Writer’s spot: Greetings friends! Get ready for the fight, buddies!

SO, I plan on updating this for a couple more days before going back to Insania. Probably we’ll have a chapter by Monday. But for now, you’ll have to deal with some robot fight-club, so I hope this can please you.

BESIDES, I should add something else here, but since I have nothing too big to talk about, let’s just pretend that I made some kind of important/funny announcement here, okay?

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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“So, our mission is to find it and gather information about the gearbox.” Lunn said as she took the rest of the group out from the building. “Capturing the mastermind is simply optional, so we don’t need to worry about that. We only need to find out where it i…”

“We’ll stop them.” Yllivia said dryly, receiving an agreement nod from Ruby.

The morfian, however, looked strangely sullen, often looking away from beepy while pouting. Neither of the two older girls had any idea of why she was acting like that, but since it looked like she had no intention of speaking anything, they left her alone.

“Okay…” Lunn said while clearing her throat. “As I was saying, we firstly we need to find the place where the gearbox is happening.” Lunn said. “From what we’ve got, it seems that there will be a championship either today or in the following days, so we need to act quickly.”

“What are we going to do then?” Ylllivia asked while frowning. “We don’t have any leads.”

“Actually, we do have.” Lunn said with an extended finger and a proud face. “We know from what the job tells us that: One, this gearbox in particular isn’t all that big. Two, it’s really recent.”

“I don’t get it.” Yllivia said after some time thinking.

“I think she means that the Gearbox will be in the slums.” Ruby said while thinking for herself, seeing the lynnian’s confused reaction she quickly cleared her throat before explaining. “I mean, gearbox are either made by the high class for entertainment, or by crime-lords, to fund their other business. Since this one is small, it can’t be made by the high class since they like grand things, and since it’s new, it can’t be on anywhere with movement, as they need more money to buy those kinds of place and bribe the authorities.”

“I see…” Yllivia said with a nod. “Ruby is smart.” She said with tone of admiration, which made the young girl blush slightly.

“Well, we might know where they might be, but that doesn’t mean we know exactly where they are.” Ruby frowned while turning to Lunn.

“Well, that might be true, but we do have a way to find it out!” She said cheerfully as she turned towards Gaz.

[I… Don’t like where this is going…] Gaz said

[That’s what you get for liking the Gearbox.] Ruby said angrily.

…

“Hello young man… That’s quite the robot you have there!” The young boy stopped, surprised by these words and looking around, until he found it’s owner.

It was an old troll, with grey fur coating and skinny limbs that didn’t match his race usual characteristics. He wore a tattered trench coat and had a simple hat on his head, somewhat hiding his face.

The shady man slowly started approaching the well dressed young man walking near the slums, being followed closely by a large and dangerous looking wolf-like robot.

“Yeah…” The young man said, his voice surprisingly effeminate. “But he’s a bit too dangerous at times… Wrecked two other robots at my house. Father is mad at him.” The hooded boy said while sighing loudly.

“Oh?” The man said while trying to hide his interest, not that he was doing a good job, though. “And… What were those robots?” He asked while eyeing the robot with greedy eyes, noticing on how the robot looked at the owner confused and tried to push him forward.

“A hord-hound and a wild leaper.” The boy said with a sigh.

“A… Hord-hound?” The man gulped surprised. “Class two?”

“Nah, class three. The biggest we had.” The boy said in a wry tone while scratching his head. When the robot looked at him confused, he simply lowered his hand to pet it. “We are waiting for father to cool down before going back.”

“Class… three…” The man said in shock before holding back a large grin that wanted to spread on his face. “H... Hey boy… D… Do you want to… *gulp* sell me… The robot?” The man took out a small money sack from the inner side of his jacket and almost shoving it at him. “I… I can give you… This much… All of this!”

The boy backed away, surprised with the man sudden aggressive offer, doing so, the robot also followed him innocently, probably thinking that he was playing around. But the old man didn’t take it all that well, and he took another step forwards while almost shoving the money at the boy’s face.

“Err… Mister?” The boy asked, his voice sounding even thinner than before.

“Look… I need that… I need that robot! I…” he said while trying to find his words. “Just… Just give it to me! And you can have all of this! Just… Gimme gimme gimme, okay?”

“Sir… Beepy isn’t for sale.” The boy said while taking another step back and waving his hand.

“I DON’T CARE IF HE’S NOT FOR SALE!” The man shouted while shoving the moneybag on the boy, the impact taking out all the air from his lungs. “I NEED THIS ROBOT! HE’LL… HE’LL MAKE ME RICH! I CAN GET EVERYTHING I LOST ON THAT DAMNED RIGGED GEARBOX!”

“Gearbox?” The boy asked confused as he got up.

“You… You don’t need to know, brat!” The old man said as he grabbed the robot by the head. “Now come with me, you damned mutt. Get me back my money for me.”

As he said that, he tried pulling the robot with him, who started to make force against his advance towards the slums. Sadly, it seemed that the robot was a bit weaker than the troll and he slowly started to lose ground.

The boy quickly got up and threw the coin-bag at the old man while trying to pull the robot back with him. But the troll was barely fazed by his attempts and quickly shoved the boy away once again, this time with way more strength, before finally putting his hand around the robot’s body and lifting him.

For a moment he almost lost balance, as the robot was heavier than what he expected for a spark, but after getting used to it, he turned away and started to make his way to the gearbox so he could throw his new robot on the arena and quickly regain his money.

“Hey! Where… Are you… Taking beepy?” The boy asked while raising to his knees, the old troll turned to him angrily once again and shouted.

