Chapter 15 - |||

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Andrew was pacing in the hotel room. "No, I'm serious Paul. My Charmander nearly evolved after only a few hours in the 'Fire Stage', and she doubled her control easily. You need to bring your Magmar here, screw your Dad's family Trainer. A tutor is NOT as useful as these stages."

He glanced at his notes. Not all Trainers kept documentation, there were styles of Trainer that ranged from 'gut followers' all the way up to 'hardcore statistics', but Andrew was proud of his attempts to give his girl the optimal learning environments. His Pokémon deserved no less.

Paul hummed. "Look, I know there was a lot of hype online, but we've been rivals for years! Why would I trust you on this?"

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Look twerp, we may have a fight or two but if I find a literal pile of Rare Candy I can't just ignore you. You can barely offer me a challenge NOW, how do you expect to catch up if I hide the good stuff?"

The voice scoffed on the other end. "THERE'S the Andrew I know and loathe. Look, my Uncle would NOT appreciate me just vanishing. Although my sister mentioned some strange things about that Gym you are at... anything extra to add?"

He hummed. "Bring extra cash. These Training Stages aside, I've seen lots of Potions and items that shouldn't be available here. Or anywhere. Hell, they even have Max Elixirs on sale! Even with Trainers buying them like crazy, they hadn't run out when I left for my room. And despite the massive crowds, NOTHING here has sold out. It is nearly unnatural."

Andrew paced a bit. "These shops could multiply costs by 100 and still have an army of people begging to buy. But for some reason, maybe because of how recently it opened, everything is cheap. Nearly too cheap... I am sending some of this stuff to the Professor to verify it isn't a ripoff, but the chance is too good to not take the risk."

Paul hummed. "I think Uncle Gary would actually take me with him down there if I tell him that. Might tell Mr. Ketchum too, not sure though."

Andrew nodded. "Don't forget to mention the Training Stages, those things are stupid cheap to rent and are big enough for several Trainers to work within without conflict. Well, accidental conflict anyway. Don't mention the rides and stuff though, he might take the place less seriously."

Paul's voice paused. "Wait, what?"

Andrew hung up.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Leaving the 'Theater Ball' Gym was... freeing. Adam felt a weight leave his shoulders. Figuratively, at least... both Simmy and Sammy had shrunken in size and were riding his shoulders backwards, Abra and Minun sleeping in the bag on his back.

Anita had given up on asking questions after trying to find out what Pokémon the two Angels were, and was focused on accepting Pidgey's brand new work out fit (Ms. King did amazing work!)

Plusle refused to be carried, or stored in the new Pokéballs Adam had provided. He was darting back and forth as the group walked, tiny pom-poms sparking with power as he danced all over the place. In the front, dashing through the thick weeds... in the back of the group, exploring the new tiles, pathway, lamps, and decorative bits that Adam tossed out for fun.

Oh, and the Route 110 reconstruction process was VERY annoying to do with angels on Adam's shoulders. He had to only slightly unfold his bone limbs, the Gather and Construction beams could only point backwards... so Adam and Anita were walking through the mess of forest while a lovely road anyone would enjoy traveling on showed up BEHIND them, where it was completely useless. Sigh.

There were also a few Trainers and Pokémon following behind the team, as they found the path creation process interesting... and were recording it all.

Adam SHOULD stop it, try to be secretive... but with Simmy and Sammy out in the world, being subtle was gone. If the Gods here didn't notice them, then they were ignoring the planet (Hopefully), or didn't care (Possible... maybe)... or something else was keeping them from noticing. Hopefully something friendly.

Because while Simmy was fairly subtle, Sammy was a bull in a china shop. And not a normal bull, because those animals are surprisingly dainty and don't like knocking things over, but an ANGRY bull that was drunk AND dizzy.

Her orange energy kept weaving tree branches into various patterns, tossing aggressive Pokémon into the distance (The ocean shore WAS nearby, after all.), and generally messing with people. Subtle, she wasn't.

Still, having his girls out made the world feel less lonely. Anita was lovely company, but he felt more like a guardian or babysitter than a companion really. Though if she ever needed help, he would step in... she felt... something like a niece. Or distant cousin.

It was a bit of a surprise seeing her step up when offered authority though. Made him feel proud and impressed, she saw a challenge and got things done.

Blinking, he formed another paper bag and filled it with faith Peanuts. "Sure, here Simmy." Not sure why they were so hungry today.

Anita stepped carefully over a stone. "Where do you keep getting the snacks from anyway?"

He offered her a few peanuts. "It is actually a type of energy. Humans can eat them, but if you are not able to process the energy then they just taste good and will vanish from your system. So... a fat free snack, basically."

Abra loved them, although Adam only found out when Simmy asked for a few today.

His tiny friend hummed and examined the snack. "It smells like... like... hmm."

She nodded. "It smell's like a really, really old tree. And ancient paper. And... sounds like some sort of song? But with lots of people."

Adam tossed one, shell and all, into his mouth. "Mmm. Yeah, the fresh ones like these have a weaker flavor, but it is closer to the original source. My older stock all taste like past adventures and scenarios."

He chewed the whole mass with satisfaction. Not like the outer shell was any different from the inside anyway. The crunch tasted of wafers and dry bread, but the flavor was rich with passion and past miracles. Sometimes. Honestly, after they stayed in his Soul long enough, these kami gained flavors based on where on peanut mountain they rested. One whole section tasted like pot roast, for example.

Anita chewed on hers slowly. "Huh. It is like eating a memory or something."

Adam hummed. "Not really, memories have more zest. Right, I think we can hit Slateport City by the end of the day, see the famous 'Slateport Market'... then we will have to part ways."

