I woke up feeling a bit bloated. It's already the New Year, Christmas and New years came and went, and I'm pretty large already for a month…
I have a feeling Cheat knocked me up with triplets… or more…
Still, the Maternity Leave kicks in at three months and until then I am stuck on office duty…
Ironically, I actually don't hate it. One of the first games I played was a cheap one mom got me out of a bargain bin called Office Work Simulator… I'm pretty sure that game is why I was pretty good at math and note taking in school…
“Hmm…” I hummed to myself, cause while I didn't mind the paperwork…kinda bored still.
I rolled and got up and out of bed, stretching my various limbs before heading to the kitchen. Micheal was cooking breakfast for a change, Gallon was having his morning tea, Jada her morning coffee. Likely already her second, maybe even third cup.
I did notice Tulip was also drinking coffee.
“Tulip…why?” I asked her.
“It's good.” She said, sipping it.
“Heh, she's definitely Brazilian.” Micheal said with a chuckle.
Huh… I actually don't know much about their world aside from a few things they told me… or any Earth world I'm general…
“And…what does that have to do with anything?” I inquired.
“Everyone drinks coffee in Brazil. Adults and children.” Gallon said. “Lot of countries like that back home… well, used to anyway.”
“I started when I was three.” Micheal said.
“Can I like, immigrant there?” Jada asked.
“No, you’re already destroying yourself enough with the stupid amount of Coffee you drink.” I huffed.
“It's a very common and popular drink of choice.” Micheal said.
“I have found my homeland.” Jada said with a dramatic flare.
“Please don’t encourage her painful addiction.” I groaned.
“It's not an addiction, it's my preferred drink of choice.” Jada said.
That got a chuckle out of Gallon and Micheal.
I huffed, taking a seat at the table next to Jada and soon served a bowl of what looked like oatmeal and smelled like bananas. I shrugged and began eating.
“So, what’s on today’s agenda?” I asked Gallon and Micheal.
“Well Tina and Gallon are gonna head out and set up more outposts. You and I are gonna sit in the office and mark the locations of the Data Drives Map Locations to physical maps.” Micheal said.
“Fair enough.” I nodded. “Wish I could help out with setting up outposts but…eh.” I shrugged.
“Sucks to be pregnant.” Jada chuckled. “You enjoyed the fun but now it's time to pay the piper.”
“I already paid the piper but that’s not something kids should hear.” I thought to myself. “Yeah yeah.”
“Other than that, Tulip starts school today.” Gallon said, patting his daughter on the head.
“Blech. School…” Jada groaned.
“School is a lot better in this reality than back home I will admit.” I stated. “But I can mildly agree with that sentiment.”
“Can't be any worse than earth school.” Gallon said.
“It was… rather poorly constructed.” Micheal nodded.
“How bad was it?” I inquired,
“From age four or five through age eighteen was just your basic education. After that you were expected to go to college, most of which were something you'd have to pass a really competitive entrance exam and even if you passed you were likely to not get in.” Gallon said.
“I hear overseas, mainly in America, college was pay to enter and even then. But some colleges did have you pay to enroll. Usually some really big name ones. The Public Colleges were free and some were just as good as the paid ones but it's like Gallon said, competitive entrance exams.” Micheal said.
“In short, they all still taught you everything about nothing relevant in the real world and even the college, say, you study for art, still expects you to take unrelated classes to pad out your schedule, and pass them or not graduate.” Gallon added.
“Well that sounds like a waste of time and money.” I frowned.
“Very much so.” Gallon nodded.
“One of the things we got to was rebuilding the later college systems.” Micheal said. “Actually the schools here is a bit similar to what we made.”
“Well that’s good to know.” I nodded.
“What was school like where you were from?” Gallon asked.
“Eh, it was school.” I shrugged. “We learned what was necessary, we were told about history, our cutie marks and all that, got aid to help endorse what we were ‘destined’ to be, all that stuff.” I shrugged. “Still boring though.”
“Wait hold up, those hip tats you used to sport were actually called Cutie Marks?” Gallon asked.
“Yes, they are genuinely called Cutie Marks.” I answered. “And the reason being is that…when I first got here, I decided to look up my world and it’s reality was called ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’.” I said. “So you can guess why things were called such.”
“Weird.”
“Each reality sure is interesting… and weird.” Micheal chuckled.
“Yeah, but that’s the lives we live I suppose.” I shrugged.
After breakfast, Gallon took Tulip to school, and Micheal and I headed to the office where we sat at our desks and got to work.
It was easy work, but easy work gets repetitive and boring. At least we got to play some music while we worked. No one around to tell us no.
“Ugh…wish there was something we could do besides boring paperwork…” I grumbled.
“Paperwork is also important Button.” Micheal said.
“Still boring.” I stated.
“Well once your maternity leave kicks in you can spend your days at home being bored.”
“Yeah yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “But at least it’ll give me some time to myself so I can…at least think about somethings…”
“Like?”
“How to get stronger with the new Update, try to figure out how to get Diamond to stop this insanity and just…come home, figure out how to deal with The Majority cause at this point those Death Cultists are more of a threat than the Chaos Guilds…”
“True… lot to work with… probably should have mentioned this sooner, but, uh… Perfect Custodian also got an upgrade after the update… and it can level up too.”
I nearly jumped out of the desk.
“Excuse me, it can level up to? And how did it get upgraded?”
“It just happened when the New Year's came. Got a notification saying that the two hundred percent stat boost now also applies to earned EXP.”
“Oh that’s going to be stupid.” I chuckled. “So what’s the leveled version do?”
“Well at level two it says I'll be able to have all members of my Custody share EXP either as a group or between specific members. The EXP boost also goes up to 400%.”
“Well that’s good to know.” I nodded. “Will make grinding a whole lot easier.”
“Then at level three it lets me create combination Abilities between Custody members, meaning you and the others would get to use some super cool combo moves and EXP boost goes up to 600%.”
…
“...Oh…that's going to be abused to high hell.”
“... At level four I can link abilities between people… meaning say I link Tina's Transpite ability to you, you can use it. I can link up to ten abilities between each person… and EXP boost is up to 1,000%.”
…
“Oh no…” I said slowly. “That’s…that’s so abusable.”
“... And level five doesn't say. Busy has three question marks and then the EXP boost is jumped to 5,000%...” Micheal finished. “Township can also level up now…”
Now I was up out of my desk and next to them.
“Okay, how can you upgrade Township?” I asked, already invested in this bout of growing greatness.
“Well, most just seem more simple. Cost of buildings is reduced, upgrade costs reduced, pretty basic… at least that was until I reached the Level Ten description…”
“And what does Level Ten do?” I inquired.
“It uh… says once purchased Township Evolves…”
… The hell?!
“Evolves into what?”
“I don't know. It just says it evolves and nothing else.” He sighed. “They aren't cheap either. For custodian, level two costs two billion skill points. Level two for township is three million.”
…
“Fucking hell…” I muttered. “That’s…we’d have to do a lot of Void dungeon grinding to even get close to that number.”
“Tell me about it… wonder if those other Custodians O5-1 mentioned are better off skill points wise?”
“Hopefully they are cause they will be needing a lot of those skill points.” I said honestly.
“Wish we could get our own easy way of getting lots of skill points fast…”
“Yeah…it is a tad annoying how much grinding we need to do, even with all our item multipliers…”
“Agh… this does suck but it's why I'm enjoying this quiet now. Once we start the hard work it's gonna be a lot of… work…” He sighed. “On top of that, Gallon and I now have Tulip and you have your army of children. Correction, never ending army of children.”
“I mean…while all that’s fair…” I sighed. “If only there was someway to just…get a Skill Point farm going, like some Mob Farm or…actually, why isn’t there a Mob farm?” I asked, now realizing that little bit.
