of the bodies.
“And that won’t break any rules either?” I asked carefully.
"Yes and no. This zone allows the use of guns but the larger and louder the gun the more infected will rush you, and the stronger they'll get. However, this rifle has a built in suppressor, so on the sound scale it's more around a handgun." He said with a grin. "The rules each zone has are what they are but if you can find loopholes, well, then it can't do much."
“Fair enough.” I nodded. “I need to figure out some stuff about my own abilities…especially the rage stuff since I’m kind of already grabbing a lot of them.” I answered. “Oh also, we should be in a group cause I have a surprise involved…if it doesn’t immediately break a rule.”
"That depends. What's the surprise?" He asked with a raised brow.
“It’ll throw you for a ‘Loop’.” I said in a shitty pun.
He seemed to process that for a bit, but his face went to shock, and quickly he was covering my muzzle. "Don't. Trust me. Don't. If… those Guilds find out, you will have a target on your back for the rest of your life. And on this planet, you're basically in their backyard. Do not mention it, do not use it, forget you even have it while you're here."
“R-right…” I nodded carefully. “S-sorry…is there a way to turn it off so I don’t use it by accident?”
He nodded. "Find it in your Skill Trees page, tap it and there will be the on off function. Honestly it's amazing how many people don't even know that exists but it's how a lot of people with… those abilities stay under the radar."
I nodded, doing as he said and managing to turn off Loop.
“Alright, now we can probably be in a group if you want.” I nodded.
"That would be best. In case we get or need to split up." Parker nodded.
Party Formed!
Button Mash and Parker have formed a party.
“Sweet.” I nodded. “Now let’s go save that Prize Pod.”
We quickly made our way through, Parker using that crazy rifle on each infected we came across. Upon arriving at the gym, opening the doors I spotted the Prize Pod. It was an all white metallic, almost egg shaped sphere with a glossy glass cover that you can vaguely make out a shape of someone inside.
It was also surrounded by Five Goons, Dozens of Biters and what I can only assume is the Master the Goons serve cause Holy Fuck is that thing massive!
"Crap, a Demolisher. That's gonna take a bit more to kill…" Parker said, looking over his rifle.
“Alright…so mind if I ask, how do Rage’s work without either a symbiote enforcing it or…other things?” I asked curiously. “Cause I never…actually got an explanation on that, I just thought it was Cheat doing most of that work.”
"Typically it's strength stat multipliers with emotion related abilities and/or items." Parker stated. "As for how your Symbiote works with it, not sure." He said, looking through his Assistant.
“Well…good thing I took all those skills to add in a lot of other bonuses.” I said honestly. “But do I need an item or magic to activate it or just can I just get really mad and activate it?”
"Well, you can just get real mad and run at stuff but you'd have to work out a lot and increase your strength stat." He said, taking out a gold and jeweled ball with a cross on it, shaking his head as he put it back and took out two metal and glass looking grenades.
“That’s…not really how rage’s work for Barbarians, that’s for sure.” I mentioned. “Also the hell was that?”
"What, this?" He asked, pulling out the gold ball again.
“Uh…wait…is that what I think it is?” I asked, my eyes widening as I started to remember mom’s favorite old comedy movie.
"Holy Hand Grenade? Got this in a Loot Drop two years back. Would rather not use it on that room." He said, putting it back into his Assistant and picking up the metal glass ones. He then tossed them into the room, pins pulled. They rolled in between the undead, opening up in a reflective orb that glowed red in the center. Suddenly laser beams shot out in all diretfron the two orbs, they rotated around for a while and burned through even the giant infected leaving sliced, burned chunks of flesh where there was once a small army of the dead and leaving the Prize Pod unharmed.
“Nice.” I nodded.
"Yeah. Burns anything organic." He said with a nod. We walked over to the Prize Pod and looked it over. "Hm, looks like they're a Servant Class." Parker said as he examined the pod. Specifically the small mark of the Assistant, with an image of a baby in the center. "And a nanny at that. Talk about lucky for you."
