Guest - I think it was more of a mutual wailing then what you're making it out to be. That, and it's not 'Understanding', more 'Necessity.'
Crofty666 - Hmm, I wonder whyyyyy. But for real I love Belphamon, even got a real strong one back when I played Digimon Masters Online. That, and I have 'Very High' Sloth on one of those online Deadly Sin tests.
Xenozip - Other then The Siberian being dead, that sounds like a badass lineup.
BiazarKaiser - Yep to both of those. I already know who is going to be joining, but I just need to write it.
This has nothing to do with the story, but I found out I can trill like a Pidgeotto. I knew I could do a Staravia, but the Pidgeotto is new.
As soon as Dragon was on board I popped the Ultimatrix, dialed in Grey Matter, and got to work.
Because the Galvan was my main tech guy, my Lab was set up so I could both use it, and make my way around it whenever I was in this form. So it was rather easy to maneuver my way up towards a specific console, the one that was responsible for running diagnostics on our bikes, and began pulling up the relevant information. As I began to do that I idly noticed my Mate entering her Galvanic Hybrid, Minerva, she named the form, and began making her way to our Suits. It was always Interesting watching her body change when she entered her Hybrid forms, especially when they had changes that made her seem exotic.
For Minerva her pupils became bar shaped, the eyes themselves becoming a brighter green then her jades normally were, while her skin gained a light shading of gray. She didn't change much outside of that, but her hands and feet gained minuscule padding that allowed her to wall climb like Spider-Man, and small gill like structures on her neck that would allow her to survive for an hour underwater before needing to come back up for air. All in all this form was okay, but had no use outside of the Lab or in a strategic meeting.
Analysis aside, she knew how to man the console they were connected too, and the upgrades for our Suits were practically done, only requiring a few materials and some more lines of programming so the machine knew what the upgrades were and how to do them.
Feeling my Mate send over a mental image of the programming section, I took a moment to think about what she wanted, then sent over the last bits I'd meant to add to it, but hadn't had the time to do so, to her, earning myself some Appreciation in the process. [You're welcome.] That done, and doing a quick check for the other assistants in my Lab, Melody going over to material storage, Tess going to grab the Duel Disks. They weren't exactly far away, stashed in a section of the nearby wall with its own diagnostic equipment.
I waited for the A.I to reach the wall, though the fact she walked over instead of just deactivating and reactivating her avatar closer to it had me wonder why she went through with the inefficient action.
That aside she reached the Duel Disks, making the wall open up and present 2 pairs of said disks. Gathering the spares in her hands was a simple affair, as was coming towards me when she decoupled the disks and walked over to me. Nodding at her when she was close enough, I spoke up. "As it stands our vehicles are on their way to becoming perfect modes of transportation. Behemoth has so far gained a 5% increase in durability, 2% impact resistance, another 2% in power generation, and a 1% increase in power efficiency. Meanwhile Johanna seems to have gained a minor increase in scanning capabilities, a 3% increase in power generation, 3% increase in power efficiency, and a 1% increase in durability... Which I'm not actually sure where it came from now that I'm thinking about it."
And I wasn't. I was literally looking at the logs from the Nanite Colony in Johanna, and I had no goddamn idea why they suddenly decided to just up the durability of the vehicle instead of something else. (Is it because of Behemoth?) The colonies weren't paired or anything, but perhaps close proximity led to them establishing some kind of connection where they shared data? (It would make sense given they're from the same source... I'll need to test this later.) Putting that aside, I turned back to look at my Aunt, seeing a Curious gleam in her eyes, as well as a small smile. "Outside of adding the Duel Runner upgrades there's not much to upgrade at this point in time." And that was true.
Despite still being relatively new, our bikes were already improving at a nice pace, and would most likely be atleast 20% better then they were before by the time Leviathan came around. That wasn't even accounting for any upgrades after the Duel Runner mode either. "Then let's start there. Do I have permission to access the files?"
I scoffed at that. "You're family, you can look at whatever you wish." It was nice to see her smile grow at that. It was obvious by this point, but constant reaffirmation that we did indeed see her and the rest of the Dragon Sisters as family would never hurt anyone.
