Your [skills] will be mine, as will your consciousness, and you'll never see another timeline from anything other than the passengers' seat as I drive my way to world domination! thought spoke the big jellyfish in a goading tone.
Froufrou was sick of hearing this awful thing mind speak about how great and how evil it was. Of course, wasn't Froufrou herself evil? Kahli sure seemed to think that, at least prophetically, that Froufrou was. But what did Froufrou think? Did she think that she was evil?
Froufrou wasn't certain, but Froufrou also didn't think that now was the time to think about such things, tantalizingly thought provoking as they were to her. She needed to fight this awful jellyfish!
Well? Anything to say for yourself? I see that awful little creature writhing around, is it going to do anything?
Froufrou had a thought. It seemed like the big jellyfish expected her to do something. Kahli probably did, too. So, what if she... did nothing at all? It was worth a shot, wasn't it?
Hmmm... It doesn't seem to be doing anything. But, I know better than that. See, I'm a mighty intelligent being, as you've no doubt gathered, Kahli, with our many long talks.
Yes, Kahli thought with exhaustion, Many, many long talks.
Froufrou was starting to feel better about her decision not to act. It seemed that, if what Kahli was saying was true - and of course it must've been - then the jellyfish might just think-speak itself out instead of actually attacking them. Well, maybe that was a bit wrong to consider. There certainly had to be some reasoning for what exactly the jellyfish planned to do. It sounded like it was going to somehow consume Froufrou and Kahli as if they were food, and possibly it was somehow freezing Kahli further than her [skill] was through use of its own [skill]. So, what Froufrou needed to do was sneakily attack the jellyfish in some way that would almost, if not certainly, send it reeling after but one or two hits. There was no time or allowance for guesswork here, was there?
If only Froufrou had read an encyclopedia about jellyfish anatomy, as the big jellyfish itself had at one time suggested, she would know! But, alas, things seemed fairly hopeless. Then again, it was still thought speaking instead of actually doing anything to her or to Kahli, so maybe all was not yet lost.
Yes, so many long talks we have had, Kahli, but not one has really hit upon my plans for domination of the world of Nomachiato. Yes, I am going to bring forth the end of the world, the apocalypse itself is my charge and station in life, and you are helping me get there! BAHAHAHHAAAAA! Yes, that's right, I can laugh in my mind, thank you very much.
I didn't ask, replied Kahli.
I don't care! I don't care what you think or what you ask, Kahli! I'm going to bring doom and gloom upon your world! World domination and destruction is mine, all mine! Glorious power, endless power! And once I establish dominion over your planet, I will consume the most mighty of all - I will consume Quantimidas, that mighty sleeping giant, and all his power will be mine!
Quantimidas? Kahli gasped. So he is real?
Of course he's fucking real, Kahli! And he's going to be my dinner. I'm going to consume Quantimidas and I'm going to become the most powerful being in all the universe! The entire space torus will soon fall under my dominion, Kahli, and it's all going to start with the end of the world, the apocalypse, MY glorious doomsday! HAHHAHHHHAHHHHHAAAAAH! What's more, even that is just the beginning - for you see, once I complete my plans for domination of this universe, I will stretch my tentacles further. Yes, I will grow more, I will gain the power to slip between universes, the multiverse will be at my disposal and I shall conquer them as well! Each time, consuming more and more powerful people, until I am so overpowered that nothing is a challenge and everything comes effortlessly to me in an endless feedback loop of overwhelming power! HAH HAH HAAAAAAH!
Wow, thought Kahli. That sure was wild, and about the last thing I expected. Wouldn't all that endless progression and power lust feel a little... empty, after a while?
During all this, Froufrou was sneakily floating through the void, doing her best not to get sensed by the jellyfish, and seeming to do quite a good job of it! She just needed to power up her [Putrify] attack to its maximum efficacy, and then to fire it at the weakest spot of the big jellyfish. If only she knew for certain where that was... As it was now, she could only look. And look Froufrou did, eventually spying something that looked promising. It was a strange, undulating fibre of near translucent skin that seemed to flop and flap around. It looked tender and weak. Froufrou decided then and there that she would charge up her [skill] and unleash it at the most opportune time she could ascertain.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
No, Kahli, the power would never feel empty! The power would feel amazing and intoxicating - not that you would ever understand that, of course, you foolish, obnoxious little tauman. You think you know everything, but you don't! I'm telling you, becoming more and more powerful forever will be incredibly gratifying for me, of this I have no doubts, and it is a small price to pay to have your gift of reliving time and choosing timelines - why, if I had the power that you do, I'd already be ruling every world I could grasp. You fail to see the implications of your [skills], and that will certainly be your downfall, Kahli.