She stumbled a little. "WHAT!? But... but what if I need help with the Gym!?"

He waved at her Pokédex. "Simmy added an Application on your Pokédex to communicate with us, and I will come around if you need something, but I need to head back. Something I have been waiting for is finally going to happen at home... and to be honest, I probably should have gone back after finding Minun and Plusle here."

Anita slumped a little. "Is it really important? You can't stay another week or two?"

Adam glanced inward, Squishy poked his memories.

The Crystal Kingdom, the Parasite Tumors, the Distributed God Warrior, the Golden Avatar...

The Consuming System.

He sighed. "Yeah, I better be there for this."

His heart felt danger and prepared.

His mind found options and chose.

His eyes saw Shards and hungered.

Adam grinned with sharp teeth. "Don't worry..."

"It won't take long."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Narwhal waved at the screen. "HOW DOES HE NOT SEE THAT!?"

CD hummed. "Got a theory. Mew in general are very high powered. And it doesn't have to mess with Adam's mind, Soul, or memories to stay hidden... it can just tell reality to ignore her and BAM! It acts like those Realm blind spots. Anyone THERE will just be unable to recognize the thing. It's my best guess, anyway."

Narwhal gestured harder. "But it is IN the carry bag with Abra and Minun. Simmy keeps feeding it peanuts!"

The blue angel on screen turned, winked at Narwhal, then held up a peace sign.

CD sighed. "She may be messing with you, dear."

Narwhal grumbled. "Mess with me? I'll have Adam tan your hide, THEN who will be messing with whom!"

Simmy blushed like a schoolgirl and turned slightly the side. While handing Mew another peanut.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Reaching Slateport City was a fairly relaxed affair, considering how the dense forest blocked most traffic.

Well, USED to block most traffic. The groups meandering journey had picked up a lot of tag-a-longs, as Trainers tend to be curious things at the best of times. Thankfully they didn't get too close or become bothersome, just filmed the progression of the Route as Adam modified it.

He stretched, the path becoming more and more civilized as they approached the city. "Finally. I guess we should rent a room and sleep the evening off, then try out this market tomorrow?"

Anita also seemed tired, Pidgey slumped on her shoulder and leaning on her head. "Yeah, I could use some down time. I'll be honest, not having you around feels stressful with all the new stuff I am going to be responsible for."

Simmy and Sammy flew off with Abra and the twin Pokémon... so they had plans. Well, they could handle things on their own. "I'm thinking about adding some support to your Gym, actually." He glanced at the curious kid. "Ever heard of Adventurers? Basically a guild of people who accomplish tasks and quests designed by you, brought around by me. Thinking about making your Gym an 'Adventurer Hall' or 'Guild House', could help you out if trouble shows up."

The discussion continued from there, as twin Endbringers carried the (three?) Pokémon into the city to look around. Pidgey was too tired for that, and ended up resting in her Pokéball half way through the ongoing discussion.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Mew pointed left, and the group floated that way. The Angels were being lazy, floating through the City on paths that would be unseen by others, Abra was sleeping, and Plusle and Minun were... just distracted by everything.

Absently, the pink cat like creature brushed more attention away. These were HER playmates, the others could go do something else.

She accepted another of those amazing peanuts from the blue Angel, as she directed the group towards some of the better tasting berries that grew in hard to reach areas.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The 'Slateport Market' was bustling and crowded, people and Pokémon moving in mass confusion.

Adam was fascinated by the mess, stalls and stands everywhere covered with items and oddities. Anita was just wandering along, more interested in the food stalls being passed.

He looked over another electronic modification stand, 'Technomancy' allowing him to gather scans quickly. "And what does this do?"

The salesman smirked. "Not that I know where it came from, say no more, say no more, but this is a modification for the generic model Pokédex on the market. Not quite up to standard to be honest, but very low cost... it triples the range of detection, at the cost of lowering the accuracy of the scan."

Adam examined the insides... it was actually a more expensive mod chip that legal Pokédex's had, but with manufacturing errors on the board. No wonder it cost so little, these couldn't even be defective in standard ways... but it was still better than tossing the finished product due to quality issues.

He moved to the next ones. "And these?"

The man grinned. "Know a guy who knows a guy. Install this on a spare Pokédex and you can detect plants, specifically berries and the more rare fruit trees. Better be a spare one though, it loses access to the standard databases to work."

Anita had lost interest a while ago, but Adam continued examining the offerings. Some original stuff was sold here, but a good portion was just defective products that had been repurposed into black market modifications and 'unusual items'. The chips were so tiny in this Realm that even random manufacturing flaws made the units do SOMETHING interesting, if it didn't just burn out completely.

Sort of like old video games, which were so tiny and compressed that injecting random code would cause 'Cheats' to occur in game. Or crash everything.

Oh, and Rare Candy exists.

He hummed as he moved on to another stand.

Unlike the Evolutionary Stones, which was basically just Aura Dust Crystals, Rare Candy was more raw Aura condensed into liquid, sealed in a very, very thin shell of Aura Dust Crystal. And you didn't feed it to your Pokémon directly, the Trainer ate it instead and it filtered through his bonds to his closest partner.

Side note, apparently humans can EAT Aura crystal. It just needed to be thin and have a certain structural pattern... made the thing dissolve into energy instead of sharp shards of faith crystal. The liquid stuff was even more strange, as it was a slurry of magic, faith, and potential energy. The fluid was constantly shifting in the Rare Candy during the analysis process, and yet turned gel like unless exposed to a Trainer's Aura.

It also tasted like maple syrup and caramelized sugar. With a smoky aftertaste.

He only found two for sale here, so maybe there were all kinds of flavors out there.

