1 My Name Is Pet!?!?

[Summoning activated.]

"Five more minutes..."

[User has failed to select a preference. Randomization protocols activated.]

"Wait! What's going on?" Everything was black as he looked around. The sound of the feminine voice was the only sensation he could get. "Actually... who am I?" He had the vaguest memories of failing out of med school, being another wage slave stuck in the rat race, cheap ramen, hot dogs on toast, crippling student debt, and unpaid car bills. Not exactly happy memories now that he recalled them.

[Summoner: Necromancer]

[Familiar Type: Undead]

[Sub-Type: Skeletal]

"Ok that's not so bad I guess. Could be worse. At least I'm not something small."

[Species: Goblin]

"What the heck is that! I thought this was random! You clearly did that on purpose!"

[Skeletal Grade: Trash]

I about cried at that last part. The only thing stopping me was the lack of any body.

[Selecting unique ability]

"Okay here's my chance. This is always where the hero gets some super powerful ability."

[Jerry-rigged]

"Okay, I can work with this! I'll make epic gadgets and be a total bad ass like MacGyver."

[Description: Cobble together makeshift junk from trash you find]

"What the f..."

[Summoning]

The world went white briefly as he felt a tugging sensation on his being. It wasn't pleasant. In fact immense pain washed over him in that moment. He came into his new reality screaming. Or at least trying to. Turns out skeletons can't scream due to a lack of lungs or vocal cords. You'd think three years of med school would have told him that much. Then again med school has no explanation for magical skeletons being able to move on their own.

He glanced around to see he was in what appeared to be a sewer of some sort. Behind him stood a human in an over sized trench coat with a hood. He, (or at least he was going to assume it was a he as bandages covered his entire face) was pointing urgently at the rat standing a foot in front of him. Correction, in his face. Up close it was the ugliest thing he could remember seeing. It was scrawny and had patches of fur missing. Growths seemed to be poking out of the few patches of hair that remained, and wild eyes darted back and forth as it sank its teeth into his bones. Things went quickly after that. Mostly he just flailed uselessly out of shock and fear. The pain of the rat chewing through his bones was immense as he tried desperately to escape. The sound of cracking bones echoed hollowly in his ears reverberating off the sewer walls. The last thing he saw before things went dark again was his summoner stomping in frustration.

The first thing he noticed was his distinct lack of eyelids preventing him from shutting out the blindingly white light to get some sleep.

"Ey mon, wake up!" The sudden voice interrupting his staring session with what he assumed was the sky shook him out of his reverie rather abruptly. He sat up in response to find what appeared to be a skeleton with fangs and two horns standing in front of him.

[Ability Unlocked: Inspect]

[Do you wish to use now?]

'Finally, something useful! Of course I wish to use it."

[Acknowledged]

'Can't screw me over forever can ya, sucker!' He smirked inwardly or as much as a skeleton can smirk anyways.

[-100 skill points]

[0 skill points remaining]

[Remaining skill choices will now be abandoned]

I spit blood at the systems last second punchline. 'I hate you so much'

"Ey, mon. Are ye okay?" The other skeleton was still in front of him trying to get his attention as he sat their inwardly cursing the system.

'Inspect.'

[Skeleton]

Somehow, defying all laws of anatomy he coughed blood and blanched. "No, I'm not okay." He cried. "I finally get a chance to be something more and I just end up as worthless trash in a rigged system all over again." He barely held the tears back as the other skeleton sat down.

"Ey mon. Every little thing is gonna be okay. We're in the master's pocket of holding. I like to call it Pocket D and pretend it's a party, but this is where we heal up after a bad battle." The skeleton chuckled. "It's the hippest place on the master's hip." He scowled at the skeleton.

"I don't think I was summoned with a funny bone." He grumbled. Puns, he hated puns. He narrowed his eyes as the other skeleton laughed obnoxiously.

"Name's Fang, mon. What's yours?" Fang asked him. It was then he realized he didn't even know. He fumbled about as he tried to recall it when a window popped up with his info.

Name: Pet

Type: Undead

Sub-Type: Skeleton

Species: Goblin

Class: NA

Grade: Trash

Skills: Jerry-rigged, Inspect

'What the hell!' Pet thought. His summoner was a pervert!

"Uhh, my name's Pet." He said with more embarrassment than he thought possible. Fang blanched at that.

