Disclaimer: I don't own Worm, or any of the characters that appear in this fic. Even the OC's, because owning people is wrong.
Chapter 1
It took me 3 and a half hours but I finally did it. I completed my build. I stayed up way too late, and skipped doing my English paper due tomorrow, but I did it. I bounced around from build to build, deciding between a brute or tinker when out of nowhere I got the sudden inspiration to do a trump build. It was perfect. I had to decide on which version of the Worm CYOA I was going to use, I settled on a mod. I probably took too many drawbacks if I'm being honest, but it's not like I'm ever going to actually have to live with them.
I guess I wasn't technically done. I chose the Meta option for 30 SP so I could have an additional CYOA to go through, I haven't committed to anything yet, but I'll probably go with the Overpowered Isekai one, it has options for protecting my mind since I didn't take that in the Worm CYOA. I've made a few builds with it in the past and have always been really happy with it. I may even go with the Customization Meta CYOA, ooh I could double my points and take less drawback with that one... or keep the drawbacks and just get more powers. Dammit, now I want to make a whole new build with all the starting points doubled...
...In the morning I can miss first period, it's not like I can turn the paper in anyways. I should have a solid two hours make a build. Maybe I'll go with a changer build this time... I did have a great idea about combing Mythical with Endbringer... maybe, no I need sleep. It's already 2 in the morning, at this rate I wont get enough sleep to actually wake up and make the damn build in the first place.
…
…
What the fuck? I know I went to sleep in bed not... an endless black void. I think I would kind of remember that. This has to be a dream. There's just no other explanation for this. At all. I try to do all the standard things to wake up. Forced myself to 'fall' but I keep floating. I tried pinching and slapping myself, both hurt, and I'm still here. I tried willing myself through a portal, imagined a door appearing... nothing. I'm in general a fairly calm person, at least I'd like to think, but I have to admit, I'm starting to panic a bit here.
"Greetings... Chosen." I tried not to flinch at the booming voice that echoed from all around me, but I know I did. It sounded like how I always pictured the voice of God, at least in volume and presence. It sounded nothing like Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones, so it wasn't actually God. Suddenly the black in front of me moved and shifted, I know there were details but I couldn't make any of them out. A large glowing fiery eye opened in the black mass, easily three times the size of my body. I'd like to think I stood my ground and got to the bottom of just what was happening but...
"...the fuck?" I woke up after having the weirdest dream, I was floating in some endless black void with a massive black thing that had a glowing eye and... Oh fuck I'm still floating. That thing is still looking at me. This has to be the weirdest dream, this has to be a dream period. Oh fuck that means i passed out doesn't it?
"Time... Fleeting." The booming bass of a voice was back and the second time was no less flinch inducing then the first. What the actual fuck! No, stop flipping out, panicking and... peeing yourself isn't helping the situation. I can't believe I pissed myself. I'm 15 for fucks sake. This has to be a dream... a super realistic dream I should just go with right? Even if it really doesn't feel like it.
"Calm... Chosen." Hey I didn't flinch that time. I think I'm making progress. I'm still having trouble really understanding and taking in the black mass of flesh with a massive glowing eye. Not the words, I mean I do speaking English thank you very much, but... it's existence I guess? It's hard to even concentrate on it's actually body. I keep just wanting to stare at the eye, though... there is something that's bothering me.
"Chosen?" I hate how small and squeaky my voice came out. It probably doesn't help that it cracked halfway through the word either. This, thing? Creature? Said the word twice and it feels like it was directed at me. Like it was calling me chosen. Or maybe he's like a computer. It was stating that it chose to greet me, then chose to be calm? English can admittedly be complicated when so many words can have multiple meanings, and the person talking isn't using any words for proper context.
"Chosen... Avenger." Chosen Avenger? Is it calling me the chosen avenger, or is saying that it's the chosen avenger. Like it talks in the third person. I guess it could be saying that it's chosen me as an avenger, or that I'm the chosen and it's the avenger. Or, I could have been the chosen, but now it's decided I'm an avenger instead... I honestly have no fucking clue, but I think I need to start going to sleep earlier if this is what a lack of it causes my dreams to be like.
"Existence... Fleeting." Who's existence is fleeting? It's existence? My existence? Is it going to kill me? Is all of existence ending? Wait... Existence and time are both fleeting. It greeted me, most likely referring to me as some sort of chosen individual. Chosen to avenge something possibly. It's probably not talking about my existence ending... so either it's dying or all of existence is. Well if I go by that then the word avenger fits more with the idea that it's dying, and has chosen me to avenge it. Right? Or I'm completely off base.
"You... want me to avenge you?" It's my best guess, and short of this acid trip of a dream ending or this thing starting to use more words and fucking communicate properly, it's the only thing that I can think of. God I watch too much anime if this is what my exhausted dreams are about.
"Chosen... Choose." In front of me a floating display appears, reminding me a lot of what I always thought a holographic computer display would look like. On it for some reason was the CYOA I just finished, all the selections grayed out, but with Meta highlighted. Things are finally starting to make sense. I went to sleep thinking about what CYOA to use for my build and now I'm dreaming about it. All in all, that's actually a surprisingly normal dream for me.
Playing along, I read over the Meta option again quickly. I may as well enjoy whatever weird version of a guided dream this is for what it's worth. Hell I may actually I remember it in the morning and... wait. How the fuck can I read any of this in a dream. That's not a thing right? You definitely can't read in dreams right? This... this can't be fucking real. It's not possible. If this is real then that's the Alien, the last one, and I'm about to be inserted into Worm. Stuff like that doesn't actually happen, or exist. It can't. There's-
"Choice... Fleeting." Fleeting... My time to choose is running out? No. This isn't real. Nothing is running out. This... but if it is... If there's even a slight chance... a fraction of a fraction of a chance?