Another side note: it wasn't suggested to just chew on them non-stop, as the energies would be too pure. Trainers NEEDED the random fields they stumbled upon in life to give the power certain accents, without that the Pokémon would lack strength. Rare Candies would technically provide enough energy, even enough for evolution!

But it would be boring, weak energy. Not flavored with life and experience. Not tainted with loss and gain and bond growth.

So it would be added to the stores back in the 'Theater Ball' Gym, but there would be limits sold per officially registered Trainers. Sometimes a Pokémon just needed a tiny push to reach the next level, so it wasn't like Rare Candies were worthless.

Oh, and ONLY Trainers could buy the candies. Without a 'Bond', the power would just pop someone.

A mental nudge had Adam moving to another stand, this one less popular. "Hmm..." Mostly junk, some odds and ends...

Adam tapped an odd item. "What is this?"

The woman shopkeeper glanced over. "That is a 'Shell Bell'. Add it as a necklace to your Partner and it can absorb part of the damage it causes as healing energy."

He hummed, his mind connecting the strange bell to the various games. Normally a Pokémon would hold one of these, and 1/8th of damaged caused would be used to heal the attacker. But his senses couldn't detect any technology.

A flick of thought and 'Harmony' activated... this bell created a psychic connection to the target. Damage would cause the victim to spike in energy to both defend and heal itself, and this bell could harvest a portion of that healing energy for the owner instead.

It operated similar to Voodoo, or the developed practices of African Diaspora. Manipulating the bonds between people, or in this case Pokémon. Step one, create a bond... in this case, the bond of attacker and victim. Step two, an exchange... giving energy in the form of an attack, accepting energy in the form of healing.

This deal of course wasn't fair, so to lower the difficulty in making a 'deal', the healing energy was far less than the attacking power 'offered'... and the contract didn't care that the attacking power had negative effects on the user. Step three kept the deal going until the 'bond' was broken... in other words, until the two Pokémon were no longer 'Attacker' and 'Victim'.

Adam bought the thing with little care for the seller, moving with Anita back towards the hotel.

This... this was an interesting path that required kami and magic to work. Faith was used to form the bond, Magic was used to control the transaction. More interesting was how the pattern of energies inside the bell were... flexing. Shifting. Whomever created this thing didn't need a specific material, or shape, or resources. Even a rock could be formed into this 'Shell Bell' with little difficulty.

No, the valuable material and the shape enhanced the final product, but neither was required.

Still, they mattered. The shape, the noise caused by attacking while wearing this bell, it drastically improved the bonding rate. It would ring during attacks, making the process more efficient. And the materials reduced the energy needed to form the 'Shell Bell' while increasing the amount of power transferred and the length of time said item would continue to work.

Anita's tugging of his sleeve brought his attention. She also peered at the item. "So is that bell what you were looking for?"

Adam nodded. "Yes." It entered his soul storage as he sighed. "And with that, I must gather my people head home."

She shuffled... before awkwardly hugging his arm. "I'm going to miss you, Adam." Pidgey flexed in agreement.

He chuckled, ruffling her hair. "You should be hooked up to our 'Skyword Networking System' via your Pokédex by now. I'll stay in touch."

Adam walked towards an open area of the City, waiting for his wives and Pokémon companions. "You going to head back to the Academy?"

She shrugged sadly. "No, going to stay the rest of break back in Theater Ball Gym. Although Mr. King will be helping me keep that running."

He waved a hand as the rest of the group arrived. Simmy, Sammy, Plusle, Minun, and Abra all faded away, the two Endbringers returned to their Confinement Grid cell and the four... no, three Pokémon sent into Marshadow's rehabilitation area. The twin Endbringers said the crazy little thing was better now, and that was good enough for Adam.

With a grin at the young girl who had traveled with him for so long, he gave a smile. "See you soon, Anita Sands."

Her wave was cut off as a massive blue metal skull consumed her friend and vanished.

She froze. "...What?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Mew blinked, turning nowhere and looking at no-when.

One of her many avatars just... vanished.

No pain, no panic, no concern. Gone.

She watched time reverse, following the path she already traveled, hearing sounds already heard, feeling life.

How odd! How fun!

A fishbowl turned inside out, going nowhere, leaving no trace, carrying many things, places, and people.

How interesting.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

This place had no name.

The land died long ago, before the shards fell from the sky.

No one ever lived here. No animals ever survived this land, no plants ever grew.

In every respect, this was just one Realm dimension among countless more. A small subset, as at least dirt and soil existed.

For there were endless realities with nothing but energy. No mass, no planets, no stars.

In a space with no light, on a rock with no purpose, a skull formed and allowed Adam to exist.

There was no reaction. Not from the thing here, nor from the rocks.

This shard cluster, this planet, it did not have the equivalent of eyes. Of sensing organs.

It was a sort of core.

Glowing crystals expand every direction. None with any true abilities, none with any true skills.

No, this planet was formed of endless portals. The most essential router, the unending index, the ever reaching connection.

Zion, the Avatar of the Warrior Entity, he wasn't here. His projection shard was connected to this one.

Eden, the Avatar of the Thinker Entity, she wasn't here. This core was the one she communicated with when alive.

If the shards were the many limbs of the eldritch tree, this was the most core branch, root, and trunk.

This was the binding that held the energy space whales together. The network. The pathways between realities.

Adam watched with a sense of accomplishment as the many colored, flashing crystals... slowly became infected with blue.

His blue.

The System.

Originally, according to the many memories he gained of this Realm, the foes fought the Avatar. Scion, the golden nude warrior man. They fought across worlds, tore reality apart, attacked mentally, physically, emotionally. They eventually won. They lost much. They had fractured, broken, scared, but alive.

