My girls, Ram and Rom, headed back to the workshop in the capital. According to them, “these legs were NOT designed for traipsing about in a smelly and gross jungle somewhere.” Was this what it was like to have teenagers? Were they teenagers when they were initially converted? Maybe they were even younger than that. They didn’t retain complete memories of their previous lives, though they still knew some local stuff that I didn’t.

We packed up and [Store]ed away every scrap left behind from the collection squad. Edd had been the only survivor from the group. I was glad that we were able to save at least one person, though I felt bad about the others. I also felt pretty bad about the lives that Carnivac had taken. You don’t know what you would do in any given situation until it happens to you, so I could only assume that when it came down to survival that I would have made the same choices that he did.

“So Remi, are you going to try to catch up with the Death Wolves? It hasn’t been that long and you could make it if you run,” I asked the sniper bot as we trudged through a slightly muddy game trail.

“Non to worry, I told them that I’d travel wit’ ye for a spell then catch up to them at some point,” he answered, passively scanning the area.

“I see,” I muttered.

Drats. He was a nice enough guy as long as you weren’t in his crosshairs, but I didn’t possess a vehicle mode that could accommodate him. That meant traveling on foot, and he took longer strides than I did; which meant constantly walking briskly or playing catch-up. It was super annoying.

“Avast, the sea of trees, she opens before us,” he announced, pointing ahead.

“Eh?”

I looked in the direction of his digit and saw that the game trail we’d been following connected to a larger path, possibly a road. It was still dirt but it was wide enough for a cart and well worn. In the break in the tree canopy I could see the daylight dwindling away and purple ink slowly bleeding across the sky. Lena was going to be a pain to deal with.

Prime.Rom:// That’s not nice daddy, you shouldn’t think like that.

Prime:// please don’t read my thoughts all the time

Prime.Ram:// She’s right daddy. You shouldn’t think badly of people simply because they care about you.

Prime:// You either, don't be reading my mind between four and five. That's Willy's time!

Prime.Cyclone:// tbh pops, it’d be nice if you didn’t blast your thoughts over the loudspeaker all the time...

Prime.Ratchet:// This unit is in agreement.

Prime:// Even Ratchet?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO NOT THINK INSIDE MY OWN HEAD?? Buncha freeloaders...

Prime.Ram:// I know that’s not how you feel, but that was pretty mean.

Prime.Shrapnel:// ...

Prime.BombShell:// ଘ[╥﹏╥]

Prime:// Sorry, sorry... you’re not freeloaders and I know you didn’t ask for this sort of existence... whatever it is... You’re all doing your best. I’ll try to... think quieter or something...

Prime.BombShell:// ଘ[੭*ˊᵕˋ]੭* ̀♡[o_o]

Prime.Shrapnel:// (づ ￣ ³￣)づ♡ ଘ[੭*ˊᵕˋ]੭* ̀♡[o_o]

Prime.KickBack:// ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ♡ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ♡ ଘ[੭*ˊᵕˋ]੭* ̀♡[o_o]

Prime:// You guys are nuts lol

“Everythin’ okay mon ami? Ya gone quiet an’ thoughtful all of the sudden,” Remi asked, looking concerned for a being without a proper face.

“Ah. Sorry, yes. Just thinking... too loudly apparently,” I mumbled, feeling embarrassed.

The sky grew darker as we walked along the narrow road. He told me what he could recall about the Cultivators of the Abyss. For him, they had been more like fairy tales as he grew up, so he wasn’t sure if they actually existed or not.

The country of Maxoria was technically a theocracy that worshiped “the great sea dragon”, the religion being the basis for the government. Belief was not enforced though and reminded me more of the type of religion that strives for enlightenment rather than actual worship of a deity, though they did that sort of thing too. The religion was tied to a martial system with devout practitioners being more skilled in the fighting arts.

Regular tournaments were held to determine the ranking of religious leaders. As the story goes, once a person was found to have a particular aptitude, they would be deemed chosen by their god to become a Cultivator. A big ceremony would be held for the chosen that ended in them walking the plank and taking a journey into the depths to become an immortal.

I should mention that up until this point, Remi failed to mention that the dominant species in Maxoria is semi-aquatic fish people, so I was a bit aghast at the thought of special people being tossed into the ocean like virgin sacrifices into a volcano. Now, I was looking forward to seeing the Shaolin Monk from the Black Lagoon.

