Summoner Quest (Celestial Menagerie)

Here we go, Compendium's first companion is now on the scene.
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Friday, 04/22/2011 (4 AM)

After getting back home I managed to carve myself a little room on my own bed, mainly through the judicious use of Baby Summoning on Max. Surrounded by my furry partners I got back to sleep. Mainly to return to the Mental Realm. Here I found the majority of my Minds in intense discussion regarding Equip Traits and Grant Traits. Going through our whole list of partners with a fine tooth comb.

We were all determined to not repeat the fiasco of missing the application of Rex's chakra reserve to ourselves.

And the result of those research was already bearing fruits.

One of my Minds started by throwing an intriguing proposition. "So Yellow protective bubble is a passive effect. It can be given to another of our partners without trouble. Doing so means that we don't need to wear him as a gauntlet or as a scarf. That leaves open one more slot for a combat partner for the price of one use of Grant Trait. Considering that we have three, that seems fair."

There were nods all around. Choosing the recipient for it didn't take long. Babel was chosen because he was always with us, perfectly safe in our right ear.

In theory, we could do the same thing with Comfi's damage reduction effect but that would leave only one use of Grant Trait so we opt against it for now.

Still concerning Yellow there was a second intriguing proposition that was brought up, a more offensive use of his power. We decided to keep that one in mind for a certain winged Bitch.

Then we hit upon another fantastic-sounding idea.

"I think we could give Miss J's teaching skills to our Pandas trainer, or even to Kuja. I wouldn't have the supernatural effect of Miss J's powers, because it's an active use of her abilities. But it should allow them to better grasp how to teach a human being."

I was looking forward to that, Chakra manipulation and Armament Haki would both considerably boost my personal combat prowess without depending on my partners.

On a related subject, we discuss the possibility of using Gift Attack to more easily learn Jutsu. I wasn't sure if it would work but it was worth a try.

Going back to Grant Traits we found more promising options. Skorch's Protector aura could be applied to any of our partners, reducing the damage taken by any allies in a respective radius around it, similar to Comfi.

Still, in the defensive option, Mickey's Smartskin could do a similar job as Simmuroc's invulnerability for our partners.

As demonstrated against Circus, Grace provided a plethora of possibilities, and unlike the others, some of those could be used even if she was present as long as she wasn't currently using them.

Zap and Spike can both give a slowing effect when touched that may provide just the right amount of disruption during a fight to make a takedown much easier.

Our last discovery was also promising. While a specific partner could only benefit from one trait at a time, Multi Boost allowed us to apply three different traits to three different partners or even the same trait to three different partners.

All in all, I was satisfied with the results of our research, and each new partner I gained could lead to more interesting combos.

So I was in a good mood when I entered the PRT building, and even more so since teleporting there allowed me to avoid the downpour going on outside.

I was called there for a follow-up of Circus's arrest. After writing my report I crossed paths with Velocity, and he told me that he was in charge of her case.

"She refused to say anything. Only asking to speak to her lawyer and he hasn't arrived yet."

I frowned, it was her right of course but it didn't help us.

"And the document she stole, anything interesting?"

He shrugged. "Nothing much yet. Everything is linked to a subsidiary of Medhall. Someone may be looking into a forceful takeover. Our analysts are working on it."

Hmm, maybe someone is aware of the connection between Medhall and the Empire. And that reminds me that we still haven't found Max Anders's son, I hoped that the kid was doing alright.

"I also tried to go for a recruitment pitch but she adamantly refused. Claiming that she preferred going to prison instead of playing at being a good guy."

That was weirdly refreshing, after the plethora of villains that joined recently.

We soon parted ways, I received a message from the Director asking me to come to her office.

It didn't take long to reach it and the secretary directed me to enter immediately. As usual, the woman was working on her computer, she didn't even glance in my direction when I entered.

"You wish to see me, Director?"

"Yes, read that." Briefly, she pointed toward a folder on her desk before returning to her work.