Now? Now that scenario was not needed.

The most essential component was being converted. Would finish in minutes.

And from this spine, every single shard, active or not, would become part of Adam's System.

Eden's shards would take longer, but were no longer directed. The many lost connections between Thinker and Warrior would be researched and eventually used to reconnect her shards to his System as well.

His eyes glistened as he watched gate after gate turn bright blue with System's attention. Those nearly uncountable Shards would be consumed, purified, refined, enhanced, then used as a power base for System itself.

And at the very least, one person would hopefully be unable to set off Armageddon. No madman or crazy woman would grip reality to death so easily.

After the minutes of infection, it only took a day or so for the planet to no longer pulse with the rainbow. For the blue fire to make this backbone shift and reform. To refine itself, and become more powerful and less wasteful.

True intelligent design, carved from the organic development forced to occur over thousands of millennia.

As the last gem glowed blue, the Entity Zion was now helpless... and Adam felt a new connection build.

===SYSTEM v32.012: Interdimensional Edition===

~Full Initialization Complete, Optimization Underway.~

"Roads? Where we are going, we don't NEED roads."

As the windows flashed in and out of existence, Adam felt a grin start to grow as connections began to strengthen.

From Adventurer to Adventurer, from node to node, from Realm to Realm... System was coming out of 'standby' and 'stealth' mode.

In the darkness of an unknown planet, a Crystalline Entity's dimensional backbone began to breakdown... and a System began 'Conversion', 'Growth', and 'Purification'. A pattern observed as Queen Administrator formed her own planet was now being constructed here, somewhere in space. A pattern analyzed, improved, and optimized.

This planet would become Shards, this Index would become the System Index, and this node would become Central.

Without consideration of others, the growth was exponentially faster. The signals were stronger, the backup connections exposed, whole clusters rewritten with new and better protocols rather than forced to use the organic mess that the Entities had stumbled upon during development.

Powers belonging to Adam's faithful were twisted, reformed, taken off line and rebuilt, while messages from System could finally be direct and honest without triggering emergency responses from high above.

On a planet that quaked with changes and screamed in construction, a skeleton man with a white suit stood with bony hands clasped behind him. Blue flames danced in his wired hair, his eyes shining into the dark.

With this, his greatest fear was handled. His most vulnerable people were secured.

A broken part of Adam's soul finally connected fully with System, helping both heal to some degree. Faith poured into his fishbowl, was cleansed, and returned as power to the many. Prayers were automatically assigned quests where appropriate, miracles were bestowed, and peace was delivered. A self supporting cycle of improvement, continuous growth, continuous change.

With a deep breath... Adam let it go.

Back to the depths of his being, automated. No longer mastered by his soul.

He was not ready for direct action.

His people offered him their free will, and he rewarded them by not taking it.

With a sharp nod, he headed back to his loved ones. The blue skull consumed his form as he went to the place he most longed for.

Home.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Narwhal sighed. "Yeah, he stole Mew."

CD grumbled. "Doesn't count as stolen if she was a stowaway."

She waved her arms at the screen. "IT LOOKS BAD! We can't just steal Gods, accidentally or not! That is BAD public relations."

Cyber Dragon's eyes pulsed with code. "The public seems fairly sympathetic. Or distracted by the giant gem light show just now."

Narwhal pouted. "Don't care, the new rule is no kidnapping Gods. Or Catnapping. Period."

Betty slammed the door closed, balancing several bags of groceries and chips. "I brought snacks! What did I miss?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

A flex released the tight 'Bind' on his soul, the fishbowl now slightly visible through the many loosened black ropes.

Adam sighed with comfort, a stress unseen finally relaxed. 'Research' slid into place, examining the changes in System and himself, now that the connection could be run on far lower levels of security. 'Harmony' and 'Purification' ensured the energy cycling through his system would become more beneficial to his followers and less dangerous.

He glanced at his skeletal hand, a pulse spawning enhanced flesh over his form and filling out his white suit.

Tugging his collar, he smiled and pushed back his blue wired hair, his magic and Aura pulled densely into his bones beneath his flesh.

Finally.

Opening the door to his home underground in the restricted area of Variance Villa, he couldn't stop the smile. "I'm Home!"

A series of impacts pushed him backwards a few feet as the small Betty and much larger Narwhal smashed into him, his arms wrapping tight as he returned the hug.

Betty's muffled voice was around stomach height. "Adam! I've got so much to tell you!"

CD sauntered into the room, more relaxed as she hugged Narwhal and Adam from the edge of the cluster. "Later Betty. Adam, come over to the living room... you need to spend some time with us."

Freed from his soul, Simmy and Sammy joined the hug as the group struggled to move towards the couch, the awkward shuffling from the mass hug making progress slow and giggly.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam leaned back, Simmy and Sammy hanging over the back of the couch while Betty snuggled in his lap. Narwhal and CD were on either side, and the excuse of watching a movie or something fell flat as no one wanted to move to turn something on.

He chuckled. "So what changes occurred? I felt some of them."

Narwhal sighed. "No natural triggers for power is possible now. Instead, everyone is getting a generic 'Follower' class, that they can change at any Temple. It allows the System to protect anyone born in this Realm, or at least on every dimension Zion had infected."

CD nodded. "The new update considers the old tumors used by Shards to be damage and heals them, along with most minor medical issues. People in general will be more healthy and therefore live longer, and lawless zones will develop some level of stability now that penalties for especially vile behavior are punished." She caused virtual windows to open. "Loss of System Powers for bad offenses, redeemable through difficult Quests. For those who become major issues, Quests and Bounties become involved. Sort of like the old 'Kill Order' list."