According to the legends, chosen ones would take this dangerous journey to the bottom of the ocean where they would find others and train in mystical powers. Supposedly, they had a way of expanding their limits and upgrading their own powers through meditation or the like. I wondered if they were forcibly increasing their mana cap and just calling magic by a different flavor. Assuming that any of these chosen survived, of course.

On the road ahead of us, I could see two large shapes moving quickly and giving off large amounts of heat. As they drew closer, I could make out the infrared shapes of a muscular centaur-ish creature and something more humanoid, though with thick gorilla arms and a broad body. Both were huge though. They didn’t use a light source so I assumed they could see in the dark as well as I could.

The centaur-ish one slowed down and put an arm out to slow the gorilla, stopping just in front of Remi and me. She was breathing heavily and put up a finger as she leaned over to signal that I should give her a minute. The gorilla wiped a meaty hand across his brow and stretched his back out. He was huge, easily 8 or 9 feet tall and covered in long, shaggy hair, but otherwise wearing light armor with a pair of steel mits hanging from his belt.

“Captain Wendy. Good to see you again,” I said, greeting the tigress.

“Prime... yeah... you’re in one piece. Her Highness will be glad,” she answered, wheezing.

“It’s fine. Take your time,” I said, graciously.

“This is it then? The little one that fell out of the dragon coach that we were sent to look for?” the gorilla asked.

“Yeah... he’s always getting into some sort of trouble,” Wendy replied, shooting me a wink. “Prime, this is General Mark Ruguru of Baron Unnown’s personal regiment. General, Prime, consort of her Highness, Princess Relena.”

“Her consort is an Auto? Weird.”

“I know, right? Anyway, it is what it is. Prime, her Highness sent us out to find you. We’ve been searching all through these woods and I was about to give up and tell her you got eaten by a Muck Banger.”

“I doubt I would digest well. We came across some old friends as well as some new problems. I have to talk with his Majesty, it’s pretty urgent.”

“Got it. Alright, climb on. I’ll carry you back, short legs.”

I dimmed my optics at her but still climbed on.

“You sure you’re okay to carry me? You seem pretty spent already.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We’re not that far. You’re buddy’s going to have to run though.”

“Not a problem. I was only walking to accommodate our diminutive friend here,” Remi teased.

“Both of you suck. If I’d know that, I could have switched over to Convoy or LandMine and let Remi play catch up instead,” I grumbled. “Oh right. This is Remi. He’s on our security team for AutomaTown. I met up with him and our other warriors by chance.”

“I don’t know what Automata town is, never heard of it,” General Ruguru admitted.

“We jus’ gettin’ started. Don ye worry about it. I’m sure ye’ll be hearin’ about it sooner or later,” Remi answered.

I was certain that I could go faster than Wendy in my bike form or even running in the Convoy armor, but since she liked to tease me about my size, I opted to let her tire herself out carrying me instead. It was petty, I knew, but sometimes you just had to take what you were due.

We arrived in the city of Ladywick after a twenty minute sprint. As before, I was impressed with Wendy’s stamina. The General, however, was not as fast and had promised to catch up later. Remi volunteered to hang back with him, which was just as well. I got the impression that guy was rarely interested in actually getting anywhere and content to just sorta float along. I recalled that he had mentioned being a pirate prior to his conversion so maybe floating along was pretty apt.

“Hey Wendy, do you know any water magic?” I asked, climbing off of her as we got close to the Lord’s mansion.

“I don’t. I dabble in plant magic though,” she offered.

“It’s just... I think I know how Relena is going to react when she sees me... and I should probably be cleaned first.”

“Ah. Yeah. Yeah, I get that. We’ll sneak around the back and go in through the service entrance and mud room.”

“Great!”

True to her word, we made our way around the mansion until we reached a spacious garden overlooking a ridiculous hedge maze. The mansion was lit up and within I could see a lot of people in fancy clothes milling about. Occasionally a few would spill out onto the veranda. None of them took any notice of Wendy and I slinking around to find a narrow doorway hidden behind a topiary of some six legged creature.

Wendy knocked on the door and it was quickly answered by a young woman with a goat head and a maid’s dress.

“Captain, you’ve returned. Were you successful?” the goat maid asked.

“I was. But we need to get this guy cleaned up first. We didn’t want to track mud through his Lordship’s carpets.”

The maid noticed me and tilted her head to look at me. Her golden eyes with their horizontal slits were completely unreadable to me.

“Yes, of course. Come this way,” she finally answered.