A little confused, I sat on the chair and opened the folder. Inside I found a medical dossier, Director Piggot's medical dossier to be precise. Does this mean that she was willing to accept healing? I spent some time reading the dossier in full, it was very important to not miss anything. It turns out that she lost her kidney completely, and some muscle in her legs.

How to go about it? I had multiple healing options at my disposal, each with its own quirk.
Ideally, I want something that doesn't work too fast to avoid a shock to her system. Weirdly regenerating the kidney was the easier part, it was a missing part of the body so most of my healing options could handle it without any trouble. The muscles on the other hand might be different, it depends on how they healed.

The Clockwork variant's healing effect might be a tiny bit too strong. A Sitrus Berry might be a little too weak, it was more focused on straightforward damage like open wounds or broken bones.

My best option was probably my cute cat-shaped dragon, her healing was good but smoother than most of my other options, and it dealt with ailments at the same time.

And for the muscles, I will call on Yuhe. The medical specialist of the Panda clan certainly dealt with muscle damage every day. Granted, it was panda's muscles, not human's, still, it should work fine. Worst case scenario he would just monitor the procedure.

To top things off I'll apply a round of Clover's healing just to make sure that nothing was lingering.

With my choices made I closed the folder and looked up. The Director stopped pretending to work and turned my way. She remained wholly in control of her reaction but I detected some trepidation in her tone.

"Can you do it?" Her abruptness didn't surprise me, the subject must be uncomfortable for her.

I nodded seriously. "Yes, I can regenerate your kidney and clean up your organism. The only thing that I'm not sure about is the muscle mass, that will depend on how it has healed."

I saw her jaw tighten and her eyes widen slightly before she rein herself in. "Good. When can you be ready to proceed?"

"I only need a few minutes. Do you want to do that here?"

She frowned. "No, we'll do the procedure in the infirmary, the base doctor will supervise. Be there in half an hour."

"Very well, I'll see you there." She returned to her work. Taking that as a dismissal, I left and hurried to my office. From there it was straight into the orb to summon my Panda healer and my dragon cat.

Equipping Rex's chakra felt different than drawing it from the seal, instead of being pushed my way by Rex it got added to my meager chakra reserve. It was as if I got two chakra networks occupying the same space in my body.

Before I launched into the Summoning Technique, I did a few tests of my chakra control. And here it was weird too. My own chakra obeyed me the same way as before, and Rex's chakra appeared to follow along. This means that I only needed to use the bare minimum of chakra for any exercises and the result was more powerful than if I did it with just my chakra. For chakra control exercises, like the wood writing ones, it was far from ideal. But for a Chakra-intensive technique, it should work fine. I resolved to not depend on Rex's Chakra however, developing my own Chakra reserve was still important.

Satisfied with my brief test I prick my thumb with a Titanium needle that Clank made for me and start the sequence of hand seals while focusing on Yuhe. My hand seal speed was still very slow but it was improving.

When I slapped my palm on the ground a normal-sized panda appeared wearing a thick outfit made of fur and with a spear on his back. I only met him briefly the few times I visited the Panda realm.

"Summoner? Do you have a medical emergency?" He was looking around curiously, searching for any potential wounded.

I was quick to allay his worry. "No, nothing like that. I want your expertise to oversee a medical procedure."

"Very well, I am at your service Summoner."

I explained to him the situation and my plan on how to heal the director. I summoned Chandelle so the two could meet and she was quick to beg for some petting. Yuhe obliged her much to her delight, she appeared to enjoy rubbing against his fur.

As I finished talking he stroked his chin in thought before looking at the softly growling Chandelle. "This little girl's healing powers are strong enough to regrow a whole kidney? From nothing?"

Nodding, I look proudly at the girl in question, still enjoying the attention provided by Yuhe. "Yes, I'm confident on that point. But I'd appreciate it if you could monitor the procedure, and perhaps do something about the muscle damage."

He smiled. "It will be my pleasure."

