44_The choice

"And where do you fit into all this Mr Frogomancer? You probably should know that the whole reason we are here is to stop the “Evil Frogomancer” from infecting the rest of Generica with nanoids.” Staple said while Herman was busy hyperventilating beside them. The old man had his head in his hands and babbled nonsense to himself, all the while Polya and Heartsun tried to console him.

"Me? I am not the one causing all this." Genady said in confusion. "We have been trying to contain the spread of the infection. Larry and his minions have tamed every feral green toad and warefrog out there.“

“And I have been here trying to reassemble the research data. I have an old backup in my head, and thanks to Larry I managed to reverse engineer much from what had been stolen. This neutral zone is the perfect testing environment for the terraforming project. It is radioactive desert infected with nanoids after all."

"So you are saying you aren’t converting innocent people to waretoads on purpose, just so you would storm the gates and have your revenge over the Mayor?" Staple pushed on, doing her best detective impersonation. It seemed that watching all the old Columbo cassettes wasn't a waste after all.

"Revenge?" Genady asked, as if the word was a foreign concept for him. "I don’t care about that."

"But he killed you, stole your life’s work. It is only natural for a human to want revenge for the injustice inflicted on him."

"I am not really the revenge type…" Genady said. "Am I upset, angry? Yes I absolutely am, but what would revenge achieve? That is what caused the dark age in the first place. Someone hits you with a stick, you hit back with a club, he retaliates with a rifle, and on and on it goes, until the whole world is on fire. No. Revenge for the sake of revenge is not something I would ever do." Genady said with a steady confident voice, the conviction clear in his tone, quite the contrast from his usual shy and timid demeanor.

Staple was surprised to hear such an unusual opinion from a human. Last time she heard something like that was when Herman pretty much said the same thing to her, the first time they met. Though, he wasn't as opposed to violence as his little brother seemed to be.

"Genady, can you please send me a copy of the research. I will have to talk with Radek with how we are going to proceed next… Perhaps we will give the research to everyone in the Solar System, just so a single faction doesn’t gain too much power. Or maybe… Sigh…. We will figure it out later… For now I just want to get to my fish hut and meet the rest of the family… All of this is absolute mess…" Herman said, as he finally somewhat recovered from his mental breakdown.

"Sure Herman, I am sending the data now. It is a backup from few years back, plus what I managed to figure out on my own here, but as you can see outside, the terraforming is working nicely." Genady gestured at the whole in the tent, where even now Larry’s minions were hard at work terraforming the desert.

"Thanks." Herman said, placing the data in a separate virtual drive in his interface, checking it for nano viruses and other techno demons before even daring to glance at its direction. It is not like he didn’t his brother. Not at all, though the company he kept left much to be desired…

After all tests went ok, he examined the data, and finally nodded with satisfaction. "Good, everything seems fine. Me and Radek have a meeting in a few days in Marun valley. If you’d like we would be happy to have you there as well. Then we can figure out together what to do with, all this." Herman said.

"Oh, I don’t know…" Genady replied, the awkward man retreating back into his shell.

"You know me and social events… I will just ruin the mood…"

"Oh nonsense, you are part of the family, nobody is bothered by your presence. Radek will love to see you. Plus this will be the first opportunity for both of us to meet Judiper in person. You won't believe how much she has grown since last time we had a group call." Herman said, trying to lure his brother to the social event.

"Judiper will be there?" Genady said with interest, he was just as eager to meet his niece as Herman was.

"Ahh times fly so fast…" The druid said with a nostalgic tone. "I swear it was just yesterday when she was just a little cub… She reminded me of how Radek used to be. He was just as mischievous as her at that age, heheh" The man said, his voice warm and wistful.

"Ah alright, why not, I will come." Genady said with a smile.

"Awesome!" Herman exclaimed, pleased that convincing the man had been easier than he had expected.

___

"I am sorry to break the moment." Staple said, in entirely non apologetic manner. "But we still have the issue of the quest. You know, the one we have whole 5 minutes and 13 seconds left till the nanoids go berserk and invade Generica."

