@'Demi - He's not a complete pedo, since he backs off when Princess Bubblegum turns 13. He also doesn't seem to realize that he's no longer his handsome younger self.
Side note - All I know is that Zero's dead and Axel's critical.
Part of chapter 1 in Apex Predator.
By the way, can someone check this for errors? Thanks.
Thoughts please!
Spoiler for Apex Predator, Chapter 1:
POV: Dan Gotanda
“Welcome, Kid, to the top of the food chain.”
“Uumm… what?” I thought, confused.
“Perhaps it is better for me to explain first what you are now, don’t you agree?”
I nod. Running up walls and clearing five story jumps aren’t exactly normal, after all.
“Don’t freak out. First of all, you’re not human, at least, not biologically human, anymore.”
“Really? I mean, I’m sure running a few hundred kilometers an hour and clearing thirty five meter jumps are very human. Everyone can do that, right?” I drawled sarcastically. Seriously, of course I know I’m not human. I might not have the best grades at school, but I’m not that stupid.
Alex chuckled and looks at me with an amused expression.
“You’re taking this better than I thought, kid. Anyway, you’re not biologically human. When you were taken to the hospital, you were effectively dead. In fact, you were already dead when I brought you to the operating table.”
“So I’m what, a zombie? A vampire of some sorts?” I ask. Shit, being a real vampire sounds cool.
“Let me finish. In order to save your life, I had to infect you with the Blacklight virus. Right now, you’re a Blacklight carbon-copy of Dan Gotanda.”
“So… I’m not Dan Gotanda.”
Alex paused.
“Your identity is something that you can control. You can certainly be Dan Gotanda if you wish it so.”
I think of the implications of his words. So I’m still Dan Gotanda, right? I mean, I have a family, don’t I?
“Anyway, when I infected your soon-to-be-dead body with the Blacklight virus, the virus repurposes every dying cell into biomass. You don’t have any vital organs, no brain, nothing. You don’t even have veins or arteries. In other words, you have no weak spots to exploit.”
“Wait, are you saying I’m effectively immortal?” Cause, shit, that’s actually pretty awesome.
“Pretty much. The only thing that can take you out of commission right now is a megaton range nuke. Even then, since biomass is very resistant to damage, you’ll still survive, albeit as a puddle of biomass. It will only be a matter of time until you regenerate, though. Be aware, however, that that does not mean you cannot be defeated. You can still be, for example, cryogenically frozen and captured. Or IS units can attack you with hit and run tactics and reduce you to primordial goo. Either way, just because you can’t die does not mean you cannot be reduced to a state where you’re effectively dead.”
I take some time to process this. I guess I won’t age either. This is so damn awesome!
“Yes you won’t age normally. But you can take on an elder or younger form if you want to. Beware, though, regeneration requires you to consume biomass out of living or dead organisms. Let me give an example.”
Alex put his palm on a tree. Instantly, tentacles rip from his body, dug onto the tree… and for lack of a better word… consumed it. Seriously, the tree just melted and got absorbed by Alex. How does that work, anyway? And where the hell did the tree go? Into Alex? All the mass of that huge tree, probably weighing a few hundred kilos, all packed into Alex? Frankly, I’m not sure if that’s physically possible.
“For your information, its tendrils, not tentacles. And you can do that to. Just focus.”
I put my palm on a tree. Just like Alex, tentac- no, tendrils rip into the tree. I feel myself stronger, healthier, after the… consumption. I consume a few more trees before stopping.
“You can evolve if you put yourself at a state of constant evolutionary pressure,” Alex continued, “Evolving that way takes time, though. The easier way to evolve and get new powers is to manually mutate and engineer your genes. Given that you don’t know how to do any of that right now, I’ll be doing that for you.”
“New powers?” I ask.
“Yes, new powers. If you decide to work for me, of course. I don’t exactly dole out mutations for free. Think of it as a positive incentive to let me guide you.”
I hesitate. He wants me to work for him? Why? Just what does he really do, anyway?
He hands me a small brown packet.
“In this packet contains your first… mission. It’s nothing heavy. In fact, you might enjoy it, playing hero. Consume the pill if you accept. Dispose of the packet if you don’t. Inside the packet also contains some of my notes and files that you might be interested in.”