Betty wasn't paying attention. In fact, she may be asleep. Narwhal wiggled closer. "Now that we can't set the Entities off, transportation restrictions are way lowered. Large portal centers are being set up in major cities by Dragon's Adventure Guild, with minor Quests for transporting goods and people. Off world Quests have increased quota limits and duration. Realm Trade will be increased, and restrictions there will also be lowered. Private information about the System and how it works will be less censored, and we will be publicly publishing some stuff."

Adam hummed, leaning into his girls. Narwhal smiled. "Queen Administrator said lots of stuff changed on her end, but she is still looking into it. No report yet. Oh, and slightly off topic... Nightmare Moon and Twilight are an item now. Might be trying to set up something with Dragon and Armsmaster too, but that couple is very private. No idea what will happen there."

The conversation wandered a bit before he felt Abra want to join the cuddle party. 'Grid of Confinement' had different security levels, lowest being basic passenger transport, highest being mind breaking loyalty enforcement... so it was easy enough to pull the orange fox like creature into the world without needing the power boost from including a power socket.

Narwhal squeed! "OH she is adorable!" Pulling the still asleep Abra into her lap, Narwhal used her force field to pull a blanket over. Wrapping the little one like a caterpillar, she smiled. "Watching you and little Abra didn't do her cuteness justice!"

Adam chuckled. "I may spoil her a bit, but she is such a good girl it is hard not to. I wish all kids were as well behaved, really."

Abra just enjoyed the mental waves of comfort and relaxation. Safe was here. Safe was everywhere here.

CD's data shifted. "Right, almost forgot." She sat up and got Adam's attention. "Were you aware you brought over an extra passenger when coming home? A stowaway, as it where."

He paused. "Uh..."

A quick review. Anita, Pidgey, Abra, Pokécenter, Team Rocket, Marshadow... journey, fix roads, energy bread, make theater, turn into Gym, hire Team Rocket for security, met lots of Pokémon, hire lots of people, found Plusle and Minun, call out Simmy and Sammy, carry the three in the pack, fix the roads into... into...

Three?

Thoughts pass in his mind, memories that seemed perfectly normal now different... and still perfectly normal. No, they were never different, he just... interpreted them as something else. Even as his thoughts stayed clear and untouched.

He blinked. "Where the HELL did a Mew come from!?"

Abra snorted and rumbled as Narwhal pet her.

Adam glanced at the two VERY INNOCENT looking Endbringer sisters. "Well?"

Blue paper slips fell into his hands.

Each one listed a note from the tune they were trying to silently whistle.

Right.

Adam grumbled as he reached into his soul. "Excuse me, Mew?"

From the 'Pokémon' Grid of Confinement Cell, a soft 'Mew!' was heard.

He frowned. "Please get out of my soul."

"Mew."

...Great. "Pretty please, with sugar on top, get out of my soul."

"...Mew. Mew?"

"No, I am not angry."

"Mew me me mew."

His eye twitched. "Alright, NOW I am getting a bit annoyed, but no. I am not angry."

"..."

The Cell closed up.

What. The. Hell.

Adam coughed. "Well." Great. "Turns out that if you are strong enough, you can just... close my Aura's Semblance from the inside. Because my ability is all about self control and confinement, not expulsion."

He glanced over... yep, both Angels had left. "So for now, I am just going to... ignore the situation. The energy output of my Grid may be a bit higher for a while, but I am sure eventually she... it? Mew will get tired and leave."

Mew was a Psychic Type, yes? So the absorbed power would go to the same outputs as Abra and half of Marshadow.

He felt his anger spike a little as Mew somehow pulled a massive amount of Faith Peanuts into her Confinement Cell. It didn't actually lower his abilities at all, his reserves of kami was stupid high right now, but she could have at least asked or something.

Oh, and Plusle had escaped his Grid with Sammy. Same with Minun, whom left with Simmy.

Sometimes he really didn't feel in control of the situation.

Focusing on the warm love from his girls, he let it all go. "Thank you for pointing her out to me, CD. I don't think she will be a problem in the long run, but it is good to know so I won't be blind sided later."

COULD he fight Mew? Maybe. Something about this one felt... hollow. Slightly less real. But that same emptiness was being reduced according to his senses, as she ate those Faith Peanuts. Which... hopefully wouldn't be a problem. Plus, any actual fighting would occur INSIDE his Soul, which seemed like a stupid idea.

So... no reason to force conflict. Every source said these creatures were powerful but playful... and stealing soul snacks aside, she hadn't really done much to him. Thus, no attacking the pink hobo god cat soul-squatting creature.

For now.

CD hummed. "We were less worried after seeing Simmy so relaxed, but yeah, it was a concern. Also, Narwhal added some rules to your trips."

His girlfriend looked up from petting the adorable Abra. "Yeah! No more kidnapping gods! Or Cats! Or God Cats! Period! It... it really stressed me out."

Adam activated 'Manipulation' and warped the couch to pull her to his side for a hug. "It won't happen again. I'll have Simmy confirm any passengers with me from now on, I'm sure she will ensure no issues will crop up easily."

He made sure not to mention that anything that could avoid Simmy's senses was out of his league anyway. To the point of being helpless, most likely... or at least, in great risk.

The conversation became more rambling from that point onward. The girls rescued from Lung were doing good, Queen Administrator was having wacky hijinks now that she had a little sister and two dads, and Boro had something of a food epiphany from watching his video stream while exploring another Realm. Oh, and vegetarian dishes would be going through a Renaissance thanks to the data brought by Adam that was being slowly absorbed into the System.

