Progress.
What is Progress, how does one have it and what can it do?
How can progress go forward in this world where children are killed by monsters that lurk beneath the shadows, and the ones that fly high above it? How can one dream of doing anything when the good is unrewarding and the monsters don't even hide themselves? What can one do when they're stuck against a calamity like Leviathan, Simurgh or Behemoth? I've tried fighting myself, as a Tinker with the ability to do anything, I had truly believed that it was my destiny to be the one to defeat them, but I couldn't.
Tinkering is strange, unnatural, always has been, at least for me. I know it's not like that for everyone, but that's how I felt, that's why I don't like entering in the fugue state that Tinkers often fall prey upon. It's also why I'm considered a joke between Tinkers, they look down on me, just like everyone else in this world had. Judging eyes, that feel on my bile as I can see them laughing on my back. At least I had Hank with me. Don't know what I would do if I didn't have a friend like him in my life.
I ran away from home, you know? Honestly that's a lot more normal than you would expect in a shithole like Brockton Bay. It's not that bad, sometimes we even make a little get around for food, using the money Hank and I got from our latest video. But lately it has been getting harder to get views, patrons, donations, anything related to our channel. Usually we made sure to just do petty crimes like breaking a few cars, hitting on the walls or fighting the heroic capes because of blah blah blah, but now Hank is feeling the weight on his back and he keeps asking 'hey Yong-Ha, we should make a Grand Theft Auto video' where Hank would hire some ABB hookers to get beaten up.
Didn't like it, too risky, we managed to circumvent the PRT not because we were good, but because we put ourselves in a spot where we're pretty used as practice for the Wards, which I didn't even mind it... okay, not really. I always wanted to be respected, but what can you do when your power is to supposedly create anything once? And even then I'm not completely sure how 'anything once' really works because shit that I have never built before also keeps getting fucked up.
It's hard, you know? They don't mention how difficult it is to be a Tinker, how much money they use to build anything and how easy it is to be saddened the moment it all gets fucked up and it blows up at my face. Then the comments on V-tube, on PHO, everywhere, degrading comments, shit talking, people telling us to kill ourselves.
How is one supposed to go further and beyond when people keeps trying to drag us through the mud, through the dirt, when every day I can't help but wonder what would happen if I had just disappeared into buttfuck nowhere.
What would have happened if I just died without being remembered, if I had just... Bah! Who cares about these issues? I still don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do about the next video.
But what can I even do? I can't activate my power, I can't call upon it, no Tinker fugue as I had previously, the progress that I had, it's gone. Poof. Just like that, my entire life is ruined like a fucking shitshow and no one will care for me.
Even the Wards were disrespecting me now, before it was just the Undersiders, but now not even the Wards were taking me seriously.
Well, I was going to prove them wrong, I didn't know how, but I will. Maybe I can cannibalize parts of my shit from other videos to create something else.
"I still have Bowser's outfit." I had told myself, it gave enough of a brute rating that it could handle small guns like pistols and whatnot, and it had 'fire breathing' abilities, not unlike Lung, I guess, if I could just change the design, it wouldn't be repeating the same thing again and again.
I walk through my secret base slash bedroom slash broken garage shit to find the suit, which I couldn't help but curse a single 'fuck' as I looked over it.
I forgot that we had to stop the video early because Hookwolf attacked us and almost killed our asses, which we managed to be alive if only because the motherfucker was playing with us. Still can't believe I live in the same fucking town as the Nazi and they still have more support than we do. How? Bullshit, that's how.
But somehow, I felt myself falling onto my knees, sweat pouring through my forehead as it fell down, the floor shuddering, was it an Endbringer attacking me? What was-
"Hmm." I heard someone hum as they entered what's basically my safe sanctuary, which didn't make sense, my defensive system should have recognized it, unless-
"Unless I knew the password, which granted, I knew, thankfully." The man said, with a voice that resembled my father's.
"Hello Leet, I'm you, another you, kinda." He said as the pressure that kept me on the floor diminished enough that I could lift my head enough to see him, his features were mine, yet sharper, more handsome. Damn Ryaju explode!
"I'm you, if I had my mind fused with someone from another world, and well? I made sure to subjugate my version of Earth Bet and stomp whoever the fuck annoyed the shit out of me, but hey, that was a lot of fun, if I may say so myself." Another version of Earth Bet? That was a thing? Heh, so there were multiple versions of the Endbringers as well.
"Be careful though, in my world, I had to fight all twenty endbringers, and well, your new you might have to do that as well." He said as I puked, I didn't puke in the fear of fighting the Endbringers, nor at the fact that there were twenty of those, even if that felt like a ridiculous number given that we were having our ass kicked by just three of them.
And I knew that it wasn't just fear because my puke had tar in it, or at least something of that color, black puke, blegh.
"It's fine Leet, that's just the shard trying to reject your newfound Power, it's fine Leet, you will be the hero to save them all... Or kill them if you feel like it. Beginning, End, you can be that and nothing at all. You're Free Leet, never forget that." He said as I felt myself warmed as something hugged me, like when a grandma notices you're cold and she hugs you to warm you up, it's very caring.
[Legendary Craftsman (Modded Fallout) (200CP)]
[Remember all those unique prototype weapons with crazy awesome effects? The Legendary items in Fallout 4? The games have had their fair share of 'better than normal' items, and you know just how to make them. You have the ability to substantially improve whatever items you work on, needing at most enough components to build a second copy of the item in question. Whether it's dumping half your power cell into each shot a la Pew-Pew, making every bullet fired by your Minigun into an explosive round, or crafting armor that boosts your stats with no regard for how or why it works, you've got it all. Never again will you need to worry about being unable to find that Two-Shot or Instigating Gauss Rifle! You'll even be able to (slightly) fudge where those unique effects could be found, like making Power Armor with special effects or a Gatling Laser that does fire explosive rounds. Beams. Whatever.]
And those were the words I heard ringing on my head as I woke up from my puke.
What in the actual fuck?
