11 Tutorial Complete

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.

Betad by: Priapus, Marethyu, Mike God of Lore, Old man of the mountain, Beans

The Guild of Gamers: The Tinker

Chapter 10: Tutorial Complete

– Lisa Wilbourn (Tattletale) –

Stretching, she took a sip of her coffee with a grin. Kei was busy dealing with some group called the Travellers, some Simurgh bombs that needed to be depowered and sent back to their own Earth.

Sitting on the couch, she typed away at her laptop as she kept track of the minor threats that Kei wanted to keep an eye on. With Observer having access to basically every camera in existence, she could find anyone, anywhere.

Not that there were that many threats to watch anymore. Aside from the CUI, Kei had frankly erased the rest from the face of the earth. Basically, every major villain in America and Europe had been captured and depowered over the past few months, and every Quarantine zone had been cleared. With the Endbringers gone, people just weren't willing to tolerate major villains anymore.

A single murder, especially against a civilian, was grounds for depowerment. Plus, she knew what others didn't. Powers were parasitic, pushing their users towards conflict. 

Or they had been until Kei claimed the entire network. He had removed the unnatural influence powers granted, and he decided who triggered with new powers from now on. Well, the Simurgh did for him. Her own power had had the limiters removed, which meant no more headaches from overuse.

Simmy picked people who wouldn't become major issues, the former Hopekiller utterly under Kei's control. 

The fact was, the CUI was the last real issue. An entire army of capes, utterly insular, was going to try something sooner or later, but Kei was already prepared for them. Once they were dealt with, the world would be at peace. 

Kei had brought a new age into Earth Bet; that was just how powerful he was. 

Putting her laptop aside, she glanced at the message from her man telling her that the Travellers had been dumped back on their own Earth without any powers. The Travellers weren't their problem anymore. Given what he'd told her about Noelle, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Wearing just one of his t-shirts, she smiled around her mug as she waited for him to come back. He'd had to get to work early today since, apparently, someone called Trickster was planning something stupid. That meant she didn't get her morning lovemaking.

That was how her days went now. They woke up, made love, played some games, had more sex and maybe, maybe, did some work. She wasn't kidding on PHO when she said that she'd won.

Kei entered the room, yawning lazily as he paused. She was facing the door perfectly from her current seat, and his t-shirt barely went past her waist. He had a perfect view of her exposed lower half, his eyes locking onto her slit before he gave her an annoyed but hungry look. If he didn't want teasing, he shouldn't have left her needs unattended to go and play with the Travellers.

Whatever he had been going to say went out the window as he prowled towards her, making her grin.

– Later –

"So, what happens after you've won?" Lisa asked, cuddling against her boyfriend.

"Hm? Kei asked, making her sit up.

"The CUI is all that's left, the last real threat, and that's barely a threat with the Simurgh, PRT and the Brotherhood all waiting for them to take a single step out of line," Lisa asked, making him nod in agreement. "So, what comes after? What's left? Uplifting the rest of the world?"

"Dragon is taking care of spreading my tech throughout the world. She's even working with Accord to bring Africa back into the modern world now that he's dealt with the warlords, so that's handled," Kei said, shrugging. "She's working with Architect and Observer to get the tech everywhere, so I don't need to do anything else there. I'll make some better versions and new stuff for them to spread out once they're done with the current stuff."

"So, what's left?" Lisa asked, making Kei scratch his chin.

"There's an infinite number of worlds out there, but… eh, I'll get to them eventually, probably... I'm in no rush. I think I'll just enjoy my handiwork for a while. Maybe work on my game collection; the AIs are pumping so much content out that even I can't keep up with it," Kei finally said, making her giggle slightly. Yeah, that was the biggest issue in their life, and that was alright. "Anything you want to do?"

"World domination?" Lisa asked, making him shrug.

"Not this one. I put too much work into it, and I'm already in charge, basically. You can conquer one of the other worlds. I'll give you the tech, and you can go have fun," Kei said lazily, making her snort. Yeah, like she'd even want to do that. Ruling the world would be so much effort, and she had too much to do.

