I woke up with a yawn, pulling myself up out of the blankets and walking into the kitchen. Here I was greeted by Luna, my daughter has grown so much in the last ten years…
She's sixteen now. Her wings now, when folded, cover her whole back, her horn sticks out about seven inches from her forehead, and her hair has started becoming semi transparent and little sparkles of stars here and there. She kept it in a ponytail for convenience since cutting her hair like this has proven to be challenging.
She works the night shifts in town keeping an eye out on the sea atop one of the mountain watch towers.
"Morning dad." She greeted me. She usually made breakfast for whoever woke up before she went to bed.
"Morning Luna." I yawned. "How are you doing?"
"I'm good. Sea has been calm, as usual." She huffed as she placed the cooked bacon to a plate with towels to soak the grease before putting raw bacon into the still hot pan. "It's been so boring…"
"And I'd rather it be boring rather than what this world could offer." I said honestly.
"I know, you've told me that repeatedly." Luna laughed. I could tell she wanted something to happen. Over the past ten years any time we find an island or a ship she was basically the first to try and check it out. She's a teenager alright… and that scares me. I know she can defend herself. Her skills with guns have been some of the best amongst everyone and her magic alone is almost unrivaled…
"Listen…I know you want adventure, and I know you want to fight…but the risks here are too high." I shook my head. "If you die, you'll be teleported to god knows where…and if you piss off the wrong thing then…who knows what problems will arise." I explained. "I know I'm a broken record about it…"
"I know…" She sighed. "It's just, for a planet called Armageddon, the last ten years have been quite… un apocalyptic. I know this zone is basically one of the safer ones but still, the most action to happen was that Megalodon last year. I still feel cheated it went down in one shot, fucker that huge should have taken more…"
"Yeah, that was a tad surprising it wasn't tankier." I said honestly. "But it's for the best…also, if my guess is right and what I've been informed…the planet's probably busy with other things that our little neck of the woods wouldn't really need to mess with."
"Yay…" Luna said sarcastically as she began cracking eggs. "At the very least we gotta get new people. And not just more siblings either. I'm related either by blood or family affiliation to almost everyone here…"
Yeah, over the last ten years some new additions to the family have come, children from my lovers either from me, or each other. Which is fair, I'm one person and even after ten years I still don't know them all. If they find love amongst themselves too then good for them, they deserve love and attention I can't give, given, again, I'm one person. Few times we find prize Pod people; they're either servant or ally Class with a few Lovers but only two in the last ten years.
"Yeah…would like to know if there's more people out here but sadly we can't really find anyone since we don't have any truly fast transportation." I said honestly.
"By the way the chaos quintuplets spray painted the barn again."
I groaned. My four sons have grown into agents of chaos and while it can be entertaining, it's also been annoying cleaning or repairing their pranks.
"Can those four little gremlins stop?" I sighed. "This is the third time this month…"
"I just wonder where the hell they get all that spray paint." Luna huffed. "Must be growing some plants to turn to paint somewhere."
I huffed as Timmy walked in. My oldest now twenty one has grown into a fine looking young man… if now a grouchy one. He works with the animals. "Morning." He said, still tired eyed and tried to take some bacon. Luna smacked him with her wing. "Ouch!"
"Sit and wait at the table Tim." Luna huffed.
"Yeesh, fine. How the fuck do feathers hurt that much?" He muttered to himself as he sat at the table.
"If you have enough of anything and with enough force, anything can hurt." I said honestly.
"If you say so dad…" He yawned as he leaned on the table. "Ugh…"
At this time, Tina walked in. My little anthropomorphic panda daughter was fifteen, already fully dressed and as usual had her headphones in and eyes locked on her phone. No service but it's got Ebooks, Comics, and music and movies she bought from Clint's shop.
"Well, at least she's not making a scene." Luna said, eyes rolling.
My first three babies. One is an adult, two are teenagers… I miss the old days… they were happier back then…
"I'm…sorry kids…" I sighed, looking down as I thought that this was partly my fault that they weren't either as happy or just…happy at all now.
I flinched as a slice of bacon was thrown at me. "Enough of that dad. You have a nasty habit of blaming yourself for crap that's not your fault." Luna said.
"Yeah, it's Nexus's fault we're here, not yours. Besides, odds are we'd be not that different were we still on Amberdoven." Tim said with a shrug.
"Hm, more you than Luna." Tina said, taking an earbud out. "You're just extra grumpy because Tyler rejected you."
"Oh piss off… I don't need a reminder of that mess…"
"No need to remind him of that mess or how he ate the last tub of my favorite ice cream when I called dibs on it."
"Heartbreak heals via ice cream…" Tim defended.
"You ate a five gallon tub." Tina said.
"Mint chip is awesome…"
"You're snappy today." Luna said, putting plates down as she addressed Tina. "Lose another game?"
"Sekiro can kiss my fuzzy ass…" Tina huffed.
I chuckled… that game does suck at times…
"Sekiro can be a pain in the ass, yes." I said, not wanting to bring up the 'rule of dibs' on Tim because of his heartbreak. "All Soulsborne games can be a pain in the ass sometimes."
Luna gave everyone here their plates and we began eating.
"So, find a job to do yet Tina?" Tim asked.
"I help in the greenhouse." Tina said.
"Like twice a week."
"Well at least I don't come home smelling like crap. Literally."
"You should still find something else to do."
"I game."
"Something that helps the town."
"Pst. This isn't a town, this is basically a valley where one massive family got dumped and is trying to make use of the land. Most of the buildings are either for storage or for crops or animal pens."
"You can try the watchtowers." Luna offered.
"You know I suck with guns. Plus should something actually dangerous show up, that place is most likely getting blown clean off that mountain top."
I sighed…
"You can read sonar's while traveling around to find any dungeons or something." I brought up.
"Is there even anything down there?" Tina asked.
"When I check there's usually small things or whatever is down there that are too deep to get a clear reading." Luna sighed.
"Can I have music and movies play while checking?"
"I do. Night shit is boring enough."
"Alright." Tina sighed.
"Better than getting pissed at Sekiro for the tenth time this week." I shrugged.
"How the fuck is It fair that damn monkey can fight without a head?"
"Heh, I still think Dark Souls one was harder. Mainly because of BlightTown." Luna said.
"The whole of Yharnam can shove it…" Tim grumbled.