"Oh, uh, I, uh have to go... somewhere. Not here." Fang stammered as he stood up and rushed away. This reaction stunned Pet as he sat there in silence for a bit. He figured he would have to come up with a different name if he was going to talk to anyone else here. He settled on Jack before setting out to find others in this white landscape he was stuck in. It was a bit cliche but it reminded him of his favorite Halloween character, so it was what he decided to go with.

Noises in the white expanse seemed to echo hollowly no matter what. He wondered if that was just due to his skeletal ears or not. His sense of smell was missing, which he took as a blessing with the few piles of rotting flesh he came across and the numerous undead.

The zombies weren't big talkers despite being among the few that still actually had vocal cords. From the few undead he managed to have conversations with however, he found out this pocket dimension allowed them to speak due to the high concentration of necromancy magic permeating the space for their recovery. It honestly seemed to good to be true with his recent track record, which turned out to be the case with the next place he found.

Jack stood on the edge of a white hill looking over piles of corpses, bones and rotting flesh.

"Welcome to the boneyard, mon." Fang had shown up out of nowhere surprising Jack.

"Call me Jack." Fang smiled at that nodding, causing Jack to shiver involuntarily. A skeleton smiling was terrifying enough as it was without adding fangs and horns.

"This be where the un-summoned go to fade away. Should we not perform to expectations, master begins to summon us less and less. Tho the magic here restores us, mon, over time it begins to eat away at our essence. Eventually we cease to exist." Jack's eye sockets widened at Fang's words as he remembered how terribly he had done the one time he had been summoned. He decided to change the subject before he put himself back into a panic.

"Your accent, it sounds Jamaican. Are you from earth as well?"

"Aye that sounds 'bout right mon. Tho my memory isn't what it used to be, mon. Skeletons don't have much in the way of brains after all, mon." Fang chuckled at his own joke coughing suddenly as he noticed Jack's glare.

"So what kind of skeleton are you, anyways?" Jack queried.

"I'm an Oni Death Knight! Our master's teacher passed me on to them when they were accepted into Green Vale's School for Summoners." Fang declared proudly as he stood somewhat straighter.

"I see." He hadn't expected to be summoned by a student. Or even summoned at all for that matter. But what Fang said explained how he knew so much. "Look, about earlier. I'm sorry if I scared you off. That really is what our summoner called me."

"Ha ha... I know mon. Look on the bright side. Our master takes after their teacher in regards to naming. A dog is Dog, a cat is Cat." Jack blanched as he recalled the pervy sounding name their summoner had given him. Fang laughed again much to Jack's displeasure. "That means ya won't rot in the boneyard, mon. Not for a while at least, mon."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Jack shivered as he began picturing a wrinkly old man doing unspeakable things to his new goblin skeleton.

"You see that giant bird corpse, mon?" Jack nodded as he looked at the corpse Fang had pointed out. It was actually rather beautiful apart from the small patches of feathers missing. Its feathers were a blueish black hue and still shiny. Small sparks still crackled across their surface even now. "That was pet before you. She was a thunder bird revenant. Master loved her very much. I doubt she would have ever been replaced had she not been purified by a jealous cleric. Honestly, I was worried our master wouldn't recover from that loss. That's why I was so shocked when you told me your name."

"I... but I'm just a goblin skeleton. It literally says trash in my description!" Fang Laughed at that, much to Jack's distress.

"You received the name Pet, my mon. I'm sure that means there's much more to you than first appearances." Fang looked at the goblin skeleton carefully for a moment. Something about him seemed familiar. Something deeper. Sure, he was weak, but something more sat under the surface. "Take some time, mon. Get used to your new body, maybe you'll learn something useful, mon." When Jack looked back Fang was gone.

He sighed fitfully as he made up his mind and headed down to the thunder bird's remains. They called to his soul in a way he couldn't explain. Strangely he felt at ease as he got near. Jack imagined soaring on the air currents with ebony wings as he sat next to her remains. He had no idea how long he may have sat there had something not began flapping in his face. He opened his eyes to find gray bandages similar to his summoners were wrapped around the birds legs. They had come loose in the wind and began flapping in his face. He smiled softly as much as a skeletal goblin could. He had finally come to terms with his new existence. It never occurred to him how there was wind in a sealed pocket dimension as he got up with another sigh to go find Fang. It was time to get some combat training, and who better than a Death Knight.

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