"Nah, I'll stick to conquering worlds in VR. Can you bully the AI into adding more races into Total War: Warhammer again?" Lisa asked, making him nod and grab his phone.

She knew the update would probably be out by the end of the day, making her grin. Dating the guy who owned every game that mattered was one hell of a way to make sure your favourite games got some love.

"So, neither of us actually have any plans?" Kei asked, making her shrug. She knew it made her breasts jiggle, which was why she did it so often. "Huh. Wanna get married?"

Lisa paused at his casual question, looking at him to see if he was being serious. Despite the casual way he asked, he was watching her carefully for her response.

"Aisha and Alec don't get to come to the wedding," Lisa replied, equally casually, despite her rapidly beating heart. "And I get to pick the venue; you can pick the Honeymoon location."

Kei just snorted, giving her one of the larger smiles she'd seen on his face. Reaching over her, he pulled open the bedside table drawer, pulling out a beautiful but not overly gaudy ring.

"...how long have you had that?" Lisa asked, watching as he took her hand and slowly slid the ring onto her finger.

"...I'm not answering that," Kei simply replied, making her giggle again at her boyfriend- no, her fiancée's slight blush. She already knew he'd made it himself; it was too perfect to have been bought.

Laying down, she rested her head on his chest with a smile. Yeah, that was about how she could picture any engagement between them. Their entire relationship had been relaxed. Brushing her finger against the ring, she closed her eyes and started to drift off. 

There wasn't anything about her life she'd change, even as her mind raced with wedding plans. She heard Kei drift off, smiling to herself.

– Rebecca Costa-Brown –

It was inevitable, really. She hovered in the air as she watched the fleet of ships approach Kyushu. The CUI couldn't stop themselves; even Contessa couldn't prevent this without completely dismantling the CUI and Yangban.

A Yangban capture squad had recently tried to capture David; how they'd learnt his identity, she didn't know. They clearly didn't understand that he had been depowered, and hoped to add Eidolon to their ranks.

David himself was actually starting to enjoy retirement, so she took pleasure in what was about to happen. 

The ships were already firing on the Pride, watching their blasters and tinkertech weapons be blocked by the Pride's powerful shields. They could have just relaxed and joined the rest of the world in this peaceful new world.

Instead, they were going to be utterly defeated. 

A flash of light made them all pause. Gipsy Danger was very famous now, so it was immediately apparent that despite the similar size, this was not Gipsy Danger.

"Communism detected on free soil, lethal force authorised," Liberty Prime declared, turning to face the incoming fleets. She didn't understand why Zero insisted that his anti-communist robot handle this, but at this point, nobody would argue with Zero no matter what he wanted.

"Embrace Democracy, or you will be eliminated!" 

– Three –

Watching the beam strike one of their ships, his eyes widened as the ship was just obliterated on an atomic level. He'd known this was a bad idea; he'd told Null and One as much.

Null still wasn't happy that Zero had taken that name, but minor annoyances over having to share the name meant so very little as the giant robot tossed a giant bomb towards the back of their fleet.

Several capes tried to stop it, hitting it with blaster powers or creating barriers to deflect it, but it broke through them all and landed near the back of their fleet of ships.

It let out a strange purple blast, engulfing countless ships. Oddly enough, The ships were unharmed, but he could see everyone on board dropping like puppets with their strings cut.

He couldn't even predict how many capes they'd already lost in this doomed assault, and Zero didn't give them the mercy of waiting for them to recover from their shock and confusion.

Flashes of light announced the arrival of the Brotherhood, countless heavily armed androids arriving on every ship that had survived, opening fire without pause.

"Tactical assessment: Red Chinese victory… impossible."

The giant robot announced their defeat, even as they desperately tried to fight off the assault, only growing more dire as Alexandria and the Sentai Elite joined the fray.

They'd never stood a chance, but so many of them had known that from the start.

– PHO –

■

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■

♦ Topic: Yangban Assault Repelled from Kyushu, CUI dismantled

In: Boards ►

Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)

Posted On Oct 20th 2011:

We all knew it was coming, the last stubborn bastion of the old world.

The Yangban attempted an all-out assault upon Kyushu, hoping to occupy the island and to the surprise of absolutely no one, Zero beat them back, and the Brotherhood, Sentai and PRT handily defeated the capes the Yangban sent.