I would be getting inserted into Worm with a broken build and 30 shard points wasted. No, this is a dream. It has to be, but... it doesn't hurt to play along right? For, fun? With a shaky hand I tap the highlighted selection, Meta, and the display rapidly changes to a massive scrolling list of CYOA. All of which I can read. In my dream. That I'm definitely having.
Right. Focus on the build. That's what you love and do best. Well. Right off the bat the Customization Meta is out. I can buy powers and items with it, but what I really wanted is to double my points. My options were grayed out before so I don't think I can change my build at this point. Overpowered Isekai would work a lot better. It has good options... but no matter how powerful I get I would still be in Worm. Alone. With a powerful god level Alien going to destroy earth, and nearly every other earth in the multiverse. Fuck. It's just a dream. Relax.
A CYOA scrolling past catches my eye and makes me pause in thought. While it would be nice to get more power, as a trump I can already do that in universe. What's more daunting than being initially under powered in Worm, is being alone in Worm. In a city where all the gangs will be after me. The Slaughterhouse Nine will be hunting me. I'll have multiple Nemesis out to get me, and an Endbringer target in a city about a month away from getting attacked by said Endbringer. Not to mention all the shit that happens in canon. Why did I take so many fucking drawbacks?
I need Help. People, powerful people. Companions. Which brings me back to the CYOA that caught my eye. Gforce1000's R34 Economy CYOA. Form what I remember it's similar to the Waifu catalog, but a lot more compact... and if I really am running out of time that's exactly what I need. Clicking on it, and not second guessing my self, I watch as the somewhat familiar CYOA shows up in an interactive version. This isn't real, but there's no reason why I can't make the best build possible before... my dream ends. Right, that's what's fleeting, my time in this dream.
Immediately I see that this is a CYOA, added to by someone else besides the original author. That could be either great for me or horrible. Lets hope this 'Windshadow21' only added to the CYOA and didn't remove anything. I'm not sure I have the time to go back and change CYOA's... I also don't see how to even go back. Fuck. Hmm, OK it's looking good so far, a quick read of the notes looks like the CYOA was only added to, looks like I got lucky.
OK, standard speed building time. Looks like world has already been chosen with no way to change or adjust anything there. Drawbacks first then, take as many as I can live with to get the largest point pool possible. Alright, three sections, first is challenges. Hmm none of this looks great... here, 'Crazy Whispers'. I have to take 3 villains, and no mind control or obedience perk. I wouldn't have taken those anyway, a bit too rapey for me. The higher levels locks you into only taking villain girls so they're out. Not seeing anything else beside 'Nice Guy' that I have an instinctual dislike of, I move on.
The next section 'Quests' Immediately has more interesting options. I quickly choose 'Cheat Sheet 2', 'Propagation 2', 4 levels of 'Sagacious', and 5 levels of 'Guardian Angel'. I took 'Tin Foil' In the Worm CYOA, but I can get around that for 'Cheat Sheet. I have no problem seducing someone from canon to become a companion, I would take the max 5 level for 'Sagacious, but I'm not sure I would have time to personally help and train that many people. Though I'm hoping one of my Worm trump powers will help... fuck it I'll take 5 levels. Off the top of my head, I can save Aegis, Gallant, Manpower, and Shielder from Leviathan, then Battery from the Slaughterhouse Nine for 'Guardian Angel', I would have probably done it anyways.
'Save The Day' Is a no brainer. If this is real, I'd have to do that anyways. 'House Macguffin' Should be easy to do. I have a pocket dimension inventory from the Worm CYOA, I'm sure I can think of something to buy/steal. 'Of Great Renown' should be easy in Worm for a hero, or even a villain of significant power. Finally, there's 'Dragon Slayer', It'll probably mean killing one of the Endbringers, or like Ashbeast, maybe Lung when he's fully ramped up. I can do that with my trump powers.
Alright last Drawback section. 'Complications'. 'Disperse 1' is fine, the time frame is inconvenient but 100 yards is a small enough space for it to not be that big of a deal. So is 'Not Safe 2'. I should be able to turn invisible and teleport thanks to my Worm Build. 5 levels of 'Hunted 1' might be excessive, what with it making 1024 skilled mercenaries with tinker tech gear hunting me, but I'm almost definitely taking a Kryptonian companion. It should be fine, if it's not I can always join the wards for protection. I picked up 'Summons', because I'm confident in my ability to handle whoever is going to be our summoner through bribery. I will be a power granter after all.
I took 'Hunted 2' as well at level 3 which should have 16 terminator units coming after me and the my group. They'll likely join the mercenaries. Then I took it a step further and took 'Hunted 3' at level 2. 4 shape-shifting power absorbers will be joining them. The last and most lucrative drawback I took was 'Rival' I get half of Worm's starting points added to my pool, but most importantly it gives the world another strong Parahuman that can help fight the Endbringers and Zion. Worst case scenario, I should have a Kryptonian to help smooth over any wrinkles in my build. 595 points. Fuck that's a lot. I need to save at least 150 for companions, that should buy me 6 of the strongest women available, Kryptonian included.
Now it's time to blitz the perk section so I can spend as much time as possible on choosing the companions. Alright, Control perks, Propagation section... eh most of this is a bit too... slavey for me. 'Binding Contracts', and 'Good Times' seem fine though, both are consensual... mostly. I mean if the woman has sex with me more than six times, she'd probably be OK with everything. There's more in the Influence section that isn't so bad, though a lot of it is kinda rapey.
