Welcome back to those who read this before. This is a rewrite. I changed a few things, so I suggest you read the chapter again.
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We all know the drill here. A poor soul with a tragic backstory dies suddenly and is given the chance to reincarnate ... This is old news and has been done a thousand times. And the reason is simple, it just fucking works. The thought of getting such a chance is exciting, no matter how many times it is done, as long as it is done well.
This story is similar in that regard, but unlike other stories, it doesn't give a shit about the life the soul had before it died. Not even the particular way the soul died is important because who cares about that when he could have another chance at life?
So we just skip all the tragic, boring backstory and go right to the moment the soul meets the one who twists fate. We shall not give him a name, but rather call him the twister. So I guess we are giving him a name, or more of a title? Anyway, I hope this gives you an idea of what the story will be like. Don't take it all that seriously. You're supposed to enjoy it, at least sometimes.
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(Soul POV)
I'm drifting in whatever this is right now. And in front of me is... nothing. I can't see anything as a soul. Whether that is because I'm a soul, or because there's nothing to see, I don't know. But strangely enough, I can hear things. I can hear this voice calling out to me... Haah...might as well see what it wants.
"Yes?"
"So you finally decide to answer. I am not used to being ignored. Well then... Welcome soul. My name is--"
"Wait a moment. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but would you mind if we just skip all this introductory stuff? We could just get to the part where you tell me what I get or what will happen now. Very simple, what do you think... twister?" I ask the being or whatever, which I just named Twister.
"Twister?"
"Yeah, twister. As in the one who twists fate or whatever there is to twist."
"I see... Ahhhhh... I guess we can do that. So here's the short version. You died, new chance if you want, a choice to be made. Is that short enough for you?" Twister asks.
"This is simply wonderful. Yes, I would like to get another chance at whatever you have planned. What is the choice I have to make, and will I get fucked over?"
"The choice is simple. As you know, there is this ongoing trend where R.O.Bs either give reincarnators overpowered wishes or just a few weak ones. Or those where the reincarnator can choose himself. I will do it a bit differently and give you the choice to make either one wish that can be slightly overpowered, and that does not include the three O's... or you can choose four templates."
"I see. Interesting. Very interesting. Can I have a look at the templates first before I make my choice?" I ask him.
"Hmmm ... well, sure. Go ahead. Those are characters whose template you could choose if you wish," Twister says, and I get a 'screen' with different names from all across fiction.
There are different creatures, from mediocre Pokémon to characters like... wait a moment!!! Now hold on. Is this for real? Why would a character such as Valeria Richards be available? This has to be checked. Let's insert a name, and then... oh boy. This is hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. All the characters here... don't have "superpowers" in the traditional sense.
"Wait, are you saying that all these characters don't have 'superpowers' and I can choose how many?"
"Yes, these characters don't have superpowers, except some of the Pokémon that obviously have, but they are nerfed to make it reasonable. As for the others, they don't have superpowers, and yes, you can choose up to four templates in total."
This guy has messed up big time here. Some of these guys are far too intelligent to appear here. That means that this Twister doesn't see intelligence as a superpower... hahaha hahaha
Oh, this is hilarious. What a beautiful twist of... whatever.
"So you don't see intelligence as a superpower then?" I ask again, to make sure.
"No, not really, why?"
"Well, do I get the intelligence and their experiences?"
"You get their template, which includes their intelligence naturally and also their experiences. Hold on, wait, why do you ask that?"
"Well, you see, there are some characters like... Azmuth from Ben 10, who has no powers per se, unless you count the inherent powers of his species, but he is the creator of the Omnitrix and that alone could be considered multiple superpowers. That's why I asked whether I also gain their experiences..."
"Oh ..." he says.
It seems he understood what I meant. Now, he, of course, has the power to refuse me these wishes, but there is still the overpowered wish that I could choose. But why would I do that? In view of this fact and afraid that he would change his mind entirely, I'm smart about this and hand him a 'bone', metaphysically speaking.
"Is this your first time?" I ask the Twister.
"... is it that obvious?"
"Haha, yes. But how about this: I would like to keep all the experiences the characters I choose will have. But in turn, I will have to literally 'live through' everything a character did. That way, I will become them, making it 'harder' if you will. And if you allow me to keep the knowledge of the world, I will travel to, I am willing to give you all the rest of my knowledge of my past life and whatnot, but just the experience, nothing else. I still want to know about different subjects and the like."
"So you want to trade your experiences, of your past life, except the meta-knowledge about the world you will go to, for the experiences of the templates you will choose? But to get them, you are willing to live through their lives from their perspective?"
"That's right."
"I don't see how that's much of a trade. You gain everything, while I don't really get anything."
"I give up who I was and the world I came from. I give up my identity and take on a new one. The amalgamation of memories I will gain will form me into a new being entirely, not fully knowing what is happening. That should be more interesting to watch for you, no? I won't feel it is a story, since I don't know if it is. I only know about the DC multiverse, not that it was a comic."