Due to the Yangban frequently kidnapping capes, non-lethal tactics were used, and the PRT, Guild and Sentai are currently working on un-mastering the poor fools whom the Yangban had brainwashed.

They'll be trying to work out the guilty from the unwillingly conscripted for months, even with Zero's help.

Shortly afterwards, the Brotherhood, PRT, Sentai, along with many European Capes sent by the EU, returned the favour and invaded the CUI, capturing the main leadership of both the CUI and the remaining Yangban members (including their brainwasher who has now been depowered)

Zero has declared that he wants nothing to do with the mess in China; reinstalling a more democratic government is going to be a long-term project, and while those embarking on this project have access to his tech, Zero won't be part of it.

This isn't really surprising, as he did the same thing in both Africa after the end of the Warlords, South America after the Cartels were taken down and after the raising of Kyushu. He just doesn't deal in politics.

But that's it, folks. The CUI was the last true bastion of the old world, hanging onto a way of life the rest of the world had left behind. I can't say I'll miss them, and I wish China the best of luck in rebuilding now that they're out from under the CUI.

I suppose all that is left is 'what's left for Zero to do?'

(Showing page 1 of 121)

►Mac's Dual Rocket Propelled Grenades

Replied On Oct 20th 2011:

Man, why did they even try? The entire world was against them, backed by Tinker Jesus, they were never going to win.

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)

Replied On Oct 20th 2011:

From what we can tell? They feared that the world would come for them first and didn't want to be on the defensive. They wanted to capture Kyushu and turn Zero's shield tech against him, not that they really stood a chance.

If Leviathan couldn't get past that barrier, what chance did they have?

►Kenta

Replied On Oct 20th 2011:

Good.

►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)

Replied On Oct 20th 2011:

We could hear the battle from Kyushu, but it didn't last long. Thank Tinker Jesus that they didn't reach us; I don't want to think about what a CUI-controlled Kyushu would look like.

►Feychick

Replied On Oct 20th 2011:

As for what Zero will be doing?

Oracle, probably.

►Oracle (Verified Cape) (The Guild) (Wonderland Productions) (Zero's Waifu) (The Girl In The Know)

Replied On Oct 20th 2011:

You're not wrong.

[EngagementRing]

►Zero (Verified Cape) (Verified Badass) (Tinker Jesus) (The Guild) (Wonderland Productions) (Endbringer Slayer)

Replied On Oct 20th 2011:

I think I'm done. My to-do list is finally empty. Every major villain, S or A-class threat, Quarantine Zone and everything else I could think of has been dealt with.

I'm gonna nap, take an extended vacation, marry my girl, and may God have mercy on anything that makes me come back off vacation.

Because Tinker Jesus won't.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 119, 120, 121

■

– Kei Hayashi (Zero) –

Looking over the world map, I smile to myself.

That's it; I'm officially done with Worm. 

Contessa and the Simurgh are working together to ensure peace between all the nations. Dragon and Accord are spreading my tech and raising the entire world into a new era of tech and comfort. Rebecca is guiding the PRT into being less Villain focused and more about humanitarian aid.

I've handed off every duty to other people or my AIs, and every threat that has shown up has been squashed immediately. Crime is down across the board; poverty is dropping just as swiftly. Sure, privacy is a thing of the past with Observer watching everyone, but most people don't know that.

World Complete!

Quest Added

[Meet your Maker]

Objective: Attend a meeting with your sponsor

Reward: ???

Something tells me that putting this off wouldn't be a good idea, making me sigh and rub my neck. I hate meetings.

Closing my eyes, I accept the quest, and when I open my eyes again, I'm sitting on an extremely comfy couch. A very handsome man with black hair is sitting in the chair next to me.

"Don't worry, I hate meetings too," he says, his tone silky as he grins. "This won't take long."

"So you're the one who kidnapped me and dropped me in Worm of all places?" I ask, making him chuckle.

"Not directly; I just sent a few CYOAs out and let people find them. I don't recruit directly like my fellow founders," he answers easily. "Kuro Dantalion, it's a pleasure to meet me, I know. Besides, are you complaining?"