'Attraction & Understanding' is fairly useful, then 'Perk Sharing' at level 2 is a must, I might increase the level later if necessary. 'Connection' and 'Near and Far' don't really do anything bad and should make the group far safer overall. OK next section, fuck I'm taking too long. Alright, 'Gender flip', 'Glamorize', 'Oh Yeah, Him', 'Noblesse Oblige', a level of 'Local Power', 4 levels of 'Blinged Out', 'United Omniverse', and 'House on the Hill' close out the section. I honestly probably missed some good picks but I really only had time to skim through.
Last perk section then I can move on to the girls. Personal Perks. 'Lover Boy', 'Optimization', 'Chef', 'Purity of Body', 'Purity of Mind', 'Fate Breaker', 'Healing Hands', 'Magical Brilliance', 'Time-Savers', and 'Self-Adjustments'. Finally I'm done. And I still have... over 350 points left. I might have taken too many drawbacks, or not enough perks, but I don't have to go back and change anything. I need to get to actually choosing companions before time runs out, I've wasted long enough. Opening the Companion section, the the Comic Book section, I'm met with so many options. Too many options. Fuck.
…
…
I barely had time to finish making my last selection before the display winked out of existence and I was left in the endless void, with a giant eye. Well it had a huge black body as well, but with how hard it is to see, to focus on, it really just felt like a massive floating eye. I made mistakes. I'm mentally review my build in my head, god there's so many choices I would have done differently. Companions I probably should have chosen, perks I should have taken, drawbacks I shouldn't have. Hell there was like 5 sections of companions I didn't even open. I didn't see any of the 2nd DLC companions. None of the Video game companions, none of the League of Legends companions, or Warcraft.
"Time... Fleeting." That again. I could tell that from the fact that the screen cut out, without giving me time to make any more changes. It was honestly just my rough build, about 30 minutes worth of effort. It was nowhere near optimized. It doesn't matter though, I'll be waking up from this dream soon anyway, it just said so. Maybe if I remember this dream I'll revise my choices once I'm awake, and make a build I could actually be proud of. Still, dream or not, there is something I'm wondering, something that's been in the back of mind.
"Why me? You could have easily pulled out a silver-age Kryptonian, or the God Emperor of Mankind, Maybe Jean Grey in her full phoenix force powers. There's lots of-"
"Weak... Malleable. Power... Exponential. Chosen... Avenger." I... If I understand what it's saying, I'm weak and it's easier to empower me. It's power is exponential in nature, even being a little bit easier to manipulate, could result in being able to give me exponentially more power than someone stronger. That might also be why It chose someone my age. But, Superman by himself would probably be strong enough so why someone it had to empower? Chosen, Avenger. Hmm, it wants me to Avenge it. It chose me to. It's empowering me to. I'll be beating Zion with... That's why! Without it's power I'm ordinary. With it empowering me, I'll be able Avenge it, by using it's own power. In some aspects, it'll be like It beat Zion.
"Avenger... Thrive!" Wha- Suddenly the void around me began to shake, or maybe it's body was beginning to move, or die. My vision... what was th-
-1:15 AM, 04/08/2009-
I found myself suddenly stumbling, trying to catch myself before I hit the ground. The feeling of suddenly having weight and mass was disorienting, especially since I was in a body so different from my own. Or at least bigger. Taller, thicker. I could feel my with every stumbling step, looking down though it wasn't fat but muscle. Way more muscle than a 15 year old should reasonably have.
"Well well ladies, what do we have here?" Nearly flinching at the slightly raspy warm feminine that I instinctively recognized from many hours of watching Avatar, I slowly turn around.
"I don't know Zula, but he certainly looks like a cutie to me." My eyes were drawn to the bubbly voice, and I took in the cute brown haired girl, dressed in pink and red circus like attire. Ty Lee. That would make the first voice Azu-
"Hopefully he lasts longer than the last one did." The monotone bored sounding voice had me turning my head to see Mai. Dressed in a lose red and black rode over loose pants. She's beautiful, the perfect example of sharp aristocratic features.
"It's not my fault he wasn't more specific about who he was, precision is a matter of life and death." It was at this point that a metallic burnt beefy scent fills my nose, and I look down to see the blackened corpse of a young man, probably not much older than myself. What... did she just... She killed him. Holy fuck that's a dead body! Shit, I know I probably shouldn't be so shocked that she would kill... our summoner? But fuck. I mean he's just... dead.
"I... you killed him? Why would you-"
"He claimed to be the one who summoned us here. He also thought that gave him... certain rights to our bodies. I quickly dispelled him of that notion." Azula's drawling voice sent a shiver down my spine at how she could so easily talk about killing someone. It's not... it's not, this wasn't even supposed to be real! I was supposed to wake up from a dream and this would all be over.
"He really should have dodged." I ignored Mai's bored comment and kept starring at the burned corpse on the ground. This is real. I can feel it. I'm in Worm. The fire nation girls are standing in front of me, and the princess just murdered the guy that summoned us here. Holy fuck I'm in Worm. I'm- Wait a minute. If I'm in Worm does that mean...
"Honestly I was almost as surprised he died as he was. The contract said I shouldn't have been able to hurt him at all. I wonder how much of what we agreed to is even true." Half listening to Azula, I reached down and thought about my powers. Right before touching the body my hand flinched, hesitated. I, Fuck, I have to do this. We're standing in the middle of wherever this is with a dead body. It's a miracle the PRT or Protectorate isn't here yet. Finally touching the body I let instinct take over and sent the corpse to my hammer space inventory.
"Ohhh that's handy. You must be a hit at parties." As disturbed as I was by what just happened and what I just did, Ty Lee's bright innocent veneer was a great distraction. It didn't hurt that she was great to look at either.
"I'm not much of a partier, but I think I have few tricks up my sleeve you might like. My-"
"Were you also summoned here by our now missing corpse?" Rude. Looking back at Azula I take the time to really take her in. If Ty Lee is pretty, and Mai is beautiful, then she's gorgeous. She looks older than I expected. Closer in age to Mai and Ty Lee. Maybe it's the Royal armor she's wearing though, it certainly looks impressive.