Seriously, when every animal could theoretically learn to read and write, the ability to prepare food using non-sentient plant took a quantum leap in improvement. Though several tools and methods needed strange energies and Aura's to operate, the sheer variety of crop species was astounding. Several ocean cities in Queen Administrator's Realm Planet now automatically grew all kinds of plants, the drones harvesting them and putting them on the System Market at a rapid pace. The stored food reserves had nearly tripped just from the improved options now available!

At least getting the aid to the people who needed it would likely speed up. While Adam couldn't visit her Realm without severe consequences, no one else in the System seemed to share that issue... and now that everyone could be less subtle without risking galactic death, humanitarian Quests had gone through the roof. World after world was getting shrines to purify land and water, food was being traded or outright bestowed, beasts were being fought back and homes secured.

Even as the small group relaxed on the couch, Cyber Narwhal was happily doing the massive amounts of required paperwork, enjoying the emotions and feelings of her organic half snuggling with her man and hugging her new Abra friend. Things were bouncing along well enough.

Still, Adam knew better than to offer help. Paperwork was NOT his strong point, and if anything would likely SLOW progress if he tried to get things done that way.

He relaxed as his powers swapped in and out of Sockets, using the relaxing atmosphere to the fullest by updating the Villa with technology and skills that were too flashy to risk installing on this planet before. Previous materials that didn't exist in this Realm, Purification Dust Crystals, advanced robotics that made Tinkertech look a bit old fashion... upgrade after upgrade slowly formed as the building shifted below.

Most of the enhanced energy generation and matter creation would be unusable for a long time, at least until the various needs increased, but it was good to prepare for the potential future.

Hugging his girlfriends, he turned on some soft music. "I admit, some part of me didn't believe it was even possible to make this Realm this safe. Luck was on my side, even if I did end up pushing some things faster and further than I was comfortable with."

Betty rubbed her eye as she shifted on his lap. "Will you have time to stay a bit?"

He chuckled. "I'm going to wait till our home stabilizes a lot before starting my next big project. Unfortunately, the next trips will be... much longer. And very restrictive on me, as Squishy says it will take a LONG time before I can just start growing new abilities safely without outside help."

Seeing Narwhal pout at the idea, he grinned. "I just went through all this trouble protecting my home with System, and I think we should take time to celebrate that a bit... but I think my next goal is clear."

Adam felt the Abyss calling, deep in the back of his mind. "Obviously, now that the System is under construction... well, I should improve it. No?"

Judging by the groans from the girls, they seemed less than thrilled at the concept of Adam vanishing after being gone for so long.

Which was fine. After all, he had time before his next trip.

He spent the rest of the evening sending notes, messaging people and staff, and wasting time with his friends and girlfriends/wives. Projects and time in his workshop was scheduled, resources were debated and chosen, and much time would be needed to examine his technology base, powers, and abilities. Refinement, improvement, consolidation, and testing... all needed to bring stability to his work.

But he had talented people, large amounts of resources, near infinite energy and materials... eventually he would be ready to head out again.

It should be an interesting Adventure.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Legend frowned, even as his phone rang. Eventually she picked up. "Rebecca?"

The groan on the other side was long. "Why. Are. You. Calling. Me."

He winced. "Sorry, it is important."

Her grumbling deepened. "It better be, it is one in the morning. What happened?"

His sight drifted to the left. "I may have been visited by two nude angels and a floating pink cat."

The silence was damning.

She sighed. "I'll call Master/Stranger Protocols. Your husband and son are fine, right?"

He watched little Keith giggling while the pink cat balanced him on it's pink bubble. His husband was nearby, but he's seen some shit... so he was taking it well.

With a sigh, he glanced at the two nude angels, the blue one flashing him a smile and a thumbs up. "Yeah, I think so. Still felt I had to call this in."

Rebecca's side shuffled papers. "I'll show up as Alexandria while my Chief Director identity 'submits' this paperwork. Be there in twenty minutes, if anything looks like it is getting dangerous, ignore protocol and use a 'Door' to get your family out of there."

Legend watched his child slowly float around the room. "Understood."

He tried to hold back a sigh as the orange Angel held one of the small cheering creatures, tiny Pompom's flapping in the air. Unknown creatures with energy control, some sort of barrier based flight technique, what seemed to be some form of gravity nullification... the paperwork was going to be ridiculous.

At least the atmosphere was fairly festive.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The planning session started with a basic overview. Profits were up, businesses were booming, complaints were low, and people were starting to realize that 'Variance' may be responsible for the global takeover of 'Classes' and the various new powers. Meh, can't win them all.

Adam gestured towards the text. "Now that we have some stability, let's talk about how to improve the System."

Narwhal was slouched in her chair, as work had ramped up these last few weeks. "Why bother? Won't you just declare 'Improve the System' when activating your trip?"

He sighed. "Too dangerous. This next trip will be... very risky." A small list showed up. "Did some research and some test queries first, and found that the type of Realm I will be visiting will be conceptual in nature."

A few images showed up. "Most Realms I visited so far were based on biology, or magic, or whatever. These places have something our System is lacking: A path forward, a procedural path from nothing to power."

He showed some images pulled from his investigation. "These worlds however have a process, from a normal mortal to immortal existences. Through drugs, meditation, rituals, surgery, and so on... you can transform yourself to represent ideals, social concepts, and martial legends. With the support of the local culture modifying reality, lethal actions can lead to fundamental improvements in health, lifespan, and abilities."

Adam glanced at the images and videos he had gathered. "Downside? Some of these Realms allow individuals to reach deity levels fairly consistently. So you get a lot of VERY petty people with huge power levels. Risky."