Only a few minutes later we were walking at a leisurely pace through the PRT buildings in the direction of the infirmary. The personnel we crossed paths with on the way glanced our way curiously but didn't react overly much. Considering that I was flanked by an armor-wearing Panda and panther made of wax it was a vast improvement compared to just a few weeks ago.

On the way we talked, Yuhe seemed fascinated with the concept of a dialysis machine. I heard him muttering to himself how the concept could be reproduced with seals.

When we reached the infirmary, we found Doctor Mihai, an older gentleman in charge of the infirmary. He was already aware of our plan. And he wasn't the most enthused about it, complaining that such a procedure should be tested thoughtfully in laboratory conditions before being tried on human beings.

Feeling the need to defend the prowess of my partners, I retorted that Chandelle's brand of healing was approved by the doctors at Brockton Bay General. And furthermore, it was functionally impossible to test how you could regrow a kidney unless you were willing to remove them in the first place. Not something I was willing to do, even on animals.

His grumbling ended when the Director joined us, apparently unwilling to go against her choice.

I made the presentation between my partners and the Director, explaining their roles along the way. Soon the woman was dressed in a hospital gown and lying on a bed. I could have argued that this was unnecessary but the doctor insisted and not wanting to antagonize him any further I let it go.

The man conducted a full examination and only afterward did we start. Yuhe positioned himself at the head of the bed with a paw on the director's cranium. Chandelle was on the opposite side at the foot of the bed. Doctor Mihai and I were on the left side of the bed.

"Are you ready Director?"

My question was replied to with a grumble. "Get on with it."

With a gesture, I motioned for Chandelle to start. With a look of concentration from her ripples of blue-green light blossomed all over Director Piggot's body before dissipating, the whole thing lasting less than two seconds.

She gasped and brought her hands to her chest.

"Are you alright Director?"

She waved my concern away. "Yes, yes, it was just…weird. Did it work?"

I looked at Yuhe. "Yes, Madam. You now have two perfectly healthy kidneys. I will take care of the muscle damage now. Chandelle's healing helped a little but the inner scarring prevented full regeneration."

The Panda moved to the left of the bed, did a few paw signs, to the confusion of Director Piggot and Doctor Mihai, and put his right paw on her stomach. There was no visible effect but the woman appeared to feel it, squirming under the effect of the jutsu.

"It is done." Yuhe took a step back.

"Yes, I can feel it." She sat on the bed and twisted her torso left and right, visibly marveling at the feeling of it.

She addressed me. "So is it done?"

"One last thing. I want to clean your system." With an unnecessary gesture, I call on Clover. After a brief burst of light, I spoke up again. "Now, it's done. You are now in perfect health, Director Piggot.

"I'll be the judge of that. If you're finished with your hand waving and light show you can go. I need to run some tests." This was a clear dismissal from Doctor Mihai. I gave a look to the director and she nodded.

As I left I noted that the doctor was already drawing blood from the stern woman.

Maybe being in better health will allow the Director to mellow out a bit, I wasn't counting on it but you never know miracles do happen.

With my good deed done for the day, it was time to go back to work. I had a patrol to prepare for. When asked, Yuhe volunteered to come with me. The Panda healer wants to know more about modern medicine, he was fascinated by how far humans without chakra managed to go on the subject. So as we walked toward the garage we talked. Chandelle of course was more than happy to follow along.

Seeing that it was still raining heavily, a normal foot patrol or even one on a flying mount was out of the question. I've been lucky so far, we have had fair weather since I joined the Protectorate, unusual for the Bay at this time of the year. Now the sky has decided to make up for the lost time.

So I needed to choose which partner would make for a good vehicle in those conditions. Rainbow again? Looking at my options, yeah it was probably the best choice. It felt a little like I was overusing Rainbow however most of the options presented to me concerning vehicle either weren't practical in the rain like a Raptor's motorbike shape, too small to contain a panda, a panther, and I, like Bernie's jeep-like shape, or even too outrageous like Centi's Futuristic Truck shape.

That choice made, we started on the most boring patrol I ever participated in. Talking with Yuhe was nice and seeing his reaction when he discovered a modern city for the first time was cool but that was the only bright point of that patrol. As expected the intense rain didn't encourage people to go out, not even criminals.