I nod and accept the packet. It’s rather bulky, like it contains a huge stack of papers.
“Tomorrow, you will be discharged. I will write a note to your parents stating that you need a week of rest. If you accept, consume the pill tomorrow night at seven. If you don’t, burn the packet thoroughly the next day.”
I nod in understanding.
Alex took out a scalpel and a vial from his lab coat.
“Before we finish, I would like a sample of biomass from you to determine your genetic potential. Your finger please.”
I extend a finger towards him. He cuts out a small piece of it and puts it in his vial. There is no blood or pain. Nothing. Just writhing biomass complaining of the damage.
“Now, go back to the hospital. I have some business to do.”
And with that, Alex ran off. I run to the direction of the hospital.
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POV: Dan Gotanda
It’s morning. My Dad is here to pick me up. I hold the packet under my arm. My Dad does not seem to notice or care about it. Or maybe he purposefully ignored it. I’m not sure. Anyway, I thought he has a job interview today? The one with computers? Isn’t that job interview an hour from now?
He keeps insisting for me to walk slowly and carefully. This is after he insisted for me to be carried on a wheelchair or a crutch. I convinced him that I’m fine and that I can walk well.
Screw walking well. I can run up buildings now. I can survive falls that would kill anything else. I can jump and clear 8 floor buildings. With these superhuman skills, I obviously can walk.
Exiting the hospital, we entered the Taxi my dad called. I can hear the taxi’s seats creak in protest. Did I actually gain weight while in the hospital? How did that happen?
Oh yeah, I consumed a few trees last night.
I try to doze off in the taxi. I did not get any sleep last night. I’m not sure if I even need sleep, though. I’m not tired at all. It seems that sleep, along with eating and showering is now nonessential and a luxury. Relieving myself is completely unneeded.
What have I become?
My thoughts stray to the packet I have in my hands. I originally thought that if I consume the pill inside this packet, I would be selling my soul to Alex in return for power. Now that I think of it, that’s just the surface of the costs. I would, in his words, mutate if I consume the pill. Taking the pill would make me even less human than what I already am.
Do I want to be less human?
Do I want to have more power?
What would I do with power?
How much power will I get, anyway? Will the power I gain outweigh the costs?
And why the hell isn’t this Taxi moving?
Seriously, why the hell are we still in the hospital?
I exit the Taxi to find out what is going on.
“I’m sorry, sir, I did not expect this to happen!” the Taxi driver tried to soothe my angry Dad.
“What do you mean you did not expect this to happen!” Yelled my Dad. Just what is going on?
I look at the Taxi’s tires. All four of them are flat. Not flat, actually… crushed might be the better word.
I did consume a few huge trees last night.
But that couldn’t add that much weight to me, couldn’t it?
Let’s see… if one tree is around 500kg…
And I consumed around 30 of those trees…
Then my total weight should be slightly more than 15 tons.
Oh.
Right.
Damn… how the hell am I supposed to get home? Run the damn distance?
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It took some time convincing my Dad that I can take care of myself and go home via bus, so that he can go to his job interview with another Taxi. It is simply wasteful for both of us to take the Taxi.
Especially because I can jump building to building and run at 100mph.
I will never get bored of this.
I vaulted over yet another air conditioning unit, and then jumped over to yet another house. I intend to take the route through the city, just so that I can scale skyscrapers and practice the accuracy of my jumps.
I have taken the precaution to morph a black mask in front of my face and dye my hair black. This will prevent anyone from noticing me. I’ll just morph back when I arrive home.
I finally reach the freeway. Vaulting over the freeway railings, I broke at a dead sprint following the road to the city. At 160 kilometers an hour, I pretty much outrun anything that isn’t a race car. I feel the wind constantly slamming my masked face. Turning my head back, I also notice red hues (gas?) shooting itself from my back, giving me the appearance of a shooting star.
I nearly crash into a car because of that distraction. I quickly vault over it in over the top parkour action, and continue my dead run.
Swerving past a few more cars, I decide to amuse myself by waving at a car window.
The occupant responded with a dumb stare and waved back. I can only break into an uncontrollable laugh with this.