With a hum she connected to the console I was using, the Duel Runner upgrades coming up as her humming picked up a bit. A moment later and the notes I had on the Duel Cores/Disks came up as well, getting her to hum a little more. "If we work on the Duel Disks/Cores together then we can get this done in under an hour, a half hour minimum. If we worked on them individually then we'll probably finish in 45-50 minutes."
Now it was my turn to hum at this. "Which project can we finish first? The cores or the runners?"
There was nearly no delay in her response. "We should finish the runners first. Adjusting them to accept the cores will be simple, and by completing the cores inside the bikes the colonies will know what fully functioning cores will look like, and how to repair them should they be damaged." That was not only an excellent point, but one that would save us the time from coding the colonies to do just that.
Nodding along, I brought up the tab that had direct access to said colonies and began ordering them to open our bikes. Like a Transformer, Behemoth and Johanna began to morph, but instead of gaining a bipedal robot form, something that was in the works for the future, they stopped halfway through, exposing their internals, as well as giving us enough space to work on said internals.
That marked the start of the expenditure, well, our expenditure.
I was fully aware of my Mate and Aunt/Mother figure beginning calibrations on our Suits, as well as beginning the adjustments on Amy's pendant. We wouldn't be able to create the Suit, solely because we wanted her input on what said Suit would look like, but the basic framework could easily begin. [20 minutes, yes?]
My Mate's mental hum rang out, and after a quick look towards the console Melody was using, she responded. |Without direct intervention from Upgrade or Thoth, then yes.| I mentally nodded at that, Accepting the time frame as acceptable. |Should I start working on the next stage upgrades, or focus on maximizing the current upgrades as much as I can?|
That made me audibly hum. (On the one hand we'll be able to save time by mapping out what the next stage of our Suits can do. We'll have to work on it more in depth later though since the development paths will be different whenever I check with Upgrade. On the other hand we don't need to do that, and can just do it later as we focus on the present.) Thinking about it some more as I watched Dragon begin inserting a Duel Core into Behemoth, his would be directly beneath the handles, while Johanna's would be beneath the wings of the scarab, I eventually came to the conclusion that'd be better. [Focus on maximizing our current upgrades. We'll most likely be keeping the Suits in that stage for a while, so ensuring they'll be at their peak performance will be important.] It was the best option for the short term, but it would allow us to finish the current tune ups faster, as well as begin the Digital World Initiative sooner.
My Mate mentally nodded at that, proceeding to do just that. |Estimated completion time is 35 minutes.| I hummed at that. It sounded about right considering our Suits were going to be given some rather useful and powerful upgrades. |Check in at every 5 minutes?| Mentally nodding at her was my response, earning me a hum of her own. |Then I'll start going over our guns. See what we can improve with them while that happens.|
Now that sounded like an Interesting idea. [Anything specific in mind?] Pausing, I looked at the console I was using, noticing the colonies had begun registering the cores. So far the readings were normal, a few reports coming up about what could be improved and whatnot, but those were expected. "Cores are linked, beginning maintenance." That said I activated the aforementioned maintenance, causing sections of the walls to open up, revealing a whole array of tools responsible for repairing/maintaining our bikes.
|I'll see if I can lower the recharge rate of my weapons, and see about getting attachments sorted out for both of our guns.| That was acceptable. |... Should I make us rocket launchers?|
I paused, cocking my head towards her a moment later. [I mean, yes... But why?]
My Mate hummed over the Bond, then in the most casual tone I had ever heard from her, answered me. |I want a 'Fuck you and everything in this direction' option.|
...
...
...
[Understandable. Go ahead.] I was not going to deal with that. (Bitches love cannons, and it's not like I disagree with having an ultimate 'Fuck You and everything you stand for' option. Hell, that's pretty much what Geb, Agni, Ymir, and Cabrakan are.) Black holes, a living volcano capable of going supernova and spawning even more volcanoes, an ice age in amphibian form, and a mechanical badger mole capable of creating 10.0+ earthquakes was pretty much the biggest threat(s) a world could take.
That wasn't even considering the sentient nuke. Though I didn't have much, if any, experience wielding Asura's form considering it would instantly irradiate the mountain and surrounding forest...
Again.
