—------ Layla Hudson —------
Two years ago, my older brother Greg went radio silent.
He had fulfilled his lifelong dream and went to space to work on a station somewhere, and we would occasionally exchange messages, but he had gone completely silent.
Never responding, never checking in.
Silence.
We were worried that he had died or something, but we got no notification of death from anybody, so we could only believe that he was still alive.
I had accepted that he was likely dead about a year after the silence started, but mom never gave up on her hope. I didn’t have the heart to fight her on it, and her hope fueled what little embers I had left as well.
In the end, it turns out that she was right!
Partially?
When Greg showed up from nowhere, he was alive! Freakishly tall, but alive!
Then he went and told us that he had in fact “died” two years ago, having his own isekai adventure.
He had said a lot of things besides that, but I was ignoring all of that right now. Leaving the heavy lifting to my subconscious.
Why? Because I was starting my own isekai now too!
“Holy crap…” I muttered as I found myself standing on top of a large central skyscraper within a massive circular city, with even larger walls.
I smiled wildly as I double checked my gear from my ‘Isekai Contingency Plan’. I had my bag, which had canned food and camping supplies in it, my hiking boots, tough military style clothing with lots of pockets, and the most important thing… was my axe!
My beautiful, over priced, real steel souvenir battle axe!
“It is a pretty crazy sight, isn’t it?” My brother spoke from behind me as I marveled at my axe, startling me slightly.
“Don’t sneak up on me! I’m armed!” I totally didn’t yelp, but I definitely waved my axe in his stupid face.
More like his torso, with his stupid height advantage.
“What is this place anyway? Is this the city you mentioned?” I asked, using the handle of my axe to gesture to all the buildings.
“Indeed it is! It took me months to get this place built, better half of a year.” He nodded.
For some reason, he was wearing a space suit now. It looked strange with how stretched out he is now, less bulky looking despite actually being a big bulky space suit.
I couldn’t see his face through that golden visor, and it hurt to look at him because his stupid visor kept reflecting the sun into my eyes.
“Do you have to wear that? It’s blinding me.” I glowered at him and he laughed.
“I am pretty great~.” He replied smugly, so I kicked him in the leg.
“Ow! Alright alright, relax! Jeez.” Greg obviously faked being hurt, but changed into what he was wearing back at the house.
I watched on with fascination as ‘Jimmy’ morphed into his clothes. The space suit shimmering like water ripples as it changed material.
The name sucked, and using that thing James mentioned, I tried to identify the liquid metal. To see if Greg was just messing with me.
Unfortunately, whatever ‘Jimmy’ was, he was too powerful for me to actually get a read on.
“So! What do you want to do first?” Greg asked and I stopped staring at his shirt.
“Monsters! I want to see a monster!” I happily cheered, raising my axe above my head. Just itching to use it for the first time.
Well, I used it on branches and stuff, but this would be the first real use!
“Why did I even ask.” He chuckled and shook his head.
“Alright, I think I’ll take you to the first planet I visited. Gahlora is the name, I think?” He mumbled the last part.
“Why not this planet? Does it not have any monsters?” I asked and he shook his head again.
“No it has monsters, but they have a level like over 100 times larger than yours. Gahlora should be more beginner friendly.” He tapped his chin in thought, and I nodded with gusto.
“Then let’s go! I want to KILL!” I laughed maniacally, but froze solid when a camera flash went off.
“Say cheese~!” Greg teased, holding up mom’s phone and taking another picture.
“Wha-!” I tried to question him, but another flash distracted me.
“Mom wants me to take pictures. So behave yourself-” I cut him off with another leg kick, and he had the decency to act hurt.
…
—------ Greg —------
My sister is fucking crazy.
Or really, super duper, cringy.
A bit of both I suppose.
“Don’t send her those photos, or I swear to God I’m testing my blade on your skull!” She yelled at me, waving her axe at me again.
I –of course– ignored her and ‘sent’ the photos to our mom. I couldn’t actually send anything to our mom, since this was her phone, but what I was doing was using a device that was copied through multiplying my instance while holding said device.
So mom’s phone was in two spots at once, across universes, just like I was.
All mom had to do was look through the gallery and she would see new images magically pop up due to paradoxical magic crap.
Or however it worked.
Not like I knew how it did.
“Your pathetic display piece couldn’t even pierce my skin little sis~. Save your efforts for a goblin or something.” I teased and she pouted at me, and I was worried that she was actually going to swing at me.
“Fine. Are there goblins on Gahlora?” She simmered down, but still seethed with annoyance from what I could feel from her.
“I don’t think so, just weird looking cat people and cat like monsters.” I said as I put mom’s phone away after taking a few more photos of the view from up on my building.
There would have been a bunch of wind from our height, but I was a broken character straight out of a shitty isekai webnovel, so I merely pushed it all away from us.
“Cat people? How furry are we talking here?” She asked, a little too interested for my liking.