With a sigh, he pulled up his restriction list. "Simmy came up with this idea to help protect me during the next journey. Using what we learned from various Avatar abilities, like Scion's body and the Siberian projection, I will be sending a subsection of my existence into this Realm instead of visiting directly. It will take a week or two for me to recover here, and the copy of me over there will be... limited..."

Very limited.

He nodded. "But I as a whole will be safe. Anything learned by my Avatar will be returned to me when he finishes his trip or if someone manages to kill him, so there is no risk of this being a waste of time... and this will also protect me from various soul attacks, mind adjustments, mastering attempts, and so forth."

Narwhal frowned. "Is... is him dying a big possibility?"

Adam chuckled. "Well, technically yes. The whole culture there is based on betrayal, resource collection, exploiting graves and past heritages. Society groups together to defend itself, share resources to the most talented individuals, and create safe areas in a world where one person can theoretically become a God at any time. I plan on cheating all I can though... I will be using 'Research', 'Growth', and 'Purification' for my powers."

CD was still reviewing the data. "Will that have a significant impact?"

He nodded. "Immense. 'Research' will allow me to safely comprehend concepts, adjust cultivation methods and techniques, and hopefully find clever solutions to any problems. 'Growth' will improve my speed at growing in power, my ability to work with various plants and resources, and speed things up in general. 'Purification' will reduce the chances for bottlenecks in my progress, reduce corruption or cultivation deviance, and allow me to safely use resources others could not."

Narwhal tapped the table. "Maybe you should use 'Recovery', 'Consumption', and 'Tithe'? Should let you heal, absorb all kinds of stuff, and make your followers give you strength."

Adam sighed. "No, the Realm is conceptual. 'Demonic' and 'Evil' paths of cultivation exist, and the further down those you travel, the more it twists your personality and abilities. I need VERY positive natured abilities to help resist those issues, and while 'Recovery' would not cause a problem, both 'Consumption' and 'Tithe' could be used to absorb souls, drain followers, and so forth. Not worth the risk in my mind."

He gestured. "'Research' is more important than healing anyway. At high levels of understanding, it is possible to not just heal yourself, but to regenerate from a single drop of blood, to create living clones that you can use as a second body if someone kills you, to survive as a spirit and rebuild a body from scratch... and more. The world rewards self discovery and deep thinking... and I can't use the active parts of 'Recovery' anyway. Otherwise I would just scan a few people and change myself to use the best setup... assuming their body actually uses organics at all."

Seeing the confusion, he shrugged. "It is possible to replace flesh with conceptual materials, creating bodies that can transform into monsters or elements, adding metaphysical organs or potential energy sources... 'Recovery' would have issues with that. For now."

CD hummed. "Odd... the culture seems to have aspects of various myths and legends."

He nodded. "Yeah, this cluster of Realms are odd. Concepts are... literally the most important thing there. Mental ideas can be physically used to attack, planets exist for far too long and are far too large... gravity alone should crush everyone there if it followed our rules. Some planets are literal planes... infinite in each direction, infinite in depth, and so on."

Betty was tapping her notes. "Several species too. Beasts, Demonic Beasts, Demons, Monsters, Elves, Beastkin, various Human Half-breeds, Living Artifacts..."

Adam added some data. "Depends on the Realm. One was focused on gathering the souls of Demonic Beasts and using them as power and ability sources. Created a series of rings, where the older the Beast the more powerful the abilities. Another Realm gathered the energy refinement cores from these Beasts as a cultivation resource, or for potion and pill ingredients. This one over here is similar to Pokémon, where you bond to spiritual beasts and can summon them to and from your soul, enhancing them would enhance yourself."

CD hummed. "And not all these revolve around monsters or beasts. Some Realms have dungeons, or something similar to System's Quests. Not to mention the ones where their version of the System is physically viewable."

He nodded. "Yeah, worlds where you gain power by choosing classes, mastering them, then unlocking branching class paths. Those are interesting, as instead of gaining levels yourself you actually level up each class individually, gaining permanent bonuses upon mastery. On the other hand, this one has 'paths' that you can master instead, where you gain points for mastering skills and can spend them on various 'paths of development' to gain bonuses, extra abilities, or special effects."

Narwhal glared at the... MASSIVE list of options. "Are we going to be reviewing this stuff forever!?"

Adam chuckled. "Maybe, I guess. Haven't even talked about game related Realms where the System is silent and invisible while creating structure for society. Or the ones where System gives you an OP boost, like your own personal cultivation dimension or the farming system from a mobile application." He tapped the smaller list. "But I am probably going to enter one of these 'Cultivation' Realms. The real problem, and the reason I will be stuck there so long, is the cost of transfer."

She blinked, and looked back at the notes. "Huh? But... it doesn't seem that expensive."

He sighed. "The cost bump is due to me spending MOST of my points on the most important feature: I need a Cultivation Realm without a story line. A 'Slice of Life' fic is literally life saving."

Adam waved a hand, many stories showing on the table. "In most Cultivation stories, the main character rapidly grows in power... and meets equally dire consequences. You start off in a small town, then move up to a city... a state... a continent... a world... a solar system... a reality layer... and so forth. At several steps along the way, the possibility of a foe killing an entire region of people becomes an issue. Entire worlds can be lost during conflict."

He glared at the paperwork. "I do NOT want to put up with that shit. Why should I risk the planet blowing up because two upper level existences were arguing over who was showing too little respect to whom? So no, I am accepting several penalties and risks to ensure that my visit will occur during one of the many, MANY ten thousand year intervals where absolutely nothing interesting happens."

Narwhal blinked. "Ten... wait, how long?"

Adam shrugged. "Sects with thousands of years of cultivation history are considered 'new' and 'edgy'. Plants that take a hundred years to mature are common. Regions that have a million years of history are respected, but not uncommon. This kind of thing is a side effect of having conceptions be so vital to existence. Doesn't hurt that some families and Sects were founded by a person who grew so strong that they basically became immortal."