“No idea. If only Minecraft logic applied to the real world… wait why doesn't it? Can it?” Micheal hummed as he sat up and began to think. “Enemies spawn here like in any other game and one could abuse this… especially with the EXP system now active and your EXP boost from Custodian…”
“Plus, given what this reality is, there should be Monster Spawners…” I pointed out. “...I mean, the Assistant has it’s own Crafting Table in it…and…yeah what the hell, why aren’t we just making Mob Farms?”
“... I'm gonna go look stuff up. Wanna come?”
“Yes please.” I said readily.
With a nod, Micheal and I left, locking up the office and heading out. He led me to the Portal Hub where we went to the New Foundation main HQ and went for the public library.
Once there Micheal began looking up things about how the Monsters and such spawn.
“If we can do this Mob Farm thing not only will it give us a ton of EXP depending on how it works, but it’ll also give us a shit ton of resources.” I admitted.
“This will… definitely be a thing if it does work.” Micheal said as he looked through the books.
“Oh yeah, it’ll be fantastic…though how we can make the farm will be another matter…” I hummed, cause I doubt doing the thin layer of lava would work cause it might also melt all the loot.
Micheal said nothing as he was rapidly reading through the books. I looked through a few… and I'm bored…
Fuck I did hate studying… it's a miracle I kept a C/B average in school…
“Ugh…this is boring…” I grumbled, hating how I can’t study for shit but do a lot of other things easily.
“Did you not like books as a kid?”
“Not really…which is especially weird cause I really liked researching for games but school work and other such books were just…meh.”
“Hmm… I have an idea then. Go find the section with some game guides, and then read through those… preferably Resident Evil, Dying Light and Left 4 Dead.” Micheal said.
“Um…alright.” I said, moving over to find said guide books.
I got up and after some looking found the isle and the guides. There was even foot notes on what their real world counterparts drop as loot. Neat.
I brought all those back to the table with Micheal and began reading, Starting with Dying Light since that's the majority of the undead/infected we deal with back home. Well, at least it's not that boring… can probably play with Jada after studying this for long enough…
“So, what is this?” Gallon asked as he, Tina, Micheal and myself were outside the walls and a fair ways from the colony.
Micheal had spent the next two weeks traveling to and from here with the outpost he set up and was using Township and various resources we got from Midas.
“I see a lot of metal and concrete.” Tina pointed out.
“It’s a Mob Farm.” I said readily. “Cause the two of us realized ‘Grinding is mean and we neither have the time nor patience to satiate the monolithic whore, so let’s see if Mob Farm’s can be a thing’.” I explained.
“...Did you just call Grinding a whore?” Gallon asked.
“Yes, and it’s still true.” I said readily.
“Right, so how does this work exactly?” Tina asked.
“It's pretty much automated.” Micheal said.
“Babe if this works this is a whole new level of cool you've done.” Gallon said with a smirk.
“Yes, it will be a massive cool thing.” I said with a smile.
“Heh, well, here's hoping it works. All my self taught engineering skills and some guess work…” Micheal said. He then pressed a button that rested on a small stand next to him.
Instantly, several loud speakers went off. The noise drove the nearby infected crazy and they all began bolting towards the source. Us.
Various ones began appearing and once they reached a certain distance from us, the floors under them dropped. The charging and still running Infected rushing towards the holes where a pathway once was and falling into the dark below. The special infected that could fly, Gallon began shooting down. A few that could jump tried to reach us but bounced off a barrier that appeared over us.
After about half an hour, the speakers cut off and the stream of infected slowed to nothing. Once they stopped fully, the floors reappeared.
“It worked!” Micheal said.
“That was awesome! But where did all the infected go?” Gallon asked.
“Probably to some conveyer belt that would start shoveling all the drops into a specific location for me or someone with a high loot multiplier to grab so it would jump from a bunch to a fuck ton.” I guessed.
“Yes and no.” Micheal said. He then led us to one of the nearby buildings. Opening the door revealed an elevator. A quick ride down and we arrived at a rather large machine that I could see was being fed both items and the bloody remains of the infected. “When I was going through some Craftable items, I think whoever runs the Skill Trees expected people to grind via Mob Farms because this machine here is an Automatic Storage and converter. It converts any leftover monster bodies into the appropriate BioMass which can be used in a lot of healing based items, the items, rem, and it even catches the EXP, that is how I knew it was a new addition and took a lot of materials to craft but thanks to Midas we had way more than enough.”
“Woah… and I thought the auto farms on our Minecraft world was cool…” Gallon said.
“Well…this is going to be insane.” I said with a smile.
“Hey Micheal, can you make this whole set up but bigger/stronger?” Tina asked.
“Probably. Even with Township helping this took a lot of work and I'd rather take a nap for the next few days before I build all this again.” Micheal stated.
“Yeah, you’ve been at this for a few days, you deserve your rest.” I said honestly. “And…well, I can move and gather all the item’s and EXP cause with my stupidly high multiplier, plus the Custodian EXP boost it would be outrageous how much we’re going to get.” I chuckled.
“Hopefully it works.” Tina said.
I nodded, finding the Output section and began to let it deposit all the items and EXP into my Assistant.
Notice!
Biological Multiplier Boost Active!
All items multiplied by X360!
Notice! Custodian EXP Bonus Active!
EXP increased by 200%!
4,460 EXP Has Been Boosted To 13,380 EXP!
42 Skill Points Received From The EXP Bar!
Notice! Internal Multiplier Applicable to EXP Bar Skill Points!
42 Skill Points Have Been Multiplied To 15,120 Skill Points!
Notice! Miracle Rookie Title Bonus Applicable!
15,120 Skill Points Have Been Doubled To 30,240 Skill Points!
Miracle Rookie Has Been Applied To Loot Items!
I felt a bubble of laughter at all the nonsense I just gained. “Okay, that’s really cool.”
“I take it it worked?” Gallon asked with a smirk.
“Oh yeah, it worked.” I said readily. “And from the EXP boost from Custodian helped me get 42 skill points that then jumped all the way to over thirty thousand from both my natural ability and Miracle Rookie.” I said with a smile.
“Oh that is so broken.” Tina laughed.
“Way more so than I was expecting.” Micheal nodded with his own smirk.
“Alright…now I wish I knew how to work this because it would be hilarious if we managed to set up some of this stuff with the volcanoes I made and…wait…I’m the Alicorn of Magma, I can control it…”
“Maybe. For now, we'll use this and a bit later I can try and make one that can handle your magma.” Micheal said.
“Cool.” I nodded. “This’ll help out immensely and keep me busy.”
“Keep you busy, how?” Tina asked.
“Well, keeping track of this, killing any flying zombies if I drop by, collecting loot and stuff like that.” I said honestly.
“Better not be alone. Cream will chain you to the bed if you try and it won't be for sexy fun stuff.” Gallon said.
“It’s literally me coming to a farm and collecting thing’s what the fuck.” I groaned.
“Be honest… do you trust yourself to not spend hours grinding here?” Gallon asked.
…
…
Right. Right, I need to be there for my family… I have to be there for them…
I can't distract myself…
“First, this is an automated thing…even though we just got an asston of thing’s from…how long?” I inquired.
“About thirty minutes.” Micheal said.
“Yeah, thirty minutes worth of it being automated. It would just be a daily thing, I hope here, press the button and have it do the thing, then collect it. Simple.”
“Be sure to set a timer to remind yourself.” Tina said with a chuckle.
“Yeah yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “This is the start of a great thing, I just know it.”
Four Days Later
How am I already bored of this?!
I huffed as I slouched on the couch I brought with me to have in the big machines room to wait for it to sort out and convert today's haul.
Four days of good, smooth progress… and I was bored of it already!
“Fuck me sideways, how am I bored!?” I groaned. “I mean…yes, this is an auto farm but fuck…”
“Maybe because you're an adrenaline junkie with an addiction to combat?” Micheal suggested, sitting at a small desk nearby.
