Open World: Level Up

by BioQuill

Button Mash ran away from home, running deep into the heart of the Everfree Forest without knowing he has a near death encounter with the local wildlife he wakes up in a bed that's not his, in a building not his house, on a world not his own, in a universe he can't even begin to understand.

14. Chapter 14: Lilly's Children Part 2

Despite efforts, Dalila was good on attempts to get out of her comfort zone for… a while. She did manage to give me a hug at least, though she kept her eyes closed for it.

So, today I was going to see my daughter, Woods. Branches covered in leaves grew from her head, almost giving them an afro look. Her coat was all green moss and her scales were all wook-like bark.

I knocked on Woods' door. "You in here Woods?" I called out.

I didn't hear anything. I leaned an ear against the door- "Oh you're one to talk you son of a weed!"

… Son of a… Weed… well that's different…

"Uh…I'm coming in Woods." I said carefully, opening the door to see what in the world was going on.

I saw some plants in pots here, and Woods was leaning on their corner desk, glaring at a dandelion in a pot on the desk.

"Well just for that, no more vitamin water!" She yelled at the weed…

"Uh…what, was the weed not being 'dandy' enough?" I asked, honestly really confused as I tried to make a dad pun out of this to make some slight sense.

"One moment dad, Kile's being an ass!" Woods yelled… Kile…? "Yeah you better apologize you little…" She huffed before turning back and looking over at me. "Sorry about that… Dandelions- No, that was not being racist!" She snapped back to the weed…

Okay?

"Uh…I think I'm missing some stuff here." I said sheepishly.

"Dad, I'm part Fae, I can communicate with plants." She said, flicking a branch from her head. "These things, according to doctors, act like antennas so it's completely passive for me…"

"Ah, alright." I nodded. "I'm sorry, I haven't…experienced this yet surprisingly enough." I said honestly. "So why's Dandy Kile over here being a butt?"

"All Dandelions are assholes, but Kile is the only one who I tolerate since he tells me what the other ones are all seeing around town and outside the walls. Plants have a kind of… hive mind type deal. I can't access it but I can talk to them and they can tell me stuff. Everyone else here I keep because they're chill." She said, waving an arm at the other potted plants.

"Well…I suppose that makes sense." I shrugged. "I assumed the 'hive mind' would have made more sense with Mushrooms, but sadly I don't know much about herbology."

"... Do… do not mention those weirdos again please… they're so… creepy… delicious, but creepy…" She shivered.

"Yeah…given I've had to fight fungus zombies…they can be pretty creepy."

"You should actually hear what they're saying…" She shook. "In any case, you here for some father-daughter time?"

"Yes, father-daughter time." I said readily. "No talking about creepy stuff, what do you want to do today?"

"Hmm…" She hummed. "Not too sure… Well, is there anything you want to do specifically?"

"Get to know you honestly." I shrugged. "So, got any hobbies?"

"Argue with plants and trap rats."

"Arguing with plants and trapping rats?" I asked.

"Yup. Most plants are dicks, and rats are tasty."

"Well…I suppose that makes sense." I nodded. "Anything else that isn't eating or arguing?"

"Uh… Sometimes I bury myself in the dirt."

"To feel closer to the earth or something?"

"No. I can gain nutrients from the sun, soil and some water. Plus, it's a good place to nap."

"Good places to nap is always a good thing." I nodded in agreement. "Well, anything you want to ask me?"

"Um… What do you think of potatoes?"

… This is… uh… weird…

"Well…potatoes are really good food with a lot of different ways to cook it." I said honestly. "Boiling them, mashing them, deep frying them…all sorts of ways for the humble potato."

"They're resilient. Can grow anywhere, can be almost abused and will still grow." She added. "Welp, this is boring and awkward…"

"Sorry." I said sheepishly. "Don't know much about farming…well, do you have any friend's among the plants or are they all jerks?"

"Just who's in the room. Other than that, I guess there's Nate."

"Nate?" I inquired. "Who's that?"

"Some weirdo I hang out with." She shrugged.

"How weird?"

"He talks to insects."

"Well…that's not the weirdest thing I've heard." I said honestly.

"He also likes to trap and eat birds."

… They're… alike…

"Right…" I said slowly. "Well, what do you want to do in life? Be a trapper, an herbalist?"

"Dentist."

… What is this daughter of mine…

I blinked. "Why a dentist?" I inquired.

"Makes decent money and I get to poke metal in people's mouths."

… Okay…

"She's really weird…" Cheat said.

"Yeah…she is really weird." I mentally agreed with Cheat. "Anything else you want to ask me?"

"Not really. Maybe another time."

"Alright." I nodded. "How long have you had some of these plants?"

"Dave there is the longest roommate." She said, pointing at a small pot with a mini cactus in it.

"And what does Dave act like?" I inquired.

"Neat freak."

"Eh. Any noteworthy plants you have here?"

"Kile, but he's an ass."

"Why is Kile so noteworthy if he's an ass and…tell you about all the other plants?"

"Because he also tells me about monsters and stuff other weeds are seeing outside the walls, plus he tells me secrets about people around town other weeds are seeing."

"That sounds…kind of dangerous…" I said slowly.

"Meh." She shrugged. "You do dangerous stuff all the time, so do a lot of my siblings, guess we get it from you."

… I didn't know if that was a complement or an insult?

"Uh…thanks?" I asked nervously.

She shrugged. "So, can we maybe do something later? Kile is being an ass again…"

"Sure…" I said.

---

Well, that was… interesting… and short.

Alright, maybe my next child will be a bit more… normal.

Next up, my son Rain. He has all black fur, with grass-like hair, and bark-like scales on their snake half. Hmm, his hair is a very dark green.

I gently knocked on the door. "Rain?" I called out.

"Come in." I heard them say. I walked inside and saw him punching at a hanging punching bag.

"Hey Rain, how you doing?"

"I'm mad…" He said, still punching the bag. His form was… a bit sloppy but they had some power behind them.

"What are you mad about?" I inquired.

"Stuff." He said, still punching the bag. He continued for a bit before stopping and leaning his head against the punching bag. "I'm told I have… anger issues…" He huffed. "This helps… sometimes…"

"I understand that feeling." I nodded. "Want some tips on punching? It'll help make sure you don't accidentally hurt your hands."

"No… yes… I dunno." He said, huffing as he punched at the thing again. "Why are you here?"

"For some father son time." I answered.

"What does that imply?" He asked, headbutting the punching bag now.

"It means we get to spend some time together, trying to learn stuff about each other…actually being a father and son." I explained.

"Hmm…" He grunted. "... Do you know swords?"

"Well, I do know a bit about swords." I said honestly. "What would you like to know?"

"... greatswords…"

"Greatswords huh?" I inquired. "Well, what kind of greatswords are we talking about?"

He tapped onto his Assistant, bringing out a large wooden greatsword. It was easy six feet long in total. Various dents, scratches and such told me the practice sword was well used, and cared for as it appeared cleaned despite the damages.

"Well, you certainly seem to like this practice sword." I said. "Even if it's damaged, still looks clean and strong."

"I've always liked greatswords." He said, swinging it at the punching bag and hitting it. "The weight helps me vent my anger out."

"That's fair." I nodded. "So, what hobbies do you have besides greatswords?"

"I read some comics and mostly just listen to music or watch movies."

"That's cool." I nodded. "What's your favorite genre?"

"Varies." He said. "Mostly just… whatever catches my interest."

Hm. He's talking but he sounds annoyed… at what though, I don't know. Me? Or…?

"Alright, so mind if I ask what's really annoying you?" I asked. "Cause we can't have a good talk or some father son bonding unless I understand what's currently got you pissed."

"I just… always am." He huffed, giving the punching bag another punch. "And it makes me mad I'm always angry…" He added, giving another punch to the bag. "I don't know why, and I can't explain why…"

"Maybe I can." I said, seeing my son turn to me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm part symbiote, I can hop in and see what's wrong."

"That's weird." He said.

"Eh." I shrugged. "Not too weird honestly."

"Still pretty weird… besides, I can take a guess as to where my temper comes from…" He sighed, putting the training greatsword back into his Assistant.

"What's the guess?" I inquired.

He looked at me, raising a brow. "Gee, I wonder. It couldn't be the Berzerker build father of mine…" He said sarcastically.

"Thought it would have been something else." I said sheepishly.

"..." Rain shook his head, giving another punch to the punching bag. "It makes sense. Moms told me you had a temper at times. You argued a lot before you left…"

I winced… remembering those fights…

"Well…I can help you through this." I said. "Teach you to control your anger and not let it dictate your actions…and not be so annoyed like this."

"... Honestly, I don't think you're one to give advice on that…"

"As someone that's personally gone through this, and worked through it, I think I am one to give advice on it." I stated simply.

"Then what do you suggest if you're so sure?"

"Well, I'd like to know more about your anger, cause you having my anger issues is one thing, being angry enough to punch this bag here is another." I said honestly. "So come on, what's really bothering you?" I asked, wanting to know what upset him and hoping it's not 'his issue is so bad he's constantly angry'.

"I said I don't know. I've just always been easily irritated." He huffed.

I sighed, fearing that it was that bad. "Well, what happened today if I may ask?"

"I woke up, ate breakfast, came here, punched the punching bag for a while, then you showed up. That's my morning so far." Rain shrugged.

"Well shit…" I thought to myself. "Right…that's concerning that your already annoyed like this…"

"I know…" He huffed punching the punching bag again. "Pisses me off…" He growled…

… I think I get it… maybe. He's easily annoyed and irritated, and he's mad he is that way. He's mad because he's easily angered. For not knowing why that's the case and getting mad in the first place.

"I…understand." I sighed. "But…if you'll allow me, maybe I can figure out why your so agitated in my symbiote form."

"I dunno… sounds… creepy… and like an invasion of privacy."

"That's why I'm asking if you'll allow me." I said. "It's already helped one of your siblings, and I'm sure it can help you to."

"I'm doubtful."

"Won't figure this out unless we try." I shrugged.

"Fine…" He huffed as he slithered up to me. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright " I said, gently putting my hoof on them and turning into my symbiote form. "I'll be quick and won't pry into any of your personal life."

Once I was in I immediately detected a lot of the chemicals the body releases when aggressive. Despite the overproduction the parts of the body responsible for making them didn't seem to be unhealthy or odd in any way.

"Well that's strange…" I thought, trying to look around the best I could to see why he was so agitated if it wasn't because of his brain.

I looked around, finding nothing out of the ordinary.

I returned to my body and sighed… maybe that's just how Rain is? Just naturally easily agitated and prone to anger?

"Let me ask you something…" I looked into my son's eyes. "When did you start becoming…this agitated?" I asked, knowing that there had to be a cause. "Not just today but…when it first started?"

He hummed as he thought back. "It all started when I was born." He said sarcastically, making me frown. "Couldn't resist." He smirked. "But I genuinely do not know. Far back as I can remember I have always been this easily angered."

I sighed, really concerned and not knowing how to help. "Well…what tends to agitate you? Or is it like you said and…you're just angry…"

"People. Sometimes the sun. Brick and Toga…" He said, growling those two names.

"Brick and Toga?" I inquired, cause while people can be annoying and the Sun can sometimes die in a ditch, the two names seemed like the more important culprits.

"Just some annoying twins that always hang around me like flies."

"Do they try to be friends or are they bullies?" I inquired.

"Friendly… I think. They're just really annoying…" He groaned.

"Well, maybe I can talk to them." I said. "Cause I don't want you to know nothing but agitation…but what do you do to calm yourself?"

"Listen to music, punch/hit this," He said as he slammed the punching bag with his tail. "Swing my training sword, and read my favorite comic."

"What's your favorite comic?"

"The Lazy Lord Masters The Sword."

"Well that sounds like an interesting story." I admitted.

"It is! It's about this noble son who after his mother's death spends every day for years just lying in bed, then one day he has a dream about a man who spends every day for over thirty years swinging a sword, going from ammature to to beyond master, and dies shortly after. When he wakes up he immediately begins doing the same, pushing his body beyond it's limits and breaking points until he collapses until he becomes the greatest swordsman in the land and goes through a lot of challenges and, it's really good." Rain said, actually smiling now.

I smiled, loving to see him smile like that and be so giddy he repeated some words. "And if I can gather, you want to be just like the MC after he becomes a master swordsmen?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said that didn't sound cool…" He admitted.

I chuckled. "The Rule of Cool exists for a reason my son, and you picked a really cool thing to invest your time into."

"Thanks… so, what now?"

"Well, do you have any questions for me?" I inquired.

"Can you help me learn to use a greatsword better?"

"I'll try my best." I nodded. "While I don't have thumbs, I do know my way around a blade, and I could also turn into my Symbiote form and help you with your form as well."

"Hmm… no thanks. That felt… weird…"

"I understand, it can be an adjustment." I nodded.

"Button, you can turn into a form with thumbs remember? Since you are a human zombie and several other creatures I can morph your body to take those shapes and biology." Cheat said.

Oh yeah… I always forget that…

"Ya know, sometimes I forget that I can actually shapeshift." I mentally told Cheat, considering how little I've done it…"Alright, so maybe I can help you with the handling of Greatswords, cause I can in fact gain thumbs."

"Cool. How?"

"Because I'm a Symbiote and also Cheat can do magic thing." I said honestly.

"Ew. Please don't talk about whatever you and mama Cheat do while you share a body…"

I blushed. Cheat was laughing her ass off.

"I'm not talking about that!" I whined. "Cheat shut up!"

"I-I'm sorry! But this kid has jokes! And it did sound that way without context!"

