Stacy felt amazing, no, she felt alive. The fresh air hitting her face, the pressure on her skin and the fact that she was flying on a lego throne made out of clanking dice contributed to this fact.

She was not sure how she managed to do this in the first place, she just wanted to cave that bastard Slyme's face in, and voila, Codec rearranged himself as a chair and propelled them into the air on invincible strings.

That's because I'm an extension of you, Codec said in her head. What I know and what I can do is connected directly to your neural system, you only need to think of it, and I will rearrange myself to suit your needs.

Huh, Stacy, though. That is some serious firepower.

I was designed especially for your use, Codec whispered, I know exactly what to do, like a muscle.

Neat! I can finally go toe to toe with these bastards.

You don't seem surprised by this revelation, nor did you start talking out loud as most would be in your situation.

I saw enough movies to know this kind of shit. Besides, I'm basically raw data transferred into a woman's body via cigarette, why the fuck should I be surprised that my third arm can talk to me telepathically?

Good point, good point.

Now I just need to find me that green bastard and show him you don't mess with a woman with a laser on her back.

You said you are raw data.

Shut up, Codec!

Codec did. Stacy tried pulling out a cigarette from her pocket, but the wind ripped it out of her hand. Well, that's just amazing. It was a miracle her robes did not open yet from the strong current, showing everyone a naked lady flying on a chair in the sky.

What is even her life anymore?

There! She just spotted what was unmistakably the museum. The only problem was that it was not on the ground. It was in the air, propelled by an unknown technology. Looking around, Stacy saw more buildings, a bank, one or two skyscrapers, hospitals, and similar vital structures floating in the air.

"What is happening?" Stacy asked out loud.

There was no response. The massive museum building dipped a bit, as in acknowledgement of her comment, and began gently floating south, towards the dimensional gates. The other buildings followed suit, leaving the city behind.

It was a good thing they did, a few seconds later, the concrete began to crack, water gushing out and quickly flooding the streets. Stacy ignored this, trying hard to find any sign of R.B. Slyme.

"Stacy!" A deep and masculine voice shouted, making Stacy's spine tingle. "I knew you would not abandon me. Over here, I require your assistance."

Stacy focused, and her eyes met that of R.B Slyme. The bastard was standing on a broken car, smiling widely, and actually waving. When he saw Stacy looking, his eyes lit up, and he opened his arms wide.

"I knew you would come," R. B. Slyme said. "It's hard to resist such a handsome gentleman like me. Now help me get away from this place, and we can continue where we left off. This time no suffocating, only if you are into that kind of stuff, of course." He winked.

He actually winked, the bastard even winked at her. Stacy's mind went into overdrive, the coffee she drank earlier not letting her go into a blind rage, but actually considering things before acting.

On one hand, she could rescue Slyme and maybe kill him later or something. Well, her logical mind supplied, that probably won't work, he will probably manipulate you into doing his bidding and leave you in a ditch somewhere. And before you say things like I can take it, I'm better or more intelligent than other people, I can't be manipulated, please grab a lit cigarette and plunge it into your eyes.

Okay, brain sheesh, Stacy thought, I get your point, he will have an easy time manipulating my emotions, especially now, when I haven't developed an identity yet. What else can we do? Fight?

We can do that, Codec supplied, I'm equipped with rockets that will break down his molecules on an atomic level, leaving nothing behind.

However, Stacy's logical brain added quickly, in a prolonged battle where … Yea yea, Stacy interrupted herself. No stupid anime protagonist moves I got this.

"Hey Slyme?" Stacy said.

"Yes Stacy? Can you please hurry up, the water almost enveloped this car, and I'm too weak to jump away."

Bingo. She wanted to say something like fuck you or bye-bye fucker, but this was a way to good opportunity to pass up. And if there is one thing Stacy knew for certain, it was that she refused to act like a stupid anime protagonist.

It was time to do what every sane protagonist should do in a situation like this.

Stacy let the lego chair rearrange itself, while she gently fell a few feet downward, towards the roof of a convenience store. Still, in mid-air, Codec finished rearranging himself, extending from Stacy's back into a flower-like structure, blocky petals curled around a white diamond in the form of the hexagon.

The moment her feet touched the roof, all hell broke loose. A massive beam of light exited Codec, directly on course with R.B. Slyme. The techno slime barely had time to jump to safety on a nearby streetlamp before the car he was standing became a smouldering ruin.

"Stacy!" R.B. Slyme cried. "What are you doing?"

Stacy said nothing. The blocky petals extended and spun with a high-pitched whine. A small dice fell off with the force of a shotgun blast, impacting the lamppost R.B. Slyme was hanging off from.

