Fuse
I wanted to hatch my Larvesta egg, so I ended up taking a walk outside while Dori took a nap from mana exhaustion.
And since Angeles could just watch Dori while she recovered, Nahida decided to walk with me to talk about some things.
Mostly about what's been happening in Sumeru, though.
"As you remember, I've formed a temporary council to aid in the reshuffling of the nation," Nahida explained as I was only halfway listening, "We've made significant progress, and elections are going to be taking place in 3 months."
Oh, that was good!
"Who are the candidates?" I asked, following the turn on the trail we were walking on, "Anyone I know?"
Nahida hummed, "Dori, for one."
Wait, Dori is running for president?
"Why?" I curiously asked.
Dori was a merchant, not a politician. Though, those 2 roles are pretty similar when you really think about it.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more that this makes perfect sense.
"Nevermind," I take it back a second later, "I totally understand now."
I know that Dori is going to do the best for her pockets, but I have trust in her ability to fulfill the duties of the presidential office just fine.
…Wait, Dori is going to be the first president of Sumeru.
Dori is Washington?
Damn, Dori really does think 20 steps ahead of me. She's going to carve her names into the history books, and her autographs are going to be worth millions!
Nahida chuckled, "Ah, you two are quite well versed in guessing the intentions of each other. It makes me quite envious to see the friendship that you two have."
I shrugged, "We're friends too, you know. I bet I can guess things from your mind too."
Nahida curiously tilted her head, "Oh? Can you guess what I'm going to say next, then?"
I took a good look at her face, meticulously observing every single bit of skin on her face to figure out the answer to that question.
Yes, it's quite obvious what Nahida wants to ask.
"You wanna know if I want to give an endorsement to Dori, right?"
"No, I was going to tell you more about the Fatui situation."
Damn it, I wasn't even close.
I sighed, deciding to ignore my failure as I asked, "Alright, then what were you going to say about the Fatui?"
Nahida graciously accepted the silent offer to ignore my failure as she explained, "Well, if you recall the day when you rescued me, you ended up fighting the 2nd of the Fatui Harbingers, The Doctor."
Recalling that day…
Right, that really powerful dude that I had to put down with Monroe. But then he had the ability to regenerate so I ended up jumping off the massive tree.
Now that I think of it, that's how I ended up meeting Skryb…
Damn, that guy really was the catalyst to the source of all my problems. I should make sure to put him down when I have the chance.
Actually, moving on from that day, didn't that guy end up winning in the end anyways because of some cloning stuff? I remember killing one of his clones with a domain expansion…
Nahida continued, "Anyhow, after we traded the gnosis to him after we used the gnosis to solve the corruption in Irminsul, The Doctor ended up leaving for Snezhnaya, and we didn't hear anything from the Fatui until recently."
"Need me to shoot someone?" I offered, pulling out Washington with my left arm while I carried the Larvesta Egg on my right, "I don't like that Doctor guy either- Is he seriously just named The Doctor, by the way? I feel as though I forgot his real name."
"Dottore," Nahida supplied the name as she replied to the offer, "And no thank you, this is a situation that can be solved diplomatically, even though it'll be a little bit tough."
I hummed, "Alright. So, why are you telling me this?"
Nahida frowned, "They're asking me about you."
Oh, now that's very interesting. Do they know about my origins?
Or, well, anything, really?
Putting Washington away and using that hand to adopt a thinker's pose, I offered my own thoughts, "Well, as long as they don't know about the whole world traveling thing-"
"They know about it."
Well, shit.
"And if I ask why-"
"Spies."
Yeah, go figure.
Nahida put her best smile on as she offered me condolences, "If it's of any comfort to you, they're calling you the 5th Descender."
"That goes hard," I admit.
It's a super cool title, and I'm not even upset about it. Though, the fact that I'm the 5th…
Ah, there are others like me, "So, being able to hop around worlds isn't that crazy?"
"It is crazy," Nahida used my own vocabulary, shutting down any notion I have about being a descender, "Especially considering 3 of those 5 descenders are gods, or at the very least godlike beings, of some sorts. 4 if we include your brief godhood."
Ah, so this is a special title not to be handed out lightly.
"By the way, who's the 4th descender?" I asked off-handedly, a bit curious to see who was here before me.
Nahida chuckled as she turned her sight behind us, "I believe you two have briefly met before."
Following her sight, I see…
Ah, wasn't that the one guy I sent to Dori a while ago? The guy who supposedly had all of those accomplishments beating people I've never heard of?
Observing his name…
Aether, right. That guy.
I still have no clue who this guy is, but considering that the Genshin world is from a game, I assume that Aether would be the main character.
Oh, and I guess Paimon is the pet, following Aether around.
