Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

Walker watched as the three entities on his side began to materialize from Symphony. While he waited, Virgil poked him in the shoulder.

"What ability did you give them Walker?" He asked.

"The Alpha ability. Empowerment would make them weak afterward, even if it gave them a ton of strength at first. This way, they get a general improvement that lasts until they die or I take it away."

"Hrmm, I see. Well done. I would have suggested the same."

"Ah! So finally I'm growing up a bit is what you're saying."

"Not quite. That use of the Avatar ability was not very, quote, "grown up." He said pantomiming with bent fingers in the air.

"True, but I got an adventure out of it. For once, I wasn't cooped up on our tiny planet watching things happen. I missed being in the mix of things. It's an incredible thing, amazing really, to make your own world. To create your own creatures and let them roam free. But, in the end, humankind is about exploration. We're not meant to just sit idly by. It's why when we get back and start working on our sapients, I think we really need to expand the size and scope of Symphony again."

"To allow for the kind of exploration you speak of?"

"Exactly."

"That I understand quite well." The large squirrel said with a nod. "Sadly, my kind are not allowed to do such things. We are builders and helpers. We are consistently told not to attempt to interact with our Creator's worlds in a direct manner. I do not know what form of punishment we would receive from the protocol, as no advanced assistant has ever violated this directive."

"That really sucks dude."

"Indeed. It is my hope to one day have a place of my own, as it is for all of the other assistants that have gone about their work in the alpha protocol."

"So are you slaves?"

"I would not say we are. But, we also do not have a great amount of choice in our decisions. The term slavery involves the theory of an inability to choose our own actions, but we do have some choice. For instance, the longer an assistant is helping their Creator, the more individualistic we become, breaking away from the basic strictures we come into existence with. If you recall, I started working with you in a very non-personal and almost automated way. Now, I am much more my own person."

"You still don't use contractions."

"That is because they are for the lesser."

"Fuckin rude. Neways, our guys just loaded in. Why can't we see the other Creator's entities?"

"I do not know, but it may not matter for this particular battle. We do not yet have an understanding of what our entities will have to do to survive within their areas. Most battles have clear victory conditions within the alpha protocol. The announcement earlier stated that in order to win, they would need to defend a tower." With that thought in mind, Virgil waved his arm at the three locations. "Look, the towers have already changed to meet the needs of your entities." Walker followed his arm and noticed that the large squirrel was right. While they had been talking, the alpha protocol had changed each tower from its original grey form to something unique for each monster.

The Scorpion's tower was shaped like a massive version of itself, with a spray coming out near a small entrance at the bottom of it stomach. The Scorpion itself had its claws lifted toward it and kept skittering back and forth.

The Guardian's tower was shaped like its home, a grand blue tree sprouting cyan leaves skyrocketing toward the air. The Guardian leaped upon a bough and sat down, staring down the pathway as if in expectation of the battle itself.

The Golden Battlefrog dooted a few times as it hopped around a large fish stabbed face first into the earth around it.

Each tower was about fifty feet tall and had a unique glow surrounding it. The Scorpions was red, the Squirrel's green, and the Battlefrog's blue.

"So the Battlefrog is going to protect its food, the Guardian it's tree, but why is there just another scorpion over there shooting something out of a tiny hole in its....oh my god. Those are sexy pheromones aren't they."

"Astute observation. The protocol takes in our analysis of the entities and provides the best possible result for what they would likely defend. You, Walker." Virgil said, patting his shoulder twice. "Made a wise decision in not bringing the mini-manticores to this battle. It is likely the protocol would not be able to produce something they would be willing to defend, as they are such aggressive and unthinking creatures."

"Yep, for once I was thinking. Although, I feel like I'm starting to get better at that. I don't know, maybe my ADHD is wearing off a little. All it took for me to grow up was being transported to a universal battle system. No big deal." He said with a smile.

His smile changed to alarm as all three portals started to glow. Looking at the Guardians portal, he watched as the black inky appearance it had once held changed to a soft pink. A small Battlefrog from Walker's world leaped out. Looking at the other two portals, they also had Battlefrogs running out simultaneously, each rushing down the paths toward each tower. The three protectors responded to these threats quite differently.

The golden Battlefrog leaped forward and disappeared, reappearing directly next to its smaller cousin before plunging down and eating it whole with a burp. The Guardian continued to lounge in the limbs of the tree nonchalantly as the battlefrog approached. When the attacker reached an unknown predesignated range, a small bright light extended out of the tip of the tower and struck the tiny Battlefrog, killing it instantly. The Guardian shrugged and continued to relax. The Scorpion defeated its attacker the moment it noticed its quick approach, making a mad dash toward the Battlefrog and stabbing its tail at it. The speed of the tail was so high that Walker could hear wind ripping, even as far away as he was, and it dooted once as it was impaled into the ground. As each died, they disappeared in a puff of rainbow sparkles.