“Listen, they are not cute and I would go so far as to say that they are even a little gross looking. Think Kahjit from the Elder Scrolls.” I frowned at her and she looked a little hopeful.
“Skyrim?” She asked, and I slowly shook my head.
“Noooo.” I spoke slowly and she deflated.
“Oh… gross.” She sighed and I slapped her on the back gently.
“Don’t worry about it, let’s go hunt some monsters.” I said, trying to cheer her up.
“Okay! It is time.” Which worked, and she hopped from super chipper to extremely dark and dramatic instantly.
Layla was petting her axe like a psycho, but I could tell she was pretending… Hopefully.
I was reminded how she reacted to my confession of mass murder, and made a goal to make sure she didn’t go overboard.
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Besides that though, I was super stoked about going back to Gahlora for a bit. I’d get to see some old vict–I mean pals– and I’d get to show off my first house. If it was still standing, which is unlikely.
I quickly Gated us over to the planet, right next to my house.
“Ooh~! It looks like Earth, but slightly different!” Layla spoke softly as she looked around.
“Yeah, it really does.” I nodded, but I was focused more on the pile of rocks that was a house two years ago.
“It sucks! Where’s the alien plant life?! It’s so boring!” She exclaimed and I once again nodded.
“That too.” I agreed, because if I was honest, most planets I’ve run into have the same general look.
Plants are mostly green. Dirt is mostly brown. Water and the sky is mostly blue.
Who would have thought that every single show or movie based on another planet would be pretty accurate.
“So? Where are we?” Layla asked, moving past her grievances with this planet's aesthetics choice.
“My first house!” I said cheerfully while gesturing at the pile of rubble.
“...That? That’s your first house?” Layla looked incredulously at my humble, yet masterfully built abode.
“Yep! Though it seems like we lucked out, there’s a monster hiding inside it. Want to try fighting it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“YES!” She screamed, entering her ‘battle stance’ like I knew she would.
The monster I was sensing was small, but fully grown. It knew we were here too, so it was hiding because it was a cowardly thing.
Probably a prey type, or herbivore.
Though there are monsters made of bushes here, the first one I ran into was literally a bush cat thing. So maybe not a prey type, but an ambusher?
“...So how long do we wait for it to come out?” Layla asked, getting bored quickly as nothing happened even after a minute.
“Well you could go over there and try to bait it out, or I can just move the rocks so it’s forced to come out.” I offered but my focus was on the small towns and cities on the surface.
It didn’t take long to check in on Keji and his posse of tall cyclopic ogre kin. I don’t remember what they called themselves, but I can just ask them later.
I focused back onto my sister as she waddled around the pile of rubble, and I could feel the monster move to the opposite side of the structure. It was weirdly cautious of Layla.
“I can’t find it!” She called out and I shrugged.
“Want me to blast the stones away and force a fight?” I asked, and she thought about it.
“If you could? I really want to see it now~.” Layla was all excited about seeing and possibly fighting a monster for the first time.
I obliged, and the stones lifted into the air slowly.
Carefully maneuvering the large stones, the monster within had plenty of space to slip out.
It plopped onto the ground in front of Layla, standing on its haunches and yowling in anger.
The monster was a short two legged thing, and looked like…
“IT’S A KOBOLD!!!” Layla squealed and clapped her hands, startling the monster and making it flinch back.
“No, it’s not. Kobolds are either lizards or dog things.” I retorted, but she was right.
“Semantics! Just look at it Greg! It’s clearly a Kobold. It even has a makeshift weapon~!” Layla pointed to the stick it was carrying, and I could see that it had indeed stuck a rock in it somehow.
“...Is it even a monster?” I asked myself as I tilted my head while looking at it.
It was wearing some super primitive form of clothing, and using a tool/weapon, so was it a monster?
“Oi~! Say something if you want to live!” I called out to the Cat Kobold thing, and it snapped to me nervously.
It did a weird yip mixed with a meow with a low growl.
I waited a bit, but got nothing.
No new language or sudden understanding.
“It’s a monster, go ahead and kill it.” I told Layla and she snapped back at me in horror.
“I can’t do that! It’s so cute~! Can’t I keep it? Please~?!” Layla begged for the second time today, clearly holding herself back from running up to the creature and holding it like a doll.
It was roughly the size of a large stuffed animal, around 2 or 3 feet tall.
“You want to keep it? Really?” I asked incredulously.
“It probably has rabies.” I teased and got an axe swung at me in response.
Which I dodged easily, but had to do a double take as I saw something… weird.
“No she doesn’t! She’s a cute little innocent creature that deserves to be pampered!” Layla yelled at me but I was ignoring her.
The Cat Kobold thing, having seen my sister attack me, had decided that she was an ally for some reason. Or at the very least, ‘enemy of my enemy is neutral’, because it was now standing next to my sister.
There was a good 7 or 8 feet between them still, but the monster was facing me and not her, despite the fact that I was now farther away from it than she was.
The monster did its yip thing and some kind of dance as it pointed its club/stick with a rock tied to it at me.
