Walking in a Winters Wonderland, part 1
Far to the North in the snowy land of Winters, two weeks previously, a young blonde boy tossed and turned as a dream of inventions was interrupted by a desperate message.
I'm calling out to you, who I've never met...
I'm calling our friend who we haven't met yet...
Jeff! Jeff! We need your help in the time yet to come!
I am Paula, and I am with Ness, Moondancer, and Buzz Buzz.
We are all friends you have not yet met...and we need your help at the time this message is being sent.
Please, come, you're our only hope...
336:00.00
335:59.59
335:59.58
With a startled yell, he shot out of bed and tumbled to the floor, feeling around to try and find his dresser so he could find-
"Jeff, you okay?" a voice asked worriedly. "Oh, right, glasses!"
Jeff felt his glasses pressed into his hands, and he quickly put them on before blinking up at the red-headed boy in front of him. "Thanks, Tony," he said softly as he got to his feet. "That was one strange..." His voice trailed off as he saw the timer, still counting down in his mind's eye, never leaving.
335:59.39
335:59.38
335:59.37
Tony stared at him worriedly. "...Jeff? Are you okay? You're...you're scaring me..."
Jeff ran his hand through his hair. "It...it wasn't a dream," he managed to say. "I...I got a psychic message from...from someone. A...a friend I haven't met yet. I...I need to help them." Noticing Tony's raising eyebrow, he sighed. "Yeah, I know it sounds crazy..."
"Well, as long as you know it, how can I help?" Tony asked helpfully.
Jeff blinked in surprise. "R-really? You want to help me with this...crazy adventure?"
"Of course I do!" Tony confirmed warmly. "I'm your best friend, after all! So what first?"
Jeff thought for a time. "Well...I'm going to need to leave Snow Wood at some point to get there, but I want to be prepared to do so. So I should see what I can gather in the way of supplies, and take a few days to train myself up a bit for whatever I might encounter."
"Leave?" Tony asked in surprise. "That could get you in big trouble if anyone caught wind of it..."
Jeff nodded, straightening his glasses. "I guess I'll just have to make sure no one does, then."
Tony nodded. "I'll do what I can to help. What did you have in mind as far as preparation?"
"I think I'll need to talk with Maxwell," Jeff decided. "He knew my Dad pretty well, so he might have some suggestions."
"Alright, let's go meet him then," Tony agreed. "This time of night, he's usually in his lab downstairs."
Nodding, Jeff turned to lead the way down, Tony falling into step behind him. The inside of Snow Wood Boarding School was much like boarding schools everywhere, with old-style architecture that the students were all certain didn't meet modern building code right up until they started studying architecture. The lab was one of the few private rooms on the first floor, right next to the locker room. As expected, Maxwell Labs was in his lab, trying to tinker away with something, his red hair a mess and his grey lab coat rather filthy. The older student looked up in surprise as the pair entered. "Oh, Jeff, Tony!" he greeted as he shifted his goggles aside. "What brings you here to my lab in the middle of the night?"
"I...I need to make some preparations," Jeff explained worriedly. "I..." He hesitated. He trusted Maxwell, but he was often called on as a TA in some of his classes. He might decide that he had to tell the teachers for Jeff's sake.
To Jeff's surprise, Maxwell smiled. "I know that look," he said softly. "Your father had the same look in his eyes when he left to build his lab to the south, though I was much younger then. Is it destiny calling?"
Jeff blinked in surprise. "Uh...psychic friend I haven't met yet? Does that count?"
Maxwell chuckled. "I'd say so. Well, you aren't going to get far in your current state. You aren't hurrying, so you have time. How much?"
335:44.42
335:44.41
335:44.40
"Almost two weeks," Jeff replied readily.
"Time enough to prepare," Maxwell confirmed. "Come over here and see what you can help me make of this. Tony, you're in charge of foodstuffs for the both of us while we work. Make sure Jeff gets a balanced diet, and make sure he rests."
"Yes sir!" Tony agreed readily as Jeff moved to Maxwell's side.
