Chapter Four

An Unfamiliar World

As Hizashi walked through the hallways of the academy that Chell had found herself in, Yuei or something, he continued to hold her, carrying her in his arms. Chell hadn't really expected him to carry her the whole way, even after he picked her up in the old doctor's room after her panic attack. Chell had thought that he'd carry her for a bit, ask her if she could walk again, and probably insist she walk on her own two legs.

'Well, they're not really my own legs now, are they?' she reluctantly thought, glancing down at the struts that came out of the back of her knees. She knew exactly what they were for; after all, she had woken up with them attached to her when she had started GLaDOS' tests.

How long ago was that? A rational part of Chell's mind told her that it had been no time at all, that the number of hours that she had been conscious would only amount to a day at best.

But the emotional part of her mind thought differently. Aperture Science had put her to sleep for months, maybe years, simply because she was seen as an undesirable test subject. Then after being woken up by GLaDOS after the A.I. had run out of sanctioned test subjects, and then defeating the malicious A.I. mere hours later, Chell had been placed back into stasis. There had been that brief moment she had woken up in the Relaxation Chamber, but after falling back asleep, she had woken up in a facility overrun by nature. How long she had been asleep for, Chell didn't know, but she knew it had been some time, long enough for vegetation to grow throughout the more damaged parts of the facility, as well as trees finding places to take root. Decades, at least. The majority of her life, without a doubt, was spent wasting away in stasis, frozen in time.

"And down we go," Hizashi muttered, gently placing Chell down on a bench before taking a seat next to her.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Chell looked around, realising how lost in her own head she had been. Where before they had been walking through the hallways of the school, they were now seated at a station. While Chell had seen train stations in the past before she signed on with Aperture, they were always bustling, busy places, with so many people walking and hurrying from place to place that you could barely see the floor beneath them. Here, however, the station was quiet, not a single person around.

"Where is everyone?" Chell asked, looking up at Hizashi. While her implants might make her taller than before when standing, Hizashi was still taller than her, and even more so when they were sitting down.

"You mean why the station is so quiet?" Hizashi asked.

Chell nodded, looking around at the empty station. "The few times I've been to train stations, they've been really loud and busy. A lot of the other street kids would go there and pickpocket people, because so many people would be bumping against each other, they wouldn't notice their wallet had been stolen."

"Oh," Hizashi hummed, looking aimlessly around the station before settling his gaze back on Chell, a curious yet apprehensive look in his eyes. "Did you pickpocket people as well?"

Chell shook her head, wrapping her arms around her midsection. "I tried it once, but, I wasn't very good at it."

Phantom pains lashed across her skin, as memories of the harsh beating she had received from the wealthy businessman she had tried to steal from. She had been left bloodied and bruised that day, tossed aside with only just enough strength in her to crawl into an alleyway, knowing that in her weakened state she had to hide. In that moment, as she lay bleeding beside a dumpster, she was only glad that the businessman didn't have an acquired taste for younger flesh.

Chell flinched as an arm wrapped itself around her shoulders, pulling her in close. She looked up, taking in the warm, caring expression that Hizashi wore.

"I can't begin to imagine what you've been through," he admitted. "I've never been in the level of poverty that you've experienced. But I can tell that it's hurting you. So, I guess, even though this is going to be new for both of us, I'm going to keep that promise to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you don't have that kind of life again. You can be anything you want; a hero, a doctor, hell, even a normal student. But no matter what path you choose, I'll be there."

Chell was silent, simply taking in the warmth from the close contact.

"Why?" she asked. "Why go through all of this effort for me? Why take me in? Why do you want to care for me?"

Hizashi was quiet for a moment, looking up at the ceiling in thought, before he spoke. "Well, I guess it's because I can empathise somewhat."

"You see," he started, standing up from the bench and walking over to a nearby vending machine, "while I might not have grown up on the streets, I certainly wasn't from a wealthy family. In terms of homelessness, Tokyo, where I'm from, is right behind Osaka. See, most kids go places during the summer holidays. Me? I went to work, doing odd jobs for anyone who would pay me, and I started before I even began middle school."

Picking up the cans that had fallen to the bottom of the machine, Hizashi held them up for Chell to see. Looking at the options, Chell decided to choose the red one over the green one, pointing at it. Hizashi mimed throwing it, tossing it to her once Chell had raised her hands. Her hand shot out, the can seeming to fall in slow motion as her gaze focused on it.

