The original work which these are based on may be found on Spacebattles. Search for "The Games We Play" by the one and only Ryuugi. His icon is a red-backed Darth Vader looking to choke you. Fittingly, the caption of it is 'Who's your Daddy?'
To clarify - these are my omakes for another story. They can be counted as a mini-series in terms of length, but the original premise behind them is not mine. Credit to Ryuugi for the setting; to me goes simple skill in putting something together that doesn't look too bad.
The latest thread's index may be found here: threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/
At the time of writing, it was up to the 160th page.
Thank you for your time. Enjoy.
The Games We Play - Game Moderator series
Private Messaging
Have you ever wonder'd of the strength in your own arm? Ever dialled your hearing down to subsonic levels and heard the roar of blood filling muscle and sinew pushing the body? The air in your lungs a miasma of chemicals, the synapses in your brain a collection of nerves.
Imagine knowing it all. Knowing the patterns of life, the specific combinations of primordial ooze which will give shape to sapient life-forms after evolution had taken its course. Imagine knowing precisely how to direct matter on a cosmic scale, knowing the outcome epochs before the events unfolded.
This may be used as an accurate comparison, then, for the Game Moderator's outlook on life. Or so one may suppose.
He knew the patterns, the events, the possibilities. In him was held the knowledge of life and death. Precisely, then, why the Gamer was calling a certain number on a hidden speed-dial.
Were a being other than the Gamer calling, they'd be redirected to a pizza parlor in northeast Vacuo. A good one, too. But the point would be that they would be redirected. Not by any machine or signal, but instead by reality itself. The number was, in fact, actually for the aforedescribed place. It was merely an exploit in reality that if the Gamer - and specifically the mentioned being - were to dial that number with the intention of contacting the Game Moderator, then by a stabilized backdoor through quantum reality he wound indeed end up contacting the Game Moderator.
All that was left was waiting for the Janitor to pick up the damn phone.
He had sorted out a few things for the day. Nothing could be done until the morning, save for his elementals unleashing something approaching full-scale war against the Grimm in the Naraka dimension, with Ozpin watching on.
Jaune himself was outside the dimension, still in the headmaster's office. For the purposes of keeping others not caring, he was supposedly being coached in a junior Teachers' course. Or that was what had been told and listed, at least. Either way, the outcome was the same.
By the demons above and below, he was bored.
He'd fallen into the routine of being constantly busy, of continually having something to do or to occupy himself. Gou and Autumn were in Naraka too, finishing off whatever Grimm his Elementals hadn't managed to tear to pieces already.
He figured what better thing to do than to gain newer insight into the massive mechanics by which he lived and grew in power?
Hence the current situation.
Finally, the infuriating Janitor answered. The first thing Jaune heard was retching, and something wet and chunky splattering against a thin metal surface. The disturbing part was that he could smell the bile and all the contents, too, and the sound emnated not from the scroll he held, but off the walls surrounding him as though it was an echo.
"What?" came the brunt greeting of the Almighty Janitor. Though the retching receded, and faded.
Jaune took a breath.
And that's where the argument started...
.-x-.
"Again? Fine." Jaune's request had been simple - a further description of just how things worked. The unspoken (though earlier mutually affirmed; text messaging is a wonderful thing) agreement went that the Janitor would not divulge quest-triggering information, and Jaune likewise would not ask why certain things were not kept, and neither would the Gamer request help.
"I've told you about the general principles. Entropy, Existence, physical manifestations, yah?" Let it not be said he was one for the language and mannerisms of the polite society, or indeed any manners at all.
"Entropy happens to all Creation, regardless of whether or not it Exists. The Grimm are the physical manifestations of Entropy in your world. The reason they seem like they do not have souls or intelligence is because they are not of this Creation, y'see?"
"Hold on-" Jaune interrupted. "WHAT?"
"Let me finish, you dumb sack of shit. Now-"
Take a deep breath. Count to ten while doing so. Pissing off a god is an idea. Not a good idea, but still only an idea. Not a plan to be executed. Pantheocide is the number one no-no, right above smoking the big bad book of evil juju.
"You mortals were born in this Creation. This means you - all of you, across all forms and planes of Existence - are truly and totally in synch with this Creation. This is why you can channel your souls and exploit reality to the extent that you do. Whatchacallem... Semblances, right? Yeah, those. They are the true, literal manifestations of your synchrosity with this Creation."
"Wait, isn't it our souls?" Jaune asked.
