Ravensdagger_Kittypunk_Cyberpunk_Kitrpg

Chapter Sixty-Four — The Next Bunch

Chapter Sixty-Four — The Next Bunch "What's the next one?" I asked."Gimme a sec," Sharp said. "You know, I can only write so fast. This one's got a long explanation too."Narrative AuthorityIf you demand an explanation, the universe itself starts talking. A villain who would never monologue finds themselves unable to stop. The more you understand, the more likely you are to win.Hmm... I had to think on this one. A perk that seemed to maybe play with probability? The last line was the one that stood out to me. The ability to make a foe monologue was neat, and in the right moment it could be strong, but most targets had guards and companions, and 'villain' felt rather like a restrictive hole to put someone in.Oh, there were plenty of CEOs, politicians, cult leaders and depraved killers that fit the bill, but they were probably one in ten thousand. Most of the people we'd be fighting were more ordinary.It was extremely uncommon for me to have a job taking out a 'villainous' CEO. It was far more likely that I was hired to plug a leak, or take out a whistleblower, and they rarely stood out as villains to me.The last line, 'The more you understand, the more likely you are to win,' that struck me as very powerful. I didn't like going into a situation blind, and this perk sounded like it would reward research and time spent scoping a place and target out."Star?" I asked."Yeah, it does sound pretty decent," Sharp said. "We have a lot with stars though, and this one..."Power Through Love and RageIf you love someone, they cannot slip from you, and if you hate someone, then you will not suffer them to live. The universe acknowledges that those you love may not die just as those you hate cannot be suffered to live."Oh."I wanted this.I wanted that perk so bad.A form of immortality, or at least a powerful protection, applied uniquely to those I loved? I would never have to bury a kitty again. The hate part didn't matter, it was the love that did."Yeah," Sharp said as she added a star next to it.One Liner ExecutionWhen you say something cool before an attack, it always lands. If you say something cool after, it kills. If you're not looking at an explosion, then it cannot hurt you, because that wouldn't be cool.Very strong, but entirely unusable for Sharp. "Skip," I said."But... it sounds kind of good, no?""How many levels in Cool do you have?" I asked.Sharp pouted, and started writing the next one. Yeah, I figured as much.Quiet Main Character EnergyIf you keep to yourself, mind your own, say nothing, and act according to your own thoughts, then the people around you will gravitate your way, knowing that even in silence, you are competent.I sighed. "You're too loud for this one, Sharp.""I can be quiet," Sharp muttered, but she notably didn't add a star to this one either.Retcon ImmunityWhen retcons occur, you will find yourself a step to the left of reality, displaced for the moment it takes for things to snap back into place, and then, once more, you will be back."When retcons occur?" I asked. This thing made it sound like it was a regular occurrence. Was there a retcon every week or something and no one knew about it? What were the implications of that? I... did not like that, not one bit.Unfortunately, the power didn't seem overly strong on the face of it. Or maybe it was the strongest here and I just didn't have a way of knowing. If retcons were a thing, did we want the attention of those causing them?Probably a safe one to skip.Training Montage MasterAs long as you participate in a long session of focused training, you will feel time slip through your grasp, but knowledge will do the opposite. You come out of training sessions far ahead of where you started, feeling refreshed and ready to put new skills to work!"I like this one," Sharp said."It's a shortcut. Powerful, certainly, but a shortcut nonetheless. You'll get the same benefits from putting in the elbow grease.""But it'll take a lot longer," Sharp said."And you're pressed for time?" I asked. "Do you have something next week? Planning on taking over the world in a month? If there's anything we have in abundance right now, Sharp, it's time. Don't rush. Not when some of the other options we have are so much better."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.I didn't tell her, but I also feared that if Sharp thought she was suddenly competent, she might put herself into situations where that competence needed to be tested.UnskippableLike a cutscene with no skips, when you start talking, everyone else has to listen."Eh," Sharp said."Eh," I agreed."This is the last one," Sharp said as she started to write. "I might want this one later, but I think I'll skip it for now. It's cool, though!"Voice of an ActorYour voice and way of speaking is entirely within your control. You can speak, scream, shout and sing like the loudest rocker on a world stage or the softest mother whispering sweet nothings to a babe.Sharp was spot-on with this one. It did seem like a neat perk to have. I could think of a few scenarios where perfect vocal mimicry could come in handy, and if Sharp left the assassination business, she could sing in dive bars or something. It wasn't immediately useful, however."Okay... lining up the ones with stars," Sharp said. She listed all of the perks that we'd added stars to.☆Cheat Code Reflexes☆Deus Ex Machina☆Final Episode Privilege☆Mid-Season Power-Up☆Narrative Authority☆Power Through Love and Rage☆Limit Breaker"Tough choices," I muttered. "But I think some can be removed from the list fairly easily.""Okay," Sharp said. "Which ones though? I'm thinking the two that are kinda similar?""Final Episode Privilege and Mid-Season Power-Up are relatively similar, and both require that you be actively in a... situation. Something narrative. That means they might never trigger at all, or only during a mission that's gone sideways, which is a good time for a perk, but it also means that we failed to go in prepared in the first place.""Yeah," Sharp said. She crossed both out. "Mid-season sounds cool, but the power you get from that isn't specified. What if it's really bad?"☆Cheat Code Reflexes☆Deus Ex Machina

