So I'm a Slime in Worm, So What?
I never would have thought that my love of helping crafting interesting stories would get me into trouble. Then again, I didn't really think that ROB's were a thing. Now I'm stuck in a world that could best be described as on life support with powers I have no idea how to use. Oh well, at least I'm hard to actually hurt.
...I'm not apologizing. This idea has a little to do with Spider and a lot to do with Slime...because the MC has Rimaru's skillset from right before he fought Geld. Still OP, but not quite as OP as he could be. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
"Urrrrg, so bored," I moaned, leaning back in my chair.
It was one of those mind numbing days when nothing seems to keep you interested, not helped in the least that my days off from work had fallen in such a way I ended up with a full week off. The house was empty, I'd already read all of the recently updated stories on my list, there was nothing new that looked interesting and my muse had decided to take a vacation somewhere nice. Normally, I'd fire up my Playstation, but since it was currently updating, that was right out.
PING!
I sighed and sat up, bringing up my Gmail tab and found that it was a PM on Space Battles. Considering I was a recent addition and generally didn't comment that much, I hadn't received much in the way of PMs. I idly clicked on it and found it was from someone called 'Robert Oswald Bordeaux'. Interesting name.
Hey Dis, big fan of your work!
Why thank you! A bit of ego stroking is never unwelcome.
Listen, I've been working on an idea of my own, but I'm having trouble coming up with exactly how to do it. Mind helping?
I raised an eyebrow, but sent back a quick message that I'd be willing, assuming I knew the story they were working with.
Thanks man. OK, so the basic gist of the idea is for someone to get dropped into Worm (yes its one of those) with the power of a character from fiction. Any ideas for what powers I should use?
I snorted. This sort of story was right up my alley considering how much I enjoyed doing them myself. I thought for a moment and then started typing.
My first instinct for the first part is to say to give the MC something either OP as hell or utterly humiliating while still being useful. Whatever is given should be either easily mastered or come with at least the basics since wasting time training is something that breaks the flow, although instant mastery isn't needed. A good bases would be to pick a character and basically give the MC their powers and skillset at some point along their journey, either when they are first introduced or after they come into their own, but before things really get good for them.
As for who I'd use? Well, for some reason I'd kinda like to see a story with the MC having the powers and skills of Xenovia when she first arrives, plus EX-Durandal, or maybe go all out and use Rimaru. Because hes not a bad slime, slurp.
I hit send and, after a moments thought, pulled up a word processor of my own. The idea wasn't a bad one and I could think of a few ways I could use it without stepping on Roberts toes. I didn't have long to plan though before I received a message back.
It does actually. Thanks for the help mate and I'm sorry in advance.
I frowned. Sorry for what? Before I could send a message back asking what the hell he was on about, my computer screen went black. I had just enough time to register a flash of red and white, before an arm reached out of the screen, grabbed me by the collar and yanked me through it.
"WHAT THE FLYING FUCK!?" I screamed as I fell through a seemingly endless tunnel of swirling rainbows.
SPLAT!
A couple of seconds later, I shot out of the tunnel and hit the floor with a loud splat. Mainly because my body was now a gelatinous puddle of ooze. I spread out slowly from the impact point for a moment, before some instinct I hadn't had a few moments before kicked in and I pulled myself together.
"Oh that son of a bitch!" I snarled in my head, "I'm a fucking slime, aren't I?!"
[Confirmed]
My non-existent eye twitched at the voice of Great Sage.
"Lovely, thats all I need," I grumbled, "Alright Great Sage, what do I have?"
There was a pause and my gooy eyes went wide and my jaw dropped.
"Ah...pre-Geld then?" I muttered, "Barely. Still, I can still do this…"
I hopped into the air and morphed into a Human form. Almost immediately, a strand of blue hair dropped in front of my eyes and I saw my reflection in a window just in front of me. I wasn't really expecting anything else, but I'd inherited Rimaru's looks, as well as his powers.
"Somehow I just know this is gonna bite me in the arse," I muttered, "Now, where am I?"
I turned in a circle and took in my surroundings. It looked like I was in a school in the dead of night, with the only interesting things being a large hole in the ceiling where I'd apparently dropped in and a puddle of reddish ooze slowly leaking from the bottom of...a...locker….
"Thats Taylor in there, isn't it?" I asked.
[Confirmed]
"SHIT!"
I wrenched the door off, heralding a deluge of rotten gunk, bugs...and a very large white spider with black splotches all over the abdomen. I paused as I stared down at it, then picked it up.
"Um, Great Sage?" I asked.
[Identify: Taylor Hebert. Race: Small Lesser Teratect]
I stared.
"So what your saying is, shes a spider so what?" I asked.
[Pretty much]
"Well shit."
I thought for a moment, then pulled an orb of healing potion out of my pocket dimension (seriously, there was a LOT in there) and dropped it on her head. There was a brief flare of light and the injuries across her body vanished, although she didn't wake up.