"Oh you sweet summer children…Orphan of Kos and Melania…" I groaned at those two assholes.
"So what are you doing today dad?" Tim asked.
"Just hanging out, making sure the farm's are still going…just doing my normal thing." I said honestly. "But gonna check the fishing nets first."
"Now if only we could find rice to grow we could make sushi." Luna said.
"Hope there's some good stuff. Last time was largely trash and seaweed…" Tim huffed.
"Maybe if there's another giant shark Luna can one shot it again." Tina smirked.
"I still call bullshit, it died in one shot." Luna huffed.
"You shot it with a fifty caliber anti tank rifle through the neck."
"Still felt robbed…"
"Listen, it's an Anti-Tank rifle. It's just like an Anti-Material Rifle, you point it at something made of a material, that material ceases to be." I explained.
"Still…" Luna sighed, finishing her dinner/breakfast and putting the dishes in the sink. "Well, I'm going to bed."
"Later." Tim said.
"See you at dinner." Tina added.
Eventually we all finished our breakfasts and I headed off towards the west tunnels. We now had tunnels through the mountains at north, south, east and west North is where the bulk of sonar equipment is kept. Such is where we have all the boats and subs docked. West and East are where we keep fishing boats and the nets on long platforms that took a while to make but thankfully work and are sturdy.
I arrived at the west tunnels and was greeted by sea air and seeing some of the family members here checking on things at all times.
"Hey." I called out to the family with a wave.
"Hey David." One of my family members greeted me. Lover, A slender male elf with long red hair, green eyes, tan skin and wore long robes. Jido. "You're up early."
"Yeah, just thought I could get an early start to the day." I said honestly. "How are you doing Jido?"
"A little tired but all in all good." He smiled, taking my hand and giving it a kiss. "It is good to see you again. Been so busy here I've been sleeping in the house boats."
"Sorry about that, I'd visit a lot more but ya know, got a lot of things to do around here." I said sheepishly. "But if you ever need a break you can always come back to the house."
"I know, it's just been busy here. We've been reeling up whole schools of various fish. Even some turtles, jellyfish, all kinds of sea life and some trash that's sent right to recycling."
"Sounds like a good haul." I nodded. "Either a season or this is some hotspot for fishing."
"Either way it's stockpiling us." Jido said. "I feel like given the amount of fish we may be approaching some shallows soon. We can maybe get some needed metals or something from them."
"True, we are running low on some materials." I said honestly. "Would be good to have some more metal for things."
"Primarily for ammo. Buying from Clint is an option but manufacturing our own would be better long term. Getting the explosive components is gonna be the hard part. Unless we can make energy weapons or magic guns…" Jido said in thought.
"I can produce the energy needed for the weapons, and all I need to do is understand how a thing is made and I could probably do some shenanigans with Creation." I brought up.
"That is true but for Creation to work you also need to binge on fattening meals to have the needed materials to convert to the materials you want."
I just smiled and nodded. I can eat junk food and not gain weight because it uses fat cells to make things.
"One thing that I am super glad about with Creation, I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want and still have this killer figure." I laughed happily.
"Heh, I suppose that does work out. Have you ever used it to make gunpowder before? I was told when you tried studying to use the quirk properly you fell asleep after two hours."
Heh… studying has never been my strong suit…
"Yes, studying has never been my strong suit even though I've played…too many RPG's…" I sighed. "Or listened to too many 'entire lore of certain video game' videos on youtube."
"Hmm… why not treat it like that?" Jido suggested. "Treat it more like learning a new video game over forcing yourself to learn something you have no interest in."
"Well…that would be a good idea." I nodded. "Ten years and never bothered to try that…"
"I suggest you go check out the school. William might want to introduce you to someone that can help."
Oh right, I forgot William ended up becoming the teacher for the kids once they all got old enough.
"That is a good idea." I nodded. "William could help out immensely here."
I gave Jido a quick kiss before heading back and towards the school. It wasn't very large, a single room school building where the kids only went for a few hours a day. They learned to read, write, math, and medicine and other things that were useful, then at fourteen they help around the town.
I walked into the schoolhouse and found William at a desk looking over various papers.
"Hey William, how goes it?" I inquired.
"Oh, hey David." He said, looking up at me from his work. "Just grading some papers. Heh, not even sure why I bother. Kids all always get A's."
"Kids are smart and I'm proud of that." I said with a warm smile. "But I need your help actually studying…cause boy howdy do I really need to know so we can start making some important things.
"Heh, well the actual teacher will be happy to hear." I raised a brow as William turned on a computer on his desk.
"The actual teacher?" I inquired.
William smiled as the PC booted up, a connected projector lightened up and he launched a…
No…fucking… way…
A menu for Miss J's Whiz Kidz Schoolhouse appeared.
"I found the CD in some of the loot you brought from the Rapture dungeon. At first I thought it was just an educational game but once I installed it, I found out it was definitely not a simple learning game." William said.
"Uh…how so?" I asked nervously. "Cause the only thing that I can imagine is that…it's an SCP…" I said nervously. "Now sure, they're one of the friendlier one's but…I'm more concerned about how the hell I found an SCP through loot than anything else."
"Well she was on a basic CD." William said, Clicking on the Start Learning button as soon the projector displayed a cartoonish classroom, a chalkboard and standing next to it was a cartoon figure of a woman.
"Hello William." The cartoon woman said.
"Miss J." William replied.
"Hello Miss J." I answered the cartoon woman as well.
"Oh, hello there. I haven't seen you in my class before." Miss J said. "Are you a new student?"
"This here is David, my love and mother/father to several of the children. Including the four pranksters." William chuckled.
"Ah, yes it's wonderful to meet you David. Is there something you wish to discuss or learn today?"
"I'd like to learn a lot of science, along the lines of how things are made up…I have come to you because I tried once, and fell asleep in two hours." I said sheepishly.
"Oh my, so you wish to learn the atomic configuration of materials then?" Miss J asked. "That would be chemistry then. Alright, I can do that. These lessons will be thirty minutes a day, or if you feel you can handle it, a single three hour lesson."
"Um…I'd rather be safe and do thirty minute sessions cause I'd rather not fall asleep by accident." I said sheepishly.
"As you wish David. Please take a seat and we will begin with the basics."
I took a seat and let Miss J begin the lesson.
"And that's fifteen bars of copper." I said, letting the final one pound copper bar drop from my hand as it materialized out from my skin.
