A Bad Choice
When I filled out a CYOA out of boredom, I never expected a ROB to take that as an invitation and drop me in it. Oh god, I really should have picked something that made me harder to kill! To make matters worse, I wasn't just dropped in, oh no, now I have the god damn Nazi's chasing me for my powers!
Sigh, yes its and other CYOA, no I don't care that I'm going overboard on them. Its fun damn it! Anyway, this time there's no Servant involved and hes technically not as OP as some I created. WHatever, lets get started. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
When I went to bed after staying up way to late working on a new story idea, I was expecting to wake up the next morning to the sound of my phone greeting me for another day at work. Instead, I was woken by the early morning light landing on my face and the fact my soft bed seemed to have turned into solid wood.
"What the...wuzgoinon?" I slurred as I opened my eyes, quickly throwing up my hand to stop the sunlight from burning my eyes out.
It took a moment to realize what was wrong with the image. My curtains were thick and I always closed them before I went to bed, so there was no way that sunlight should be getting into my room. I slowly lowered my hand and looked around the room, taking in the grimy walls that were covered in dark red stains, shattered furniture and the floor that had the rotten remains of a carpet that looked like it had been clawed to pieces. By claws that were strong enough to damage the hardwood floor.
"What the hel…" I started, before I suddenly realized that my voice sounded...odd.
I looked down and found that my voice wasn't the only thing that had changed. Instead of my thin body in nothing but the pants I went to sleep in, I found myself looking at a slightly chunky and much less mature body in pale blue PJs. As I did, a few locks of blonde hair fell in front of my eyes and I blinked as I realized that my hair was longer than it had been.
"Huh...thats interesting," I muttered as I examined my new hands, absently running a finger over where I'd had a small scar on the back of my left one, "What the hell is going on?"
A loud crunch from outside made me jump and look up, just in time to see a twisted monstrosity I could only refer to as a troll stump past the window. I quickly scrambled to my feet and darted to the window, peeking out and down onto the street below. Just one glance made me realize that I might be in trouble. The town I was in was a complete wreck, with not a single house intact, although plenty of them seemed to have been patched up with wood and colourful bits of cloth and were inhabited by all manner of bizarre creatures that looked like something straight out of a fairy tale for little kids. If said fairytale involved orgies, debauchery and horrific table manners as the goblins gorged themselves on all manner of excess.
I gaped for a moment, before quickly pulling my head back before any of them could see me. I sat under the window for a moment, eyes wide as I tried to figure out what the actual FUCK was going on, before I suddenly remembered just what I'd been working on the night before.
"FUCK, I'VE BEEN ROB-ED!" I yelled without thinking.
I immediately clapped both hands over my mouth, but it was apparent that I was to late as the sounds filtering in from down below cut out. A moment later, they were replaced with chattering and the sounds of a number of footsteps moving towards the building I was in.
"Oh bollocks," I muttered, "This is gonna suck...I really hope I can figure out how to…"
"INTRUDER!"
I spun around, just in time to see what looked like an unholy fusion of Human and lizard pounce at me from the door. I yelped and instinctively flung out my arm. In response, the wall behind me exploded and squashed the goblin between the opposite wall and half of the one behind me. I gaped for a moment, before I realized that my head was full of knowledge of how to Bend the elements to my will. All of them. I wasn't an Avatar since I lacked any connections to a Spirit, but apparently ROB or CYOA logic didn't give a shit about canon rules. I couldn't do anything to impressive without practice, but I could grasp the basics of all four.
However, my Bending abilities would only get me so far in this situation. I couldn't face an entire army of Goblins armed only with the basics, especially since I had no idea if Nilbog had created anything that could get stronger from water, earth or wind. I doubted it, but considering he managed to make one that replicated with fire, I didn't want to risk one that might be able to multiply if I got it wet.
Considering it looked like my powers came from my latest CYOA, I quickly cast my mind back to try and remember what I had access to. Bending was obvious, but the others were Paper manipulation (which wouldn't help here), Explosive Slash (again, not very helpful) and Fairy Dragon Physiology. That last one would probably be the best option considering what I'd be capable of if I could figure out how to use it. I also had Harry Potter magic, but I had a feeling that trying to use that without practice would be a horrible idea. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to start and the rest of the Goblins had just found me. And the squashed goblin I'd got with my Bending feat.