"I, kind of? He summoned us to this world, technically, but he was just the person that opened an already opening door, no one important princess. I'm-"
"It seems even in other worlds peasants know of me. Tell me helpful peasant, if our dear corpse of a summoner isn't the important person we're waiting for, do you know where we're supposed to find this 'chosen'?" I do. Based off the cruel smirk on her face, I really wish I didn't. Still I have powers now. I can teleport, turn invisible, hell I can even turn her powers off if I want to... who cares if she is a highly trained prodigious fire-bender, that just killed a guy she thought was me. It'll be fine. Right?
"I am, if you're talking about what I think you are. The being whose power was used to bring all of us here certainly called me that. My nam- the fuck!" Apparently I said the wrong thing because before I could even realize it, my whole body was a washed in a wave of blue flames. This psycho bitch is killing me!... right? Why am I not dead yet? Or even in pain?
"Looks like you really are the one we're here for. You're not even singed a little." The fuck? Did she just test to see if I was telling the truth by attempting to murder me? Damn, why are the crazy ones so hot. Also she can't hurt me... she did mentioned something like that and a contract earlier right?
"Zula! Stop trying to scare of all the cute boys! Don't worry chosen dude, I won't let the big bad fire princess hurt you... unless you like that kind of thing of course." And suddenly I'm not so upset. I should find a way to bottle what ever it is that makes her so... her. I'd make a killing selling it. Maybe that's what pepper-up potions are? I'll have to consult Hermione when she gets here.
"... I mean I'm always up to try new things.. err I mean why did you try to kill me!" I'm supposed to be upset not daydreaming about all kinds of kinky things with the cute girl glomped on my arm.
"Oh Zula can I keep him? Please?" I somehow don't mind that. Both Azula and Mai eye rolled at Ty Lee's... exuberance in almost synchronization.
"I'm pretty sure he's the one keeping us Ty, we did-"
"Hey no fair, I called dibs! Or I'm calling dibs. Dibs!" I'm not sure which is cuter, Ty Lee's 'mad' face, or Mai's sheer exasperation. Mmm, I think it's going to be fun being around these three. When Azula isn't trying to kill me of course. Or kill other people.
"You can't call dibs, we all agree-"
"Silence! Both of you." And just like that the fun's over. Though to be fair, we had gotten pretty off track here. Still it was interesting to see just how much Mai and Ty Lee could go from being teenage girls arguing over a boy to soldiers in Azula's personal army. Mmm I'm definitely going to miss the feel of Ty Lees breast on my arm though.
"Right. So I'm James. You're Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, along with her friends Mai and Ty Lee. It's really good to meet the three of you, hopefully you're all done trying to kill me... or people you think are me." Azula rolled her and Ty Lee stifled a giggle at my attempted olive branch.
"I wasn't trying to kill you or him. The contract said that I'd be unable to harm the 'chosen' that would be waiting for me. I was only trying to scare him off when he got handsy. It's not my fault he misrepresented himself and got a little burned." OK. Fine, I can work with that. I mean, for villains none of these girl were ever really evil. Spoiled and needlessly cruel sure, but you have to respect the fact that they accomplished so much in the war, with little to no actual evil acts.
"Right, contracts. I can make them but I wasn't aware that any of you were recruited like that or what your contracts said. The same being that brought you here really didn't give me a lot details. I'm sure the three of you have a lot of questions, and I definitely want to get to know you all more, but we have company." I got a ping from one of my powers, a minor one, that tells me when a parahuman is near and their power. I'm picking one up, 40 yards south-east from... around the area of an old train car. Holy fuck, we're in the Train yard. And there's a parahuman with the power of portals nearby.
"You can come out, I know you're there." Unless this is Doormaker, then what I'm actually picking up is a result of my cross compatible perk allowing my trump powers to work on superpowers that aren't from shards. Like Semblances for instance. There's a 9/10 chance that this is Raven Branwen from RWBY. If it's not... well I'm more than confident in the combined skills of the Fire Nation girls now behind be.
"Interesting, you have keen senses. You might not be as bad off as I thought." Suddenly appearing in the middle of our group was Raven Branwen in all her fem-Madara cosplaying glory. Sadly she had the ridiculous mask on hiding what's almost certainly the most gorgeous face here. Her hand is also on the hilt of her sword, something the Avatar girls took notice of judging by their defensive stances.
"Calm down, she's friendly. Well, she's a friendly. She's not very friendly herself, what with being the leader of a thieving, murdering, raping bandit tribe and all. She is however on my side, just like the three of you." That didn't ease tensions. I maybe shouldn't have mentioned the whole bandit thing. It was tense a few moments until Raven slowly took her hand off her sword and.. disappeared? No she just move behind me super fucking fast. Shit that's gonna take some getting used to.
"So this is your tribe? I'm... underwhelmed, they do have good style though... for whatever that's worth." Well they are mostly dressed similarly to you so... Erm regardless, I'm starting to wonder what exactly the Alien being told all of them to get them here.
"Tribe? I am the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation you uneduc-"
"Yes! Well, they like you are here to be my companions, I guess you could call them a tribe. Raven I'm sure you heard who these three are. Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, this is Raven Branwen she is one of the single strongest fighters from her world and has probably killed more people than you've met. Think Master Piandao combined with a fully trained Avatar, add the ability to create portals, and multiply whatever mental image you came up with by 10." I may be laying it on slightly thick but, honestly the sheer speed of most RWBY characters is ridiculous compared to the Avatar world. She's also used to one shoting people that have strong defensive barriers. She could kill these girls before they could blink.