"Looks like some sort of storage unit," Jeff observed as he looked over it. "Though these elude me..." He lifted up an oddly-shaped metal projection coming out of the central unit.
"The original idea was a pack that would keep track of what it held and hand it to you when you needed it," Maxwell explained. "But...it kind of got away from me. You're pretty good at repairing things. I think between the two of us, we should be able to make it work."
"And this?" Jeff asked, holding up what looked like a folded Swiss Army Knife, but made of keys.
"Ever had a problem with a key being slightly bent, chipped, or otherwise just a little bit bad?" he explained happily. "I had an idea of something to fix that, and this is the start of it."
"Like some sort of mechanical skeleton key?" Tony asked excitedly. "Like those lock picking gadgets in spy novels?"
"Something like that, yeah," Maxwell agreed. "It was going to take a blank key projection and reshape it to the lock...but I'm still working on making that work..."
"Hmm..." Jeff mused to himself as he glanced between the two incomplete inventions. "I think I have a few ideas..."
240:00.00
Training and study with Maxwell Labs has improved Jeff's abilities.
LV: 1
Off: 38
Def: 52
Spd: 5
Gut: 5
Vit: 2
IQ: 17
Luc: 2
Jeff smiled as he looked himself over in his room's mirror. Working with Maxwell, he was able to complete the Bad Key Machine, and then incorporate its reshaping into the manipulator arms of the now completed Robo-Pack, which he wore strapped to his body. Not only could the pack hold more than twice what his old backpack could, the four manipulator arms actively handed him items at need, or could be manipulated by a control in his left hand to deflect incoming swings or projectiles - he and Maxwell had tested it with a metal pipe and a pop gun - as well as change one prong into the key projection from the Bad Key Machine.
In raiding the lockers, Jeff had found a Holmes Hat and a broken air gun, which he'd managed to fix overnight on the third day of preparations after the intensive study. The now repaired Magnum Air Gun was quite powerful, and he felt would prove an effective deterrent against the maddened animals he was likely to encounter on his trip south to his father's lab. He also had quite a few boiled eggs stashed for snacks along the way.
"You look ready to take on anything," Tony breathed in awe as he watched Jeff pose in front of the mirror.
"...I don't feel it," Jeff admitted ruefully. "At least, not anything I'll face after leaving Dad's lab..."
"Well, don't think about that yet," Tony suggested. "For now...it's time for you to go, isn't it?"
Jeff nodded. "Ready?"
"I'm ready, are you?"
Jeff swallowed nervously and straightened his glasses. "Yeah, let's go."
Moving swiftly, the pair snuck down to the front hall before glancing around to make sure no one was looking. Seeing they were alone, they ducked out the front door. Tony then moved to the gate, which was too tall for either of them to climb over. "Use me as a step to get over," he instructed quietly.
"Thanks, Tony," Jeff offered warmly. "I'll...I'll be back."
"I know you will," Tony agreed happily. "We're Best Friends Forever, after all. Be careful."
"Will do," Jeff promised as he hopped over the fence. Safely on the outside, he watched Tony run back into the School before ducking into the nearby shop to avoid getting spotted by any teachers.
Once inside, a woman immediately accosted him. "Do you want a monkey?" she asked eagerly. She gestured to a red-furred monkey that was sitting beside the door. "He's free with a pack of bubble gum, and the gum's only a dollar!"
Jeff flinched back from the intensity. "Uh...sure?" he offered in confusion, holding out one of his two dollars.
The woman took the bill, handed him the pack of bubble gum, and then dashed out of the store. "Free!" she screamed out excitedly. "Finally free! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"...eh?" Jeff asked in confusion.
"Ukekeke," the monkey offered comfortingly. However, Jeff somehow heard in his mind, <Don't worry about her. She's allergic to monkey fur and was convinced my telepathic communication was her going crazy. Now she gets to quit this job.>
"O...okay," Jeff allowed. "...want some gum?"
"UKE!" the monkey agreed excitedly, taking a stick and chewing happily. It then blew a bubble big enough to float it into the air before slowly settling back to the ground as it pulled the gum back into its mouth. <You're nice! I'm going to follow you and help you out!>
"...yay me," Jeff murmured, uncertain if he should be sarcastic here.
