Aliapanacea
“Raya, what’s our best option fetting the hell out of dodge?”
Lissa pauses, nods a few times, then sighs.
“Mini-sub it is.”
“We’re just going to leave? Shouldn’t we wait for your sister?”
“Pop, you should know better than that, she’s probably riding the tide better then we are.”
versatioween the Seras family, a few minutes after Lissa’s Initialization.
***
It’s deafeningly silent as the airloto the tenth floor opens, revealing a sight I holy didn’t ever want to see. inally, the floor was supposed to serve a simir purpose to the twelfth, a tightly reguted series of factories where the workers would be forced to work harder than they really should. That all ged less than a year after the floor ened, when some idiot ended up letting spores from their pet project spread around. Now the entire floor is a diverse, colorful forest of fungus, their mycelium magnifiinating anywhere you look.
I frown as I step out, the mildew c the rusted steel floors squishing under my boot. Ahy st enters my nostrils, yet it doesn’t do anything to help me rex. A pce like this was ripe to be overrun in an instant if the antithesis got their vines into it. Far too much biomass.
I peek at the videofeed on my gsses, finding Nyvi watg Prism very closely as the Mermaid quietly examihe pnts swarming over the ruins below her. I peek up for a moment to gre at a group of survivors hunkered down just outside of the stairlock, who all nervously step away from me. Seems my little performance left a mark.
Hopefully ohat won’t scar.
[“O-Okay.”] I gnce over to see Prism smack herself on the cheeks three times before she asks, [“What’s the pn, everyone?”]
Achys is the oo respond, the Jay on my shoulder taking off to flutter in the air above me. “First of all, the points update for what just occurred.”
Points Update!
Prism
Emmelyn
Starting Total:
10 (23+17-30) Points
202(185+17) Points, 1 Token
Enemies Eliminated!
Minor Horde Killed!
Total Gained:
(55% Split)
2000 Points
2000 Points
Final Total:
2010 Points
2202 Points, 1 Token
I blink twice then blurt, “I’m sorry, two THOUSAND points?”
Nyvi chuckles at my rea as she says, [“It’s a somewhat harsh estimation of the total that Prism killed. It’s too hard to know for certain how many died, so we improvised a bit.”]
My immediate response is:
“I want a dog-” I pause, then grin. “No, I want three dogs.”
All three of my panions go quiet, until Prism murmurs, [“...Huh? Wait, why a dog and why three?”]
ting off on my fingers, I respond, “They’re good at hunting down hiding things, they’re cute, and three is better than one.”
Achys huffs on my shoulder, “Birds do the same, and they aren’t restricted to moving just on the ground…”
I look up at my partner with a grin, as I retort, “You’re biased now, hm?”
Nyvi snorts over the link at that, which leaves Achys coughing her respoo her wing. “W-Well, they’d also be better for bat, definitely, sihey have more weight. To be hohough, if you want more effective drones, I reeing a dedicated catalog for them.”
I tap my as I deliberate what exactly I even want. “Options?”
Achys puts up a chart onto my gsses, dispying a couple of iing options.
“You already have the css-I Robotics Sensor catalog, so you could choose the Css-I Modur bat Robotics which it is supposed to be an addendum to. The Css-I Basibat Androids catalog is a bit more expensive in both initial purchase and individual items as well as being less izable after being bought, but the items within are basically individually plete already anyways. The Css-I Basibat es Catalog fits your theme quite well, but could suffer from enviroal issues more.”
I raise an eyebrow as I ask, “ the androids be modified by the stuff I already have access to?”
Aods, pulling up a sed table dispying the options I would have. “It actually makes more sense in your text to get the androids in my opinion, mainly because of this. You won’t be able to modify them with eleic parts after the initial purchase, but that isn’t really an issue because of the viral modules, sihey be forcibly adapted to suit your needs.”
