A talky chapter, after I worked out Lori more.

"You're just not very good at mind combat. You need to study more." Lori said.

I bit down on the shredded chicken sandwich. It was apparantly an Ohio delicacy. You shredded it to the point it was almost mush, and added just enough sauce to keep it together, all together between some bread. Pulled chicken was a pretty common dish. I bit into it, and closed my eyes. Delicious. It really brought out the chicken in a way that a lot of pulled chicken didn't. It wasn't slathered in sauce either, so you could taste it.

I could get used to this. Visiting every state, murdering some horror monster while trying local cuisine.

"What do you mean?" I asked after I finished the bite. "I'm Rank A with Gamer's Mind."

"Yeah, and Freddy is probably A, or S, and he likely has a load of… perks? Perks, and skills from his long experience doing this, if what you said is true. You know how I got A grades?"

Kia rolled her eyes. "Here we go again."

Lori stabbed her finger at me. "I put in the hours. I worked hard. I didn't have a mommy to go cry to if I couldn't do my algebra because I was up late with boys." She glanced at Kia.

Kia raised her hands. "That was once. And he was cute."

Lori turned back to me and spoke, punctuating her first word by slapping the table of the fast food place we'd stopped in after the fight.

"You need to take mental combat more seriously. Every single time you've body hopped you've faced monsters that attack your mind. You've just spent points on putting up a shield and not done more."

I gave Cure some of my meat. I'd picked him up after, and was bringing him with me. He happily ate it, licked my fingers, and asked for more.

"You know how to solve it?" I asked.

Kia gestured at my head. "Piss him off. You get more powerful if he attacks you, right? Just get him angry. Tell him that he's a dumb looking christmas decoration with claws as small as his dick. Sweat now, so you don't bleed later."

Freddy walked behind her, stroking his claws against her neck.

"They're big enough to make you bleed, my pretty."

I shook my head. "I've tried. He likes the banter I think. And when we took him to his gravesite, he just clammed up till the end. I've wanted to advance my skill, but I don't have anyone I can practice with."

Lori shook her head, and gestured with a pen to her paper. "That's where you're wrong. You gave me the description of all your perks. Look at this one.

She pushed over a notepad, where a perk description was written down. Each line had little coloured annotation and notes coming off it.

Pennywise Acolyte. You are a creature of divine terror and horror. You have forsaken your humanity to gain a hint of the divine. Terrify others, and guide their fates to death. You can gain a constant bonus of up to fifteen luck by increasing the terror of others and setting up your killzone. By killing members of a party you can reduce the luck of other members, and by causing terror you can inhibit wisdom. 75 perk points.

The underlined line had a little note, leading off to a copy of my Luck stat description.

Feng Shui devotee. Rare luck evolution. You can see the connections between events, plot, and people and better direct them towards your goals. Each luck point has a greater effect, which is even greater with preparation of people and your environment.

She tapped the pair with her pen. "Your luck lets you see connections. Your Pennywise Acolyte perk lets you terrify people. That sounds like a mental attack to me. You forge a connection of terror with someone, which grants you superior luck. Give me that perk and if I can scare you, you can train your skill up.

I'd given myself a policy of honesty after some fuck ups. If I lied then Freddy or someone would no doubt reveal my secrets at a critical point to distract and kill me. One of the consequences was that everyone wanted my perk points.

I gestured at her with a sauce covered fork.

"Why do you even want it? You're smart, you have great grades. Do you really wanna go down the path of violence."

Lori put her hand on my chest. "My lying asshole father always told me to look out for the good of the town. I know now he meant locking up my boyfriend. That was stupid of him. You can't hide the truth. I always wanted to help though. I thought that school would do that, but I've seen your power. A couple points and I'll ace any exam without trying. And with you I can make a real difference. Knowledge is meant to change the world. Plus, what if this Autumn is summoned as well into the world? This could be our only chance to prevent our world burning down."

She put her wrist forward on the table, brushing aside her barely eaten chicken sandwich.

"Give me the tattoo, give me it all."

Kia put her wrist forward. "Hell yeah. I want awesome cosmic powers as well."

"You know it's all ominous about you losing your humanity."

Kia spoke. "And we become goddesses. It's a good trade."

Lori pushed forward another pad. "I have a justified and fully notified list of which perks we each need."

Kia looked at her. "It's not some nerdy thing for me is it?" She looked unsure.

"Trust me."

Kia sighed. "Fine."

I looked them both over. They looked pretty serious. And they had helped me. Some of my perks were a real cheat code in life. Picture Perfect would let you memorize a textbook and never have to read it again. And I could really use more mental resistance. It was annoying repeatedly being taken over. Everyone had stronger magic than me, so my magic resistance didn't do shit in this high magic world. I wanted to be stronger.

I glanced over their lists.

Picture Perfect D 9. Death Calling B 9. Power attack 6. Desperate Struggle 3. Enlightened Mind. 50. Gamer's Mind E 100. Mark of Maturin. 21. Pennywise Acolyte 75.

I did really want to spend my perk points. Most of them were at the limit of what their stats could support, but two?

"Do you really need Enlightened mind."

Kia spoke. "Our lives are at stake. What the hell are you trying to-"

Lori shushed her. "A moment please." Kia glared, and shook her head.

"If we're gonna train your mental combat, Freddy could attack us. We need mental resistance like you. This will help us survive. Plus you're good for it. You got a load of points when you consumed Freddy's essence."

Freddy shook his head. "Could have gotten you a better deal if you let me kill more children first. Just saying. You missed out."

I glanced up at Freddy.

Kia looked up where I was looking. "He's talking you now, isn't he? Is he complaining about how small his dick is?"

"Yes. Yes he is." I touched both their hands, and dumped 546 points into the pair of them. 955 left.

I had lost so much. I hoped it paid off but-

I felt a sharp pain. Kia had grabbed her fork, and stabbed it in my hand. Blood leaked over the table.

"Ready or not, here I come."

I looked to Lori, who had a pair of knives in her hand. She stroked the steel against each other. Possibly there were some downsides to giving people a perk making them immune to social rules and a monster perk.

"We're in public. We should do the horror elsewhere." I said, quietly. Nobody was looking yet. I'd disabled all the nearby cameras.

"Sounds like a you problem. The cops just blame anything bad on Freddy" She slammed the knife down at my hand, and I quickly tore it away, leaving scraps off bloody flesh on the table.

Mental Combat skill level up!

The hunt was on.

What could go wrong with giving teenage girls vast cosmic powers?

What could go right is some serious skill grinding.

Also, the two dead by daylight perks have been added. Sometime I need to do a villain run for him, so he can use his villain powers like tracking noisy victims.

PsyCongroo. You're welcome. Glad to make fun chapters.