"Yeah yeah." I mentally grumbled. "But just…I can shapeshift, let's just leave it at that."

"Alright… shapeshift into what?"

"Well, a being with hands to start." I answered simply. "Got a form in mind Cheat?"

"Well, you got human, anthro, a lizard being form, lot of monster forms… let's just go with the Anthro one for something familiar but also has thumbs."

"Alright…and uh…you'll have to armor up cause I technically wouldn't have clothes in my anthro form." I brought up sheepishly.

"Don't worry, during your trip I'd sneak out and take some. I can clothe us."

Cheat then armored up. I felt my body shift and change but only in my limbs and… some areas of my torso. I then felt some cloth appear over my skin but under the armor, and then Cheat removed her armor from me. I was on all fours, but rather than hooves I was looking down at some brown fur covered hands and fingers.

My new legs bent differently and… I remember doing this before, long time ago… just gotta try and pull myself up- Why am I in a yellow sundress?! Also are these actually my breasts?! They're so… meh… not big but not that small and… why are my hips so wide?!

"Huh…" Rain said. "Looks… good?"

"I mean…thanks but…" I looked over myself again. "Well…it's been a long time since I've last been in this form and…well, wider hips but my breasts aren't any bigger…" I grumbled. "So, onto working with Greatswords."

"Alright… can you uh… walk in that body?"

I frowned, looking down at my feet, which were also covered in a thin brown fur coat… okay… just like walking on hooves, just two… uh…

"It…should be simple…just one foot in front of the other…" I said, carefully raising my left leg to take a step.

Okay… one, two, one, two… not that hard…

"Shouldn't be. You're partly symbiote now. You're accessing the genetic data of this form. Meaning things like walking and using fingers will be rapidly acquired knowledge as you passively read the data from the- are you zoning out on me?!"

"Walking thankfully isn't a pain in the ass…" I thought, completely ignoring Cheat as I flexed my hands to get used to it.

After a minute or two, moving this new form felt as normal as my normal body. Huh, still have my wings and horn too. Cool.

"You ready dad?" Rain asked.

"Ready." I said with a smile.

With a nod, Rain led me out of his room and we walked into the Planet room. We walked into some nearby woods where there was a clearing and a large rod firmly planted in the dirt with various minor dents and such in the bark.

"Well, here's where I train with the practice sword." Rain said.

"This is a nice calm place to train." I said honestly.

"Yeah. It helps me focus that not many of my siblings come through here." He said, pulling the training sword from his Assistant. "So, what do you know about swordsmanship?"

"I do know plenty." I said, given that my training needed me to learn all sorts of weapons, swords being one of them, and Abel Jr, I did know quite a bit.

"Okay, so where do I start?"

"First, let's see what you can do." I answered, using my blade symbiote and forming a Zweihander.

Nodding, Rain gripped his practice blade in both hands and raised it over head, then bringing it down in a simple downward slash. Hm. Lacking feet, he can't make the right stance, but his larger snake half seems to offset that some. His grip is good, but his swing isn't as smooth as it could be. He needs more upper body and arm strength.

"Alright, so while you don't have feet, I can see you're using your snake half to try and get into the right stance." I brought up. "And your grip and swing were good, but you need more upper body and arm strength for it to be smooth."

"Okay… how do I do that?"

"Well, besides swinging the sword to try and build up muscle that way, next would be stuff that would fit your race, like pull ups as an example." I said honestly.

He looked at his arms, then down his body and all the way to his snake half's end. "That… might take a while to do a pullup…"

"Yeah…" I said carefully. "I'll have to ask around for naga based exercise routines…but first, I suppose we can start with weight's to get your arms stronger." I said readily.

"Alright… how heavy should the weights be?"

I thought for a bit, cause doing too much would just harm them, and doing too little wouldn't really help much. "How much can you normally lift with one arm?"

"Um… in each arm? Maybe… ten or more pounds? I'm not too sure."

"Alright, we'll have to test that out as well…I'm sure we have a weight room here all things considered…" I hummed.

"There is a public gym in town."

"Then off to the gym we go." I said honestly.

With a nod, Rain and I began heading to the towns public gym. We were walking through the streets when-

"Oof!" Rain was suddenly tackled into a nearby alley. I almost brought out weapons when I saw… two humanoid dog people, one male, one female, both were mostly blond fur with heads of brown hair. The girl's was medium length and flat and the boy's was messy and unkept. "Brick! Toga! Get off!" Rain yelled, pushing the two off him.

"Sorry Rain, but we haven't seen you in days!" The girl, Toga I imagine, said.

"Yeah, where have you been?" The boy, Brick I guess, asked.

"Avoiding you two…" Rain groaned.

"Hi there." I said. "I'm Button, Rain's father, why did you hug tackle my son?"

"Oh, hi!" Toga said as she and Brick stood up. "That's just how we say hi to Rain. He always smells so grouchy so we try and cheer them up!"

"You annoy me more than anything…" Rain huffed as he pulled himself up.

"No, we know you're happy when we're around, we can smell it!" Brick said.

To my surprise, Rain blushed, then punched Brick in the arm. "Liar!" Rain said.

"Nice seeing you Rain, later!" Toga said as she and Brick then ran off.

"Damn twins…" Rain huffed.

"Do you have a crush on them?" I inquired.

"What?!" Rain shouted. "Why would I have a crush on those two annoying dogs?!"

"That blush for starters." I said, seeing him blush in embarrassment. "But second, I have learned that 'the nose knows', it's hard to lie with scent's."

"I don't like them!" He yelled.

Heh… he's a kid… probably doesn't realize. Might not for a long time. Wonder when he does, which will he go for… or both? That is an option in this reality…

"Button, are you already shipping your children?" Cheat asked. I could feel her grinning.

"N-no…" I said sheepishly, trying to feign ignorance at me being caught.

"Let's just get to the gym already!" Rain yelled as he quickly slithered off.

I shared a small laugh with Cheat before following behind Rain.

The gym was built into what used to be an old factory house. The inside, once held all kinds of machines and such was now cleared and filled with various exercise equipment. We went over to the weights and I helped Rain start off. It's simple, easy repetition.

"Alright, so we'll start off small to see what kind of weight you can lift." I said, starting off with giving him a simple five pound dumbbell, lowest they had for his size and it being half of what he said he could do.

He lifted them with no issues. I had him use them for a while before taking them back. Now to something heavier.

"Alright, let's try ten pounds." I said, carefully handing him a ten pound dumbbell.

With a nod he took them. He was able to lift them with minimal strain in his movements. Guess his practice sword swings helped already. That thing must weigh just under twenty pounds or so if it's not made from an especially heavy wood.

"Alright, let's try fifteen, cause your practice sword might just be under twenty with how well you're doing."

Nodding, Rain put the ten pounds weights down and picked up two fifteen pound weights. There was more notable strain as he began lifting them.

"Right, so we'll stick with fifteen and do five curls each hand." I said, wanting to start off slow so he didn't get hurt.

With a nod, Rain began his workout. This will take regular dedication but I think he can do it.

"Good job Rain." I nodded with a smile. "This'll take a while, but slow and steady wins the race."

"How long should I go at this per day?" He asked.

I thought for a bit. "Hmm, let's start with ten minutes, then we'll move onto something else to help."

Rain nodded, keeping up a decent pace and rhythm. He seemed to at least know it wasn't about speed, but pacing.

I looked around the gym. There are a lot of people here- Wait…

I spotted an earth pony mare doing push ups. She has a dirty blond mane, a coat almost like Cream's, but her eyes… they were… two pink heart outlines… strange… Why does she look familiar…

I walked over as a name popped up. "Lovely?" I inquired to the mare.

"Oh, hey princess." She chuckled as she pushed herself back up on all four hooves. "You… changed species. Symbiote stuff right?" She asked.

"Yes." I nodded. "Symbiote stuff is awesome. But how have you been Lovely?" I asked, knowing I…sadly haven't really made friends with her, but having learned that she did become a family friend during my leave.

"Well, took a bit but I managed to find myself and place in this crazy place." She chuckled. "Mostly I work in manufacturing and I help the census union with keeping track of the population."

"That's good to know." I nodded. "Sorry I didn't…at least try to be friends more, was super busy and then I stupidly decided to take the long way to my destination…" I sighed, hating the missed opportunity to just make a friend that was like me.

"Nah, it's fine. Back then I wasn't really wanting to interact with people. But after the New Foundation got me a therapist and such I started making a life for myself. Just glad my book works here, helped me get a job quick. Other than that, I also got a girlfriend two years back."

"Oh really?" I asked. "Who's the girl?" I inquired.

"Her name is Tina, and admirably she is rather… open, about physical enjoyment but she knows the rules, and I own her emotions." She chuckled. "She's like me… showed up here with no idea how and… she was a mother back in her home world. Now… She was a mess when I met her." Lovely sighed.

"O-oh…I'm…that really sucks." I said sadly. "Where is she now?" I asked.

"Right here." I heard, turning around and…

Bountiful, fluffy boobs…

"Oh so forward." I heard giggle as I pulled back quickly.

"I am so sorry." I said quickly, blushing brightly and looking…up a bit to see the giant electric blue furred and scaled wolf lady. "Uh…hi there."

"Tina, this is Button, the pony that found me when I got here, Button, this is Tina, my girlfriend and town slut." Lovely said.

"That's so mean… true, but mean…" Tina huffed.

"You know you love it when I talk nasty about you, you fluffy ball of kinks and perversion." Lovely laughed.

"True." Tina shrugged with a smile. "As my sexy mob boss has probably told you, I am an Isekai…again."

"Again?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah…so many years ago, got into a silly thing involving the All Makers…then Pain was a bitch…" Tina shook her head. "It was a whole thing. But as you were told, I am about as open as a revolving door, and I both have my rules, and Lovely's rules."

"And…what are these rules?" I inquired.

"...This is the one time I won't get on your ass…" I heard Cheat tell me, which given how close we were…apparently she was also super horny for the sexy wolf.

"Basically, I'm okay with her sleeping with others so long as she is always home to me no matter how late it is." Lovely started. "She also can not bring someone else to our home and sleep with them, especially in our bed. Last, should she get knocked up or get another pregnant, child custody is joint. Between us and the other fathering/mothering parent." She finished.

"Ah…that's fair…" I said carefully, hoping I was keeping my own arousal from being noticed with how…just bountiful Tina was… she was bigger than Philomina…

"You and your symbiotes' arousal are very obvious." Tina answered, which made me blush massively.

"She's got a nose for sniffing lust. Meanwhile I can see it radiating off of you like stink lines." Lovely chuckled. "I guess I never did tell you about my eyes before huh?" She asked, tapping a hoof near her eye against her head. "In short, back home I was born with a rare magical condition called Pure Eyes. They varied from person to person, mine show me the colors of the emotions relating to love, affection, and lust. Based on the color and how much of it there is I can tell how two people really feel about one another. Though after showing up here and getting a few skill points I upgraded my eyes and can now see all the emotions of a person. You're son there is rather angry, yet focused and determined and there are small strands of affection too."

"Yeah…I don't know why he's so mad though…" I sighed. "I checked his biology, nothing is amiss with that so…best I can think of is a combination of him having a crush on two admittedly adorable doggo's his age…and…" I sighed. "He's probably easily agitated because I wasn't here for so long…"

Lovely glanced back over at Rain for a second. "No, while he is developing a crush, he's still young and doesn't understand himself yet enough to develop that affection into love, if it does. As for his anger, it appears to be less of the anger born from a sense of abandonment or lack of you being in his life and more from his core personality. He's just a naturally angry, easily irritated person. This doesn't make him bad, but I think training like he is now for… whatever you two are here for might help him learn to better manage that anger. If left unchecked, that easily angered nature could turn violent as he gets older."

"You tell him you also work part time as a therapist/psychologist?" Tina asked.

"I'm off the clock so this is free of charge." Lovely shrugged.

"Well, thank you for telling me all of that." I said. 'And we're here because I want to help him get stronger and become a Greatsword master, since he got inspired by a comic actually."

"That's actually adorable." Tina giggled.

"Think he's realized yet?" Lovely asked as she looked up to Tina.

"Maybe, maybe not. If not, it'll be adorable to see his reaction." Tina replied with a smirk.

"What are you two talking about?" I asked nervously.

"Well, you said Rain got inspired by his favorite comic, right?" Lovely asked. I nodded. "Well, in this reality, everything is possible and even things made here as fiction appear in reality at some point in time. So, his favorite comic is not only real, but the person in it he idolizes most likely already exists somewhere out there."

"In other words, if he ever meets his idol from the comic, he'll be like a kid meeting Santa on christmas eve night." Tina laughed.

"That sounds incredible." I laughed.

"It was nice seeing you again Button, but now Tina and I need to head out." Lovely said. "My days off are too few and far between so now that my workout is done, I gotta remind Tina why I am the Alpha in our relationship." Lovely said, Tina blushing hard at hearing that. "Come now love, first dinner then play." Lovely said as she started walking to the door.

"Even if she's vanilla by my standards…well, she is very eager like me." Tina whispered to me…which made me blush even harder at the mental images plaguing me. "It was nice meeting you Button…oh, and before I go, did you happen to see a male version of me by the name of Tony?"

"Sorry, I haven't." I shook my head.

"Well…hopefully he's okay…" Tina sighed. "He's my brother and…just wondering if he was either in this world or not."

With that, Tina followed behind Lovely and I walked back over to Rain… who was now laying face down on the floor. "Hi dad…" He said, still face down on the floor.

"Hi Rain…you okay?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah… my arms turned to lead midway and the rest of me followed when they dropped down…"

"I'm so sorry I should have paid closer attention." I said nervously, picking up my son carefully. "But what do you think about exercise right now…besides the whole…feeling like lead?"

"I don't feel angry. Just tired and sore."

"Yeah, that means the workout is working." I said honestly. "Plus, it'll get a lot easier."

"Cool… can we go home? I think I want to nap…"

---

I brought Rain home and put him in his bed. He quickly went to sleep. I still had time in the day… maybe I can squeeze two in one day. I checked the list… next is… Spark. His fur was dark gray with black moss for hair. His scales were dark blue leaves along his snake half. He also had two large branches that were grown out of his back and seem to act like wings, they were covered in green leaves and he seems to have been born with a high affinity for lightning.

I shifted back into my pony body and walked over and knocked on his door. "Spark? You in here?"

"In here!" I heard them call from inside. I opened the door, finding him coiled up and at his desk playing games on his computer. I got some flashbacks to Jada. I walked up next to them, seeing they were playing… a different game from what Jada was playing.

"Hey there Spark, what are you playing?" I inquired.

"Fallout 3." He said. "Hey dad." He added, pausing the game to look at me. "Thought you were hanging with Rain today."

"We went exercising and he got tired and fell asleep in his bed." I said honestly. "So I had enough time to hang out with you."

"Cool. You wanna play?" He asked, pointing to the computer.

"Sure." I said readily. "I'd like to play, been a while since I last played a game."

"Cool, Uh, one second…" He said, exiting the game and then clicking on a different icon… Family VR Server? Oh right, that thing Jada won in the tournament.

"Well, I was planning on having fun with the Family VR stuff that Jada won…just didn't really have the time.' I said sheepishly.

"She found out that if she connected the server to the family's internet, she can get the thing to run all the VR add ons to the games but had the home computers and our assistant's run the game itself and fill in extra stuff. So all I gotta do is have it load up a start up save from when I'm leaving the vault… select two people… and now, oh you're gonna need to accept this invite dad."

I blinked when my Assistant alerted me of an invite to VR Server Fallout 3. 1 of 2 players ready. Then gave me the options to accept or decline.

I immediately accepted, cause I wanted to see what fun we could have together.

In a blink I wasn't in Spark's room anymore. I was now in a dim cave, standing in front of an old wood and metal door that sunlight was peeking through it's various holes and cracks. I smelled dust, dry air and some rust. I looked down and saw I was wearing something over the part of my leg where my Assistant was, and also I was in a full body jumpsuit, a bright blue with some leather on it. The number 101 on the flanks.

"Ready dad?" I turned and saw Spark, wearing a similar jumpsuit that went down to a bit past his upper half and he had a similar device on the arm his Assistant was on. He was standing next to the door and… he was older. Maybe… he looked eighteen, not nine…

"I'm ready." I nodded, keeping my mild heartache at seeing him so grown up to myself.

With a nod, Spark motioned for me to come over. I did. "Alright, for this one you first need to put a hand, or in your case hoof, to the door.

I nodded, doing just that and seeing a display pop up. Allocate Skill Points… okay… uhh… Maybe Melee, Unarmed… wow there's a lot here…

"Jeez, there is a lot here." I said, trying to think of what to do here.

I ended up going with Melee and unarmed, dumping the excess points into those two. I then was outside and blinked as the sunlight hit me hard. Ouch… The smell of dust and dirt was heavy, as was the feint scent of smoke and ash. Once my eyes adjusted I saw dirt, rocks, a cloudy gray sky and a destroyed town down and up a path. Woah…

"We have to reach the sign there or pass it to earn the first level up." Spark said as he slithered up to it. I followed. Once we did I got the notification, had to allocate ten more skill points, and now had to pick a Perk… hmm… Little leaguer. More Melee skill points auto allocated and some explosive skill points too.

"So, what else from here?" I inquired, looking around the…desolate wasteland here.

"Well, normally in the story we go to a town near here to find a lead for our character's father, but that's not as fun. Plus I have some mods installed so, it will be a little different. We will be, yeah heading into the town to get some essential stuff then just wander around and have fun."

"Sure, let's go have fun." I said with a smile. "What mods did you add?"

"Some weapons mods, some world expansion and dungeon mods, more money at vendors and faster vendor restocks, and lastly I think I also added in a few DLC Mods…"

"Cool, let's get to town then exploring." I said with a smile.

We walked down the small dirt hill and towards the ruined town. Spark stopping at a blue mailbox. I was surprised to see he pulled out some supplies. "Played this game enough times to know where hidden caches and such are." He chuckled, tossing a grenade up in his hand.

"I can tell." I said with a proud smile. "Glad to hear more of my kids are Gamers."

"Yeah. I'm not as hard core as Jada, but I know the games I play very well."

"Don't need to be hard core to be a gamer." I said with a smile.

With that he also led me to a safe that was locked and partly buried in the rubble. He managed to pick it and inside was a basic, low condition weapon, some ammo and other items.

With that we walked over to the giant scrap metal walls of a town called Megaton. Outside the walls was a simple robot guard.

I have to admit, this VR server really makes this whole thing look and feel real. Hell I think I'm sweating in this jumpsuit.

"Ya know, never really did VR when I got to this world, but this is really cool." I admitted.

"Yeah. Even the NPC's get an upgrade." Spark nodded.

"How did the NPC's get upgraded?" I inquired.

"The VR server has a program that reads through all NPC programming, dialogue and such and then generates an AI to give them more… life like personality and responses."

"That's really cool." I said with a smile. "The wonders of technology and gaming."

With that we entered the town, talked to the sheriff/mayor and then after Spark defused a nuclear bomb that was just sitting in the center of town, the sheriff-mayor gave us keys to a house and some in game money. Bottle Caps. This game is weird.

With that we stopped by a general store where after answering some questions by the happy-go-lucky store owner, got some armored versions of our vault suits, and then he sold some stuff and bought some ammo for his ten millimeter gun and got me a baseball bat.

"Alright, that's some weapons, a little extra money, stempacks, armor… Now, where can we go to get more stuff without risking dying?" He said to himself as we sat outside the town gate.

"Well…pick a direction and go I guess." I shrugged. "I've looked through some of the stuff in this game while we were wandering around…why is Stealth outlandish?"

"If you invest into a high stealth, high luck build you can one shot most enemies, even late game ones. Especially if you have the right gear and equipment." Spark said. "As is, a high stealth skill can make you near undetectable, add in some DLC items and stealth boys, the right perks, there's be little that could detect you unless something happens. I usually don't invest much into stealth builds and go more for gun builds."

"That's fair." I nodded. "Guns can be really fun."

"I heard you don't use guns though?"

"Yeah, mostly because my normal form doesn't have hands and guns are…weird with what I'm currently doing."

"Makes sense. So, any questions about this game?"

"Well, what's the story of this game?" I inquired.

"Well, the main story is to find your player characters father, then after that you help them rebuild this massive water purifier, they die, you help these army remnants rebuild and fight their main enemy, another factions that's also remnants of the army but also descendants of surviving old world politicians and leaders. Then at the end of the game you sacrifice yourself to get the purifier working, but since I have Broken Steal, one of the DLC's installed, your character wakes up two weeks later, wasteland has changed and you spend that DLC helping wipe out the remains of your faction's enemies. The other DLC's are Point Lookout, The Pitt and Mothership Zeta."

"That all sounds really interesting." I said honestly,.

Spark nodded. "Point Lookout, we go to this swamp place that has arguably the more deadly enemies the game can offer, you spend that DLC finding out old world spy secrets, help either a brain in a giant jar or an old ghoul fight one another in a two century long rivalry, some cult stuff and oh yeah, find some ladies run away daughter. The Pitt takes you to a heavily irradiated remains of Pittsburgh that has some unique monsters there then either aid the slaves in escaping the place or aid the slavers/raiders that run the place keep the order of things. Lastly in Mothership Zeta we get abducted by aliens and the whole thing ends with a giant spaceship battle."

"Ah, yes, the best way to end a game about a nuclear wasteland, Aliens." I chuckled.

"That still leaves us with the base game and a whole lot to do." Spark hummed. "We only have about… four hours til dinner, so by in game time that's maybe three in game days before we have to leave."

"Jeez, that's quite a difference time wise." I said honestly.

"Perks of this whole VR server thing. For us, we will feel like we've been here for three whole days. I heard off Armageddon or some other New Foundation Vr Cafes, the time is one minute in the real world can be an hour in the digital one. But for simplicity, Jada left the settings at default time conversion based on the in-game day-night cycles and the real world time. So, for us, we have three days to hang out and fight. Only downside is that we can't use magic or abilities, we're bound to the in-game features so, weapons and such for combat only. Thankfully, armor and such should auto adapt to our bodies, mainly armor."

"Yeah, that sounds about right for the game…but with the time dilation…it might help me get some time with all of you." I said honestly. "Three whole days to hang out in only four hours? That sounds incredible."

"Yeah, but right now the only ones with access to this are Jada, myself and a few others and not everyone is gonna want to spend time in a video game. So, come on, we can start with heading north some."

"Alright." I nodded. "And…yeah, that is also true with not everyone wanting to be in here…"

With a nod, Spark began leading the way and I followed next to them as we walked down the desolate road. I kept gazing up at them… wonder if that is how they will look when they're that age…

"Still weirded out about the age thing?" He asked with a smirk.

"A little yeah." I answered. "Just…skipping another nine years of your life is not something I want to do."

"Heh, it's just the game. I'm still nine, but the minimum age of your player character can be is eighteen so, the server aged up my in-game body."

"Ah." I nodded. "Still, I'd rather not miss another nine years of your life." I admitted.

"What did you do while you were gone by the way? Have you ever crossed a zone like this?" He asked, waving an arm around the… wasteland.

"Yes, I have passed by wastelands before." I said honestly. "And…it was traveling, some exploring while Three rested…and just…did what I could while being stupid and not taking a teleporter…"

"Heh… guess that would be… a pain." He sighed. "I would often wonder what it would be like if you were around when I was younger."

"I would probably be scrambling around trying to be a good father to all of you…" I sighed.

"Heh, probably like moms when we would all be crying for attention from them." Spark sighed as we were nearing a river, a building sitting next to it with various tables, chairs and an old lady sitting at one of the tables in front of the scrap metal building. "I used to bug mamma Philomina especially when I was a toddler."

"I…I can imagine…" I said sadly, wishing I was here for my kids instead of just…being an idiot.

"I remember lots of us would dogpile her. Heh, thinking back, we buried her alive in our little toddler bodies. She never got mad or anything. I remember she'd sometimes nap with us all just on top of her like we were a living weighted blanket."

"Yeah…I always thought of that happening to me and how…nice it would be…" I said, grabbing a rock and throwing it into the river as hard as I could as I just felt more mad at myself for missing so much…

As I started sulking, I was suddenly picked up and crushed in a two armed hug. Spark was hugging me. "I know it's not the army of toddlers you wanted, but hopefully a nice spine popping hug helps." He chuckled, squeezing me again. I felt… warm, a sense of joy but also regret… I missed out on years of this…

I hugged back the best I could. "I…I still missed too much…and while the spine popping hug is great…I…still missed too much."

"I know… but, you came back. Lot of people can't say the same." Spark added. "Some of the kids at school, their parents leave to do something outside in the world like you did… they don't often come back." He sighed, putting me down and looking me in the eyes. "You did."

I teared up. "I…I was scared I wouldn't be able to…"

"And now that you are, you can keep close to protect us. I know you left to try and find a way to help mom. All of us who were born to… Breeders. Can I be honest dad?"

"Be honest with me son." I said softly.

"I don't know if what you got… my new baby siblings… Yeah, I know you're… In any case, I don't know if they will be able to undo what mom and the others like her have become. Even if they did… then what? Undoing that to them, would they be better? What happens then? I don't know what will happen to mom or the others if you manage this. But I know you did it so they won't have to be so… dependant on you, or be so… needy. Still, I don't know if they'll ever be real people again…"

"It's…it's better to try and make some difference than to just let it keep going like this." I shook my head.

"I know. I just don't think it will be what you want. Try not to have too high hopes when that time comes around."

"I know…I'm not expecting a miracle cure but…I'm at least hoping for something positive here…"

"We can hope." Spark nodded.

---

After dinner, I sat in the bedroom, sighing as I looked up at my newest Breeder… David's former son…

He's been blindfolded this whole time and seated down in a chair… Maybe… Either way, at some point I'll have to remove his blindfold. Might as well be now…

"This fucking sucks…" I thought to myself, moving over and making sure I was the one he looked at as I undid the blindfold.

I took the blindfold off, his eyes flashing that same code green as all the others. "Hello ma-" He stopped, making me frown as suddenly, lines of the green one and zero energy ran across his eyes. I jumped back as he went limp, falling to the ground… "Mother fucker!" He yelled, pushing himself up. "Heh… holy crap it worked… Mostly… damn it dad…" He growled, looking up and seeing me. "Oh yeah, you own me now…"

"Uh…hi there."

"Hey, Button Mash, first off, what is your opinion on my father?" He asked, standing back up. "Woah… I'm taller… that's unexpected… how long have I been stuck in there?"

"So…your father is possibly Existance's biggest asshole…but somehow is capable of being at least a halfway decent person when he's not planning to ruin reality for funsies." I frowned. "And uh…you've been here for a week."

"No, I am much taller than I remember, also yes he is indeed an asshole." He said, tapping his Assistant. "Alright let's see- Two hundred years?! That fucker! Surprised he kept me around that long…" He huffed. "I just hope Fiona is alright…"

Fiona… this… this is the him… that David erased when he refused to alter her…

"She…she's…" I gulped. "Please, sit down…there's a lot to talk about."

