With his minions focused on making their way towards the hobgoblin tribe, Chris decided to dissolve that form. He didn't need to micromanage them as they traveled, and he didn't have any other projects to deal with that day, since he had to wait till the next morning to meet with Jo. "So, what has your other self been up to today?" Beth asked as she took his queen, smirking at the frowning Chris. It wasn't a winning move, they'd just traded queens, but she knew how much Chris hated sacrificing pieces, especially powerful ones.

Chris frowned at the board, then sighed and made his next move before answering. "Nothing much. I went to a get together with your dad this morning, for the Perez campaign, met a few interesting people, including this Jo person who looks like she's our age, but is actually in her seventies or something, then I took over the kobold tribe and moved them into my world."

"You were with my dad? You should have told me! I would have said hi!" Beth complained.

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. "That's the part you're worked up about? Not the fact I took over an entire tribe in less than a day?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "You do crazy stuff all the time. I'm used to it. What I care about is when you don't consider what I would want, like when you see my dad and don't think to tell me about it!"

Chris paused. "Well, that's fair. I'll do better in the future."

"Good." Beth nodded. "So, my dad finally decided to support Perez? What finally convinced him?"

"Well, he said it was because Belinda supports Johnson, but honestly, I think he's doing it for you. If Johnson gets in, you're one of the first people they'll try to pull into their little eugenics program." Chris replied.

Beth snorted. "Good luck. I'd rather die than be with one of those arrogant Family assholes."

"Yet you're with me." Chris grinned at her.

"That's different. You're confident, not arrogant. You take pride in what you can do, not in what others can't do." Beth retorted.

Chris frowned. "Why would I care what other people can or can't do?"

"Exactly." Beth grinned, making her next move. "And checkmate."

"Fuck!" Chris cursed, examining the board to make sure, before tipping his king over with a sigh. "Dammit. I hate those trick plays."

"They aren't tricks, they're strategies." Beth retorted. "Seriously, how did you even manage to take over the kobold tribe?"

"Well, it's simple. First, I replaced all my pawns with knights or bishops. Then I replaced my knights and bishops with rooks, and my rooks with queens. Additionally, I added a rule where whenever I lose a piece, it moves back to its original position, instead of leaving the board. This includes my king. After setting all that up and explaining my position to my opponent, I just asked if they wanted to surrender. They practically jumped at the opportunity." Chris explained with a slight grin.

"Ah, right, the old 'I'm bullshit' maneuver. Classic." Beth scoffed sarcastically, shaking her head.

Chris laughed. "Your dad said the same thing."

Two figures met in the dark. "Have you seen him?" The first figure asked.

"I have." The second replied solemnly.

"What do you think?" The first continued in a strange tone.

"He has an ability." The second hissed.

The first nodded. "A powerful one, from what I hear."

"He should not have an ability! He has no core! No energy! Where would his ability even come from?!?" The second continued, pacing as frustration crept into their tone.

"I do not know, but the facts are the facts. His ability is real. What will we do about it?" The first retorted, shaking their head.

"What can we do?!?" The second retorted. "Nothing has changed! Even- even with his ability, they would ruin his life just to get to us…"

The first nodded slowly. "How did you not know about this sooner?"

The second hesitated. "I- I stopped checking up on him… after the Trial. I- I didn't want to confirm what we both knew would happen."

"And yet, it didn't. He survived." The first replied, a hint of wonder in their voice.

The second smiled lightly. "He did." They nodded, stepping forward to hug the first. "Our child lives."

The next morning, Chris immediately headed to the kobolds cavern to check on Jello. Unlike with the cocoons in the Immortal World, he couldn't check on Jello's progress, but he figured since the cocoons in the Immortal World were getting close to being done, Jello should be just about ready. The imps guarding the cocoon saluted as Chris arrived, and Chris sent them into the Immortal World to get some rest. He then brought a chair out, and a book, setting up next to the cocoon to wait for Jello to finish.

After about fifteen minutes, the cocoon began to shake, cracking as something moved around within it, before it suddenly burst as Jello lept out! Chris lowered his book, glancing over, before frowning as he saw the result of Jello's mutation. "Why the fuck are you still the same?!?" He asked incredulously. The slime hadn't changed at all! It was still just a big ball of goop!