"Oh thank God." I sighed out thankfully. "So uh...how do we do this? I've never actually used a prize pod before...also this is the first time I've seen one." I brought up.
"Oh, it's easy. Just place a hand, or in your case hoof, on the glass part of the pod and it will open and link the Servant Class to you as their master."
"Neat." I nodded. "Also uh...master?"
"Master, boss, god occasionally… basically once you open them up they live to serve you and do pretty much anything you ask of them." Parker explained. "It's a thing with them, no one knows why it just is."
"Right then." I nodded, trotting over and lightly placing my hoof on the glass, hoping this works.
Once I touched it the glass popped off with a hiss of pressurized air, sliding off and onto the ground. Before I could get a look I side, a fury orange hand grab the side from within and begin to lift the attached body out.
I was surprised for two reasons. One, they were a lot larger than the Pod would suggest. Two, they were a humanoid fox looking person, clearly female. The main thing that caught my eyes however were the ten, rather large, possibly… milk filled breasts that lined their entire torso.
Her colors were primarily orange with a white tipped nose, tail and ears and brown along her paws. She also wore a pure white dress or gown of some kind.
She got herself out of the pod, giving a smile and a bow. "Greetings Master." She addressed me.
Parker whistled. "Wow, a Fox Den Mother. Don't see those everyday."
"Hi…" I said to the...very pretty woman. "Uh...den mother?" I asked curiously, not really knowing what a Den Mother was.
"Den Mother is a title largely given to female or Hermaphrodite beings capable of conceiving, carrying, birthing and raising large amounts of children in a single pregnancy. They're typically like her, though the most common Den Mother's found are wolves or canine based, every species has a Den Mother variation. They're essentially lesser versions of The Mother." Parker explained.
"Wow...so that's also why...uh…" I blushed as I motioned to her large breasts.
"Yes. Biologically, she is the perfect mother for her species. Therefore her breasts are always producing milk, regardless of her being pregnant or not. That being said most Den Mother's share some common traits."
"Like?" I inquired, rather interested to know what's the common traits between Den Mother's besides being great mother's.
"Well, for those of races that produce milk, their milk has a complete nutrition table. Basically you can drink nothing but a Den Mother's milk and never actually need solid foods again. They also are on par with certain potions and meals or potions made with it will have extra healing benefits or more potent effects. They also all have a 100 percent conception rate. Basically protection spells and well, protection doesn't work on them. They will get pregnant regardless of the level of protection used. Only exception is if they are with another female and even then there's like a small five percent chance they get knocked up from whatever DNA the partner left behind on them."
Holy shit!
"Uh...huh." I said carefully, looking at the big lady. "That's...really interesting."
"Master, are there any young I need to care for?" She asked.
"You should also know a few things, but first, ask for her name and age. She's fresh out the pod so she'll only listen to you for a while." Parker said, giving me a nudge with his leg.
"R-right…" I said sheepishly, not used to this. "So...hi, what's your name and age?" I asked the fox lady carefully.
"My name is Philomena Setural. I am twenty three master." She said with a small nod.
"Damn, I was worried about that…" Parker said. "Den Mother's typically have rather strong… urges. They can't really control them well until they're at least a century old."
"Is it...illegal to help with her urges?" I asked nervously. "Given uh…"
"Well, it varies and circumstances and all that. Here on Armageddon basically anything goes but typically having a Servant class and then immediately entering sexual relations with them because they do everything you say is frowned upon. Illegal in some places. Den Mother's though, they are more a seduce and tempt type to bed when their urges hit. While not actually illegal it is still frowned upon in most cases. Given She is both a Servant Class, and a Den Mother at that age range… frankly I'm not too sure. In the end I guess it is up to you, after all, there are no Laws on Armageddon and the Guild's can't really enforce anything here without suddenly being under attack by chaos Guilds so, up to you if you want I guess. Frankly most Den Mother's that come from the Prize Pods are from the Lovers Class."
