Jessica wasn't worried. "And you have double checked the oversight over the two teams investigating the ink manufacturing sources, yes?"
Her hologram gave a wry smile and nod.
She WASN'T, damn it! "Because some of the cardstock vendors have NO listed sources, and we NEED to track down who keeps making counterfeit Soul Fragments for the public…"
A raised eyebrow… Right, of course she would know how important this was. "Sorry."
Her other self snorted and pulled her into a hug. "SPYRAL will continue to work as they always have, even without your wonderful presence. Go with our brother, find your way back to our old Realm to check in and get your severance package, we'll be fine."
Uh. "I haven't… OFFICIALLY decided that I would be retiring from MIB..."
She looked into her own mildly amused eyes. "Sure. I bet you would certainly choose to stay behind and watch your brother wander away from reality. There's all that lovely paperwork you'd be missing, right?"
…Ah. Well, that was fair. "I'm not sure MIB offers any severance packages…"
Holo-Jessica chuckled. "Probably not… After all, they tend to just redefine our work role even when we retire. Hell, they'll probably make a new department just to cover 'Agents traveling outside of reality with younger siblings of unknown origin or status.' Just write me a letter if we end up being the head of team 'Atoorwysouoos', alright?"
She couldn't keep a small smile off her face. "Alright, I'll do that. And if nothing else, I'll make sure that Agent T gets in ALL SORTS of trouble if he failed to submit our UTS forms."
Her twin hummed. "I wonder if time actually passes while we travel like this… Or more accurately, when YOU traveled like this."
Ah that… Yeah. "John says time doesn't always align the way you'd think it would when moving between Realms. He's hopeful that when we get close enough to the final couple of jumps he can aim us to roughly the moment we left, give or take a few days…"
Which would mean less compensation from work, but ALSO not returning sixty years in the future or arriving before MIB was even established. "And you were born here, so you don't get any of my compensation regardless missy!"
Her other self chuckled. "Darn! Foiled again! Now give me some sugar, I'm going to miss you."
Oh… Well uh…
She did have some time…
~~~Pocket System~~~
John absently nodded as he handled the last minute Q&A session. "If you attempt to get pregnant, your hologram will be replaced by a synthesized body automatically. This will obviously limit the amount of power you can display locally for the duration of gestation, but on the other hand you won't convert your newborn into a half Soul Fragment entity if the power goes out… Oh, hang on! I think my sister is ready to go… Just send the rest as letters to our [[Home]] and I'll answer when I can."
He ignored the digital frustration from the numerous Dark Magician Girls as he grinned at his sister! "Everything wrapped up?"
His sister was still sorting stuff on a holographic screen. "Hmm? Sorry, I was distracted, John. What did you ask me?"
A glance showed that both Grace and Temptation had already disconnected from the Local Realm to do any remaining work entirely from inside the Pocket. "Just checking if we are ready to get moving! I'm really interested to see where this yellow node takes us."
She cleared her screens and slouched into a poofy chair. "Maybe after we take a break… And a bit of a talk."
Huh?
His sister pulled up his earlier message. "I read the note you sent out to us… About our next step in our journey, about the new 'Realm Node' thing, and all that. This Yellow one, the next one on our route, that means someplace where several Realms crossed over into each other right? It seems a bit risky. And potentially unstable or structurally unsound."
Meh, he waved that off. "Anything TOO unstable is marked as Red, so that shouldn't be an issue." Well, those plus a few extra Realms that his Pocket determined to be as fluid as the Flintstone one.
He had decided to proactively mark all of THAT mess as banned BEFORE it became an issue. "And honestly this is one of the better Node options along the way we need to go, in my opinion."
John pointed at the new traveling interface from the Pocket System. Specifically, at the new 'map', which attempted to make something a mortal could understand and failed entirely. "See, originally we escaped using emergency evacuation protocols, and that heavily damaged me while barely moving us anywhere. That's why we were still in the same Realm back then, but in a slightly different dimension, the one with Phineas and Ferb."
