Summoner Quest (Celestial Menagerie)

I got a little sidetracked with the response concerning the Menagerie but I hope you like the lore I come up with.
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It took some time for me to find the right question and the right way to word it. There were a lot of things I could ask about. Finally, I settled on something that puzzled me from the start, who was worthy to be in the Menagerie.

"How do you choose which creatures need saving?"

"I didn't expect that one but it's a good question. But I'm not sure you'll like my responses."

I made an interrogative noise but let him continue.

"We kind of don't choose who needs saving, we mostly choose who doesn't need saving and exclude them. And in some cases, we also choose those we don't want to save."

This struck me as a backward way to do things, particularly if the goal was to save species. Z appears to feel my confusion.

"Let me elaborate. Humans are the perfect example, they exist in countless universes and a fair number possess powers or technology that allow them to travel between dimensions. It's for those two reasons that they'll never enter the Celestial Menagerie."

That was reassuring in a way. Both because the future of my species was assured and because it means that I'll never end up with a random human plumber engraved in my soul.

"As for those that we exclude deliberately it's more complicated but again an example will do. Undead."

I distinctly heard a hiss at that word and I could swear that the world around us briefly darkened as he spoke it.

"Those…things are not and will never be included in the Celestial Menagerie. Apart from a few special cases anyway. And that's because at best they're just mindless unthinking reanimated remains and at worst actively malevolent beings that destroy all life around them. I think you can understand why they are excluded."

I certainly could, I wouldn't want the pattern of an animated skeleton in my soul, and I wasn't about to contradict him. But it did lead me toward a follow-up question.

"But what about machines and animated items, like the Sorting Hat I gained just before meeting you? They're clearly not natural species. How could you even restore their populations?"

Z appears thoughtful at that question. "That's two different matters. Why can we consider some robot and magic item to be alive? And how do patterns function? We're getting a little off topic but I'm feeling generous. And too few Keepers manifest such interest, so it's nice to see."

He paused at that, to check my attention perhaps, but he appeared satisfied by what he found. and continued

"We consider artificial beings as alive because they are a direct consequence of intelligent life. All civilizations create tools, and after reaching a sufficient level of development they inevitably try to give life to their tools. In that way, they are the inheritor of the lives of their creator. And that's why they're part of the Celestial Menagerie."

That was much more profound than what I expected, more philosophical. Before I could comment he continued.

"As for the Patterns themselves, it's more complicated."

He gestured toward the infinite numbers of bubbles all around us.

"What you see here are not patterns, if we could store patterns directly in the Celestial Menagerie we wouldn't need Keepers. What you see are simply, hum, let's say "link" toward a dimension that contains those creatures so that the Menagerie can retrieve the patterns and engrave it into the soul of the Keepers."

I did wonder about that, so that was good to know.

"And when we need to recreate a creature that disappeared, we don't simply clone it a hundred times with a few randomizations and plop the resulting population on a random planet. I mean we could, and we did a few times in some unique situations, but it's far from optimal. What we do instead is slip the patterns inside the, it's not the right word but it will do, inside the soul of a newborn planet. And millions of years later the creature will naturally emerge from the living population of the planet. For artificial beings, it's the same thing but instead of appearing normally, it simply inspires the sapient beings of that planet to create them. Evidently, we need to select the right universe with the right physical laws but it works well. And evidently in addition to generating exact copies of the original creatures it also generates numerous variants."

Z sounds very proud of that but I couldn't get over the fact that the creators of the Menagerie made plans over millions of years. I shouldn't have, he called himself an Omnidimensional being and administered the Menagerie that interacts with millions of dimensions after all. But it still surprised me, I couldn't wrap my head around that fact.

Ignoring my reaction he spoke up. "I hope that this answers your question. My explanation was a little long-winded but I always got carried away when talking about the Menagerie."

"This was perfect thank you."

"Well, then it was nice meeting you again. We probably won't see each other for a good long while, I'm going to scour some pretty distant dimensions for more Keepers. But you've done a fantastic job so far so just continue like that."

"Thank you very much, that was… enlightening. And thank you again for your gift, it could be the key to defeating the monster plaguing my home."

"Don't worry about it, it was my pleasure. Good day to you, Keeper Alexander."

"Good day Administrator Z, and good luck on your journey."

Again I felt a brief wrenching sensation and found myself back in the Mental realm. Looking around I found everything in the same place as when I left and instinctively I knew that virtually no time had passed.

But I did spot a difference, at what could be considered the bottom of the Mental Realm, I saw a great circular glass-like surface with a number of distinct designs on it. They look sort of like runes or hieroglyphs. Looking at each one I understand that each one represents a different power, some of these designs were linked together by delicate swirling lines indicating that they could function together. I could distinctly see numerous holes on the surface indicating where future power would go.

All around it were also floating a few much smaller glass disks, with symbols in different styles. Those indicated some more specialized power such as the Clockwork variant.

The utility for it was dubious but it was cool looking and it made keeping track of my powers easier so I was happy with it. Among the list, I could identify Mundane Equalizing, I didn't doubt Z words but seeing it there was kind of reassuring.

With this fruitful but also stressful encounter done with, I decided to return to my previous plan. Namely spending time with my sister.

An indeterminate amount of time later I was violently ejected from my Mental Realm by a shrilling alarm from my phone. As soon as I got my bearings, I hurried to grab it.