Finally reaching the end of the toll road, I jump over the toll pay booth (I feel like I’m cheating a few people, here) and landed on a small apartment. Then I jumped from that apartment to the walls of a skyscraper.
Or planned to, at least. The sensation of having the wind blowing at your body is exhilarating. It made me complacent. And it robbed me of my attention.
And when complacency meets inattention…
I promptly slammed onto the glass window of the skyscraper, skidding at the ground before I get up and break into a dead run, intent on slamming past another window before anyone sees me and kills me with embarrassment…
That damn office floor seemed to stretch forever. I finally reached the end of the office and jumped, slamming the window I purposefully targeted.
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“Who the hell is that?” asked the Gotanda father while being guided to a job interview.
“I have no idea?” replied his guide.
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This time, I targeted the metallic support beam of an adjacent skyscraper and not its glass window. I do not want to slam into another office.
But in the event I do slam through another glass window, I hope I slam into the female bathroom. At least there is a chance I would barge in a pretty girl changing or something. That would be nice.
Maybe it’s because of my perverted thoughts. Maybe it’s because of a draft of wind I couldn’t quite anticipate. Or maybe it’s just because I suck at guiding myself in the air.
I slam into another glass window.
And boy am I lucky.
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POV: Utsuho Nohotoke
Utsuho Nohotoke is currently not pleased. First, she heard that a boy she took interest in got hurt. Stabbed in multiple vitals, in fact. Then, she got called to accompany her master, Tatenashi, on a meeting, mostly because Tatenashi herself is too lazy to present anything, so she’ll have to do the talking. Then, she heard that Dan Gotanda, the boy she’s interested in, has recovered and is discharged. Nothing less than a miraculous recovery, especially considering it only took him a night to recover. But she just has to attend this meeting, so she can’t meet him right away. Then she remembered that she needs to wear formal clothing. With so many damn things to memorize, trivial things such as formal clothing tend to be forgotten. So she borrowed from the office, a branch of the Sarashiki organization. Now she’s changing in the female bathroom. Then someone broke through the curtained bathroom window and slammed himself on the bathroom wall. While she’s still changing. And undressed. Specifically, in her underwear.
“Hopefully, he’s knocked out so that he’ll not see me like this,” Utsuho thought.
Now that’s just asking for it, isn’t it?
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POV: Dan Gotanda
I groan in pain. Well, I did not actually feel pain, but I feel the urge to groan nonetheless. It’s weird, really. It seems that I am inclined to act as human as possible. A former attachment, perhaps?
And why the hell am I thinking like this? How the hell did I suddenly become damn smart?
Hive mind processing power, came a whisper in my mind. That’s probably Alex.
I shake myself free of debris and unsummon my mask. Not a wise choice, but I need some space to breathe, and a constricting mask isn’t helping much.
Except that I don’t need to breathe. I don’t know, another psychological inclination, maybe?
What’s the worst that can happen anyway? It’s not like…
Oh shit…
__________________
“The evil that is in the world almost always comes from ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.” ― Albert Camus
Well, the existing technology and science implies it's much easier to do than IRL, still there's no mention of actual clone at all. Even Laura is modified baby grown in a tube.
Even if somebody messed up messing around with it?
Let's put thing into perspective:
> IS core is something which even the scientist do not know. You don't know what will happen if you mess up.... (It might trigger a chain reaction that may be worst than a nuclear fallout)
Edit: Don't forget: IS is rather powerful.... lots of energy is being involved here...
> There is limited number of IS core which means one IS core is insanely expensive.
It is like playing with a trillion dollar doll... some thing which even the rich will think thrice.
Not only that:
> IS Core is vital to a nation's defense (or so the canon claimed).... So if anything happen to the core, lots of people are going to be in trouble.....
If you screw up, there is not only going to be a hefty bill, you will also be charged with treason.....
Conclusion: What kind of immature idiot would want to do that...
@Demi
Not sure. There isn't single clone in Canon, but there may be enough technological advancement in Canon to imply that cloning is possible.
__________________
“The evil that is in the world almost always comes from ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.” ― Albert Camus
2012-05-26, 09:36
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