I have no idea how Miss J taught me, but it stuck and now I can make metals and all kinds of things!
"Well this will help in making electronics and wires for buildings." Marrianne said, she and I in the workshop room putting all the metal I was making away as I also binged on chips and soda.
"Which is great, and I'm super happy at learning all of this." I said warmly as I chugged another two liters happily.
"I guess when you have a supernatural, self aware educational program teaching you it's bound to stick better than conventional schooling." She chuckled as I started making some more copper bars.
"Yeah, that would indeed help." I nodded. "Now I'm…especially worried that I accidentally grabbed other SCP's without knowing it…"
"I suppose that is a possibility but SCP items are extremely rare drops."
"Yeah, which is also concerning…given that Luck is in fact a numerical standard in this world but apparently someone thought RNG would be funny as a real life occurrence…"
"Eh, at least you're learning useful things. Wonder what else that program can teach you?" Marrianne pondered aloud as she began putting the new copper bars I made onto shelves. "Explains why Milly is already memorizing medicine and alchemy and medicinal herbs. Think she wants to be a doctor like her mamma."
"I mean…might explain how our little pranksters figured out how to make spray paint and do it every other day…"
"That makes sense…" Marrianne sighed. "Speaking of, isn't Vais due back from setting up the new warehouse today?"
"They should be." I hummed. "I should head out and see how they're doing…jeez, even after ten years there's always so much to do.'
"Well, we try and keep as busy as possible. Keeps us occupied and distracted. Ten years and we have large farms, productive and thriving animals, a few generations of kids already. I just wish we could run across another settlement or something to trade with. I'd kill for sunflower seeds…"
"I know, I wish I could learn how to make sunflower seeds but that sadly wasn't on the curriculum."
"Maybe tomorrow then." Marrianne chuckled. "At least you're finally putting that quirk to use."
"Yes I am, only took me ten years and getting an SCP to help me in a thirty minute class worth of time." I chuckled.
"Well, at least it's been peaceful. Aside that megalodon, the biggest issue we worry about is TP and meal variety."
"Yeah, both are very true, and so far all the fishing is going rather well…and Luna still grumbles about the Megalodon being made of a material when she used an Anti-Tank rifle."
"She's young and wants some action. Were we on any other planet she'd probably be in dungeons more often than at home. It's natural for her to want to see more than just what home has to offer."
"In any other circumstance…" I sighed. "I still don't understand why we were brought here…even after ten years, I still can't wrap my head around what possessed that Nexus prick to kidnap us…"
"Well, you fought them right? Did they say anything odd?"
"They said the Planet demanded a Population, they…created Breeders to help with that…than they created the Welcoming Committee to keep people here, but it's barely a percent of the planet…the guy was a complete fucking nut job and I don't know if the planet is really sentient or if being isolated on this planet did something to his head." I shook my head. "They also said that 'old Nexus' were a bunch of bitter old people that were pissed about some old war…"
"Makes sense. Back in the war for creation the Family fought in, Nexus was who they fought against in the first half. Second half too technically but they had a different enemy at that point." Marrianne said. "Maybe he is nuts. Maybe we were just picked at random."
"But the entirety of Candlelight?" I asked bitterly. "If this place does have a World Soul that isn't some demented psychopath I'd like to know and ask why the fuck it wanted this…"
"Who knows." Marrianne shrugged as she put the last of the copper bars I made onto the shelf. "All I know is that modern Nexus is basically a cult and avoid them at all costs. The only chaos guild that's at least neutral is Greed and all they do is peddle and sell what the other major guilds make."
"That's fair…" I sighed. "This bites…"
"That's life here unfortunately. We don't have a lot of options aside from try and stay isolated but that can only go so far. Odds are if we do come across a Greed run place we will end up needing to do business with them for things to better fortify this place."
"And probably have to be 'sponsored' so we don't get attacked by other Guilds." I sighed.
"Maybe. This is a rarely visited zone. We haven't even encountered any people save the few prize pods we found. Odds are they won't bother since the risk of being attacked here is so low. Clift will probably know more about that stuff than anyone else, he has probably done business with Greed before."
"True." I nodded. "Just…glad thing's have been quiet so far I suppose."
After that I decided to head to Clift's store. The place was now stocked with more 'luxury' items, basically things we can't easily manufacture ourselves or manufacture at all.
He was sitting at his counter, writing something down to paper as his assistant had a window open and made various odd noises.
"Is this a bad time?" I inquired to Clift.
"No. Figured you'd want to know this anyway but I started picking up a signal the other day. It's finally coming in clear so that means we're close."
"Oh? Who's the signal from?"
"Based on the wavelength, encryption and cypher, Greed. We're nearing a Greed Market. Two days at our current speed and course."
"Well…at least we're meeting them instead of someone else."
"Works out great. Might even be able to get access to my accounts in their banking systems."
… Greed has banks?
"They have banks?" I asked in mild confusion.
"Well yeah, how else do you think they're a neutral party amongst the chaos Guilds? Let me ask you something, have you ever killed anyone in a fight? Not a Dungeon boss but in a duel or something?"
"Uh…technically?" I said sheepishly, remembering the first time I 'killed' Three during our TF2 training. "But it wasn't on this world so it might be different."
"Well in a fight out in hazard zones, you can loot the body of anyone you kill. You get their clothes or armor, weapons, things they had on their person when they died as well as five percent of their total rem. With abilities this can become twenty percent of their total rem. Typically off world you can move rem between a bankers guild and your Assistant with ease, but since those signals and transmissions off Armageddon are blocked, Greed built their own banks. On top of rem you can also deposit valued items. With the dark skill trees some people when they kill you can take all your rem and your entire inventory. So people often make an account with Greed to store their savings and valued items."
"Yeah, that makes sense." I nodded. "So best open up a lot of accounts…"
"Or buy a Safe. It does the same thing they do, like an external Assistant and has a range for linking to Assistants."
"That's also true." I nodded
"Course with Greed the benefit of, should you respawn, you can just find a Greed Market and access your items when in a new zone after respawn."
"Which can also be a safe if they're all connected like the Greed banks." I said honestly.
"Personal Safes are not."
"Should have known…" I sighed. "Alright, so a day or two before we get to a Greed marketplace…question, since we'll be 'found' by a Chaos Guild, should we be 'sponsored' by them if word gets out?"