"I...probably ought to get her to a hospital," I muttered, "Not sure whether they'll be able to do anything for a giant spider, but Panacea should probably double check theres nothing wrong."
I looked around, then picked a direction and started walking. I'd find a door eventually or, failing that, I could make one. Its not like a massive hole in the wall wouldn't improve Winslow significantly.
I had just located a stairwell when a rather bright flashlight suddenly rounded the corner and nearly blinded me.
"FREEZE!"
"HOLY…!"
Without thinking, I lashed out with my free hand and there was a clatter, followed by a crash as the holder of the flashlight went down bound in steel thread.
"Huh...thats interesting," I muttered.
Then I looked down and paled as I saw I'd just tied up Armsmaster.
"Oops, sorry about that!" I said as I bent down to untie the Hero, "You surprised me…"
Click.
I froze and slowly looked up at the rather large gun Miss Militia was now pointing at me.
"Step away from him, slowly," she said coldly.
I did as I was told, putting up my free hand.
"Um, I did just say that was an accident," I said, "I wasn't expecting to run into anyone here…"
"And just why are you here?" asked Miss Militia, not moving her gun as one of the troopers that were accompanying her and Armsmaster stepped up to cut the Tinker free.
"I, um, decided to drop in," I said with a slight wince, "Or to be more precise, some asshole decided to drop me in."
"We detected a rather powerful energy burst appearing above the city that hit the school," said Armsmaster, annoyance clear in his voice as he got to his feet and snatched up his halberd, "Was that you?"
"Possibly?" I said, "I mean, I did literally drop in through the ceiling, so probably."
A feeble twitch from the spider in my arms reminded me of the more important issue at hand.
"Um, can we do the interrogation later?" I asked quickly, "Its just, I kinda need to get her to the hospital."
I held up the spider and…
"YEEK!"
Blinked in shock as Miss Militia suddenly made a sound like a mouse that had been stepped on and vanished.
"W-what is that thing?!" spluttered the Military Cape from where she was now hiding behind Armsmaster.
Huh, who would have thought she was an arachnophobe?
"This is one Taylor Hebert, a girl who Triggered after getting shoved into her locker that had been filled with biological waist and left for hours," I said.
"How do you know that?" asked one of the troopers.
"I have a rather powerful Thinker ability," I deadpanned, "Now can we get her to hospital?"
Armsmaster glowered while Militia cowered, before the former nodded.
"Where is this locker?" he asked.
"Down the hall and to the right," I said, "You can't miss it."
Armsmaster indicated to two troopers, who headed off in the direction I'd indicated with Miss Militia hurrying behind them, apparently revealed to be away from Taylors new arachnid form.
"They will investigate," he said, "Assuming you are correct, this matter will be investigated VERY thoroughly."
"Alright, so hospital?"
Armsmaster grunted and turned on his heel.
"I will accompany you," he said and marched off down the hall.
I stared after him, then shrugged and followed.
Ohgodohgodohgodtheywerealloverhersohotbitingstingingshewasgonnadieeeeeeeee!
Taylor jolted awake, the darkness of the Locker snapping at her heels as her mind struggled to comprehend the sudden change in scenery. Instead of the hot, wet Darkness of the Locker, she suddenly found herself sprawled out on the floor of a large room with a rather soft carpet. She remained still for a moment as she absorbed the sudden change, then sat up and looked around. The room was round and the walls seemed to be made of glass beyond which could be seen the endless void of space. She stared in utter shock as a large chunk of rock floated past on its way through the cosmos.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
"GAH!"
Taylor jumped and spun around. Stood in front of the window was a figure that looked a lot like he was made of the space outside the window, complete with moving stars and swirling galaxies.
"Wha...who are you?" asked Taylor.
The figure turned to face her and Taylor was struck by the extremely odd sight of a man composed of space wearing a pair of apparently normal glasses.
"My real name isn't really one that can be comprehended by 3 dimensional beings like you, so you can just call me ROB," he said.
Taylor could practically hear the acronym in the name.
"OK, where am I and why am I here?" she asked slowly.
"Your in my little segment of the 10th dimension," said ROB, "As for why, well, its mostly because I'm bored and I feel like raising some hell for some lower lifeforms while simultaneously helping said lifeforms. To that end, I have an offer for you."
He snapped his fingers and a screen appeared, showing a large crowd of students slowly dispersing, all laughing and joking as foul reddish gunk slowly leaked out from the locker they had been surrounding.