Jello vibrated excitedly when it heard Chris's voice, jumping towards him. In midair, as it soared towards him, the slime began to change, limbs forming, torso elongating, and a beaming smile appearing on a newly formed face as Jello changed into the form of what looked like a small, little girl, landing heavily against his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Big brother!" Jello exclaimed excitedly, before pulling away, jumping to the ground and displaying herself proudly. "Look, I changed! And there's more!" The slime's form shifted again, turning into a goblin, a kobold, an imp, a sword, a bow, and then back into the little girl. "See, see, I'm awesome, right!?! I can turn into anything! My ability lets me alter the makeup of my cells, making them harder, softer, rougher, smoother, denser, anything, so I can change them to mimic whatever I want! Isn't that cool!?!"

Chris was still trying to process the part where Jello had called him 'big brother', wondering just what in the world would convince a creature that reproduced asexually that they were siblings. The following surprises just piled on, until Chris wasn't even sure where to begin. "Uh…" Chris looked the slime up and down. "Let's get you some clothes." He finally sighed, deciding to take everything one by one.

"I can do clothes!" Jello exclaimed, shrinking slightly as a dress began to form around her, starting at her shoulders and flowing down to cover her completely.

"Oh… well, good." Chris nodded, before frowning. "Your ability… it wasn't this versatile before, was it? Or did you just not know how to use it?"

"It's because of the change!" Jello replied excitedly. "It makes your body better, it makes your ability better, it makes everything better!"

Chris's eyes widened. "Wait, you mutated your ability too!?!"

"Yup! That's why you gotta find the perfect place, with lots of stuff. Not like that place you keep doing it." Jello's nose crinkled in disgust. "No stuff at all! It's terrible!"

Chris frowned again, looking around the cavern. "There isn't exactly a lot of stuff here though… especially after the kobolds moved out."

Jello rolled her eyes. "Not that stuff! Stuff stuff! The- the ability stuff! It's in the air, in the others, even in the rocks! But sometimes it clumps up in a place, like there, and those are the best places to change!"

"Wait, energy?!? You can sense where energy is?" Chris asked incredulously.

Jello gave him a weird look. "Can you not? It's all over the place! It's hard to miss."

Chris shook his head. "That isn't something people can just do. Even if there is energy everywhere, if you don't have the ability to see it, how would you know? It's like when you couldn't see. If you don't have the right receptors to pick up light, it doesn't matter how much of it there is, you still won't see anything."

"I know that! I'm not stupid! But why can't you sense the stuff? You're like me!" Jello retorted.

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. "Like you?"

"Yeah! We're both the same! I couldn't tell at first, cause you don't have any stuff, but once you did that weird pressure thing, I felt it immediately! You feel just like me!" Jello exclaimed excitedly.

Chris frowned, not sure what to make of what Jello was saying. He felt like her? What was that supposed to mean? That he felt… slimeish? Sure, the Immortal World could mutate creatures, which seemed to be a trait of slimes according to Jello, since it certainly wasn't her ability, but that was just one similarity! It didn't really mean anything, did it? Chris shook his head. "Okay, Jello, look. I'm not like you, okay? I'm human. My parents were human. It's just that my ability lets me mutate things, so you must have gotten confused. Hell, my mutation isn't even like your mutation! It just enhances the physique. It doesn't do anything to the ability."

"That's just cause you don't have any stuff in there!" Jello countered. "Plus, how do you know your parents were human? Changing is what we do! What if one of your parents is one of us who just changed into a human?"

"Then I'd still be human. Just because they were something else first wouldn't make them any less human when they had me." Chris pointed out. "Also, how would that even happen? How would a slime be able to sneak into the city, change into a random human, and be able to have a life without getting caught? I mean, my parents were both in the military, which performs strict background checks on all their recruits. If there was any weirdness, such as one of them not having a childhood, they wouldn't have been able to join."

Jello threw up her hands in frustration. "I don't know the details! I just know that you are the same as me! There's no way I'm wrong!"

"Except that you are. I'm not a slime." Chris retorted.

"Yes you are!" Jello stomped her feet.

"No I'm not." Chris shook his head.

"Yes!"

"No."

"YES!!!"

"Getting louder won't make it true." Chris commented. "Also, no."