Putting all of that aside, I decided to refocus on the current project, keeping an eye on the bikes and their maintenance. Dragon was doing the same, though she was probably working on something else as well given just how insane her processing speed was... (Actually, thinking about it, we can work on that as well...) I paused again, huffing as more thoughts pertaining to projects that we could do popped up.
If there was one thing I didn't like about Gray Matter it was how my thoughts continuously made connections about all forms of projects or ideas that I could start/work on. I could just be looking at a wall and have a handful of thoughts about making it a hidden doorway or storage. The only way to get said thoughts to simmer down was to engage in creating or something similar, making me sort of hyper focus on it until I was done, or made satisfactory progress. (God, it's a wonder how Azmuth didn't just tell the galaxy to fuck off and turn into an intergalactic hermit... Wait, no, I had a thought earlier, go back to that stupid brain.) Taking far more force of will then it should've, I got back to my previous train of thought. (We can/should upgrade their servers... Probably make one massive super server considering the undertaking we will be going on soon... Now probably won't do considering we'll be working on our gear, then taking care of Amy, but it won't hurt to set a reminder to do so later.)
Before I could think about that some more, a familiar voice rang out in the Lab. "! Hey nerds, want some music? !" The four of us paused, sharing a look... Well, said look involved me looking and Dragon looking at each other, shrugging, then turning to the other duo in the lab and repeating the action, THEN looking up to the Projector and nodding.
None of us questioned how we did that without coordinating beforehand. It wasn't worth whatever migraine or existential conundrum that'd come from it if we did. "! Gotcha. Shuffle! !"
As soon as she was done music flooded the Lab, I recognized the song though... Which didn't exactly mean anything considering all the songs were recovered from my memories. That aside, the horn subsided, and the buildup began. We all listened as other instruments began joining the drums, eventually picking up into what I knew was one of the more 'Head empty, vibes only' songs I listened to. "'Monody' huh... I like it." (Monody - The Fat Rat - ft Laura Brehm)
I snorted. "Had you not I would've personally delved into your server and bonked you upside the head." My response provoked a snort of Amusement from my Mate, as well as snickers from the other Dragon Sisters.
Dragon herself just turned to me with a sharp smile, eyes glinting with the 'Oh really now' look. "Hmm? Did you say something Phoenix?"
Was I in danger? Yes. Was I going to let that stop me? Nope. "You heard me. Good music deserves recognition. This is the hill I shall die on, and nothing you can say or do shall sway me."
My Aunt and I stared at each other for a few moments, then she huffed, the small and genuine smile once more on her face. "I'll let that slide just this once." Good enough for me. "Distractions aside, we have work to do, do we not?" She was right, though I was a tad bit Disappointed that I couldn't solely focus on the music.
It was a good song and I liked it dammit!
[50 minutes later]
From there we went to work, Dragon directly overseeing the integration of the Duel Cores to Behemoth and Johanna, going so far as to take control over the equipment and Tinkering with the bikes herself. As she did that, I worked on the programming, being just as good at it as she was, which said something given her mature as an A.I.
There was also the fact that neither of us wanted to just let her or the rest of her sisters to do everything when I/we could do it ourselves. There were exceptions thought, but none of them applied here.
While the two of us worked, and occasionally sang when a sing worthy song came on, my Mate and her partner ensured our Suits would not only be in peak performance by the time their adjustments were finished, but had some features that should hopefully shield us from our one glaring weakness. (Note to self, do something nice for the Dragon Sisters. Perhaps make their new server capable of operating from space?) That thought had damn near opened a Pandora's box, and I decided that no, I wasn't going to start working on, or even THINKING about space shit until we were ready to murder The Simurgh. (Even though I could probably go up there as Geb and drop a black hole on her...)
Forcibly wrenching my thoughts away from that feasible, and possible course of action, I focused on the now.
My Mate had finished the attachment project for our weapons, which was a great thing in my opinion. She'd started by creating interchangeable barrels for her weapons, and my shotguns given what they fired, increasing accuracy and power by compressing the bullets into needle like rounds, improved sights for our snipers that would interface with our HUD, while giving her Sentinel a zoom of up to 500ms, which was a Terrifying prospect given her potential to make shots of those caliber in the future. My Longbow would only go up to 350ms, which I was perfectly fine with.