"No, this zone is so off radar that any sales here are seen more as a pleasant surprise. Besides, Greed doesn't report to the other Chaos Guilds. And since this place is always moving there's not much point. The other Chaos Guilds like easy target settlements. This place being in this zone and moving all the time is not their ideal target."
"Huh…cool." I said. "I suppose we really lucked out."
"That we did. In any case I recommend you only bring yourself and one other person and when we dock please for the love of The Mother, don't be a hero."
"I make no promises but I'll try." I said. "And I have no idea who I should bring considering their might be…literal Being Trafficking." I said, not entirely sure the proper term given 'human trafficking' is technically true but not considering how many races there are.
"With that attitude you shouldn't go at all." Clift rolled his eyes. "Yes, they will be selling Serfs, Slaves and Breeders, among other people not reprogrammed but if you go against and attack a Greed Market you put a bounty on your head and this zone will go from being a fairly safe place to turning into an oceanic warzone with every enemy here after you. The one rule in these places is 'Do Not Attack First'. Because if you attack anyone here first it's your ass getting arrested. Yes, arrested, because anyone ballsy or stupid enough to attack a Greed Market gets turned into a product."
"Christ…" I sighed. "But sounds about right, Marketplaces are one of the few places that tend to be neutral zones."
"Yes, and Greed makes an example out of anyone who tests that." Clift nodded. "You should gather things to sell and any money you have for necessities. Given the lack of traffic through here, they'll be practicing throwing deals and sales at us."
"Well…hmm, we do have plenty of fish, plenty of copper…" I hummed, thinking about what we could sell or trade with. "Gonna be really uncomfortable seeing the…'people' sold there…"
"Well try not to think about it."
The Greed Market was built in what looked to be various oil drills, all linked via long metal bridges.
Clift and I got onto the dock and were greeted by the Greed Merchants. I tried to think of them all as monsters but most just looked like ordinary people… which made it worse. It was bad enough…
"Hope they have ammo makers for sale." Luna said as she followed behind me. I didn't want to bring her but unfortunately, I lost the water when she challenged me to Uno to tag along.
"They'll have plenty." Clift said.
"The first building here holds mostly stock from Lust and Violence." The merchant said. "My this has been a day, two groups of customers in the year. Hopefully a sign of things to come."
Another group of customers? Huh… I think I remember seeing like… a spaceship or something when we docked?
"Second group of customers?" I inquired. "Who were they if I may ask?"
"Oh an odd bunch, mostly beastials and a Hybrid by the look of them." The merchant shrugged.
"Huh, good to know." I nodded, wondering who they might be. "And what kind of signs are to come from this? More business or people moving into this remote area?"
"With luck, both." He chuckled. "The next building holds all the weapons. Actually I think two of those folks are here, the hybrid and that Mimic with them."
A… mimic? That's different.
"I'm gonna check out the weapons." Luna said, walking off towards the building.
"Just don't get into a fight." I was quick to remind Luna. "Hmm…maybe I could find those two while shopping for some important things…" I hummed, bringing out a shopping list of things that we should need after asking everyone.
I decided to follow Luna to the Weapons building, where two of these other shoppers were also. All around us were all kinds of weapons, price tags attached to each, ammo boxes and magazines and modifications. Even their blueprints were for sale.
As Luna looked at rifles I looked around and listened for-
"You've literally never used guns before, why the sudden interest?" A male voice spoke in the next aisle.
"Well, why not?" Replied a… distorted, high pitch voice.
I decided to look around the aisle and see who was talking.
Peeking, I spotted the two. The first was a man about five seven, human head, brown hair and eyes, wearing shorts and a red T-shirt. But he had bird-like legs, red feathers poking and dotted around his arms that stopped at the elbows… and two large red wings hung from his back.
The other was a small, five foot even… goo… blob, creature, a lavender purple color. Their body was silhouetted almost like a human's. A long amount of hanging goo acted like hair. Their face had three eyes on the left side and a horizontal mouth on the right side.
Huh…
"Are you gonna stand there peeking or are you gonna talk?" Called out the goo being, the Mimic, I figured…
"Sorry." I said sheepishly. "Just heard you talking and noticed you two are the visitors the merchant brought up before." I said.
"And you must be the one riding that giant fucking turtle." The avian man replied. "Nice to meet ya. I'm David." He introduced. "And this here is my mate, Shift."
"Nice to meet you, my name's also David." I said politely.
"Oh… well this is awkward…"
"Eh, surprised this didn't happen sooner." Shift shrugged. "So other David, where are you from?"
"Well, I'm from the giant turtle as you brought up…but I used to be near Candlelight on Dechamore…and before that I was falling asleep in my bed on Earth…I know you didn't need the list of 'where I'm from' but it's best to get some extra context in this nonsense."
"That's alright. We came from an Earth too." Bird David said. "How long have you been in this reality?"
Wow… would not have guessed given their appearance they're Isekai.
"About…a decade and a half? Maybe two?" I said with some thought. "Though I'm surprised…uh, sorry for immediately assuming you weren't isekai just based on…well…" I motioned to the bird and the mimic.
"Eh, that's fine. The idea of an Earth without magic, monsters, gods and all the various magical territories is odd for us too." Shift said. "To be fair though we didn't always look like this either."
"Yeah, we used to be normal humans too." Bird David added.
"I used to be a normal male…and then things went weird and now I'm a happy hermaphrodite." I said with a smile.
"Ya know I tried it for a while but I just couldn't stay. I'm either male or female given how I feel." Shift said.
"Yeah but we became this way back on our earth." Bird David said.
"Oh really? What happened to cause that? Did some billionaire decide to fund genetic engineering for hybrids or something?"
"No? See, this city back home, Leto, was the capital for science and magic developments and advancements. Merging the two was new territory and the Y Labs were leading the research. Well turns out they were kidnapping magical beings and artifacts from the magic forest Hulda next door then began kidnapping people to merge them together. For what, bullshit, but Shift, myself and the other three were cherry picked for some secret B.O.W side projects that they wanted to test since they found five extremely rare and powerful magical creatures. Thus, we were transformed into Nokori."
"Alright, so alternate Earth where magic was involved, that explains a lot more." I said honestly. "But that sounds…interesting, though it highly sucks."
