Chapter 12: Abberation

Yosuzume: "How are you out here! Aren't you supposed to be powering up my Miraculous?"

Duusu: "I am but-"

Yosuzume: "Silence. You will-"

Duusu: "No no! You've gotta hear me out. I-"

Yosuzume: "You're disobeying me."

Duusu: "That shouldn't be possible. You have my Miraculous."

Yosuzume: "Well evidently it is, and a tool that can't be used must be discarded."

I watched as I saw Yosuzume grasped the Peacock Miraculous.

Yosuzume: "Duusu. I renounce you."

The Peacock Miraculous flashed and reverted to its camouflaged mode, only for me to still remain outside of my holder and Aoi was still in her Miraculous form.

Yosuzume: "H- how!?"

!

I can feel it. It's a strong emotion and it's coming from-

?

But no. That can't be right. She hasn't retrieved all of herself yet, which can only mean this sudden surge of emotions can't be coming from her. It's just radiating through her like a contagion.

Wait. Could it be me? No, that would be-

Yosuzume: "Where are you going?"

Duusu: "Don't worry about me. I just need to confirm one thing and I'll be back before you know it."

Yosuzume's POV

I watched as I saw Duusu float up to the vent. He bounced right off.

Yosuzume: "Well well. Looks like you're no longer intangible. Guess that means I should-"
Duusu: "Are you sure?"

I held my high-bore laser emitter while still keeping it focused on the kwami.

Duusu: "How do you know that damaging me won't also damage you?"

Duusu: "If you blast me, you stand to be blasted too."

Yosuzume: "A bluff."

Duusu: "Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

I fired my high bore laser emitter while twisting the palm of my hand. The bolts of the air vent were melted off and yet looking at them I could see they were not. Most perplexing. This scene isn't right. Duusu floats down.

Duusu: "Let's try another one. That air vent must be too close to the border."

Yosuzume: "The border of what?"

?: "Well well well."

I spun around to see a square robot with tractor wheels for legs and crane arms with pinchers for hands.

Yosuzume: "You! How is that possible? I removed your amok, you should be destroyed!"

Sentimonster: "Wouldn't you like to know."

I turn to face my kwami.

Yosuzume: "Duusu! Destroy that sentimonster!"

Duusu: "I can't. It's your sentimonster. I can only destroy sentimonsters that I create directly."

Yosuzume: "Just try."

Duusu closes his eyes and positions himself in a t-pose manner. It doesn't take long before he reopens them, shaking his head.

Duusu: "No can do. Looks like this law of reality remains intact."

The sentimonster rushes at me. I quickly dodge and counter by striking it with my fist only for the sentimonster to grab a hold of my arm and judo slam me.

198 dmg

Yosuzume: "Ow!"

Before the sentimonster can carry on with its attack I twist my palm and blast it point blank with my high-bore laser emitter.

It has no effect

!

No..no! This shouldn't be possible!

Sentimonster: "Haha. As you can plainly see, I'm invincible. Even when you hit me, I take no damage and you can't revoke my amok that no longer exists."

Shit! I can't break free. If it continues to slam me into the ground, I'll-

Sentimonster: "Once you're deceased I'll take your Miraculous."

Duusu: "What good would that do?! You can't equip the Peacock Miraculous."

The sentimonster shakes its head.

Sentimonster: "Are you doubting reality here, little kwami? Reality's not working as normal in this zone, so who knows what will happen in this case?"

The sentimonster continues to smack me into the ground while continuing to speak with Duusu.

Sentimonster: "Plus even if the fact remains that I can't use it doesn't mean I won't have a use for it later on."

Duusu: "And what are you planning? Are you just going to stay inside this reality tear?"

A reality tear? What is he talking about? Moreover, Duusu. Do something!

Sentimonster: "Sure I am and with the Peacock Miraculous I'll become stinking rich! Even if I can't use it, they'll reward me greatly. I'll be promoted and gain recognition like never before. Now say goodbye to your holder!"