“I’m still killing something’s but come on…I should be excited to see the thousands of skill points and hundreds of thousands of items we’re getting each day but…ugh…”
“You prefer the challenge. Which might explain your obsession with being the top regardless of partners.” Micheal said as I looked at him. “Gallon told me… who was told by Cream, Sweetie, Maud, Philomena, Tina…”
I flipped back onto the couch.
“How dare they say such sacred knowledge…” I groaned.
“Sorry. Gallon is a gossip lover and I… like to listen to them talk while we cuddle…”
“Yeah…of course…” I grumbled. “I mean, I do the same thing with my lovers when we cuddle but still…”
“Sorry… Was a lot more infected this time though.” Micheal said as he looked up at the infected corpse intake tube. “Surprised. Think the Zone is trying to counter our set up?”
“Either that or Armageddon thinks it’s funny.” I admitted. “Why not give more support to people that it wants to be friends with even though it’s a massive prison.”
“Right, you mentioned speaking to the uh… planet soul, right?”
“Yes, I have talked to them many a time.” I admitted. “Haven’t talked to them in a while though…”
“You said they were a kid right? Weird… pretty sad too.”
“Well, they might not be, they just wanted to look like a child version of me.” I admitted. “But…considering how half of the people that were kidnapped here was because the planet wanted friends and people to live here…yeah it’s a little sad.” I admitted.
“Hmm… wonder if earth back home had a similar soul? Or your home world, Equis.” Micheal hummed in thought. As the tube finally began to lessen, suddenly there was a loud thud as something heavy fell into it. “Oh hell what was that?” He asked looking up at the pipe.
“Don’t know…but at least it’s something interesting.” I admitted, getting up and ready for whatever the hell is going to happen.
Whatever it was the machine did not like it. After a moment whatever it was was spat out the-
Oh my Celestia…
They were covered in burns and blood but they looked the same…
Springtrap…
“... The fuck is this?” Micheal asked with a raised brow.
“That burnt corpse in a spring lock suit is called Springtrap…a bastard that murdered half a dozen or more children just so he can learn how to make a Pain Metal to give him immortality.” I summarized, walking over as I readied to kill the bitch.
As I stood over them, I saw the lights in the animatronic eyes flicker and glow, looking over at me.
“Can you hear me?” I asked, readying to act against the guy if they tried to attack.
Their body twitched, squeaking as the mouth began to move. “H… h… help… us…”
I blinked, honestly surprised to hear him say that. “Help with what?” I asked carefully, having a bad feeling about this. “Call the others and get some MTF here Micheal…I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Micheal nodded and headed out.
I stayed here with Springtrap.
“M…Mi… Mich… Micheal?”
“It’s a different Micheal.” I said, trying to think of how to heal this poor guy to help him talk better at least. “Who else needs help?”
“M… Mi… Micheal…” He said again, with the sounds of grinding metal and snapping bone he was forcing himself to his side, falling face first onto the ground and shaking violently as I could see the spring locks crushing and breaking his bones… then releasing, and his injuries healing…
This isn't a normal springlock suit… this is a torture device.
I frowned, using Scan on Afton to see what the hell was really going on here and if I could help out.
Scan Complete!
Name: William Afton Lucio
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Status: Agonizing Pain
Cause: Springlock Iron Maiden Torture Suit, King of Pain Title
“Right…” I muttered. “We’re going to get you out of this thing real quick, where are the others?” I inquired.
“D… d… d-Ahhhhhhh!!!” He screamed as I heard the springlock go off again, rebreaking bones and crushing flesh. Blood was quickly pooling under them.
I wasn't sure what to do but…only thing I could think of was kneel down as I grabbed one of the exposed spring locks. “This is gonna hurt…but I'm going to try and stop some of the spring locks.” I said, as I tried to either stop or rip off the offending torture parts.
It wasn't easy, most were still in him. I was basically pulling the machine out of him as much as off of him, but he was regenerating fast. The more he did the more I saw ye wasn't a rotting corpse under here… he was very much alive.
The head was the worst part. It looks like someone actually wired parts in here. Pulling those out was grotesque.
Eventually the rest of that suit came off. With that, he regenerated to normal and I got a good look at him. He was a bit thin, bags under his eyes. Curly brown hair, darker brown eyes.
“I'm sorry for hurting you…but are you okay?” I asked carefully.
“N, no…” He said, shaking as he spat out some blood. “W-where… am I?”
“You’re at the New Foundation, specifically it’s first ever Mob Farm.”
“What?” He asked.
“To which part? The New Foundation or the Mob Farm?” I inquired. “Cause the Mob Farm is an automated system to kill thousands of monsters and gather all their loot and EXP without needing to lift a finger.”
“Uh, all of it… fuck… what even are you?” He asked me. I looked at him for a moment, then looked at his wrists… no Assistant…
“My name is Button Mash, and I’m a Nokori.” I said, gently offering him a hand to help him up. “And don’t worry, someone’e off to get help so you can get a better explanation on what’s going on.”
“I… I need to find my wife she… we just woke up here and… god I hope she's not still at that place…” He said.
“What place?” I asked carefully.
“I don't know… it was like, some kind of giant arcade… maybe an indoor amusement park? I don't know all I know is that the things in there did not want to let us out. Am… am I in hell?”
“Well…yes, but actually no.” I said carefully. “You are on Armageddon, the planet of every end of the world scenario mashed together, and you are in one of the Safe Havens here, the New Foundation, this organization is here to help make life better for people.” I explained.
“That uh… didn't really help me understand…” He sighed.
“MTF is heading by-” Micheal said as he came down the elevator, stopping as he saw Afton.
“So, I have good news and bad news…the good news is, William here is somehow immortal…the bad news is that someone shoved him in that iron maiden style thing.” I said, pointing to the discarded pieces that I was ready and willing to set on fire.
Micheal didn't seem to listen, just staring at Afton with wide eyes. I looked over at Afton and he seemed to be doing the same.
“... Micheal?” Afton asked.
Micheal just flinched before he pushed the elevator button back up.
“Uh…how did you know him?” I asked carefully.
“I'd recognize my son's voice anywhere…” He said, forcing himself up.
I blinked. “Wait, hold on, how the hell is he your son? Firstly, timelines don't sync from what I was told…”
“I don't know anything about that but I need to apologize…” He said as he started walking towards the elevator.
“...What happened?” I asked carefully, following along to help him move as he was probably still in a lot of pain.
“I… “ He started but the elevator came back down and MTF soldiers and medics came in.
They quickly took Afton…
I went back home. Tina was sitting on the couch and the door to Micheal and Gallon's room was locked.
“How bad is it?” I inquired.
“I don't know much, but it's more of a personal thing.” Tina sighed. “All I know is that when Micheal came out to his parents they kicked him out. Despite having never been bigoted or even very religious. I guess when either Gallon or Micheal come out we can ask more but right now I think Micheal needs to process his dad is here.”
“Yeah…who knew his dad was…well…”
“I don't think it's the same thing… when we went to the Pizzaplex Dungeon, Micheal knew nothing of what was going on. According to Gallon, Five Nights At Freddy's didn't even exist in their world. His dad might be William Afton, and Micheal, well, Micheal Afton, but I don't think they're the Aftons. Plus, Gallon said Micheal was an only child. Reflections or not they don't really have ties to what we associate with the Afton name…”
“But someone decided to force that association.” I frowned. “Now who that is I have no idea…but that Spring Lock suit was an Iron Maiden…it was made to torture him…”
“Either someone really doesn't like the Aftons, or they didn't like this one had no association with the name’s affiliation.” Tina sighed.
I sat on the couch next to her, and we waited. After a while, Gallon walked out, closing the door behind him and taking a long breath.
“How is he?” Tina asked.