“I already told you brat. You don’t need to know!” He said angrily.

“Actually, we do need to know.”

The troll turned surprised when a new voice sounded near him. Its owner was a pink haired elf, who was being followed closely by a lynnian girl.

“By the way, we won’t let you get away easily after hurting our sweet mascot, okay?” The elf said with a scary smile that made even the old troll shudder.

“Who…” He started, but was interrupted when the lynnian took a sudden step forward.

“Lights out.” She murmured inexpressively. After that, there was darkness.

…

“Some guys were flirting with us.” Yllivia explained to the bruised Ruby. “I wanted to knock them out. Lunn didn’t let me.”

“I see… Then it’s alright.” The morfian said as she moved a little, feeling a bit sore before going back to playing with Mirage in her lap. “It wasn’t anything bad at least. And we actually got the right one this time, and not a random thug… The worst part was that horrible smell of beer.” [I kind of wanted to beat that guy, though.] She added discretely.

[He’ll have it worse with Lunn, though.] Gaz said lazily while laying on Yllivia’s lap, receiving his petting session. [She looked really pissed off. I actually pity him.]

[It… It can’t be that bad, right?] Ekis said worried, but was received with a simple awkward feeling from the two.

The group waited a bit longer as Lunn did whatever it was that she was doing with the old and scared troll. Not that they had no idea on what was happening, it was just that they thought it would be better to not think too deeply into it so as to protect their mental wellbeing.

After some time, said elf came back from the dark alley where she was with a wide smile in her face. Seeing that, the two girls slightly shifted away from her with some waryness.

“Humm… Why did you two do that?” She asked confused.

“…Nothing.” “No reason.” They said almost immediately while looking away.

“Wha…?” Lunn asked confused before widening her eyes. “Wait, what did you think I was doing there?” She asked shocked.

“We understand.” “Necessary evil.” The two said while still avoiding her gaze.

“Whaaa! Sweetie is afraid of me!” Lunn said shocked while a few tears gathered around her eyes.

“What did you get?” Yllivia’s voice cut through the scene, leaving Lunn shocked for a moment with the coldness of her colleague.

“Won’t you even offer some consolation to me?” She asked in a teary voice.

“No.” The lynnian replied coldly.

[That’s what you get for calling me a girl.] Gaz said angrily while looking at the elf. Ruby had to cover her mouth and fake a yawn so that the others wouldn’t notice her smirk.

“Muu…” Lunn sulked while going back to hug Red. “Well, I got the place and the date.” She said sullenly. “And we were lucky, because they were about to relocate, so they are throwing a big tournament this time to commemorate. Even the boss will be there for the finals.”

“Then, we strike at the finals.” Yllivia said with a nod.

“What about the robots?” Ruby asked worried.

“We save some, boss will be warned and survive to start again. But take the boss down, and lose some robots, he won’t be able to start again.” The cat-girl said briefly. “There’s no way to do both. At least not now.”

Hearing those words, Ruby sighed loudly while leaning back against Lunn’s body. The elf gently patted her head as to appease the young girl, who gladly let her do so as she mulled over that fact. After a few seconds, she finally sighed again before taking the cat out from her lap and raising herself from the ground.

“Let’s go then… We don’t want to miss it, right?” Ruby said as she sighed in defeat. Lunn smiled gently at her for a moment before following the girl.

Gaz and Mirage followed the group from behind, keeping an eye and sensor out for any possible followers.

Following the directions that they got from the troll through unthinkable means, they quickly reached a dark corner of the city that wouldn’t surprise them if they were to be attacked suddenly for no reason whatsoever.

Which was exactly what happened, much to the assailants sadness, as the two girls who didn’t even let the robot have a go to test his new body quickly shot them down. They reached the place they got from the old troll and quickly directed themselves to an inconspicuous door by the end of the alley.

A quick knock made the door open slightly and a dwarf woman peeked from the slit.

“What do ya want?” She asked, clearly annoyed.

“We want to take a look at the show.” Lunn said with a smile. The dwarf frowned and shook her head.

“Sorry lass. We are packed right now.” She said as she took a peek at the group.

“Whaa? There’s not even one spot left?” Lunn asked surprise, and the dwarf shook her head, Lunn became visibly depressed, but when she felt two stares boring holes through her back she quickly went back. “We don’t mind if we simply have to stand around… Can’t you do something about it?”

“Sorry. Orders from the boss.” The dwarf said, leaving a slightly scared Lunn, but then her eyes stopping on the two robots. “But… if ya want to enter the arena with these boys… we could use a few more competitors.” She said.

Yllivia blinked surprised before frowning slightly, and just as she was about to complain about it, Gaz took a step forwards while filling his chest proudly. She stared at the robot for a short moment, before sighing loudly and taking a step back.

“Be careful, beepy.” She murmured to the robot while petting him gently.

“Beep!” He replied proudly while wagging his tails.

[Are you sure, Gaz? This sounds dangerous!] Ekis said worried, but Gaz still kept confident.

[Yeah. This is our chance to get a look at other robots and how they fight. Maybe even score a few other parts.] He said proudly, before turning to Ruby. [Is that a problem for you?]

[Beepy.] He heard her say in a tone almost like the one of defeat. [Can I ask you to at least try to not kill them?] She asked worried.

[Then I’ll need some help to avoid hitting the cores, okay?] Gaz told her, and she visibly brightened with a small smile.

[You can leave that to me.]

As they had their small talk, they made their way inside the gearbox, guided to the participants area so they could get Beepy ready.