We didn't catch anything, we didn't even spot anything interesting during the three hours of patrol.

The rest of the day was pretty boring until the middle of the afternoon when I felt the Menagerie triggering as if to give me a new partner. Something that has become routine by this point. But there was a marked difference this time. More build-up, more energy being gathered as if this pattern would be engraved deeper in my soul. And indeed I winced when the process was completed, a slowly fading ache was pressing on my soul.

Oh, wow that's different./Yeah, I mean the creature itself is cool and we'll need to discuss it in more detail later. But it's not exceptional compared to some others./Yeah, but the Menagerie designated it as a Companion. This means that once summoned for the first time, it will remain in the world forever. It's not subject to the normal Menagerie limits be it time, distance, or quantity. But if it dies we can resummon it, still better to avoid it of course./In exchange, however, this companion needs to be cared for like a normal being.

That puts into question the matter of logistics for some creatures, some very exotic beings could be very difficult to care for.

On that point, we got extremely lucky. Prime is a little clockwork robot. Amusingly in its home dimension, it belonged to a category of robot called clank. It only needs to be winded back regularly, though far less than any kind of normal mechanism, and occasionally a little oil./I think that's the perfect segue into its abilities. Prime is more or less a tinker assistant, like Clank but more inclined toward mechanics than electronics. I'm sure that the two of them will get along well./We need to be careful, however. Prime real specialty is the ability to create inferior copies of itself./And we all know how the Protectorate and the PRT view self-propagating creatures.

I winced at that. That was the first thing that was tested when I joined.

Once again the rules of Menageries came to the rescues. It imposes a limit of twenty dingbots in addition to Prime itself. So we get a little group of helpers but not an army./I think that in our report we need to emphasize that limitation. And also add that a second-generation dingbot created by a first-generation one will be greatly inferior, and a third-generation one might not be functional at all and also that they require specific materials to be built. You can't build a dingbot out of scraps of wood or stone shards, you need refined metals.

I nodded along, yes that was very important. Even if the Director now viewed me in a better light I wouldn't want to risk her wrath.

Considering that I was already in my lab, in the Rig, with Clank working by my side there was no time like the present to summon my first Companion.

Prime appeared in the palm of my hand promptly. The little guy looked around itself with curiosity, waved in my direction, and when it spotted Clank it rushed toward him. I felt open admiration in the telepathic network coming from the dingbot. It appeared to consider Clank like an extremely advanced Dingbot. Seeing how its mind works was fascinating, it wasn't thinking in words but in numbers. Calculating distance, measuring what it could see, counting quantities, assigning value to everything, and so on.

I explained Prime's capability to my faithful robotic assistant and we decided that the Dingbot would become Clank's assistant. There was no reason to take it in the field, it would be much better to have it in the lab, and eventually in the orb's lab, able to tinker while Clank was with me. Of course, I wasn't a slave driver Prime wouldn't do that all the time. It would be allowed to rest, have fun, and maybe take up a hobby. But looking at it right now I saw that he was having the time of its life inspecting the materials at its disposition, I think that Tinkering would be the fun part of its days.

Soon we all got back to work. Prime on its first subordinate Dingbot. Clank and I on a suggestion of his, variable gravity dumbbells. I was looking forward to it, that would allow me to exercise much more easily.

It was only a few minutes later that I heard a knock on the door. As I was working on welding a delicate circuit I didn't turn around and just spoke up.

"Enter!" I heard the door opening and someone spoke with a…

[] … smooth and friendly masculine voice. "Good day Compendium."
[] … curt and authoritative woman voice. "Compendium."
[] … calm and strong masculine voice. "Hello, Compendium."

Wordcount: 3398
Excess words: 163
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Who is coming to see Compendium? I wonder. Only you can decide.

For the roll, 800 points. (Big roll this time.)

[] Creature

[] Power

Voting will be closed Thursday at 3 PM GMT