The map shifted. "However, BECAUSE I was damaged, I couldn't just step back. I was stuck with the safest and most reliable movement options, and my locked level of precision was too terrible to reach someplace so close and too small for us to hit."
Not that his system had been able to sense most of these details at the time due to John being crippled. "So I had to sort of walk away, change our angle of approach, then come BACK to get us back to your specific Realm and Dimension. At least, that was the plan."
It was as if you were a robot that was only able to move five meters at a time, but needed to change position by eight millimeters.
Except in this scenario, it ALSO couldn't see or sense almost anything, all the ground in the area were arbitrarily moving treadmills and escalators, the target destination itself kept MOVING, and the robot had to devour chunks of himself to attempt and repair the rest of its broken bits… Where had he been going with this analogy?
He frowned at the inaccurate graphics. "That said, transfer between Realms is odd, and I did a lot of our first movements using raw intuition and stuff. Plus, the Realms DO shift over time, which just makes everything even more of a mess and…"
Sigh. "Anyway, that's why we need to head in THIS direction, and that particular yellow node felt like it would be neat!"
Jessica hummed as she pulled up what data they had for this next stop… Which was little. "What does it mean by '76% pure'?"
John checked his Pocket Pals over once more (And his entire SWAMP of new friends from here!) as he responded. "Some crossovers are perfectly merged, but that is rare. Most of the time, the bulk of a place is one Realm with notes from the others… When you have a high purity number, like 99% or 98%, there might only be a few key individuals or places or abilities that drop into an unrelated scene."
From what his Pocket said, those nodes were barely yellow at all and VERY stable. Not like this one. "This place however has a LOT of Realms merged together, but still manages to retain a high purity rate because the vast MAJORITY of the ones that joined up were already related to each other. Similar timelines, divergent histories, but all sharing the same theme or two."
Still, it did increase the risk of visiting. A bit of causality warping here and there due to 'impossible' interactions, more conflict over in these areas due to overlapping motivations or duplicated locations and such…
Merged families, some people brand new, fabricated from the raw energy involved when it all mashed together. Gender swapping here and there, personality quirks, modified race or species, all that mess.
It looked like it could be fun!
His sister now looked VERY concerned. "Perhaps we should consider some alternate route? One with a higher purity number than 76%?"
Oh come on! "It will be FINE! I'm already going to be avoiding New York, California, Texas, England, and Japan entirely! Most of the crazy stuff should be concentrated in those spots, so as long as I get a bit of a looky-loo then I can make sure to pull you all out when I get to a good safe spot."
Assuming he or his Pocket could recognize those locations before arrival and that they were called something recognizable or analogous to said banned spots. For all he knew, EVERY area in the new Realm could be labeled 'YoudFukedUp' or something, at which point it was totally not his fault, right? Right!?
...Best not bring that concern up, probably.
She hesitated a moment more… Then sighed. "Just be careful, alright? I only have one little brother, and I don't want to have him put into risky and dangerous situations if we can help it."
…Ah. "Yeah sis, I'll be careful."
Her care and concern made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Also a bit guilty.
So for no particular reason, John quietly altered the planned route a bit to avoid the fascinating '36% purity' node that he had planned to visit later on their journey. And maybe a few other problematic but interesting choice too. For now.
Right, let's do this! "System, initiate [[Transfer]]!"
[[Pocket.]]
[[Transfer.]]
~~~Pocket System~~~
[[Selected Node designated; System connection reestablished.]]
[[Deploying HOST.]]
~~~Pocket System~~~
John blinked at suddenly appearing within an abandoned city street.
…He didn't feel blasted to crap OR hyped up on caffeine and hormones. "Okay, this is new…"
[[HOST's Transfer module is less damaged and better able to deploy to new Realms with fewer side effects and greater efficiency.]]
Huh. Neat. "Can I turn on the 'holy shit I am ALIVE' feeling stuff later on if I want to?"
[[Not without User Jessica's approval, due to prior instructions.]]
Hmm? He began walking along to the sound of distant chaos. "Which ones?"
