Giro makes about a single mile before getting harassed by what he can only assume are ninjas. They are not the sun, so he decides to ignore them. Or he would, if they would just leave him alone- “Do you think this thing was sent by a rival cade?” A youthful yet annoying girl says, as Giro ignores her and her almost equally annoying buddies.

“Hey, stop, dummy.” She says, patting his headplate, and so he does. Giro still knows better than to act out against the flesh-bags, they might call someone who CAN fight, or more likely, tear him apart on the spot. “Hey! It listened!” A younger boy says, looking at the older girl and back at Giro.

Giro looks down at himself, trying to figure out what part of himself he should tear out now… He just gave up his melter array, and he’d like to enjoy his other weapon… He spins his Ion Spear, surprising the ninjas before he bashes one of his armor plates.

A powerful and quick bolt of electricity is what tells the armor plates to deactivate, so a simple crackle would do the trick. Giro catches the armor piece, as the Ninjas glare at him, ready to jump him the moment they can read his next attack…

He picks up the simple plate, feeling the hum of its magic shielding. Without that shield, it wouldn’t even stand up to a toddler. “What is it doing?...” The girl asks, as he walks up to her, and gestures the plate forward as an offering.

“A-Are you trying to give it to me?... I don’t want it-” She says, the first person to ever reject Giro’s gift… A pain courses through his body, and he falls to his knees. “Dude… Yala, I think you just hurt its feelings…” One of her friends says, laughing to themself as Giro realizes that maybe it was just the wrong gift.

“I-” She begins- “Yala… I knew you were no fun, but this…” One of her other friends says, as she shifts nervously, trying to figure out how to repair her reputation. Giro decides that the gift would have to be very personal, substantial. The Ion Spear pops out of its force canon, and he offers that to her instead.

“OH! Thank you~! See?! I’m not cold hearted!” She announces, hugging him as he stands up straight, lifting her off the ground and moving on as she clings to his head with a dumbfounded look on her face. “Yala, we were joking! Don’t leave with it!” The same boy yells, as she lets go of Giro.

“It just started moving, guys. Hey, robot. Who are you? What do you want with our Cade?” She asks, and Giro turns around to point at his name once more, then at the top of the mountain. “Giro, huh?...” She folds her arms. “Right, the Phoenix Perch, it’s sacred to our people. You can’t go up there.” She says, and Giro looks down with disappointment.

Acceptance kicks in, and he nods, before walking away, as the ninjas watch him go. “Well, there MIGHT be a way for you to get up there, Giro. If you’re willing to offer your services.” Yala says, making Giro turn right back around and walk up to her again like an expectant puppy.

“It’s dangerous though, and you don’t look to be at one-hundred percent…” She says, but Giro, already clicking the armor piece back into place, has decided that as a combat drone, he will take up this task. He looks at her and nods with determination.

Yala sighs. “If you’re sure… I’m Yalanaga, by the way. This is Orgille, Polvus, Wigsten, and Zerala.” She says, introducing her friends one by one, as Giro stares motionlessly. “Come on now.” She continues, beckoning him to follow.

As they arrive, they’re greeted by sprawling mountains, and a dense wooded village. But Giro knows better than to assume they’re ANY bit lacking in the tech department. He assumes they decorate their homes this way to stay in theme, merely because they like it.

In a world where the shape, structure, and overall utility matters little, it leads to a lot of creative design for its inhabitants. “Welcome to the Autumn Cade, Giro. If you take on a hard enough mission, they might reward you with a visit to the peak, who knows, it might even fix you up.” At that, Giro found it tempting, he hadn’t planned on a tune-up, but he wouldn’t deny one. Walking has gotten hard… after all…

Yalanaga guides Giro into the town hall, the village elders raising their heads to meet their new visitors. “An Automaton, mmh?” One of them asks, hidden behind a thin wall, his silhouette the only form of his appearance. “This is Giro, a traveler. He wishes to travel to the peak of the Phoenix Perch.” Yalanaga explains to them, as Giro tries to lower his knees as far as he can.