"No you dense bitch, your souls and physical forms exist on completely different aspects of Existence. If you brought 'em together, Oh My God." He emphasized the last three words in the underhand twang of a petite Eastern woman.
In the background, Jaune could hear a dog's panting and something very, very big breathing. He elected to be silent and carry on listening.
"Your Semblances are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Anything you can think of, you can do. It's just dictated by equal parts genetics, soul strengths and quantum fluctuations that some things might be easier for whatever kinds of people."
There was a small silence.
"We are literally gods in the machine." Jaune eventually spoke, in awe.
"You know it, babyface." the Janitor said, sounding distracted. Sound warbled meaninglessly for a moment, before the large thing which was breathing before moved with a roar, followed by noises of bloody dismemberment.
"Just WHAT are you doing over there?" Jaune queried, loudly, in chagrin and worry.
"Ever tried to reprogram a coffee machine by sticking your tongue into a chainsaw made of blenders, while tutu-wearing hula girls wearing red hot iron-shod boots are dancing on your testicles and nipples alike?" the Janitor asked.
Jaune was silent.
"Thought so. That's the alternative way of fixing this particular glitch. Don't worry about it."
Solid advice. Jaune decided to ignore the weird happenings and continue. Kind of like the average civilian mindset.
"Back to the subject, please." Jaune almost begged. "We... we are fighting Entropy itself?"
"Yep. Anything in particular about that, or can I go back to giving my kittens full Vacuon waxings?"
Jaune cringed at the mental image and just asked his question.
"So, how does this work? You mentioned Creations in the plural."
He didn't say anything for a small moment, but Jaune received the strange feeling that his conversational partner shrugged. "Creations stretch across planes of existence. Creations Exist. Therefore, against Inexistence they erode. Entropy is the result."
"Inexistence?"
A sigh.
"I'll tell it all to you from the very beginning."
And Jaune perked up and listened.
.-x-.
"In the beginning, there was Nothing. Then, there was Something. Something was eroded by the Nothing. Something was broken, and those pieces formed the First Creation."
"Something gained sentience, and knowledge, and tactics and planning. Something made more Creations. The Something eventually became an endless series of Creations."
"Infinity creations and many infinities of Life. There is literally no chance of all of Creation will be wiped away."
"Wait, what?" Jaune interrupted. "If Nothing is constantly eroding away all the Creations, then eventually Creation will be worn away, right?"
He could practically feel the Janitor's hate for interrupting him flowing through the link. But it was a valid question still, or so it must have seemed to the Moderator, because it was answered.
"Beings gain power. Past a certain threshold, they may ascend past death into a state of being between Creations. There they are free to fight the Entropy by any means possible."
"So, you're from somewhere." Jaune speculated. Too sharp a route to take, apparently, as the Janitor ceased his description.
The resultant silence was nearly oppressive.
"Yes."
You could have dropped a Goliath on him, and Jaune would still not have noticed at that point in time, so stunned was he.
"Now, I have to go. Oh by the way, take this. I forgot to give it to you the other day."
Something hit him. Something intensely uplifting.
"Now that's done..." Something else hit him, of the solid and dense variety. To the head.
The Gamer immediately blacked out.
.-x-.
"Jaune! Wake up!" Ozpin's on-edge voice reached him, as did the feeling of him beings shaken awake. The near impossibility of the headmaster being unsettled by anything escaped him, for he was only focusing on the conversation he had.
"I'm up. Did it work?" the newly-awakened Gamer asked.
And here was to be revealed their master plan - bugging a conversation with the Game Moderator. A very, very bad idea to piss off a god it was, they had no other choice but to do so, to gain at least a little insight into the being that all but governed their lives.
Ozpin checked the devce.
The file was clicked... and the message that popped up read 'Data corrupted'.
The groan was mutual, though audialized only by the younger of them.
"Well, these things do happen." Ozpin said. He then reached for his mug, to find it oddly light.
The older man looked down, and found it emptied, coffee drunk. Inside was a neon pink note, rolled up into a tiny scroll. The note was taken out and unrolled.
Very simply, it read:
Stop trying to peek.
The two were dismayed. Seems like even that which may as well count as a god was against them. Until Jaune read his newest alert.
You have received the status effect "The Chosen One".
The bearer of this status effect gains access to beta testing mode. May only be given or removed by Game Moderators.
Post location: threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-four.311394/page-1369#post-16331851