“...Concerned, mostly. A bit conflicted but concerned and confused mostly…” Gallon sighed. “Guess I shouldn't be all that surprised his old man is here…”
“How come?”
“A few months after Micheal and I officially started dating he asked me to drive up with him to his parents place out in Leto's county side. When we got there it was wide open. Some animals had clearly been in there, made a bit of a mess but there weren't… there weren't any bodies. Micheal assumed they might have been out on a walk when the Event happened, the stars look amazing out there at night and he thought maybe some wild animals… took care of the bodies. Ended up burying some clothes and photos of them in the place of bodies.”
“So his parents are Isekai…” I sighed. “This is getting more complicated…and if whoever fucked with William to make him like his counterparts… how soon will they make a move on Micheal?”
“What… happened to him exactly?” Gallon asked.
“To William or Micheal? Because both aren't pleasant.” I shook my head.
“Micheal's dad, my Micheal. What was he in when you found him?”
“He was in an Iron Maiden Springlock suit, of the golden rabbit from FNAF…it was torturing him as he regenerated with his ability…”
“How does he have a regeneration ability?”
“Probably his title…King of Pain…” I sighed.
“That doesn't sound pleasant…” Gallon said worriedly.
“He didn't have an Assistant though, how'd he get the title?” Tina asked.
“Probably whoever shoved him in that suit, cause I'm pretty sure people can still gain abilities and titles, the Assistant just gives you the actual menus to look at it.” I admitted.
“I wonder how long he's been here?” Tina said.
“Whatever the case, I personally want some answers from that man. For as long as I've known Micheal, he only spoke kindly of his parents. I saw their house, there is no way in hell, no reason they'd have kicked Micheal out for being gay.” Gallon said as he headed for the door.
“Yeah, his story never sat right with me.” I admitted, following after him to see how Micheal’s dad was really doing.
Tina followed and we quickly made our way to the hospital where we were told Micheal's dad was moved elsewhere. We then had to go there, finding it was an isolated room deep within a large pocket dimension room.
“Bit uh… bit overkill right?” Gallon asked as we were being brought to the chamber where Micheal's dad was.
“This is for his safety. The King of Pain Title is a nasty piece of work.” The MTF agent leading us said.
“What does King of Pain do?” I inquired. “I'm…pretty sure it's an immortality thing but what does it truly do?”
“Well, it's listed as a title but it's actually a curse… a very powerful one at that. Once inflicted, the holder is immortal. No wound can kill them, nor hunger or thirst. They experience exhaustion but the curse keeps them with just enough stamina to keep going despite the physical tiredness. Any injury does heal but heals at twice the pain of the initial damage. On top of that, at night from sunset to sunrise the inflicted will feel the pain of anything, living or dead, around them in a thirty mile radius at ten times the initial pain of the source. The only trade off, if you can even call it that, is that for all the pain you feel or damage you take you recover Skill Points equal to the damage.”
“What the fuck…?” Gallon said as he, Tina and I shared the same horrified expressions.
“Who in the high holy hell would do that!?” I asked in horror.
“Chaos Guilds. If you get far enough in the Dark Skill Trees you can learn some nasty curse magic. King of Pain is one of them and while rare, those who can cast it use it on victims to turn them into Skill Points Farms.” The MTF said. “Thankfully we can trick the curse. While no medicine can dull the pain, magic can weaken it and this pocket dimension room, he's the only thing here alive or dead so at night when the main part of the curse activates the curse won't be able to find anything to reflect and magnify the pain onto himself. Guy looks like he could use a night's sleep.”
“I understand.” I nodded. “Jeez…didn't expect this to happen all of a sudden…”
The MTF led us to the sealed door, once there he entered in a rather long pin code and it opened. Tina, Gallon and I were let inside. Inside was what I can best describe as a house sized baby proof area.
I saw Micheal's dad sitting there on the couch. He looked up, seeing us and looking surprised. “Uh… Button… right?” He asked as he looked at me. “I'm… not dreaming… right? This is all still happening?”
“Yes, this is still happening.” I nodded. “This isn't a dream.”.
“I… see… who are you two?” He asked.
“I'm Tina.” Tina said.
“And I'm Gallon.” Gallon said. “I uh… I'm Micheal's husband.”
“Micheal got married?” William asked. “Heh… I missed it…”
“So…mind if I ask a question about Micheal?” I asked.
“Of course. As long as I can ask some as well.”
“Well…why did Micheal leave?” I asked. “Cause you look like a person that doesn't give a shit about him being gay and…sound sad you missed hid wedding.”
“Micheal said you and his mom kicked him out when he came out to you two.” Gallon said.
William sighed, slouching as he laid back on the couch. “I remember that day. Laura and I talked it over and over since it happened but the more we did the more it felt… wrong to us. I don't know why we did that, or why we kicked him out. I mean, we knew long before he told us… he wasn't exactly sneaky. All we can remember is we both had this sudden… thing come over us, a feeling of urgency that if Micheal didn't leave the house that moment… that he'd die if we didn't. I don't know what that was but each time we tried, wanted to or thought about contacting him since then we got hit by that same feeling each time…”
“That's…rather creepy…” I said carefully.
“That's rather odd…” Gallon said. “It almost sounds like you were hexed…”
“Believe me, we looked into it. Wasn't cheap but every mage we turned to said the same. There was no magic on us. Got recommend to lot of psychologists though… those didn't help either… Gallon… is Micheal happy?”
Gallon smirked. “Yeah. I've made it a priority of mine to make sure he is more often than not.”
“Thank you… and uh, if I may ask… why are you and Micheal… furries?”
“Long story short, everyone back home on earth died save magically adept races and the Y Labs in Leto kidnapped a whole lot of people, making us into this, Nokori. I can boost the magic power and such of others who ingest some of my DNA, and Micheal can make small rain clouds, or whole storms if I boost him.”
“Huh… that is… not what I was expecting…”
“Kind of ironic though.” Tina said. “That feeling you had ended up being right. Had you not kicked Micheal out, he'd have likely never become a Nokori and survived the Event.”
“Well that's even freakier…” Gallon said.
“Yeah…there's no way in hell that's a coincidence.” I frowned. “Cause even ‘Divine Intervention ‘ can't explain that.”
“You think someone, or something wanted Micheal to survive the Event before it happened?” Gallon asked.
“Well, whatever the case, no way to return back to your world… so there's no way to learn how it happened.” Tina sighed.
“True…” I sighed. “So…mind if I ask who put you in that torture suit?” I asked carefully.
“I don't know…” William sighed. “I remember Laura and I going out for a walk to… wonder how Micheal was doing… we must have fallen asleep because we woke up in this… building, some kind of restaurant and then…” He said, scratching his head. “It's a bit fuzzy… all I remember next is someone taking us deeping into that building and then that suit… the pain…”
“What about your wife?” Gallon asked.
“I don't know. I think they took her elsewhere… I'm not even sure how long I was like that… less sure how I'm even alive… I told those soldiers everything when they brought me here and they said they'd look Into it.”
“... What was the date you went for that walk? Before waking up here?” Gallon asked.
“Uh… March 17th I think. Why?”
“March 18th was the day of the Event.” Gallon said.
“Well…shit…” I frowned. “Good to solve that mystery though.”
“... Does Micheal hate me?” William asked.
“I wouldn't say hate. He's never talked bad about you or his mom, but he always seems sad remembering.” Gallon said.
“Do you think… I could speak to him? I still want to apologize and… hope we can salvage something.”
“I'll talk to him. He has always wanted to ask you two why as well, and right now he is concerned about you.” Gallon said.
“Thank you Gallon.”
“Mind if I ask… what did you do for a living?” Tina asked.
“I worked for the city. Power and gas mostly, sometimes I worked on the water and sewage.” William said.
“Never thought of… robotics?”
“Heh, I'm flattered but that's not really my skill set or interests. Plus those Chuck ‘e Cheese animatronics creeped me the hell out.”