"Am I supposed to bow or something? I was under the impression you were the leader of this little endeavor, not the Princess over here." Fuck. This is going to be a thing isn't it. God please let someone else show up so I don't have to deal with this anymore. Mostly because I'm not sure if whatever this contract says will actually stop them from hurting each other. Also because while I can take Raven's semblance and aura away, I'm pretty sure her body is still just fast and strong enough to take them out in one swipe.
"I am th-"
"I am the leader of this group, tribe as you would call it. But that doesn't mean any of you don't get a say. I picked you all as Companions because I value each of your skills, experiences, and personalities. I know this is weird, you're all dealing with various things from your home dimensions and now you're here with stranger, trying to figure out a dynamic that works. I get it. But right now we're going to be involved in some level of violence in the next 20 or so minutes."
"On top of that more of our Companions are on the way, and there's a pretty good chance that a few of them may have arrived and already left. They either will or have appeared within 3 hours before or after I did and in a roughly 100 yard radius from here. Luckily that entire area is all in the train yard. The only people around that should become violent are the Merchants, they're a gang that uses something called guns tha-"
"We know what guns are and who the Merchants are. We aren't uncivilized Peasants." How...right they got memories of this world. They have lives and Identities in this world. Families.
"Sorry, I wasn't implying otherwise. Let me start over. I found out I was this 'chosen' person less than an hour ago, and I've been scrambling to go through a massive list of companions, perks, drawbacks, and items. I had maybe 30 minutes. And we're about to get attacked any minute. I'm not in the best frame of mind right now so I'm sorry if I'm missing things." I really have no fucking clue what I'm doing but honestly helps right? I mean I chose the companions I did because I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. I've never been in a fight before. I've never seen a dead fucking body before. I've never... fuck. I need to calm down.
"... I saw two women arrive before these three did. One older and one younger, both inhuman looking, one orange the other blue. I think they'd be called case 53's in this world. It was an hour ago, they headed north-east, I lost them after a mile. They seemed to react to every move I made to follow them almost before I made them." That's Aayla and Ahsoka then. Maybe they sensed the darkness in Raven? Who is surprising me with how helpful she's being. There's definitely something off there but right now I don't have the time to figure out what.
"How long ago did you get here?" Hopefully she was the first one here and no one else has come through, or else it's going to be a bitch to track them down before they get in trouble or attract too much attention. Mmm, no wait I can use Near and Far. Or better yet Raven can. She has far more experience with this kind of thing, and I don't want to suddenly teleport them to me if they're in the middle of something. She's fast and can probably... Soul mate. I can give her a copy of my invisibility power. Fuck it's going to be hard keeping track of everything I can do.
"How could people get here before the corpse guy did the summon thing?" What? Ty Lee's question took me clear out of my train of thought. It actually took me a moment of reviewing it to even processing what she was saying.
"Because he summoned me. Whether he was trying to or not. I took a drawback that dispersed my companions within 3 hours of my arrival. That means that they could easily arrive before he started summoning, or after he died. What matters is that he completed the process of summoning. All the other details are unimportant." More importantly though, we would have arrived here regardless. Even without him 'summoning' us. Well the specific location might have been different.
"Ahh tha-"
"You have no idea what he said do you?" Mai's deadpan cut through Ty Lee's false intelligent tone, like one of the many knives she carries. It took so much self control not to laugh, but I'm pretty sure she'll be the easiest to get in bed. Maybe even the funnest.
"Mai! You-"
"So anyways, you should be able to use a perk we have to teleport to them. I can even give you a power that will let you turn invisible in case they're in public, or around whoever their families are in this world. Try to get them to come back here please." All four of them perked up at the mention of me being able to give Raven Invisibility.
"You can just give me powers? How long will it last?" It looks like that wasn't in whatever agreement she signed. Once I get everyone here I really need to find out exactly what was on those things.
"I'm a power granter and manipulator I can make powers stronger temporarily, or permanently. I can take powers, or give them. As for how long the invisibility power I give you will last, it's until I take it back, but there is a way for me to give it to you more permanently once we have more time." If I use soul mate to give someone else power copy, then have them copy my invisibility, I can then give Raven any random temporary power through Santa Clause then use power swap to permanently swap them. I may even be able to simply give someone else the invisibility power, then give Raven a random power and swap them. The only thing I'm not sure about is if her copy of the power would still count as the power I loaned out.
"Interesting. That could be an extremely valuable skill set in this world. I know many people that would pay for services like that. I'm ready." I'm counting on that. I close my eyes and... connect I guess with the power just under the surface. It's eager. Almost begging to be used. Begging for attention like a little puppy. I focus on the idea of Soulmate, and picture myself giving a copy of the power I want to Raven. It felt like a life time as I could see in my mindscape a wispy light blue energy come out of my body and enter hers, before returning to me. Regardless of how long it felt, once I opened my eyes, I could tell it was less than a second.
"That was... an interesting experience. How do I... that's how." Raven disappeared right in front of us towards the end of her sentence. But I did still get her location and power from my trump purchase. Interesting. We could also still hear her... I think there's a power relating to silence I can grant. I can look into that later though.
"Wow, that's cool t- and she's gone. Fuck I never found out how long ago she got here." I could randomly try to transport companions until one of them works. Or I could try to send them a mental message but both of those have way more problems than are really worth it. Though I guess they're decent back up plans.
"So now-"
"A group is approaching... I count 5 no 6 people from over there." Azula pointed in the direction towards the entrance of the Train Yard. It's within my range but I'm not getting any pings. None of whoever is coming is a Parahuman. Or person with powers of any kind for that matter. Given the area, they're probably Merchants.
