I was never a stranger to pain.

SMACK

I had been bullied enough in middle school and highschool to have gotten beaten up a few times. Fought back too. Wasn't smart, but I actually had lessons. You know, in martial arts. And my dojo didn't like the modern "sports" adaptation of traditional combat and had kids spar without protective gear.

SMACK

Like, for real, had to sign waivers that kept the dojo from getting sued. Kang-Sunsengnim was fucking off his rocker.

SMACK

"For the last time, I'm Korean! I don't speak mandarin, you fucking-"

SMACK

I was interrupted again by a 2 by 4 shattering into my right ear, tearing up the cartilage, making me scream in pain and rage.

Tears streamed from my eyes.

Spit and blood pooled as they poured from my mouth.

Pieces of yellow-white enamel clattered against cement as I coughed up broken teeth before i choked on them.

"You disrespect the ABB!"

The accent was thick. Mandarin. Chinese is NOT a language, fucking philistines.

Why am I arguing for the guy beating the shit outta me?

Fuck I'm a crazy piece of shit.

"You kirru Hookwolf nephew!"

SMACK

"You shot stah-pid niggah SKIDMARK!"

SMACK

"Den' you brin' both groups into ABB Territory when you NOT EVEN PART OF OUR GANG!"

SMACK

How many 2 by 4s did this motherfucker have?!

I grunted in pain, but I didn't give him any more satisfaction than that.

"Ah dint-" god my mouth was swollen from the recent three blows, all to the face. Piece of shit.

My head rang.

God it hurt.

It hurt so much.

Focus.

I had to focus.

Something.

Anything but the pain.

My name is Joe Lee.

I'm 24.

I've lived in California all my goddamn life.

I've only visited the East Coast two times.

Of course that second time had to be in goddamn Brockton Bay.

I had come across the Worm series one day while surfing the web. My knowledge was mostly secondhand, because while it was a web serial, this was the internet and next to porn, cats, and celebrities, the most prominent thing is goddamn fanfiction.

All I know is that I was off work today, bored out of my mind, and after reading something called a CYOA (had no idea what the acronym fucking meant) I looked it up.

Points. So many things about points, and other convoluted I don't even know whats.

So I put one together.

Fuck, I was so bored.

When I put all the math together and had it equal 0 in both Character and Shard points, that's where the problems began.

The printer paper I had scrawled it on burst into flames and stuck to me like fucking napalm.

There was barking and... oh god, I burned the house down trying to get rid of the flame via stop drop and roll. Nobody else was home but me and my dog, Coco.

Fuck.

Coco... Shit...

Then all the fire was gone and I was just falling.

Then there was a flash of pain in my back and it knocked the air out of my fucking lungs.

"OH SHIT! THAT FAT CHINK FELL ON DAMIEN! MAKE SURE HE'S ALIVE!"

I remember being kicked in the ribs so hard I felt them crack. Fucking hate steel toed boots.

There was the scent of garbage and leather.

And then a semi-familiar object under my body as I rolled further into wherever the hell I was (an alley, I think) and coughed as I rolled on top of a handgun.

It was a Glock.

I think it must have belonged to the guy I fell on, but as I shakily got up I blanked as I picked up the gun.

A swastika.

Uh.

What?

I know that originally this symbol meant for peace or something before the Nazi's twisted its image into something terrible, but-

"Fuck! Damien's dead! The fucking chink broke his neck by falling on him with his fat ass!"

Uh oh.

I had been to a shooting range twice in my life. That was enough for me to flick off the safety and bring up the Nazi-pistol into an amateur firing position.

Now I could see there were two Nazis (Fucking REAL Nazis! With the swastika tattoos on their fucking bald-ass heads and everything!) standing over a skinny teen's body.

Oh fuck.

His neck was fucking gone bro.

Like 90+ degree to the left and snapped kind of gone.

What WASN'T gone was the FUCKING UZI that one of the guys were pulling from his leather jacket!

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! *CLICK*

7 shots?! Was this fucking thing only half loaded?

A Glock holds 15 rounds NORMALLY, who the fuck-

There were two bleeding out Nazis in front of me.

I shot two people and I didn't feel anything.

Shit.

Must be the adrenaline.

Fuck.

FUCK.

How the hell was I going to become a Pharmacist with a fucking CRIMINAL RECORD?! You can't! My career path is fucking OVER! I... I shot people and I'm concerned about my CAREER PATH?! This isn't me! What the fuck is wrong with me?!

I heard sirens beginning to wail.

Fuck.

DOUBLE FUCK on a Monday Morning!

I ran.

I had NO idea where the fuck I was, but I needed to run.

After my last girlfriend had broken up with me I had let myself go. Even though I had recently changed my diet and had started working out and losing some weight I still weighed 240 fucking pounds. Even though I was only 5 foot 7, I was always broad shouldered so my friends only ever thought I was a chubby 190 or 200, but shit. I just KILLED people.