I grin, then decre, “Okay, let’s do that. The three androids should be based on different individual es each, with sensrades, a full round of stat boosts, and the capability to work ier. I’m not going to wait around for them to go to the floor, so we might as well make them useful to Prism.”
The versation goes quiet, which leaves me a bit fused, at least until Prism speaks up:
[“U-Um, Emme, are you just assuming we’re going to lose this floor too?”]
I bite my lip, then mutter, “Yeah, unfortunately. I mean, we do have a lot of points to work with for the moment, so we could probably try to save everyone here, but this floor in particur is a pretty gring example of a pce we ’t let them get into. I mean… look at it.”
As I gesture towards the mushroom forest around me, Prism awkwardly expins, [“U-Um, I doly have augs… so I ’t exactly… look. I do know what you’re talking about though.”]
I lightly sp my forehead, then apologetically say, “My bad, fot. Let's get the androids going real fast though, then we talk about this a bit more.”
Achys hums a chipper hen puts up a total that makes my eyes bulge a bit. “It’ll be about sixty pert of your points, are you sure you wanna-”
I reach up to shut the jay’s beak with my fingers, giving a nod in affirmation. The AI tilts its head, then sighs.
Okay, purchase plete. You’re quite impulsive at times, Emme.
Catalog Unlocked!
Css-I Basibat Androids: 200 Points
New Purchase!
HUND fig (x3): 450 Points
V-AI Module and Upgrades (x3): 300 Points
Sensrade (x3): 150 Points
Total Cost:
1100 Points
Final Total:
1102 Points, 1 Token
For a half sed, I don’t know where the dogs are, until I suddenly am knocked down to the ground with a thud as three very rge es drop down on top of me. My first instinct is to scream at Achys for the prank, but I ’t help but start giggling as the three vicious hounds start to lick at my face ferociously.
“W-Wait!” One of the dogs sticks its o my armpit, which tickles super hard. “Ahaha! Achys! Stooop!”
The Jay sits upon one of the dogs head, and I swear I see a smug grin on its beak. “I dunnoooo… Should I let her free, Nyvi, Prism?”
Nyvi snorts agaihe s as Prism anxiously asks, [“W-What? What’s going on?”]
Noarently all doh kisses, the dogs shift to sniffing me all over. I (embarrassingly) gasp as one of the dogs, a big he white fluffer, steps on my boob as it shifts around, which has Achys giggle at my little hankfully, she waves our new ones off as they move to sit obediently at attention off to the side after that.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s over now.” I murmur out as I wipe my face, grimag a bit at my now wet sleeve, before I look down at my new panions, “Okay, well. I probably should have seen that ing. Achys, I know these are dogs, but what breeds are they?”
Achys shifts bay shoulder, then points down at the dogs. “In order, the blond one is a Golderiever, the bd reddish-brown one is a German Shepard, and finally the white one is a Samoyed.”
I think for a moment, then smile as I pat ea the head in the same order. “Your names are now Ange, Pame, and Sandra. You three are to be my eyes and ears, so I trust you to do your best to hunt down the enemies, got it?”
All three dogs do a little salute with their paws, and I ’t help but smile at the sight. “Okay you three, go hunt down any aliens that mao get onto this floor! Whets the most will, uh… Get scritches?”
All three e’s tails go ballistid after a moment of them not really doing anything, I snap and point, which has them running off. I sigh as I watch them run off, then tap my gsses. “Map please, I o know where the stairlock is.”
On cue, my navigator arroears, leading off into a dark tunnel and I start off, resting my hammer on my shoulder. “Okay, that’s done. Should we talk about what we actually o do about this pow?”
Prism is surprisingly the first to respond this time, her voice a bit defted in parison to normal. [“I-I thought about it, and I think that you’re probably right about this floor needing to be destroyed, but we probably should take a to elimihe biomass that is there beforehand.”]
I frown as a small spike of guilt stabs into me. “Let me take care of this floor, Prism. You took responsibility for the eleventh, so I’ll do the tenth.”