"Good catch!" Hizashi grinned as Chell effortlessly grabbed it out of the air, taking a seat next to her. His can let out a snap and a hiss, quickly being raised to his lips as he drank from it. Chell looked at her own can, trying to figure out how to open it. A metal ring lay flat on the top of the can, but twisting it didn't seem to do it.

"Do you want me to help?" Hizashi offered, but Chell shook her head. She wanted to figure this out on her own. Twisting it didn't help, so she tried pushing it. Being careful to limit how much strength she used, Chell pushed down on the metal ring, but it didn't open the can. Frustrated by her lack of effort, Chell glanced over at Hizashi, but he simply smirked at her from behind his can.

"Don't look at me, kid," he chuckled. "I'm available to help, but if you want to figure it out on your own, go ahead."

Chell huffed, still not willing to concede defeat. If twisting and pushing didn't work, she'd try pulling. She tried to get her fingers underneath the sides of the metal ring, but it was too close to the top of the can for it to work. However, in a stroke of luck, one of Chell's fingernails managed to slip in between the ring and the can. She let out an excited gasp, her eyes flicking over to Hizashi, seeing that he had been watching her efforts intently. He gave her an encouraging nod, watching as Chell leveraged the ring up, causing part of it to press down on the top of the can, opening a portion of it with a snap and a hiss.

"You did it!" Hizashi cheered, reaching a hand up to ruffle Chell's loose hair as she grinned. Raising the can to her lips, she took a sip, but quickly held the can away, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

"Don't like the flavour?" Hizashi asked.

"Why's it fuzzy?" Chell asked, glaring at the can. "It's like my tongue is popping."

"Hm, let me try," Hizashi said, plucking the can from Chell's hands, taking a small taste of it. "Nope, tastes perfectly fine. I'm not much of a fan of cherry flavour, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary."

Hizashi paused for a moment, his gaze moving between the can and Chell, who was now looking at her caretaker with a curious expression.

"Hey, Chell, have you ever drank a carbonated drink before?" Hizashi asked.

Chell simply tilted her head. "What's carbonated mean?"

Hizashi slapped a palm onto his face, groaning into it as he handed back Chell's can. "Right, my bad, I probably should explain. These drinks are carbonated; most people call them fizzy drinks or soda drinks. The bubbles that you felt, the fuzzy feeling, that's a gas that they put into the drink to make it bubbly."

Chell took an experimentary sip from her can. While it still felt strange in her mouth and on her tongue, she felt it was something she could get used to.

"It's not bad," she muttered, glancing at Hizashi's can. "What flavour did you get?"

"Well, my flavour is apple, while yours is cherry. I didn't really know what flavour you wanted, so I just chose two at random."

Chell nodded, sipping at her drink, slowly getting used to the feeling of the bubbles. Hizashi joined her, the two simply enjoying the silence, the only sounds being them drinking from their cans.

"I feel like I was going somewhere when I was venting about my crappy childhood," Hizashi muttered.

"You mentioned working as a kid?" Chell provided, causing Hizashi to snap his fingers into finger guns at her.

"Atta girl, that's it!" he grinned. "Right, I was talking about how I can empathise with your experiences, at least somewhat."

He took another sip from his drink, glancing at Chell from the corner of his eye. "You were abandoned, weren't you?"

Chell stiffened at the prompt.

"Yeah, your reaction says it all," Hizashi sighed. "That and the fact that you don't have a last name really sealed the deal in my mind."

"Were, you abandoned too?" Chell hesitantly asked.

"Nah, I wasn't abandoned, not fully anyway," Hizashi admitted, glancing at the floor of the station with his can resting in both hands. "See, my old man was a runout. Didn't matter to him that he had a loving wife who relied on him for financial security, or the fact that she had just given birth to a daughter, or the fact that he had a son who thought the world of him. Nope, none of that mattered. Must have been why he simply left one day. No words, no goodbyes, no reason. Just up and left, took most of the money too. Mum still had some cash, so we weren't out on the streets, but we were close to it. Having to save every yen where possible, hand me down clothing, the works."

"Did you ever find him?" Chell asked.

Hizashi was silent for a moment, the silence stretching on.

"Eventually," he admitted with a scowl. "I ran into him when I was a student at U.A. I was in a bad headspace at the time, and when I saw him, I felt this rage surge through me. Here was someone who had abandoned me, who let me down, and he had the audacity to be happy with a new family, when he had left his first one behind without a second glance?!"