There'd also been designs of other melee weapons, which had been normal at the start, but changed to be mechashift at this point. I had no idea why she decided to go down that route, but I wasn't going to say no to having a badass new weapon. They'd need to be made first, but we could work on them later.
New weapons aside, she'd also made us 'Rocket launchers.'
If one wonders why there were quotations around that then all they'd need to know is that she made herself a goddamn Arc Powered Gjallarhorn(Destiny), gave it a reskin to fit her theme, and created it with enough power to hit as hard as a goddamn military warhead. Though for now it had a 5 minute recharge time between blasts, so it was... Somewhat, balanced. (She'll probably get that fixed before long.) When I'd first seen the parameters of that thing I'd wondered why the first one she'd made was that powerful.
Then I remembered what her epitaph was, and the situation we were in, then decided it made sense. It didn't matter that she'd sang along and even danced a bit to the songs that cycled through the Projector, she was still the Queen of Escalation, and most likely always would be... (That'll be a fuckin story for the kids. 'Hey kiddos, did ya know a version of your Mother was so feral she killed an alien god?') I paused. (... Wait... That's kinda hilarious.) Sure, MY Taylor wasn't that unhinged, but she was still feral enough to qualify for the title, and fulfill the requirements of it too.
Atleast she made me a Bump In The Night(Also Destiny), gave it a reskin for my theme, and slapped that fucker with yield twice as strong as her own, but triple the recharge rate... Which made sense given the fact I would rarely use it. (Atleast I know whatever I shoot with it is going to die.) Really, that was all I needed in a weapon. (Though, I can make it better. Wouldn't be that hard to just use Upgrade and blast everything to hell.)
That thought aside, Amy's Suit was created, but not designed. It was basically a blank full body suit, no color, no features, aside from being spliced with some alien DNA, and stored in the pendant. Said pendant had to be changed a little, a minor increase in size, and had a flat out upgrade to its shielding. Amy was the squishiest of us, and we'd be damned if someone hurt her before she could activate the Suit.
Anyway, without Amy to add her input the Suit would stay blank for now.
Thankfully that didn't stop us from the rest of our projects. Projects such as the Duel Runners, which I was going over now as Upgrade. From what I was 'Seeing', and being told by the colonies, which were in fact connected somehow, the cores were being integrated correctly. They'd even logged how we completed them, and already had some rudimentary plans on how to upgrade them. (Some of them won't really be necessary, but eh, maybe they'll be a good foundation for future improvements.)
I idly tossed around the idea of supplying the colonies with viable upgrade paths, but knew that if I did they wouldn't learn how to create those paths themselves, stunting their growth, and handicapping our bikes... (Unless we personally coded them to do so. Though, speeding up their development won't be good for the long term.) And it wouldn't. The whole point of the colonies being a core part of our bikes was that they'd learn what could be done, optimize the bikes as best they could, and learn how to do the process better and better.
Letting out a mental huff, I extracted myself from Johanna's frame, sliding onto the floor and reforming into the standard form of Upgrade. They would be fine for now, only getting better the more time passed. "You know," Turning my head towards Dragon, I blinked as I took in the Interested gleam in her eyes. "I don't think I'll ever lose my fascination with this form of yours. A living mega-colony of nanites with a single sentience is probably going to be something I'll research for years to come."
I 'Snorted' at that, which came across as a glitching sound. "Well, if I'm oh so fascinating to you I wouldn't mind donating a cluster or two to you. For research purposes of course." Dragon hummed at that, looking like she was open to the offer. "Though, there'll have to be a limit. I'd rather not have another child yet." The moment I said that a literal record scratch went out, the music stopping as the Lab went silent. There was a thrum of Exasperation pulsing from my Other Half, who was partially melded with her Gjallarhorn, while both of my Aunts stared at me. "What? We've covered what forms are asexual and how they reproduce, so why the silence?"
It'd come up around the time I first mentioned Big Chill could cause me to lay a clutch of younglings. I'd had to go through an Uncomfortable conversation about how many of my forms could spontaneously/accidentally decide 'It's baby time.'
The answer, much to my Dread, was 5, 6 if we were counting Ghostfreak/Ah Puch.
Forms like Goop and Upgrade were expected, because one was basically a liquid while the other was a colony of nanites, and I'd already known about Big Chill. But finding out Snare-Oh and NRG reproduced asexually freaked me the fuck out.
