NOVEL NEXT Book 2 - Chapter 18 - Bottomless Pit & Drone Dramatis
"Here, I'll say it again in simpler terms so you can all get it through your ridiculously thick skulls," Mary tossed the tattered [Dark Lotus Playing Card] onto the carpet, where it's peeled corner absorbed some soy sauce. "No one is tearing a hole in fucking reality to wherever unspace is. No one is jabbing Mr. Mystical in the ass, Zippy."
Alex tossed another spicy salmon roll into his mouth and savoured the flavour. When Mary got into one her tirades, it was best to just let her run out of steam before speaking some sense into her. Aria, new to the gang, hadn't witnessed just how hot-headed she could be, and opted to hide her doll frame behind Alex and munch on some tempura shrimp he'd had delivered for them. Core exhaustion had made him ravenous. Aria just seemed to love food.
"BUT IT WILL BE FUN." Beepy toned through his speakers and gestured dramatically with his mech hands from her beanbag. "THINK OF THE ADVENTURES. SOMEONE MUST INVESTIGATE BRODY."
Zippy, still unable to speak himself, waved the [Ancient Paring Knife] in a mock reality ripping technique. Despite being not six inches from his brother, both upgraded Mechs saw no issue with a knife that could cut through anything waving around while Beepy handled the discussion. The waving made Alex nervous, but even he could admit, Zippy handled the terrifying weapon Nino had gifted them like a pro. Like a little sword, except it could exact existential terror and send you to nothingsville. At least they had stopped throwing it back and forth across Mary's bedroom in some sort of 'training,' regimen.
The trio argued, and Alex barely paid attention. The boys would be The Boys and do what they wanted. Mary was fearful for their safety and showing motherly love. Or Creator love. Brood love? Whatever it was, all he could think of was the mountain of sushi that had yet to be consumed and how hungry he was.
Can't let the old Core get overexerted again.
After a delightful shortcut, or not so shortcut, through the Gnomish Tunnels and a meeting with a wooden Sage Mistletoe, Gravewhistle had delivered a collapsing Alex home through another puckering hole. That one had been in the concrete sidewalk and sent a conspiring racoon crew scattering. He'd managed a smooch goodbye for Snu, who Gravewhistle promised he'd deliver back home as well. Not that a Silver Grade Dungeon Boss needed any help in safety department, but she seemed to like the chivalry from the Gnome and Emilio. Then he had promptly passed out without changing out of his clothes for twelve hours.
The first thing he did on waking up was check his Core and Skills. Confirming he hadn't seriously messed himself up, he decided the stabbing ache in his chest warranted a couple more hours of no Skill use. He'd also decided he was hungry. Unbelievably hungry. Plus, he might as well utilize his [Feast and Mend]. A two hundred Credit food delivery order placed later, he'd taken a shower to wash away the filth of the Scrum Sanctum Dungeon, checked in on his date with Snu, and waltzed into Mary's room with his loot bag to find her showing Aria the basics of the internet. Why she would show a new soul that terrible place was beyond him. Twenty minutes later, a huffing chonk of a delivery boy had arrived on an electric scooter, and choked on Alex's generous tip before sprinting, or zooming away on his scooter at the site of two Drones covered in blood trying to fly past him.
"YOU CANNOT STOP US, MARY. WE MUST CONTINUE IN OUR PLIGHT. IT IS OUR PATH." Beepy walked slowly towards Mary like he was delivering a play's most important monologue. Zippy played along, bowing his head at his brother's delivery.
"Cut the shit, Beepy," Mary jabbed a finger at him. "You're not giving me another rousing speech about how you must, and I swear to System if you say the word duty again, I'm going to get Aria to sneak a tracker on both of you!"
Still at it? Alex thought as he reached over for a piece of tuna belly nigiri while Beepy began his impassioned speech delivered via robot voice. After dunking the entire morsel in about half a teaspoon of soy sauce mixed with an entire ounce of wasabi, he chomped again.