The elders look between each other, then a set of two glowing yellow eyes… Giro realizes that he must be attuned with Yin’s brother: Yang. He’s attuned with the yellow moon! “Giro, you have done well to come this far.” It’s a woman’s voice, it turns out the village’s leader is an elderly woman.

“You seek the Phoenix Perch? As an Automaton, you hold no allegiances… Seek out the other Cades, give them this message, THEN I will grant you access.” She says, before shutting her yellow eyes and her silhouette shooting into the ceiling…

“Um…” Yalanaga hums, unsure of what the message is. “I apologize, she seems to have forgotten to give you the message, Giro.” One of the elders said, an embarrassed tone in his voice. “Please, take this time to rest. We’ll gather your message from the priestess. I would advise you to equip yourself with help from our artificers.” The elder continues, his silhouette disappearing from the thin wall…

“Well, we’ve got our orders, Giro. Let’s get you fixed up.” Yalanaga commands, grabbing Giro’s shoulder as she looks at the spear he gave her. “You sure you don’t want this thing back, man? I mean… I’d hate for you to go without any form of protection.” She says, guiding him out and over to the aforementioned artificers.

“Hey! Got an order for some equipment!” Yalanaga calls out, as she and Giro step in front of the front desk with the greeter. “Should I get Korlox?” The greeter asks, pointing his thumb at the door behind him, and Yala nods her head, before Giro can try and tear off another piece of himself.

“KORLOX! GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!!!” The young greeter roars, his vulgar words making the room rumble. Or was that from the large man walking through the door? His thick body tears the doorframe open- “What do you need?” He asks, before his eyes land on Giro.

“A machine. Looks advanced… You need it scrapped?” He asks, as Giro considers what to give this new potential friend. “No, he’s Giro. He’s got a mission from the priestess.” She continues as Giro uses his force cannon to tear out one of his oculory receivers.

“Shit!” Yala shouts, as Giro walks up to the Artificer, and hands it to him… “Oh, good… One of your eyes… Should I?...” The man asks, as the greeter sits there tapping away at a holographic board, while Yala shakes her head.

“He’s stubborn, I tried to give him back his spear, but he won’t have it.” She says, showing it to the artificer. “Mmh. I guess it’s payment, then. Alright… I’m not so tech savvy, but I can fix up your hull for the journey, and get you a little extra armor plating.” He explains, as the zapped armor plate falls out again.

“Oh, good. I can use this to compare and contrast with the rest of your armor.” He says, bending on his knee to pick it up. “Alright, what’s the mission?” He asks, and Yala looks at Giro. “You head outside and rest, I’ll sort everything out for you.” Yala tells Giro, before pointing at the door.

“Actually, Giro, you should rest in one of our garages. We’ll have an easier time getting you fixed up.” The Artificer tells Giro, pointing at the larger, more Giro-Sized door, leading to the garages. “Goodnight, Giro.” Yala calls out, as his friends wave him off-

Giro realizes he forgot something, he quickly turns around to point at his name. “Yes, I know, your name is Giro…” Yala says, chuckling to herself as the other two realize his name was written there. He gestures to it again, and the Artificer realizes what’s happening.

“Ah. I’m Korlox, and this fool here's my little brother, Corvus.” He says, rubbing Corvus’s head, as he gives Giro a thumbs up. Giro stares at his hand for a minute, then gives Korlox a thumbs up in return, his broken hand lightly jittering as it struggles to perform such delicate motions like it used to.

And finally, Giro settles himself in the middle of the room, deciding to allow his body to recharge its ether stores… It’s not like Giro trusted them, but he knew his fate wasn’t up to him. He wasn’t strong enough for that.

End of Chapter: 5 “Autumn.”

Thank you for reading.

“Oh, well, thank you.”

“Totes, thanks man.”

“Yeah, alright. Thanks!”

“Mmn… Fine… Thank you. Now I’m busy, please leave me alone.”

“How did you get up here? That’s all? You infiltrated upon- Fine. Thank you. Now LEAVE.”

“So you want me to thank you for nothing? Nah.”

“I’m busy, screw off.”