"OH MY GOD, HE KILLED KENNY!" screamed the leader of the Goblins that were hunting me, a short thing with slimy looking skin and big ears, armed with a very large wrench and sharp claws that seemed to be dripping acid.
"YOU BASTARD!" screamed another, smaller nasty with horns that were comically large on its small frame.
Despite the fact I was about to be killed by a madman's creations, I couldn't help giving the twisted monstrosities of nature a flat look.
"Really?"
"TAKE HIM TO THE KING!" screamed the leader, ignoring my exasperation.
"EEP!" I yelped and flung my arms out.
In response, the ring I hadn't noticed on my left hand glowed and the room expanded in a way that made my head hurt.
"Huh...I'd forgotten about that," I muttered as I glanced at the Vista ring.
The ring was made of a greenish yellow metal with a small, square shaped emerald setting with swirling lines engraved on the stone. Looking at it closely, it reminded me of a re-coloured version of the Gaunt Ring from Harry Potter, which was actually how I pictured it when I was coming up with this character for my story.
I looked away from the ring, making a note to experiment with it later, to see that the Goblins were still a good distance away from me thanks to the spatial warp and looking extremely annoyed. I decided that I should probably leave in case any of them had ranged attacks and decided to try and turn me into a target dummy.
I took a deep breath, turned to the hole in the wall and jumped, desperately delving into my mind for my Dragon Physiology power. I really hoped this worked or I was about to break my legs and leave me easy pray for…
"AH!" I yelped as I felt a surge of energy erupt from somewhere deep inside me, rippling through my body in the form of a bright, azure light.
I felt my body shift, lengthening and twisting as my legs fused together, my neck and face lengthened and a pair of wings shot from my back. It didn't hurt, in fact, it felt rather good, if a little odd. The change took less than a second and the glow vanished, just in time for me to spread my wings and stop my fall inches from slamming into the ground.
"Phew, that was close," I muttered, absently noting that my voice now carried a musical quality to it.
I shifted my wings, lifted myself up and looked down at myself. My body was now covered in fine, iridescent blue scales and had a build similar to a naga, with a tail instead of legs that ended with two long, pale green tendrils that were glowing faintly. My upper body was humanoid, with long, slender arms and a pair of insect like wings sticking out of my shoulders. I lifted my hands and ran them over my changed head. My face was now a short, but sharp muzzle, with a number of small, but very sharp teeth inside, a pair of large ears and a long mane of hair down my neck that was the same colour as the tuft at the tip of my tail.
"Interesting form," I muttered, "Oh well, so long as it does the job."
I buzzed my wings, sending a shower of sparkling dust drifting down as I shot into the sky at high speed. As I went, I delved into the powers this form granted me and my form shimmered and seemed to split apart, countless copies of me flying in different directions as my real body vanished from the visible spectrum while shrinking down to about six inches long. Now confident that I wouldn't be hit by a lucky shot, I picked a direction and flew towards, what I hoped, was freedom.
Despite what you might think, Elisburg wasn't that bad of an assignment for a PRT trooper. Oh, it could be a little nerve racking when Nilbog and his freaks started getting restless and you couldn't afford to be lazy unless you fancied being chewed out and reassigned somewhere a lot less pleasant, but as a general rule, things tended to be quiet as the crazed Biotinker prefered to stay behind the walls and his army of freaks were just as happy to stay put. At least it wasn't as depressing or traumatizing as the Simurgh containment zones.
Of course, anything that riled up the Goblins was something that had the garrison on high alert, although that quickly changed to besument as the camaras came back with images of the Goblins destroying a number of odd, dragon-like creatures that were buzzing around the town and exploded violently upon being attacked, sending a sparkling, golden yellow dust everywhere. Which then also exploded just as spectacularly in a riot of very loud and clearly very hot explosions that hurt many of the creatures that were caught in them, including a few that the Troopers knew should replicate in fire.
"Sooo...does anyone have any idea whats going on?" asked Agent Lee as the troopers watched another group of Goblins attack another of the strange creatures, only to once again get blasted by a riot of explosions.
"Haven't a clue," said Agent Smith, "But it looks like someone got in somehow."
"Another Cape?" asked Lee.
