POV Rio
After the battle at the Pentagon, I found the others, and we went home. I then threw myself into my research. I was close to completing my first mirror, and I was fairly sure it would work.
"Now for the finishing touches," I say aloud as I attach the machine to the Sigil Stone.
The machine drained a portion of energy and used it as fuel for the mirror that I had built. When it was done, I put the stone away as I didn't need the full power of the stone. I learned that the hard way when the last mirror exploded from energy overload. But this time that wouldn't happen. I had double-checked all the math, and I was certain it would work this time.
"Power stable. Getting a signal. Come on. Come on. You can do it. YES!" I scream as I get a stable connection.
However, my victory is short-lived as I hear something very bad.
CRACK.
[Image Of Look Rio Has]
I turn around and see a blinding light, and I fall unconscious.
Sometime Later...
I woke up later, very confused about what had happened. When I look around, I find myself in a place I do not recognise.
"Oh poop," I say aloud.
I was on a beach with palm trees and sand. The sand was already getting everywhere, and it was as coarse and rough as I remembered.
'Focus.'
I check my Pip-Boy and find the clock is frozen. The map was also not helpful as it only showed Sanctuary Hills.
'Well, that's not good. I hope I didn't break it.'
As I was starting to think about what to do, time froze, and a message popped up.
[Bug Report Form ^*&%+)@-Error
It has come to the attention of our technicians that a software glitch has caused an interruption of abilities. An investigation found repeated severe Space-Time Fragmentation caused it. All previous saves were corrupted, and the save and summoning feature was unable to be used for the last week. As compensation for this untimely interruption to these features, we are giving the user a free update to fix these issues. We will also give you a temporal distortion that prevents time from passing in your home universe until you return. However, all previous saves have been lost and cannot be recovered. A new save point will be created once the new update is completed. Inventory, Save Loading, Summoning, and Experience will be disabled until the Update is completed. Thank You For Choosing Mal0's Specialty Systems, "Systems On A Budget." ]
After reading the message, it was automatically accepted, and the system started updating. My eye twitched as I saw the familiar updating progress bar.
"Free Update is a gift? Shouldn't that be given for FREE!" I complain with clenched teeth.
I take a deep breath and look at the silver linings.
'At least no time passes between these worlds. And I didn't break the system or PipBoy. But it will take forever for that update to complete.'
I had about as low a confidence as one could have in the system. Or rather, the creator of the system.
'Huh, now that I think about it, when it says Mal0, is that referring to that SCP?'
I think about it and find an answer that makes sense.
'That tracks.'
CRACK
The crack of thunder is heard, and for a split second, I thought the system creator was mad, but then I looked out to the ocean and saw a thunderstorm approaching.
'Oh yeah, I still have no idea what world I am in. But at least it seems to have magic.'
I decided to try to make a shelter for now. I may not have been able to place a Workshop at this time, but I still knew how to make some shelter. Magic made it much easier and ensured the structure was stable. I could have explored the island during the storm, but I was in no rush. I would focus on some meditation while I waited for the molasses system to finish its work.
The Very Next Day (Waddle Waddle)
Not long after the storm faded, the sun was coming up, so I decided to take this chance to see if the storm brought me anything of value. I combed the beach for anything of value and found a few things. Some combs, some comically large combs, a comically large spoon, a comically large bowl, a game called Romance Academy 7, a skeleton wearing a clerk's outfit, a billy the big mouth bass, a chest of doubloons, a cutlass, lots of garbage, and half a rowboat.
'What is up with all these weird finds?'
The doubloons I found were buried, so technically, they didn't wash up on shore. The rowboat was likely related, as it appeared to be very old. In fact, the sword could also be related. But the comically large objects, I had no idea about.
'Like who needs a spoon this large? And is the bowl from the same set? Does this world have giants?'
The spoon was strangely well-made. Like if I were larger, it would actually work as a spoon. The Combs were the same; both the large and normal-sized ones were well-made.
'How is this thing still working?'
The billy the big mouth bass was still working despite the fact that it was waterlogged. I put him on my wall. Next was the skeleton; I had to admit it was the strangest find. The skeleton was in pristine condition, as were its clothes. I put him in a fake sales desk, so I had company. As for the game, it was on a disc, so I had no way to play it. But it just seemed like a generic dating sim visual novel. I kept it as I didn't see a reason to get rid of it. The last things were the garbage, which allowed me to ascertain the rough time period I was in.
The trash, combined with the video game, made it seem like I was likely in the 2000s. I couldn't narrow it down any further, as I didn't recognise any of the products, nor did I have an encyclopedic knowledge of what products were produced on Earth.
'If I am even on Earth. For all I know, this is a completely different world.'
Many of the things I found were in English, and the products were similar enough that I could say that there was a decent chance of this being Earth or a similar world.
After sorting the findings, I stored them in my shelter and then started to explore the rest of the island. It wasn't that large. I was done in less than 20 minutes. Which still left me with the issue of not knowing where I was. I couldn't even be sure which direction I should leave if I wanted to find civilisation.