"Fair enough." I nodded. "So date first, then possibly lewd things...at least, that makes it less frowned upon right? And less illegal?"
"Hm, usually. Basically enough time has to pass for her to stop viewing you as her master and more as her love interest." Parker said. "Well, come on, let's get her to the base, inform your girl cause from what I can guess she might try something. Then head off to the next pod person.
We did just that, using a Hover Truck to actually carry Philomena and we dropped her off at the base with Cheat, who was happy for the company and constantly looking over at Philomena. I told her what Parker told me and once I was sure enough it stuck with her, Parker and I were out again.
This Pod person was thankfully in a slightly safer place. A docked lake boat. It was a small boat, maybe built for a family to spend a few days on the water in and there were not too many undead around it.
Opening this pod got us our Ally Class friend, Hunter. He has a lot of useful survival skills and knowledge and was going to be a great help for the base.
Our last stop before we were gonna head back before nightfall was at a suburban house, surprisingly enough. The house was nice, small, quant. Kinda reminded me of home back in Equestria. Save all the zombies.
"Huh, this one's a Lovers Class." Parker said. I took a look at the mark on the Pod. It was like the others, but the center image showed two rings bound to one another.
"So...a girlfriend in a pod?" I asked.
"And a guaranteed wife or spouse or whatever. Though they only open for people they are compatible with. So they don't open for everyone."
"Well that's...depressing." I said, already thinking about them being stuck in there for way too long, waiting like a princess stuck in the castle waiting for their Prince Charming. "But...let's try to see if we're able to save them."
I placed a hoof to the glass. To my surprise and joy it did open like the others. Who came out through… I fell flat on my flank, a mix of emotions and shock.
"Thank you, my love…" She said, putting both hooves to my head… and kissed me…
My own mother, or rather, this Prize Pod version of her… was kissing me- Tonguing me!
My scream called a lot of infected towards us, and I spent the ride back cursing the internet for this crime against my sanity returning to become part of my daily life…
"Did anyone else hear that? Sounded like a scream?" Diamond Tiara asked as she kept watch atop the ship.
"It's Armageddon. Probably someone getting brutally murdered…" Mei answered, keeping her attention on the partly repaired hole of what was left of their ship.
The Armageddon 'Welcoming Committee' did significant damage after Button fell out, probably hoping to make them all fall and crash. Thankfully Victor had some of his own heavy artillery weapons to give them a taste of their own medicine. It let them safely crash land the ship atop a tall skyscraper… sadly a few hundred thousand miles from where Button fell out.
"No, I know that kind of scream." Sweetie said.
"Reminds me of the screams of a damned soul." Maud stated.
Everyone turned to look at the mare.
"... And you know that how?" Mei asked.
"You dig deep enough into a planet and you start to hear things." Maud replied plainly. "Terrible… haunting things…" She added with the same plane faced expression.
"... Anyway, with what Echo and Victor managed to bring this time I should hopefully have this ship at least flight worthy in a few more… months…" She huffed.
"That sucks." Sweetie frowned.
"We've already been here a month…" Tiara huffed. "Why can't I just fly out and look for him again?"
"Because if those fuckers show up you're a flying pink target, there's no communication in this zombie filled zone of hell, and you've seen what's crawls out around here at night!" Mei reminded. "I know you're all worried about him, but Button has Cheat, and so long as he does he'll be safe."
"Still doesn't make us feel any better…" Sweetie grumbled. "But the scream was probably from Button experiencing something he was...really shocked about."
"If he screamed loud enough for us to hear him from wherever he is, it must be either terrifying, or hilarious." Tiara said.
"My money is on it being related to his whole hatred of the internet when he googled himself." Maud said, a small grin hitting her lips.
"Suckers bet." Mei added.