The Twister was, of course, right for the most part. It wasn't really much of a trade. But I guessed he had to fill some quota, and by giving up all knowledge of Earth and my life here, I essentially fully integrated into my new role. This will probably help him and me as well.
"Hmm ... very well, this is acceptable. I will grant you this compromise. You may choose four templates and gain their full intelligence and experiences, but I'll take all your experiences from your past life away. Your 'Meta Knowledge' you may keep as per the agreement," the Twister said.
"Great! Well, then I guess I am finished and would like to begin with choosing the four templates. Who am I going to be reincarnated as? Or am I going to be transmigrated?" I ask to plan this better.
"Reincarnated, and the character that you were going to is ... Bruce Wayne ... a tragic version where Alfred also died together with his parents, and Bruce Wayne is all alone... as for the outcome of this... You may form it on your own. You will recover all your templates when your parents die ..." Twister says.
"Hmmm, that complicates things. Eh, alright. Being Batman is not a bad thing if you have a moral compass that allows you to kill without falling too deeply. So then let me think about this for a moment..." I say and begin to think about my choices and my preferences.
I want to choose smart characters, geniuses even, who have achieved some pretty gnarly shit or are just that smart. As an aspiring Batman, a detective, or a character with strong deductive reasoning would be great. An inventor and creator would also be helpful. I guess the first one is an obvious pick. Rick Sanchez. And which one? Well, I guess there is either Rick Prime or Rick C-137... but there is also Quantum Rick and J19Zeta7, who created the central finite curve... I wonder...
"I have a question," I ask Twister.
"Yes?"
"Is it possible to take a character and mix certain things? Like, take Rick Sanchez but then change his intelligence to be able to achieve all the things different Rick's could do?" I ask.
I don't believe this will be allowed, but it never hurts to ask.
"Something like that is not possible. You may, however, say that you are interested in fusing more than one of the same characters together to achieve something similar, but you would have to sacrifice one template to do that, and you can only do it once," he explains.
"So that means, for each template I give up, I gain the chance to fuse different versions of a character together?" I ask him.
"Yes. So if you want to do that two times, you essentially give up two character templates."
"You know you are very generous."
"You were generous as well, in telling me this, and since this is my first time, I'll even allow you to cheat a bit. But that is only if you don't go overboard. And I can tell that you are likely going to go overboard," Twister tells me.
"Haha, well, there is no going small when it comes to Rick. And the others I have in mind are not bad either. Well, 'not bad' is putting it very mildly. They are also going to rock, and I guess there is the matter of my going to be Batman. Why would I be Bruce Wayne but not become Batman? Especially if I have the intelligence of these people."
"So, who are you going to take that will help you in your detective work? Bruce Wayne is already a good enough detective as it is. And since you are going to become Bruce Wayne, that is also something you will get," Twister told me.
"Hmm, well, there are some obvious ones like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, but those are a bit too... normal if you will. There is also L from Death Note, or maybe another detective there. Maybe even Light Yagami... I don't really know. What do you think?" I ask him.
"Well, there is also Detective Conan if you want to go anime. Or Heinrich Lunge from Monster."
"Yeah, those aren't bad picks either. But they do pale in comparison with someone like Eurus Holmes."
"That's indeed true. Then what about Sora from No Game No Life?"
"Eh, I don't know. Oh, what about Fang Yuan from Reverend Insanity?"
"No. Gu is still a superpower," Twister says.
"But what about the moment when he travelled back in time. He was a normal human then, no?" I ask.
"Hmm... I suppose. That's another one of those strange lines. However, are you sure you want to have him as a template? You would only gain his experiences of 500 years of his life. No Gu or anything like that. And since you will give up your own experiences, 500 years will severely form your new character in ways you might not like."
"I know. But I have plans for that. Besides, Fang Yuan might seem to be cold and emotionless, but he does, in fact, feel emotion. True, his past experiences and the harshness of the Gu World have made him very cynical and hardened. In this regard, he is more akin to a high-functioning sociopath and can rationalise away most of his harsh actions as being pragmatic, but unlike a psychopath that feels almost no emotion, there are things that can move or stir up his feelings. He is also a man of endless focus and perseverance. Despite being more powerful than his enemies many times, he never underestimates them and remains eternally vigilant when it comes to planning and executing his schemes, always calculating his chances realistically, expecting failures to happen and making contingencies for those possible failures.
Fang Yuan truly only counts on himself and never fully relies on others when it matters, as he sees only his own strength as the greatest and most reliable assurance. I can't think of someone better suited to help shape the next Batman."
"Ehh, you might want to think about this once more," the Twister tells me. "What about the next character? Apart from Rick, who you may or may not fuse, are you going to pick another inventor or creator? Or is it going to be something else?"