"Oh, tell me about it. The main Y Labs two years after they were experimenting had leaks and then police raided them and freed the Nokori there. Meanwhile Shift, Squeaks, Meg, Bigs and I were stuck in our lab prison for another year before we escaped after overhearing the guards talk about what happened to Y Labs. First minutes out we get separated, and I run across a farm of psychotic Catholics trying to sacrifice a Nokori family to God because they thought they were demons. I killed the farmers and burned the whole damn place to the ground. Helped the family bury their lost member… God I miss Paul's family…" Bird David sighed.
"Sucks being immortal…" Shift added.
Say what?
"Uh…Immortal? I mean, technically this reality has a 'respawn' thing but I've never heard of true immortality before."
"Oh, well I'm a Phoenix." Bird David said. "Shift is a Mimic, they don't age as is and every time they shape shift their cells return to a healthy state regardless of damage taken. Bigs is a Darkness Dragon. They don't age unless their hearts are full of malice and hatred, but the man is a marshmallow wrapped in bubble wrap, plus his scales can't be broken or damaged at all. Meg is a Star Doe so on top of being a form of celestial being her body regenerates in light or under a starry night sky, as is damaging her takes a lot of effort, and Squeaks with her whole Null thing, er, they call that Void here, she just… says Nope to death…"
"That's…interesting." I said, kind of at a loss for words at literally being told about true immortals.
"Eh, we're used to it. Had people try and form religions about us." Shift said.
"I promptly kicked every single member of my church's shit way back in." Phoenix David said.
"I got them all to fuck each other. Ended up turning the mimic into a fertility symbol…" Shift said with a laugh.
"I'm still convinced Squeaks killed her church nutjobs. Meg used them as an excuse to perform again. And Bigs accidentally created a new world order with his." Other David chuckled. "That was a hilarious century."
"Ri~ght…so how did you get into this realm?" I inquired.
"Oh, well it took what… almost two hundred years for humans and Nokori and Elves and all the intelligence species to get their shit together and Co-existence properly. Once they did magic and science advanced like crazy fast and they left for the stars three thousand years later, turning our earth into a kind of national park. Let nature and the magical beings roam free and well, the five of us stayed behind there because we… were tired of outliving our friends and family. Shift and I never got to have kids despite trying all kinds of things, but we adopted a lot and… well, we figured maybe when the sun exploded we'd finally die… four hundred years ago we woke up in this reality ten thousand lightyears east of here."
"Did…you notice any green ones and zeros when you went to sleep?" I asked, always having had that weird bit gnawing at the back of my mind…the lines appearing just as I was about to sleep…
"Hmm… I remember Bigs was reading… David was asleep against me, Meg was writing song lyrics… Squeaks was cooking…" Shift recalled. "Then we all woke up on a beach."
"Hmm…good to know." I nodded, thinking it might have been just me hallucinating something but it was still…very weird.
"So, what brings you here?" Phoenix David asked.
"In this shop specifically is because my daughter over there, Luna," I motioned to Luna who was trying not to drool at some of the cool weapons in stock. "And why here because our wonderful turtle friend happened upon this place." I said honestly.
"That's nice… is she a Nokori?" Shift asked.
"Nope, she's an Alicorn, a mix of three races of Equin, Earth pony, Unicorn and Pegasi." I answered. "I mean…she also might be a goddess of the moon but that's always been up in the air from what I researched about her."
"Huh… could have fooled us."
"Lot of Nokori have wings. Some function, others are cosmetic." Phoenix David added.
"Her wing's function extremely well." I said readily. "Her smacking her sibling's with said wing's is a lot of proof to that."
"Heh, that's good. So, don't suppose you know where any land or… anything is around here do you?"
"There's the land on our Turtle and…sometimes we find some islands but they're kind of few and far between, and a lot of the 'structures' are mostly deep underwater and those are also dungeons."
"Hm… mind letting us move in?" Shift asked.
"We've been island and ship hopping for the last four hundred years so… would be nice to touch grass again." Bird David said.
"True, and sure, the more the merrier." I said honestly. "Especially when some of my family have been clamoring for some interaction outside of…well our family."
"Guess that's fair. So, how many in your family?"
I thought for a moment…"Yes."
Shift and David shared a questioning look. "Uh… explain?" Shift asked.
"I have…well, originally I had like two, three girlfriends…then I got ten thousand because one of my girlfriends is super horny and has a harem fetish…then I got this adorable Electronian boyfriend when I turned into a herm…and then it uh…kinda grew from there with so many kids…"
Other David leaned back while Shift leaned forward.
"Christ… and I thought Silver was bad…" Bird David said.
"Silver was poly, there's a difference." Shift said.
"I know but how in the fuck…?"
"Time, dedication…and hips of steel." I said.
"So basically everyone on your turtle is related to you either as a lover or as a child?"
"Not all of them, because my first two girlfriends got their own lovers and plenty of lovers also shared each other, so plenty of kids all around that aren't related to me." I said honestly.
"... Silver would have loved to meet you…" Bird David sighed.
"Yeah…" Shift said too, looking down.
"What happened?" I asked.
"What always happens. She got old… we didn't." Bird David said somberly. "She was a good friend. Loved her children and her family and… heh, despite how she looked was a badass in a fight… and were it not for her Shift and I probably wouldn't have gotten together. The five of us owed her a lot."
"I understand." I nodded. "But…who knows, maybe they're here…just haven't found them yet."
"... No." The other David sighed again… "She's at peace…" Shift walked over and hugged David. "Good thing about this reality. We hear people don't really die, just respawn and age is basically eternal… be nice to not have to panic counting the years they might have left…"
"True." I nodded. "Time is weird…but as long as we have family that's all that matters."
"Speaking of family, I believe your daughter is getting ready to expand yours." Shift said.
I spun around to find Luna talking with a tall, green furred wolf anthropomorphic who was showing the guns off to her… and not the ones on the wall… why is she blushing?!
"Excuse you young lady?" I asked, walking over to her and the wolf. "And hello sir, I see you've been…'introducing yourself' to my daughter here."
"Hey." The green wolfman said. "I'm Ny. It's just nice to finally see someone new on this rust bucket. Especially my own age."
"NY was just showing me some products." Luna added.
I looked between the two… ah crap I actually didn't expect this to happen…
"Luna…I'm sorry, I didn't expect us to be going boyfriend shopping, especially this fine woof that's showing you his 'gun show'."
"Boy- Dad it's just harmless flirting at best!" Luna said, blushing brightly as her wings puffed out.