Duusu: "I won't allow that!"

Only 78Hp left. With this last strike I'll be-

Sentimonster: "Oof!"

Something's slammed into the sentimonster. It has no effect but-

11,116 Hp has been recovered.

Sentimonster: "Another sentimonster?!"

I turn my head to see a tall bipedal robot. Standing at my side. Hearing bubbling from my other side I see another sentimonster form. It looks like a large metallic grayscale crab.

Duusu: "So. This is all I can manage. It will do."

?

Does this mean Duusu can create more than 1 sentimonster or is this just a special case?

Duusu: "Protectorate! Keep my holder alive. Don't let that rogue sentimonster get a hold of the Peacock Miraculous."

Protectorate: "Command confirmed. Now protecting the holder of the Peacock Miraculous."

Duusu: "Scrambler! I don't know if we're being watched but scramble up any message that might be coming from our area."

I watched as I saw Duusu zoom off.

Yosuzume: "Are you running off on me?!"

Duusu: "I'm not."

I grit my robotic teeth.

Duusu: "Trust me on this. You have Protectorate protecting you."

Yosuzume: "Hurry back."

Rogue sentimonster: "Bah. It doesn't matter how many of you there are. I'm still invincible. You will fall before me. Now hand me your Miraculous!"

BGM: Sonia Mazuda aka Sonia 1

Boss: Invincible robo-Sentimonster

Seeing that the rogue robo-sentimonster is impervious to damage, I make a bolt for the-

Yosuzume: "Ow!"

115 dmg

Guess not.

Invincible robo-Sentimonster: "Haha! Did you think I'd let you escape? You're still part machine so I can prevent you from escaping by applying some good ole electric engineering."

The invincible robo-Sentimonster, which from now on I'm going to refer to the IRS picks up a metal beam and swings it at like a metal bat. Protectorate blocks the blow with its hands.

IRS: "-tch. You're in my way. Move!"

I dash to the side and fire my M61 Vulcan at the IRS.

No effect!

The IRS is invincible.

As expected it doesn't even flinch and they do no damage.

The IRS shoves the bipedal robo-sentimonster into me!

Protectorate is unaffected

515 dmg

The heavy blow causes me to stagger backwards and using that as an opportunity, the IRS rapidly tries to ram into the bipedal robo-sentimonster and therefore me again. Thankfully the bipedal robo-sentimonster manages to block the IRS's attack in time. It's not totally useless I guess. Still… whatever plan Duusu has going, he better be quick. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep this up before the IRS finishes me for good. If Duusu doesn't hurry…

Then there will be no going back. I'll die for real this time.

Meanwhile…

Duusu's POV

3 sentimonsters? No, that isn't normal. I should only be able to create 1 and yet still…

Yosuzume: "Are you running off on me?!"

Duusu: "I'm not."

I see Aoi grit her robotic teeth.

Duusu: "Trust me on this. You have Protectorate protecting you."

Aoi hesitates.

Yosuzume: "Hurry back."

Leaving Aoi behind I quickly begin to navigate my way through this labyrinth of a warehouse building. Because of the effects going on right now, I can have up to 3 sentimonsters at a time. I still levitate naturally but I can no longer phase through solid materials and that sentimonster without an amok…

I hope I'm wrong about this.

There are some surveillance cameras in this area. I best avoid them. Normally they shouldn't be able to record me but if my suspicions about this being a reality tear is correct-

… then the normal laws of reality won't apply and there is only one type of technology that could cause something like this, that is unless the Fox Miraculous is active right now.

I sighed.

That would be impossible. Right now I'm able to disobey orders from Yosuzume, despite her having my Miraculous.

No..

No! It can't possibly be! What's that triangular shaped contraption doing here?!

This machine…

Duusu: "Aaaugh!"

Using all my might I rush at this familiar and awful contraption pummeling it with my stubby arms. When I finally exposed its wiring I took a big bite

!

It hurts! But I'm immortal so I won't die.