He sat down, sighing. "Then she is a Breeder… I figured as much… I mean, so am I still, just got most of my memories…"

"Yeah…" I sighed. "I…I made sure Fiona was happy and well…"

"She's here? And taken care of? Oh thank gods…" He sighed. "That's a worry I don't have to freak out over… So, you aren't freaking out or causing a scene so… all I know about you is your name. So, who are you Button Mash?"

"Well, I'm an Isekai for starters." I said honestly. "But where do you want to start cause there's…a lot to go over about me."

"For starters, I suppose I should ask as to how you came into owning me. I'm apparently missing both the first six and a half years of my life and the last two hundred years so… I'm gonna prioritize the information."

"So…I…" I tried to start…but then growled. "Ugh, fuck Greed and forcing me not to talk about important things." I groaned. "But let's go with how I got you…well, I'm…a dumbass and made a deal with your dad…" I sighed. "I got you, Fiona's mother, a fuck ton of Rem and…Hacker pills…"

"I see… Dad's been busy in the last two centuries. What deal did you make with my old man?"

"That I…help him test the pills." I said carefully. "Take a pill, get impregnated by a Hacker…baby Hacker instantly." I answered.

"Ah… gross. That also explains why I'm here… double gross. Okay so now that I know that, as much as I wish I didn't, my name is Yuri. Now, I imagine you are wondering how the fuck I pulled this off?" He asked, motioning to himself.

"Yes, I am wondering what immensely."

"Well, while my dad is skilled and a very powerful hacker, I do know some tricks too. I'm not anywhere near as strong as they are, but when he started trying to erase me, I immediately began backing up all of myself I could, then locked it behind a trigger. That trigger being when a slave, serf or Breeder has the blindfold removed and the Code triggers the activation of their programming. I'm still a Breeder unfortunately, but I was able to keep most of my memories and my personality."

"Alright, that's really cool and interesting." I said honestly. "But…why I also need you, besides trying to stop the bullshit war he wants to start…is to try and do something to either reverse or…help 'alleviate' the bigger issues with the Breeders and Slaves…"

"Oh… Oh that will be… tricky…" He said, rubbing his chin. "Slave, Serf and Breeder Programming is… old, and very well constructed. I doubt even my old man could remove it once it's implanted. Reset, yes, but maybe I can figure out how to altar the programming… but that will take time…"

"I'm not looking for a complete cure." I said. "I'm looking for more…giving them more autonomy, more free will…just…to make them more 'people' if that makes any sense."

"... It will take time. Maybe I can… suppress the urges and the mental instabilities… but I'll have to test it on myself first…"

"Take as long as you need." I said. "Cause any step towards…making all this bullshit easier or better is a step in the right direction."

"... What does she go by now… Fiona?"

"She goes by Kara now." I answered.

"And have you… has she been a mother then, by you at least?"

"Yes, I have twenty kids from what the list says…and…she's doing well overall."

"... Heh. Well, that's nice." He said, taking a deep breath. "Gonna be weird when I see her… she'll look and sound just like Fiona… but she won't be… not anymore. Fiona is… gone."

"She still has the love of art that you let her keep." I brought up.

Yuri smirked, sighing at hearing that. "That's good… I was able to save at least that small piece of her…"

"Yeah…while I was in my Symbiote form while we headed the Chaos Capital…I looked into her mind…and her love of art is almost as big as…the programming." I said sheepishly.

"Heh, that's cute but… we both know you can't see the programming. You aren't a Hacker." He chuckled. "Thanks for saying so though. In any case, the Breeder Programming I have says you're a herm, right?"

"Yes…yes I am." I said carefully.

"Huh… hopefully that can work out when eventually the… need, from the programming becomes too much…" He said, blushing.

Well this is… very different. Wait, why am I blushing?!

"U-uh…I mean…" I stammered, not sure why I was blushing or feeling embarrassed by this but…damn it… "Hopefully things don't get weird…"

"Hopefully… Yeesh, don't know what dad's version of me did in the last two hundred years but I have never been with anyone before… plus, normally into more… masculine partners…"

"Well…I know one thing that is still very masculine." I said readily. "Plus, I'm a Symbiote so I can shapeshift."

"Masculine…and tentacles…"

"Let's not get that crazy!" I said quickly.

"That wasn't me…" Yuri said, pointing behind me.

I turned to see Maud, Cream, Sweetie, Philomina and Tiara all sitting there, sharing a popcorn bowl.

"No please, continue." Tiara said. "Watching you try and flirt with your first male is very adorable."

"And hot." Maud added.

"Why~!" I whined, covering myself in my wings in embarrassment.

"Hey, ever since your little body swap sexual orientation/identity episode before you left with Cream, this has been on a checklist we have been dying to see." Philomina said.

"Plus, it's hot." Maud repeated.

"Can we please stop talking about this?" I asked. "We really don't need to talk about how I might fuck a dude…"

"Or get fucked by a dude." Philomena pointed out.

"Which is hot." Maud said immediately.

"I mean, it's not any different than when you used my body to ride your own/Cheat's sausage… or when we bring out the toys." Cream brought up.

"Admit it, you're into it, you just haven't accepted it." Tiara said.

"... That was a lot to take in and honestly I am surprised he's so… shy about it." Yuri said.

"I know, I think since it's still new to him, it makes him all shy and bashful and embarrassed."

"Shut up~!" I whined. "I don't have to take this nonsense."

"You sure enjoyed taking it before you left~" Cream said.

"...You kinda walked into that one…" Yuri said.

"So anyways!" I snapped. "Why are you all here?" I asked all my spouses.

"I was coming in to take a shower, heard your conversation going on, and got the others here to watch." Tiara said.

"Cause of course." I grumbled. "But…there might be a way to help all the Breeders, Serfs and Slaves."

"We heard that part. At least they'll be less… that." Cream said.

"Ugh, the good part of the show's over now…" Tiara huffed. "I was hoping at least for a kiss…"

"Can you please stop being horny for five seconds?"

"No."

The fact that all of them said that at the same time…concerns me…

"We're parents, we take out entertainment where we can find it as we have no real social lives anymore." Sweetie said.

"How many kids do you have?" Yuri asked.

"Three hundred. Over actually." Philomina said.

"... And he was gone for how long?"

a"Ten years." Maud added.

"... Welp, they earned this at least." I turned to Yuri… only to have our lips meet… My face went red, my wings immediately flared out and upright… something twitched and my brain went blank… This is… not… bad… He broke the kiss, and immediately I heard the girls all make some high pitched screams of excitement. "Huh… not sure if that's the fur or just your lips but that was a very soft kiss."

"Uh…" I muttered…maybe it was more or less the ten year dry spell even with all the breeders trying to wring me dry…or something else…"You can take a shower later Tiara…everyone, bedroom." I said, while picking up Yuri bridal style and hearing him yelp in surprise.

"Easy there pony," He said, snapping his fingers. He was gone in a green blink and when I looked around I saw them standing next to the girls. "Hey, I might be your breeder but I got enough will and such to not readily spread it for ya, even if you do own me."

I… winced. Right… Fuck…

"R-right…" I said sheepishly. "Sorry about that…just uh…maybe a little too eager all of a sudden…"

"Clearly." Yuri chuckled. "Look, you have a lot on your plate, including figuring all… you out. On will alone I can probably last… four days, if I tinker with the Code I might be able to extend that timeframe. I'd at least like a date before my programming forces me to blow you."

"... Yeah you work on that because that was fucked up to hear…" Cream said.

Yuri shrugged. "Just glad pops left me with my powers. If I start analyzing the code now I might be able to at least learn the structure." He groaned, rubbing his eyes. "That's gonna take five to seven hours…"

"If you need anything we're here to help." I said readily.

"Heh, there's not much you can do. Regrettably, this is all on me. Welp, you all can go and enjoy that orgy if you're still gonna do that, and I will be on the couch." He said, heading out of the room.

"... Well, that ruined the mood…" Maud sighed.

"Yeah…" Cream sighed.

"At least he managed to save himself… mostly…" Philomina said.

I sighed. "Sorry."

"It's a messed up situation no one asked for…" Tiara sighed. "At least it looks like your trip did have a pay off. Less in that baby you got, and more in him."

"Yeah…" I said, gently putting a hoof on my stomach. "This…this fucking bites…" I said, starting to sulk again. "All because I thought taking the long way would have worked when we had a fucking teleporter…"

"Where is Kilpulu anyway?" Philomina asked.

"He has a shop on sixth street." Tiara shrugged.

"And just like that, you all learned that I wasted ten years over me not asking one simple fucking person…"

They all got kinda silent, not sure what to say as I was suddenly pulled by the ear by Tiara. "Roof talk, now." She said, making me wince as- wait we're on the roof now? "Button, do you remember what I was doing when you left?"

"Training with Katsuki to become a Time Walker right?" I asked.

"Yup." She said, in a flash a chrome and black keyblade appeared in her hooves, the tip had a neon blue eye that seemed to peer at nothing yet everything. In the other hoof, appeared another Keyblade, this was also chrome and black, but the blade part was far thinner, glowed the same blue as the other keyblade's eye and had gears and clocked incorporated into its design, the tip ending with a large clock. "And she trained me for two months in a temporal portal reality where those two months were two thousand years for me."

"Oh sweet Celestia!" I said in shock, so shocked I used an old world curse…jeez that feels weird.

She chuckled. "Point is, I still had to experience those two thousand years, even if they were condensed into two months here… I felt each of those days pass. The years… There were times I… forgot your name." She sighed. "My point is, that even if you did go to Kilpupu to teleport you there, there is no guarantee that it would have been quicker, or even the best option. Something else completely different from what you wanted could have happened. David might not have had the pills ready and then Mother knows where you'd be now. Or maybe you wouldn't have been strong enough by skipping the ten year trip and ended up trying to actually fight him and we both know that is a losing battle."

"I…" I sighed. "I know…still fucking sucks though."

"There's rarely ever an easy solution when you want to make a change as big as you're working towards, Button. Even now that I'm a Time Walker, there are things I know and don't know, things I can and can't say, things I can and can't prevent… and of course… things I can and can't help you with…" She sighed.

"And why are you forced to not do certain things?" I inquired.

"Because the consequences are too… too much…" She said, tearing up. "I can see the reaction every action takes, the long term and short term events each action causes and I know… I know even if I tried, trying to fix it won't work… because I can already see my failures… my consequences… I can see all of them, yours included…" She sniffled, wiping the tears away. "I can't tell you much about what's to come or where your choice will lead Button… but I can say this…" She looked me right in the eyes. "You made the best choice…"

I took a deep breath. "I…didn't know it was that deep with the Time Walkers…no wonder they're always vague if what they say could…lead to bad things happening."

"Some of the possibilities I've seen are just…" Tiara shuttered, almost shrinking. "It makes me glad this planet doesn't allow dreams, because I'd just be living those nightmares…" She breathed. "Time Walkers. We are living paradoxes. We can see and know all yet at the same time know nothing and are as blind as anyone… If we act too soon or too late on prominent events, or act when we shouldn't or don't act when we are needed… The urge to just… hide, forget… I don't know how Katsuki handled it for so long… heh… at least, until I started caring for some of the kids, made relationships with the others… She ended up teaching me that the best way to live with ourselves is to do just that… live. Don't focus so much on the reactions and the future or past in the moment, just enjoy the moment and what happens here and now…"

"I…suppose that's for the best." I nodded. "Just go about it day by day."

"Yeah. So, Button Mash. You did not just waste ten years of time. You made the best choice out of the options you knew and didn't know you had. You are here now because of your choice. Even if at times you'll still regret it, it was the best choice. Don't expect me to confirm or deny all your choices either. This is a one time exception for you." She smirked. "Because I care about you."

"Oh boo, and I here I thought you would be super happy to be telling me 'I told you so'." I tried to joke.

"That's more Cream than me. I was more just worried about you being gone for so long. Knowing what I know now though… yeah. In any case, I know things you do have to do at some points in time. What, I can't really say but I can say this. Button, we are going to form a Party, and this is non negotiable."

"And why the party all of a sudden?" I inquired. "And who's going to be in it?"

"Can't say much, but you met one of the other members already. As for why, well, so you can make use of Loop of course."

"Uh…only one I can think of that's 'combat ready' would be Tina that I've met recently." I said honestly. "Is that the one?"

"That's for you to decide. All I can say is that you'll need a party of four."

Ugh… there's the cryptic talk… boo.

"Ick, I don't like that." I frowned. "So, it's me, possibly Tina…are you a part of the team?" I asked, given she said 'we' but given how she's a Time Walker now she…probably isn't allowed to do things.

"I already said yes, remember?"

"I'm just making sure cause you're now a Time Walker and…well, you're not allowed to do a lot of things because of it."

"When I'm not allowed, you'll know." She said with a nod. Her Keybladers disbanded, vanishing in two dark wisps of black energy.

"Alright." I nodded. "But you're helping me find the two party members we need, cause I can't just go walking around randomly hoping to meet our third, or fourth, party member. This isn't a harem anime where the main group are all noticeable at first glance." I said honestly.

"Heh, sure sure." She smirked. "We can start that later though. Tomorrow, you have more kids to meet and greet."

"Yeah…I still have a lot of kids to meet and greet." I said honestly.

---

The next morning I was up and ready to meet my next son, Cirro. According to the file photo, he has brown fur on his upper half with a head that's… growing a small tree that constantly grows fruits of all types. His snake half has tree bark like scales.

Huh…

"Probably got more Dryad type of Fae than the others…" I muttered to myself as I knocked on his door. "You in here Cirro?"