"That goes without saying," said Smith, "Some kind of Master by the looks of it…"
The wailing of an alarm cut off the conversation as both agents immediately responded, snatching up their helmets and guns as they followed their comrades in the mad dash outside to intercept whatever had managed to get over the wall to set of the alert.
It took less than a minute for the entire garrason to get outside, guns cocked and ready as the spotlights lit up the wall, just in time to catch sight of one of the odd exploding creature shoot over the top, grappling with a small swarm of Nilbogs critters with wings. Unlike the others, this one wasn't exploding and was instead spewing fire, golden dust and what looked like dark blue smoke that was making those creatures it touched scream and claw at themselves as if they were being attacked by swarms of ants. Usually right before they were covered in a cloud of dust and blown to bits.
The dragon-like creature shrieked in anger as it swung its tail, somehow pulling a chunk of stone from the wall and slamming it into a Goblin that had been clinging to its back, squashing it flat. A moment later, it shreaked again, this time in pain, as another flying critter latched onto its tail with needle-like teeth. It twisted and bathed the creature in another blast of its breath. The creature immediately started screaming, letting go in the process that allowed the dragon to grab it in both hands and switch its breath to a blast of fire that burned purple and turned the creature to ash in seconds. Then, the dragon twisted in the air, blasting the remaining attackers with more fire and smacking the one that attempted to use the fire to replicated with its tail so hard it and its offspring were nearly squashed flat against the wall.
Now free from its attackers, the dragon turned and began to slowly drift down towards the ground, its tail and arms drooping and its head held low with a long, forked tongue hanging out like a dog. It looked exhausted and was bleeding from more than a few cuts and gashes. It paused for a moment when it spotted the arrayed agents, but kept drifting down, altering its trajectory slightly so it would land a short distance away. Despite its apparent exhaustion, none of the agents relaxed as it landed, its tail coiling as it rested its hands on the floor, its head bowed and eyes closed.
A moment later, it started to glow, making the PRT agents tense, although no one jumped the gun and foamed it.. A moment later, the glow faded and all of the agents were taken aback to see a 15 year old blond boy in dirty pajamas looking rather battered and like he was about to drop.
"If your gonna arrest me, please make it quick," he said, "I really need to…"
He trailed off as his eyes drifted shut and he slumped forwards.
I HATE Goblins. I still have no idea how, but I'd somehow got spotted on my way out of Elisburg, despite being invisible and the size of a kitten. I'd nearly been eaten by one of the bastards before I managed to grow back to full size and blast him in the face with my breath weapon, which turned out to be some kind of psychotropic gas that made them either start screaming and trying to claw their skin off or giggling and rolling around like a cat on catnip. It was also flammable and produced a very, VERY hot flame capable of turning metal into slag in moments.
Unfortunately, that meant that I got every Goblin in town on my tail, even with my illusionary doppelgangers causing chaos with the explosive fairy dust, and had to fight my way out. I spent about three hours being chased around the town before I managed to spot the wall and make a break for it. Fortunataly, holding my form didn't use up energy, but Bending, my Breath Weapon and fairy dust definitely did, so by the time I managed to get out and deal with the last of them, I was dead on my feet and my injuries certainly weren't helping, hence why I passed out.
Speaking of, when I woke up, I found myself in a well stocked infirmary, cuffed to the bed with a rather bulky looking set of manacles covered in blinky lights. Tinkertech, probably designed for Brutes and preventing those chained up from getting loose. Fortunately, I had no intention of doing so, if only so I didn't immediately piss off the PRT. They might be corrupt, but if I wanted to figure out when I was and who I was, I'd need their help. I wouldn't be joining the Wards though.
I sat up, wincing as my bruised and cut up body protested. As I did, a middle aged man in a lab coat entered the room with a clipboard in his hands.
"Ah, your awake," he said.
"Yeah, and I feel like I've been dragged through three hedges and a brick wall," I grumbled.
"Yes, well, thats generally what happens when you get into a fight with Nilbogs creatures," said the doctor.
"Hnn," I grumbled.
I took a deep breath and let it out, a few sparks escaping my lips as I did.
"So, since I'm not in a cell, I take it you've concluded I'm not one of Nilbogs?" I asked.
"We have indeed," said the doctor, "Although we would like to know how you got into Elisburg."
I shrugged.
