The Voice that inhabited Frank's affable, undead skeleton figure was presently lurking in the crowds of Flungunglia as they flocked to some strange new restaurant run by a robot. He'd decided to high-tailbone it out of Gifflenberg for a bit in order to consume the energy and power of people in places not as strongly affected by disasters, natural and otherwise, as Gifflenberg was presently.

Also, he was somewhat hiding from the Order of Ahw Gizer, admittedly they'd managed to give him a bit of a run for his money and the last thing he wanted, as a consumer, was to become contained and examined by them. If that happened, they'd probably end up succeeding in separating his consciousness from Frank's body, and the Voice wasn't sure if anyone had communicated with a soul from a body that a consumer had stolen - such a soul would surely have some sort of wide understanding of consumers that would help in eradicating them as a whole, the Voice figured, so it was deathly concerned with not letting that happen.

Why had the Voice within Frank chosen Flungunglia, of all places in Nomachiato? It was simple, really.

Flungunglia, for reasons that were not presently known to people across Nomachiato, experienced time differently than the rest of the world. That is to say that, due to theorized differences in space and polarity, days came and went far quicker than anywhere else in Nomachiato on Flungunglia, while at the same time, people in Flungunglia had the experience of a full day's time within what would possibly have been about an hour or so in other places in the world.

There were a number of differing theories on why time was interpreted in this way in Flungunglia. One popular theory was that there was a gas that bubbled up from somewhere in the ground in Flungunglia that modified the air in some way that altered time itself, some sort of time-based air fog that was imperceptible save for its effects on time itself.

This theory was lended credence by the existence of a numerous extra number of molecules known as glimbions in Flungunglian air. Glimbions were small specks of what was theorized - there were a lot of theories in Nomachiato, as opposed to concrete laws or knowledge - to be the element itself that regulated the tauman experience of time itself. There were, of course, rumors of time elementals too existing, thought of course those were only rumors. That being said, if there ever had been a time elemental, they most likely, it was theorized, would be a Flungunglian - as they generally seemed 'unstuck,' or perhaps unrestrained by the rigid confines of the concept of time.

Another popular theory, piggybacked off this first theory significantly. See, this theory posited that there was a group of powerful taumans with a [class]. Now, [classes] were rare enough on their own, but this theory was only spoken in whispers in quite places, and were to Voice not a whisper in a quiet place itself it would've never heard them, but that being said there was a theory that taumans with a [Time Manipulator] [class] used their systemic abilities to warp and control the time around Flungunglia in order to make it stretch out a whole lot longer. It was, in a way, a bit of a stretch of a theory itself, as it would require a group of [Time Manipulators] to work in tandem with one another - which was hard to imagine seeing as there was no real confirmation whether they even existed in the first place. That being said, the whole idea behind this theory was that the [Time Manipulators] stretched out the time in Flungunglia in order to test their powers and to give themselves a bit of a playground and a dedicated place to mess with space time.

There was yet another leading theory, however. This theory stated that the real reason that Flungunglia experienced time so far differently than any other place in Nomachiato was due to all the fungi itself. See, Flungunglia was, predictably, covered and teeming with all sorts of fungi. This was only exacerbated by the fact that most if not all taumans that hailed from Flungunglia were fungus elementals. The reasoning for this theory was that there did exist in Nomachiato a fungi known as the Thief of Timing, and it was predictably known for releasing a large number of glimbions into the air at all times, especially during its self-mating period and molting period respectively.

There did exist a final theory, a theory to end all theories on the strange machinations that cause Flungunglian time to be so far removed from time that others experienced in Nomachiato. This theory posited that the real reason that the timing was different, was twofold - one, that (unbeknownst to essentially everyone) Flunguglia was indeed so high in the air and above sea level that it actually changed how the planet Nomachiato revolved and even affected how the solar system itself worked. The second reasoning was that there was a pocket of air created by the beings that conspired to make time slower in Flungunglia that permanently affected everyone living there. Some sourceless folk would even have whispers of the presence of ghosts.