There was no loud explosion or bright flash of light; instead, a black ball appeared at the point of impact, the size of a balloon, and left nothing in its wake. And by nothing, I mean nothing. Smell, air, the pole and R.B. Slyme's left hand was gone like someone took giant erasers and just deleted them out of existence.

R.B. Slyme cried out in pain and held his left stump. He began bubbling like a soup, redirecting his mass to regrow a new hand.

Hey, Stacy though quickly, do we have some kind of superweapon or ultimate move? Yes, Codec said, multiple ones actually. Which one do you want to use? The vaporising barrage? The octarine beam? The armour piercing light lance? Or maybe the…

All of them, Stacy interrupted.

What?

Stacy didn't waste any more words. She was not an anime protagonist damn it, she will not trade ultimate moves like some kind of chess match and hope she will get a last-minute powerup to destroy whatever R.B Slyme's last-minute powerup was.

That was what stupid people did.

Codec rearranged itself into a thin, branch-like structure, with the crystal in the middle. It looked like a sceptre of sorts, with a myriad of little dice spinning on their axis, letting out a rattle that could have scared death.

A lance of pure octarine shot out from the crystal, closely followed by a cluster of vaporising dice. R.B. Slyme barely had time to jump to safety on a nearby building when another lace passed through, pinning his feet to the concrete.

The techno slime didn't have time to pull his limb from under the purple lance, a cluster of dice in the form of a rope tried to wrap around his neck, forcing the gelatine to control his body in strange ways and leave the foot behind.

"Stacy!" R.B. Slyme cried out. "What are you doing? Come on, let's talk!"

Stacy, or more accurately the crystal on Stacy's back, appeared at the edge of the roof, and a torrent of flame gushed out. The temperature of the flame was so high, it was slightly blue in colour, and melted everything in its path, leaving molten metal and slag. R.B. Slyme was forced to go in the only direction he could, up.

"That's it then!" R.B. Slyme said mid-air. "No more mister nice guy!"

He contorted his body on itself, like a coiled spring, and a second later, released the tension, shooting straight towards Stacy, foot outstretched in a classic face kick pose. Sadly what he encountered on the other side was not a blonde head, nor Stacy in general. Instead, what he encountered was the crystal, held afloat by a long chain of black dice.

Stacy was standing on the other side of the chain, quite a few streets away, standing on what was once probably a warehouse. When they made eye contact, Stacy smiled widely and put a cigarette in her mouth.

As if waiting for this exact moment, the dice chain wrapped around the still airborne R.B. Slyme, the magic crystal on top plunging deep into the techno-slimes chest. Slyme looked at his midsection in despair, gave Stacy one last despairing look, and then exploded.

The word shook.

Stacy screamed.

Now, to understand the magnitude and stupidity of what Stacy just did, we need to know what exactly is a monochromatic power crystal. This is no ordinary magic crystal that contains the power of the elements or some such nonsense. It's literally mana, in its purest form, a result of years of experiment, a manmade power source so powerful, so potent, Tiny took one to replace all of his power sources.

A three millennia old A.I. admitted it's the most potent power source he encountered in his existence. And Stacy just detonated it to kill R.B. Slyme.

Amanda, Darius, and Zed would have strangled her on the spot, Stacy though. Heck, if she could, she would probably strange herself. Well, her brain whispered, there is no need for that, the explosion threw us a good distance away in the air, and seeing as Codec is now nothing more than three dice orbiting a pink claw, we are gonna collide with something and die.

Shame, Stacy thought, she finally was begging to accept her new role in this form, and, and even began being comfortable in her body. And we didn't even have sex, her hormones added, and god knows looking this hot, we can have toe-curling sex with literally anybody of any race, species, or gender.

Good point, Stacy thought to herself, the wind rushing through her lab coat, forcing the button open. Here I am, flying through the air exhibitionist style and there is nobody to even gawk at the audacity!

She wondered what Darius would think. They just began bonding father-daughter style, and now his daughter is gonna become a stain on the wall. She didn't even do something crass, like seducing his best friend and creating an awkward atmosphere!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Ha, that would show that bald monk not to mess with her, though admittedly, she has no idea how to seduce people as a woman, and even as Steve, his luck was more miss than hit.

Speaking of Zed, the professor appeared in front of Stacy, lit up like a Christmas tree, a pleased expression on his face. Stacy was not sure if this was a hallucination conjured by her fevered mind, but when she was plucked from mid-air and strong arms wrapped around her, she let herself hope.

Zed kept plummeting towards the ground, twisting around, so Stacy was firmly in his arms, bridal style.