"Haven't a clue," I said, "In fact, I don't even know who I am. I haven't got any solid memories from anything earlier than waking up in Elisburg."
The doctor frowned as he scanned the clipboard in his hands.
"Hmm, I see," he mumbled, "Well, I think I can help with that."
He flipped the clipboard around and held it out to me. I took it and found that the papers clipped to it were a profile for a missing persons report.
"Theodore Anders, resident of Brockton Bay, vanished from his bed in the early hours of April 8th," said the doctor, "Reported missing by his stepmother, one Kayden Anders who he was apparently living with."
I listened with half an ear as the doctor rattled off more information as my mind whirled. This...would end badly. 'Amnesia' or not, I had no doubt that Keiser would jump at the chance to get me in the E88 and would likely do anything, up to and including threatening Kayden and Aster to do it. I needed a way to keep them safe and, preferably, a way to make my identity of a Cape disappear to. Fortunately, that thought brought just the thing to mind.
My mental encyclopedia of Harry Potter magic wasn't anywhere close to as comprehensive or massive as the one I had for my Bending, but it did have everything up to NEWT level, the basics of most other fields and an understanding of how to cast any spell I knew about, including the Fidelius Charm, which could apparently be cast on any secret, not just a location. That would be helpful.
I made a mental note to meditate later to see what else I could dig up (and to see if I could figure out how to craft a Wand) and returned the clipboard to the doctor.
"So, if you know who I am, why am I chained up?" I asked, indicating to the handcuffs.
"Your an unknown Cape with clearly strong powers," said the doctor, "Its standard practice to make sure they don't immediately have free reign. If we didn't know who you were, you'd be in a cell."
"Fair enough," I said, "So, what now?"
"Now I give you one last checkup while we wait for the Protectorate to send someone to pick you up," said the doctor.
I nodded and winced as I felt my injuries twindge. He checked me over and changed the bandages on some of the larger wounds. A few minutes later, the door opened and a trooper entered with two very familiar faces on his heels. Armsmaster and Miss Militia. Joy of joys.
"Theo Anders?" grunted Armsmaster.
"Apparently," I said, "So, I take it you two are my ride?"
Miss Militia raised an eyebrow and glanced at the doctor.
"Retrograde amnesia," said the doctor, "Although there is something a bit odd going on. His episodic and autobiographical memories have been wiped, but he still has his semantic memory. In other words, he can't remember anything about himself or anyone hes met, but he can still remember things hes learnt, general knowledge and the like. I think that whatever caused it was likely Parahuman in nature."
"Are you sure hes not Mastered?" said Armsmaster.
Well fuck you to!
"We have no baseline to compare him to, but his brain chemistry is reading within normal bounds and he hasn't shown any indication of being Mastered in the tests we were able to run," said the doctor.
Armsmaster just grunted and fixed me with a look. I steadily met his gaze, not intimidated by him in the least. His armour was made from steel and I could feel my Bending abilities connecting me to...hang on, where did...ohh, now thats cool!
I did my best to suppress my massive grin as I suddenly realized that my knowledge of Bending wasn't limited to the primary elements like I thought, but also included the specialized skills as well. I probably wouldn't ever find a use for Spiritbending or Combustionbending, I hoped to god I'd never need Bloodbending and I knew for a fact I'd never manage Flight or Spiritual Projections considering both required a level of spirituality only found in Monks which I most definitely wasn't. The others however...Metalbending would be a godsend against Tinkers and a good chunk of the E88, Lavabending would be handy if I ever had to fight Behemoth, healing was just an awesome power full stop, as was the Seismic Sense and who didn't want to be able to throw lightning around?
I quickly shoved my excitement behind the Occlumency barriers I just noticed (WOOT, Apprentice is fucking awesome!) to keep the grin off my face as Armsmaster grunted again and marched off. Dick. Instead of dwelling on the asshole, I turned to Miss Militia as she approached me.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
I shrugged.
"Sure," I said, "I could use some better food than what they've got here."
I ignored the doctors annoyed muttering as Miss M's eyes crinkled in amusement.
A short while later I was sat in the back of a Dragon transport across from Miss Militia while Armsmaster glowered and kept an extremely obvious eye on me. Miss Militia was a little less obvious, but she still didn't try to strike up a conversation. That was fine though, I needed to meditate anyway.