Jello crossed her arms and humphed. "Meanie!"

Chris snorted, shaking his head, unable to keep from grinning at her frankly adorable behavior. "Alright, enough. Come on, let's get out of here." He stood to his feet, sending everything, including them, into the Immortal World. It was about time for the kobolds to finish mutating anyway.

"Okay, what the shit guys." Chris pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation as he looked over the freshly mutated kobolds. The males had mutated just fine, all of them developing in the usual way, but the females… Chris looked over the line of undeniably attractive women, a slight headache forming. Beth was going to think he was some sort of pervert if this kept up. "You guys are going to get me killed." He groaned.

"My Lord, is- is there a problem?" The kobold chief approached him nervously, wondering how they could have offended him. They'd simply changed to suit his tastes, hadn't they?

"Is there- yes! Obviously there's a problem!" Chris exclaimed in frustration. "How am I supposed to explain to my girlfriend that the twenty drop dead gorgeous frickin supermodels I have living in my Immortal World, that I have complete control over, are nothing more than a misunderstanding, huh? And why, why do you kobolds keep on insisting on changing like this!?! I have never, ever said, or even implied, that I wanted to sleep with you guys!"

The kobold chief's eyes widened, flinching back at Chris's sudden outburst. "But- but isn't it understood? As- as a powerful male, of course we would serve you, in whatever way you desire, right?"

Chris glared at her, before waving his hand, causing Sidulpek to appear suddenly with a yelp, looking around in confusion."Hey, do you feel any urge to serve me sexually?" Chris asked.

Sidulpek's eyes widened. "I- I- I- I-"

"Right, see, abject terror. Normal. No desire to be sexy for me." Chris turned back to the kobold chief, before waving his hand again, making the two imps females, the fire and ice twins Firbolt and Fribolt. "How about you two? And desire to be used sexually?"

"Ew, no!" Firbolt exclaimed.

"Sex is gross!" Fribolt added.

"There, disgust, no problem." Chris nodded, refocusing on the kobold chief. "So what's up with you? Why are all you kobolds so down for the deed? I mean, aren't you matriarchal? Shouldn't you be even more opposed to serving a man?"

The kobold chief shifted nervously, flushing in embarrassment. "We- we aren't matriarchal… in our tribe, the strong rule, no matter their sex. It's just that females are generally stronger than males. We- if we can find a male that is stronger than us… we are always looking for the strongest male to be with. The stronger he is, the better."

Chris paused as he listened to the kobold chiefs explanation, and suddenly it all made a whole lot more sense. They worshiped strength! That's why the kobold chief submitted so easily once she realized how strong he was. That's why the kobolds had listened to her so easily when she yelled and smacked them. He thought back to when he'd been trying to make T'ka submit. Maybe if he'd shown her some of his abilities instead of just hurting her, she'd have submitted sooner. Chris sighed, shaking his head. "Alright, whatever. Still, it's not happening. I already have a girl I'm with, understand?"

The kobold chief nodded in understanding. This was another aspect of their culture. It was assumed that the strong would take what they want, and if it wasn't taken, it wasn't wanted. The weak didn't have any say one way or the other. Of course, that didn't mean the weak would give up on making the strong interested in them. A strange glint appeared in the kobold chief's eyes as she glanced at Chris, before ducking her head with a flush.

Chris quickly got all the kobolds clothed and organized into their teams, before sending them into the Maze to find the hobgoblin tribe. The entire process made him realize he really had to do something about kobold names. He couldn't even pronounce them in his human form! They didn't even transliterate well, so when he'd made the team lists, he'd had to make up entirely new letters to represent new sounds for them. How was he supposed to organize creatures with names he could barely even process? Unfortunately, there were only a few shared syllables in their language. Ka, tk, aw, ha, short syllables that didn't require much lip movement. Of course, that wouldn't matter much with the females' new forms, but it was still an issue for the males. Even then, was he just supposed to rename every kobold? He wasn't that creative. Just look at Ka and T'ka.