☆Final Episode Privilege☆Mid-Season Power-Up

☆Narrative Authority☆Power Through Love and Rage☆Limit Breaker"Okay... next... Cheat Code? It sounds awesome, but you need to be monologuing. I don't wanna do that.""And someone needs to be actively attacking you, which may well happen one day, but only if we've failed elsewhere."Sharp nodded. "And it's not like I can use it to be cool in like, training or whatever. Why would I monologue then?"Another strikethrough.

☆Cheat Code Reflexes

☆Deus Ex Machina

☆Final Episode Privilege☆Mid-Season Power-Up

☆Narrative Authority☆Power Through Love and Rage☆Limit Breaker"Down to four," I said."Deus Ex is like the two we crossed out, but kind of better in a way," Sharp said. "It's a get-out-of-jail free card.""I agree. Narrative Authority is also good. It says win. Winning can mean succeeding in a mission. The more we know, the better our odds. Which is already true, this just makes it moreso.""That is really strong," Sharp said. She chewed on the back of her... my pen, and then nodded. "What about the love power? The power of love and friendship is OP, right?""I suppose with that perk it would be," I said. "Personally... That's the one I would take for myself. But that feels like a selfish choice.""It's selfish to want those you love to live?" Sharp asked."In a way, it might be."Sharp stared off into space for a long time, then nodded. "I'm taking that one.""Really?" I asked. I was genuinely surprised."Yup! When I get a girlfriend one day, I don't want her to die because of me, you know?"I sighed. "Take Narrative Authority, you dolt. And we haven't talking about Limit Breaker yet, which sounds like a good tool to have once we're reaching the upper limits of a skill. You should take one or the other. But I prefer Narrative Authority.""What? Why?""Because the chances of us getting stuck in a losing mission is an order of magnitude more likely than you talking to a woman without shoving your own foot in your mouth.""Hey!" Sharp whined. "I'm... I'm not that bad.""Maybe Narrative Authority also applies to conquests of love. But if you start flirting with someone, don't go and bring them here."Sharp pouted, but I saw her gesture in the air, then nodded. "It's done! I'm now stronger! As long as I know something about the thing I'm doing!""So, nothing's really changed yet except the urgency needed to get you to hit the books."