"I thought about Azmuth from Ben 10, honestly. I mean, Galvans get smarter with age, and that is quite a boon for me. Brainstorm could also work, I guess. But right now, Azmuth is my top pick. There is also Valeria Richards, to be honest. Or another comic genius. Brainiac is cool because his intelligence is said to be level 12, the highest in the DC universe.
But since I already go to DC, I don't have a particular interest in his intelligence if I could just capture him, research him, and find out what makes him so smart. No, I was thinking of maybe Kiyotaka Ayanokoji from Classroom Of The Elite, Senku Ishigami (Dr Stone) or Lelouch VI Britannia (Code Geass) would all be good ideas."
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In the end, I chose not to sacrifice one of the templates to combine all the different Ricks into a single superior version of him. That was something I thought was best, but then I changed my mind later on, since I had figured out something that would help me immensely. I would become Bruce Wayne, so my intelligence wasn't in any way average; that much was clear.
Besides, Bruce Wayne was intelligent not just in IQ but also in EQ. His talents, apart from inventing and planning, were also impressive. So I didn't have to worry about becoming a social outcast... well... never mind that. If Alfred were to die before I gain my templates, then I would be a social outcast, even worse than the original Batman. And what's more, if I chose to go with Fang Yuan, and 500 years of his life would influence my new character more than the measly 8 years as Bruce Wayne.
Nevertheless, I figured something out. But I didn't like it all that much.
"Are you sure about this?" Twister asks me.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well... you see, there is something that you should know. You chose to get each of those people's experiences, but I'm not sure you truly understand what this means. You will have to stomach everything that made them who they are, live their life as they did, make the same decisions, and shoulder all their trauma. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem if we were talking about characters who are human and live short 'human-lives', but you didn't do that. Should you choose to take him, Azmuth alone is ancient, and let's not even talk about the other template you might choose. This is the compromise you chose to make," Twister explained.
"You're right. I gain their experience and therefore emotional baggage."
"Yes. That is why I ask you whether you are sure about this."
"That can be seen as a serious downside, or, like me, as a total win. I know that living as they had lived and getting the same experiences might be the hardest thing I could ever imagine, but it will be worth it."
"Very well, if that's how you see it, I understand that, but it is what it is. So who are the other three going to be? I assume the first one is a Rick?"
"Yes, Rick Prime, to be exact. I know his character wouldn't be suitable for a future Batman, but I took care of that."
"And how?"
"For my second Template I will choose Azmuth from Ben 10. Please give me the oldest version of him. Older means smarter as Galvans get smarter as they age."
"A good choice for your second one. What else?"
"Well ... it wasn't easy to find one. I was wondering if ... I could choose ..."
"Yes? I think I was very reasonable and generous."
"True ... I was wondering whether I could get a Thanos template?"
"No. Thanos, the mad titan, has superpowers. I can't do that."
"Then how about you just take all of his physical powers away and just leave me with his intelligence?"
"Haaaah ... you do know why he is called the 'Mad Titan'? Are you sure you want that? It is going to be the same as it was for the other templates ... you will get his experience, his ruthlessness... is that smart as Batman?" he asks me.
"Well ... Thanos was influenced by Death when he was young. That won't happen to me. The ruthlessness will be balanced out by the righteousness of Bruce Wayne, and give me a good balance there. Just like Rick is chaotic, Azmuth is rather good. It would be balanced, but allow me to be ruthless and kill when it is necessary," I explain.
"No, you would absolutely be influenced by Death, since you will go through his entire life as he did. You will gain his experiences!"
"...Shit, you're right. Then what about his child version? I mean ... this shouldn't change anything about his intelligence, and if you take away his biological parts, it should work, no?"
"No. That's not how templates work. You'll have to choose another one," Twister told me.
"Alright. I'll choose the Doctor."
"Hmm, an interesting choice. I suppose you'll find out whether he is the most sane or insane creature to exist in his continuity. Good, finally, the last one."
"For the last template, I choose Constantin Valdor, the First of the Ten Thousand, the Chief Custodian to the Emperor of Mankind and Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes at the time of the Unification Wars, Great Crusade, and the Horus Heresy."
"..."
"..."
*Sigh*
"I need to ask again, are you REALLY sure you want this? That's a very long time and a lot of very, very fucked up shit you'll be experiencing."
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Well, I guess you'll at least find out where he disappeared to. Good. Now I will send you to a separate place where you will fuse with the different templates one by one. As soon as you have fully fused, I will send the next one. When you are all done, I will then fuse you with Bruce Wayne, to truly make you him, and you won't have any emotional crisis in the future," Twister explained.
"Alright, I'm ready."
"No... you are not."
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So his templates are:
- Rick Prime (Rick and Morty)
- Azmuth (Ben 10)
- The Doctor (Dr Who)
- Constantin Valdor (Warhammer 40k)