Prism’s voice wavers at that. [“I-I don’t… I really do think I should be the oo take care of it. My family are the ones-”]
I snap my fihree times as I interrupt her to say:
“Miss Prism, none of that now. You yourself said they weren’t really ever your family.” I put my hand on my hip and humph. “Taking on their sins alone isn’t something I allow you to do, especially since I worked for them myself.”
[“S-Still, I think, maybe…”] Prism goes quiet for a moment, then mutters, [“Ah! Let's do what Achys mentioned earlier! We both detohe, uh, stuff at the same time!”]
I chuckle, turning a er only half paying attention as I follow the arrow. “We should probably figure that out. I mean, what I- BWuh!?”
I abruptly bonk into a wall of fungus, sending spores falling down upohe viral module steps in, preventing them from entering my lungs, but that doesn’t stop me from filing backwards a bit as I try to figure out what the fuck just happeo my dismay, it wasn’t just me being a dumbass; My navigation arrow seemingly went straight into a wall of mycelium.
“Well, that’s unusual.” Achys flies up, peg at the fungal mass, which actually seemingly quivers in respohis is probably a bad sign, our maps are seemingly wrong.”
I run my hand down my face as I groan. “A maze. Fuuuck.”
[“Maze’s aren’t hard.”] Prism blurts out, then after a moment of nobody speaking hastily adds, [“I-I mean, why not make a ne starting where you are, utilizing the ‘ght’ method to find the easiest route to the closest stairlock?”]
I bite my too avoid my urge to call her an adorable nerd as Achys responds:
“It’s possible, but if this is unnatural it might end up leading us into a trap.”
I blink, then raise my hammer. “One way to check.”
To her credit, Achys does mao spout, “Wait Emme-!” before I hit the mushroom wall, whiy surprise doesn’t just ht crumple away. Instead, I squish it down about halfway, revealing- Well, not much, beyond a huge extensive web of stems stretg down a tuhat I am definitely not going to go into. Stepping out of the rather dense cloud of spores that had formed, I shrug at my AI’s incredulous look.
“No aliens behind the stuff, I don’t see the point in not following her suggestion now.” I grin as my bird friend sighs, then flutters bato my shoulder.
“Doing something like that when we have better options is going to e back to bite you in ass iure,” Achys chides as she pecks me a few times on the head pyfully, “I’ll keep a ne going, just be cautious for Antithesis using the mushrooms as natural camoufge.”
I wish I had a non-mushroom covered wall to sm my head into. Unfortunately, that is not the situation I am currently in, so I instead bonk myself lightly with my hammer’s hawice. My AI looks at me like I’m crazy, but it’s not like Prism see me so it’s fiotally.
Err.
In hindsight, I got distracted again, huh?
“Okay, biomass problem. How fix?” I anxiously blurt, hoping that Prism didn’t think I was a total scatterbrain.
[“Well, Miss Emmelyn, while you were dealing with your little fungus problem, I looked into it a bit.”] Fuck, is Nyvi teasing me? [“You’ll likely need a catalog for clearing out heavy amounts of biomass at once, and I have shared a few that I found with Achys. I reend the ‘Css-I Biomass ing catalog.”]
Hmm… Hard to tell if she actually intended for that to-
[“There is a tool within it called the Molp-Nir, which serves as both a hammer and a mop that might fit your theme. Ooh, or perhaps the Spuds-Mace!”]
I ’t help but blurt, “Wait, isn’t that a dog?”
[“I do not know what you are referring to, Miss Emmelyn. The Spuds-Mace is a highly respectable ing on that utilizes the world’s best soap to wipe ant stains from the world.”]
I actually stop my movement, looking at Achys who is obviously trying not to crack up. “A-Are y to gaslight me about that reference?”
[“If you were curious, the Molp-Nir utilizes the special soapy water it produces to duct copious amounts of electricity into its foes. It also gets off the toughest stains before you even blink.”]