"Come in!" I heard them call. I opened the door, finding him coiled up in himself reading the One Piece manga. "Hey dad."

"Hey Cirro, how you doing today?"

"Reading, pondering if I should start up my own ale or wine production. Or maybe just make smoothies." He shrugged, picking a pear off his head. Once it was in his hand, a new one grew and replaced it instantly. "Endless fruit, I got options."

"That is a rather nifty ability." I said honestly. "And…well, you could technically do both things if you wanted."

"Maybe." He shrugged. "Mostly it's just an excuse to not get into an apprenticeship."

"Why don't you want an apprenticeship? Nothing interests you or something?"

"Would general laziness be an acceptable answer?" He asked as he closed his manga and tossed me the pear he picked.

I caught the Pear. "I mean, 'general laziness' isn't really an answer when you say you want to start a Brewery/Smoothie shop." I said, taking a bite out of the Pear to see how good it was.

"Are alcoholic smoothies even a thing?"

"Uh…maybe?" I said carefully. "Wouldn't be surprised if it was but I'm not sure.'

"Hm. So, are you here for some kind of father-son bonding?"

"Yes I am." I nodded. "Hang out, talk about stuff, just do some good ol' father son bonding."

"Pass."

"Pass?"

"Pass." He nodded.

"Why pass?"

"Why not?"

"Because you'd be spending time with your father after…so long." I said, really not wanting to have another child that just…doesn't care…

"I consider myself a prodigy slacker. And it's summer vacation. If I leave my room then there goes my plans of doing nothing at all all summer."

Ah… I get it… he genuinely is just very lazy…

"Right…so my guess on Dryad wasn't too far off…" I muttered.

"I've gone as far to miss my last three birthday parties. Not like anyone noticed when I have nineteen siblings…"

"I would have." I said. "And your mother's would have…just…a lot of things were happening…"

"You ever have siblings back in your home reality dad?"

"I didn't." I shook my head. "Dad was isekai'd into this world when I was only a few months old."

"It's not like I don't love them. But there's nineteen of them! From the same mom! Add the hundreds from the others and the adopted kids… kinda hard not to feel like just one of the crowd."

"Well I'm here to make you not feel like one of the crowd." I answered.

"And you plan on doing that how?"

"Yes." I nodded. "I'm here now to fix things and be a good father."

"From the little I know about you, you didn't even have a father so… how do you know what a good father does?"

"Because I've seen what a good father does." I said. "A good father is kind, caring and supportive of his kids, who helps them through both physical and mental issues, but can be stern when the need arises." I answered.

"Pretty sure TV is mostly bullshit on the life lesson crap."

"My home dimension doesn't have cable." I pointed out.

"Maybe not but I know you spent a lot of time here binge watching TV shows. I've seen your collection of Futurama and The Simpsons and Full House. You're missing a lot of them."

"Yes, I am missing a lot of shows." I nodded. "But I've personally seen what a good father should be, that's what I'm getting at."

"But I don't wanna do anything…"

"We don't need to really do anything, just want to talk and get to know you."

"All you need to know is that once I'm eighteen I'm turning into an alcoholic." He shrugged.

What kind of thing is that for a kid to say?!

"No, you're not." I said quickly. "And why in Mother's name would you decide that at your age?"

"I grew up a middle child in a large family with a largely absent father. It made the most sense."

"Well, I'm no longer absent and I'm not letting you become an alcoholic."

"I'm still the middle child of a very large family. Soon to be larger now that you and mom are doing the regular bedroom stuff cause Breeder programming." He shrugged.

"You're still not going to become an alcoholic and I'll make sure of it." I huffed.

"Boo. Now how will I fill my empty adult life?"

"The fact that you immediately think your adult life will be empty is the problem." I stated bluntly. "You're too young to be thinking about adult life, you still have many years to figure out what you want to do and how you're going to do it."

"I have to pick something to apprentice under next year." He said bluntly. "I'd rather not do anything."

"Well, sadly that's not fully possible." I said honestly. "Wish it was, but especially in Armageddon you need to be doing some stuff."

"Being the two drunk is doing something."

"Being too drunk is not doing something, it's wasting your time and life away as you become a crippled mess wanting more booze that nobody will want you to have."

"Boo."

"No boo." I frowned. "But do you have any questions for me?"

"No, not really."

"Well, if you had a choice other than being lazy, what would you want to do with your life?"

"Street bum."

This kid… I can't tell if he's just trying to make me angry or if he's genuinely got no ambitions…

"Alright, so I have to ask…are you doing this on purpose to upset me or do you just not care?"

"A bit of both honestly, but mostly the latter."

I sighed. "Do you hate me?"

"No."

"Is there more to you not having any ambitions or is it just 'well, I'm a middle child so screw it'?"

"Laziness, a general lack of wanting to put forth any effort, and no life goals to speak of."

"Well, why do you want to make a brewery or a smoothie shop?" I inquired. "That seems like a goal to me."

"Maybe… but that takes effort…"

Alright… his problem is clearly a lack of motivation… what can I do to motivate this kid?

"Alright you, I have an idea." I said, picking up the child in my magic and heading out. "I'm taking you to a brewery to show you how things are done since you seem to be interested in at least making alcohol."

"No, my room! I keep my stuff here!" He whined as I magically carried him out.

It took a while but I managed to find a brewery, a local bar that makes all their own beers and beverages here. The main area where customers are was like a tavern, booze and food filled tables and people were talking, drinking, just having fun all and all.

"Ah, my future home away from home~" Cirro said as he seemed to hug the table of the booth we were at.

I sighed. "So, I brought you here to see how the process is done and get you to see you actually get some motivation in you."

"I only see myself in nine more years, in this booth, that bar table, and most likely the floor." Cirro said, leaning up some and resting both arms on the table.

"Why are you so interested in alcohol?" I inquired.

"... There's this story we learned about in school, about one of the members of the Family. An Admin they say is older than The Mother and avoided wars and conflicts by remaining largely neutral and meeting enemies and allies with various liquors and alcohols. The Admin of Alcohol, Barkeep."

"Huh, that is rather neat." I said honestly.

"They say he can appear as many races, but usually appears human and looks like the ideal bartender. He knows exactly what of all the alcoholic beverages in existence you'd enjoy, what you need and despite him being one of the most powerful of the Family, he's non violent and only uses his powers to run his wandering bar for anyone who finds a door to it. I always thought that was kind of neat."

"That does sound neat." I nodded. "Some good stories I've read here when I had the time was when everyone got to spend time in some magic tavern or something, just…eating, talking and…just being friends without needing to fight."

"Yeah. Just look around." Cirro said. "These people are happy, laughing, even on a planet like this… a good bar and better drinks can help people forget their problems."

"That is true." I nodded.

"Used to think I could do something like that…"

"And you still can." I answered.

"Nah…" He said, letting his head drop to the table. "I've given up on hopes and dreams."

"Why have you given up?" I inquired, wanting to know what caused my son, with such an admirable dream, would give up on it.

"Because I'm part Fae." He said. He moved enough to pull something out of his Assistant. The paper that came out landed in front of me.

Apprenticeship Letter of Acceptance?

This… is an acceptance letter for an apprenticeship… under the Agricultural Division.

"My head grows fruit and regrows them once picked, but if the seeds inside them are planted I can force them to grow to maturity and so long as I'm within a fifty mile area of the plants, they'll continue to grow and be endlessly harvested. It's a passive Fae ability not many with Fae blood are often born with."

"Alright…so what's stopping you from opening up your own bar though?" I inquired. "This just says apprenticeship, it doesn't say 'full time job'."

"Once you finish an apprenticeship you typically go into work almost immediately in the field you apprenticed under. This is why we're supposed to choose what we want to apprentice under beforehand so we don't regret it later. But I received this and everyone expects me to do it, all I'll really be doing is sitting in a grass field letting people pick the fruits off my head, plant them, then once I grow the seeds into full grown plants just sit there for hours letting them harvest them. Everyone says what I can do is basically a miracle on a planet like this. My power can help feed and trade with various settlements and such across the planet. I do this, help people, or choose what I want, and people won't get to eat…"

"I mean…what's stopping you from doing both?" I asked. "Start up your Brewery/Smoothie Shop, and have a farm out back given you said that it's an ability with a fifty mile range." I said honestly.

"I'd have to be exactly in the center of the area for it to work right. Kind of hard to run a bar/smoothie shop and be in the middle of a bunch of fruit plants with people harvesting them for hours at a time."

"Set up shop in the center?" I suggested. "I mean, the place can double as their break area where they can get some nice cooling beverages from a hard days work of harvesting and also bring in customers after hours."

"But I don't want some stupid forest garden set up… I want to work in a real bar, tavern, like this." He said. "Everyone thinks that just because I'm part Fae they think I'll enjoy being in the middle of what can more or less be my own forest but I could care less about nature. Not like I asked for this stupid fruit tree on my head." He huffed.

"I understand." I sighed, really wishing that I could somehow explain that he doesn't have to sacrifice his dream of a bar just because of what he possibly could do. "Just…trying to think of a way so that you don't have to sacrifice your dream, cause your dream is important and in this world, Dreams are what's keeping people going and not just 'what must be done'."

"Pst, you're one to talk."

"It's the dream of a better future for you that made me go…and Tiara said that I made the best choice out of…a whole lot of dangerous ones." I sighed. "Cause I'm doing stuff so that you can choose to follow your dreams, not have it thrown to the wayside because of someone else."

"Sure." He sighed. "But it's my life we're talking about, not yours. If I take the farmer job, then that's that and I'd be helping feed so many people… if I Don't, I get my dream but people will likely suffer. I don't want people to be hurt or go hungry. I just want to be… unspecial."

"Son, I think you missed a step." I said, seeing him raise his head and look at me with a raised eyebrow. 'You said that you need to be in a specific spot to farm right?" I inquired, seeing him nod. "And from what you said you don't need to do much besides stand there right?" He nodded again. "So, why don't you build the tavern where you're supposed to be? Like I brought up before, you can build the tavern that you want where you're supposed to be for all the plants to grow, and you always have a steady stream of customers from the people farming all the plants, to people coming to enjoy a nice drink in your bar with the sound of nature around it."

"I mean… maybe? That would be a long travel for a drink though…"

"Portals." I shrugged. "Plus, if the drinks are as good as you want them to be, then I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind the travel time for your drinks."

"It would still take a long time. I can only do one apprenticeship at a time and they take six to eight years to finish depending."

"Hmm, you are right." I said with a frown. "Well, I'm sure we can figure thing's out. We still have plenty of time."

"We have less than a year and there are three hundred other of your crotch goblins in the house you still have to meet…" Cirro said flatly.

"As I said, we still have time." I said readily. "Long enough to do what's important." I said with a smile.

"Is important what you call my moms because you seem to like doing them a lot."

I blushed at that playful jab. "What me and your mother's do is not your concern, and no, what's important is me spending time with all of you, getting to know you and seeing if there's something I can help you with." I explained.

"Can you order us some food while we're here? The waiter has been waiting politely for us to finish for several minutes." He said, motioning to the human sized man with a single large eye on his head wearing an apron and holding a notepad.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly to the waiter. "Just having a heart to heart here."

"It's alright." the Cyclops said with a raised hand. "So what can I get for you?"

"Right, so what do you want to order Cirro?"

"... Got anything that can give me a heart attack in ten years?" I don't know how but I managed a spit take with an empty mouth.

"Excuse you!?" I yelped.

"If it's not greasy, fatty and something that can give you a heart attack at an early age, I don't want to eat it." He said, picking an apple off his head and rolling it over to me. "I'm literally always around fruits, I'm pretty sick of healthy foods."

"Heh, we do have the bacon wrapped burger and cheese stuffed french fries and some lard soda."

Lard soda?!

"I'll take that in a large." Cirro said.

"What the actual hell, that sounds less like a heart attack and more like your heart will just pack up and leave your body."

"Even better." Cirro smirked.

"Right, and you?" The waiter asked me.

"Uh…" I frowned…now I hate how my inner child and 'food that is absolute garbage for your body' resonates…"I'll have what my son is having, just not the Lard Soda…got any Apple Cider?"

"Alcoholic or virgin?"

"Oh trust me, dad is the furthest thing from…" Cirro said, making me blush and the waiter laugh.

"Cease." I whined. "But I'll have virgin cider please." I said.

"Add another mom to the group." Cirro added.

"Your kid's got a sharp tongue there." The waiter said, laughing as he left.

"Why must you betray me like this Cirro?"

"Why must you always feel the need to stick it in where you know you'll just have more of me slithering around the world?"

"Bruh, I do not."

"Is mom not pregnant again?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Aren't you also pregnant?"

"That's-"

"Should I expect Mamma Philomina to tell us she's also got another bunch of buns in the oven? Or will she just assume by this point we know you're making our already huge family even larger? I mean, not to kink shame but…"

"I will ground you to be outside for a week if you don't cease." I said, my face as red as a tomato at this point.

"Fine, only because I feel like you'll try and bang the moms in my room while I'm grounded to be outside."

Yeesh! Got him into a good mood and it's shot after shot…

"When did you become this outlandishly sassy?"

"There are perks to gaining depression. A sharp tongue and sass that can't be stopped are two… and possibly the only perks." He smirked. "You put me into a good mood, so suffer the consequences."

"Well…I'm glad to have made you feel better son…I don't want you feeling depressed and I want to see you and all your other siblings happy."

"And you're only making that a longer process by endlessly fucking." He chuckled.