"Don't tell me you detonated the monochromatic power crystal," Zed said, and made the mistake of looking down.

His grip slipped for a second, and the graceful fall on the ground became a tumble, the professor smashing his back against an abandoned warehouse, and slid down the wall like a snail, Stacy still in his arms.

Stacy, grinning knowingly, slid out his arms and buttoned up her lab coat.

"Liked what you saw?" Stacy asked.

"Just no," Zed said firmly, looking anywhere but Stacy. "No, no way, I am not playing this game, no-no."

"Just admit it," Stacy said, taking a step forward and placing a hand on Zed's chest. "I find you attractive as well."

When Zed's scars turned an agitated purple, and the professor closed his eyes and began taking deep breaths, Stacy grinned wickedly. It seems she didn't need seduction lessons, after all.

"We need to evacuate," Zed said, snapping his eyes open. "The city is collapsing, even faster than before, no thanks to you."

"Hey!" Stacy protested.

"And Tiny and Darius are waiting for us, let's go, we don't have time for no-nonsense."

"It's not nonsense," Stacy said, leaning in so close their noses almost touched. "Besides, you promised me to teach me the art of diplomacy." She breathed into his lips.

"Darius is going to kill me," Zed said and kissed Stacy on the lips.

Stacy froze. She was not expecting Zed to actually take the bait, it was just adrenaline and the near-death experience making her seek out any physical comfort she could get her hands on. And what comfort it was! Zed's strong hands pressed against the small of her back, and his other wrapped around her waist.

Still kissing fiercely, Stacy secured firmly to his midsection, Zed jumped, carrying them in the air. Stacy didn't want to let go at first, but the wind forced her to do so. When she did, she met Zed's eyes, heavy with lust and slightly panicked. She laughed and buried her head in his chest.

"What are we doing?" Stacy said quietly.

"Darius is going to kill me," Zed said.

"You and me both," Stacy said, a bit surprised she could actually hear him.

"I agree. He's probably going to dissect us and force us to swap bodies or something first."

Stacy laughed. Maybe there was potential in this life after all, not only for her but for everyone else around her.

There was still hope.

Inside Tiny's head, things were looking good. Darius was sitting behind the terminal, furiously working on something with all 3 hands. Cherry was sprawled on one of the tables, a myriad of guns, knives, rocket launchers, grenades, rifles, machine guns, and gods know what else surrounded her in a pile.

Curiosity was sprawled on a sofa nearby and was torn between looking at the shrinking city of Lucy on the monitors and the urge to pick up one of his bodyguard weapons and examine it. The second won out.

"How come that massive structure you call a backpack floats?" Cherry asked, in the middle of disassembling her favourite flamethrower.

"The backpack has many uses," Darius replied. "Tiny used it once to bludgeon a giant monster to death."

"I would pay to see that."

Right at that moment, Tiny's teeth opened up with a loud clunk, and a second later Zed touched down, Stacy tightly squeezed to his chest. Instantly Darius' head snapped up and fixed his friend with an unreadable gaze.

Zed began sweating. Before his scars could light up erratically, Stacy pushed herself off the professor and took a few drunken steps towards the sofa.

"That was one hell of a fight," Stacy said. "But that bastard is finally dead! I'm pretty sure he's not coming back from that one." Saying that she plopped down next to Curiosity and pulled out a cigarette.

"Where is Codec?" Darius asked, momentarily leaving his friend alone and looking at Stacy.

Three pitiful black dice coalesced on top of Stacy's claw and let out a dejected clank.

"She blew up the monochromatic power crystal," Zed said, colour returning to his face.

"YOU WHAT!" Darius exploded in place. "DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IS TO MAKE ONE OF THOSE CRYSTALS! IT TOOK ME A LIFETIME TO COME UP WITH THE DESIGN!"

"Sorry," Stacy said, sinking into the sofa.

"Now now," Zed said, stepping forward. "There is no need to get angry. She did manage to kill R.B. Slyme on the first try. That monster managed to wipe out most of Curiosity's cult, and at his full strength, even I could not defeat him. You should be proud of your daughter's combat capabilities Darius; she does have your knack of coming up with stupid ideas."

"Hey if it's stupid and it works it ain't stupid!"

"Your right," Darius said, face softening. "Your right." He turned towards Stacy. "I am proud of the fact that you managed to destroy R.B. Slyme on your first real battle. That was some excellent spur of the moment thinking, considering you got… how did you say it? The McGuffin, an hour ago."

"Thank you," Stacy said, smiling gently. "And yes, it's a McGuffin."

"We will have a discussion about handling delicate and dangerous equipment, though. It will take a while to rebuild Codec."