Aether crossed his arms as he told the two people standing in front of him (us), "You were a very difficult person to stumble across, Lesser Lord Kusanali."
Nahida giggled as she informed Aether, "If you asked any of the Aranara to lead you to me, I'm sure they would've been delighted to. Thank you for solving their issues, by the way."
Aether sighed, "I suppose it wasn't the worst thing in the world. The Aranara are very kind individuals. Either way, I have questions to ask."
Feeling the Larvesta Egg start to shake, I interrupt Aether, "You're gonna have to wait because my egg is about to hatch."
Aether blinked, "What?"
The egg began to crack, the area lighting up with the glow of the hatching pokemon egg.
After just 10 seconds, a new Larvesta is born, placing its eyes squarely on me.
Smiling under my mask, I told the Larvesta, "You're with me. My name is Fuse, your name is Hawaii. Have any objections?"
The Larvesta weakly made some weird buzzing noise at me, and I assumed that was a "No."
"Great!" I cheered as I pulled out a pokeball, "I'll let you meet the team later, alright? I have a conversation to get through."
The Larvesta entered the Pokeball without complaint, silently allowing me to capture it.
Welcome to the team, Hawaii.
Turning my attention back to Nahida and Fuse, it seems that they…
Chose to completely ignore me and have their own conversation.
Welp, I guess that's fine. I think Dori is still asleep anyways, so I have time to kill before we set off back into Galar for another quick trip before I get my journey to catch up to Lily start properly.
(Pitter)
Cynthia Fann:
#Fuse GUYS I JUST SPOTTED FUSE WITH 2 MORE PEOPLE! I THINK ONE IS A ROBOT!
[A 1 minute video of Fuse, Dori, Nahida, and Angeles all wandering around Motostoke.]
ThatFlyGuy:
What? Seriously? Where does he get these people from?
MEEPMEEP:
More importantly, why are 2 of his companions basically children? I can tell that Dori is just a short girl, but that green girl is actually legitimately just a child.
Kio Pek:
Bro I just got out of a conversation with the green girl THAT WAS NOT A CHILD. THAT IS A SOCIOPATH. (Very nice though she gave me some weird candies.)
Whale Lord:
Are we just going to ignore that #Fuse somehow has a genuine robot on his team? Wait, the robot looks like a girl…
This isn't a harem, is it?
March:
Uhh someone call the Federal Buearau of Investigation because that is pretty sus if true.
Byrkston:
I don't think it is. I just saw #Fuse get asked by a random stranger if he was dating anyone and Fuse just scoffed in response. This is literally just a charisma difference between us and Fuse.
ZigZaCoons:
Won't stop my fanfiction!
(Fuse)
Dori was trying to show off her knowledge and trying to teach Nahida and Angeles how to use their Rotom phones.
Dori was actually fairly competent in navigating her own Rotom phone. I assume that whoever decided to bless Dori with her divine luck also gave her a divine intellect to allow her to pick things up like the entirety of the internet fairly easily.
Though, because Nahida is a God of Wisdom and Angeles is a literal robot, they managed to get their Rotom phones under control without requiring much of Dori's help.
Once Dori figured out that she wasn't required and subtly slumped in mild embarassment, I snorted, "Ha, Dori. That's what you get for not having faith in your friends, huh?"
Dori shouted out in embarassment, "I don't know what you're talking about! I just offered my help if they had any issues, and it turned out that they didn't need my help!"
"Feels bad to not be needed, huh?" I rhetorically asked, getting an upset sigh from Dori, "Don't worry though, I'm sure we'll need your skillset some other time."
Dori clicked her tongue, "I'm sure you will! But either way, speaking of the Rotom phones, have you seen what they're saying about you on Pitter?"
Right, those internet mongrels. I didn't even need to open up my phone to figure out that we were being watched from people online.
Though, I did get a very funny quest completion earlier.
Quest Completed.
[Internet Famous]
Objective: Become internet famous.
Addendum: You got your 5 seconds of attention on the internet! Rejoice!
Reward: Title: Internet Famous, 1 minor rank point, 1 gacha token.
[Internet Famous - Title - Ma! I made it! - While worn, your posts online will be recommended to more people.]
I ended up placing my minor rank point into speed, which seemed to just be absorbed into nowhere because it wasn't a lot. And my gacha token wasn't anything significant.
Epic Item rolled:
[Living Figurine Stand - A stand that, when you place a figurine or plush upon it, will become a real living being. However, it cannot move off the stand. They will be fine with this.]
Though, now that I think of it, could I maybe have a George Washington or Abraham Lincoln figurine come to life? I still do have that bust of Abraham Lincoln in my room in Dori's place…
Either way, the internet was still the internet, and I should be wary of dropping any other major thing onto it. The knowledge of my world hopping abilities might cause a mad rush to come towards me, and that would be inconvenient.