Elsewhere…

Yosuzume's POV

The IRS has pinned the bipedal robo-sentimonster. -tch. Useless piece of trash! And that robo-crab sentimonster. Why isn't it doing anything? It's just standing there moving its mouth as though its eating something.

The IRS charges at me. Because of the high intensity charge, the bipedal robo-sentimonster cannot come out block its blow for me. If it can pin me down as well-

!

Just my luck. The IRS must've activated one of its traps.

The IRS rushes at me, its pincher hands reaching for my Miraculous

IRS: "Aaaugh!"

?

I open my eyes and stumble backwards. I can move? And why is the IRS clenching its crane arms as though it were hurt?

IRS: "That… damn kwami!"

I see. So Duusu must've done something to cause the IRS to feel pain. In that case-

119 dmg

The IRS must've activated an electric barrier. In that case-

Yosuzume fires a couple of rockets from her rocket launcher

Bang!

Parts of the stone wall in the hallway by which the IRS was fleeing topple and form a rubble barricade.

I load a specialized rocket and fire at the rubble barricade

IRS: "What's with this ice wall?!"

Yosuzume: "Heh. You're not going anywhere. Your fight's here with me!"

I spin around and fire a couple of rockets at the bipedal robo-sentimonster.

Protectorate: "Ward!"

A hexagramal wall appears over the ice wall barrier created by Yosuzume's cryo rockets. Yosuzume switches to her normal rockets.

IRS: "-tch. You wanna die so bad? Be my guest."

The IRS rushes back at me. I jump back and fire 2 rockets causing more of the stone building to collapse around. With the pile of rubble serving as a wall between the IRS, the bipedal robo-sentimonster and me, I switch to my cryo rounds and blast a shot freezing the stone rubble barricade into an ice wall.

IRS: "You- cheapskate! That's cheating."

Yosuzume: "Yeah no. There's no way I'm going to fight something's that invincible, so you two can knock each other out."

Thanks to my quick thinking, I've managed to trap the IRS in this hallway along with the bipedal robo-sentimonster. I'm safely over here and since it looks like all sentimonster don't take damage in this area, I can simply-

The IRS rams the bipedal robo-sentimonster at the ice wall

Are those cracks?

On second thought maybe I should take a few steps back.

Somewhere else in the warehouse…

Duusu's POV

How many of these accursed contraptions are left? My head, body. It aches all over. Everytime I destroy one, I feel a powerful electric shock course through my body. Even though I can't die…

It fucking hurts!

..!

Great. And now I'm feeling nauseated. I wanna barf.

No. I can't rest just yet.

..

My eyes are tearing up. Thankfully I've found another one. 7 destroyed so far. Hopefully this will be the last one.

Duusu: "Take this! Ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora oraaa!"

With my stubby little arms I begin clobbering the metal box containing the electric wiring for this disgusting machine. The type of alloy that this metal box is composed of, by the way, is not only very hard in that it's difficult to scratch, but it is very durable and also has a high resistance to corrosion and heat. The alloy by which this metal box is made of in question is Tantaloy 60. Normally a kwami such as me would only be as strong as a plushie if we ignored my innate magical abilities.

Yeah, but that's only under normal circumstances

With another 3 more blows I finally crack open the tantaloy 60 box. Knowing that this will only hurt me, I take a bite of the wiring electrocuting myself in the process but also killing off the energy for this machine.

!

The pain. It hurts but this is the only way. For the stake of… I must continue. I have to complete my task. Wait for me, Yosuzume.

Back at where Yosuzume was at…

Yosuzume's POV

Yosuzume: "Heuagh.. heuagh… "

I'm panting. Why? I shouldn't need to pant and yet…

Looking at the IRS which I had managed to freeze into place by using a couple of cryo rockets I take a moment to stabilize myself.

Yosuzume: "Ack!"

The human part of me must be under great stress. That has to be the reason why I'm almost out of breath which basically means that the machine part of me must've gone way beyond overtime. Without wasting another moment I activate my quasi-repair system to replenish my mechanical components. The quasi-repair system that I have can only repair damages done to machines, so in order to fully heal, I'll have to rest up.