[[Rule 323: John is not to artificially drug himself for recreational reasons without prior approval and oversight until after he has reached mental and physical maturity.]]
Huh. "She really made a LOT of those rules, hasn't she?" It was kind of impressive.
[[The 'Rule List' is undergoing continuing adjustment via the committee of Users Jessica, Grace, and Hope Doe. The advising council for said committee include the designated 'Pocket Pals', 'Deployed SPYRAL Agents', and the 'Frog Empire'.]]
Neat. "I assume Substitoad or one of our subjects added in the rules about not consuming newly discovered insectoid life forms without prior analysis?" That would make sense. After all, they'd know best about that sort of thing.
[[The entire subsection about HOST consumption guidelines, rules and restrictions has been documented by a group effort. User Jessica has heavily insisted that due to John's ability to Consume potentially deadly and dangerous substances without concern or negative effect, that this particular topic requires full consideration.]]
Oh alright, that seemed reasonable. "I HAVE been eating less and less raw metal recently… Although that might be due to how distracted I've been more than anything." Maybe he should pick up some local samples? There was certainly a lot to choose from around here at the moment.
A distant crash shook the ground as John stretched and checked his status. "So is this the new Body the girls came up with?"
If nothing else, at least he wasn't SHORT now. Though he was also CLEARLY not pre-puberty as he had intended these last few jumps, it was fine as long as he wasn't tiny again.
[[HOST's current body is biologically 22 years old, with cybernetic skeletal structure and reinforced muscles, organs, and skin from the improved Borg inspired genetic databases.]]
John moved towards the nearest collapsed wall that had a reflective metal surface exposed and tried to get a good look. "I kind of like this new look… And I'm sure Substitoad approves of me having a half black and half white hairstyle."
He might stick with this actually. It went well with his glowing blue eyes… Oops. "Please tone down my eye color, I'm basically a flashlight here. Anytime a part of my future Body glows, I want the light level to default down to 'barely visible in dim light', not hit 'disco ball on the freeway' craziness."
[[Confirmed, adjustments underway.]]
John considered the adjusted look… And had to frown as the entire area got smashed with rubble.
Damn it, he was trying to do something here! "Morph Gruffneff fake…"
Just, [[Pocket]] all the crap trying to crush his Body and let's Collect enough debris to get out from under this office building.
Assuming this was an office building… Because it was a bit difficult to tell with all the bits messed up like this.
The wreckage didn't LOOK like a hotel at least, right? Or would that not be obvious? He'd never really considered what the inside of a throwing building would look like to the person that was actually smashed with such a thing.
Gathering another chunk of material to move forward, he had to adjust his direction a bit due to how the stuff above began shifting and comparing down onto the mess along the path down and…
John paused. Shit, which way was the street and which way had he originally started walking? Had he gotten turned around? The rocks, concrete, and trash below didn't make it clear.
Screw this. "Please Collect everything above me till I'm clear of this mess please. And once we figure out where 'ground level' actually is right now, Pocket everything at that height or higher so we can clear this area a bit."
And suddenly, LIGHT!
John blinked, and looked up… At the perfectly empty column of air above him.
Because his Pocket had also grabbed all the air debris, cloud cover, and weather in a vertical snag of material.
Oops.
Something mechanical shifted… Oh. "Hey, a giant robot! That's kind of neat!" Seemed to be fighting some sort of massive lobster thing too, even if they had both paused for some reason…
Oh. "Don't mind me, I'm just going to watch from over here."
The two massive entities continued to stare at him, even though both seemed to be paused mid conflict, arms ready to smash each other. Wonder why?
John blinked. Oh doi! He was too far away and they couldn't hear him! That was on him, his bad.
Right, no problem. Ahem: "Pocket System, if you could amplify me? [[I said, don't mind me! You can carry on!]]"
Great, you can stop now, System.
[[Confirmed.]]
There! That should fix everything. Problem solved!
Plus John could now SEE what bits of rubble he might want to snack on while watching this massive monster fight. Everybody wins!
