This story has been dedicated to Elmo, my first Muppet from the Muppet Show.
Once there was a man called Ryan Elmore,
Who wanted to go home to the Muppet Show,
For you see he was once a Muppet by the name of Elmo,
Who didn't like the real world compared to the old show,
His wish was granted and Ryan Elmore was no more,
In his place, stood Elmo happy forevermore,
That wish created a problem for a certain omnipotent being,
Who knew that he'd need a poor sap for the replacement thing,
He looked high and low through multiple timelines,
Glancing in all directions through space and time,
Eventually he found him, typing on a computer terminal,
And brought the poor sap up to speed on the troublesome matter.
"Hello. Anybody home?" a voice called out.
The computer user turned in shock and nearly gave a shout.
"Who are you? How did you get in?!"
He answered, "How? I'm a certain omnipotent being."
"Prove it!" I challenged.
The room I was sitting in shifted into a church.
"ROB?" I thought nervously.
"No. COB. Certain Omnipotent Being," he replied easily.
"What do you want?" I asked suspiciously.
"How would you like to be a supersoldier?" he asked.
"Like Captain America and Winter Soldier?" I wondered out loud.
"Yes, something like that," he replied with nary a pout.
"No thanks. I would rather live to see tomorrow than live a dangerous life like those two."
"Don't worry. All that you have to do is play a retired supersoldier by the name of Ryan Elmore. Easy as eating bread," he said.
"Ryan Elmore? Isn't that from the character I modified as a supporting character in a story from the Supersoldier CYOA?" I asked with a feeling of dread.
Since Ryan Elmore was an earlier product of the supersoldier conversion process, I utilised the Augmented Soldier CYOA as the powers and abilities listed in there were much weaker than those found in the Supersoldier CYOA. All these things I did to show the readers that he was weaker than the latter versions of the supersoldiers coming from SAFEGUARD using the M-series Mutagen despite being a massive improvement from a normal baseline human.
"Yes. The very thing," he answered.
"What world is this?" I asked.
"Earth. Early 21st century Earth," he replied.
"It wouldn't happen to be Earth Bet would it? If it is, forget it. No way I'm tangoing with any of the Endbringers or capes. Not a fighter here. Just a writer. Besides, I don't want to be under SAFEGUARD's control," I pointed out.
"If you do it for me, you will earn my lasting gratitude. The gratitude of a CERTAIN OMNIPOTENT BEING," he answered, making sure to emphasize the last three words.
"No thanks. I would still prefer to keep my skin intact. Thank you but no thanks," I replied quickly.
No way was I putting myself on the same planet as the Endbringers or the Slaughterhouse Nine! Only a mindless idiot that was drugged to the gills would ever consider something like that.
"And you will earn the lasting contempt of a CERTAIN OMNIPOTENT BEING!" his face darkened, scaring me out of my wits.
That was bad! He was starting to use threats.
"If I'm going to be doing this, can I please use another CYOA with this?" I pleaded.
"Alright! Fine then! Use the Demigods CYOA! And don't even think about using the WORM CYOA! You're a support character! Not the main one ... People these days ... Give them an inch and they ask for the WHOLE ... NINE ... YARDS ..." he sighed, with emphasis on the last three words.
"The Demigod CYOA? I'm not familiar with that one! I only know about the WORM CYOA!" I cried out.
"Not my problem. Take it or leave it," the powerful being before me smirked.
"Say ... if I'm going to do the Demigods CYOA, would it be alright for me to use the Demigod Phase Mystic character that I created for My Guardian Angel?" I asked with a plea on my face.
"Why do you want to, anyway? The Demigods CYOA has the potential to become much stronger than that Demigod Phase Mystic character you created," the omnipotent being before me countered.
"I'm more familiar with its abilities and powers compared with this Demigod CYOA," I replied.
"And I do want to write a good story," I added.
"How about you pick your first powers using the point system for Demigods CYOA and then we'll see where this goes," he answered.
"Alright ... let me see. Knowing the dangers I would face, I pick Immortality as my first option which leaves me with fifty points. After that, I do want some growth in points so I'll pick War God for twenty points since the potential for conflict on Earth Bet is really high. And maybe Ancient Mysteries for another twenty points which leaves me with ten points. No way am I going near Devourer or Eldritch Abomination. I'm not a monster or a cannibal."