Hizashi was breathing heavily, his empty can crushed in his hands.

"Have you ever felt the desire to kill someone?" Hizashi snarled. "To say, 'Damn the laws, damn the morals, damn it all! This person hurt me, and I want to hurt them back twice as much!'"

Chell hesitated, weighing up in her mind if she should be truthful with Hizashi. While he had shown her nothing but kindness, she knew from experience that kindness could be faked. But the visceral tone in Hizashi's voice, the pain that he had clearly experienced that was similar to Chell's own pain told her to tell the truth.

"Mhm. GLaDOS," Chell nodded. "I tried once, but, well, it's hard to kill an A.I. and keep them dead."

Hizashi nodded at that, a hand reached out, and after a moment's hesitation, gently placed it on Chell's shoulder.

"Was GLaDOS the one who did this to you?" he quietly asked, glancing at her implants.

Chell nodded, her hands gripping her shirt.

"If I wasn't a hero in training back then, I'd probably have done something I'd regret," Hizashi admitted after a moment of silence. "But, right before I was about to cross that line, I thought about this friend I had. He had passed away recently, and at that moment I thought about what he'd think of me if he saw what I planned to do. What my friends who were still with me would think. That, more than anything, stayed my hand. Not my obligations as a future hero, not society's standards, but the bonds I had with my friends."

Another bout of silence fell over the pair as Chell shuffled to the side on the bench, leaning into Hizashi's side.

"I never knew my parents," Chell confessed, her can held in a mirror image to Hizashi. "The orphanage only had a note that was left with me, saying that my father was a Japanese businessman, while my mother was a prostitute who had ended up pregnant with me. I was raised in that orphanage, taught how to speak English as well as Portuguese, read and write, basic maths, that sort of stuff. But then one day, we were told that the orphanage had to be shut down. Many of the kids complained about this, but I didn't want to see it happen, so I ran away. I spent another three years on the streets before I signed up with them."

"Them being those Aperture wackos?" Hizashi asked, and Chell nodded.

"They didn't do anything to me, other than putting me to sleep indefinitely with the other rejects," she explained. "But they still share the blame. After all, they made GLaDOS."

"You need to let that anger go," Hizashi quietly said, causing Chell to turn her head to look up at him, confusion and anger in her eyes.

"Why should I?" she challenged. "I was tested on, put through courses that got progressively harder and harder. GLaDOS made sure that each test was harder, each one easier to fail with lethal consequences. Energy balls that would disintegrate me, laser beams, sentry turrets with live ammunition, pools of toxic waste! And if she hadn't killed all of the personnel at Aperture, I know they would have done even worse things to me. I heard about them changing the genetic code of humans, rearranging organs, replacing organs, putting people in front of a particle accelerator, all for what? Science? One mad man's dream and pride?"

"I'm not asking you to forget what they've done, nor what they could have done," Hizashi explained. "I'm not even asking you to forgive them. I certainly haven't forgiven my old man. I'm just asking that you let go of that anger, rather than let it control you. You're in another dimension; you're as far away from them as you possibly could be. You're as safe from them as you possibly could be. Life isn't about revenge. If you hold onto every single grudge, you'll find yourself fixated on it, unable to move on. It won't be quick; it took me years to let go of my hatred, but it's necessary."

Chell didn't answer him, preferring to keep her opinion on the matter to herself.

"Ah, here we are," Hizashi remarked, catching Chell's attention. "There's the train."

Chell glanced over, hearing the noise before she saw the train itself. It slowly pulled into the station, the brakes squealing as they slowed the momentum of the vehicle. It came to a stop with a slight jolt, a hiss of steam sounding as it halted. The doors slid open, and a single teen stepped off the train, moving in a hurry.

"Osoi, you've missed my class already!" Hizashi called out, walking over to the train, a frown aimed at the student.

"Yes, Present Mic, sorry, Present Mic," the student apologised, running through the station and towards the main school building.

"Don't let it happen again!" Hizashi yelled after him, letting out a huff as he shook his head.

"Who was that?" Chell asked, sticking close to Hizashi as they boarded the train.

"One of my students," Hizashi explained, offering a window seat to Chell, one that she took. "See, since I'm a teacher at U.A., I've got classes to teach, obviously, specifically English. And that student who ran past us was Osokute Osoi. He's in Class 2-B, and despite having a speed quirk, he's often late to class. Poor kid's served more detentions than I can count. Nothing major, mind you, he's usually late by a few minutes, but he's two periods late to class, so I doubt he'll be let off lightly."