I legitimately have no response I give to that but a slightly amused chuckle. For what it’s worth though, the sight of Prism hiding her mouth as she giggles makes my mood soar. Just a sed of seeing her so unabashedly amused at my expense is enough to immediately vince me I should py into this.
“I already have a hammer that works, anything else you provide, Miss Nyvi?”
[“Certainly! Perhaps you would be ied in Excalibroom? After a moment of charging, it literally sweep away swaths of the petition!”]
I tilt my head as I ask, “Is it a sword or a broom?”
[“Yes.”]
“Wouldn't that just be, like, a spear?”
“No. If you want something like that, I do have a ‘Rhongomyn-Aid’, a broom-hat is desigo assist in wiping e areas of biomass in an instant.”
I actually pause my movement at that, legitimately intrigued at these two items. “Wait, how do they even actually work?”
[“They utilize a burst of incredibly intense dose of easily trolble energy that burn away only biomass you wish to destroy.”]
“W-wait, that actually sounds really useful. Could I-”
Achy jumps in, interrupting me. “Emme, not to rain on your parade or anything, but you did just spend eleven hundred points on three dogs. It would simply be most effit to purchase a bomb or something simir that do the work for you automatically once we safely get to the floor.”
“Tch, fine, but I’m going to remember that on the ninth floor.”
[“I am overjoyed you liked my suggestions so much, Miss Emmelyn.”]
I awkwardly cough before I murmur, “Emme is fine, Nyvi. You seem nice, so it’s, uh, okay for you to call me that.”
[“If that is what you wish.”]
I inwardly huff, but grunt in affirmation. I ’t read that AI at all.
As we move through the fungal forest, the average state of our surroundings ge a few times, usually just a shift in colors, sometimes to quite aic color. None of them stand out more than one particur er however, whereupon turning around it, I have to freeze in horror just to take in the absurd sight in front of me.
“Uhhhhh… What the actual fuck is this.”
There are rows and rows of corpses as far as I see, obviously iionally carefully id out to allow for room between each to allow for someoo walk through. Ead every single one has weirdly cloud-like mushrooms c them from head to toe, which occasionally press and release a puff of discertingly blue spores into the air around them. The ground is absolutely covered in piles of the stuff, which doesly make me anymore enthusiastic about stepping anywhere he dead people.
Nyvi doesn’t even seem fazed as she nontly expins, [“Ah, the corpse pntation. Unfortunate you ran into it.”]
I take a step back, but then shake off my disgust to take ahree steps forward. “Why… does this eve?”
[“The fungal growth you see upon the bodies naturally produces a substaremely simir to pis zuli over time.”]
“Isn’t that just a dye? ’t we just get it through other means?”
Prism sighs as she mutters, [“Yes, and the stuff we get from that is essentially the exact same color, but they advertise this one as being more high-css, si’s all natural and poetically tragic or some nonsense.”]
I puff my cheeks, then walk forward and kick a pile of blue snow, sending a burst of it into the air. “No offense Prism, but Corpos are fug dumb sometimes.”
The girl oher end chuckles at that. [“Sometimes? More like always. Did you ever the ‘lobby’ of the manor while you worked there?”]
“Ugh, don’t remihe two times I got yelled at while w there were because of that pce. The madam-”
I blink, then grin. “Wait, I don’t have to be all nice about her anymore! That bitch chewed me out for a problem she caused! TWICE! Thank goodness I got banned from ing that room by Marianne, well, after she made me polish the floors three more times before I was allowed to leave that day…”
[“I legitimately don’t know why someone as awesome as you worked at our house.”]
My face heats up at the pliment, but I brush it off by coughing out, “U-Uh, it’s a long story, but I share, if you want.”
[“Please, I’ve holy been dying of curiosity about it.”]
I sheepishly grin, then tap my hammer on the floor twice, a puff of pis floating up with each impact. I clear my throat, then fmboyantly start:
“e one, e all, gather round to hear the grand story of how the mighty Emmelyn Seras came to be but a simple maid!”
Aliapanacea