‘What the hell? Is this thing Gahlora’s own special type of Goblin?’ I thought to myself as I watched the silly thing act, well, silly.
“Layla, what kind of Skills did you get from The System when it introduced itself to you?” I asked, feeling a hunch that there must be some kind of reason that this was happening.
“Huh? Uh, something like… Friend of Foe? That’s what it was called, but I’m not sure what it does.” Layla responded but I could tell she was too preoccupied with looking at the monster with affection to really tell me.
“I don’t understand how you can go from bloodlust to love after just looking at something. Pull up your Status and tell me already!” I yelled at her but I had a general idea of what it might be.
The name ‘Friend of Foe’ basically told me it might be a sort of Tamer Skill or a Skill related to charming anything considered a foe or hostile.
“How could you be so heartless? It’s just so cute! But if you want to see bloodlust, then I’ll show you bloodlust!” She snarked, a wild smug grin on her face as she prepared to attack me again.
“Yep, my sister is straight up insane.” I muttered, sidestepping a downward swing that was honestly way too slow.
‘I suppose this works out. Layla looks like she needs some training before taking on any kind monster.’ I pondered, then dodged another attack that came from the Cat Kobold thing.
The monster laughed like a hyena, but sounded more cat-like somehow? It wasn’t lighter in pitch or anything, it had a kind of…
“Oh my GOD~! It went ‘nya’~!” Layla gushed and I sighed.
While it definitely didn’t go ‘nya’, it did sound kind of similar. Barely.
“No. It didn’t.” I said flatly, and dodged another attack from my sister as she cursed at me.
“Why are you even attacking me?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Uhhh… I’m not entirely sure? I just feel like I need to smack some sense into you.” Layla spoke with a smug grin, and I knew she was just fucking with me at this point.
Layla, while being immature and childish, isn’t stupid. She likely knew that she wouldn’t be able to attack me or hurt me at all, so why try in the first place?
I realized something as I dodged another terrible swing from the Cat Kobold–or Cabold–and glared at my sister.
“You know how your Skill works don’t you? Is this how you use Friend of Foe?” I asked, and she gave me a sly innocent smile while looking away.
“Mmmaaaybee~?” She drew out the word, and I noticed how she was slowly getting closer to the Cabold.
The Cabold in question, didn’t seem to mind Layla getting closer as the ‘fight’ went on.
“Couldn’t you have just told me how it worked?” I asked with a sigh, doing a completely unnecessary backflip away from them both as they struck at me in unison.
“Where’s the fun in that? Also, that was bad ass.” Layla stated simply, and I nodded my thanks.
“Thank you, so how long do we need to do this for?” I asked and Layla shrugged.
“Not sure, but we’ll be done once I reach a certain trust threshold with Lil’ Lay. Or Lilly~.” Layla laughed at my pained expression as I groaned.
“Lil’ Lay?” I asked, nearly getting hit with how distracted that made me. The Cabolds stick nearly clipping my shin.
“Or Lilly!” Layla responded.
“Your naming sense sucks.” I sighed and she huffed at me.
“Like you’re any better.” She teased, and I had no dignified response to that.
“Whatever.” I grumbled, and the fight paused as Layla and the Cabold posed.
Literally posed.
“...What the hell are you doing?” I asked and Layla smirked at me like she could look down on me.
“We’re in sync. Obviously~.” She told me off like I was stupid and I just looked at her.
Layla and the Cabold–I refuse to use Lil’ Lay–were standing side by side, each with their weapons at the ready.
It would look cooler if one of them wasn’t the perfect puntable size.
“So, are we done now? Because we have other things to do besi-” I was cut off as they moved.
They were moving a bit faster now, working in perfect synchronized movements. It was very strange to see because of the size difference between them.
Dodging was a non-issue, but that’s all I could do. It’s not like I was going to attack my own sister.
Even if I really, really wanted to.
I could win, even without truly fighting back.
But…
Did I even want to?
Sure, I wanted to smack Layla’s smug smile off her face, but I didn’t feel any desire to really win.
“Alright Lil’ Lay! Ultimate Smasher Slicer Move!!!” Layla called out and I cringed involuntarily.
That momentary weakness sowed my defeat, as Layla picked up the Cabold and swung it around by the ankles with one hand, the other swinging the axe next to the monster.
An axe blade collided with my chest, while a Cabold was launched directly into my face. Where it grabbed on and immediately began to gnaw on it. Biting and scratching wherever it could fit something into its, extremely smelly and gross, maw.
“Ha~! I win!” Layla teased, then had the proper reaction of going from smug to worried as she saw her new friend trying to eat my face.
I raised my hands and gently pulled the Cabold off of my face by the scruff of its neck, thoroughly disgusted.
Well, not truly disgusted since that was technically an emotion, but I was still pretty grossed out.
“So you did.” I said simply, spitting saliva that was not mine off of my lips.
That was really…
Super duper…
Gross.
POV part 2. We keepin' it or tossin' it?