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
1,103 users online
1,981,772 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
heee. I am loving this interation of Jeff more and more.
I'm having a mental image of Dora The Explorer's Backpack. But higher tech.
Don't know how the game mechanics work but parry sounds awesome, does it work for any form of physical attack or would a multi pronged attack counter that bonus?
I wish there were more games that had that kind of pervasive countdown like Jeff has here. The only game I could think of where the "doom timer" was one of the main mechanics is Majora's Mask.
And now comes one of the most butiful areas in the game but also whit the enamy I hate the most.
Frikeing goats.
The countdown gave me 24 vibes
"The following takes place two weeks ago at Snow Wood Boarding School..."
The last part was funny.
Well, at least his clock doesn't look like this
pre00.deviantart.net/bf0b/th/pre/f/2011/191/b/1/spawn_power_meter_by_damndirtyape-d3ll7m8.png
Protip: If you've got the Broken Airgun, and you've got at least 12 IQ points, keep resting at Bricklayer's until it gets fixed. You now have a Magnum Airgun. Equip it, then start fighting all the Cave Boys at Stonehenge (since you have enough firepower to kill them fast enough without them doing the same to you). They also have a 100% drop rate of Picnic Lunches during this time, so you can also take some for the road. And now you can fight with Ness and co. without being useless.
This gives me a distinct "The Gamer" impression...
Truer words.
So what, you're saying this could happen?
{*You cannot grasp the true form of Giyga-
Jeff: Nah. *Blocks the ungraspable attack with his robo-arms and shoots him.*
*This works... somehow.}
8572668
Unfortunately, the Madness-based attacks are most definitely not physical.
Which is a pity, because that's hilarious!
I would rather get the free joke with my gum . . . or a bazooka.
8572710 Really? I wasn't really trying to be all that funny. I was just using the most obvious example. Like, what if they're fighting a Chomposaur, and it "swings its tail very hard". Would the arms be able to block it, or is there a limit to how much physical-ness that they can block (like how Poo can't Mirror most bosses)?
This isn't FNAF where pneumatic actuators can go up to 1900 psi when they normally just do 40, right?... Oh wait... you referenced FNAF existing in the Mother universe in the last chapter. Plus, there's a bit later on in the story where everyone's souls get placed into robot suits. You planned it all along, and I just thought it was a meaningless reference!
8572774
...won't comment on the robot suits bit due to spoilers.
I also won't comment on Robo-Pack v Dino-tail for similar reasons. All I'll say is salvage.
8573016 Oh, right, because every character has an equivalent And if they work in tandem... heheheheheh.... That reminds me of something.
{Jeff: Who are you again?
Duster: Duster. I'm the guy on the team with no PSI, but I make do with my wits and various items I keep on-hand. I've also got issues with my dad, but *shrugs*
Jeff:...
Duster: What?
Jeff: You and I are twinsies!}
Meanwhile...
{Ana/Paula: So how much of a crush do you have on Lucas?!
Kumatora:... He's 13.
Tatsurou: That hasn't stopped anyone in my stories before.
Kumatora: Ugh...}
Also also...
Ana. Paula.
Paula Ana.
Pollyanna.
Is that a reference to something? I could swear I've seen it somewhere before.
8573081
Ahem.... tatsourou... is of an interesting kind.
8576893 Well yeah, he offhandedly mentioned that Azula X Zhao, and Ty Lee X Kuei were both a thing, and his excuse was basically "Eh, it's the times".
I'm no expert on the mid-to-late 1800's Eastern hemisphere, but it still would've been nice to see this sort of thing explored a little more instead of just being glanced over. That's the whole point of "What If" stories, right?
That needs to be an actual piece of equipment.
8582166 Really? I should've known that...
For some reason, this is giving me Majora's Mask flashbacks.
As someone who has never played Earthbound, I'm loving the zaniness of it all. 10/10
Now to sit back and wait to see what other classic RPGs get the Tatsurou treatment. (Chrono Trigger with Doctor Whooves maybe?)