"Amm yeah… amm, Genady, would you happen to be invading Generica with nanoid frogo-cultists and a legion of green toads? Perhaps in the hopes of getting to the Mayor?" Herman awkwardly asked.

“I mean, I know that you aren’t much into revenge, but… you know, I wouldn't blame you if you were in this case, considering all the things the Mayor did to you…

“N-no? I keep telling you and your talking chicken that I have nothing to do with whatever you guys are talking about." Genady replied with a calm tone, being more confused at the accusations than anything else.

"All I have done here is mind my own business and test the terraforming research. Yes, I have send Larry on few occasions to deal with the wild toads and warefrogs, but that’s all. He has been doing a great job of taming them so they don’t go around killing and infecting more people. Instead, all the feral frogs and warefrogs are now helping out with the terraforming. If anything we are helping to contain the mess the Mayor started."

___

"Bla bla bla teraform, bla residual nanoids bla?"

"Bla bla not!"

"La la bla bla?"

"Bla bla!?"

Larry Prime watched his master and the bald human with the crown talk. He didn’t quite understand what they were on about, but the discussion was getting quite heated.

Larry watched the other human with vigilance. He knew that human well from his past life. He was the one who always argued for Larry’s destruction. That much at least Larry was sure of.

That human was evil, it wanted Larry to die!

If it wasn't for his master, Larry would be nothing more than pile of ashes in the lab incinerator.

But Larry was saved!

His master…Genady… he showed Larry love and kindness, plus he always made sure to give Larry tasty treats when the bad human wasn’t looking.

Genady was good, Genady was friend.

Larry would have never even considered such complicated concepts such as friendship, in the before before times. Back then he was just a single nanoid cell, stolen from his swarm, separated and alone…

But then something happened… his memories were quite blurry from those early times, but somehow he found himself… changed, modified, improved…

Yes the hunger was there, the endless desire to consume copy and replicate was as strong as ever, but with his new form, new thoughts came as well, foreign thoughts.

There was fear… The fear of being killed by the bald human.

There was hope… The hope of survival despite the odds.

There was gratitude… The gratitude for Genady saving his life. A debt that Larry could never fully repay, but he would try nonetheless.

And finally, there was anger!

The anger at the evil human for his desire to kill Larry.

The anger at the humans who wanted to enslave his master.

And finally the all consuming rage of the being that killed Larry and his beloved master.

The Mayor!

Genady had risked his life and tried to save Larry, but at the end they both died at the claws of that crab monster!

His master might have been kind and good-natured… But Larry was most certainly not!

The Mayor would pay! He would suffer a thousand hells for what he had done. Larry and his legion would make sure of that!

No matter the cost, no matter the consequences, Larry would get his revenge!

Revenge!

Revenge!!!

REVENGE!!!

___

"Genady I am telling you, that toad of yours is evil!" Herman shouted back.

We all saw its minions spawn-camp multiple respawn booths and assimilating innocent people. Hell, it nearly assimilated us in the process too. And I am pretty sure that respawning wouldn't be an option if one of those nanoids had corrupted Staple or Slippy.

"No no, Larry is good toad. Yes he is a bit unruly at times, but only to people that threaten me. Otherwise he is just a cuddly little white critter." Genady said, adamantly trying to prove that his friend was innocent of the vile deeds he was accused of.

"30 seconds!" Staple said, worry in her voice.

At the same time, Polya was drawing one of her ritualistic circles on the ground, hurrying with a frown on her face, sketching intricate chalk patterns with one hand while weaving complex magical strands with the other.

"Herman I am done!" She finally said, slumping down with exhaustion.

"Genady please, give us the toad and all of this will be over. Innocent people are suffering because of this nanoid infested demon in amphibian skin. Just let us put it in the incinerator and it will all be over, quick and painless." Herman reasoned.