Apparently Thep Khufan's were able to break off parts of their masks, which would somehow grow back, and 'Seeded' it into sandstone. They'd then discard some wrappings around the sandstone, then fuck off until eventually, a baby Thep Khufan was born...
I didn't know how the fuck that was possible, but I didn't want too either. I was just Relieved that I would accidentally spawn an alien mummy if I looked away for 5 seconds...
They could also literally mummify people and do it that way, but that was intentional.
As for NRG... Well, Prypiatosian-B's were basically living radiation. As soon as they reached a sufficient amount of power they divided themselves into halves, thirds, or fourths, depending on the amount of stored radiation they were working with, then went on their way to go eat some more and regain the spent power... They could also voluntarily split with another one of their species if they wanted to save energy, so at least that method made sense.
Sudden recapping of strange alien birthing processes aside, my Aunt spoke up. "It's... The thought of experimenting on what amounts to a possible/unborn child isn't exactly the most pleasant thought in the world."
"Ah... I see..." And that was all I said... Because what else do you say to that?
Thankfully, my girlfriend was my personal savior in this instance. "Amy just woke up."
PRIME DISTRACTION EVENT TRIGGERED!
[Amy's POV]
The first thing I felt was the soft mattress, which was something that took my brain a few moments to recognize what it was. It took me cracking my eyes open to see the ceiling, fully connecting what I was feeling to where I was. (Oh... I'm back in Taylor's bed.) I was starting to sense a pattern here, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Still, it was so easy to just sink into the bed instead of moving, which wasn't something I was sure I could do right now. My arms felt like they were filled with led, legs were a non factor, and...
And I was tired.
I just woke up, but for some reason I was just so tired. There was shit going through my mind, feelings that I knew I was supposed to be feeling, not effecting me as much as they should've. (Am I fucking dissociating or something?) I wasn't a psychologist, so I didn't know.
I didn't really care either.
Staring up at the ceiling, I didn't even try to think about or do doing anything. (Why?) That was a way more loaded question then it had any right to be, especially considering it was just a single word... But it was still a good question considering everything that happened recently.
I went and helped Phoenix and Taylor fight the 9, had a fight with Carol that resulted in me exposing some buried skeletons in the family closet, hurt Vicky without meaning too, got kicked out because of those bits, accidentally created a child, acknowledged that I was crushing HARD on my only two friends, dealt with a terrorist attack in the Bay, then found out that my adoptive father killed himself... (And it hasn't even been a week.) I was just...
I was just so... Done, at this point. The world just kept taking from me and beating me down, hurting me over and over again till I had practically nothing. (All that's left is for Phoenix and Taylor to get tired of me, or I fuck up by telling them I want to stick my pussy between their obvious and loving relationship. Given how smart they are they'll find out, if they don't already know. Not like I was fucking discreet or anything...) I recognized the way my heart erratically thumped, knowing a little bit of hope for something grew, but didn't bother crushing it.
That'd happen naturally when they inevitably let me down.
Bringing an arm up I covered my eyes, the thought of losing the only two people that looked at the world class healer Panacea, and saw tired and depressed Amy, bein...- Something poked my cheek, but I ignored it, my eyes already watering a bit under my arm. But when it happened again, followed by a "$?$" I realized what it could be.
Raising my arm, I cracked an eye open, meeting the... Concerned, I was pretty sure that's what it was, look from my snake daughter. Just like last time, she was coiled on one of the nearby pillows, staring at me with wide slit eyes. (Good job Amy, you made the literal baby worry about you.) I ignored the pang of hurt that thought brought me, wouldn't be the first time I'd have done that, and reached out to pat the crest on her head. My Power fed me her biology, but considering I created her, I knew it all like the back of my hand, making it easy to tune it out and look at my daughter. "Hey honey," God, I sounded like a mess. "You okay?" I wanted to slap myself. (Yeah, just ask the child you can't understand if they're alright seeing their Mother almost start crying.) I hated that that thought was right.
It was a stupid question, that was offset by her leaning into my hand, her scales and feathers brushing against my hand... Though the response of "$...$" Didn't help me at all.