He sighed. "Honestly, the cost of preventing main character shenanigans was low compared to finding a place without constant war and invasions. Oh, they will still occur, but at least I won't be sent directly into a never ending war to build up contribution points or whatever. Death and murder is near constant, but by comparison to the alternatives I will practically be having a peaceful vacation."

He felt her arms wrap him in a hug. "Still... will you be alright?"

God he would miss her. Or to be more accurate, the him traveling will miss her. "Yeah, to be honest my emotions don't quite line up with normal humanity at this point. I won't go around torturing people or anything, but if you attempt to kill me then don't expect to get off scot-free."

He felt her frown into his neck. "He may be an Avatar of you, but I still want him to be careful."

Seriously, she was just wonderful.

Betty separated a page. "How are you going to handle this? You don't have enough points to learn the language, or gain a history, or anything."

He winced. "Right, that goes back to the long time investment issue. In return for safety and enough time to build up strength there... I am going to have to basically reincarnate there. As a baby."

Their eyes got large. And sparkly.

Adam sighed. "Yes, I will have Squishy save memories. And ensure that we can make pictures later."

To be honest, this particular 'drawback' wasn't a huge issue. He had no memories of being a kid, and there was a strong possibility that he had spawned here in Worm as an adult, memories needed just squished into his brain. So maybe the chance to have a family and all that would be a positive one? He could always help them cultivate as well, letting them live long enough until Adam got enough power to safely bring them back here.

He blinked when he felt his soul open, let a small pink cat inside, then slam shut again. "WHAT!?"

Seriously, when the hell had Mew LEFT his soul!?

His thoughts were distracted when a door in space opened up and Alexandria floated through. "Excuse me, normal man of not much importance. I was in pursuit of an artificial pink creature of very slight importance. Have you seen a floating cat pass through here?"

Everyone pointed at the door. Mew had been giggling as she hid inside his 'Grid of Confinement', which once again was locked from inside. Somehow.

She nodded. "Thank you for your time."

...And she was gone.

Adam frowned as Simmy and Sammy floated into the room. "Have... have you guys been messing with the Triumvirate?"

The red-eared Plusle cheered on Sammy's head, while the blue-eared Minun was sleeping on Simmy's lap.

Narwhal chuckled. "Dragon sent me some notes on that. Poor Eidolon has been chasing Mew around the continent all day. Didn't know Alexandria got in on the act though." She blinked. "Didn't know she could make that portal thing either, really."

He grumbled. "Wish I could travel like that. Whenever I use 'Transfer' I keep getting that giant metallic skull thing. It was cool, but not remotely subtle."

CD was still reading the massive amount of data Adam had provided. "Your flaming blue hair isn't subtle either. Or the spider bone limb thing. Honestly, I'm just happy you have been including flesh with your bodies... I guess my expectations have dropped a little, now that I reflect on it."

He winced. "I'll have you know, I had a human like body for the ENTIRE trip this time!"

Betty giggled. "And six spider bone limbs."

Narwhal nodded. "Don't forget him being on fire all the time. Seriously, people from the Pokémon Realm were FAR too accepting."

He was NOT pouting. Jerks.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

This was the fourth try. The previous three were all aborted for a high cost and fairly good reasons.

Adam took a slow breath.

The first attempt? He passed out from pain. It had been SO LONG since he had actually suffered, he was completely unprepared.

The method designed by Squishy required... just a tiny bit of soul damage. Nearly invisible, a single grain of glass extracted from his 'Fishbowl', used to channel his powers to the Avatar.

The problem? He had refined his soul using the hunger of the Abyss.

His soul was solid. Beyond stable. In the end, the first attempt managed to get a tiny grain free... but it had NOT been pleasant.

The original two week downtime was judged based on how long it would take for his soul to heal. And... well. It was a bad estimate. Neither he nor Squishy took into account how much longer it took to repair a soul so hardened, so refined.

He got over it eventually.

The second attempt had to be dropped because it involved a magical object, a mystical cube that absorbed souls for refinement. The Main Character (MC) was supposed to get this thing, and it was the driving object of that whole Realm... in other words, he would BECOME the story for that Realm if he had fully committed. It would have invalidated all the damn points he had invested to make the target location safe! Seriously, the Entity that had designed this travel system was an ass.

Third attempt was in progress... when the target Realm destabilized. It was apparently 'safe' to travel to because it was about to END. Not the whole Realm, just the individual planet he was supposed to grow up on. Because in THAT Realm, once you reached a certain level of cultivation you BECAME a world. With an inner planet, where your beliefs and abilities turned into creatures and places... and the guy who you were supposed to be born within got killed in battle. He didn't even get to stay long enough to determine which Realm it was, it ended so quickly.

It was a strange place anyway. It was entirely possible for a guy to have a cosmos inside, where on a planet was a girl with a solar system in her cultivation, where on a plane there was a cat with a planet inside it, and so on and so forth. Russian nesting dolls of reality.

This time, he had invested even more energy so that the universe would have some damn time for him to visit. And that his origin point would exist long enough to grow up to some degree. But it came with a cost... He would have less energy when he arrived, and it would take longer for his powers, abilities, and memories to 'activate' for his Avatar.

Part of this trouble had to do with how the transit ability worked... the more open the request, the more wiggly it got. This time though, after some discussion and a week or two of recovery, everyone was fairly confidant it would succeed!

Adam gave a sharp nod.

"Transfer: Abyss."

Into the dark, a glint of glass vanished.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The adventure continues in Broken Adventure: Arc 2: Cultivation.