"You said he has a quirk," Chell said, the particular word sounding important to her. "What's that?"

"Oh, right, guess I should explain that, huh?" Hizashi chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "A quirk is what people in Japan call our abilities. So your portals, my amplified voice, they're all examples of us having a quirk. The technical term for it is Meta Ability, but that term is only really used in technical papers."

Chell nodded at his explanation, glancing out of the window as the train began to pull out of the station, picking up speed as it moved.

"What are our powers called in other parts of the world?" she asked, her gaze fixated on the wild greenery that surrounded the campus, the only man-made structure being the tracks the train ran on.

"Well, it depends on where in the world you are," Hizashi explained. "Here in Japan, abilities are called 'quirks', while those who have them are simply referred to as 'having a quirk'. In the United Cities of America, people there call them 'Superpowers', or simply 'Powers', while those who have them are called 'Supers'. In the Chinese Theocracy, the term they use for their powers translates into 'Divine Shards', in the Svargiya Sultanate they call their powers 'Divinities', while the Freed call their powers 'Soul Keys'."

"The Freed?" Chell asked, her head turning back to look at Hizashi. He in turn snapped his head around to look at her in total confusion, as if she had grown a second head. This look of bafflement quickly disappeared, replaced by Hizashi's fingers pinching his nose.

"Right, my bad," he apologised. "I keep forgetting you're from another dimension and all. Well, to put it simply, the Freed are members of the Faith of Freedom, those who worship The One Free Man. They have this whole thing about freedom, not surprising given the name, so they have a lot of chains and keys in their motifs."

Chell hummed in response, glancing back out the window of the train, idly watching the scenery pass by.

'I guess religions are different in this world,' she thought to herself. But movement in the distance quickly pushed these thoughts aside.

"Hizashi, look," Chell gasped, pointing out the window.

"What is it?" he asked, leaning over to see what she had seen.

Over in the distance, standing on top of an exposed hill, was a person. They wore simple clothing made out of furs and cloth, a stark difference to the advanced technology that Chell had seen so far.

"Ah, an Outlander," Hizashi nodded. "They're the kind of people who the world will think you are, kiddo."

"Who are they?" Chell asked, her eyes fixed on the windows, hoping to see more people out in the wilds. "Why were they out there?"

"Outlanders are those who live in the Outlands," Hizashi explained. "They aren't a part of society, living among their own communities and tribes. They do sometimes trade with us, often buying services or medicine, but for the most part, they're content to stay isolated."

"What are the Outlands?" Chell asked, currently the most burning of her many questions.

"The Outlands are isolated places on Earth, untouched by society. Simply put, they're the wilds; untamed, natural, and most importantly, dangerous. Though admittedly not nearly as dangerous as the Wastelands."

Before Chell could ask what the Wastelands were, the scenery outside the window changed. Where there had once been rolling green hills and forested areas, there was now just ash, dust, rust, and concrete.

"What happened here?" Chell gasped, her eyes wide at the scene of such destruction.

"That's one of the many Wastelands in Japan, kiddo," Hizashi sighed. "Ugly scars, aren't they? Nothing grows there, plants die after a few weeks, so the area remains barren and useless. What you see before you is the aftermath of the Seven Hour War. Within seven hours, five sixths of humanity were wiped out, the rest trapped in the few hundred cities that were spared."

Chell stared out of the window in shock, scarcely believing the words she heard.

"Why's it so dangerous?" she finally asked. "Couldn't people scavenge through the ruins?"

"Oh sure, some people do," Hizashi nodded. "But the problem is that what's in there isn't all that valuable, and who's in there often aren't all too friendly. See, the Wastelands might be a desolate place, but there are plenty of places to hide out there, so you often find bandits, criminals, villains, and all manner or bad people out there. Add in the wildlife that passes through, and you have a place that no one wants anything to do with."

The rest of the train ride was silent, the presence of the Wastelands seeming to create an oppressive atmosphere, as if passing through it disturbed the dead who supposedly lay there in unmarked graves. Yet all the while, Chell couldn't find herself able to look away. No signs could be seen, the colour faded from sun damage, and almost all of the buildings had long since collapsed. The few who remained standing weren't whole either, many of them missing entire walls or roofs. Chell thought she might have seen figures moving amongst the rubble, but she hoped that was simply her fear playing tricks on her mind. If Hizashi thought anything of her taking a hold of his hand for comfort, he didn't voice it.