Though, considering they know about Revolutionary Battlefield and Regieleki, there still might be a mad dash towards me for my combat prowess.
My thoughts were interrupted as Angeles called out to me, "Fuse? I made a friend."
Oh damn, really?
Looking towards Angeles, I saw Angeles holding a Klink with a very neutral expression on her face that somehow still seemed to look happy.
"I named it Coggy," Angeles informed, the newly named Coggy seeming very content with the name, and the situation its in.
That's absolutely adorable. I almost forget that Angeles literally almost killed me while she was still Skeletron Prime.
I handed Angeles a regular Pokeball, "Here, you can catch it if you want. Just tap it on its head and it should be fine."
As Angeles did so, the Klink having no objections to being caught, Dori called out from behind me, "Fuse, I may have an issue."
Turning around to look at Dori looking very guilty of something, I raised an eyebrow to ask, "Eh? Why?"
Dori held out a Pokeball, "I may have a pet problem."
Dori released the Pokeball, revealing an Eevee.
Dori caught an Eevee.
Yep, that tracks. That was definitely a Dori moment.
And considering that Dori now had 4 pets, her genie, her frog, her Polteageist, and now this Eevee, I can definitely agree to the idea that Dori may have a slight issue.
Dori isn't even trying to become a Pokemon trainer. I think she just thinks pets are cute.
Nahida chuckled as she also seemed to realize what was going on, "It's okay to have a hobby, Dori. I think your pets are very cute too, and they seem to like being with you."
Dori sighed, "At least the God of Wisdom is on my side, but just think about how much it'll cost to feed them all!"
I hummed, "Well, your Genie and Polteageist don't need to eat anything because they're basically ghosts. And your frog pays for itself by spitting out gold every now and then… It's really just the Eevee that eats and doesn't pay for it, right?"
Dori blinked.
"Huh, yeah, I guess so," Dori admitted, then smiling, "It might be fine to get just a few more Pokemon or pets then…"
Yeah, this girl has a problem.
"I might want a Pokemon as well," Nahida said, looking towards me, "Though, I don't seem to have the natural talent of just attracting Pokemon to me like these two do. It's odd, isn't it? I'm the Dendro Archon, but no Pokemon seemingly wants to be with me."
Yeah, that was kind of weird. It's almost as if Arceus forgot to give Nahida Pokemon powers when she arrived.
I shrugged, "Well, we can go out and find something you like. Besides, we're gonna go back soon to drop off all of the shopping stuff from my inventory, yeah? Just come with me while I'm off journeying."
"I'm afraid that Sumeru still needs me," Nahida unfortunately replied, "I would like to come with you, but I'm still the archon."
"That's a shame," I said, "Anyways, unless you guys want to check something out…"
Angeles pointed at the sky, "Oh, flying dragon."
A flying what?
Looking at where Angeles was pointing, I spotted a Charizard flying straight towards us, though it was still a while away. Which actually was a huge observation feat for Angeles to spot that tiny thing.
And me, for realizing that it was a Charizard (I just used Observe.)
Honestly, I think there's only 1 actual person who owns a Charizard in this region. So it was a no brainer to figure out why we could see a Charizard heading towards Motostoke right now.
Opening up a portal back to Sumeru, I gently told everyone, "Hey, give me a few minutes."
I walk towards the portal, gently placing down our bought goods into Teyvat.
Nahida worriedly asked, "You'll be fine?"
Smirking, I pointed out to the trio, "Have you seen or heard of a single thing that could-"
"The Hydreigon," Nahida, Dori, and Angeles simultaneously pointed out at the same time, knowing what I was going to say.
I pouted, "Boo. Fine, whatever. I'll stay safe anyways, though."
Dori seemed to trust my words as she shrugged and headed into the portal, her newly found Eevee on her shoulder, "See you, then."
Following Dori's lead, Nahida waved goodbye, "I'll wait to hear tales of your victory."
Bowing, Angeles simply said, "I know you will win the fight."
And with that, they all left the area.
I sighed, "Why do you guys think I'll get into a fight? Am I that barbaric?"
No way, right? I can solve things diplomatically, I don't always get into a fight. I mean, what kind of American would I be if I solved everything with a fight?
Well, a winning American, but that's beside the point.
The Charizard finally lands, throwing up all the dust on the ground, covering the visage of the rider.
But I think everyone knows who was riding on that charizard, so I just greeted, "Hey, Leon."
Leon smirked as he jumped off his Charizard to stare me down, him being just slightly taller than I was, "You say my name as though you know me already, Fuse."