"If things continue as they are want, you will Trigger in the next, oh two minutes or so," said ROB, "You will be found about an hour later after Sophia Hess 'anonymously' informs a janitor of your location. You will be hospitalized for weeks as you recover while at the same time the entire mess is swept under the rug by Blackwell and a corrupt toady in the PRT who wants to keep her cushy job. Eventually, you recover and figure out your powers. You decide to become a hero, but various circumstances I don't feel like going into will drive you further and further down the path of villain, losing more and more until finally, you sacrifice everything to save the world...and then are given a bullet to the bonce for your trouble. It is a life of tragedy and needless suffering, not just for you, but also for everyone else around you."
Taylor stared at the screen in horror as it showed clips of the life she was destined to live, watching as she committed crime after crime. She barely even registered the actual images, just the fact that she knew it was true...somehow. She fell to her knees as tears began to flow.
"I...I'll really do all that?" she asked.
"If things continue as they are, yes," said ROB, "Fortunately for you, I have an alternative plan."
A rather large grin appeared on his face, making Taylor recoil at the sight of pure white teeth appearing suddenly in the void that made up the beings body.
"I already have one player in the game who will derail the train all on his own, but I also believe that betting on one horse is a terrible idea. So, if you want, I'll give you a completely different powerset than what you would have had. As a result, a good chunk of your current problems will be sorted out and basically all of your future ones will go poof."
Taylor eyed ROB wearily.
"Whats the catch?" she asked.
"Well, you'll still have problems," he said, "Potentially very large ones. However, I can guarantee that you won't be labelled as a Villain if you don't want to."
"And if I say no?" asked Taylor.
ROB shrugged.
"I erase your memory of this and drop you back in the Locker," he said, "You'll Trigger and become a Parahuman with all the issues that come with it. I doubt you'll end up in anywhere near as much trouble as your counterpart, but you'll be much more likely to die horribly."
Taylor blanched.
"Um, what are the powers your offering?" she asked.
ROBs grin widened.
"Now thats a secret," he said, "But rest assured, they will serve you well."
Taylor gulped. That...did NOT sound good. Still, the idea of having a power more useful than bug control was certainly tempting. Sure, it looked like her...alternate self had managed to do some interesting things with it, but it still wasn't all that impressive.
"Will I be able to be a hero?" she asked.
"Oh yes, you will," said ROB, "In fact, I think you'd do well in the Wards. They aren't bad kids, other than Shadow Stalker who'll be out of a job fairly quickly. Does that mean you'll take the deal?"
Taylor took a deep breath and nodded.
"I feel like I'm making a deal with the Devil, but sure," she said.
ROB threw back his head and laughed.
"Oh my dear sweet summer child, the Devil's got nothing on me," he said, "But don't worry. Just find Rimuru Tempest and he can fill you in on everything you need to know."
Taylor blanched again.
"Um, is it too late to change my mind?" she asked weakly.
"Yep, its already done," said ROB, "Oh, and before I forget, Miss Militia is an arachnophobe."
Taylor frowned.
"What do you…"
Before she could finish the question, the floor below her opened up and she dropped into darkness.
Once again, Taylor jolted awake, this time to a much more reasonably sight of a hospital room. She felt...surprisingly good all things considered. Nothing hurt, she was clean and it didn't feel like she had any bugs scuttling all over her. She slowly opened her eyes and stretched...only to freeze as she realized that her vision was both perfect and a lot wider than it should have been.
Then she looked down at her hands and found herself staring at the tips of a pair of spider legs tipped with sharp looking claws. She stared at them with wide eyes for a moment, then looked back over her shoulder and was met by the sight of a large, spider-like abdomen. Her reaction was perfectly natural as she screamed like a banshee.
Danny Hebert was frantic with worry. Taylor was supposed to have been home hours ago but it was now dark and there was still no sign of her. He'd tried calling the police, but they had just told him to call again in the morning if she didn't show up. Then, he'd got a call from the PRT telling him that Taylor was in hospital after being found stuck in her locker at school. Quite why the PRT were the ones to call him he didn't know, or care to be honest and he was out the door in seconds.
After a rather dangerous drive where he nearly crashed twice, he barged into the hospital and was met by Miss Militia, who looked slightly pale.
"Ah, Mr Hebert?" she asked.
"Thats me," panted Danny, "Wheres Taylor?"
"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to her," she said, "Fair warning though, it appeared that she Triggered and there has been some...changes."
Danny's stomach dropped. He knew from his wife just what it took for someone to Trigger and the idea that his daughter would be put through that at school of all places was...not pleasant.
"What kind of changes?" he asked.
Miss Militia shuddered slightly.
"Wellll…"
"KYAHHHHHHH!"
Danny blanched.
"TAYLOR!" he shouted, shoving past the female Cape and barging into the room...only to freeze at the sight of a white spider the size of a small dog apparently having a panic attack on the bed.
"Oh good, it sounds like Taylors awake," said a young sounding voice.
Danny slowly turned to see a young girl with yellow eyes and long blue hair approaching with a large sheaf of paper under one arm. She was wearing a blue coat with fur around the wrists, matching boots, black trousers and a fluffy looking scarf.