"Yes, father," Stacy blushed. "Thank you."

"I'm just glad you are alive," Darius said, smiling gently.

"She almost didn't make it," Zed added helpfully. "Thankfully I managed to catch her in time."

"Thank you, friend," Darius pinned Zed with an unreadable gaze. "You can tell me all about your daring rescue down at Rip's when we get out of this pocket dimension. Don't leave any details out."

"Ahm, yes yes, of course," Zed nodded vigorously. "We haven't had a pint in a while!"

"Of course."

"Ohhh, man!" Stacy interrupted, loudly and obviously. "Almost dying, twice, sure puts things into perspective. Does this place even have an afterlife? What happens when you die?"

"Well," Darius said. "It depends on your definition of the afterlife, the species you come from and the magical dimensions connected to your word. Hidara, for example, comes from a word where hell and heaven exist, and every living being has a soul that is constantly cycled through these planes."

"The world where Curiosity found your old body on the other hand," piped in Tiny, his fridge body rolling out from the corner, a tray of drink in his arms, "has no such thing. You are basically a collection of biological data, which when it dies, breaks down into base components. No magical or spiritual realms tied to that word either."

"Huh." Stacy gratefully accepted a cup of water. "That explains a lot. What about you Curiosity? What will happen to you when you die?"

No response.

"Curiosity?"

"What?" Curiosity said, waking from his reverie of twirling a small shotgun between his fingers.

"What happens to you when you die? What rules of afterlife do you follow?"

"Huh, I never thought about that." Curiosity stopped twirling the shotgun to stare at it instead. "This body will die and wither, I know that, but what about me? I'm not technically a soul, a spirit or a deity. I am an idea, given flesh and bone by basically what amounts to a fluke and belief. Do I go back to being insubstantial? A basic consciousness with only vague ideas to act upon? Will I keep trying to come back into existence? Or maybe a piece of me will die with the death of this body. So many possibilities."

"Huh," Cherry said, pausing from polishing a butterfly knife. "I never even thought of that."

"That is a complicated conundrum," Darius said. "I never encountered a being like you before, so I can't be of any assistance."

"It's not a problem, it's not a problem," Curiosity said, a deranged smile perching on his face. "There is an easy and simple way to find out."

"And that is?"

"To die and see what happens." Before anyone had time to react, Curiosity put the shotgun under his jaw. "I hope we meet again." He said and pulled the trigger.

Silence descended on the room. The shotgun shells were too small to blow Curiosity's brain to the other side of the room, but everyone could clearly tell they penetrated the skull and exited the other side.

Fridge Tiny ambled to where Curiosity was located and placed a cup of water on his knee. It slid down his pants and clattered to the floor with a wet splash.

"He's dead," Tiny announced.

"What the actual fuck was just that," Stacy began, but she was interrupted.

Curiosity's head caught on fire. Not the normal red one or the pure blue Stacy used to fry a rooftop, but black, pouring out like a vengeful cloud. The body stood straight, and two eyes appeared, deep pools of nothingness that showed you the endless universe.

"Good riddance," the entity spoke, not with lips, but directly in everyone's head, Tiny included. "I don't know why I was worried so much. The bastard shot himself in the head! Hah! What kind of idea shoots himself in the head to see what happens? And I thought my assistant had problems."

"Who are you?" Darius asked, taking a step forward, claw raised.

Zed and Stacy followed suit, adopting combat stances. Even Tiny's little fridge body took point, a glass of water raised behind its bulk. The only one who did not move was Cherry. She had a shocked expression on her face and was pointing with a harpoon.

"Reality!" Cherry said in a panic. "What are you doing here?! You're not supposed to be here!"

"Ah Cherry," Reality said, pinning the bodyguard with a stare. "Your so-called boss was not supposed to exist in the first place!" His head exploded, "Do you know how much trouble you and your merry band of lunatics have caused me?" He took a pointed look at everyone in the room. "Another universe has been corrupted by your foul energies! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Ahh," Stacy said. "Sorry?"

"Sorry! Hah! You caused me nothing but trouble." He put his hands on Curiosity's knees and stood up." But you did manage to get rid of R.B. Slyme from this universe, so I guess I will leave you alone, for now. Now Cherry," he said, holding out a hand. "Let's go. Time to go back to the funhouse!"

"Never!" Cherry shouted, springing to her feet. "I'm never returning to that pathetic excuse of a mercenary group!" She said the last part in air quotes.

"You don't have a choice. Your contract ended."

"That's where you're wrong. I'm bonded to curiosity for a year, and seeing as curiosity is an idea…" She grinned wickedly and jumped in the air. "I'm curious!"