"Here are your drinks." I turned to see, he looked maybe… eleven, was some kind of bipedal humanoid cow. He had brown and white spotted fur, curly light brown hair, large orange eyes and was wearing an apron too. "Sorry for the wait, I'm new here."

"It's alright." I nodded. "Speed comes later, making sure you're doing the work properly always needs to come first."

"Thanks for understanding, your meals will be out soon." He said, walking over to another table.

I took a sip of the cider. Hmm, not bad. It's not Sweet Apple Acres but… it's close. I looked at Cirro… who was still looking at that little cow boy… wait is that… blush…

Oh… oh this is too good to pass up…

"Well well well." I said, seeing my son snap to face me and cough to try and cover up his blush. "What? Are you going to let your Cowboy go without saying Yeehaw?" I asked with a shit eating grin.

"Dad…" He said, blushing more but also groaning. "That is… so… awful… and probably offensive…" He said, rolling his eyes.

"Never offensive to be polite." We both looked over to see…a passing crab with a cowboy hat…"Yeeclaw gentleman."

"Yeeclaw." I nodded with a smile. "See? It's polite." I laughed as he just groaned louder. "But what do you like about our new waiter?"

"I…" He tried to speak. "It's just… I don't even know his name dad. Besides. I'm nine, shouldn't you be saying something about not dating until I'm older or something parent related?"

"But then I won't be able to tease you as much." I chuckled. "But come on, what made you so smitten with him?"

"I am not having this conversation." He said, taking his cup of lard soda and drinking it. Somehow it was chunky and fizzy and that made me gag. "Huh… actually not that bad flavor wise."

"Fizzy chunky looks awful and it would taste just as bad." I coughed, trying not to vomit from how gross that looked.

"Better than Jada and her Death Wish Coffee. Drank that once and while I did deep clean my whole room I also slept for three days once it wore off and I distinctly remember seeing smells."

"Yeah…that was a nightmare and it tasted awful." I shuddered.

"I had six more after the fact." He shrugged.

"Why?" I asked.

"Free three day long naps." He shrugged. "And it made you drop the topic of the waiter."

"Well the topic is coming right back." I motioned to the specific cow boy waiter coming back with our food.

"Here you go, two Heart Clogger meals." The kid joked, putting the plates on the table. The fries were as thick as a chicken leg bone, and the burgers were easily a pound or more, the meat was sizzling bacon wrapping the patty, and then there was also cheese, some lettuce, onions, pickles, all between two greasy looking buns.

"Awesome." Cirro smirked.

"My inner child really likes what I'm seeing." I chuckled. "Oh, before you go, what's your name?" I inquired our waiter.

The look on Cirro's face was priceless.

"I'm Rolly." He said with a nod.

"My name is Button, and this is Cirro." I said warmly. "It's nice to meet you Rolly, and thank you for the food."

"You are welcome." He said, giving a small bow before heading back.

"You're a horrible matchmaker…" Cirro huffed.

"No, I'm just being polite, if I wanted to be a bad matchmaker I would have said you thought he was cute." I stated simply, which made Cirro blush again.

"At least I'm not as bad as Rain. Poor guy is still clueless."

"Well, I'm sure when he grows up a bit, I'm sure the twin's will be great for him."

"The fact he's got two." Cirro chuckled.

"Yeah, it's quite surprising. But he'll learn to love them as he grows up." I nodded.

"If he ever realizes he likes them." Cirro said as he took a bite of the cheese stuffed fries. "Woah that's good."

"While I do want to tell you to be healthy…sometimes, pure garbage food is what you need." I chuckled, magicking up a fry and eating it.

The cheese exploded across my mouth and tongue, and what oozed out from the stuffed french fry was like liquid gold.

That is good…

"Okay…this is really good." I said in surprise.

"Nice food, good atmosphere, this is why I want to run a tavern. Maybe one of my siblings can play music here. I know several of them are good at music."

"That sounds like a great idea." I said with a smile.

"Yeah. Guess I can try for learning brewery and tavern management before the agriculture thing at least."

"Yep." I nodded. "Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it to."

"Still gonna take forever to get both done…" Cirro sighed. He then picked up the burger and bit into it… that's a lot of… grease… "Oh… forget ten years I might have a heart attack tonight." He laughed.

"Well…there's a lot of grease, and I'd rather you not die today." I said, magicking up the burger and taking a bit out of it to see if that was the case.

The grease made the whole bite feel like I bit into crispy butter, the few greens that were in here were very much overpowered by the pure meat of the bacon and patty. When I swallowed I could feel my arteries crying.

"Cheat…help…" I mentally whined at how my arteries were not happy with this.

"We're all eating the excess as it comes… take another bite this shit is amazing." Cheat said

"I mean, yes it is but damn is this greasy…oh shit, what's Cirro going to be like with all this grease?" I thought worriedly.

"He's part Fae, also part naga, it's stupid hard for either of those two races to have issues like that. Plus I'm pretty sure that tree on his head will soak up the excess and put it towards those fruits."

"Huh…that is an interesting thought." I mentally nodded as I took another bite of the grease machine that was this burger.

It was a good meal, even if I left it feeling like I needed a bath and two years was shaved off my endless lifespan.

"So, how was your day?" Cream asked as I crawled into the bed.

"I feel like I should hibernate with how much fat I ate…but it went well given I helped Cirro realize he can have his dream and the work he's being offered, and he's also got a crush."

"Oh really?" She asked with a smirk. "Is it a Rain situation, or is he well aware?"

"He's aware, and it's with an adorable cow boy waiter we met, his name is Rolly." I chuckled.

"Are they in the same age range?"

"About a two year difference from what I could tell." I said. "Rolly's eleven, but the moment he walked up, Cirro was immediately watching with a big blush on his face."

"Awe, that's adorable. I think this is his first crush." She chuckled. "So, he's finally figured out what to do?"

"Yep, just needed some help." I nodded. "He thought he could only do one or the other, but I helped him realize that he can do both."

"Heh, that's good. So, what did you eat that was so filling?"

"Rolly jokingly called it the 'Heart Clogger' meal." I said honestly.

"Oh! I know those burgers, I ate them all the time when I was pregnant with Level Up."

"Uh…that's a lot of grease and the like…" I blinked.

"You've been pregnant before Button. And you're pregnant again. Before, it was spicy dill pickles and nacho cheese covered jelly beans. Are you really going to sass my cravings?"

"I'm not sassing." I said. "Just that that specific kind of food seemed a little…too much with grease and all that." I said sheepishly.

"Don't criticize a pregnant ladies cravings. Especially when it's your child she's carrying." Cream said. "Besides, I worked off the excess weight gain it gave me a long time ago."

"I know." I sighed. "But…so far things are going well with the kids…it's still gonna take forever to get through all of them."

"Maybe, but you aren't gonna stop. You from meeting them all one on one."

"Yeah, really wish I could get everyone into the VR world, cause that's three days in four hours, that could help make this a whole lot easier." I admitted.

"Maybe, but I don't think It would be the same."

"I know." I sighed. "Just gotta take things one at a time I suppose…"

---

Today I was meeting with my son Ash. Ash was… unique. His body consisted almost entirely of rocks. From his upper half to his snake half, his body was constructed of various smooth rocks that kept together.

He had no hair and while he did have flesh under the rocks, they were also cracked all the way from head to tail tip. It didn't hurt him but when he gets angry the cracks begin to glow and radiate heat and even shoot our smoke and fire.

He's been known to achieve volcanic levels of heat.

This was an example of a birth mutation altering someone extremely.

"Right…so don't anger the literal volcano elemental…" I muttered, gently knocking on the door. "Ash? You in here?"

"Coming!" I heard their muffled voice from the other end of the door. They didn't sound any different from the other kids.

The door opened and immediately I noticed the room, it was all largely metal, what kind I'm not sure and the bed fabric looked to be a thick, likely fireproof as well, the mattress, pillows and blankets.

Ash himself looked as the photo showed, despite being made of stones his face and body was still as… organic looking as his siblings.

"Oh, hey dad."

"Hey Ash, how you doing?" I inquired.

"I'm a volcano golem… so, as good as I can." He shrugged.

"That's fair." I nodded. "Today I'm going to be hanging out with you son."

"Okay… how are we gonna do that?"

"Well, we just hang out, talk and just get to know each other." I said honestly.

"Hang out where, there's a very small list of places I'm allowed to be for… obvious reasons."

"Well…I might as well start with, does your body only heat up when your agitated or is it something else?" I asked, cause I'm certain that he can go out and do stuff outside and not have to be confined to a heat proof room.

"It's linked to my anger. Depending on how angry I am depends on how hot the heat gets."

"And…how easily are you angered?" I inquired.

"Well, I'm banned from the arcades. Claw machines were rigged anyway."

"I mean…yes, Claw Machines are rigged as hell." I said, not really faulting Ash for burning a Claw machine, those things are evil.

"Also the park."

"What happened at the park?" I inquired.

"Dog peed on me… accidentally set half of it on fire… and the dog…" He winced.

I hissed. "Uh…yeah okay that's…kind of a…bad…"

"Also the movie theater. In my defense, Shrek five was gods awful."

"Eh." I said with a wavy hoof, not really having seen it myself cause after the second movie it just kind of lost me.

"I'm also not allowed anywhere near hardware stores, book stores, any store that sells flammable materials, the Mexican restaurant on Ripper Street and I am banned from all civil offices and local libraries."

"How easily pissed can you be?" I asked honest surprise.

"After the park a lot of places banned me preemptively…" He frowned. "I try not to be angry, but sometimes something happens I just can't… shake off."

"I understand." I sighed. "Anger tends to be…rough, but what tends to calm you down?"

"A good laugh, quietness, and anything comedy."

"Fair enough." I nodded. "Good comedy can help alleviate things a lot." I nodded.

"It's most of what I watch and read." He said.

"Well, what's your favorite comedy?" I inquired.

"Anything with Will Smith."

I looked at Ash…"I know what we're going to be doing today." I said.

"Okay Phineas." He replied with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah." I chuckled. "But Will Smith is good, but you need to learn a lot about Robin Williams."

"I know about him. I've actually seen Mork and Mindy."

"Then you haven't seen him in his element, like Genie from Aladdin or Ms. Doubtfire." I said readily.

"I've seen Aladdin." He nodded.

"Cartoon or Live Action?"

"Both."

"Alright, good." I nodded. "Cause Genie in the animated series can't be beat."

"So, movie marathon?"

"Comedy movie marathon." I said with a smile. "But before that, do you have any questions for me? Anything you want to know?"

"Uh, I guess first off, how fire resistant are you?"

"Me and Cheat have taken a volcano to the face and have come out fine." I said readily, given all my training in Khorne's realm and how even the element's wanted you just as violently murdered, I gained plenty of high end elemental resistances, plus with the armor we devoured it also helped.

"Cool. Now, in terms of snacks, are you a fan of spicy food?"

"Eh, nothing too spicy. I like spice but not some of the 'I will literally breathe fire' kind of nonsense."

"Ah, then you probably won't like the same Mexican foods I eat."

"You are made out of lava so yes, I can imagine." I nodded.

"Alright, well I guess we can get some chili and salsa on the side." He said.

"Alright, anything else before we watch way too many comedy movies?"

"I guess just some popcorn, soda and the essentials for a movie marathon."

"Alright, off to get snacks then movies!" I said with a smile.

"Cool, I'll set up the projector."

"And I'll get the snacks." I said with a smile.

I left and quickly went into town, looking for the snacks and such for my movie marathon.

I got some sodas, chips, candy, popcorn, and now for the mexican food.

The restaurant I found was a small place, but it smelled amazing. As I entered I stood in line, waiting, when suddenly.

"Excuse me." I turned around and looked up, seeing a human man standing there, his skin fairly pale with messy brown hair, some scars along his face and neck, a thin set of wire frame glasses rested on his nose and his eyes were a bright blue. He wore what looked like a lab coat over a blue plaid shirt and brown jeans. For some reason, looking at him sent every fiber of my being into flight mode.

"Uh…hi there…" I said slowly, pushing down my need to run here. "Who are you?"

"My name is Alexander, but most call me Alex." He spoke, his town was rather low, collected and calm. "I don't mean to sound odd, but might I acquire a sample of you? Some hair or a feather perhaps?" He asked. "I'd be more than happy to compensate you of course."

"And why would you want to do that and how will you compensate me for this…strange request?" I asked, feeling like whatever he could do Greed or something else might do something wrong to him.

"Research. I study genetics, specifically multi species crossed beings. I have yet to see one like you before, you remind me of Alicorns, though I suppose given this reality you are one. I'm not from this reality initially, and back home your species is rare and only seen well, anyone who sees one of your kind would be the luckiest person alive." He said, giving a warm smile with a soft laugh.

"Right…and uh…what would I be compensated with?" I asked carefully.

"Why, Rem of course. Name your price, but if monetary gain isn't what you wish I can offer something else."

"I've been given way too much Rem from…someone else, so what's 'something else'?" I inquired.

"Well, forgive me for peeking but I noticed you have a symbiote that is… incomplete." He said, making me tense. "Helmet and Gauntlets." He added. "I myself have a piece of that very symbiote armor. The Torso/Chestplate. I'd be more than willing to trade for a sample if you're okay with it."

"Can I see this symbiote piece before I settle on the offer?" I asked. "Just…want to make sure I'm not magically being duped here…" I said.

"Of course." He smiled, pulling the spiked chest piece from his Assistant and placing it before me.

I blinked as I looked at the armor piece…"Cheat…is that real?" I mentally asked her, as that looked exactly like the other berserk armor pieces…

"Yeah, I can sense the link. That's one of my pieces." She confirmed.