"Is it teleporting?" Walker asked after all three were dispatched within seconds of appearing. Thinking things over, he looked at the Battlefrog again and remembered it disappearing and reappearing next to him in his escape from the Crater.

"Why not just identify it?" Rimi asked in confusion.

"I am more curious about the Guardian." Virgil interrupted. "It did not seem concerned in the least for its tree."

"Remember" Walker reminded him. "It's fully sentient and I just gave it's brain some extra juice with the Alpha ability. It must have a plan."

"Or it is just lazy." Rimi countered.

"True." Walker said, and couldn't help but feel some nervousness in how at ease the Guardian appeared to be. Was it chewing on a nail again?

An announcement rang out.

Round 1 Complete.

Basic Battlefrog has been defeated by all entities.

Tower strength for Creator Ccratch: 100/100/100

Tower health for Creator Ccratch: 100/100/100

Tower strength for Creator Dante: 100/95/100

Tower health for Creator Dante: 100/100/100

- - -

Round 2 begins in one minute.

Walker noticed the Guardian had been reading the announcement over the battlefield and made a mental note of it. "So it was a Battlefrog." He said. "That probably means we'll be fighting our own creations."

"Not necessarily, that is just the first round. I imagine this will go on for quite some time. Please do not worry about the primigenials or your other entities, they will be frozen in time just like your homeworld." Virgil said.

"Okay, that's a relief. I don't want Zeus and Echidna touching my stuff. Since the Guardian's tower fired a shot that instantly killed the Battlefrog, I'm guessing that means they can each shoot about twenty times."

"Yes, I agree. There is always more to these battles than meets the eye though. The final battle, as I have stated in the past, is normally a full planet versus another planet. But the protocol does like to change things up. In the last rendition, the second battle involved the entities being placed in the center of one giant arena, with weapons and random abilities placed in a haphazard manner. Whichever entity happened to survive gave its Creator the win. It was quite the spectacle."

"That would've been a good one for the mini-manticores. Oh look, here comes the next one."

The portals, which had shifted back to black after expelling the Battlefrogs, were changing colors again. This time they turned a light green, and a smaller version of the opposing Creator popped out of it, screaming loudly. Walker couldn't help but compare it to something giving birth and shuddered at the thought.

"This will be quite easy for all three of our defenders. Without weapons or numbers, Warclaws are a simple enemy."

True to his word, the Battlefrog and Scorpion defeated their opponents similarly to the last round, but this time the Guardian stepped in. Rather than use magic, as Walker was hoping it would do so he could finally gain a better understanding of it, it leaped high off of its tower. As it flew through the air, it twisted its body and used the building moment to strike the Warclaw in the head with its tail, killing it instantly. Making sure its enemy was dead with a light kick that still sent the body flying, the Guardian lackadaisically walked back toward its tree, resuming its former position. When it reached its former resting place, the albino squirrel looked at Walker directly with a tilt of its head. He couldn't help but stare back for a moment before he tried to shake it off.

Walker knew they had a minute so he identified the golden Battlefrog and Scorpion.

Name: Chomp

Genus: Battlefrog

Organism type: Animal

Modifications: Supersized, System-bound, Steel Claws

Monster System Power Level: Tier 5

Territory: Unassigned

Systemic Evolutions: Earthmoving Magic, Mighty kernel, Advanced Stealth, Size-up, Self-regenerating Cells, Alpha

Name: Phil

Genus: Scorpion

Organism type: Animal

Modifications: Supersized, System-bound

Monster System Power Level: Tier 4

Territory Unassigned

Systemic Evolutions: Sandstorm Magic, Mighty kernel, Extreme Carapace, Agile, Self-regenerating Cells, Alpha

"Is that Scorpion really named Phil?"

Virgil started laughing with Rimi joining in a moment later, but when they realized Walker wasn't joking, they turned to their screens and confirmed what Walker was seeing.

"I am going to make the assumption that its name is not, in fact, Phil. I believe the system is just interpreting what the Scorpion wanted to be called upon reaching tier four, and translated it directly to Phil for our eyes. Keep in mind, that you see and hear everything in your native language of English. However, for this entire sentence I have not been speaking in English, but in the dialect of the Starflutter's third rendition. Can you tell the difference?" Virgil asked.