I ignored the two older Capes as I lent back in my seat, closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. Within moments, I had entered a meditative trance that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to the day before.
Almost immediately, I found all my powers appearing before me in a way that I can't really describe, so I'll have to use a metaphor. My Wildcard powers floated off to the side, just kinda there, giving me ideas of what I was capable of with them. I quickly scanned them. They weren't...bad, I mean, the Fairy Dragon physiology alone was strong enough to earn me an S rank in moments if I ever went off the rails considering I could use it to turn entire acres of land into twisting nightmare forest covered in ice and snow in the middle of summer or a beautiful field of flowers in the coldest depths of winter.
Paper Manipulation wasn't as impressive. Oh, I could use it to control a frankly massive amount of paper and manipulate its properties to a degree, but I couldn't convert my own body into it. I could however shape it into just about anything I wanted and change its properties, meaning I could easily create weapons out of simple origami, create simple golems that could obey simple commands or create controllable puppets that resembled me. That'd be handy.
As for explosive slash, it was kinda limited, but still powerful. I could create blasts of various levels by cutting into objects, with the size of the cut corresponding to the size of the explosion. I could see it possibly being useful, but I could probably achieve much the same with far greater range with my Bending.
Speaking of which, my Apprentice abilities were the ones that had center stage, appearing as a pair of skill trees with a number of options selected and lots more grayed out. The Bending tree was nearly entirely filled in, with the only ones not available to be being Spiritbending and the very 'top' option that basically made me an Avatar. However, both of them would require me somehow fuse with Raava or a similar Spirit, which would be rather difficult since I'm pretty sure they don't exist around here. Well, unless the Entities count. As an added bonus, due to being closely tied to martial arts, I now had access to a good number, ranging from Tai Chi to Northern Shaolin kung fu. Well, that'd endear me to the E88!
The Harry Potter magic one on the other hand was both much larger and far more grayed out. However, many of the skills I had available were scattered throughout the tree, other than the first five years worth of schooling, all of which were available. It took a few moments of studying, but I quickly realized that those I had access to were what I knew about from the books, including the Patronus Charm, Voldemorts flight method, the Fidelius Charm, the Unforgivables, Animagus skills, Occlumency and Legilimency and the basics of Wandcrafting. Well, that'd be handy. My first job would be to make a wand since I wouldn't be able to do much more than cantrips without it. Wandless magic was possible, but currently a tad out of my reach.
Fortunately, even the basics of Wandlore revealed an interesting fact that wands didn't need to be a stick. So long as they were crafted from wood and a biological reagent from a Magical creature that would match the user, they could theoretically be any shape at all. Wands were simply the easiest to use, but the way the power worked meant that whether I used a staff, a wand or a ring, I would still be able to cast flawlessly. As an added bonus, my own hair from my Dragon form would make the perfect wand core for me. All I needed now was a suitable wood that had never felt the touch of Magic and a jar of organic wood polish and I'd be golden.
A light touch on my shoulder drew me out of my meditation and I looked up to see Miss Militia stood over me and the feeling of movement had stopped.
"We've arrived," she said.
I nodded and got to my feet. Time to face the music.
Hmm, you know how I said he wasn't OP? I take that back. I forgot that his Dragon form was rank 9, which basically puts it on a level where he could probably solo Lung, even without the ability to grow larger than his natural mass.
Speaking of, I based the design of his Dragon form on the Ancient Fairy Dragon card from Yu-gi-oh without its armour. I don't play the game, but that was the pages main image and it looked cool, so I decided to use it.
I hope my explanation for the skill trees makes sense. Its mostly irrelevant since I probably won't be using more than he has access to at the moment for a while, but I have to at least try to put on a good show, right?
I originally intended to use Dresden Files magic, but being a walking EMP in a world with Tinkers sounds like a horrible idea.
I'm pretty sure Theo's Shaker ratings going to make Labyrinth look like a chump. I mean, he can manipulate all four elements, metal, generate lightning, control paper and thats not even taking into account what hes capable of with Magic and his Dragon form.
Yes, I'm using Theo for this. I also had an idea for using Greg, but then I decided that this would have a lot more interesting implications. I'll probably end up doing one with Greg later. Possibly with the crossover power giving him Magneto's power. Or Xaviers.
Anyway, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!