"...Shit…" I thought to myself, not wanting to trust this bastard but…he's holding Cheat hostage…"And…this piece hasn't been tampered with?" I asked, given how many people on this planet would sooner fuck with whatever they want because they can…

"No, I'm not one for symbiotes and I can't take samples of something that, in this form, has no genetic material I can collect."

"Well…I suppose that makes sense." I said carefully. "But…I suppose this is a fine trade…"

"Excellente. So, will you be offering hair, a feather, or if you feel generous, some blood?"

I pulled a piece of hair off of me with my magic real quick at him saying blood. "Here." I said quickly.

"Understood." He said, taking out a small plastic vial from his Assistant. He took the hair out of my magic and pushed the chest piece over to me. I took it, the armor piece tuning fluid and flowing into my body as he sealed the cap on the sample vial holding my hair and placed it within his Assistant. "Thank you for the sample, this will be an interesting study later."

"So, where did you come from if I may ask? You said you're an Isekai right?"

"That's right." He nodded. "Back home is different, but similar to this reality. Magic and technology. I used to work for a research organization that was advancing both for the betterment of all."

"Bullshit." I thought to myself. "Really now? That sounds interesting." I said, the part about magic and tech research does at least sound interesting.

"Yes. There were all kinds of magical beings back home. Some exist here as well, at least, I'm sure they all do and more. Griffons, Phoenixes, Dragons, Entities made from the stars and space itself, Gods of lower and higher types, elves, orcs, and then there was humanity."

"Wow." I blinked. "For a human world to have all that is a bit of a change of pace, half the time I hear human worlds are without magic, though what level of God's and star creatures did you have?" I inquired, cause I honestly wanted to be on good terms with this possibly scary sociopathic scientist.

"Well, the Old Gods have long since been gone. The Star Beings are, according to legends, born from their corpses, while Lesser Gods wander the world. They are strong but can't do much unless they are worshiped."

"Ah, well my worlds God's are…well, can be classified as 'World Powers', beings that make sure the world is functioning properly like moving the sun and moon, some Old gods tend to drop by now and then to hang out with them, and our Star Beasts are the Constellations, both Minor and Major, rumor has it Luna was dating Orion at one point." I chuckled at that silly bit of history.

"Interesting. And what role did your people play in this world similar to my own?"

"Well, my world was Equis, and I was a normal Earth Pony before…all this." I motioned. "Earth Ponies tended to handle all the physical labor like farming and pulling trains, Pegasi helped control the weather, and Unicorns did all sorts of magic and were more tech savvy then the other races." I shrugged.

"I see, and you ascended to this Alicorn form sometime after you arrived, yes?"

"After I got to this planet specifically, due to how symbiote nonsense works with devouring beings, I 'ascended' technically." I said carefully.

"Ah… I see. Perhaps I should look more into Symbiotes then for my research."

"Right…" I said carefully. "And…how will your research help this world if I may ask?" I inquired, wanting to know given he brought it up.

"It's more for my own… continuation of where I left off before my arrival, but my current employers very much find my work of value to them, so it's a win-win as far as I am concerned." He said. "Pardon for taking up so much time, but I should be going. It looks like you're next." He said, motioning to the line that, when I looked, was now gone.

I took a deep, shuddering breath. "Oh what in Mother's name did I just help…" I thought to myself in horror as I went up to take my order.

Once that was done and Alex was long gone, I went back home, finding Ash having set up some bean bags, a table with a projector and two dinner tables next to the bean bags.

"Hey dad, everything is set up on my end."

"And…I got all the food." I said, really hoping movie marathon will help me get my mind off of that scary encounter…I should probably tell the higher ups about this…

In the end, I did manage to relax watching Robin Williams movies with Ash. It was nice to share a simple moment like this with him. Maybe I can find a way to help him with his… condition. At least keep his fire from going off when he gets mad.

Before I went to be though, I did go to the guard and found AJ.

"So, he was just some guy?" He asked me.

"No…" I shook my head. "His name was Alexander, and when I talked to him, he was anything but just some guy…" I shuddered. "And…I'm scared I just helped him in whatever bullshit nonsense a mad scientist would get into by giving him a piece of my hair for…Cheat's Breastplate that he somehow had…"

"Well, Cheat is part of the Berserker Symbiote Armor Set, which is a set of armor that spawn in loot separately. So finding parts of them in the possession of others isn't gonna be that uncommon. As for this 'Mad Scientist' thing, if he didn't break any laws or cause trouble while he was here, there isn't anything the guard can do. Even if he is part of a Chaos Guild, we get a lot of trade from Chaos Guild members and since most are just people who work for them to make a living, we can't just arrest him on suspicion."

"Right…" I frowned. "I just…had a really bad feeling about the guy…like he could have just destroyed this place if he wanted to without much effort…"

"If he tried, then we'd get involved. So long as he plays nice there isn't anything we can do."

"Which he did but…I'm scared what he'll do with some of my DNA…"

"Well, that's just something you might never know or might learn later if he's as dangerous as you suspect."

"Yeah…" I sighed. "Wanted to have someone else know about this, Alex is…extremely dangerous for someone so unassuming."

"You'd be surprised how common that is." AJ said.

---

Alright, putting that event from yesterday behind me, today I am meeting my son Firo. His fur and hair colors were the same browns as mine, his snake half had brown leafs for scales, and his arms seemed to end in hooves rather than hands.

He must rely on magic to pick things up and write then.

"Firo? You in here?" I called out as I knocked on the door.

I didn't get a response.

I frowned, gently checking to see if the door was unlocked and wanting to know if he was in there and just distracted.

The door creaked open-

The loud sound of drumming blasted out the now open door, making my ears ring as I realized the walls of Firo's room were covered in home made sound proofings.

I managed to get into the room and close the door quickly before it gave anyone else a headache. "FIRO!" I shouted loud enough that I hoped he would hear me.

"Huh?" He asked, pushing his long bangs out of his eyes. "Oh, sup dad?"

"How are you doing today Firo?" I asked, trying to stop my ears from ringing due to how outlandishly loud his playing was.

"Jamming." he replied.

"The ringing in my ears would agree with that." I nodded. "It's also why your room is soundproofed."

"Yeah. Packing styrofoam and cardboard egg cartons make great cheap soundproofing. Otherwise I'd have to rent a place to jam out and I am broke. That and I was banned from jamming on the roof because of noise complaints…"

"Yeah, cause uh…not only did you want it to be loud…if I didn't know better it sounded like you were trying to physically assault your drum set." I said sheepishly.

"Well, I am using my hooves." He said, raising his arms at me, showing he did indeed have hooves rather than hands. "Makes a louder sound than drum sticks ever could."

"Yeah, that makes sense." I nodded. "So what got you into drumming?"

"I'd always tap my hooves against my desk at school when I'd get bored, I'd start tapping along to the rhythm of some music and the Band Teacher had me test my skills on some drums and that was that. Been hitting them for three years now."

"That's cool." I nodded. "Well, today's our father son day."

"Oh. Do you play an instrument?"

"Always wanted to, but never really had the time." I shrugged.

"Ah. Then I got nothing…" He frowned.

"Really?" I inquired. "Well, any questions for me?"

"Not really." He shrugged.

"Well, what hobbies do you have besides drumming?"

"Well, I listen to some music, study music sheets and watch tv."

"Well, I suppose musician stuff would fit well, you'd especially be happy back home considering there was always a musical number every week." I chuckled.

"Weird. But then again I wouldn't have been born if you were still back on your world."

"Yeah, I know…" I sighed.

"So, what have you been up to since you've been back?"

"Spending time with your siblings, trying to be a good dad." I said honestly.

"Fair." He shrugged.

"Well, I suppose if you want I can stay and listen to you jam if you want." I said honestly.

"If you want to." He said, and started drumming again.

I sat there and listened for several hours before I realized… I couldn't hear anything anymore…

Thankfully a healing potion fixed that up and some more hours and another healing potion later I had… more than my fill of drumming…

Well, that was… not the best. Glad he doesn't seem to dislike me. But we didn't get to do much. Regrettably- What the fuck?

I walked into the living room, finding Yuri… their arm looked ripped open in a black tear as the green ones and zeros were floating out and around the 'wound' as he was moving parts of them around in the air with the other hand… woah…

"Uh…hey Yuri…the hell you doing?"

"If I'm right… buying myself more time…" He said through grit teeth, adding, moving and erasing and rearranging the lines before it all was sucked back into the wound and it sealed itself up. He then flexed his arm and hand some, blinking a few times and smirked. "Well, that's a start." He huffed.

"I suppose you made a breakthrough in the Breeder stuff?"

"Well, not so much a breakthrough more just got myself more time. Typically three days or so is the max limit before Breeder Programming begins altering your mind to force depression and self harming thoughts into the Breeder. I managed to find the lines of code that act as the Timer, linked it to a program on my Assistant and even inserted a kind of Reset button that once used resets the time. I gave myself a week, and the button seems to work at least." He sighed. "For now that's the best I can do. Whatever being created this Code knew what they were doing. One wrong change and the entire Profile breaks. A form of self destruction to prevent tampering and such."

"Well that just makes things worse…" I huffed.

"Yeah… was painful too…" He grunted. "Like… well, I can't really describe the pain… Agony works but it also doesn't feel strong enough…"

"Right…that's uh…that's not good at all."

"Not fun but it has to be done." He sighed, leaning back on the couch. "It's better than nothing, but the difference between myself and most the others is that I still have my personality, mind and sense of self. All the others save Lola likely if I installed this in them won't use it. They don't know better and that makes this tricky…"

I sighed. "Well…it's at least a start."

"Yeah… that's where the hard part comes in though. If I'm gonna help them be more independent and get them back into being people, I'll need to alter what Personality and data exists still on their Profiles…I doubt I can replace the stuff they added, but I can probably add to it."

"What do you need to change in their Personality?" I asked, fearing that this might do more harm than good considering how little I know about all this.

"Well, for starters I'll need to add new personality traits. Breeder Programming removes prior ones and installs a select few. Among other things, but I doubt I can remove those. I'll have to add to their personality file in the Profile to make noticeable changes."

"Alright." I nodded. "Hopefully this'll make thing's at least somewhat better…doesn't need to be a miracle cure…" I sighed, just glad that there's a chance thing's will get better at all here.

"By the way, I was wondering, what are your opinions on Modding?"

…Modding?

"Uh…what kind of Modding are you talking about?" I inquired.

"Well, before, I remember dad speaking with some hackers from Violence. They make and sell what they call Code Mods. They're kinda like… Fake Abilities. They can function identically to normal Abilities but can't be upgraded and don't show up in the Skill Trees or even on a Scan. The problem with them is that they're sometimes unstable, depending on the skill of the Hacker. Some do simple things while others are almost exact copies of powerful Abilities. Then there's using code to Duplicate items."

"Well, Mod's can be fine as long as it's stable and won't fuck things up." I said honestly.

"Cool, so mind if I practice making some? In terms of item Duping, I can do that easy so, got anything you want more of?"

"Hmm…" I hummed, thinking about what I would want duped…"How about my item multiplier pendant?" I inquired, pulling out said strong piece of jewelry. "Always good to have more of one on hand."

"Hmm…" Yuri hummed as he took it. "That's easy." He said, his finger glowing with Code as he tapped it. In a flash of green another one appeared and fell to the floor. He kept tapping it and more and more kept appearing in flashes of green. "Just say when." He said as he kept tapping it and making more.

"When…." I said, absolutely poleaxed at how many he just spawned with just the push of a button…

"Alright." He said, dropping the original on top of the pile he made. "Anything else?"

"Well…might as well get some questions in before I head off to another kid." I admitted. "So, what are your hobbies?" I inquired.

"At the moment, practice this Code work." He shrugged.

"Fair." I nodded. "Ya like video games?"

"Wasn't allowed to play them growing up. Just basic rich person lessons on music and such. Honestly I think dad just put me through them to avoid spending time with me. I mean, fair, I'd rather not have gotten to know the jackass."

"Yeah, that I fully get because he is…not a good person."

"I mean, that's an obvious observation but also accurate." Yuri shrugged.

"Well, one of these days I'll show you the wonder's of Video Games."

"Sure, whenever you have time I guess." He shrugged.

"Yeah…and time is something I sadly don't entirely have…" I sighed. "So many children…"

"So, what are you gonna do with all of these?" He asked, lightly kicking the pile of loot multiplier necklaces on the floor before him. "I mean, one of these does a lot and you'll probably not need more than two or three, anything more than that and the stacking enchantment effect is gonna explode stuff all over you."

… They stack?!

"Uh…what do you mean they stack?" I asked in surprise.

"...You didn't know enchanted equipment can have their enchantments stack?" He asked. "If two pieces of equipment or jewelry have the same enchantment and you wear both they stack. The only limit is how many you can wear at a time."

"Uh…huh…" I blinked. "That would have been amazing to know a while ago…" I frowned.

"...How did you not know something that common?"

"I was busy with a lot of other things." I frowned. "And I thought it would have only been a one and done type of thing, cause it's a very powerful affect."

"Well, now you have… two, four, nine… twenty seven of them." Yuri said.

"Right…and what would happen if I were to wear all twenty seven of them and murder something?" I asked.

"Loot explosion I imagine. I mean, those give a how much multiplier? Twenty, so what's twenty times twenty seven? So every one item is multiplied to five hundred and forty."

"That sounds awesome." I chuckled.

"Yeah but wearing twenty seven necklaces is kinda clunky."

"Fair." I said honestly. "Would still be funny though."

"A little I guess." He shrugged.