"Herman, I am NOT letting Larry get burned alive as if he was an eldritch abomination! He has good in him. Please, just give him a chance.” Genady pleaded, his voice cracking as he faced his older brother. Genady’s eyes were wide with desperation, begging him to see that the creature wasn’t the irredeemable evil everyone believed it to be.

"10 seconds!" Staple shouted from the corner.

Herman just stood there, facing his little brother, who desperately clutched the alabaster white toad to his chest. The chubby critter still stared daggers at Herman, his crimson red eyes meeting the man’s gaze with defiance, but otherwise not doing anything else.

Could he have been wrong? Could nanoids be... reasoned with!? After all Mechanoids and AI’s were widely known to be mindless machines, and yet Herman considered some of them his friends. Was his prejudices against the nanoid swarm preventing him from seeing the truth?

But… that toad… that… THING, it had caused so much pain and suffering. Letting it run wild was irresponsible and naive to say the least.

Genady was a druid class and the little amphibian abomination was his familiar. Similar to how Polya operated with her necromancer class, the familiar was used to raise more minions and help command them. So if they killed the familiar, the rest of the warefrog and green toad minions would theoretically perish with him.

He could grab Larry Prime right now, and throw it into the incinerator. It would be so easy… And yet as he gazed into the pleading eyes of Genady, he realized that if he forced things, he would permanently ruin the relationship with his little brother.

Those conflicting thoughts and more raged inside Herman’s head, his mind working furiously to solve this moral dilemma as the timer counted down to whatever doom awaited them.

"5…4…3…"

Herman approached the trembling Frogomancer, his decision made. He began reaching out, then stopped when Genady recoiled, clutching the toad protectively to his chest.

For a moment, neither spoke. Then Genady met Herman’s gaze and saw not anger, but understanding.

Herman closed the distance, placed a steady hand on his brother’s shoulder, and offered a quiet, reassuring smile.

"2…1…"

"0…"

DING.

Quest failed.

Rarity: Legendary

Description: Prevent the nanoids from reaching critical mass.

Possible solutions:

Option 1: Kill the Frogomancer: Failed

Option 2: Kill Larry prime: Failed

Option 3: Negotiation? :Failed

Time remaining: 0

Penalties of failure: The nanoid swarms now has enough forces to gain a permanent foothold in the virtual realm of Generica Online. It is now impossible for you to prevent its complete eradication.

…

Genady turned to Herman, relief softening his face. “Thank you Herman. You’ll see, you made the right choice. Larry is a good boy.” The man said as he wiggled a finger in the air and gently tapped the toad’s snout.

Larry’s eyes instantly flared with searing crimson light. His body swelled, skin stretching and pulsing with power.

Genady held on as long as he could, then was forced to drop the toad as it grew heavier and heavier, magic crackling around it in blinding flashes.

Then had to be dragged away by Herman as he and the rest of his party scrambled away from the transforming monstrosity.

“This is the Mayor!” A voice thundered From atop the city wall. "In the name of Generica Online and all that is sacred, I declare that the beast is to be destroyed!"

"Men! A hundred gold pieces to whoever brings me its heart!"

Then the great gates of Generica burst open, an army of adventurers rushing out.

Minotaurs, orks, dwarves, humans and gnomes, all shouting and brandishing their weapons with eager glee. The greed in their eyes blinding them to the danger.

Instead of being intimidated, Larry Prime did not even glance at the greedy adventurers. Instead his blazing eyes were locked on a single figure above the chaos: the crab-like creature that was the Mayor.

“RRRIBIIIT!”

A deep, guttural sound rumbled from Larry’s throat. The memories of Larry and Genady’s demise under the claws of the beastly Mayor resurfacing.

Revenge, revenge, REVENGE!

The words burned through Lary’s mind, reverberating off the warefrog cultists surrounding Larry Prime and amplified by the furious ribbiting of his smaller toad clones.

With a ground-shaking leap, Larry lunged at the wall and straight for the Mayor.

At the same time beneath him, the froggish horde of minions surged at the adventurers, abandoning all caution and moving like relentless machines, heedless of their own safety and driven by a single unshakable thought.

Revenge!