Oh really? Do I? asked Kahli. It seemed to Froufrou that Kahli might've been on the verge of using her [Tale Teller] [skill] to distract the jellyfish further, which would've been ideal.
Yes, you do, you are a complete and total failure, Kahli, a fuh fuh fuh fuh FAILUUUUURE!
Wow, thanks for that, replied Kahli.
Froufrou was feeling frustrated. How could Kahli miss this golden opportunity to use her [skill] against the jellyfish? And yet, she seemed not to - and worse still, Froufrou wasn't able to mind speak with Kahli, despite their shared [skills] and system. What a shame! Had Froufrou been able to, she would've gladly suggested to Kahli to use [Tale Teller]. Of course, as she couldn't mind speak, there was no use in Froufrou trying to use the [skill] herself. What a shame indeed.
Regardless, she'd positioned herself right under the jellyfish and had a perfect shot at the flaps that she was so certain were its weakest point. With that, she charged up her [Putrify] [skill] as much as possible and then unleashed the huge, blasting putrification orb at the jellyfish.
Fail, fail, fail is you, Kahli, fail is you!
With that, the orb exploded right all over the jellyfish's flaps, and sent it reeling and screaming.
[Big Jellyfish is taking damage]
AAAAGH! AAAAAGH! Oh, it's so disgusting! Oh, ew! whined the jellyfish. It was glowing green and oozing with goo, but it didn't seeme totally defeated.
Which was a bit of a problem, because Froufrou had used all of her [STM] on that attack, and had to wait through a cooldown period before attacking again.
Die, you wretched mass of tendrils! thought spoke the jellyfish as it raised a nasty tentacle and slammed it down on Froufrou with malice.
[You died]
[End scenario]
Froufrou felt more lost now than she had the whole time using this [skill]. Had Kahli ever been faced with a situation such as this, wherein she had to choose between three scenarios that she died in? Obviously not, because Kahli was still alive. Only, how was Froufrou to make it out of this?
Then, she had a thought. Hadn't there been a new addition to this [skill] recently? And, considering that, shouldn't she try and use it to get out of this mess somehow?
[Clarification: Yes, you can twist a timeline by slightly altering different aspects of it. The twist feature uses the concept of multiverses and random chance to warp a selected timeline, with your discerning, to a more favorable outcome. The drawback is, you can only twist one timeline per checkpoint, and you must use the twisted timeline as your timeline to proceed under - that is to say, if the results of twisting are suboptimal, you've got to stick with them, or otherwise you may revert the timeline to its original form - either way, you've got to stick with the timeline you choose to twist.]
Froufrou considered this. Obviously it wasn't going to be something Kahli used all the time, then, if this [skill] addition was so limiting. However, she really didn't have much to lose using it now, Froufrou figured. It was either twist a timeline, or submit to death. And, meager though Froufrou may have been, she wasn't in the mood to die.
So, Froufrou considered each of the three timeline scenarios. The first one had seemed fairly close - and yet, it had also had the jellyfish on the offensive from the start, and the risk of death seemed too much iin directly agitating the jellyfish. Scenario two had similar drawbacks - getting the jellyfish to attack itself just didn't seem like enough to properly keep it from killing her and Kahli. So that left scenario three.
What could twisting the scenario do?
[Clarification: Using your own consciousness, you can manipulate how the timeline will twist based on your imagination and nearby timelines. It is advised to consider things that would have worked out better for you in that timeline in order to assimilate them, through large scale quantum tunneling and multiverse manipulation, into your timeline to your benefit.]
That seemed simple enough, especially considering the fact that Froufrou was an experienced meditator. She quickly activated her system meditation and concocted a small list of items that could potentially help her in the third scenario, had they initially been there.
[Twist complete]
[Now loading twisted scenario]
For once, she was feeling confident about this [skill]. Froufrou was ready for action.