---

Today, I was meeting my son Light. His file shows he has all… white fur, mane, and scales and pale red eyes… Oh he has Albinism… Huh. Guess given what Birth Mutations do, I guess this isn't all that surprising.

I gently knocked on the door. "You in here Light?"

"One second!" I heard them call from inside. After a bit I was greeted by my son opening the door. He was dressed in a full body black cloak that covered him from head to tail tip. "Hey dad."

"Your…your body can't be that sensitive to light…can it?" I asked nervously, now honestly worried for my son's health because of this.

"Oh this?" He looked at his clothes. "No, this is just my usual clothes when I'm practicing my magic."

"Alright, I got a little concerned there." I said sheepishly. "But how you doing Light?"

"I'm kinda in the middle of something." He said, motioning to… is that a… challas of… something and a large leather book? Is that a skull?!

"Light…what the hell are you doing?" I asked carefully.

"Practicing Dark Magic." He said.

"Why?" I asked worriedly.

"My magic teacher said it was something I had a good affinity for."

I sighed. "Alright, so why do I have a feeling they handed you a literal Necronomicon?"

"Well, it's a beginners guide." He said, slithering over and picking the book up and showing it to me… 'Dark Magic for Dummies! A Beginners Guide to Dark Magic and Curses'.

"Right, at least it's for beginners…" I muttered. "And how has your studies been going?"

"So so." He said, motioning to a shelf where a skeletal hand was running on a large hamster wheel.

"Right…" I said slowly. "A skeletonized Thing from the Addams family…neat."

"Most of these spells are just bad luck curses and basic small stuff." He shrugged. "Wanna join in?"

"Sure." I nodded. "I need to get better at magic anyways, so might as well see what I can do with this."

I entered Light's room, standing next to him at the table with the challas of mystery liquid. He then placed the book back down on the table and began reading through it. "So, what to try first…"

"I'm not used to doing magic stuff, so let's try something easy to start." I said honestly.

"Alright… Ah, here's one. Spying Eye. Gain knowledge on your enemies and keep watch over your servants." He read from the book.

"Alright." I nodded. "How do we do that?" I inquired.

"Let's see. For this one, a mental image of who you wish to spy on, a drop of your own blood, and a dead man's tooth." He said, picking up the skull on the table and pulling a tooth out of a lower jaw. He tossed it into the challas and then took a small pocket knife and used it to cut his thumb, letting a drop fall into the liquid. It then swirled and became clear, and then showed the image of a person. They looked like a human, save the black cat ears sticking out of their head.

"And who's this?" I inquired.

"Dannis. He's a jerk." Light said, looking back through the book. He then reached into his coat, pulling out something and adding it to the challas. The image swirled for a bit then the kid looked up, as if someone called him. As he stood up, he stubbed his toe on his bed stand. Light chuckled.

"How is he a jerk?" I inquired.

"He messes with Jada's friend. So I give him some mild bad luck curses."

"Greed won't affect him, he said it was the friends…" I thought to myself, calming myself down from a growing sense of panic. "Well, that sounds about right, petty enough to make his days annoying."

"Heh, yeah. Best one yet was when he face planted into a hot pie." Light chuckled.

"Oof, that must have sucked for him." I chuckled.

"It did." Light smirked. "I also curse people for money."

"That sounds mildly illegal…"

"... You aren't on the clock…" Light muttered.

"I'm also your dad and I don't want you getting arrested." I huffed.

"I'll only get arrested if you arrest me…" He said, crossing his arms. "You a snitch dad?"

"As long as you don't do anything other than some minor curses, the guard's won't catch wind of your shenanigans." I said honestly. "And I'm not talking about me."

"Well, you're the only one I feel would snitch on me. Ya know, being a… guard and a… square."

"Calling me a square? I don't know Light, you're starting to speak Cringe." I said, seeing Light gasp at such a statement.

"Coming from the guy who'd return extra jello cups at lunch and cried when returning an overdue library book."

Crap! I told that to the girls in a buzzed confidence!

"I was drunk and they should have kept that a secret!" I whined. "Plus I was like, six!"

"Square." Light repeated.

"You're a square." I countered petulantly.

"Correction, I'm a noodle. By design you being a pony, look the most square. Or maybe a cylinder cause of the barrel."

"Nerd!"

"Geek! Mom told me about your collection of video game figurines when you were a foal."

"And that figurine collection was awesome, so many chores to both buy those myself and to get mom to buy them." I huffed.

"You also left it behind when you arrived in this reality so… you are lacking said collection."

I felt the emotional damage of that realization hit me like a train… No… That took… years…

"And just like that, you've lost your dark magic privileges for a week." I frowned.

"... Death before grounding!" He said, raising the challas and tossing it to the ground. The room filled with smoke and when it cleared, Light, his book and skull were gone.

"You're still grounded!" I called out, shaking my head at his antics. "Silly silly kid…" I thought to myself.

Well… guess he'll be hiding from me for a while…

I sighed, heading off now to either talk to someone else or meet my next kid…"So we only have one or two more pieces to find now Cheat?" I inquired.

"My leggings and my shield and battle ax." She stated.

"Alright, so three more pieces…I still wonder where Alex found your chest piece…not that I've actually been looking for them…" I thought to myself bitterly, reminding myself that I haven't really been searching for Cheat's other parts all that hard.

"I spawned as loot, I'm sure he got it wherever it spawned. Lots of people have parts of me too probably."

"Yeah…sorry that I haven't really looked for your other parts…"

"It's fine, find them as they come."

---

Today I was meeting another of my sons. Crator, he has grass like hair with brown fur, leaf like scales along his snake half. Hm, not much else on him here…

I knocked on the door. "Crator? You in here?"

"Come in dad." I heard them call. I opened the door and saw him bouncing a tennis ball up and down on the racket almost like a paddle ball. "Hey dad."

"Hey Crator, how you doing today?"

"Taking a break from online forms." He said, keeping focus on the ball and racket.

"Online forms or forums?" I asked, wanting to make sure I understood him right.

"Forums." He said, catching the ball and tossing it and the racket onto his bed. "Lore Hunter Forums."

"Lore Hunter?" I inquired. "I've heard about them, I just never really got into it at the time."

"Oh it's awesome. Every dungeon, and especially on Armageddon, every zone has a story in the environment. Finding it is the hard part but it's so cool to find the story of the place."

"Even better when you're technically helping create the story of an area too." I said honestly, seeing Crator raise an eyebrow. "Have you ever heard about Frank the super zombie?" I asked. "Cause that's a funny story, especially considering who he's become right now." I chuckled.

"That's cool but I mean more like how the virus spread and infected the area kind of stuff… well before you and the New Foundation settled here." Crator stated.

"True." I shrugged. "But what kind of fancy stuff did I miss out on in this place?"

"Well, one is that as far as people can tell, the infection started overseas, way out east, and managed to spread this far both by basic viral infection means and contaminated water sources."

"Well that blows." I frowned.

"Yeah, and based on newspapers and old video recordings found around, this part of the zone completely fell under the Virus in just two years." Crator added.

"Well, two years seems like a…normal time frame for something like this." I admitted.

"Based on the lethality, incubation time and rate of spread, it is. Plus there's more useful things Lore Hunters look for when they dig through the story of a place."

"What useful things do they look for?" I inquired.

"What else? Loot."

"How much loot?" I inquired.

"Lots. You hear about some people finding packed warehouses and bunkers of loot just by deciding to read some papers all the time in forum groups."

"That would have been awesome to know earlier…" I sighed.

"Yeah. It's not well known about since a lot of people when exploring dungeons, especially Arena Dungeons, often look for more obvious loot spots and will often overlook papers and documents in the area."

"Yeah, that's fair." I nodded, realizing how there tended to be a lot of papers in the hospital…

"Yeah. You can learn a lot of really cool things and discover secrets if you look."

"That would help a lot." I nodded. "So are you more interested in looking up the forum's or do you ever want to become a Lore Hunter?"

"I do want to become one, but I'd first have to join and become a member of the Scouts, then work my way to being a Lore Hunter officially from there. In the end not a lot of people do that since it's more often than not a lot of reading and paperwork sorting."

"Someone has to do it." I shrugged. "Without someone reading and doing the paperwork, a lot of things would just become a jumbled mess."

"And finding huge loot caches becomes harder. From the public made files on the expansion of the town and such, you actually missed a lot back in your Running days."

"Which sucks…" I sighed. "If I knew any of this lore stuff sooner, it would have made thing's a whole lot easier for us."

"Maybe, but moms all say you drove yourself to exhaustion a lot back then. I'm pretty sure add reading to that you'd at least have gotten some sleep in when the adrenaline wore off."

"That's true." I nodded. "But still…with my item multiplier it would have been amazing to see it jump up by several times."

"Well, there are still lots of hidden lore and clues and cashes and such all over this zone. Maybe just keep a better eye out when you get back to it?"

"I will." I nodded. "And maybe I can call you for some help in finding some fancy stuff."

"That would be neat." Crator smiled. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"Well, just hang out, talk, and get to know each other. Father son bonding day after all."

"Alright. Well, can you tell me what all this was like before the New Foundation moved in?"

"Well, it was a massive pain at the start, you couldn't go out at night or else the real bad infected would get you." I said honestly. "But then when we managed to get things settled, it was kind of like a normal zombie apocalypse to be honest."

I talked about my runs, my encounters with the various special infected and all them. My first and last battles with Frank. It was a simple bonding moment.

---

Today I am meeting my son Reef. His file shows his skin is akin to an algae. He has no hair, his eyes are completely black, no whites, and his snake half is covered in a tough leathery hide rather than scales.

"You in here Reef?" I asked, knocking on their door like all the other kids.

"Come on in dad!" I heard them call. I opened the door… and fell. Lukewarm water met me as I sand a few feet in then managed to stand, my head barely above the water as I saw my son swimming around his apparently flooded room.

"Uh…hi Reef, why's your room…like this?" I inquired.

"I'm a Water Fae." He stated. "If I'm not near a natural water source I can claim as my own I have to be in water constantly. So, I stay here most… all the time. School through a waterproof computer, and entertainment through my Assistant and such."

"Well that…kind of sucks that you're stuck here." I frowned.

He shrugged. "Not much I can do about it. Bright side my room becomes the family pool on hot summer days."

"Well, that is a plus I will admit." I said honestly. "So how have you been doing Reef?"

"Eh. I swim, I watch movies and float as I blast music. The vibrations it makes in the water varies from tickling to feeling like a full body massage."

"Huh, that sounds interesting." I said honestly. "Didn't think it could work like that."

"It mostly depends on the base of the song and such." They shrugged. "So, you here for a swim?"

"Sure." I nodded. "Haven't swam in a while so might as well have some fun here."

"Nice."

---

My time with Reef was unfortunately short, but we watched a few movies and playing pool games. It was fun.

My next and last child with Lilly was my son Lark. He was unique too. He had hair like leafs, orange scales, brown fur coat… and he had legs. Six legs evenly spread along his snake half, allowing him to walk. Huh.

"So why in Mother's name do I have a spider snake child?" I mentally wondered as I knocked on the door. "Lark? You in here?"

"It's open!" I heard them call out. I opened the door and saw them on their bed. It was longer than the other kids beds. Lark laid on his back with his six legs that… were all hind legs for a pony, as he was reading a manga. "Hey dad."

"Hey Lark, how you doing today?"

"Reading, relaxing." They shrugged.

"That's good." I nodded. "So…what kind of Fae are you that you also have…six legs?" I inquired, given how I've been learning the different types of fae from my kids being born these special ways.

"The kind with a pony for a dad?" They asked, confused. "I mean, I'm still part Fea but nothing extra or special is about it. I was just born with these legs."

"Alright, I was just…curious on why you have six in specific." I said honestly. "Four would have made sense, no legs fine…six made me think you somehow had spider powers."

"... No…" He said. "Can I get back to reading please?"

"Don't want to do any father son bonding Lark?" I inquired.

"I mean… not if you think my legs are weird…"

"I'm sorry." I said sheepishly. "I don't think your legs are weird, just surprised is all. And considering the last few of your siblings, I've learned that…well, there are a lot of Fae types." I said honestly.

"Yeah, but really? Six legs makes me a spider Fae?"

"I mean…let's be real here, one of your sibling's is made out of rocks and is a volcanic fae, Reef is a Water Fae…when his name is Reef." I brought up. "And also…is it wrong that I had the Spider Man theme playing in my head but it being 'Spider Fae'?" I asked, seeing Lark lightly lower their manga.

"Dad…" Lark looked at me. "You're a bigger nerd than I was told."

"Yeah yeah." I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "So, what you reading?"

"Sword Art Online, well, the Abridged Manga version anyway."

"Oh really? Is it good?" I inquired.

"Have you seen SaO abridged?"

"Not that I remember." I said, having binged a lot of things I might have seen it but it was a long time ago.

"Ah, well it's peak comedy."

"Really now?" I inquired.

"To quote 'You wanna take this outside? I'm not afraid to throw down with an eight year old, I don't give a fuck!'." He said.

That did make me chuckle.

"Okay, that's pretty good." I said honestly.

"The abridged anime and the reanimated series really do it justice. It also tells a much better story than the original Sword Art Online did."

"Abridged stuff does do that sometimes." I chuckled.

"Wanna watch it? I have the Abridged anime version that covered and redoes all of the original SaO's mess."

"Sure." I nodded with a smile. "Always happy to binge some good media."

Lark sat up, pulled out a projector from his Assistant and began setting it up, then started the show.

I have to admit… this was hilarious. Granted a few references flew over my head but these characters are so… how can you be the best and worst people at the same time?