Thankfully before this whole mess deteriorated further, the sound of a door opening caught my, and my daughter's, attention. "'Ello 'ello 'ello," Welp, I didn't need to turn around to tell who that was. "I come bearing food an stuff."
"$!$" And there went my only child, perking up as her dumbass of a Father made himself known.
The urge to snort was there, but I didn't have the energy to go trough with it, deciding to instead just turn over a bit and look at Phoenix, and Taylor, who were carrying a bowl of scrambled eggs with sausage slices and a tray with two different jugs of juice. If that wasn't enough to get my heart to beat a little faster, then the fact they were both in casual house clothes and giving me warm smiles would've done it. (Oh God, this is not helping the crush I have on them.) And it wasn't, but I didn't want to say anything about it.
I wanted atleast one good thing before it would eventually be lost to me.
While I thought that, they reached the bed, the aforementioned dumbass sitting on a ledge and reaching out with the bowl of food, which I just noticed had a spoon in it, while Taylor set the guns aside as she put the juices on the nightstand. "Wakey wakey eggs and bakey fatass." My eye twitched, evolving into a full body one as Taylor snorted in the background. I did my best to glare at the emerald eyed asshole, but the smell of fresh food made it impossible to keep the glare up.
Letting out a sigh, and setting aside the low hiss coming from my kid, I sat up, reaching for the bowl of food as I did. Phoenix hummed at me after I grabbed it, then crawled forwards a bit then fully flopped down onto the bed, making me pause. He wasn't really close, a good two or so feet away, but the fact he was on the bed was kind of weird. It got weirder when he just decided to stare at m...- Wait, he wasn't looking at me.
Looking out of the corner of my eye I saw Scylla doing a little wiggle... For some reason. Knowing I was looking at her she paused, looked at me, then her Father, then back at me before letting out a short "$?$"
Not knowing, but having an idea, about what she said, I looked over to the green haired bastard, who just smiled at the both of us. "I don't think she'd mind."
My eye twitched. (Of course he wouldn't hint at what she said.) Turning my eyes over to Taylor, I did my best to get across that I wanted to know what my Daughter asked, and wanted her to tell me.
Thankfully Taylor didn't play his games and did just that. "She asked if she could go over to him."
Ignoring the low huff that came from the sole male in the room, I turned to my Daughter, who was still looking at me, and nodded at her. "It's fine, go to your Father." After a happy hiss, followed by her nuzzling me, which did help me feel better, she uncoiled herself and slithered over to Phoenix. Watching a 6ft long snake slither across a bed was kind of weird, but I just put that thought out of my mind when my stomach reminded me that I hadn't eaten in a while. (Huh... This is good.) I'd never had eggs and sausage like this before, still used to the overwhelming amount of takeout the team had ever since I Triggered, but it was nice.
Appreciation of the food aside, I watched as Phoenix rolled over, letting Scylla climb onto him and cuddle with him... Which, again, was strange to see a 6ft long plant snake do, but oh well.
While those two cuddled with each other, I ate and watched, only looking away when another weight landed on the bed. Looking over at Taylor, I met her jade eyes, and The Master smiled at me. She didn't say anything, but I was fine with that. I didn't want to talk, didn't even want to think really, I'd end up going over everything that happened these last 3-4 days, and I just didn't want to do any of that.
Taylor seemed to know that since despite coming closer to me, she still didn't say anything. She eventually stopped a bit away from me, leaning against the wall. We both looked at each other for a bit more, then eventually decided to just watch the man child and hatchling play around. I went back to eating, while Taylor was just a presence by my side. It...
It was nice to know that she was there, even if she wasn't really doing much, she was in range if I needed it. Even Phoenix, despite playing with our Daughter, was close enough to help or do anything if I needed it.
They were worried about me and... And I loved it...
...
...
...
But I had no idea what I was going to do when they wouldn't be there for me.
I could only hope Scylla stayed with me whenever that happened.
And that's all for now.
Well, not really. I'm already 5k words into the next ch but I'm not really satisfied with it so that'll come out in the next batch. That said enjoy going back to waiting.
Also, at some point I'm going to make a One Shots thing because I occasionally get ideas for other stories, but I don't want to just suddenly put this one on Hiatus like I have my other 2 stories, so I'm going to just dump those there so I don't do that.