“Alright… what about your name? I know it sounds random but humor me. Your name is William Afton, right?”
“William Afton Lucio.” He said. “But please, just call me Willy. William was always so… formal sounding.”
“Alright… was Afton ever a last name?”
“My parents immigrated to Leto, Brazil when I was a baby. They wanted a more local sounding family name so they had our last name changed to Lucio, and Afton became a family middle name.”
“Well…that all makes sense I suppose.” I shrugged.
“Well, we'll be in touch sir.” Gallon said.
With that we all left.
So much of this still doesn't make sense or add up. What the heck is happening…?
I woke up the next morning and things were happening. Gallon went with Micheal to speak with his dad, Tina was out on Outpost duty, all in all, everyone had something going on.
I will admit, I kind of envy them… wish I wasn't so bored sitting around… I have to figure out how to better connect with my family…
Notice! Received Title, Estate!
What?
“Uh…what?” I questioned out loud, checking to see what the hell Estate was.
Title: Estate
This title activates a personal RP (Relationship Points) system that quantifies your Relationships with others. Increasing your relationships with others increases your RP that can be exchanged for other things.
… Who in the Mother's Family is watching over and pitying me?!
“Okay…what the feck…” I muttered in confusion.
So… how does this work…
“Hey Button.” I turned, seeing Cream-
[Cream Heart
Relationship Status: 56
Mommy issues much?]
A pop up window said, appearing next to Cream’s head… also the fuck?!
“The fuck did I do to you?” I asked petulantly to the Title.
“Excuse me?” Cream asked.
“Oh God I said that out loud.” I groaned. “So…I just suddenly got a title, Estate…and it's supposed to gauge my Relationships with everyone…and the thing sassed me with ‘mommy issues much?’...so that's why I said things…”
“... Okay…?” She said.
[She worries about you way more than she has to…]
Is this title gonna sass me all the time… I preferred Cheat’s teasing…
I sighed. “So, what are you going to do today?”
“Just some shopping. I was actually hoping you'd check in on Jada. She's signed up for another tournament, and you know how she takes her training…” Cream sighed.
[She's upset Jada takes after you in terms of self care]
… I have to find a mute button for your sass I will find it…
“I'll go talk to her.” I said. “I'm trying to get her to slow down at least…”
“Thanks. Good luck.” Cream said, giving me a quick kiss before heading off.
Alright you sassy Title, let's see what Jada is up to…
I'm talking to my own title now…
I shook my head and headed to Jada’s room. She was as usual, at her computer. Rather than dying light, I noticed her PC had what looked to be a shooting game.
[Jada Mash
Relationship Status: 7
She takes way too much after you.]
Ouch… also, only seven? Damn…
“Hey Jada.” I said softly. “How you doing?”
“Could be better. This new game is a lot more reflex heavy than Dying Light was.” She said.
“Yeah, those are shooters for ya.” I admitted. “What game ya playing?”
“Rainbow Six. There's more tournaments for it and the prizes are a lot better.”
“Which Rainbow Six?” I inquired, looking at the computer screen to see. “Oh, Siege.”
“Yeah. Trying to learn all the characters' play styles and items since this game is mostly team based and most tournaments are for teams… meaning once I'm good enough I have to apply for a team…”
“So are you going to wait till after you join a team to start learning teamwork or are you just going to try and go it solo even on a team?” I inquired.
“Regrettably I'm gonna have to learn teamwork so once I apply it's training in teamwork time.” She sighed.
“...No.” I said. “You’re starting teamwork training now, cause you are too much like me and will try to do it all yourself and start getting into fights.”
“Do you even know how to play or what to do? No one else in the house plays this.”
“I haven’t played many shooters, but what I do know, is Teamwork.” I said. “And before you argue otherwise, yes, I do know about Teamwork, I’ve worked long enough with Tina, Micheal and Gallon.” I said, seeing her close her mouth from that specific jab.
“Do you have a computer to play on?”
“I can easily get one.” I said honestly
“Then get one and join I guess.” She said with a shrug.
[Jada doesn't get why you wish to help but appreciates the effort. +1 to Jada’s Relationship.
+16 RP rewarded.]
“RP?” I thought to myself, deciding to check what the hell SP was.
I checked the title again. Relationship Points… for earning increased Relationship stats with someone it goes up, but losing them takes them away. Fair… can be exchanged for other things?
Exchanged for what?
[Earn more and find out noob.]
“I am going to figure out how to harm you and strangle you.” I growled at this stupid thing.
I quickly left, getting a personal Gaming PC and heading back to Jada's room and she helped me set it up and…
…
…
Fuck.
“Wow, that was bad.” Jada said. That round I had 20 deaths and not a single kill…
I huffed, looking at my fingers/talons.
“I am rusty as hell with games…” I muttered, flexing my hands a bit. “Been busy with a lot of other things.”
“That and you're more used to hooves over hands.” Jada added. “Maybe we should play a more simple game so you don't, ya know, stress yourself out trying too hard.”
“Maybe…” I sighed. “But this is to help you learn Teamwork and not do…most of what you pulled.” I said, cause while she did say a thing or two, it was mostly just her being quiet and not communicating with me.
“You mean answering your questions when you didn't know which button did what or when I'd laugh cause you flashbanged yourself?” She asked with a smirk.
“Yes and yes.” I frowned.
I guess it would be hard to get hand eye coordination on the fly when hands were never part of the equation for me for most of my life… truth be told aside for picking things up and some… other stuff, I don't use them for all that much…
With a sigh I joined the next match and tried again. This is gonna be a whole thing…
The next few rounds were more of the same regrettably. Either through some lack of communication or my bad controlling I died a lot and lost the match-
[Your Relationship with Jada has improved by +4
+64 RP received.]
Wait what?
I looked back over at Jada… she was smiling?
[You daughter appreciated you gaming with her. Even when losing, just having your company means a lot to her.]
…
“...Damn it…” I thought to myself sadly, so glad to see her happy but…just knowing my company alone helps it’s…I hate how busy I am with everything…
“One more round or you calling it quits?” Jada asked.
“One more round.” I said with a smile.
“Cool. Loser drinks tea!” She added with a jab at me.
“Sounds like a win win for me.” I chuckled.
I did lose, and drank the tea. I just told Jada to remember to stop for dinner… should probably check on her after dinner to get her to sleep.
For now… alright, that's 80 RP… what is it for?
[That's enough for a few things.]
The title said before a new menu popped up.
Summon Lottery - 50 RP
Open Item Shop Menu
Convert RP to Rem
Convert RP to Skill Points
Apply RP to Another
Spend RP to Upgrade Stats
Mystery Prize
(Gain 50,000 RP to Unlock)
Huh… that's a lot I can do actually…
“Well…let’s see what the rates are…”
The Item Shop had… a lot… like so much. All prices varyingly. Looks like ten RP make one Skill Point, Five RP make ten thousand rem, Applying RP to Another seems to allow me to raise another's Stats, same as the Menu for upgrading my own stats, and it seems that one RP upgrades the stats by one only. Lastly, Mystery Prize…
[Spend all RP for Mystery Prize?]
“Hmm…a lot of these aren’t worth it with the amount I have…well…I suppose Mystery Prize…hopefully it’s an actual good prize.” I thought to myself.
[RP Accepted.
Selecting Mystery Prize based on RP Value Imputed.
Dispensing Mystery Prize.]
A glowing green magic circle appeared in front of me from the ground. Rising up out of it was a white box, fair sized. Once it was out the magic circle vanished, leaving just the box…
Huh…
“So…let’s see what’s in the box…” I thought, grabbing the mystery prize and opening it and hoping to Mother that it literally wasn’t just the fucking box…
Inside were… two books. The first, a thick and hearty paperback. Rainbow Six Siege Official Game Guide. The second…
Hands and You. Giving Yourself A Thumbs Up For Learning To Use Your New Appendages.