"Alright, let's-"
"We can handle a few thugs. Besides you should probably be here if anyone else shows up." Someone wants to prove themselves after Raven casually came in and showed how fast she is. I doubt any of them missed the fact that just as easily as she appeared in the middle of us, she could have used her sword Omen, to cut all of them down before they knew she was there. I watched the three of them take off in formation. They're fast. Towards the peak human level. Maybe even above. But the very fact that I can see them and follow their movements... fuck Raven really is on a different level.
I half listened to the sounds of muffled screams that started happening after a while, luckily there were no gunshots that could have potentially drawn attention. They must be leaning on whatever memories they have from this world. Ah fuck, I probably should have told them no killing. They know that though right? The- showtime. I watched as a portal opened in front of me about 30 yards away, glowing dark blue and roughly 10 feet across. Out of it stepped two figures, one dressed in a jean jacket over a purple hoodie looking roughly 17, the other in her mid twenties, dressed in a brownish purple duster, probably leather. I recognized both immediately, especially with the wands in their hands.
"Over here!" I waved at both of them and they tensed, pointing their wands at me. I honestly would have been a lot more nervous if I didn't already experience Azula's fire not being able to hurt me. Not to mention the confidence boost of having successfully used my powers already. Hermione and Nymphadora were both cautious in walking over to me, both still had there wands pointed but I didn't take any offense. If I'm right about when they were taken from, Voldemort should be at or near his height. They're understandably cautious. They might have even been taken directly from the battle of Hogwarts.
"It's OK, I believe you're both here for me. Hermione and Tonks right?" They both take a second to look at each other, almost as if surprised to see each other. Interesting, and it just leaves me with so many more questions about just how all my companions were recruited. I already figured out that the Avatar girls were from different parts of the Avatar timeline.
"You're the Avenger?" Hmm, I wonder why it used that term for Hermione instead of chosen? Is it something about the situation she was in? Or what was agreed to in her contract?
"I prefer James but Avenger or Chosen are accurate. I was chosen to be an avenger after all. But enough about me, h-"
"Muggles are coming!" Muggles are what? Looking around I turn to where Tonks is looking and see Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee running over at a decent speed. I wonder how she knew they were muggles? The lack of wands? Though I'm surprised she'd be able to see that at this distance and with the only real light being the moon. Or did they do some spell I didn't notice?
"It's fine, they're w-" Raven. Dear sweet Raven, chose that exact moment to teleport in with a hostile looking Aayla and Ahsoka in her grips. Maybe it wasn't the best decision to send Raven after the two Jedi. But I'm not sure the others would have been... Ty Lee. I should have sent Ty Lee. She's bright and bubbly. Probably looks amazing in the force. Well hindsight and all that jazz I guess.
"Get off me!"Ahsoka roughly pulled out of Raven's grip and I heard the snap-hiss of two light sabers igniting. Huh, they're both green, but she definitely looks older than the last time I remember seeing her in the clone wars. Closer to the 16-17 range than the 14-15 she looked in most the series. Not as old as when she got her white sabers though.
"Padawan, calm yourself." Aayla, while initially hostile seemed to calm down significantly when Raven removed her hand and backed off. At the sudden arrival and shouting Tonks whipped around to point her wand at the newly arrived trio, while Hermione kept hers trained on the girls from Avatar that just arrived like they didn't have a care in the world.
"You don't get to call me that!" Ahsoka looked like she couldn't decide which of the two she wanted to attack more, Aayla seemingly having hit a sore spot. Ah. That's the time period she's from. Being falsely imprisoned. She was either still at that point or... no this would be past that. When she was still going through it, she was mad but there was an element of trying to prove her innocence there. This though... she's not just mad, she's disgusted almost. Or maybe I should say she looks betrayed?
"OK that's enough! Everyone calm down. No one here is your enemy. Please put the wands and lightsabers down. I know some of you are coming from some pretty tense situations and now you have a whole new set of memories in your head that's making things worse... or at least weirder. You're surrounded by mostly strangers and you're probably unsure of what's going on. I get it. We all do. We're all in basically the same boat as you."
"We're all here for the same reason. All of you signed a contract and agreed to become Companions and help me. You all had you're reasons, promises were made by the same Alien that chose me, and I fully intend to honor and uphold them. Right now though, we still have more companions that will be showing up over the course of the next couple of hours, and as I'm sure you all know, we aren't in the safest of places. I'm not really worried about us getting hurt, but I don't think it's a good idea to draw too much attention, especially before everyone has arrived."
I get the feeling I'm going to be giving this speech a lot in the next few hours. Luckily for now it's working. The tensions eased in our new arrivals from the Star Wars and Harry Potter universes. Good progress. Ahsoka even had the decency to look very slightly ashamed at her outburst.
"I'm sorry I yelled Ma- Aayla." Apologetic she may be, but she seems firm on her decision to no longer consider Aayla any kind of master she recognizes.
"Good. I'd like to apologize if Raven brought you here in a rough way. I know seeing a masked swordsman appear can be... worrying. I hope you weren't too put off by it." Because of the mask, I couldn't see Raven roll her eyes, but I'm pretty sure everyone felt her do it.
"It was less the mask and sword, we're used to those. It has a lot more to do with the darkness that radiates from her." Yeah, really should have sent Ty Lee instead.
"I can understand that. Without chancellor Palpatine cloaking so much from you, you're probably feeling the force more clearly than you ever ha-"
"The chancellor? What does he have to do with-"
"Certain members of the council have long suspected that there was a chance, however fleeting, that Chancellor Palpatine was somehow connected to the Sith, though it was a very unpopular opinion pad- Ahsoka." Huh. I don't particularly remember that but then again it's not like we saw every second of their lives. I also only really saw the clone wars once so my memory may be spotty. Never even got around to season 7.
"Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith? Is there anything else the Jedi Counc-"
"He's not really a Sith. He's the Sith. He's Darth Sidious, master of Darth Tyranus, who you probably know better as Count Dooku. But we're getting a bit off subject here. I was trying to explain, that Raven is from a dying world. Beasts made of darkness hunt those with any negative emotions. Most of their people live in only a handful of cities as living outside of them is a death sentence. It's a hard world and the people in it have had to make hard choices. I'd ask that you not judge her too harshly on her past, like the rest of us, she isn't exactly the same person anymore." I'd be lying if I said the extra set memories in my head haven't been affecting me so far.
"I apologize if I was hasty in my reaction to you Raven, I did-"
"I don't really care. I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to help him, and enjoy my reward for doing so. Think of me what you want, it changes nothing." Well it seems whatever the Alien bought her loyalty with, it was worth it. Then again it could have simply been a life away from Salem. It's still nice to have the strongest person here so firmly and openly supporting me.
"Right. Well the apology is appreciated even if unneeded. Raven, I never got an answer earlier, how long have you been here?" Having so many strong personalities is going to be a lot harder to deal with than I originally thought, but it's not like I really had a lot of time to carefully consider the minutia of everything.
"Just over three hours." It's amazing she can tell that just from the position of the moon, it must be a bandit thing.
"I have a cell phone." Ah right. Again they have lives here, it makes sense she has a phone. Seeing her pull it out, the others around me do the same. Convenient, wait how did she know wha-
"You have a very expressive face. Everyone can see the pure confusion on it. Even now." Huh. Well thank you Master Secura... I guess. I should probably work on that, though I could be off my game with all the craziness that's been happening.
"Hey I have a question if were done talking about how cute his face is. You keep saying more of us are coming, but how many are you talking about exactly, I mean there's already a lot of us here." That's a good question Ty Lee, I hadn't exactly stopped and counted, and if I'm being honest I really planned on pruning my build of girls and drawbacks but I just ran out of time.
"Well a little less than a third of you has shown up so far-"
"A third!" Ah, Ahsoka's outbursts aren't done.
"Yeah, there's lets see, one, two... eight here so far. I bou- er, selected... I want to say 27 Companions." Fuck it really was that many wasn't it. Some aren't even people I expect to fight. Really I just created a bunch of groups and pairings, I wanted everyone to have someone they knew and could get along with. And I wanted to make it easier to prune down the list by dropping whole groups.
"You bought us?" Ah fuck, that could come across pretty bad couldn't it? Of course Aayla of all people would pick up on my stumble. Judging by the unhappy looks on everyone's face, I'm going to need to talk fast. Well everyone besides Raven, both because her face is covered and because her body language looks almost... impressed.
"Bought wasn't the best choice of words I... hmm maybe I can try something, hold on..." I closed my eyes and tried to use the perk Connection to send them all the memory of the CYOA and how it works but... I just couldn't. It was like there wasn't enough bandwidth over the connection to send images. I settled for sending them a feeling of my sincerity.
"...OK so that didn't work. I really wanted to wait until we had everyone together but I guess I should explain, some of you already know a part of this. I filled out something called a CYOA. It's a document that-"
"You get a starting budget and you purchase abilities, items, take drawbacks and buy Companions. We aren't stupid, this world has CYOAs." Hmm, I didn't know those were a thing back in 2009. maybe it's a difference in universes? The increased in real danger led to an increase in escapism fantasy? We never really get that good of a look at Worm's entertainment or Internet culture. Well outside of PHO and Uber and Leet.
"Thank you Mai. So, er as I was saying, I filled out a CYOA for this universe and went to sleep. I basically got abducted by the alien you all made a deal with. He was... well Alien. It was hard to even communicate. Anyways, part of the CYOA I filled out let me use another CYOA. I decide that since I was coming to a universe so deadly I would choose one that gave me companions. I had a budget, and yes technically I 'bought' you, but not like in the slavery sense or whatever." I'm really not cut out for this public speaking and giving speeches thing. Why couldn't this have just been a dream.
"This is pointless. We all agreed to come here. We're here. Who cares how things were from his end." Raven came over and stood behind me In a visible show of support again, and I'm really fucking glad I picked her like holy fuck this would have been so much harder without her.
"Thanks. So, we're a-uh pretty big group as is, we should probably get out of the open. I mean we already had an encounter with a group of merchants. I'd hate to draw the attention of someone more important right now. There's plenty of train cars around, I say we get in them, I'll be able to tell when anyone else arrives so it should be fine." I hate feeling like we're hiding, but just standing out here in the open sounds like a recipe for disaster. Knowing the luck I've had so far we'll be crawling with the Protectorate capes in no time.
"That one on the left is probably the closest to where you showed up, if everyone else's location is going to be centered on you that's probably where we should be." Azula's right, it also has the benefit of being closest to the middle of the train yard.
"Good point. We should probably also have people at the two main entrances both to catch anyone coming into the train yard and in case someone blitzes past me. Azula. Why don't you take Mai and Ty Lee and go to the closest Train, by the north entrance. Raven you wi-"
"Will be staying with you." Right.
"...will be staying with me, along with Hermione and Tonks. Aayla, Ahsoka you take the train closest to the other entrance. If anyone comes in, either disable them or use the connection I did earlier to warn everyone. If anyone, well specifically a woman, tries to leave, just do your best to explain the situation to them and send us a message." No one moved for a second and I thought I should add something like 'break' or 'dismissed'. I settled on just walking away towards the train car. That's what leaders do right? Tell people what they want done then just expect them to do it?
Getting to the train car was pretty quick, it was only about 15 feet away. It was also disgusting as fuck. Rusted all over and filled with trash, used needles and what's probably cum stains. Fucking merchants. This is one of the big reasons I wanted Hermione and Tonks to come with me. They have magic. They've also been the quietest and I'm wondering if being around so many 'muggles' is the cause. I hope I can get them a bit more relaxed.