"You picked all the passive options. I see what you mean," COB spoke coldly.
"I did that cause I'm going in as a supersoldier even though I'm really an antique by today's supersoldier standards," I explained.
"Very true. You haven't spent all your points. Are you saving up your remaining ten points?" COB asked cheerfully.
"Definitely. Trying to get Seer of the Infinite or maybe Rewind as soon as possible. Has a fifty point cost each," I answered.
"Well that is a bit of a bummer. Tell you what, I'm willing to sweeten the deal. If you pick Devourer or Eldritch Abomination, I will be willing to give you the equivalent in point costs. Which means that you get seventy points for Devourer if you take it and another fifty points for Eldritch Abomination if you pick it instead of losing one hundred and twenty in point costs. Think about it. Imagine surprising the Slaughterhouse Nine when you switch to an Eldritch Abomination when they think that they have you. Consider it carefully," COB smirked expectedly.
I admitted that the deal was rather tempting. One hundred and twenty extra points for me to spend just by taking two powers. Unfortunately they were the two powers that I really did not want to take. But I didn't ever have to use them, right? I thought. And I could also use another hundred and twenty points. Just in case things went south. Still I couldn't help but feel that there was something off about the offer.
In the end, I gritted my teeth and voiced my words reluctantly to accept the deal.
"Okay, I'll take ... it."
COB simply smiled at my acceptance and asked me to continue with my selections. Having another extra one hundred and twenty points to my essence pool in addition to my remaining ten, I quickly made my choices.
Seer of the Infinite was my very first choice as it would grant me knowledge of the future up to six hours ahead. I was now left with eighty points. I quickly picked Divine Speed, Godly Mind, Sixth Sense, God's Eyes and Apex Predator. That left me with just twenty essence points remaining ... which one to pick ... In the end I chose Healing Hands for two reasons. Capes that could heal on Earth Bet were in massive short supply and I really wanted to do something good besides fighting and killing.
"Is that the final deal?" COB asked for confirmation.
I simply nodded my head.
"No changes of any sort?" he asked again.
I shook my head.
"Let's shake on it, then, to make things official," COB offered his hand.
I gripped it and began to feel very tired ... as if everything was fading away ...
"In that case, how shall I say this? Welcome to your new life!" COB laughed as his voice seemed to stretch and before long, all was darkness.
Demigod CYOA (100 points)
1. Immortality (-50 points) - The character's aging process stops. Whenever the character dies, the character is disembodied and transported into a limbo of pure nothing, where the character has to wait 24 hours. When the 24 hours are over, the character can reappear in a location the character remembers perfectly sane. Every time the character dies, the time the character has to pass in the limbo is increased by 24 hours.
2. War God (-20 points) - For every 100 humans within 1000 km from the character that die while fighting, the character gains 1 point. Only humans that are actually fighting award points. Each of these points last for 1 year, after which it disappears. The character can gain a maximum of 200 additional points this way.
3. Ancient Mysteries (-20 points) - The winged entity reveals to the character one last secret before disappearing: She scattered on the surface of Earth 100 seemingly normal stone cubes that contain a part of its divine soul. The character is able to perceive if there is a cube within 1km around the character. When the character finds one, the character can transfer its divine essence into the character's body, obtaining 10 additional points. The process takes a week of full-time meditation with the cube, in order to synchronize the character's soul with it. If the character is a Demigod of great intellect, however, it takes less time.
4. Sixth Sense (-10 points) - The character develops a sixth sense that warns the character of incoming danger. The character is able to detect the presence of other Demigods in a radius of 10km from the character.
5. Apex Predator (-10 points) - All the character's senses are heightened to supernatural levels, allowing the character to perceive the presence of other beings and flawlessly track them down.
6. God's Eyes (-10 points) - The character's eyesight improves dramatically, able to see things that are extremely faraway, perceiving the most minute details of the character's surroundings and retains perfect eyesight even in complete darkness. Additionally, the character's eyesight can see through matter, dissolve illusions and hallucinations, invisible enemies, and can tell Demigods apart from normal humans, even ones that reincarnated and aren't 20 years old yet.
7. Divine Speed (-20 points) - Able to move and strike at the speed of sound and reflexes are heightened to the point the character is able to dodge bullets.