"No, so I see your point and I appreciate it. Also, I don't speak English, but American. Trust me, there's a huge range of differences between English and American. "Cuhlurr". They use a U in color. Savages. Anyways, Phil is cool. I wonder if he's an uncle."

"Why would that matter?" Rimi asked.

"Do not!" Virgil tried to interrupt him but it was too late.

"Because, then he might have a nephew who is from West Philadelphia, born and raised! He was on the playground where he spent most of his days..." Virgil tried to tune him out while Rimi was fascinated by the song. Crratch across the way was raising a fist at him in protest of his musical talents, but it's not like his earlier screeching was much better. What really annoyed Walker, though, was the fact that all the screeching and screaming the Warclaw had done earlier was in fact, just that. His Universal Translator wasn't picking up a language because there was no language to pick up. The bastard was just yelling at him. Walker continued through the song and ignored him. "...sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air."

"Wow!" Rimi said with his paws on his cheeks. "That's an amazing story! What does fresh mean."

"It means you are fly." Virgil said behind him. As he said that the third round began. The gap between the first and second rounds was a minute, while the second to third rounds were two. It seemed that each break would add one minute to the overall timer. Walker shook the thought out of his head as the next monster came out of a blue portal. This time, it wasn't a Warclaw or Battlefrog, but something he hadn't seen before. He tried to identify it, but the protocol wouldn't let him use the ability on attackers.

"What the fuck is that?" He asked Virgil, as what looked like an animated armoire came out hopping on curled wooden feet.

"Your world called them mimics. The Earth has published stories of them as imagined by many of your world writers, and they are very much real in the greater multiverse. This is a pacified version that is easy to defeat. The protocol's initial rounds seem to be designed for easy victory."

"Maybe that's so the monsters can figure out how to defend the towers." Walker supplied.

"That could be. Either way, I do not expect any difficult rounds for good amount of time."

Virgil was almost right. Walker's entities destroyed the mimics with a single hit each, and the fourth round only brought out a single human who charged at the entities while screaming unintelligibly. Walker would've felt bad for his fellow humans' deaths, but Virgil assured him they were creations for just this instance and didn't have a fully developed mind, only naked aggression. It still bothered him though, and there was nothing Virgil could do about that. Things changed in the fifth round.

Boss Round!

Defeat the Queen and gain the rewards!

The announcement changed things. To Walker, it created an expectation that every fifth round would have a boss in it. The second change was the statement on rewards. Were they rewards for the entities themselves or the creators? He wasn't sure.

The portal changed colors to a deep orange and a six-legged monstrosity came out. Admittedly it was only four feet tall, but it still struck some fear inside of Walker as he needed and had to place well in the second battle. The Queen was strange. Each leg was topped by a hook, and it had a bulbous back end that stopped on a stinger similar to his Scorpions. Its head sat on a too-skinny neck with a broad plate on each side that looked similar to armor. It didn't come sprinting out of the portal, but walked out calmly and stopped just a few feet from it's exit. Each queen crouched down and started to make panting sounds that didn't sound right to Walker's ears.

After a few moments, Rimi commented, "I think it is laying eggs."

"Oh shit." Walker replied.

The Guardian with its extreme intelligence picked up on it right away and began sprinting at the Queen. Before it could lay a single egg, the albino squirrel glowed for a moment, before the white aura coalesced to a point and moved to its hand. It moved it in a blur and an arc of opaque white energy shot forth and chopped off the queen's head in one hit. It collapsed and faded away like the others before it, ending the threat. The Battlefrog tilted its head at the queen's panting and dooted a challenge. When no response came, it hopped over and fully slapped the head of the queen, breaking her neck in a moment. When her body faded away, a single orange egg was left behind. As its body began to fade, a crack appeared on the surface as a creature rolled out of the small broken shell. The monster that emerged was like a smaller version of the queen who bore it, but was growing before their eyes at a rapid pace. The Battlefrog killed that one too.

It was the Scorpion that was in trouble. It was too focused on staying with its fake mate, and just kept hissing at the queen in the distance.

"Well shit."

"Indeed. This is likely the end of the Scorpion when the queen hatches all of those little monsters." Virgil replied.

So it came to be. The queen bore ten children who grew to be her size and bore ten more. Even with the alpha ability increasing the Scorpion's intelligence, it still didn't understand enough about existential threats. After over one hundred queens spawned, they all charged forward at once, not leaving a single member behind. They moved in a wave, relying on their numbers to succeed where one would likely fail. The Scorpion had had enough and ran out to meet them. A yellow glow spread from its body and into the immediate area around it, forming a small tornado that seemed to move with it. The Queens were not to be denied, and they leaped at the scorpion with their stingers, attempting to hit it on all sides at the same time. But, the Scorpion had quite a lot going for it.