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It didn't help the fourth theory's adoption in that it was mainly spearheaded by an admittedly abrasive and delusional subgroup of believers in what they called the 'Sideways Nomachiato Theory' which postulated that, due to the revelations of Nomachiato itself, everyone was doomed and that Flungunglia was a terrible place full of people with poor judgment.

Regardless, the Voice wasn't all that concerned with the why as to the cause of Flungunglia's strange handling of the concept of time. Instead, the Voice was more concerned with how he could use this to his advantage, and had already mapped out a plan. The Voice would simply stroll through Flungunglia, find everyone who was the most powerful, and rinse and repeat until the pale had become a total ghost town. It was a noble task, for a consumer at least.

But this was throwing a wrench into all his plans! See, the news reporters, who were there to get in on the action Station 2.4 had with Unit 5a23 were making it easy to blend in, but also impossible to consume. It was almost like the film equipment itself was calibrated against him, the Voice felt. But that was just another obstacle to overcome, right?

So the Voice inhabiting Frank's body did go forth and wade through those crowds, ignoring everyone until it finally made its way to the door of Unit 5a23's restaurant. Unit 5a23 went on and on to the reporter about his painstaking process, about how he came upon the duck that was now curried and plated with a flawless piece of toast.

Annoyingly, it didn't seem like anyone noticed the consumer at first. While this was, at the end of the day, more than convenient, the consumer was used to turning heads - especially with his dreadful ability to suck people up like they were small morsels.

Presently, the most powerful being anywhere near the consumer was, inconveniently, Unit 5a23 - who seemed to be wasting his power by making toast?!

This was going to be too easy.

"Behold!" blurted the undead skeleton as he barged in to Unit 5a23's live in restaurant and pointed a bony figure. "Time for you to freeze, fool!"

But, as a beam and a crackle of lime green light shot out of the consumer's finger and coiled around Unit 5a23, the Voice was getting incredibly frustrated. Even with the fanfare of such an attack, attempting to use a [skill] to consume someone and having it fail was the ultimate embarrassment to a consumer.

"What are you trying to do to me?" asked Unit 5a23, baffled. "I'm just making some toast!"

"What am I TRYING to DO?!" blurted the consumer, sending dishes flying and smashing into the walls with a huge, controlled burst of wind. "I'll tell you what the FUCK I'm doing to you. Your soul is mine!"

"Is this guy a regular here, or..." interjected Stheven uncomfortably, raising a living wood finger and waggling it in a way to demonstrate that he indeed wanted to leave, but at the same time he couldn't bare to ignore it - for whatever reason, it was abundantly clear to Stheven that participating too much in this exchange might end with him getting looped into the fight directly somehow.

"I don't remember if I have a soul, so your threats are hollow and stupid from my perspective," said Unit 5a23 matter of factly as he charged up his chest laser. "And I may be a chef, but I still have my [skills] and I'm not afraid to use them." Unit 5a23 handed Shammy his tongs and cracked his robo-knuckles. "Watch the duck on toast, Shammy. I need to show this jerk who he's up against!"

"You got it, Unit 5a23!" said Shammy, who had been there the whole time, with so much joy that it was almost disgusting.

Unit 5a23 turned to look at the consumer. One nice thing about this altercation, at least, was that it might remind him why he was so outfitted for combat as a famous chef, anyway.

"Hmm. Kudos to you for resisting my initial [Consume] attack," hissed the consumer as he hopped around kind of like a snake with legs. "Now, are you ready to see some of my other powers?"

Before Unit 5a23 could answer, the consumer split himself into five duplicates. Then, the Voice cachled with an evil fervor.

"BWAHAH! HAH HAH HAAAAA!" spat the Voice maliciously as it powered up a red laser with its hands. "You're one strong robot, despite what you've chosen to waste your time doing, and one way or another, I will destroy you!"

Shammy screamed, but Unit 5a23 patted her on the shoulder with a cold, imposing claw hand. "Don't worry, Shammy. I'm not afraid of this boney asshole." Unit 5a23 charged up his chest with power and locked eyes with his enemy. The fight was on!