The amount of ruined buildings slowly decreased as they approached the station, the ground no longer having the ruined remains of buildings scattered across the dusty ground, but rather lone pieces of rubble that hadn't yet been eroded away.

"Come on, my apartment is nearby," Hizashi said, walking off the train, Chell following beside him. As they exited, Chell was greeted by the sound of hundreds, possibly thousands of people, all moving about, either boarding or disembarking from the trains. While the sounds of the crowds should have been comforting, a noise that Chell had grown up around, she had grown used to the eerie silence that was found in the bowels of Aperture Science. As it was now, the noise only caused her anxiety and fearfulness. She stayed close to Hizashi, still holding his hand, using him as a barrier against the swell of people within the train station.

Emerging out of the station, Chell looked around in awe and curiosity. Behind them, Chell saw towering walls that seemed to wrap around the city, the train station seeming to poke through the large construct. On the roads, motorcycles and tramlines went about their business, though Chell was surprised to see a surprisingly low amount of cars on the streets.

Hizashi led them to a bus station of some kind, and after only a short moment of wait, the bus arrived, moving more quietly than any other bus Chell had seen before. Gazing out of the window, Chell took in all manner of interesting sights. First of all were the walls, always seeming to be on the outskirts of the city. On the faces of buildings, all manner of advertisements were shown on billboards, ranging from coffee advertisements to clothing options. While this wasn't a new sight to Chell, the brands that they advertised were all alien to her, not only the text, but also the products unknown. Chell also saw strange, manta ray-like creatures flying about, creatures that Chell had never seen before. But most strange were the people. Chell had guessed that there were many different kinds of people in this world, assuming the dog man she had seen wasn't her misremembering things, but what she saw really cemented it. She saw people with unnatural hair colours all around; blues, greens, and reds. Some people had purple skin, while others had scales or horns. But most strange were those who didn't look close to being humans. Some had tails, others had multiple limbs, while many more seemed like animals who walked on two legs.

Hizashi caught Chell's attention by tapping her shoulder. "This is our stop," he told her, moving up from his seat. "My place is just down the road."

By just down the road, Hizashi meant a five minute walk. They arrived at a moderately sized house, a two story building located in a well off area.

"One of the perks of being a Pro Hero is that I get a bonus from the government to spend on my Hero Agency," Hizashi explained as they entered his house, taking off his shoes. He glanced over at Chell, opening his mouth to say something, but closed it as he looked down at her bare feet.

"Hmm, another thing we'll need to buy," he muttered as he spoke to himself, before changing back to the original topic. "Most Pros spend theirs on a fancy building, with signage and everything. But that's not really my style, so instead, my Agency funds go towards my house. It's what's allowed me to get this place, rather than having to buy an apartment."

Chell was shown around the house, and she quickly realised how spacious it was. Down stairs contained a recording booth, "For my awesome radio station," was Hizashi's answer. A full kitchen, living room, dining room, and even a small garden behind the house. But most shockingly was where Chell would be staying.

"I, get a whole room, to myself?" Chell stammered, shocked by what she was being offered.

"Of course, little listener!" Hizashi grinned, sweeping his arm around the room. "I have two spare rooms anyway so my friends can crash here when they need to, but you can take one of them. The bed's already done up, so we're good on that front, and there should be spare clothes in the drawer. Obviously, we'll have to go shopping to get your own stuff, and maybe some things to decorate the room, but I have a good feeling we can make it work!"

The room was easily larger than anything she'd slept in. Even at the orphanage she'd never slept in a room this size, and every room she had been in she had to share. But she was getting this whole space, all for herself.

"Thank you," Chell whispered, wrapping her arms around Hizashi, holding onto him tight.

Hizashi stiffened within her embrace, before gently reciprocating the hug, patting her back. "No problem, kiddo."

For dinner, Hizashi decided to order in, and given the fact that Chell had never experienced it, Hizashi decided to order his favourite; fried chicken. Hizashi sorted out some drinks for them while they waited, and Chell got another opportunity to get used to their fizzy nature. She didn't mind the supposedly lemon flavour of the drink, even though she didn't think it tasted remotely like lemons, but she still preferred the cherry flavour drink from the train station. Chell settled down onto the corner seat of a sofa while Hizashi sat across from her, telling stories about his job while Chell simply listened. It was surreal to learn that her caretaker was a genuine hero, just like those in the comic books she'd sometimes find tossed out in a bin. Learning that there were also villains should have been a surprise to Chell, but given her experiences with GLaDOS and Wheatley, she figured that the both of them would qualify as villains in their own right.