"I uh… this is awkward…" Ny said, rubbing the back of their neck.
"Depends on if you're serious with wanting to date my daughter, are a decent person, and if you want to hear me tease the crap out of Luna." I said with a cheeky grin, getting a laugh as Luna lightly punched my arm in more embarrassment.
"For fucks sake dad can't I talk to someone new without you thinking it's gonna be a thing?!" Luna yelled.
"Three." I heard the other David say.
"We were just gonna hang out, not full on date!" Luna added.
"Two."
"Even if we did so what?! We won't do anything like you and mom who were screwing like catholic rabbits!"
"One."
"Gah!" Luna finished with a huff then flew off quickly.
"Every time." Other David said as Ny awkwardly left.
"Sorry Ny!" I called out to the wolf. "You can still hang out with Luna if you want." I shook my head. "Being a parent is rough sometimes…" I sighed, not wanting to have upset her that badly, just wanted to do some mild teasing but jeez.
"Well that was hard to watch." Shift said as they and David walked over to me.
"Sorry about that." I said nervously, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "Didn't mean to make this awkward, just thought some mild teasing was okay but…apparently not."
"This is your first time raising a teenager isn't it?" David asked me with a smirk.
"Not really, Luna's sixteen and…well, I had to help one of my kids through a heartbreak…ate a five gallon tub of mint chip that I called dibs on but eh…he needed it more."
"Oh you sweet summer child." Shift laughed.
"I mean, this is one of the few times we've actually got to talk to people outside the family…" I sighed. "One of the few problems when it comes to being on the Turtle…"
"Listen here, some advice from two experienced parents, teenagers want to find their own place in life and from the looks of it, Luna wants to know and see the world outside your giant turtle island. And she wants to do it alone. Let her." David said.
"That would be cool if this place wasn't a complete hellhole and the only reason things are going well for me and my family is because we managed to get sent to one of the safest places on this planet." I frowned. "I know she want's adventure, believe me, her killing a Megalodon in one shot with an Anti-Tank rifle to the neck proved it."
"Trust me, even though there is danger, Teenagers will want to explore even more."
"And that 'danger' can either have me never see her again, or her turning into a reprogrammed slave for others to use and abuse for the rest of eternity." I answered. "I just teased her a little bit…two jokes, that was it…"
"In front of the first non-family member she's met in most likely her whole life." Shift said. "You'd be embarrassed too if your parents teased you Infront of people you were trying to impress."
… Shit…
"Christ…" I grumbled. "I'll be right back." I said, heading off to find Luna and possibly Ny if he actually did like Luna.
"Hold it, new parent." David said, having flown in front of me. Guess his wings also work. "That's also a bad idea."
"And I'm not in the mood to possibly never find my daughter again." I growled. "So best explain quickly."
"First off, she's mad, and embarrassed. At the moment anything you try to say and do to 'ease' the situation will just piss her off more. Second, this is a neutral zone, nothing is gonna happen to her here. Third, Ny already ran off to find her."
Wait what when?
"Well, at least he cares enough…but I meant that she's so upset that she grabs Ny, whatever ship he had, and fucks off forever."
Shift and David shared a look, then both facepalmed.
"I'm not even gonna begin to explain how paranoid that sounded. You think that little of your own daughter?" Shift asked.
"What, no I just…"
"Listen, Luna's not gonna just abandon her family for some guy she just met. She doesn't seem like that kind of person and you clearly raised her with love and plenty of attention, but she's not a child anymore, she's sixteen as you said. Two more years she's an adult, you are going to have to learn to start stepping back and let her become her own person. All she wants right now is to make friends on her own and know she can have a life separate from her family. That doesn't mean she's leaving, that just means she's growing up."
"Gee, that would help a lot if this entire situation didn't sound and look like a cheesy teen flick." I frowned. "I make two jokes and I'm the bad guy, she practically hounds her older brother and she gets the innocence card…"
"They're siblings." David said. "It's a different feeling from them than from a parent."
"Difference being she wasn't on the receiving end." I frowned. "But I know I'm not going to win this argument so whatever…" I sighed
"Welcome to raising moody teenagers." Shift chuckled. "Come on, let's go find Meg, Bigs and Squeaks so they can meet our new neighbor."
"Moody teenager, and they fucking wonder why I'm concerned." I thought to myself bitterly. "Alright, let's go meet the new neighbors."
I followed the two down the bridges and looked out and spotted Luna and My, both leaning against the handrails. They were talking about what I couldn't tell but she was smiling at least.
… Maybe I am worried for nothing…
The two lead me to a ship that was half hazardly fused and welded with other various ships into a ship that… I assume is capable of flight.
David opened the door and walked in. "Bigs! Meg! Squeaks! Are any of you back yet?!"
"Let's hope they don't mind neighbors…" I muttered.
As I entered and looked around I saw it was pretty bare bones in-
A hand wrapped around my mouth, gripping my jaw hard and tighter than I expected. I activated Harden-
Crack!
Shit!
"David, who is this weird human?" A female voice asked as a glowing knife was held to my eye.
"Meg, that's David, they're our neighbor! We're moving onto their turtle!" The other David yelped.
"Oh, whoops!" The female said, letting me go. Shit, she cracked my Harden skin… ouch my jaw… "Sorry!"
I looked at my attacker… She was not what I was expecting. She was definitely a doe, dark blue, almost black fur with white star pattern spots along her body, golden yellow eyes and a small pair of antlers that were a lot like Luna's hair, semi transparent and had small glowing stars in them like a night sky. She also had red hair on her head.
"Sorry about that David, Meg has had… a lot of bad experiences with strangers coming into our homes." Shift said.
"I'm so sorry!" Meg said, giving me a bow. "It's instinct at this point…"
"Yeesh, got a grip on ya…" I rubbed my jaw, even after upgrading it to help she still cracked it. "But hi, I'm the other David."
"Hi, so… sorry for almost breaking your jaw…"
"At least you didn't rip it off like the first guy to break into our house." Shift shrugged.
"Or the fifteenth…" Other David added.
"Apology accepted, you had some bad shit happen." I said. "So, you're going to be our new neighbors…there will be children running around." I said carefully, because if this was instinct then I'd better warn them about harming the children.
"Oh, I can make a stage and start a theater group again!" Meg said, her eyes turning into golden stars at the idea.