Chris sighed defeatedly, not sure what to do about the problem, but he had to get to Jo's office, so he pushed it to the back of his mind for the moment. Chris looked for the portal point he had closest to Jo's office, when he noticed he actually owned something, or rather someone, rather nearby. *Huh, Debra is pretty close to Jo's office… should I see if she doesn't mind me popping in next to her? Oh, I wonder how her cancer is doing. Is it cured, or just better?* Chris realized he'd basically been ignoring the woman since he met her, which… Well, she was a bit weird, but he really should be better about it. Plus, he wasn't really one to talk about being weird…

*Hey, Debra, it's me, Chris.* Chris sent her through the connection.

*Chris?!? Why- why are you in my head?!?* Debra sent back. *Can- can you read my mind?*

*No. Well, yes, but… not the point. This is just mental communication through the connection with my world. I just wanted to see if you would mind if I popped in next to you. I have a meeting in the area and you'd save me like a fifteen minute trip.* Chris explained.

*I- sure, that- you- you can do that?* Debra asked.

*Yup.* Chris nodded, before suddenly appearing next to her, causing her to jump with a yelp. "See? Pop." Chris grinned.

"Wow! So… you can just appear around me, whenever you want? There's no way I could hide, or run, or-" Debra began, beginning to flush excitedly.

"Hey, hey! None of that! You keep those weird fantasies in there." Chris scolded her with a stern look, waving a finger at her head.

"How would that help? You're already in my head~" Debra purred.

Chris sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is why I don't read people's minds. Anyways, have you seen someone about the cancer yet? Are you cured?"

"Oh, yes! It's all gone! The doctor actually wanted me to get you to call him. Hold on." Debra turned to find her bag, searching through it, before pulling out a business card. "Here. He says there's a lot of people you could help if you're interested."

Chris took the business card, scanning it briefly before opening a portal and tossing it into the Immortal World. He'd deal with that later. He then looked around the small room he'd popped into. "So… this is your place, huh?"

"Yeah. I know it's small, but it's cheap and close to where I work, so I don't mind. This way I get to put away more in savings, you know?" Debra explained with a shrug. "Speaking of work, I really need to go or I'm going to be late again. Unless… if you wanted-"

"Go." Chris insisted, rolling his eyes. "I need to get to my meeting anyway."

Debra pouted, but she'd mostly been kidding anyways. They left the apartment and they both headed their respective ways, which just so happened to be the same way. "Well… this is awkward."

"Is it?" Chris asked. "We're just walking the same way. Why should it be awkward?"

"Well, we said goodbye to each other and then… Well, we're still here. Isn't that awkward?" Debra asked.

"Did you not want to keep talking to me?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "I mean, the only way this would be a problem is if you don't actually like the person you just said goodbye to. Otherwise you just have more time to interact."

Debra turned to him with a frown. "How are you more logical than I am? I'm a scientist!"

"My friends say I'm a robot. Which, considering my obsession with the rules… they aren't entirely off." Chris shrugged.

"The rules?" Debra asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know, the principles that form the foundation of everything. Like, if you push something, it will fall, or if you leave food out in the open, it'll go bad. I like to figure them out." Chris elaborated.

"That's a very scientific mindset, you know. We're all about figuring out the rules and why they work the way they do!" Debra commented.

"Oh, I don't care about why they work. What does that matter? If it is, then it is. Why it is doesn't particularly change anything." Chris shrugged.

"But… that's the interesting part." Debra replied. "I mean, the rules aren't all that complicated in and of themselves."

"Well, not the physical rules, but what about the rules of people? Let's take pushing for example. You push an object, you move it. It's simple. But what about if you push a person? Will they be offended? Will they laugh? Will they cry? Who knows? There's so many other factors you have to consider in order to figure it out. Like, are you friends? Are they male or female? How hard did you push them? What was your attitude when you did it? Figuring that stuff out is very interesting." Chris explained.

"And you think about that stuff?" Debra asked.

"I kinda have to. See, I don't naturally get people, so if I don't learn the rules, I end up making a lot of mistakes. Of course, sometimes knowing the rules doesn't really help, because the reaction people want is something I'm not built to give, but at least I know why I'm in trouble. I was very confused when I was younger." Chris replied with a sigh.

"I mean, I get that. We all have to learn that other people are real too, and what hurts us, hurts them too." Debra shrugged.