She plugged directly towards the ground in the perfect swimming position, and went through it, the velvet rug rippling like water.

Instantly, the room began shaking, and Tiny's fridge ran forward in panic and smashed against one of the screens.

"Get it out!" Tiny bellowed. "Get it out! I can feel my processors being violated!"

"You bastard!" Stacy shouted. "What is happening!"

"Alright, I’m out!" Reality said. "Thank you for taking care of Curiosity. I hope I never see you again."

Curiosity's body caught on fire and was thrown against the wall in the ensuing racket. It slid to the floor, and the rug caught on fire. Stacy and Darius rooted themself to the floor, and Zed wrapped around the terminal in the middle.

"I can feel it in my buttocks!" Tiny bellowed. "I'm not even supposed to have a buttock, and I can still feel Cherry swimming inside me!"

"Well fuck," Stacy said, and looked at Darius.

The professor looked back and smiled. Both of them turned as one and made eye contact with Zed.

All three of them all laughed.

"So," Cherry said. "This is all of you?"

The two-inch bodyguard spent the afternoon gathering the remains of Curiosity's cult, bringing them onto this abandoned warehouse. It was better than she expected. She found at least fifty people, and more were trickling in by the minute.

"Yes mistress," An elf with the lower body of a snake, a mangled snake, but a snake nonetheless, slithered forward.

"Aidan West," Cherry greeted widely. "You survived! How?! And call me Cherry,"

"Yes mistress."

"One of those. Wonderful."

Cherry was standing on a bunch of crates so she could see the gathered crowd. Some of them had animal faces, instruments for heads, others had cars for ears, and there was even a girl with a toaster extending from her scalp. With toast sizzling inside it! Insane people, all part of the cult of curiosity, her cult now.

"Some of you are not aware," Cherry said, packing up and down. "That our dear master, Curiosity is dead."

"We know." The crowd nodded in unison. "We could feel it through our bond with the master."

"Huh." Cherry stopped, "I thought only I felt that. Right. So what are we going to do about it?"

"We are already on it," Aidan West said. "Bring in the prototype!"

The crowd parted. A trolley was pushed forwards, covered with a white sheet.

"As you all know," The elf began. "Reality won't allow Curiosity to inhabit a living being body again."

The crowd nodded in unison.

"I did not know that!" Cherry said wide-eyed. "How do you know that? Where is this information coming from?"

"But!" The elf ignored her. "This only extends to living beings. Watch!"

With a flourish, the sheet was pulled off. In the trolley was a terminal. It was an older model, big and bulky, with too many knobs and at least five different screens. Two fairies in lab coats were still working on it, adjusting knobs and attaching wires.

"Watch," Aidan West said, opening his arms broadly. "Bring the artefact!"

A cultist with a red nose scuttled forward, carrying a shovel reverently in his hands, and put it on the side of the contraption, where a slot specially designed for it was located.

"Rudolph!" Cherry smiled. "Glad you are awake. And you found Curiosity's shovel! Where was it?"

"Pixies!" Aidan West said. "Start awakening Curiosity!"

A fairy scientist glared at the elf, then pressed a button. The terminal crackled to life. Knobs turned on their own. Light flashed on the screens. Cherry held her breath and waited.

"Hiiiiiiii," The voice was robotic and off-key. "Cherry, I remember," Smoke began pouring from the machine. "The THIRD Steep, I remember," The fairies were frantically trying to detach wires. "it's one word, Patience! Once an Idea is in the Wild and people believe in it, it's only a matter of time for the IMPOSSIBLE TO HAPPEN!" Lights were turning off and on randomly. "NOBODY CAN STOP PROGRESS! NOBODY!" With that, the terminal exploded.

"Well," Aidan West said. "It's getting there. A few more tries and we should have a functioning prototype," He looked Cherry straight in the eye. "What people don't understand is that an idea once born will never go away. Curiosity had a body, had an existence, and that fact, that idea, will never leave people's minds, especially not ours, we who have dedicated our lives to curiosity."

The crowd cheered.

"We will come up with new ideas, with new possibilities, we will twist and turn reality till Curiosity and all that entails will become part of reality. If it takes us years, so be it!"

The crowd cheered again.

"Will you join us, mistress?"

"Well," Cherry muttered. "Why not? What was that thing Curiosity said?"

"You can't stop progress."

"Exactly!" Cherry snapped her fingers. "The word always moves forwards, you can kick and scream against it, or join it, but you can't stop it, nobody can."

"Well-spoken mistress. Happy to have you on board. Tea?"

"Coffee, please. With alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol."