Chapter 1: I am a Rubber Duck

 

Today, like most days, I floated. Bobbing up and down as I rode the waves of disgusting sludge that filled the sewer pipelines.

Unable to move, I am but a victim of the tides, forever trapped inside the shell of a rubber duck.

 

To understand my predicament and current rubbery duckness, it all started when Truck-Kun magically appeared and ran me over.

Yes, the one from that one anime.

Now you might be questioning yourself, saying wow! What a silly premise, or how cliche! But alas I kid you not. Truck-kun exists as a vengeful spirit and he takes no prisoners.

I remember it fondly, one of the last precious memories I had before this life of infinite buoyancy.

It was dark, raining, and I had just gone to the store to pick up a cup of large fries from Wacdonalds.

A little salty goodness to celebrate my new job as an office worker.

And then it happened.

Straight out of the alley.

 

I never stood a chance.

 

But now my imaginary friend, you might be asking, ok? How do you know Truck-Kun doesn’t take any prisoners? Well I'm glad you asked!

 

I didn't die from the initial impact.

As a kid, I ran track, did martial arts, worked out, and spent my days cleaning houses to pay for college. So I was fit, with a good constitution. Or... at least I think I was. Maybe I'm thinking about the kid next door?

Anyway when Truck-kun shone his lights at me from that narrow alley I immediately attempted to dodge. However, my futile attempt to save my life only prolonged my suffering as my body collided with the truck and flew over the vehicle’s dark hood instead of under it.

Hitting the ground with an oof, I crawled, lamenting the loss of my salted French fries as I desperately tried to get to safety.

Funny, I was on death's door yet all I could think about were my spilled fries.

Truck-kun returned, its lights illuminating my broken body under the moon-filled night and pouring rain.

There was fury in its headlights, anger that it had failed to one-hit KO me. I could feel it, all-consuming rage that its perfect streak had been broken.

It honked, revving its engines as I lifted a broken arm and pleaded for it to spare me, but alas…

It ran me over in that alley. Crushing me.

But it didn't end there. I survived. By some cruel miracle I was still alive!

So Truck-kun backed up and ran me over again.

And again.

And again until I was a fine thin bloody paste on the cement.

So yea. That's how I originally died. I had read stories of things like this, watched shows, hell I'd even heard rumors of truck kun appearing with monsters coming out of portals in Mexico, the US, and Japan and people gaining systems. However they were all quickly dismissed as hoaxes.

Fast forward a bit I met a red-haired man with cat ears holding a white cat who claimed he was a God. He apologized about his Apostle's behavior before telling me I'd been summoned for a grand purpose. To defeat The Demon Emperor and save a world on the brink of disaster.

Generic Isekai stuff.

I led my party of heroes, I gathered skills, I fell in love, and in the end I fought the Demon Emperor.

A Heroic Tale as old as time right?

Except in this story I didn't win.

I lost against the Demon Emperor. The bad guys won, my party disbanded, and in the end my skills were sealed and my soul trapped inside of a rubber duck as a gift for his daughter…

Who, in a stroke of unfortunate luck, accidentally flushed me down the toilet.

So yea. That's pretty much my entire life story. Oh and did I mention it's been like, a hundred years since then?

A hundred years of isolation. Just me, the sludgy water, and the slimes.

Or, at least I think it's been a hundred years? Kinda hard to tell when you're a rubber duck without access to a smartphone or a sundial.

Or sunlight for the matter.

Or eyes…

Yea that's right! I can't see! But I can squeak! Intaking air through my mouth I can expand and then squeeze my body, allowing air to blow through a squeaker in my beak and after a hundred or so years of squeaking I've developed a nifty echolocation ability.

So... that's my life. I float and I squeak. Aimlessly through the sewers that I call home.

Speaking of home, the underground waste area was built in a weird circular pattern that seemed to stretch on forever. Occasionally I'd feel a dropping sensation as if I were falling, but upon using my Squeakerlocation(an apt name I know.) I discovered I was simply being teleported.

There was some kind of magical effect that bound me in place, tethering me back to the middle of the sewer where I'd land with a splash and continue my never-ending voyage.

Up and down, up and down.

Forever.

And ever…

And ever…

An endless cycle of drifting.

Please help me.

 

[Experience has reached maximum level!]

[Core accumulated!]

Huh?

[Standby for Integration.]

What?

[Integrating…]

[Integrating…..]

The hell is this?

 

[Core Connected!]

Who is this?! Who are you?!

[Dungeon System activating!]

Wait what the fu-

[Dungeon Core activated!]

Suddenly for the first time in ages I felt something.