"Nah, it was fun. I don't suppose I'm ever allowed to go home? I do kinda wanna see my parents again at some point," I ask, making him snort.

"You know how rare it is for Guild members to have good relationships with their parents? Probably why we're all so fucked up," Kuro replies with a grin. "But yup, that's part of what this meeting is about. You beat Worm, so now you get your own Multiverse to play with. I always add the world I recruit my gamers from to their Multiverse so they can go home."

"So, I gotta ask. Why? What was the point in all this?" I ask.

"Why did you make so many games? Because it's fun. I'm ancient, and I'm the youngest of the four Founders. Even Gray is hundreds of thousands of years older than me, and the other two? They make him look young," Kuro explains. "So, we made the Guild. People of all types are given powers and unleashed into the multiverse; it's entertaining to see what you get up to."

So everything that happened was to amuse some ancient being? Eh, makes about as much sense as anything else.

"I gotta say, you did damn good. Sure, a lot of gamers 'finish' Worm faster, since all you really needed to do was kill Scion, but I don't think anyone did it so fast and so completely," Kuro praises.

"I'm a completionist by nature," I say with a shrug, making him chuckle. God, the Multiverse is gonna kick my completionist ass, isn't it?

"Funnily enough, you did basically everything except one thing. Monogamy, really?" Kuro asks, waving his hand as memories of my best times with Lisa play on a tv screen.

"Is it that unusual?" I ask, making him burst out laughing.

"You have no idea. Basically, every gamer has a harem. Hell, we recruited a husband and wife and had them share a system, and they ended up with a harem, which included both of their daughters. You're a freak of nature, buddy. You could have had every girl in Worm with minimum effort, and you're happy with just one?" Kuro asks.

"That sounds exhausting. Besides, I have VR games with Lisa if I want someone else. All the benefits of a harem without the effort," I say, shrugging. "Harems just sound like a lot of work."

"Eh, that's when you get the power to have a body for every girl. You're lucky you got me and not one of the others; they wouldn't approve of your wholesome relationship. Me, I don't give a shit; I have better things to do than care who my gamers are fucking," Kuro explains with a shrug of his own. 

"So, what happens now? What am I supposed to do?" I ask. I'm under no delusions that anything I've built could challenge this guy, and I do owe him for giving me these powers. Despite the surprise at being pulled into Worm, it's been an enjoyable ride.

"Whatever you want. You've got access to the Guild Headquarters if you wanna meet your fellow Guild members. You've got multiversal travel unlocked now; the multiverse is your oyster. Go wild, or stay home and play games for a few hundred years," Kuro replies.

"You don't have some grand mission for me?" I ask, making him shake his head.

"The fact is, even if you stay in your world for the next few thousand years, I still win. You'll start to explore and provide me with my entertainment eventually, and I'm in no rush. You're just one of my many gamers. There are thousands of you going through your first worlds now. It's why I wait until you finish the first world before I meet with you, no point meeting someone who might fail and die," Kuro answers with a grin. "Do what you want; I might bully you into making some worlds for me or your colleagues to play through since you seem to like being a developer, but for the most part? Just have fun," Kuro says with a grin. "Oh, try to stay monogamous for five more years, I have a bet with the Other Kuro over whether you'll manage it. Casual sex is fine, but keep Lisa as your only girl for me, yeah?"

As he spoke, a flash of black energy engulfed him, his flesh starting to rot before he rolled one blackened eye, rapidly healing.

"Pft, like he doesn't interfere in our bets," Kuro mumbles. "Sorry about that, Kuro took offence to me trying to fix the bet."

"...there's two of you?" I ask.

"Long story, I'm a clone of the much older, much stronger Original Kuro. We both use the name to confuse people," Kuro admits shamelessly. "Anyway, I just wanted to say well done and give you a pat on the back."

As he says that, I feel something pat my back, making me jump.

"So I'll send you home; you've got a wedding to plan; look at you making Lisa, of all people, a housewife. Nice work, little buddy," Kuro praises, giving me a cheesy thumbs up before I fall through the sofa and floor.