Leon didn't speak my name as if he knew me. What a nice guy with great attention to detail.
I fiddled with California's Pokeball a bit as I smiled, "Well, your name is a bit more well known around these parts. Either way, what can I do for you, Champion of Galar?"
Now that Angeles mentioned it, I really don't want to have this end in a fight…
AN:
I actually realized it as I was writing the goodbye lines. Gamer fics are just progression fantasy, with a whole bunch of fighting as the means to progress.
And since Manifest Destiny is a gamer fic, a lot of Fuse's problems are solved with fighting.
I've been doing gamer fics for the past 3 years now, and I think I'm finally ready to admit… There is a slight burn out to writing gamer fics, at least from the perspective of the gamer.
I've been having a blast writing Time Capsule, but the annoying parts of Time Capsule are all relegated to basically doing the menu stuff that I do for "Extra lore" and stuff like that. Everything else is a breeze.
Game Development doesn't have any of that, and I managed to have a full month's worth of backlog for it.
Don't get me wrong, I still like Gamer fics. However, it's time for me to face the music.
I just don't like writing all of the technical aspects of writing a gamer fic.
And I think I burnt out of writing first person. My other 2 fics are in third person and honestly I just enjoy writing that more.
I've been playing around with a fic idea in my mind. A PvP gamer fic from the perspective of everyone except the 2 players. And that idea has plagued my mind since I thought of it to the point where I can confidentally say that it'll be the next longfic I start after one of the 3 finishes.
Yet, when I think of a proper PvP gamer fic to replace Manifest Destiny when it finishes… Blank.
I think a Genshin PvP fic that'll actually finish might be good, but I don't think I enjoy the idea. I was toying with a One Piece PvP gamer fic, but honestly I just don't know how to play with the story of One Piece. And I don't think I want to do 2 MHA fics running at the same time.
I claim to have freed myself from the ideas of popularity, expectations, and quality, however…
In my heart of hearts, I want to write a good PvP gamer fic! Just one!
That was the goal I set at the start of my writing career. To either write a good PvP gamer fic, or to get someone else to write a good PvP gamer fic!
I can't quit writing until I achieve my goal! I can't let all my other precious OCs to have been abandoned and left unsatisfied in vain! They were meant to be the learning experiences to get to something good!
In the past, before Manifest Destiny, I burnt out for 6 months because I was trying to "Improve," but I simply didn't have the desire to improve. And my desire to write died not knowing why I was forever unsatisfied with it. Then I came back to writing with a new fic with that same old mind set, and I was starting to drop out again.
Then, right at the bottom of Manifest Destiny where I was realizing I was burning out again on this fic, I abandoned the notion of trying to improve, cut the chapter lengths, and I enjoyed writing a lot more after that.
However, a new issue has arrived, the fact that if I really think about it, Manifest Destiny is not the end result of what I'm truly looking for.
A PvP gamer fic between 2 players. Not the gauntlet that Fuse is going through.
This is a good fic for me just practicing writing, but at the end of this fic I won't be thinking "I've done it." I'll be thinking, "What's next?"
This fic will reach its conclusion, of that I have no doubt. But I will continue my path of writing for a while longer as I chase a dream from years ago.
…My bad for dropping a reflective essay at 2AM, especially for a real random chapter like this. But it's usually late at night where I get the most thoughtful about myself.
Next upload is the Saturday upload, before it's July 4th and we get to celebrate Independence day, probably with a filler chapter with just the most crack I can put in it.
Perhaps I'll write that chapter on July 2nd at 2AM and have another Author's Essay down here, perhaps I'll not.
Ah, right. Before I forget, the Pokemon arc seems to be shaping up to be 15-20 chapters long, instead of the usual 10 chapters per world thing I had going before. I think it's just because I'm getting stuck with having the Genshin Gang having their tourism thing done. But that's honestly fun to write, so I don't even mind the fact that I'm destroying the pacing.
Though, I do gotta pick up the pace sometime, and that sometime is probably going to be now, now that my heart and mind cleared itself of its doubt as I set my sights beyond the destiny laid out before me.
Not to say that this fic will be rushed from now on, of course. I think it was already a rush to only have 10 chapters per world for Genshin and Terraria, especially considering that the chapter lengths changed in-between.
Ah well. After all, every fic is a test fic before I write the magnum opus PvP Gamer fic. The one that I can truly say that I've fulfilled the wish of an idiot who wanted to see two gamers fight each other at the peak of their strength after a long journey of trying to kill each other and failing.
Good night. I might shave the Author's Notes when I wake up, but I might not. (I did not.)
…This Author's note is 980 words long, which is a quarter of the entire chapter lmao. My bad.