…
You both sass and helped me in the same mystery gift…
[It's only a Mystery to you after all. Te-heh~]
“Why must you do these things?” I mentally groaned.
Despite that… These will be useful.
“What do you mean your dad just gave them to you?!” Tina yelled.
“After our talk, tears, hugs, apologies he wanted to make it up to me and after I gave him an Assistant through Township, he apparently already had some and just gave them to me since I mentioned they were useful…” Micheal said.
I just stared at Micheal… his dad had to have been in unimaginable agony and had King of Pain for a while now… because he had given Micheal just shy of a trillion Skill Points…
“Uh…right…” I said carefully. “That’s…good to know…” I said slowly. “So, what the hell are you going to do with all of it?”
“I have no fucking idea…” Micheal sighed. “I'm still processing that my dad and mom were… more or less possessed when they kicked me out and that they're here and that dad's been made an immortal torture toy by some sicko's to grind Skill Points and mom… I just hope mom is alright…”
“The MTF sent out a squad to search the whole area and they even checked your dad's memories for more details. I'm sure they'll find her.” Gallon said to his husband, patting him on the back. “And hey, your dad seems alright.”
“Yeah, your dad seems pretty cool.” I said honestly. “But take your time with the Skill Point stuff…though I’d recommend boosting your own stats a bit with them cause if someone tried to make William be something he’s not…it’s only a matter of time before whatever sicko did that tries to force their purview onto you.”
“Yippee… I have a Stalker and not those ones Y Labs made…” Micheal huffed. “Either way, no way in hell I can use them all so I'll see how they divide between each of us.”
“But…what would happen to Micheal here?” Gallon asked.
“Oh…you know…have all his internal organs literally scooped out by a giant scooper, have his entire body filled to the brim with a sentient pile of Remnant Cables that he would vomit out then turn into a boneless purple skinned zombie.” I explained carefully.
“It’s not pretty, yeah.” Tina admitted.
“... The genuine fuck?” Micheal asked.
“The fuck is Remnant?” Gallon asked.
“A metal created from Pain.” I admitted.
“Oh, and uh…at least where all this came from, part of the evil metal spaghetti monster…technically part of it was his sister.” Tina added.
“That’s even worse!” Micheal gagged. “I don't even have siblings!”
“Huh, kind of sounds like Agony Ingots…” Gallon hummed.
“Agony Ingots?” I asked.
“Yeah. Some of the magic tomes we looted from the Libertá Magic Museum talked about it. Metals good for use in magical conduction can imprint magic onto themselves. When it's from an event powerful in negative emotions the magic imprinted is Dark, and an Agony Ingot is made. Alternatively, is something metal and magic conductive is cared for, treasured and absorbs positive emotions, it begins to generate it's own magic, creating what's known as a Treasured Artifact.”
“That’s rather cool.” Tina nodded.
“Well…that does sound like Remnant.” I said. “And how the FNAF William figured all that out…was by shoving children’s freshly murdered corpses into Animatronics that absorbed their pain and Souls…so there’s that.” I added.
“...What in the actual fuck…” Micheal said weakly.
“Yeah…”
“Alright everyone, that's enough. I don't think Micheal can take this… info bomb anymore…” Gallon said, now hugging Micheal tight.
“Right, so onto figuring out what to do with Skill Points.” I said quickly. “Oh, here’s a thing I also got yesterday for…some reason. Estate.” I said. “It’s a sassy bitch that helps me see how much ‘relationship points’ I have with people.”
“Only you would get a… is it an Ability or Title?” Gallon asked.
“Title.” I answered.
“Only you'd get a Title that sasses you.”
“Yes…it’s a sassy bitch, but it also helps tell me about what people are thinking about me and if I’m doing a good job or not when it comes to building a relationship.” I said honestly.
“So it basically lets you read minds then?” Tina asked.
[Yes and no, but she is thinking that can be kinky if used as such… Yeah I am not into that…]
“It…technically can, and you think that’s kinky and it does not like that.” I stated.
Tina blinked, but nodded.
“Weird…” Micheal huffed.
[Micheal A, Lucio
Relationship Status: 23
You just had to stress the guy out didn't ya?]
I huffed, looking over at Gallon.
[Gallon
Relationship Status: 24
Really helpful guy.]
Hm. I looked at Tina.
[Tina
Relationship Status: 31
There is not enough bleach in all of creation to clean that dirty mind.]
“Right…so one…I’m sorry for stressing you out a lot Micheal…just…have to give fair warning when dealing with insane people.” I sighed. “Gallon, you are a really helpful guy…and Tina it said there is not enough bleach in all of creation to clean that Dirty Mind.”
“Then it would probably delete itself if they met Babe.” Tina shook her head.
“Huh… sassy but helpful. So… for now I think I'll just nap…” Micheal sighed.
“Come on then.” Gallon said, helping Micheal up as the two left for their room.
“Well, I best bounce. Got a date night with Lovely.” Tina said as she took off too.
Huh. Well, guess I can try and get more RP…
“Well…this could have gone better but let’s hope this new RP thing will go well…” I thought to myself, getting up and heading through the house to check on things.
I walked around the house, and found Philomina.
[Philomina
Relationship Status: 31
You wasted no time getting with her…]
“Oh shush you.” I mentally grumbled. “Hey Philomina.” I said with a smile.
“Hello Button.” She greeted me with a smile. “How’s your day been?”
“It’s been…fine so far.” I admitted. “Sadly told Micheal a bit too much about what other versions of him had to deal with…but when an insane person did that exact thing to his dad…I had to give fair warning.”
“I take it he reacted appropriately then?”
“Well he didn’t scream or vomit so there’s that.” I admitted.
“Well, I’m making dinner. Making some human dishes from a region called Mexico. Lot of chili and spicy foods.” She said.
“Haven’t had spicy foods in a while.” I admitted. “Maybe my new alicorn and Nokori biology will help me handle it a lot better than what I used to.”
“Well, if you want this salsa came out pretty hot. Wanna try some?” She asked, holding the spoon covered in green sauce and seeds that was semi liquid and a little chunky.
“Sure.” I said readily, grabbing the spoon and trying it out.
…
…
…
…
Nope!
I rapidly ran to the fridge and started chugging milk.
“Huh, didn’t seem that hot…” Philomina said, tasting it herself and shrugging.
“Bullshit!” I coughed out actual smoke. “The hell is that chili!? I thought you said Mexico, not India!”
“A jalapeno?” Philomina offered.
Just then, Power Up walked in. “Oh, salsa!” She said, actually taking the whole spoon into her mouth. “Hm. Fry then blend in some onion. Gives it more flavor.”
Philomina nodded before rushing off to get onions to chop, fry then blend into the salsa.
“That is not a Jalapeno!” I coughed. “I’ve tried some back on Equestria, they were not that spicy!”
“Or maybe Jalapenos in Equis aren’t that spicy?” Power Up said with a shrug. “Just be glad it wasn’t a Carolina Reaper, or the Devil’s Horn Pepper.”
“I am very thankful for that.” I groaned.
“I’ll try and make a more mild one.” Philomena said.
I sighed, but checked on Power Up.
[Power Up
Relationship Status: 4
You’re just mad she’s quicker than you on the sass.]
“Oh you can eat my whole ass.” I mentally groaned. “How are you doing Power Up?” I inquired.
“Good, the Boot Camp is more fun than I thought. Half expected the drill sergeant to be an ass but he’s good. He let’s us drink so much soda.”
“That sounds like a recipe for trouble giving you that much soda.”
“Maybe, but it’s good incentive when we compete for our favorite flavors.” Power Up chuckled.
“Eh, fair.” I shrugged. “So, what’s on today’s agenda?”
“Making kids cry over the public Minecraft servers.” She said as she left the Kitchen…
Oh boy…
“...Why?”