Landing face-first in my base, I dismiss the notification telling me about multiversal travel with a small sigh.

Meeting my other gamers? That sounds like something that would drain my introvert batteries, no thank you. I'll check it out eventually. Same with multiversal travel.

I can't deny I'm mildly curious to see the greater Multiverse, worlds like Star Wars, Cyberpunk and Mass Effect already unlocked. I can get into less tech-focused worlds like Skyrim or Lord of the Rings, but they need unlocking with Guild Credits.

I have quite a lot for all my feats in Worm, but again, I'm in no rush to start my multiversal travels. After all my (questionably) hard work in Worm, I think I deserve to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labour.

I have games to play, shows and games to make, and a hot fiancee. What more could a man want?

– Lisa Wilbourn – Months Later –

She felt terrible, which was a true rarity. Kei's medical tech was at such a level that even things like the common cold had been bested. 'No cure for the common cold', her perky ass. 

Vomiting, she made her way to the base's medbay. Kei was working on the tech for terraforming Mars, so he wasn't around as she stumbled in. She was seen to immediately, the med-bay's VI scanning her and finding the cause of her 'illness' within seconds as she read the screen.

She paused, her heart speeding up. Surely, it had to be wrong-

Lisa was used to sex in VR and forgot her morning-after medication.

Oh fuck, it wasn't wrong. She was pregnant with twins. Wait, she wasn't mentally, physically or emotionally prepared for kids. The engagement ring on her finger showed just how slowly she and Kei took things; they'd barely started their plans for their wedding, even after five months of engagement.

In fact, all she'd done so far was send a mocking invite to her parents so they'd know that little Sarah was marrying the greatest man in the entire fucking world.

They had planned out their entire honeymoon, though.

Messaging Kei, she rushed to the living room as he came out of his workshop with a concerned frown on his face. 

"What's up, babe?" Kei asked, still in his Tinkering overhauls. She could smell the various materials he'd been using; he must have dropped everything when she messaged him.

She simply handed over the datapad, watching as he read it slowly. His lazy eyes widened, wider than she'd ever seen, as he gulped, both sharing a look.

"We're gonna be such shit parents," Kei finally said, making her nod rapidly. 

"Can you build a super-nanny?" Lisa asked, her voice quaking at the very idea of being a mother. She wouldn't abort her children, never, but she was about as far from a mother as she could picture.

"I already have. I made one to babysit Purity's kid and keep an eye on her, but I can update Kara's software with the Nanny Program," Kei replied, taking a breath and visibly calming down. "We can do this, we already babysat the entire fucking world, we can handle some kids."

"I'm gonna be a teen mom," Lisa realised, making him snort.

"Aisha is gonna give you so much shit," Kei pointed out as they both sat down on the couch heavily. "I'm gonna be a teen dad. Nah, I'm gonna be a kickass dad. Probably. Lemme just download every book on parenting that's ever been published. And maybe ask Dragon; she seems responsible."

Calming down, she took Kei's hand into her own. 

"Yeah, we're gonna be the best parents," Lisa agreed, not quite believing her words. "Maybe we should get a pet? It's basically the same, right?"

"I'll ask Rachel for a puppy," Kei agreed. "...I'm gonna grab my parents from their Earth; they can help me with this mess. If they'd raised me better, I wouldn't have knocked up my teenage girlfriend."

"I'm gonna get my parents arrested for income tax evasion. It won't help, but it'll make me feel better," Lisa agreed, making him laugh again as she placed her head on his shoulder. They went silent, both considering what this meant for them.

"We'll have to finally go outside; it wouldn't be healthy to raise them in isolation, even with VR and the Androids," Kei pointed out, making her scowl. Outside. Without her android? Eww.

"Fuck it, we're getting married in VR," Lisa declared, making him blink. "Right now. Make Dragon be the priest."

"I feel like she's not actually qualified for that, but she says she's down. I can bully Rebecca into making it legal later," Kei agreed. Typing away on his phone as he smiled at her. Leaning down, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Love you."

"I love you, too," Lisa replied, giving him a soft smile.

Yeah, it was going to be fine; as long as she was with Kei, they could do anything.