There is a truth about Toronto that only the natives know. At its heart, Toronto is a melting pot of cultures. It has the most variety of spoken languages in the world, even Post System. The second biggest population of Jamaicans is Toronto, for example. What does that result in? Every culture, cuisine, fancy, ingredient, topping, sauce, technique, all of it is available. Delivered or picked up hot and fresh from a nice little family joint. Routinely it was voted one of the best food cities in the world, and one of Alex's favourite comfort foods was Japanese. Sushi specifically. Platters of fresh fish shoved expertly onto some seasoned rice, tempura fried fresh, miso soup so good it could knock a fever out, handrolls for a Credit a pop, and the special rolls. Oh, the special rolls. That was the best part. Every single local sushi spot had their own house special rolls. And they were usually delicious enough to convince even the pickiest of eaters that yes, indeed, they should eat grilled eel much more frequently.
"Here," Alex passed Aria a spicy salmon. "Try this. I know it's a bit weird, but the fish is fresh and I think you'll like it."
She reached out her little doll hands and accepted the food. Since she was so small, the sushi was half the size of her head. She looked over his knee to Mary yelling at Beepy and Zippy. Deciding not to get involved, she smiled up at him and sniffed it.
"When you really think about it," she said. "You humans sure love eating a lot of dead things! Dead rice, dead fish! Yummy!"
She dug into the sushi ravenously, chomping loudly and making salmon specks to fly onto Mary's shag carpet to never be found again. Alex had no idea where the food went when it came to Aria. She was quite literally a drone crafted by Mary that had been shoved into a doll. Still, he decided not to go down any more existential dread thoughts this week and picked up another handroll.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I am a bottomless pit and I will consume, Alex joked to himself and shoved it into his mouth.
The sushi was from one of his favourite places. SSS+ Tier Sushi was a bit on the nose for a name, but they made god tiered sushi for cheap. Alex had ordered indiscriminately and didn't regret it at all. His eyes were not bigger than his stomach, and [Feast and Mend] was clearly working overtime to heal him up. Rice digested, fish ascended to Essence, and it was all delivered throughout his body in a delightfully full but not bloated feeling that seemed endless.
Oooh, goody. This one has tempura shrimp on the inside of the tempura shell!
His senses exploded as his teeth tore around fried batter to meet perfectly cooked and seasoned rice and crisp nori. Pebbles of perfection made way to yet another layer of tempura coating sweet, juicy shrimp fried just right. Some sort of sweet, dark sauce coated the inner ring of the roll, and the julienned cucumbers added the right balance. Alex tried not to moan as the flavours mixed in his mouth. Perfectly balanced, every element expertly crafted. Aria too moaned and reached for another spicy salmon. He handed her another and continued to tear through. There is nothing quite like demolishing a mountain of sushi.
"ALEX, PLEASE. WE ARE JUST GETTING TO THE GOOD PART OF OUR PERFORMANCE." Beepy addressed Alex, which made him look up from his feast. Mary, Zippy, and Beepy stared at him and Aria. Both of their mouths were stuffed full of half-chewed Japanese food.
"Sowwy," Alex responded, swallowing and giving the boys a thumbs up. It was, after all, his ask that they rip through reality and investigate the whereabouts of his [Illusory Copy]. "Please continue."
Beepy nodded once, seriously, before diving right back in. He positioned his mech hand above his head as if making a rousing speech to rally the troops.
"IF I WERE TO REMAIN SILENT, WE WOULD BE GUILTY OF COMPLICITY." He quoted, spun, and switched hands to deliver another quote.
"NON NOBIS SOLUM NATI SUMUS. NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE WE ARE BORN." He quoted again, lowering his hands slowly for dramatic flair, while Zippy played war drums from his own tiny speaker and dropped his head in faux respect.
"HAPPINESS AND MORAL DUTY ARE INSEPERABLY CONNECTED." He announced with both hands shaking towards the ceiling.
"DO YOUR DUTY AS YOU SEE IT, AND DAMN THE CONSEQUENCES." He toned into the ground. Pausing for a second, Aria snuk another tempura shrimp, and crunched it before Beepy finally delivered his final passage.