"Meg has always been a hard core theater nut. Back home before everyone left the planet she managed to get a lot of acting roles and musicals and songs. Her last performance back home before the population left the planet was for little over two million people in person and based on views on TV or online, over half the planet was watching her." David said.
"I couldn't have asked for a better goodbye from everyone." Meg said, tearing up a little at the memory.
"Go right ahead, would be good to have some theater, and some of the family would also enjoy being a part of it."
"Were you able to grab everything you needed/wanted Meg?" David asked.
"Oh yeah, got replacements for instruments and more paper, pens, the usual. Even got a neat computer. I did check on those Assistant things, they cost like a hundred grand so fuck that." Meg said.
"Damn. Maybe some other time."
Ah… I guess an Assistant would cost a fortune on Armageddon…
"So, where are Bigs and Squeaks?" Shift asked.
"I think I saw them at the restaurant building." Meg replied.
"Are Bigs and Squeaks also as welcoming?"
"Like I said, Bigs is a marshmallow wrapped in bubble wrap. Despite him being eight feet tall, indestructible and strong enough to probably fight The Hulk, he is a pacifist and prefers there be no violence around them. They're also scared shitless of… a lot of things. Squeaks is okay, she might be a bit cautious but she'll warm up to you after a while. She was only five when she was taken to become a Nokori, and after Silver and Paul and… everyone passed over the years, she's pretty weary of getting to know people outside our group." David informed.
"Alright." I nodded "I understand, and good to know."
"Well, come on Meg let's find them and maybe eat something." Shift said, taking the lead.
I followed the rather odd group so far and looked back to the bridge. Luna and Ny were still talking. I sighed. At least she's smiling…
The restaurant building was huge and food was cooking everywhere. Seated at a table amongst many empty tables were two beings. One was a female mouse lady, she wore an orange dress and her fur was a pale gray, her eyes were pitch black, and she had short cut blue hair. She also had a mouse tail and two large ears like a mouse.
The other was an eight foot, pitch black dragon humanoid with glowing yellow eyes and claws like daggers. He would be very intimidating had he not been wearing a pink Hello Kitty T Shirt and sky blue sweatpants.
"Hey, how's the food?" David asked.
"It's alright." The mouse lady, Squeaks I assume, replied. "Not as tasty as North Blue Mammoth but it's alright."
"They had orange chicken here." The Dragonoid, Bigs, replied. Their voice was deep but calm and withheld, like he was whispering but he was still rather loud.
"You and your orange chicken addiction." Meg laughed.
"Hey, it's been a few thousand years since I had it properly made…"
"To be fair it's been a few thousand years since we all had food with seasonings more than what we grew and salt we made from ocean water." David added.
"Hi there.' I said politely to the two. "My name is David."
"Oh, another David." Bigs said. "Huh… should we call our David something else then?"
"We can call him by his vigilante names." Shift said with a teasing tone.
"Oh fuck they've been thousands of years dead, let them rest in peace…" David groaned.
"Is it an embarrassing name? If so, tell me." I said readily.
"Back in the early days after regular Nokori were freed from Y Labs, there was a lot of… lawless injustice towards them. Enslavement, murder, all that, and David here not a few minutes out of the Lab once we escaped found a Nokori family in need and from them on went and helped them. Originally because they thought he was a pyromancer of sorts they called him the Hellfire Human Hunter, since he only ever killed humans responsible for Nokori injustice. But after he learned a new trick they began referring to him as a Guardian Angel." Meg explained.
"Considering how many churches and such I burned to the ground for trying to sacrifice Nokori thinking they were demons, it was still a dumbass decision. Even dumber that it stuck…" David growled.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." I nodded.
"So, David two." Squeaks spoke up. "What's the catch for living on your turtle?"
"If you believe working fields or doing fishing or sometimes a dungeon run as 'a catch', then there's nothing much really." I shrugged. "Just live and hang out I suppose…me and my family were kidnapped to this damned place and it sucks but we're making due."
"Hmm… I suppose that's fair. Not all that different from what we were doing back home before arriving to this reality." Squeaks said with a shrug.
"Would be nice to be on actual land for a change. The ship is a bit cramped." Bigs added.
"We were able to get it to fly at least." David sighed. "We'll meet you on the turtle's back alright? How long will you guys be docked here?"
Huh… hadn't thought of that… the place is actually really peaceful. Can probably stay a while longer maybe? At least to trade more stuff. Even if they sell… people, here, it's safe and there's literally no one else around.
"Well…we'll stick around for a few extra days, try and trade and a lot of other things."
"Cool, alright guys let's get the ship on the turtle, then we can work on making a real house." David stated.
The group got up and quickly left, Bigs taking the leftover food and as I walked out I saw Luna was alone leaning against the railing…
Slowly I walked over to her and leaned on the rails next to her. "Hey dad." She said, staring off at the ocean.
"How are you doing?" I asked, honestly really happy that she didn't bail.
"Feeling better. Sorry for blowing up at you… I just really wanted to make a good first impression with Ny."
"I know you did Luna…but when he's flexing and you're blushing, why couldn't I tease you a little bit?" I chuckled. "But what did you and Ny talk about while I was talking to our new neighbors?"
"Mostly about how… odd, it feels. Meeting new people and having known nothing but the people around you your whole life. I have some memories before we came here but most are fuzzy. He was born here and has never known anywhere else. Felt nice that we could bond about that. We then talked about likes, dislikes, hobbies."
"That's good to hear." I nodded. "Glad you two got to talking, Ny seems like a good guy."
"He is. Hope he manages to find a boyfriend someday."
… Okay didn't see that coming…
"And here I thought I would be expecting grandkids soon." I joked, seeing my daughter blush brightly.
"Da~d!" Luna whined.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry, I can't help it." I chuckled.
"Ugh, if that was because of his flexing thing, he has few people he can show off to since he's working out all the time. As for my blush, well, I won't lie and say he didn't look good but, I wasn't falling for him just because he showed off his pecks." Luna huffed.
"Luna…likes…muscles…" I said while jokingly writing down in a pocket notebook, getting a playful smack from Luna.
"Shut up." She laughed. "And you're one to talk, drooling over Papa Vais when he's around."
"I can't help it, he's hunky as hell and he's my special ferret." I chuckled. "But…glad you're making a friend Luna, and soon there'll be five more friends that are moving in, Isekai like me funnily enough."
"At least it's new people. What are they like?"
