Writer’s spot: GREETINGS FRIENDS! Not much to say here today, so let’s move on, shall we?

BESIDES, on a slightly sadder note, I will probably not upload IO this weekend. I have a major project to make until Monday and IO takes a good bunch of my awake time to make, being such a major project and all. On the other hand, I might add a new story to my Wordpress that I have some chapters ready. That said, it’s a gender bent story that’s not supposed to be taken seriously in anyway, so don’t expect much, as it’s almost literally a joke story.

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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[Oh! Oh! Take the chance to ask why the guy’s the way he is!] Gaz said excitedly while seeing Lunn heal up the lynnian once again.

[But… Isn’t it rude to ask something like that?] Ruby replied a bit worried. [I mean... I… Well… I don’t know anyone else with split personality, but isn’t that usually caused by trauma or something?] She asked back, only to be received with silence from the duo who simply watched her as if not believing her. [W-What?]

[Well… I mean… Don’t you also suffer from split personality?] Ekis asked while trying to not sound offensive, however their answer was simply a confused Ruby.

[…No?] She said as if not understanding their reasoning. [Why do you… Oh…] She widened her eyes surprised as the meaning finally dawned on her, but before she could continue she heard as the mad scientist quickly recovered himself.

“Oooh, the pain I must suffer to have a chance at science.” Syche said in a fake monotone. “Oh well, had worse anyway.” He shrugged as if it wasn’t bothering him, and before Lunn could even finish healing him he quickly bent forward and once again looked at the rifle on the table before him. “Okay long-ears, you asked for an enhancement, so what exactly do you want? Increase in range? Speed? Faster cooling? No, wait, if it uses the Tridom Horn as a basis for the barrel then I probably can’t make it go faster.”

“Ah… No…” Sorius said surprised while seeing Lunn quickly grab the lynnian’s head and drag him back to the chair where she went back to healing him. “You see, I want to remove the generator and replace for a bigger battery.” He said a bit hesitant.

“Haaah? Remove the generator? Why in Malcor’s name would you remove the generator? Wouldn’t that leave the rifle completely useless and unable to even oh so your esp is electricity generation, huh?” Evon said quickly.

The group took a moment to process his words as he made such an abrupt change of tone that left them trailing behind in understanding. By the time they finally understood, Syche was already picking a random nearby screwdriver and used it to start dismantling the rifle right there and then while murmuring something among the lines of science and such.

Ross was the first to react at the scene, his eyes widening for a moment before he extended his arms with a worried expression in his face.

“Err… Syche bud, yer might now wanna use that screwdriver…” He said.

“Huh? Why?” Syche stopped confused before looking to the tool in his hands. Quickly recognizing it as one that wasn’t his, he looked confused for a moment before making an ‘ah, I got it’ expression. “This one’s yours?” He asked. “Why was it with the weapons bag? Bah, no matter. Hope you don’t mind if I use it real quick.”

“Eh… I don really mind…” Ross said, and immediately Syche went back to dismantling the weapon. “It’s just that Risky’s a bit… Dangerous.”

“Risky? Dangerous? I eat danger for Science!” The mad scientist said while putting the tool on a particular screw that needed driving and prepared to remove it.

However, the head of the tool slipped from its place, managing to escape the lynnian’s hand and slip on to the table, where it rolled down towards the edge where the Scientist was awaiting to catch it. However, the tool deviously spun during its fall, slipping past the guy’s hand and falling out of sight.

It didn’t take more than a second before an expression of pain crossed Syche’s face as he gritted his teeth.

“An’ Risky claims another toe-nail.” Ross said with a sigh. “Dat’s one damn bloodthirsty screwdriver I got meself.”

“Science… Refuses… Defeat… Against a mere tool…” Syche said in pain before shaking his head and crouching to get the tool from the ground.

“Erm… Syche…” Ruby called out shyly to the mad Lynnian.

“What?” He asked plainly.

“Hmm… About the third thing… I wanted to ask about…”

“…Do you have to say it now?” He asked with a clearly bothered expression. “Can’t you see I have a toy right in front of me right now?” He looked down then frowned. “Hmm… Going to need something more specific for this part. Oh well, better remove the armor…”

“You’ll find it interesting.” Ruby said, making the scientist flinch for a moment as a small thread of his attention was caught.

“…Interesting… You say?”

“Y-Yes…” Ruby said before rummaging her bag in search for the other documents she had brought with herself.

“I’m waiting pip-squeak.” He said with a hurried tone while glaring at Ruby, who shivered slightly under pressure, only to receive a heel to the head from Flora who was still sipping a cup of tea.

“Give the weapon a break. I’m sure that they don’t expect it back right away, you know?” The elf said annoyedly. “Sometimes I wonder if we really shouldn’t call a mental Esper here to have you checked.”

“Meh. No need. Science is easier when I’m like this.” Syche said while standing back up with his hands in his head.

[Say… Wasn’t he supposed to go back to normal after taking a hit or something?] Gaz asked curious while watching the two making their exchanges.

