Shard, Bottom of a giant crater Still repairing itself after being here for a few days, it finally makes progress on some important integral systems. Global Positioning Systems status: Operational Finally able to get a location down, it attempts to find out just where in the world it is. GPS location: The Great Pit, Downunda Natch...well now it knows why it was such a big crater. Chassis and Neuroptics status: Operational Power Core integrity: 70% Time to try getting up again. Moving it’s arm to support it’s legs in standing, it manages to get to a kneeling position, and finally standing upright. Time to try finding a way out now. Rocket jumping would most likely attract locals which probably wouldn’t be a good idea right now. Climbing looks to be the best option. Glancing down at it’s chest, it notices that there is a portion of its experimental Power Crystal missing. Great, just great. Not like they’re easy to come by. Especially from where it came fro- hangonasec, where DID it come from again? It’s memory banks seem to have some giant blank spots. That’s no bueno. Oh hey, the Language index is still functional. But it looks like it can only go up from here... ———————— Uncle Chuck, Josh, and Larry, Mercia At Uncle Chuck’s place, Josh and Larry had just finished explaining what had happened to them in the forest. All Chuck replied with was “Hmm...” “If you’re worried about leading those things here perhaps it is best you come with us. Chuck and I are about to go on a little adventure so some young blood could be a good help. What do you thing Chuck?” Asked a concerned Ian. “Darn it Ian, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Getting kids involved on this “adventure” 1. Will probably only slow us down. 2. Could get us all killed (or worse) and-“ Josh interjects Chuck whilst he’s giving his lame excuses. He then explains back “While I’m not thrilled about taking Larry to something dangerous, we all know you’ll need us to help you.” Chuck, knowing he’s right, turned to his equipment cases and finishes packing. “You do know we might not ever come back, right boys?” “Yes sir.” Piped Larry. “And that this is an extremely dangerous circumstance we’ll be caught into?” ”Absolutely.” Replied a determined Josh. “Grrrrr... pack your bags and get ready, we leave first thing tomorrow morning.” “Yes sir!” Leaving Chucks place, the boys wave back to them as they head home. “Ian, I’ve got a really bad feeling about this, but if what they said is true to the last detail then leaving them here wouldn’t help them much better. We’ll head out of town a ways tomorrow over to one of my old buddy’s places, he should be able to get us to where we need to go. I suppose I’d better let the Captain of the Guard know that I’m leaving.” Getting back inside his house, he continues making arrangements for the “adventure” they’re about to have. “I do have to ask though Ian, what about Geoffrey?” ———————— Elias, Breakneck Ridge After escaping not only killer robot bugs, but also Valentino and his goons, Elias makes his way to the crash site outside of the Casino Night Zone. “Out of the boiler and onto the grill. This is getting too intense.” Elias jokingly remarked to himself. Back at the site he finds only a couple of those “ladybug” robots there. Drawing his sword, he prepares himself for combat. Both of the robots spot him and rev up to ramming speed. Ready for them this time, he easily predicts their movement and slash through both as they draw near. With them out of the way, he cautiously approaches the mysterious pod. He then sees this mysterious symbol on it: “So, someone or something is doing this deliberately. Wait a second, there’s one of these things back in town! I need to get back and warn people about the danger!” But just as he turned to leave came a menacing figure. It was not one of Valentino’s goons... but a robot of one! Dodging to the side, he avoids a claw-swipe from the bot. Sword still drawn, he thrusts it towards the bot’s chest only to be blocked and backhanded away. He tries again this time landing a solid blow to its chest, but it seems he missed all the vitals! The robot pushes him away into a boulder and attempts to punch his head. Elias dodges to the side, narrowly missing it. He realized that his sword is still in the bot, as to which he comes up with an idea on how to utilize it. Using it as he springboard, he jumps up and catches its head with his hands, then uses the momentum built up from the jump to swing around with its head to take it down to the ground. He then quickly pulls out his knife and proceeds to decapitate the robot, putting it out of its misery. Leaving the site, he noticed that Val’s goon had a very nice Jeep that was in desperate need of a new owner. He hops in, fires it up, and makes haste for CNZ with hopes he can prevent an unfortunate event... ————————