"Compendium here."

"Come to the infirmary immediately, Velocity is dying." The line disconnected but I had time to recognize Dauntless's voice.

I hurried to get up and rushed through putting on my costume. While getting dressed I felt a heavy presence settling in my soul but I didn't have time to focus on it.

Calling on Olky we teleported to the infirmary. There we found organized chaos, a number of doctors and nurses were surrounding a bed at the far right. As soon as I was spotted I was rushed to the side of the bed.

What I found there was not pretty, the figure laying there was covered in burns, craters adorning his skin everywhere and its face, in particular, was not human anymore. His breathing was shallow and labored.

I was brought out of my shock when the doctor spoke up. "Can you do anything for him? We can't do much for him."

I nodded. "Yes, but everyone needs to follow my instructions even if it makes no sense."

He hesitates before nodding. Satisfied with that, I directed Olky to start with the Clockwork healing powers. I asked an orderly to prepare a bathtub of warm water, my Doctor fish would need it to clean its skin after the treatment. Sadly Healer was still on cooldown. I sacrificed my ability to call on Thorne for the day and summoned a Hi-Potion and gave it to a nurse.

"Make him drink that as soon as possible, the whole thing. If he can't drink, give it to him intravenously."

She looks ready to object but my glare stops her and she turns away to do as told. Still thinking furiously I searched my power for anything else I could do. I remembered my Berry and summoned a batch of them.

I called another nurse and handed her two of them. "Take those. You need to crush those berries into a paste and mix them with 100ml of water, the resulting mixture must be applied topically on the worst of the burn. Please hurry, it must be done before he's put into the bath."

I put the other Rawst berries onto a table to the side, I wouldn't need them immediately.

There was one last thing I could do, using a Flower of Krakoa I could protect Velocity from infection. But I need somewhere to work. I checked quickly on the sleeping speedster and I saw that the combination of Olky and the Hi-potion did good work. He was breathing much more easily and the burn looked much less severe. Olky was waiting to the side, finished with his part of the healing process, so I ordered him to return to his duty.

After asking a nurse I was directed to a station in the corner where I got to work transforming my flower into Human Drug I.

It didn't take long for it to be ready, it just needed a few minutes to cool down. And it was at that moment that the nurses came to see me saying that the bath was ready. I thanked her and gave her instructions on how to use my antibiotic when it was ready.

Returning to Velocity's side I could see that the Rawst berry paste was applied, its burn looking much much better, particularly on its face.

"Great, we're nearly finished. We can put him in the bath."

It took some maneuvering to move the speedster into the medical bath to avoid hurting him but it was done. Once he was secured into the water and strapped so as to not risk drowning. I summoned a swarm of Doctor Fish. This seems to really perturb the person present but ignores them.

"You are to clean his skin of any debris, dirt, or dead skin pieces."

The swarm of fishes got to work immediately. It was indeed a little unsettling to watch but I trusted them.

I gave some more instruction to the nurses watching Velocity and I got out. Once outside the infirmary, I slumped down against a wall. When I lifted my head I found most of the other Protectorate heroes.

Armsmaster steps up. "How's he doing?"

"He'll live. You'll need to ask the real doctors for more detailed information."

I could see them all relaxing at that, so I asked my own question.

"What happened?"

With a snarl, Dauntless was the one to respond. "Fog happened, that's what."

Armsmaster motioned for me to follow. "Come on, we're having an emergency meeting."

Trying to distract myself, as I followed along, I finally took the time to consult with my Minds concerning my newest partners.

Anything good this time?/Well good yes, weird yes too. Not ultra weird, it's not a god, a spirit, or a living item but I can't call it normal either, or even unusual. It's a hybrid shark./Okay?/Crossed with a train.

My thoughts grind to a halt, I wasn't expecting that. Pigeon, hedgehog, fly, or even phoenix but not that.

…Let's just ignore the logistics issues that such a hybrid inspires, it's better for my mental health, what's left of it anyway. Give me everything./So we can summon her with a varying number of train cars, between one and a hundred. Not sure in what context we'll need that many, or have the room for that many but the option is there./Despite the train part it can move on land without track perfectly well, and also underwater, and it can do so very fast./The train cars are perfectly usable. And in fact, its main features have got to do with protecting its passengers. It can create something called a Rest Room, basically an anti-detection zone around itself. It's much more powerful than simple invisibility blocking sounds, electromagnetic waves, etc… There's maybe some exotic effect that defeats it, and someone could still stumble onto it randomly but it's potent./And finally, it's seriously though, like it's ridiculous but it could take a direct blow from Rex and get back up, not unscathed but still./Despite the ridiculousness of the concept, I think we shouldn't underestimate this one. And unlike Rex, it's much easier to deploy.

I took a moment to digest that, I could already imagine lots of ways that it could contribute, both for normal patrol and for more specific situations.

I think we should consider making its weapon form as a main weapon, it's really strong and versatile, and it makes us invisible. That's huge.

My internal discussion finished just as we reached the meeting room.

Wordcount: 2274
Excess word: 263
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Pretty happy with this chapter, let me know what you think.

For the roll, 370 points.

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Voting will be closed Friday at 3 PM GMT

Sidenote: Minor update to the Multi-Boost power. Now can work with the Copy Summoner power (that we don't have) and the Grant Movement power (that we do have). It was an oversight on my part.