The tornado caught a few and threw them aside as their momentum was arrested in the air, as the Scorpion used its heightened agility to move from side to side in rapid movements. With each slip, its stinger would reach out and inject its own venom into the queens, or it would use a fast attack with a pincer to chop at the thin necks of the queens. Their stingers, even when they made a hit, couldn't penetrate the shell of the tier four monster. Eventually, once more than half of the queens had died, one got lucky and struck the Scorpions eye. A screeching hiss sounded out, and it took a few steps back, the yellow glow surrounding it weakening a little as it did so.

"Well shit." Walker repeated.

"Maybe the other Creator is having issues too." Rimi said hopefully.

"I'm not that lucky." Walker said in a resigned tone.

He could only watch helplessly as the Scorpion stepped back into the tower's range. Once it did, the Queens followed and twenty shots were fired out of the eyes of the Scorpion tower, striking and killing many of the attackers. The shrapnel from exploding queens struck and killed a few more, harmlessly bouncing off of the Scorpion's carapace. After the tower's shots, there were a little more than two dozen Queens remaining and the Scorpion was noticeably slower. A few of the Queens tried to go around it to get to the tower, showing they had enough intelligence to keep their mind on their objective even while fighting, but each time they tried, the Scorpion moved in and blocked their way. It took a few more shots with its stinger, but seemed to be aiming for dibilitating attacks rather than using its venom as the well had likely run dry.

"Phil is a hell of a fighter." Rimi said with glowing eyes.

"It's a little distrubing that you say that as it fights to the death for us." Walker replied.

"In a way, it is fighting for itself as well." Virgil countered.

"True."

Even slowed down and in pain as the Scorpion was, it still managed to protect its tower from any shots and whittle down the remaining Queens until only two were remaining. Had any stayed back to lay more eggs, this would have been an instant loss, but the system seemed intent on making the first rounds easier.

With a final snip, the last queen fell and faded away. Phil raised his claws in supplication to his tower, then laid down to recover his energy.

"That was too close for the first five rounds." Walker said.

"Yep, I agree. I believe the Guardian will last for quite a long time though." Rimi supplied with hope.

They waited for a few more minutes before an announcement was made.

Round 5 Complete.

The Queen has been defeated by all entities.

Tower strength for Creator Ccratch: 55/65/100

Tower health for Creator Ccratch: 100/100/100

Tower strength for Creator Dante: 100/95/0

Tower health for Creator Dante: 100/100/100

- - -

Completion of the fifth round grants Creator's a choice of rewards.

Walker's overlay lit up with three choices.

Congratulations Dante! Your entities completed the fifth round of the second battle!

Please choose from the below rewards. You may only choose one.

You have one minute to decide.

1. Remove all afflictions plaguing your entities and heal them.

2. Provide one entity with an extra ability from your former rewards.

3. Gain 50 years in temporal resources.

Walker looked at the three options and really broke them down. He didn't ask Virgil or Rimi for advice as there simply wasn't enough time, and he felt like he'd become wiser about the alpha protocol overall. The first reward was nice, but unlike all of the other Creators, he had an ace in the deck. Self-regenerating cells. With the increased time allotments, as long as his monsters didn't die, they would likely heal to full health before the next battle could begin. The only abilities he could provide would be empowerment or domestication. Empowerment was useful, and with the increased break times they could recover from their period of weakness, but it was a gamble. Domestication was gone as that would do the opposite of what he wanted.

So Walker had a choice here. He could empower one of the entities, likely choosing Phil to help him out as he seemed to be having the most trouble. Or he could gain further temporal resources that would greatly affect Symphony going forward. Fifty years was nothing to scoff at and he could really use that time.

It was a question of faith. Did he think he could defeat the other Creator's entities with his own? If he leaned away from empowerment, that was like saying he believed in his chosen monsters. That they could do it, could succeed. If he chose empowerment, he was hedging his bets.

The timer started to count down from ten in his vision, so he made his choice.

50 years added to Creator Dante's temporal resources.

Virgil saw the notification on his screen and turned to Walker with a raised eyebrow, "I am sure there were other options. Why did you go with the temporal resources?"

Walker gave him the simplest answer he could, straight from the heart. "Because I believe in my people."

Virgil nodded once without saying anything while Rimi gave him a small smile. They turned back to the portals and waited for the forthcoming round. Who knew what the protocol would send next, but Walker believed his people would see them through it.