"Hey do you guys think you can make this a bit more livable?" There was a shared look and a bit of hesitation from both of them before Hermione pulled out her wand.
"You don't have to be nervous, both of us have magic, and even if we didn't there's no one here to detect it or to come after you. There aren't any other magic users on the planet." I get the instinctive nervousness and the fear if they're from a time with snatchers and everything.
"Sorry, I know, It's just hard to reconcile all these new memories with where I just was. It's... I'll adapt-"
"We'll adapt." I'm not used to Tonks sounding so sad as when she cut Hermione off. Worst case scenario, assuming they both got recruited at their most desperate Tonks would have just been killed, maybe even told Remus died... I don't think she saw that, she might have. Hermione probably would have been recruited right when Harry's 'dead' body was being carried by Hagrid. They're understandably depressed. They do get to work vanishing garbage and scouring the rusty train car though.
It didn't take them long and we soon all found ourselves sitting on a conjured couch courtesy of Hermione. Magic really is convenient as fuck. I specifically picked the two of them because of that. I took Magical Greatness, so the plan is to have both of them teach me magic. There were other magic users, but of the highly skilled ones, they were the ones I was most familiar with. I did consider Circe heavily though.
"... So Raven, uh what is your in universe life like?" That came out way lamer than I thought it would. I'm honestly just not good with silence. I doesn't help that I'm sitting on couch with three of the hottest women I've ever seen in person.
"There's not much to tell. I'm a lawyer. My husband is a lawyer. We have two somewhat decent kids. He's horrible in bed, and I'm cheating on him with nearly all his friends and family." I'm... not sure I necessarily wanted to know any of that, and judging by the looks of Hermione and Tonks they didn't either.
"So... you have a husband... and lovers?" I probably shouldn't have sounded so insecure, but I couldn't help it. While I didn't choose everyone with the intention of having some massive harem, not even sure I want one, but I still don't like the idea of any of them having sex with other guys.
"No. The person who lived here before me has a husband and fuck buddies. I have a you. And maybe eventually a them." She tilted her head at the witches on the other side of her. Hermione seemed to try her best to hide a blush and act like she wasn't listening while Tonks just looked intrigued.
"So you aren't tied to your family from this world?" It's not that surprising. She did abandon her family in her original world.
"I may have memories of them but it's not like I have any emotional attachment to those memories, it's knowledge in my head. As far as I'm concerned, they're just a convenient identity." How very pragmatic of her. And interesting. The new memories in my head are definitely more than just knowledge. I have parents, sisters, cousins, it all feels real. Just as real as the life I came from.
"Is it the same for you two?" I'm not just curious about how the new lives and memories are going to be effecting my companions, I'm trying to get these two more involved, and out of whatever trauma they just went through.
"Mostly just a bunch of information in my head, none of it feels real but... I have a sister, I think... she sweet. Gets bullied a lot but, I know I care about her." Tonks nodded along with Hermione then paused and cocked her head.
"Well I wouldn't say it doesn't feel real so much as it's... less real for me. I have sisters too, they're mostly OK, but it's like living through a pensive or something." 3 companions with 3 different levels of emotional attachment to their memories, and Raven came long before Hermione and Tonks so it can't be a time thing. Definitely something to look into with a bigger sample size and more time.
"Interesting I- Some one's coming. Someone who can teleport." Which makes no sense. The only people who can teleport that chose are, Raven and the Harry Potter girls. The closest of those left is Ruby's semblance, but that's more speed or molecular deconstruction, than teleporting.
"You bought her?" Raven questioned me sounding... not upset but distant. She rose and opened a portal then stepped through it. The only person coming that she should be able to teleport to is Yang, and teleporting definitely isn't her power. Unless.. Summer Rose is coming, and I have no idea what her semblance is. I guess Raven could be able to portal to her, assuming she still has strong feelings for her...
"Aren't we going to see who just got here?" I looked at Tonks and had a decision to make. It really isn't my place to tell any more of Raven's life than I already have. Besides, it might be best for both of them if they have a little privacy.
"No. I already know who it is and Raven is with her, she can handle it. I can feel them standing next to each other about 70 yards to the left, it's fine. Why don't you tell me more about- fuck!" So many new powers just got here. 6 all at once. Speed, clones, burn, summoning, summoning, and telekinesis. Basically everyone else I bought from RWBY just showed up at the exact same time about 10 yards north of Raven and Summer.
"This could turn bad quick, I'm going to teleport us to them now." I have no idea when in the time-line any of them are from. I have no idea how Glynda or Winter are going to react to seeing Raven. Or Summer alive. Or how Yang's going to react to seeing both her moms. She could be happy... or her temper could come out and fuck us all. Yang, Glynda, and Winter all have way too flashy and loud of semblances for the low profile I want to keep. Activating Far and Near I grab both witches and teleport to Raven and Summer just the other group got there.
AN: And that's where I'm going to end it for now the next scene would make this a bit too long for my taste. Please don't worry about the whole fic being the MC explaining the same thing to multiple groups and giving speeches. I wrote the meetings like this because of the drawback spreading their arrivals out. I wanted to give some weight to that by making it annoying.
If anyone is curious, I'm using the Worm CYOA V6 by PixelGMS, Modded by Brigade. Then Gforce1000's R34 Economy, interactive version made by Windshadow21. Because of the way the r34 CYOA came into play, it's going to be slightly different.
Please don't worry about the large numbers of Companions. Honestly a lot of them wont feature super heavily, until the SI goes to their worlds of origin and fulfills his part of their recruitment contracts. Which isn't to say they're going to be ignored, but the outline I have planned is well balanced in how they're shown in my opinion.