"OUR DUTY IS TO BE USEFUL, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR DESIRED BUT ACCORDING TO…OUR POWER."
Zippy turned up the tinny war music playing from his speakers as Beepy finished his speech. The dramatic drone mimicked breathing heavily, staring at the ground, before slowly raising his eyes to meet his maker's cybernetic own.
Damn, that is pretty badass, though.
"Stop quoting quotes about duty at me," Mary groaned while pinching her nose next to her ocular implant. "I can't take it anymore," she laughed to herself once, almost sadly, before looking and pointing at both robots on their own path of ascension. "You're going to be safe? No ripping portals in here, alright? Do it somewhere safe and sound…and away from…just not here! And be safe, yeah?"
"THE SAFEST." Beepy declared and then the bots erupted in celebration.
Beepy fired off streamers from his neck vents and the two robots synced up their speakers. Alex knew that part of their Skill they had received from Professor Neuronium linked them. Out blared a classic celebration tune while Beepy led the dance charge. Zippy leapt off the beanbag, flipped through the air while slapping the [Ancient Paring Knife] to his back. It held in place, and the bot landed. Together, both Beepy and Zippy danced in synchronized form, throwing their arms up and around and gyrating their mechanical hips.
Aria hollered, threw her half eaten tempura shrimp onto the ground, and leapt over Alex's knee to join her brothers in their celebratory dance. Alex shoveled another three sushi in his mouth as he realized Mary was staring right at him and glaring electronic daggers with her fake, but magical eye.
"I have no control over them anymore," she shook her head. "They won't listen to me. Won't listen to anyone! They're convinced they need to take on missions or something!"
"You're not upset that I asked for their help? Gravewhistle said they could…you know…work together, or something. Rip through reality and figure out where Brody is." Alex swallowed. He'd explained everything to the gang.
"At least we're going to be aware of where they're going," she snatched the crumpled card and picked at the loot she dumped on the ground. "I swear, I'm turning into an old lady with these three."
"They'll be fine. Beepy and Zippy helped take down a whole ass transformed Dungeon Boss, remember?"
"Yeah. What worries me is they're not scared of anything. Ugh. I'm not old." she sighed and flicked the [Dark Lotus Card] Relic, and soy sauce flew off it. It looked like that one corner was ruined, but it was still registering as a Relic, so Alex figured she and Jemin could at least make a couple Credits off it. Once Jemin figured out what it was worth or what it might do.
"Anything good from the loot pile?" Alex tried to change the subject. He didn't want her to rile herself up now that the boys had won this battle. Aria looked like she was having a blast dancing, too.
"Not sure…," Mary looked at the card closer. "This one, though. I don't have anything like [Appraisal] like Jemin does…but there's something about this one. I dno, could be nothing." She tossed the card back onto the carpet, where it landed on a piece of uneaten sushi by her plate.
"Oh really? Think we got another good haul then. Maybe Jemin can help us see what to keep?" He leaned in the speak quieter so the partying and dancing bots wouldn't hear. "Maybe something for Aria?"
"How much time you got before your hot date? System, do I want to know what a goth Dungeon Boss plans for a date. Shit, she is hot. Not as hot as mine, but hot."
Alex checked his phone. Couple hours before he was supposed to meet Snu for his date. He figured he could make a run to Jemin's before then. Maybe his Core would even be good to go and he could shake some answers out of a summoned Brody.
"Yep. Let's do it. I'll drive."
"OY!" Mary yelled over their music. Beepy and Zippy turned it down, and all three bots turned to them. "Pack some snacks, Aria. We're taking a little family field trip to Jemin's."
"He's the one you make baby voice too at night, isn't he? Late into the night? That one? I love you, baby, I love you sooooo much! I just want to lick you and mwah mwah mwah mwah. Like that?" Aria asked innocently while mimicking Mary's late nice private conversations.
Alex started hollering as Mary's face turned beat red.