Chris shook his head. "Actually, I never had a problem with that one. What I had issues with was the fact that things that didn't affect me affected other people, and the fact that they didn't affect me bothered them. Like, I never cared that other kids would avoid me at school. I didn't particularly care to hang out with them either, so it was fine. But then the teacher would start making a big deal out of it, yelling about inclusiveness and whatnot, forcing the kids to actually do something with me, which inevitably was rather boring. I don't like to do things that are boring, so now when the kids invite me to do stuff, I turn them down, and now I'm the one getting yelled at by the teacher. So now I'm forced to keep doing something that I find mind-numbingly boring, forming the barest of relationships with these people that won't last the semester, when all I wanted to do was read my book and be left alone. I mean, I know there are kids that are purposefully excluded and need some help to actually develop friendships, but can't we just accept that I'm not one of them? What makes people need to try and fix everyone? Well, I now know it's because people have a hard time conceptualizing things outside their own experience, leading them to believe that someone being excluded couldn't possibly be happy because they wouldn't be happy being excluded, which is understandable, but still, annoying."

"Wait, how could you be completely okay with people excluding you? Even if you don't want to do the things they're doing, shouldn't you at least care that they specifically don't want to hang out with you? I mean, just the sense of rejection would send me into a depression spiral." Debra commented with a frown.

Chris shrugged. "I've always just been very accepting of circumstances. If something is, then so be it. If not, then that's okay too. You want to be my friend? That's fine. You don't? Your loss. I'll be fine on my own. Plus, if I actually wanted to do something or hang out with someone, there really wasn't anything anyone could do to stop me. It was going to happen, whether they liked it or not."

Debra eyed him weirdly. "I'm beginning to see why you don't get people. Cause I don't get you at all."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Chris chuckled.

Debra rolled her eyes, before slowly coming to stop. "Well, thanks for keeping me company, even if you didn't particularly mean to, but… this is my stop." She explained, gesturing to the building they'd just arrived at.

"No problem." Chris replied, looking around as he realized he was close to where he needed to be too, before pausing. "Uh… you work here?"

"Yeah? Why?" Debra asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, this is actually where I'm going too." Chris shrugged. "You know, I probably should have made the connection when you said you were a scientist. Do you work with Jo? Or Dr. Jacobs?"

"Wh-what? No, I'm just a low level researcher. I just do the grunt work, like data entry and statistics, paperwork, stuff like that. I- I don't get to actually work with anyone like them." Debra shook her head, sounding vaguely depressed.

"Well, I guess that makes sense. You're still pretty young. Gotta put in your dues before you get to all the good stuff." Chris nodded along.

Debra groaned. "I know, but it's still so frustrating. I get to see everything everyone else is doing, but I don't get to do anything myself! I have all these ideas and there's nothing I can do with them!"

"It'll happen, don't worry." Chris assured her. "Let's head in. We're going to be late." He continued, stepping forward to open the door for her.

"I was wondering when you'd come in!" Jo exclaimed with a giggle, causing Debra to jump in shock as she popped out of the door.

"Were you waiting for me?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Duh, we have a meeting, don't we?" Jo rolled her eyes. "Now who's this? A friend of yours?" Jo asked, turning to Debra, smirking as she raised a knowing eyebrow at her.

"No! Yes, sorry, I just met Chris on the way and we decided to walk together. I'm actually one of the researchers in section B." Debra explained in an overly professional tone, standing up ramrod straight, her face losing all expression.

Chris glanced at her with a weird expression. "What? We came from your apartment, we didn't meet on the way." He corrected, before turning to Jo as Debra immediately flushed, struggling to control her expression. "I needed a place to pop in and she happened to be closest. I didn't know she actually worked here."

Jo frowned slightly. "Pop in?"

"Yeah, I can pop in next to things I- why are you pinching me?" Chris turned to the nervous looking Debra who was anxiously trying to get him to stop talking.

"I-" Debra froze as both Chris and Jo stared at her, not sure what to say. "I- I don't think we need to bother Director Vuntulla with the details of this morning, do we? I should be getting to work. I still have to put the data in for Dr. Calvin's experiment, design the survey for Dr. Stewart, write up the initial conclusion for Dr. Holden…" Debra trailed off, slowly scooting past Jo before turning to flee inside the building.

Jo turned back to Chris with a grin. "She's a jumpy one, isn't she?"

"Apparently she doesn't get out much." Chris shrugged.