8. Seer of the Infinite (-50 points) - The character always knows what is going to happen to the character in the next six hours. If the character concentrates hard enough, the character can loosely predict what will happen in the next 48 hours in a specific location or to a specific person. These visions are not fixed and can change based on the character's actions.
9. Healing Hands (-20 points) - The character can heal mortals and other Demigods from any injury or disease simply by touching them. The amount of time taken is proportional to the gravity of the injury or disease.
10. Devourer (+70 points) - Whenever the character eats a dead Demigod's heart, the character gains 20 additional points. There is no limit to the additional points gained through Devourer. Each time the character consumes a Demigod's heart, all Demigods within 100km will feel an intense pain and know that there's a Devourer around.
11. Eldritch Abomination (+50 points) - When in the character's Eldritch Abomination form, if something inorganic comes into contact with the character, it dissolves into dust and if the same thing happens something organic, it dies instantly. Divine Weapons, Emmissaries and Demigods do not instantly dissolve/die, unless touched for at least three consecutive seonds or touched three times within ten seconds. Even while the character is in human form, trying to mess with the character's mind causes an extremely painful backlash.
There was pain and then darkness again. I saw COB looking at me somewhat abashed.
I looked at him in puzzlement.
"You were right about one thing. Some places are just not possible at all without some perks from WORM CYOA," he said.
"What do you mean?" I wondered.
"It was not even one second into your new life and you had already expired," COB explained.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Simurgh happened," his eyes studied me grimly.
"Simurgh? Why would an Endbringer want to kill me for? I don't even know the creature personally," I replied nonchalantly.
"Regardless of why Ziz did it, we'll have to avoid having that happen again. I'll give you the Temporal Ghost Perk from Alternative WORM CYOA to hide from its sight. You also get the Power Immunity Perk because you don't get any of your powers from a shard. I also don't want anyone else peeking through your brain for the knowledge that you possess," he said.
"Can I get a few more perks with JLA mode?" I pleaded with COB.
"Perks? Fine but no powers of any sort. Your Devourer power will also be augmented automatically at no cost. So instead of twenty points when you consume a Demigod's heart, you gain forty points," he looked at me slyly.
"In that case I would like to go for Augmented Power with all eight points."
"Name them," he ordered.
"Seer of the Infinite so that I know what is going to happen to me twelve hours ahead of time rather than the usual six hours and in a specific location or person, ninety-six hours rather than the usual forty-eight hours. War God so that I gain a maximum of four hundred points rather than the normal two hundred points accumulated in a longer period of two years rather than the usual one year term storage in a two thousand kilometre radius. Ancient Mysteries is easy. Twenty points per stone cube recovered instead of just ten points and being able to detect it in a two kilometre radius. Also, Rewind when I get it. This will allow me to double its potential strengths and gains. I will save the remaining four points for the future," I stated.
"Is that all?" he asked again.
"That's it," I answered.
He was about to send me back when we heard another voice in the darkness.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold your horses here! Did I hear you correctly that you were about to send this poor dude back to where he was supposed to be?" a voice in the ether that seemed to come from all around me spoke out.
"ROB??!!! What are you doing here?" COB did not look one bit happy with the newcomer who had suddenly appeared from out of the blue in a suit.
"You were about to send him back to a destroyed city, COB with nowhere else to go. The entire city has been quarantined," the newcomer answered jovially.
I looked at ROB hopefully.
"Err ... ROB, could you ... " I was about to give voice to my request.
"Sure! I'll give you what you want! All the phase mystic and shadow warlock abilities from your 'beloved' character designed using the Palladium FRPG and augmented with those remaining points from the WORM Alternative CYOA. Let us send him back to the past before the Simurgh's attack. You want to do the honours or ... shall I?" ROB smirked at his fellow omnipotent being.
COB simply nodded his head in agreement and everything changed.
"Why didn't you tell him that the world that he was about to go to only had Devourers for Demigods?" COB asked.
"Why didn't you?" ROB turned aside the question skillfully.
"Don't tell me that you're thinking what I'm thinking ... " COB accused his fellow omnipotent being suspiciously.
The two omnipotent beings glared at each other with evil looks on their faces for a whole minute before bursting into uproarious laughter.
"But why tell him and ruin all the surprise?" Their sinister words echoed ominously through the void.