'Hmm, should I wait for the update?'
I look at the progress bar and see that it is at -3%.
'How the heck is that even possible!'
The bar was even showing negative progress, so I chose to just scout out the waters. I marked the island with a homing spell and then transformed into a Golduck as I needed to travel fast, but I didn't want to do so by air, as I might set off some radars. Golducks are said to be the fastest Pokémon in terms of swim speed, and if I was wrong, that's fine. I could always test out other forms in the future.
One Week Later...
"Billy, I'm home!" I say with a mocking tone.
"Take me to the River!~" Billy sings.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it," I reply.
I walk over to the map I had drawn on the wall and fill in what I had found on this trip. Basically nothing. It seemed the island I was on was in the middle of nowhere, as I had travelled well over 100 miles in every direction and still hadn't found any signs of life. But at least in the past week, the system update has gone from -3% to 17%.
'Sigh. At this rate, it will take several months for the update to finish.'
I had discovered plenty of interesting items on the sea floor, but most of them weren't very helpful. Save one. I found an old ship wreck, it's a sailboat boat but the damage was very minimal. I could repair it and then just store all my treasures and sail the oceans until I find land. But before that, I had a plan which a clone would handle.
POV General Thomas
"Sir, we are picking up an unknown object flying at high speed over the Atlantic," Cpt Connners reports.
"Do we know whose it is?" I ask.
"We aren't certain. It's currently cruising at over Mach 1, heading 090," Cpt Connners reports.
"Scramble the nearest assets, and get the Navy on the phone," I order.
POV Rio's Clone
I was cruising in the Stratosphere, waiting for someone to come and investigate. The main body decided this was both funny and would help us determine where land is. Or at least the nearest Navy asset. It would be funny because I was a Shiny Rayquaza. I didn't get much of its abilities, just its speed. Though I could have likely gone this fast without it, we would be too small to get tracked by Radars, or we would be dismissed as clutter rather than an actual aircraft.
My hearing picked up the distant sounds of jets. They must be closing the distance to ascertain what I am, since I am not emitting anything to indicate I am an aircraft. As they get within range of the Hoshigan, I see they are F-16s.
POV Pilot Captain Beatrice
"What in the god damn..." I say with a slack jaw and wide eyes.
"What do you see?" asks the Weapons Director in the command centre.
"It... I... I think it's a dragon," I reply with confusion in my tone.
"Can you repeat what you just said?" asks the WD.
"It's a long creature that looks like one of those Eastern Dragons. It has no wings, and it looks like it's swimming through the sky," I report.
The other side goes quiet, and I am sure they are talking around.
Suddenly, the dragon looks back at us. I was both scared and amazed. My wingman was clearly a lot more nervous than me because they opened fire.
BRRRRRRRTTTT
"Viper 2, what the hell are you doing!" I scream at Viper 2.
The bullets hit the dragon, but when I looked back, I was shocked to see that it had no effect. No, that's not quite correct. It was looking very pissed off.
ROOOOOAR
It roared, and a ball of blue light formed in its mouth.
"Take evasive action!" I said as I banked away.
BOOOOM
The dragon shot out the ball, and I realised it wasn't aimed at me. The ball went after Viper 2, and what was even scarier it was tracking him.
"I can't shake it!" Viper 2 yells.
BOOM
"I'm Hit! Viper 2 Bailout!" Viper 2 yells.
"Viper 1, do you have a visual on Viper 2?" the WD asks.
"His jet has been shot down. I have confirmed good shoots. But the dragon..." I say, but stop when I realise I lost track of it.
I look around and quickly find it. It was heading higher into the sky.
"The Dragon is fleeing," I report.
"Copy that. Search and Rescue are on their way," the WD replies.
I remain in a CAP until I am ordered to go home, but I constantly keep an eye on the sky, hoping that the dragon doesn't come back.
'I was expecting a Russian Spy Plane, or maybe a UFO, not a freaking dragon!'
I try to focus on the mission at hand and leave the big questions for later.
POV Rio's Clone
After I got away from the jet and I was sure that the fighter pilot didn't die, I dropped the transformation and dove into the water after applying an invisibility spell. Once I was in the water, I swam below the fighter pilot and made sure nothing bothered him until rescue arrived. The guy didn't seem to be a bad person; he just got scared and shot at me. Thankfully, my form was durable enough to shrug off the damage. The plan from here was to tag along with the rescuers to find their home base or something I could use to find out where I am.
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Author's Note:
The dial-up internet connection speed strikes again. Or maybe it's just because the system is poorly optimised. But I guess on the bright side, they actually fixed the bug rather than let it sit broken for 18 months. Cough Cough Bethedsa Cough Cough. Sorry, I had something in my throat there. Rio doesn't know what world he is in yet, but he will find out soon enough. I was tempted to add Wilson as part of the things Rio found, but I decided to let it be. I was also tempted to add in a joke about the Power of Friendship and a gun Rio found, but it was cut. Until next time, Ciao.