I don't know how much longer the IRS is going to remain frozen. It's already broken out 5 times already. Any more and-

Well I just hope it doesn't come down to that.

Oh, I just remembered. The Society has some of those healing crystals. Note to self; Get a healing crystal and fuse it with my internals.

I clutch my arm. Hurry up, Duusu. I don't know how much longer I can take of this.

And back to where Duusu was…

Duusu's POV

Duusu: "Must… find-"

Head hurts, body still twitching

Duusu: "Aaaack!"

Eyes… light. Hard to see.. Breathe

Duusu: "Heeugh! geh. Heeaugh! Hu hu hu…"

Notha one found

Duusu: "Huh? What am I doing? Why am I here?"

No… no

Red

It's everywhere

The sound

It's drilling into me

How many of these have I destroyed?

Duusu: "How many left?...ehhh aaaah!"

Non POV

Using the last of his strength, Duusu shredded the tantaloy 60 encase of the contraption he had found. Within half a minute its inner wirings were exposed. Knowing that biting into would only cause him pain, Duusu nevertheless continued. It was at this very moment when Duusu severed the circultry for this contraption that he found himself in a very familiar environment;

He was now completely back inside the Peacock Miraculous, no contradictions here.

Yosuzume: "A VCR tape. So. It was carrying this item, yet there's no amok. And the other sentimonsters. They're gone now."

Yosuzume currently has 38 Hp remaining.

Reaching down to pick up the VCR tape that had been left by the IRS when it suddenly ceased to exist alongside both the Protectorate and Metallic Crab sentimonsters, Yosuzume closely examined the loot of battle. Or can it really be considered a battle since for some reason the IRS was seemingly invincible?

Yosuzume: "This must be important."

No VCR player, and this tape will take too much physical space.

Perhaps this warehouse might house a magnetic strip reader. With this, I'll be able to view the contents of this VCR tape, Yosuzume rationed as she headed deeper into the warehouse. Sure enough she found what she was looking for.

Yosuzume: "If those sentimonster all disappeared at once, then does that mean these abnormal effects are gone now? There is only one way for me to find out. Duusu, fall my feathers."

With a flash Yosuzume detransforms into her normal form and as she expected, Duusu spawned out of the Peacock Miraculous.

Duusu: "Wheww~"

He's spinning around. His face. What is it?

Aoi: "Cease your prattling. You know you're only supposed to spawn within me."

Duusu gazes lazily at Aoi before collapsing.

Aoi: "Don't play dead. I know you're only just pretending."

Nothing.

Aoi: "I command you to get up. I have work for you to do, slave."

Again nothing. Bending down Aoi poked the little kwami. He was soft, his body like jelly or more to a-

Aoi: "He's just like a little plushie."

Aoi picks up Duusu and squeezes him tightly with her hand. Still he did not respond.

Aoi: "-tch. Useless."

Aoi tosses the little kwami away and turns to the magnetic strip reader that she had found.

Aoi: "I guess in the end, I'm the only one I can rely on."

Aoi bends over and begins closely examining the magnetic strip reader. She takes a moment to consider and then sighs. She has no ideal what's she doing with this. She then turns her head to look at the little kwami who now appears to be snoring.

Asleep?

Aoi: "Hm… information added. Entry updated. It would appear my little kwami Duusu can get overworked. Yes. I'll have to keep that in mind if I want to use him to his full potential. Still. That begs the question: Just why?"

Aoi's POV

Yes. The results don't add up. Ever since I've entered this warehouse building, I've met things that don't follow the rules like take for instance how was my first initial sentimonster still able to exist despite lacking an amok? Moreover Duusu was able to disobey me, which according to him should be impossible. But perhaps this isn't a normal scenario, which if so would explain the contradiction of my sentimonster.

And I shouldn't forget one more thing:

He ran off on me.

Aoi: "Just what are you hiding from me, Duusu?"