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Epilogue

Epilogue Caroline Daniels was the world's best assassin.She wasn't known for it, because famous assassins were usually only famous posthumously. The right people in the right places knew that if they asked the right questions-and paid the right amount-someone would come along and do their dirty deeds for them only to fade away and never be heard of again.It was a lucrative job, and even though she was a little bit dead, she was still proud of her work.Queen Violence was still the world's best assassin.A little impairment such as being stuck in the body of a kitten wasn't going to strip her of her hard-earned knowledge.This wasn't the life that Caroline expected for herself, but she... could live with it, she supposed.Being a cat had its upsides. She was back home even now, sitting in a comfortable loaf position, with her babies all around her.Arsenic was licking himself clean in a corner, and she was sandwiched between Cyanide and Mercury. Belladonna was also loafing, but was up on top of a bookshelf, hidden deep within the shadows where only the occasional flash of her eyes in the dark could be seen.And next to her, laying across the couch at an awkward angle to not push the cats off, was her wayward orphan of a student.Sharp was idly tapping away on a tablet, entirely unaware of the introspective mood her master was in. Caroline eyed her with half-lidded eyes, taking in her gormless expression as she smiled at the tablet she held.Sharp had... potential, Caroline was ready to admit. The girl was going somewhere. Probably to an early grave, but she was definitely going to make the trip there memorable."Sharp," she said."Mm?" Sharp asked."You're alright."Sharp blinked at that, then gave her a plain-faced, confused look. "Huh?"Caroline decided not to elaborate any.

* * *

Things had been looking up for Fasmine Sharp from the moment she got that weird ding-ding that went off in her head. The sound had been the announcement that things were changing for her, and in a big way.One minute she'd been living on the street, all alone, and a little worried that things were never going to improve, and the next... well, at least she'd been given some hope. Hope that happened to pay out, in the end.She wondered now if she should make more of an effort to pay that forward. There was so much good she could do. But a lot of good meant doing some bad. It was something she knew, even if she didn't want to live with that knowledge all the time.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.Fasmine lived by a simple creed; be happy when you can. If push came to shove, it wasn't hard to force oneself to be happy, even when they really shouldn't be.She hadn't been living on the street for no reason.She hadn't had to keep her happy creed going because her life before had been happy.The orphanage hadn't been the most pleasant place to grow up in, but it had been enough. Two and a half square meals a day, secondhand everything, but they were a happy family, and every time one of them was adopted, they swore they'd help those left behind. And sometimes they even did.The people who worked there were good, for the most part. The pay was low, and the hours awful, and a lot of the kids had issues of one sort or another, so the job tended to attract people who actually cared and that was worth a lot.Then the place was sold. The government was tired of shouldering the cost, and when a little corporation owned by a medium-sized one, in turn owned by a big one came around... well, they found ways to make it profitable.At first it was little jobs, then bigger ones, then some that were a little more dangerous. But they got stuff out of it too, and it wasn't all bad.Then they discovered some things. It was rumours at first, but one of those that was adopted had new parents who knew people who knew, and the owner of the new company that ran their home had a... reputation.Fasmine and a few of the older kids had ventured out and found people from other places he'd run. The stories were true.They turned her gut.And when he showed up one evening, all smiles and a snazzy business suit... Fasmine had been working the kitchens. She had this big knife.Obviously, she couldn't stay in the orphanage, couldn't keep using her name too much either.So she found an alleyway. It wasn't even far from home, but the Boston police never looked that far.And then it happened. The system leapt out of nowhere and grabbed her, gave her hope once more.Sharp, not Fasmine because no one had used that name in a while, reached over and ran a hand over Caroline's back, feeling the rough fur beneath her fingers.Yeah, things were looking up for her, but when she glanced back and over her shoulders, she was worried that the things behind her might one day catch up.She jumped when her phone rang.It was the one that Jenny had the number for, and when she answered and listened in to what the girl had to say, she found herself sitting up. "Break's over," she said with a sigh as she hung up. "Looks like someone needs us, Queen Violence!"Sharp couldn't say she had any complaints about life at the moment!

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Afterword!

Afterword! Hi!Kittypunk is done! At least, this volume of it is! I... don't regret writing it, but at the same time, it was never as good as I had hoped it would be. Still, for a little side-project, it was pretty refreshing and fun while it lasted. I had a lot of fun researching things for this fic, building a cool world, and both Sharp and Queen Violence were amusing characters in their own rights.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.I hope you enjoyed the story too! I'm proud to see it hit 3000 followers just as it reaches its end 3 So, if you're one of these followers, thank you!I might look into turning it into a book on Amazon, since that might be fun, or an audiobook? That could be neat as well! I'll make a big post about it if that happens!Anyway, onto the next project!