Energy inside that bubbled within, like an explosion of power that kick started my senses. I could feel the boiling of the water, the touch of the steam, and the smell…

 

Oh. Oh God.

 

Oh God! OhGodohgodohgod!

The sounds of my squeaks echoed through the sewer as I inwardly convulsed and gagged. My body involuntarily intaking the foul odor as I panicked.

I was unprepared, the rancid stench of the sewer overwhelming my newfound senses as I suddenly gained the ability to smell and feel.

 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO KILL ME! PLEASE!

[What is your name?] The image of the words forming in my mind.

Distracted, I could only respond with a What?

[Confirm What as name?]

[Y</N]?

What? No! Uhhhh

[What is your name?]

 

Name, name, name! I had a name once, but what was it? I racked my non-existent brain, thinking, sorting, sifting, trying to uncover the traces of my past as I struggled to maintain my sense of sanity from the sudden bombardment of touch, smell, and letters forced into my mind.

It started with an H, this I knew, but I couldn’t remember, like a fog blanketing my inner thoughts I could envision, see glimpses of people as they spoke to me, addressed me, called out to me, cheered for me, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember, so I just went with the two things I knew about myself.

 

One, that I was a rubber duck.

And two, that I was a hero.

 

[Confirm Hiro as name?]

[Y</N?]

Yes.

[Processing….]

I focused long and hard on those words, putting them at the forefront of my mind to prevent my psyche from collapsing under the wretched smell that permeated the space around me. It was disgusting, and what I had thought was water from a septic conduit of a sewer was really bubbling toxic sledge.

Disgusting! Disgusting! I tried to focus on the words engraved in my mind's eye yet the smell triumphed all!

Clean! Clean! LET ME CLEAN! I raged.

 

The first emotion I'd ever felt in hundreds of years and it was the desire to purge the filth from this world.

[Dungeon registered in System as Hiro’s Dungeon!]

[Dungeon Core Skills Unlocked!]

[Congratulations! Please see your System handbook for instructions on how to run your dungeon! Goodbye and Good Luck killing Heroes!]

The mysterious words left as quick as they'd come, leaving me once again alone, but this time angry and confused with a compulsion to PURGE the world of stains.

[Rolling Starter Skills…]

The system was back, but this time different, less intense, more focused. Easier to see within my mind.

I felt a tug, like my very being was being shifted until suddenly it stopped, leaving me with messages in the void that was my inner conscious.

 

[Water affinity detected!]

 

[Squirt Water LvL1 Obtained!]

[Bubble Blow LvL1 Obtained!]

[Acid immunity LvL? Obtained!]

[Striking Resistance LvL6 Obtained!]

[Slashing Resistance LvL6 Obtained!]

[Named skill detected! Integrating Squeakerlocation!]

[Squeakerlocation LvL2 Obtained!]

[Soul Bound Skills detected! ERROR! 404! SEALED!]

 

[Attempting seal break 1-146..]

Suddenly a weighty pressure wrapped around my sense of self, a complete and utter vice around my Soul.

 

Pain.

 

For lack of a better word is what I felt, but having been dull for so long I relished it, madness in my soul as something I thought I'd never miss sprung forth happiness I never knew I could achieve!

I squeaked in jubilation, regretting it instantly as the smell hit my innards once more.

My lamentation however didn't last long, as the next message I received froze me to my core.

 

[Seal break success! Skills unsealed!]

Immediately I could feel a change occurring inside, a cataclysmic adjustment in my core.

[Reclaiming skills…]

 

Holy crap! Was this it?! Was I going to reclaim my heroic stature? My skills? My position as strongest hero?!

Even as a rubber duck just having a fraction of my old skills would be a start! I greedily waited, hoping upon hope that I could maybe one day return to my former glory!

[Skills successfully reclaimed:2]

 

Eh?

[Summon Rock LvL1 Obtained!]

[Impart instruction LvL1 Obtained!]

Wha?

[Congratulations! Skills successfully rolled!]

[Curse feedback detected!]

[Permanently Sealing Soulbound skills to Protect User from curse feedback!]

What? NononoNONONONONO!

[Skills sealing...]

It wasn't fair! I could see them! My skills! All foreign yet familiar to me, grayed out on a list that was rapidly disappearing!

Please! No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOO!

My squeaks of agony echoed out, this was it, my hopes and dreams, my efforts all gone. Memories I had thought once lost began to take over, memories of all my time, effort, and tears shed in pursuit of power.

 

It was all gone, locked away, and there was nothing I could do to stop it as the skill list disappeared and the realization of reality hit me like truck-kun had done before.

 

I was a rubber duck, and my time as a hero was truly over.

A/N

 

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