Time seemed to fly as Hizashi told story after story of different villains he had fought and defeated, and soon enough their meal had arrived. Chell had never tasted anything as tasty as fried chicken before, making sure to get every last scrap of meat on the bones.

"You've got the right idea, kiddo!" Hizashi laughed, pointing his wing at Chell. "Shota and Nemuri, they both think I'm obsessed with fried chicken, but you get it, right? How good it is?"

Chell vigorously nodded her approval, her mouth full of chicken. But just as all good things must come to an end, so too did the chicken run out. Even though Hizashi said he was fine with doing all of the cleaning up, Chell didn't want to be a burden, wanting to prove that she could be useful.

"Alright, everything's away," Hizashi nodded, flopping down onto his couch as Chell sat across from him, her legs tucked up against her chest.

"Given the expression you had when looking out the window, you've probably got a bunch of questions you want to ask, huh, kiddo?" Hizashi continued, sitting up straight and gesturing his hand to Chell. "Well, go on. What question do you want to ask first?"

Okay, so I decided to cut the chapter in half and leave it here. The events that were going to be in this chapter will be in the next one. Also, this way it allows for you readers to send in your questions! So, any questions you want Chell to ask, write them up. Any questions you want to ask me, write them up. If you want to know a random fact, ask and you shall receive. Obviously I can't guarantee that all of them will be chosen, either due to quantity or the nature of the question, but I'll try to have Chell or myself answer as many as possible.

A small rant, but I have developed a new hatred for the system that Horikoshi implemented for U.A. Just to break it down for you, U.A. has eleven classes per year, and with three years in the school, that's a total of thirty three classes. Now, each class has a homeroom teacher, meaning that there are AT LEAST thirty three teachers. This obviously doesn't include staff who don't teach, such as Hound Dog, the Guidance Councilor, or Lunch Rush, the school chef, or Thirteen, who manages the U.S.J. (unless she's also a science teacher or something). For simplicity's sake, we can assume that Midnight, Present Mic, Ectoplasm, as well as Cementoss, along with many others, also are assigned to a homeroom class. Now, the problem is that U.A. has a six period day, and a six day week. There are also eleven classes to teach per year level. So I'm struggling to divide it amongst the teachers in terms of their responsibilities. Take Present Mic for example. He teaches English as a subject, and I'd assume he wouldn't be assigned to his own homeroom class. Let's assume he teaches English to the first years. Problem: there are eleven classes (ten if you don't count his own), so even if he teaches a class each period, there are still five (four) classes that need to be taught. Of course, it doesn't make much sense for the two English teachers of the first years to swap who teaches one specific class. This might sound like the ramblings of a mad man, and you're probably right in that assumption, because I CAN'T STAND THE U.A. SCHOOL SYSTEM! Anyway, I'm kind of stuck on how to solve it. It isn't a big deal, since the main changes to the U.A. system that will be fully on display is to do with the Hero Course, but if anyone has any ideas, pop them in a comment. If they help out, idk, you can make up an O.C. who'll appear for a chapter. I do need some villains and/or Pros to appear for the Intern and Work Studies arcs.

Also, assuming Class 1-A and 1-B have the same number of students as every other class, that means that there are twenty students in each of the thirty three classes, giving us a total student body count of six hundred and sixty. I mean, I don't know about you, but to me, that seems small.

Anyway, enough rambling, onto reviews.

Atromitos1526, thanks for the review. I'm glad you enjoyed my spin on things, kind of changing the standard format of character a being sent into dimension b, but instead character a stayed in dimension a, she's just not used to it. As for your question regarding her quirk, good question. Chell's portals (at the moment) don't require moon rocks to function, but instead a flat surface large enough to accommodate the portals. Glass, concrete, wood, so long as it's solid and flat, she can place them there.