“It brings me joy!” She laughed as she was off to her room.
…
[Not all her problems are on you… she’s also genuinely a fucked up person…]
“...I’m gonna need to get her a therapist…” I said slowly.
[Yeah… she needs medication.]
I decided to find my other partners.
I found Cheat, laying on the bed and napping.
[Cheat Code
Relationship Status: 93
It would be too easy to tease you with this one.]
“Shush you.” I thought to myself, glad to see she was resting.
I walked around some more, finding Sweetie in the Laundry Room.
[Sweetie Bot(Belle)
Relationship Status: 33
You never got over that crush did you…]
“Can you please stop with the sass?” I mentally grumbled. “Hey Sweetie.” I said with a smile.
“Hey Button.” She said, folding blankets with her magic. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, how you doing?”
“Good. Mostly just the usual chores and such. Oh! I almost forget, Scoota-borg was uh… damaged so she’s at your little brothers place for repairs.”
Oh shit I forgot all about her!
[Wow… you had a crush on the whole CMC didn’t you?]
“Again, can you please stop with the sass?” I mentally groaned. “What happened to cause her to be damaged?” I asked, now remembering that…the whole fucking point of our treck here was for her… Sweetie and hell we were going to find an Apple Bot…
“She was out in the field taking out hoards when some super Tank Infected got her. She wasn’t destroyed but she was missing a leg.”
“Right…” I sighed, scratching my head as I just…hate how many times I keep forgetting about the people important to me. “I should…probably go see her…”
“She should be there right now. It has been a while since you two talked. She’s more of a workaholic than you but I think that’s mostly because she’s a Combat Droid.”
“Yeah…” I said, looking down and hating myself for just…not being there for her or many others and just…so pissed that I fucking forgot…
[You must get off on making yourself feel like shit.]
“I will find a way to remove Titles you factual cunt.” I mentally growled at my dumbass Title.
I quickly made my way to dad’s and Echo Dash’s place. I had a key now so I unlocked the door. There were the tools and such all over the place. I found Rom Hack in his room. Lots of tools and such all over with Scoota-Borg partly open and some wires poking out of where torn and ripped metal where her right front lag used to be.
[Rom Hack
Relationship Status: -5
He tolerates you, but thinks you’re an idiot.
—
Scoota-Borg
Relationship Status: 0
She only listens to you because you’re her registered owner.]
“...And sometimes I wonder why I fucking bother…” I thought to myself. “Hey you two.” I said. “How are things going?”
“Could be worse. That new Tank Infected did a number on her frame. This is mana steel too so that’s impressive.” Rom Hack said. “Might be worth it to reinforce her frame to a stronger metal otherwise this could happen again.”
“I can get you the material’s to upgrade her.” I said simply.
“What do you got on hand?” Rom Hack asked.
“A lot.” I said, going through my inventory to see what materials I obtained from the four days of the Mob Farm as it was…huge…
Let’s see here… what is stronger than mana steel… Crap, wish this had a scale or something to go off of…
“Hey so, just a quickie question, what’s stronger than Mana Steel?” I inquired.
“Well if want to keep it magic based there’s Oricalcum, Oricalcum Plus, various other ores. Best would be Divine Blood Iron. Despite the name it’s not similar to iron and is on par physically with Adamantium with an extra boost to magical properties.”
“Right.” I said, looking through everything to see if there was anything like that.
Hmm, let’s see… no, no, no… Huh, Oricalcum Plus.
“Well, I got a lot of Oricalcum Plus, how much do you need?”
“To make her the new frame? Well if they’re the standard ingot size roughly 2.4 pounds each… seven hundred and fifty ingots.”
I checked how many of said item I had just to see if I had enough.
Hmm… Oh… That’s a lot. This must be from the stuff Midas gave us in the first payment.
“Well…I have way more than enough.” I said. “Anything else you’ll need?”
“No I think just that is fine.” Rom Hack said.
I nodded, handing Rom all the material’s he needed to help fix Scoota-bot.
He took them and started working again.
I wasn’t sure what to do next… Crap… Screw the RP, I really need to actually build a relationship with Rom Hack… How do I do that though? I don’t know anything about robotics or… things like that…
Huh… I wonder…
I opened my stats menu and looked at my Intelligence Stat. 130 base, 390 after the boost…
It might be rude…but he was distracted so I checked on Rom Hacks stats just to see how smart this kid actually was.
[Scan Complete!
Rom Hack
HP: 24
MP: 106
ATT: 5
DEF: 5
PR: 2
MR: 20
ER: 0
Status R: 0
Poison R: 0
Fear R: 20
Bleed R: 0
Acid R: 0
Psychic R: 0
Disease R: 2
—
Strength: 7
Agility: 4
Vitality: 8
Vigor: 8
Intelligence: 930
Endurance: 5
Dexterity: 5]
“Holy hell this kid’s smart!” I thought in shock and surprise.
Huh, wonder what this even scales on though? Micheal and Gallon seem normal, I know for a fact their intelligence stats went up but I didn’t notice much in terms of changes… hmm… I wonder…
I checked the Skill Trees… hmm… Ah, here they are. Stats Skill Tree! Okay and… here, Intelligence Skill Tree… Hmm, alright looks like in order to get some of these I can either earth them the hard way but intelligence still needs to be a certain number before it can be either earned or purchased with skill points.
This one seems simple enough.
Advanced Retention: Your Ability To Focus On And Retain Studied Data Is Increased by 30%
Requires: 10 Intelligence
Cost: 1 Skill Point
These abilities help but the actual effort and study still is on me to do… huh, this can help a lot actually.
“Well…I do have a lot of skill points so why not.” I thought to myself, deciding to pick that up and see what other things I can get.
Memory Recollection: Quickly recall information and memories.
Requires: 25 Intelligence
Cost: 10 Skill Points
—
Memory Organization: Allows you to physically organize your memories into categories, akin to computer files.
Requires: 100 Intelligence
Cost: 50 Skill Points
“I can easily get both of those.” I thought. “Plus it’ll help get all my shit in order if I can remember everything clearly…” I mentally added as I grabbed those two skills.
What else can I get…
Information Correlation: Your brain will passively link information between memories, allowing you to rapidly come to conclusions and understandings of data much faster.
Requires: 250 Intelligence
Cost: 120 Skill Points
–
Many Minds of One: ‘Creates’ Multiple minds for various mental functions, such as One to aid in Physical functions, One for Study, One for analysis, ECT.
Requires: 1,000 Intelligence
Cost: 500 Skill Points
Woah… This last one… I’d have to increase my Intelligence stat but… this would be unbelievably useful…
“And considering over the past four days I have enough skill points to not give a shit, even without all the skill points Micheal got…let’s go with that.” I thought to myself, deciding to first move into my Stats to increase my Int up to a thousand so I could get both of them.
After doing that I quickly felt a slight headrush. Agh, that’s not fun.
“No it’s not but what do you expect?” I blinked as I heard my own voice, only in a slightly more… deeper?
“Ugh there’s so little to work with in here…” Another version of my voice said, only this one sounded a bit more… southern?
“Right…hi there.” I mentally said to the two new people in my head.
“Hi, I’m your new Body Brain.” The deeper version of my voice said.
“Hello I’m your Magic Brain. Ugh, would it kill you to read a spellbook more often, there’s so little for me to do here…” The southern version of my voice said.
“I’m getting around to learning magic.” I mentally grumbled. “I’m still busy with a lot of other things.”
“So why are you still here?” Rom Hack asked. I was snapped out of my mental conversation with my two new minds and looked at him looking at me with a raised brow.
[Rom Hack thinks you’re a bit weird at the moment sitting there not making a sound but making faces.]
“Sorry.” I shook my head. “Just doing some skill point stuff and…well, also gained the ‘Many Minds of One’ skill…so not only do I have a high intelligence, I also have more voices in my head so that’s fun.”