It was like my body forgot how fucking sore it was from yesterday's workout. (Family friend is a personal trainer, and pushed my ass to my limits twice a week... no homo)

Cuz, shit, I ran for at least 20 minutes straight.

I think.

But I was still dressed in a pair of comfy black workout shorts and a now dirty A-Shirt (They're not wifebeaters. That's slang.)

I must have looked tweaked out of my mind.

"Shieeeet. Look at this ABB reject on my turf. Lookin' like a coked up pork bun bakin' for too long in the sun. Drop the gun, ya chink, and maybe Ol' Skidmark here will letcha off easy."

There were disturbed giggles and laughter from my left and I turned to see a-

...

Was this nigga high?

There was a man dressed in blue. Something like a blue leather mask covering the top of his face and a cape. His lower mouth was uncovered, which revealed that he clearly had some sort of drug addiction it was so gnarled and chapped.

Bro looked like his mouth was made from shelled pistachios. God I had seen some weird people since I started working in pharmacy (Pharmacy Tech, because you NEED a letter of rec from an actual Pharmacist to apply to Pharm School), but this guy's mouth took the fucking cake.

I shouldn't have, because it wasn't that funny, but I laughed.

"What the fuck you laughin at? Shiet, this niggah's high as fuck. Ey! Rodrigo! Teach his fucker 'bout fucking with Skidmark in Merchant territory."

He pushed forward a scrawny guy that looked like every high white dude ever.

Baggy jeans. Oversized hoodie. Wore a beanie, and then had the hoodie pulled over it.

Shit his jeans were dragging on the ground and he had the smallest fucking feet for some white guy that was taller than me by a few inches.

Wait.

Skidmark?

That was familiar.

No.

No that... that couldn't be...

Rodrigo's breath, no, his whole presence, smelt like weed.

"Alright, you ABB reject littl' bitch, you-" he began pulling out the fucking tiniest hold out pistol I had ever seen.

Like Southern girls would carry one of these in a purse because 'Omg it's like, so small and cyuuuute!' like small.

Unfortunately for him, I was still high on adrenaline.

Unfortunately for him, he was still high on... something. Probably weed.

The butt of my Nazi-Glock crushed his nose in and I caught the tiny (God, it was so small. Like holding a gun meant for a baby. So fucking stupid, that it was actually funny.) and did the only thing that I didn't want to do.

Dumb fucker kept the safety off, and I was just trying to get a good grip on this thing.

POP!

Fucking accidentally shot Skidmark in the ballsack.

I ran, leaving the most estrogenic hold out gun known to man behind me.

FUCK! FUCK! I JUST SHOT A SKIDMARK IN THE FUCKING BALLSACK!"

I was in WORM! FUCK! THIS was like a code fucking red in FUCK ME THIS IS NOT GOOD!

SMACK

I coughed up blood.

Shit.

Another tooth went loose.

Stuck in Worm and not a power in sight.

Ah.

That's right.

I chose one of those Cauldron Vials for more Shard points so I could get Negenthropy with a smaller loss. How the fuck would that work anyways?

Shit.

And HUMBLE BEGINNING with TRIPLE Worst Day Ever...

Ha ha...

HA HA HA HA HA

THIS EXPLAINS SO GODDAMN MUCH

SMACK

"Fucking stop laughing! Crazy Korean dogshit!"

You know whats funny? I chose Metaknowledge, but I still don't know how the whole timeline goes. I don't think I GOT the CYOA powers. Or will get.

Cuz I'm gonna die here.

My would-be Chinese torturer huffed in irritation before pulling out a cig and taking a puff as I wept blood.

I was shacked to the ceiling from a chain and was dangling like strange fruit. My shoulders had been dislocated an hour ago and I don't know how my flesh kept up and didn't let my body's own mass tear off of my limp arms like some sick overripe fruit.

Fuck, I could SEE how it stretched out without a single connected joint...

"You know what's gonna happen to you, Korea boy?" he blew ash into my face making me choke. I have light tobacco allergy, fuck you!

Shit my throat began to itch.

"We gonna seal your feet in cement and dump you in the bay."

I spit in his face.

Well, at least I tried.

He smacked me again. This time with his gloved fist. Then grabbed my head.

And put his cig out in my left eye.

I howled.

My throat felt like it was tearing apart my vocal cords as my eye burned away.

I blacked out.

Come on man.

I woke up to the sound of laughter.

My good eye looked down at my feet.

Fuck.

Fucking hell.

They cut off my legs. There was a cement block where my thighs once were. Do the ABB sell organs too? My torso also is stitched with giant fucking staples and duct tape and I felt... hollow...

Fuck.

Fucking Lung.

Fucking sick fucks.

My stomach didn't even have bile left to vomit.

"Hey boss! Look, I found this purple bottle in the garbage. It smells super fucking bad. Can we use this?"