[I think he mentioned… Something about it being half voluntary or something.] Ruby said as she fished a folder from her backpack and passing it to the scientist. “A-Anyway… here it is. This… Is a personal project though… So… Probably leave for later… After the others…”

Hiding her face from the intense glare of Syche as he tiredly picked up the plans and documents, Ruby quickly sat back on the couch while awaiting for the lynnian to read through it. From the looks of it, Ross and Flora also got curious as they peeked over blatantly.

Sitting near Yllivia who, for those who knew her a bit better than most, had a slightly more cheerful air around herself, Gaz took the time to look around the place where they were curiously.

Completely different from the small workshop they had on the garage of the house, this place was almost bursting with different types of tools that Gaz had never even seen before in his life. Using the info that Ekis kept providing him as he scanned the different machinery around, he slowly started to understand why Ruby would decide to come here.

The whole room was around the size of the house’s terrace. With only pillars used to sustain the ceiling, the useable space was cluttered with tools of all sizes and shapes. The only less cluttered area was the one where they were, closer to the entrance where it seemed that Evon left to do the paperwork or socializing.

That said, what looked like a weapon cache stood on the back of the room, on the very far corner of the office area, where they were. This is probably because of the fact that Evon also worked as a mercenary or something, if his memory wasn’t fooling him.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but what’s the sensor for?” Volgoff asked curious seeing how it would probably take some time for the lynnian to read the document.

“Ah… I…” Ruby, caught a bit by surprise, didn’t reply immediately.

[Use to study robots?] Ekis nudged in quickly.

“I plan on using it to study robots.” She paraphrased the Goddess, thanking her for the fast answer. “Some robots… Are a bit harder to find… This should help.” She explained quickly.

“Is that so?” Volgoff asked amused.

“Hmm… Most robots aberrant that use specialized equipment tend to emit a more unique field compared to their heathen. Well, as long as the aberrant isn’t purely mechanical…” She added with an awkward expression before shaking her head. “Anyway. This should make it easier to find, then study them. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.”

“You really are keen on studying them aren’t you?” Volgoff said with an amused expression before smiling to the blushing Ruby.

[Wow. Nice cover up!] Gaz said surprised.

[Well… It’s not like I was lying…] She replied sheepishly. [I-I mean… We might be searching for Ekis and all… But… Maybe… You know… You could… help me… A bit… Please?] She asked with a voice that only died down the more she spoke.

For a moment Gaz simply stayed put, staring at the girl who avoided looking at him embarrassed before finally sighing wryly.

[Geez… If you ask like that I would feel like a villain if I refused…]

[I don’t mind waiting a bit more.] Gaz and Ekis pitched in with an awkward tone that quickly made the morphian to open up in a smile in a brief smile.

Doing her best to not start smiling too widely, Ruby turned back towards Syche and flinched for a moment when seeing the unusually serious expression in his face.

“Oi… Princess…” Ross said with a shocked expression as he finished reading the paper.

“I’m no scientist… But…” Flora said amazed.

“Oi… Pipsqueak. Are you serious about this?” Syche asked while putting the paper on the table and changing his focus to Ruby.

“Yes…?” She replied hesitantingly.

“Do you have any idea of what the hell you are speaking here?” He asked. “I mean, let’s ignore the fact that it’s way beyond what we would call a mod an all and no robot would even survive such adaptations.” He said with a serious tone while giving a brief glance to Gaz as if he had an idea or something. “Do you have any idea what you are suggesting here?”

“I… I think I do?”

“I don’t think you do. Look, I might not exactly be the sanest person around and I’m one of the firsts to admit that, but even I wouldn’t come with this… This… This thing and call it a ‘personal’ project.” He said while staring at the paper again. “You are saying that, without the use of esp or ultra light gases, you want to make a large metallic body, that weights… What, five kilos? Use air current, and Air current ONLY to propel itself into the air?”

“Well… yes?”

“You do know that robots aren’t Skrylks, right? They don’t have access to powerful esp or something like that to reduce their weight…”

“Well...” Ruby started interrupting with a wry smile.

“And no, that one doesn’t count.” Syche denied her immediately.

“Princess. Do ye really think this will work?” Ross asked confused. “I mean… This whole helix thing is neat an’ all, but I never heard of it before. Does it really work like that?”

“Well… I’m not entirely sure but… I have motives to believe it will work.” The morphian nodded. “I-In fact… There may even be a way to create flight using only forward propulsion, but… It might be a bit more complex.” She said, her words resonating on the group’s ears as they processed its meanings.

“And… ye think this could be used on, Ya know, Larger objects?” Ross asked curious.

“Well... If this works…” Ruby said hesitatingly while looking towards Gaz with the corner of her eyes. “I think it might be possible for the same idea to be applied on much larger bodies. Yes.” Ruby nodded.

“…That’s insane.” Was all that Syche said before standing up and putting his hand on his hair, taking care not to mess it up. “This idea is simply insane. It’s insane, illogical and impractical.” He walked around while putting on a confused expression. “It literally spits on the face of all we thought about flight before, using some never seen before ideas and technology that literally have NEVER been seen on robots before.” He left the area while walking around muttering. “YOU of all people should know that, if not even a robot with such a build appeared before, it means that it’s hardly practical. What you are speaking of here is pretty much considered impossible by most of the current society, and if we even dared to submit such a plan to the scientific community, they would laugh at our faces and expel us for good with no chance of coming back ever again!”