“...”
[Rom Hack is wondering if there’s something wrong with you for actively wanting voices in your head.]
“Maybe if you stopped thinking I’m an idiot for five seconds maybe you can actually understand something.” I decided to tell him, cause I am just…so tired of people treating me like shit when I keep trying my best…
Rom Hack flinched a bit, his ears folding back as he looked at me.
[You have scared Rom Hack slightly.
-2 to Relationship Status.]
No, shit!
“I’m sorry Rom…I’m just…” I sighed. “I’m just going through a lot as of late…I didn’t mean to snap at you…”
Rom frowned, looking down. “... I don’t get people… Adults treat me like a child, other kids don’t like me… machines I get. Machines make sense. It’s easier to understand a machine than a person… they’re simpler…”
“Well…mind explaining how machines are simpler?” I asked softly. “I don’t know much about machine’s, nowhere close to what you know…so can you please explain?”
“... In simple terms, all the parts of a machine, hardware or software come down to simple yes or no inputs. These inputs are the foundation for more complex functions. You can see it all happen, from the simple foundations to the larger basic stuff… but people aren’t. You can’t see how they come to think the way they do or see what got them there… it’s chaos…”
“Is Sweetie simple?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“How so? She has her own thoughts and feelings, she does thing’s outside the ‘yes and no’ functions, how is she still simple?”
“Her learning algorithm allowed her to expand upon her base programming, expand her reaction and capabilities of understanding. The mod that allowed her to use this was based off the same programming used in sex bots which all have one key feature. They listen and learn primarily from their owners… in this case, you. Once that mod was installed into her, she gained an emotional spectrum to cross analyze and come to conclusions. One of which led to her giving you a chance in terms of love and romance.”
“So you're saying that emotions are based on ones and zeros? A simple ‘yes or no’ function that can be quantified by a computer to the point of love, romance…and caring for family while I was…sadly gone for ten years?”
“Yes, while she has her own Heart and Soul now, when you first got her that wasn’t the case so her interest in you then was based on ones and zeroes.”
“But what about now?” I asked. “She has a Heart and Soul as you said, is she still simple?”
“... More so than organics…”
“Come on, I know you're smarter than that.” I said softly.
“I am, that’s how I know. One virus, one critical hit to her hard drive, one EMP blast and all those memories of hers are gone. Maybe in her heart they’ll remain, but she won’t remember you or anyone when repaired. Not for a long, long time.”
I sighed, trying to think of some way or an example that can help him…help our relationship here. “What makes Organics different besides the very obvious ‘one’s synthetic the other is organic’?” I asked.
“Synthetics can more easily understand one another, meanwhile organics will go out of their way to not understand.”
“I’m trying to understand.” I said. “I’m going out of my way to understand.”
“And that’s the problem! You have to put so much effort, go through so much to understand another. Weeks, months, years while Synthetics, machines only take nano seconds!” Rom snapped, holding himself and huffing. “Worthless… illogical… inefficient flesh…”
… He… hates being flesh and blood…
“You…hate being flesh and blood?” I asked.
“More than anything… Heh… Life is the greatest machine my ass…” He huffed.
“But it is.” I said honestly. “Life is a grand machine, the greatest, because it has so many moving parts to it that one might think it’s just a massive, chaotic, horrible mess.” I said honestly. “Life is special, whether you’re a machine or flesh and blood…it’s why Sweetie, Three, and so many other Synthetic people with Hearts and Soul’s can be just as weird or ‘conflicting’ as your average biological being.” I said, picking up a spare synthetic leg with it’s exposed wires and cables. “Wires and Cables, Veins and Muscle, they’re ultimately the same thing when you get down to brass tack, they both help make up the base of a being.” I said, putting it down and picking up a memory chip. “This Memory Chip, the Hippocampus, both pieces that control and hold memories, different size and shape but same function.” I said honestly. “So, what’s the difference?” I asked him again. “If we brush past the physical…what makes biological and mechanical so different?”
I looked up at Rom… he was… crying. “You sound just like everyone else…”
[Rom Hack is heartbroken. You reminded him of people who tried to make him think he isn’t what he wants to be.]
“No.” I stated bluntly. “I don’t sound like everyone else, and you want to know why?” I asked, seeing Rom look at me with tears in his eyes. “Because I want to understand, I want to know why, I’m asking you what the difference is so I can help, not like what some other people say which is probably ‘you’ll outgrow it’, but I want to know why you want to become a Synthetic…and…maybe help you achieve it.”
“... I just want to be happy.” Rom said.
“And I’m here to help you be happy…even if I’m not doing a good job with it entirely, that’s what learning does…even to advanced machines, they make mistakes and need to work hard to fix those mistakes.” I said. “And I’m willing to help fix our relationship…and I’m here, as your big brother, to help you through this.”
“I want to be a synthetic…” He said.
“And I’m sure there is a way to do that.” I said readily. “And I’ll help you either find said item that transforms you into said thing, or fund whatever weird nonsense that will be needed to do that.” I said. “I have the money, and the material’s to do so.”
“Money and items aren’t the issue…” Rom said. “New Foundation Law states that at age thirteen, one can opt to change their gender, race, and obtain implants/changes that are permanent… I have to wait eight more years to change…”
“Well…” I hummed. “It might not be…exactly what you want, but I think I know of something that can help.” I said. “How’s about a quick shopping trip to the Armory, I know they have what we need.”
“... what are we getting?”
“It’s a surprise.” I said, moving over and gently picking up my little brother. “Off we go to the armory.” I said, heading off to the Armory to get him something cool.
As I walked with Rom on my back, he was abnormally quiet…
[Rom Hack feels vulnerable. He has not even told his parents what he told you.]
“Huh…didn’t expect that.” I thought to myself carefully. “Want to take a guess as to what I’m going to get you?” I asked, wanting to make some small talk while we headed to the specific shop.
“...Not really…” He said weakly. He sounded exhausted.
“Alright, get some rest…cause I know you’ll be super excited about what I have in mind.” I said with a smile.
I walked to the Armory, the building was surrounded with guards and such.
The quartermaster looked down at me from their desk. She was some kind of… I wanna say… maybe a demon? Red skin with horns sticking out of her head and thin tendril like strands for hair. “Can I help you?” She asked.
“Yes, do you have any resizing Iron Man style suits for my little brother here?” I asked, as I could practically feel Rom’s eyes widen at hearing those words.
“... This is the New Foundation Armory, not a toy store.”
“Are you saying you don’t have something like that?” I asked. “And trust me, Rom here would have made some ‘toy store’ suit into a dangerous mechanical weapon in a week.”
“I did it once in three days.” Rom pipped up.
“My point exactly.” I chuckled.
“And my point is that we do not authorize high end weaponry for sale to children.” The quartermaster stated. “Kids wants to play iron man or robot go find someone to make him a second skin suit. Less dangerous and will feel just as authentic.”
I gave a loot to Rom, who also looked rather confused. Huh, that’s an expression I never expected to see on him…
“Uh…what’s a Second Skin suit?” I asked. “I haven’t heard of that before.”
“It’s a suit that’s magic in nature and when worn transforms the outer appearance of a being into what the suit is made to represent. Say you want to be a Centaur for a while to see what it’s like, you put it on and book, you’re a Centaur. All the extra limbs and such work while you wear it and you feel exactly how a centaur would feel. They make them in all kinds of species and genders. Lot of folks buy them for their kids before they’re of age to take the potions for perma change. Some people like to use them for fun, cosplaying or just to see things in a different perspective.”
“Even Synthetics?” Rom asked.
“If the person making the suit is talented enough, yeah.” The quartermaster said. “Probably have to go through the Greed Markets to find any though.”
“That’s perfect…and I know just the guy to get us to one of the guy to get us to one such market.” I said readily.