"This vial? Why'd you put this shitty black cork back on top? Looks like some failed tinker science shit man." a sniff and gag, "Shit this smells like Merchant diarrhea. Fuck yeah, Lung said to make this fat fuck suffer. We already took his limbs and organs. Wanted to take his lungs and heart too, but Lung said that he had to suffer. Let me pour this into here and..."

SHINK

"In your next life... Don't fuck with the Azn Bad Boys"

Did he just stab me in the heart with a giant syringe?

The injection was quick but whatever it was-

I didn't feel my body being kicked into the cold seawater.

No.

Because this was my vial.

A failed Cauldron vial that was misplaced and discarded incorrectly.

And somehow... I was filled with Negentropy that could end entire universes.

I don't know when I regained consciousness.

I was on the sea floor and seawater had filled my lungs.

The saltwater burned but... I was alive.

Ah.

Regeneration with 2nd Trigger Unlocked.

I had my arms back.

I tore the staples out of my muscled torso and the cracked syringe from my bulging pecs... wait. When did... oh right. Peak Condition.

My legs however, had grown back, but by breaking through to the other side of the concrete anchor like some kind of sick, fleshy tree roots. Most of the concrete was still stuck to skin, even though it had cracked apart some to allow my legs to peak out to the other side.

Damn, my legs were longer than I remember.

I tried prying the cracked concrete off. No go. Fuck. Well if that's the case...

I brought my hands down, driving a double axe handle into the concrete block.

FUCK THAT HURT!

But the concrete cracked and I felt my shattered bones readjust and... meld back together like nothing happened.

Shit, 2nd Trigger Regen is insane!

Even better was the fact that I had Rocky at 2nd Trigger as well.

Pain = PERMANENT FUCKING GAIN MOTHERFUCKER!

CRACK

Fuck my hands!

Shit still hurts!

But it hurts less, so-

CRACK! CRUMBLE

I bashed away at my concrete prison for upwards to half an hour.

It was odd, FEELING your body get stronger bit by bit. Probably because I was bashing at concrete with my BARE HANDS, but I somehow felt like I could lift a small car... ok.. maybe half a small car... and a light one... like a smartcar...

My eyes glowed like a fractured kaleidoscopic sea of stars as I looked at my chest where a black... something... glowed like a thousand screaming blackholes COLLAPSING ETERNALLY AS THEY FED ON THEMSELVES LEADING TO THE REVERSAL OF THE HEAT DEATH OF A THOUSAND GALAXIES THAT BURST LEADING TO THE REBIRTH OF-

FUCK MY EYES!

I looked too deep and they fucking burst like gummy bears in a vacuum tube!

They grew back in less than a minute and I dared look again. This time just at the edges.

Power Sight. Power Hub. Peak Condition. Rocky 2nd Trigger. Regeneration 2nd Trigger. Immunity (had I really picked that up? I couldn't recall, it had been... a long day...) and... Cosmetic Shapeshift?

I thought I picked X-Ray vision...

Maybe I couldn't have 2 eye abilities?

Well, I might not need to breathe, but my lungs were still burning and uncomfortable as hell, so...

I swam up to the surface, hand grabbing the edge of the docks as I pulled myself out and heaved, saltwater POURING out of my lungs and... ugh I could feel it sloshing about in my torso.

Fuck this is gonna hurt.

I quickly shoved two fingers into my abdomen piercing into my body and digging into my intestines as pink saltwater poured out from the gap between my fingers like some sick amniotic fluid.

It was odd. My movements were so... fluid. So easy... Oh.

Forgot that I picked up the Martial Arts Character Skill.

Good. Question solved.

And now? Now I was tired.

Sleepy AF.

I passed out, naked as the day I was born as I heard muted screaming and panic around me.

Fuck it, I'll figure it out once I wake up.

AN: Uh, well. This kind of came from nowhere.

Hi everybody. This is actually going up on both SpaceBattles (which I am rather new to, Hello~) and Fanfiction Net (Hi guys I'm back! Work loosened up again so I can actually write now! So sorry about the months of silence... I don't mean to T_T)

Uh, so Worm! I've been really enjoying everything here and have JUST begun to read the OG Web Serial... but now that I FINALLY have writing time again, I needed something new to get some creative juices flowing! Don't hate plz. For those of you on Fanfiction who read all my other shiz, the Fate/MHA and RWBY/GAMER chapters are both in progress and about a quarter done each atm (although I'll have to go back and double check stuff, because, well, it's been a while, ya know?)

If you're on Spacebattles and you like this Worm fanfic at all, come check out my other stuff on Fanfiction Net cuz, it's not bad memes man.

Also, even though I forgot that I even HAD it for a while, I DO have a . All of my names are exactly the same (KSLCross) on every site. I just bring it up cuz I do have it, so why not. Not in it for money, but I ain't no millionaire bro, and a nigga's got rent to pay.

Much love,

KSLCross (Holy shit this first chapter was dark as shit tho, next few should be a bit lighter for a while, probably LONGER too.)