"I...what?" asked Danny weakly, "Thats Taylor? What...how?! And who are you anyway?"
"Me? I'm…" she sighed and pulled a face, "Fine, I guess I'll use it, I'm Rimuru Tempest and I'm...GLERK!
She was cut off as a thick strand of webbing shot out of the door and wrapped around her throat, dragging her over to the bed where she was pinned down by a rather angry looking Taylor.
"YOU! That bastard said you knew what was going on!" she yelled, "Why am I a spider?!"
Rimuru held up a finger.
"Hold that thought," she said and then popped into the form of a small ball of blue slime.
She hopped off the bed and started gathering the paper she'd dropped and absorbing it.
"So, judging from that comment, I'm guessing that you met someone who gave you your powers rather than actually Triggered, right?" she asked.
"Thats right," growled Taylor, "Now tell me what you know!"
"Alright, but you probably won't like it," said Rimuru, "That 'person' was actually what we in the business refer to as a ROB or Random Omnipotent Being. Their likes include fucking with people and raising hell for us mesley three dimensional life forms, usually by tossing people between worlds or granting powers to random mooks to 'help'. Usually, the intent is just to raise hell and any good or bad that comes from it is entirely accidental. In this case, the ROB in question is apparently both an Otaku and enjoys overkill since it decided that the best way to make said chaos was to pick two people at random and give them powers from the MC's of Isekai Anime/Manga."
She paused as her body bulge slightly, then started spitting out what appeared to be fully bound and colourful books, creating a decent sized pile on each side, before popping back to her Human form and picking the top volume of both piles.
"I was a perfectly normal guy with a love for the genre and Fanfic he tricked into picking my own powerset and literally dropped into this world and you were chosen for...different reasons and given powers that fitted with the theme of Monstrous Heroes," she continued, "My powers come from this…"
She held up one of the volumes that had an image of his slime form on the front.
"Your powers come from this."
He held up the other one, which had an image of Taylors new form on the front. There was a moments silence.
"So what your saying is that I'm a character from a work of fiction?!" sputtered Taylor.
"Pretty much," said Rimuru, "On the up side, your potential power level is frankly absurd if you can replicate even a fraction of what Kumoko can do"
"BUT I'M A SPIDER!"
"And I'm a Slime, whats your point?"
"YOU CAN TURN INTO A HUMAN ASSHOLE!" screamed Taylor, tossing a jug that had been on the side table at Rimuru.
The jug bounced off her head without apparently bothering her.
"You can evolve into an Arachne later down the line if you really want a Human form."
She paused and looked thoughtful.
"Hmm, I wonder…" she mused, "Eh, worth a try I guess. Lets just hope I get the benefit of being able to name things without permanently expending my Magicules…"
She sighed.
"Alright, your names Taylor Hebert," she said.
Taylor blinked, but before she could respond she felt something inside her...shift and her energy briefly surged and settled at a much higher level.
"Huh, that did work," said Rimuru, "I...honestly wasn't expecting that. Oh well."
"Question," said Miss Militia, who was stood behind Armsmaster and on the other side of the room to Taylor, "Did you just say you came from another world?"
"Yep, I did," said Rimuru, "Not Aleph though, mine is...quite a bit further away."
There was a moments silence, before Miss Militia sighed and rubbed her temples.
"I think this just went above our paygrade," she muttered, "And did you just imply that your here by random act of God?!"
Rimuru snorted.
"There is a distinct possibility that God is a ROB, but no, I don't think that the prick that dropped me here was anything close to what we'd call a god, other than in terms of power at least."
There was a moments silence as everyone stared at the slime, before Miss Militia sighed.
"Something tells me that you are going to be a massive headache," she said.
Rimuru's angelic smile did nothing to dispel that assumption, doubly so as he somehow sprouted bat wings and a forked tail
"Oh come on Miss Militia, I'm not a bad slime, slurp!"
And done. This had actually been sitting in my google docs for AGES until I stumbled on it again and decided to finish it up and post it because it made me snicker. If the ending seems a bit...strange, that'll be why since I literally just added in a few lines to finish it up and called it a day. Eh, I doubt I'll continue it. Mainly because it would be nothing but pure crack.
So yeah, Taylor is a spider, Miss Militia is an Arachnophobe and there is now a headache the size of a football running around ready to give people roaring headaches. I think Piggot might finally break and ask Panacea for a heal just so she can start drinking.
If your wondering why Rimuru was so open about being from elsewhere, well, what else was he supposed to say? He could pretend to be a Case 53, but faking memory loss is hard, hes not exactly going to blend in with blue hair and Taylor basically outed them both as not being normal Parahumans with her reaction to him. Plus, this really isn't meant to be taken seriously.
Anyway, I'm going to call this now, so I'll sign out. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!