Quanto, thanks for the review. It's less like GLaDOS fucked up, and more like Aperture Science did Aperture Science things, i.e. throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. They made a portal to somewhere unknown, threw stuff through it, lost its signal, chalked it up as dimensional travel, and called it a day. Now, for your question regarding the multiverse, a clarification. Each universe has ONE habitable world. That's why, in my mind, the Combine is so hyper aggressive in their invasion, because Earth is the only planet in that dimension with life. Life that they need for their synth weapons and vehicles, which are a mesh of organic and machine. As for the SCP franchise, buddy oh boy, do I know of them. I went down the rabbit hole and I can't find my way out of it. As for some Personality Cores lost in space, you'll have to wait and see.

TheGigaGamer75, thanks for the review. Now, people will know she's Brazilian, and it will feature in the future. I plan to have all of her super moves to be in Portuguese, not only as a nod to her heritage, but also so villains don't know she's about to send them to the Moon. As for her cover story, Nezu would have it that Chell is Brazilian, but raised in Japan in the Outlands before being kidnapped. And yeah, her cover story is bogus to those of us in the know. Chell would absolutely bust out of her captivity, lead a revolt, and escape with a healthy amount of explosions in the background. I have her marked down in Class 1-A as one of the most stubborn characters, tied only with Katsuki. I've also been juggling the idea of what relationship I want them to have. It isn't romantic, I already know who I'm pairing Chell with, but it's either going to be animosity with a tinge of respect or respect with animosity. For me, Katsuki hates those who don't put in as much effort into things as he does. That's why he doesn't like Izuku or Shoto at the start of the series, because let's be honest, Izuku was an otaku whose dreams were way too big to be realistic or possible, while Shoto actively looked down on everyone by holding back. Chell puts her all into stuff, so Katsuki would respect that, regardless of how their relationship goes. IDK, Chell and Katuski rivalry, anyone?

*Prepares to go to next comment, checks message, checks number, checks author comments in previous chapter.*

Fuck!

the_Blue_Moon, thanks for the review. To be completely honest, I was today years old when I heard about Entropy Zero. After a quick search, it looks interesting, so a tentative maybe? You'll receive some answers about what happened to the Combine next chapter, but I'll have a think about it. Fully transparency, the Combine will not make an appearance here, they're gone and banished for the foreseeable future. Now, Combine loyalists and sympathisers? They're still kicking around. As for your question with Dr. Vance, all I'll say is wait for next chapter for the reveal, and the chapter after that for the backstory.

i_really_should_be_sleeping, thanks for the review. Portal 2 is never confirmed for when it takes place. We know it takes place a while after Portal 1, which took place in 2010, soon after the Combine invasion, but thirty years seemed like a believable time for the facility to experience plant growth. As for GLaDOS, while I won't spoil everything, all I'll say is that there is no love lost between her and Chell. They will inevitably end up on the opposite sides of a conflict. However, funny you should mention GLaDOS being attractive, all I'll say is that I took inspiration from a certain Portal animation channel who currently has about 150k subscribers. First person to name them gets a cookie.

123 (Guest), thanks for the review. While not all of your ideas for GLaDOS are correct, they are amusing, so I'll go through them and either confirm, deny, or hint at them. Yes, GLaDOS ran out of her test subjects in Aperture, we know this thanks to the Portal 2 co-op story mode. As for the rest, GLaDOS is aware of what's happening in the world, but wants absolutely no part of it, especially given her previous experiences. However, while GLaDOS didn't create a moon base (amusing as that idea is), she did begin to phase out machine testing. How? Well, you'll have to wait and see. But yes, GLaDOS is now in complete control over Aperture Science, and boy, is that going to be a terrifying thought for me to write in the future.

IJustWantToReadAndWriteStories, thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked my idea to add in Half-Life into this fic. And yeah, the robot PTSD is going to be a thing for Chell. She's going to be able to vent out a bunch of her issues during the Entrance Exam, that's for sure.

Finally, ultima-owner, thanks for the review. Yeah, GLaDOS is completely expecting to never see Chell ever again. But the moment she does (and she will), she's going to go full panic mode. Well, less panic, and more planning mode. And this time, she intends to finish the job. And she's fully aware of the mistake of not only sparing Chell when she was unconscious, but also upgrading her. So, in the words of one robotic CEO, "Upgrades, people, upgrades!"

And as a general thank you, cheers to florffleef, UnivHunter, SilverExcel115, UnfortunateEntropy, and Ste4m3dReader for your excitement and enjoyment of my series.

Now, while I did say last chapter that the title of this chapter was going to be, 'Found Family', I changed my mind, because I decided to do that one next chapter. So, next chapter, for real this time, is 'Found Family'.

See y'all next time…

- Jevm