"Well they're all…mostly friendly, besides one that almost tore off my jaw on pure instinct because of their…history with just humans."
"Yeesh. Sounds like they need therapy." Luna said.
"Never!" We heard from somewhere.
"... Okay? Well, it's too bad we'll be leaving soon."
"Eh, we'll give it a few days." I said honestly. "This place is peaceful enough, we've got plenty of time before our turtle friend wants to move on."
"Hm. Too bad it can't be two years. Then Ny could date Tim."
…
"I mean…Ny can move in with us if he's able to." I said. "Then Tim has all the chances he has to understand why I like fluffy boy's so much."
"You'd probably have to talk to his parents first."
"True…think I should bring Tim along so he could meet Ny?" I asked.
"Heh, nah. NY is sixteen and Tim is twenty one, the five year difference would be a bit awkward for them. Plus ya know, Ny is a minor. Even on Armageddon that's probably wrong."
"Yeah, that's true." I nodded. "Best not make it weird."
"Heh… huh. Come to think of it, Ny never mentioned his parents when we talked? Weird."
"So, it's a few things…either he ran from home, his parents are…long gone, their shit people or they embarrass the ever loving hell out of him."
"Maybe." Luna shrugged. "Guess I should head back now. See you in a bit, dad." Luna said, spreading her wings out and taking flight.
I sighed, and began walking back to the turtle.
As I was walking I looked up and saw the sign. To my right was the Breeders Market Building…
I clenched my fists, hating that it just…existed at all…"Just…please, stay calm…don't be a hero…I can't cause problems…" I thought to myself bitterly.
I was about to walk past until I saw a familiar green wolfman walk Inside.
I frowned, walking over and looking through the open door.
I saw Ny there, sitting at a long metal desk with a terminal, and before him were many rows of tubes with… Breeders…
He types something in and they spun and changed positions until a tube with a green den mother was before him. "Hey mom… I made a friend…" Ny started speaking. "She's cool… I think you'd like her…" He sighed, leaning onto the desk. "Why do I keep coming back here…?"
"Because you think…in some way, she can still hear and understand you." I offered.
Ny jumped and fell out of his chair, the shock on his face was almost funny… the rest was… sad. "David, uh… you… heard?" He asked.
"Yes…" I sighed, gently offering a hand to help him up. "I'm…I'm so sorry Ny…where's…where's your father?"
He looked down, picking himself up and sitting back in the chair. "Don't know. Never knew him." He sighed. "My mother wasn't turned into a Breeder, David… she's always been one. My father was part of a group of people that the staff say came here and had fun testing the Breeders. My mother was the only one to get pregnant… I was in a litter of five. The only boy."
"Oh…" I muttered in horror.
He nodded, typing on the computer some more, and in more movements, four more tubes each holding a similar green den mother, all adults looking older than Ny were next to his mother. "Lust's rules are pretty clear. Breeders impregnated during test runs, the children are, if male, sold to Violence to become Bioweapons. Females are turned into more Breeders. The staff here hid me because… well, there's a saying in Greed. 'The world is a store and you're in the aisle, but whether you are a customer or product, that's up to you'. I guess they wanted me to have a real life… eventually when I was ten they caved in and… showed me mom, and my sisters…"
"I'm…I'm so sorry Ny…" I sighed. "But…I think I can help…all depends on your decisions."
"If it's to leave, I can't…" He said, looking back over to his mother and sisters. "Not without them… this planet is cruel enough I can't just… leave them here…"
"Which is…what I'll do." I said, clapping my hands as I noticed one of the sellers perked up at that. "I'd like to make several purchases."
"What would you like to buy?" The seller inquired, walking over to my side.
"Ny's family, his mother and all his sisters…but mind if I ask a few questions? LIke what their race is…what…kind of Breeder they are, cause I have a feeling Breeder's aren't just…'slap on the whore switch and let them go'."
"They have standard Breeder Programming." The seller said. "Once the blindfold is off and they see ya they'll be loyal and lustful to you and only you. If not used in a two day period however their programming will result in them enduring high anxiety, panic attacks and they will do anything to get your attention. Even self mutilation. They will obey any and every order, and as long as they feel useful to you this won't be an issue."
"David, Luna told me how much you hate Breeders, you don't even know me. Why?" Ny asked.
"Ny…you are the first friend Luna has made after being stuck on this planet for ten years outside of our family." I said to Ny. "I hate Breeders with a passion, a lot of people do…but sometimes being a Hero means doing something you really don't want to." I said honestly. "Now, you say that if they're not 'used' in two days…will they basically be hanging off me in those two days wanting to be 'used' or will they be able to do their own thing and have some form of personality?"
"They can be taught some skills but without being used they will degrade mentally into terrible places." The seller sighed. "The whole point of Breeders is sex, so Lust programs that as their primary form of usefulness to their master."
"Really hate Lust…and really wish they could be given more autonomy…" I sighed. "How much for Ny's family?"
The seller looked at me, then over to Ny. "Well, they've all been sitting here collecting dust… five thousand for the five of them."
I grabbed the five thousand rem and handed it to the seller. "Thank you…I hate buying these Breeders but better me than either being stuck here or in worse hands."
"Just do we sellers a favor." They said, taking the money. "Take Ny far from here, we kept him from ending up as something worse than his sisters and ma, so just… keep the kid safe, alright?"
"That's what I had planned from the start." I nodded. "And…thanks for keeping Ny safe."
"Would have preferred he and his sisters all got to grow up together… but Lust was already on their way and… we could only hide Ny. We're bad people, not gonna lie, not gonna deny it… but we ain't heartless."
"There's a difference between bad and heartless…honestly, if Greed was heartless I would have expected the Breeder's market to also be an organ harvesting station." I said honestly. "Looks like even Chaos Guilds can get on each other's nerves from time to time."
"Like you wouldn't believe. Before Greed came along they were all at each other's throats. Fighting for territory and superiority. The founder of Greed stepped in to keep the peace, for whatever that's worth on this planet."
"Must have been one powerful bastard to openly keep the peace through the Market…and sometimes Peace can mean a lot even in small quantities."
The seller nodded, then looked over at Ny. "Well, go pack your things boy. You're finally free."
Ny paused for a moment, quickly giving a hug to the seller than one to me before running out.
The seller sighed. "That boy… he deserves more than this world can ever offer him…"
"He does…" I sighed. "I'll try my best to give him the life he deserves, even in this damned place."