[Geez man, no need to be so aggressive!] Gaz said surprised. [Couldn’t he be a bit more gentle with his refusal?]

[I wouldn’t be so sure…] Ruby replied with a surprisingly relieved tone.

“Not saying that this isn’t revolutionary or anything, but besides that, it’s everything else it shouldn’t be.” He said while stopping besides one of the larger machines in the workshop and turning back to her, his finger-tip turned straight to the morphian. “It’s reckless, It’s idiotic. It’s foolish, unheard of, untested, more prone to failure than a joining a Galcamo reactor with a Frey-horn motor and completely, utterly, undeniably... Unscientific! Not only that, but you also dare to say that it would work with larger-sized machines? Are you even serious with this? You know what, I don’t care. I don’t give a damn if you are serious or not…”

“Hey!” Lunn said while standing up angrily. “Do you need to be so…”

“I LOVE IT!” He finished starry eyed.

““““What?”””” Most of the group said in synchro as his words sank in. Not exactly understanding what he meant at first, they simply kept looking at him waiting for an answer.

“This… Thing. This abomination of a project is everything I ever wanted! This will break everything we thought we knew about robots if it works! It will make the scientists look dumb and idiotic compared to everything else!” Syche started laughing loudly while holding his forehead, much alike a madman. “This will break science! Something weighting more than five kilos without esp or other sorts of gravity manipulation FLYING? That's insanely AMAZING!”

“I said you would find it interesting!” Ruby said with a relieved tone while putting her hand over her chest and sighing as if a weight had been taken off her chest.

“Okay! Where do we start? The motors? Don’t think I’ve seen anything that fits the criteria! NO! Maybe the chassis! It’s quite unique if I think about it… Or maybe the compressor? Something that small probably don’t exist…” Syche started saying everything hurriedly while throwing bits and pieces of metals around from the machine’s drawers.

“I… I think it would be better if we left this for last.” Ruby said awkwardly while seeing the man flinch over her words. “I mean… We will need the others faster while this is only a personal effort…” As she said her words, she noticed how Syche slowly turned to her with a shocked and depressed expression.

“But… But… Science… It calls…” He said pleading while showing the coil and battery in his hands.

“You heard the girl Syche. First work, afterwards you can play science.” Flora said with an amused expression. “And don’t forget that we have a job in three hours, so I’ll need you to change back with Evon, okay?” A playful smile appeared in her face as Syche looked pleadingly before lowering his head and nodding with a pout.

[That actually went a lot better than what I expected.] Gaz said amused.

[As odd, mean and scary that Syche may be, he’s actually really easy to see through.] Ruby said with an awkward tone. [So I was already expecting a bit of his reactions. He’s still scary and mean though.]

[I see… Still, was kind of expecting something to go horribly wrong somewhere, though.] Gaz said while shrugging in his mind. [With you speaking of good luck thanks to dragon thingy back at home, it just seemed to fit that we would get into trouble.]

[Geez, why are you so negative?] Ruby complained.

[Ha ha… I might be partly to blame.] Ekis said with a dry tone. [Probably because I once jinxed him, and right after he got caught by Yllivia.]

[Well, it’s not like it was a bad thing, right?] Ruby said confused.

[It was still really scary.] Gaz said in monotone before sighing. [Well, at least everything went well, so I guess we can call it a job well done, right?]

[Yup!] Ekis replied happily.

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Writer’s spot (2): On another longer but less relevant note. It relates to Zoids, but have some minor spoiler, thus, I’m leaving it like this.

Spoiler :

So, after much delay, I finally went around watching one season of the anime that many people spoke about in this series. None other than Zoids. More specifically, the one with the Liger Zero and CAS system.

More than once I had people telling me to give a CAS system to Beepy since it looks badass, and you know what? HELL YEAH IT DOES! I must admit that the anime, albeit not without faults, was quite good and was the first anime that I watched in its entirety in the last six months or so. Right now I began watching the one with the murasame liger, but I’m still on the first episodes.

However, about the CAS system… I’m not adding it. *Sips tea and nibbles cookie while seeing people’s shocked and sad reaction.* Well, while I do admit that I liked the system a LOT, it’s simply something that doesn’t really have much use in the story. Because I already had a similar, improved system altogether. One major fault of the CAS system was that it had to be always the same sets in their entirety, which, despite giving some really nice flexibility to the Liger Zero when it comes to roles, still had the problem of being… Well… Limited.

The plan I have for Beepy is to have a lot of modular pieces for all his bodies, and each of them can be used independent of each other. This way I can give him a lot more flexibility that I found lacking in the basic CAS system, since it would even allow to change limbs entirely. That said, the changes would probably be manual instead of using the cool robot hands thingy because of obvious reasons. (Mostly lack of space and money)

So, there we go. Mostly my thoughts on the whole Zoids thingy when it comes to beepy.