Writer’s spot: Greetings friends! Gaz, I choose you!... I mean, It’s a-me, Gaz!... I mean… Dangit… Forget it…

SO, our favorite robot’s first fight! So, to commemorate, a fairly large chapter with 3,5K words! Yay! Still, I guarantee no chapter tomorrow, but do come back to check. And thanks to everyone for all the candies/cookies/cakes/gundams/explosions/awesomeness you gave me in my birthday! ^^ I WANT MOAR NEXT YEAR! SO GET WORKING SLAVES!

BESIDES, I hope I did a good work with this scene. It’s fairly different from Insania’s fighting scenes, so I can’t tell if I did a good work. Tell-me your opinions!

BESIDES(II), ALL HELL SHALL BREAK LOOSE!

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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Gaz’s steam motors and tanks were creaking in agony as he ran the fastest he could down the road, running away from the battle while carrying the girl on his back. He could feel as she trembled slightly and made low sobbing noises. She had been like that ever since the first dwarves were shot down. The others did warn her that there would be some deaths the moment the door opened, but even with the warning, the girl had been shocked.

Speaking truthfully, Gaz wasn’t in a much better state, as he took had frozen when he saw their blood spurting out of their bodies. Thankfully, he somehow managed to snap out of it the moment that Sorius shouted to him to get away carrying the girl.

If he stood still, chances were that the girl would be another potential victim, even when she was the same age as his sisters back at his world. Deciding to not let something like that happen, he quickly carried her away, being followed by Volgoff and Lunn who were escorting them.

Just as he started to wonder if everything was going all right, he heard a shout.

[GAZ, Three robots incoming.] Ekis shouted in his mind. [They should reach you in a few seconds!]

[WHAT? How the hell are they approaching so fast?] Gaz asked confused. Even if he wasn’t at his maximum speed due to the girl, he was still fast enough that the mercs were struggling to keep up.

[Probably they are speed-focused robots?] She said confused. [Anyway, you have to warn the others! I don’t think they noticed!]

[Really?] Gaz asked surprised. [Goddamit. I really should have worked on that turret feature.] He complained. [Well, let’s go with the unfalible strategy to get attention.] He said with a serious tone.

“BEEEEEEEEP!” He suddenly shouted, making the two mercs and the girl jump in surprise before turning to him.

“Beepy? Wha…” Lunn started before noticing something with the corner of her eyes. “Goddammit. Volgoff, the drones are coming! Beepy, keep going!” She shouted while turning back and pulling out a pistol.

The troll grunted something while also coming to a stop and turning towards the drones. Different from the elf, he didn’t pick any weapon and simply took a stance similar to one of a sumo wrestler.

Beeping an agreement beep, Gaz strained his cauldron even more to pick up even a bit more of speed as he heard some gunshots and the sound of metal creaking against something. Wondering what had happened, he received a report soon enough.

[One is down, the other stopped and seems to be dodging something.] Ekis said with a worried tone. [But one is hot on your trail. Should reach you in a few seconds.]

[What the hell? How fast is that thing?] he asked worried.

[That’s actually the slower one. He was behind enough to dodge Vol and Lunn’s attacks.] She said with a focused tone. [It seems to be damaged.] She said after some time.

[…I thought you couldn’t feel robots unless they were together on packs?] He said confused.

[It’s not like I can’t feel individuals at all. It’s just that… It’s tiring. And I stop feeling all the others…] She said, but she didn’t sound all that tired for him.

Leaving that aside, it seemed that he wasn’t the only one who noticed the drone’s approach, as the girl slightly twisted herself while atop of him and let out a low gasp of surprise.

[Goddammit… Keep me updated on his position!] Gaz said worried.

[Doing it!] She answered just as a graph appeared on the corner of his vision, indicating an estimative of the distance. Gaz kept on lookout for a moment, seeing as the graph slowly came down as the robot approached him.

The moment the graph reached down to almost zero, he swayed to the side, leaving the streets just in time as he heard the sound of the asphalt being scratched by metal as the drone landed on the area where he was. He didn’t have enough time to examine it in detail, but he could barely notice its quadrupedal form.

Red shouted in surprise with the sudden change in direction and held on tightly to the repair limbs holding her in place.

The change in direction took Gaz to what looked like a small forest that surrounded the rarely used road. The drone lost a bit of speed with the sudden change of terrain, something that Gaz didn’t need to worry too much thanks to his treads.

But the advantage didn’t last long enough, as soon the drone got used to the new ground and once again started to reduce the distance once again. Cursing in his mind, Gaz started to swerve around the forest, zigzagging between the trees as he changed his direction to go back to the truck’s direction.

But this wasn’t enough, as the drone managed to cut him just as he dodged another tree and landed a head-butt on his treadmill. The sudden impact made the little robot almost turn over, letting go of the girl who rolled on the ground with a yelp.

Thankfully, the armor plating around the treadmill protected it, and the only damage he received was a dent on the outer shell.

[Goddamit… Do I really need to feel pain, being a robot and all?] He complained in his mind as he somehow felt his right side hurting. [I could go the rest of my life before finding how it feels to have a tread hurting.]

[Its better than having sensors all over your body.] The goddess said with a slight sense of urgency.

[Don’t I need sensors to feel pain?] He asked confused.

[Not the time, Gaz.] She said in a disapproving tone. [Look, he’s getting close to Red!]

[I see that!] Gaz complained. [But I also see that hole on his left leg.] He said with a mental smirk.

He immediately accelerated himself towards the drone slowly approaching the girl. Hearing the noise of his motors, the robot turned back to him and prepared to dodge. But the drone wasn’t the only one who seemed to understand Gaz’s idea.

“Mirage! Stop it!” Red shouted as the cat in her lap leapt into action.

Mirage turned off its optical camouflage as it landed on the drone’s head, holding itself in place with its claws clenching on the breaches of its plating.

Gaz thanked the cat in his mind as he rammed himself head-on against the drone’s left hind-leg. The previous bullet hole quickly expanded as the leg bent into a way it wasn’t supposed to, bringing the done down to the ground.

Immediately turning around right after passing through the drone, Gaz took a good look at the drone while he revved up his motors.

The drone itself wasn’t much. Having the size of a large dog, yet being only a central body with four legs for locomotion and a spherical head with a pair of cameras on it. Gaz would have grimaced right there and then if he still had his human face.

[Geez, is it just me or most robots look a bit ugly.] He asked in his head.

[I prefer the term practical.] Ekis said in his head with a wry tone.

[Practically ugly, then.]

Staring at the drone that was trying to raise itself from the ground, Gaz saw as data started to appear on his vision, showing him the specs of the drone ahead of him. Some surprises appeared, showing that he had a few other discreet armaments besides the more obvious claws, like some needle launchers on its side.

He wondered why it hadn’t used them on the hunt, but he probably had to catch the girl alive, and his own armor plating was probably impervious to them, basing on size.

Shaking his head mentally, he turned his attention back to the fight, letting the accumulated steam pump his motors as he charged forward. Just as the drone finally managed to raise itself a bit from the ground, Gaz hit him on the sides while ejecting his two hidden blades like a pair of tusks and piercing its flank, holding it in place.

The drone buzzed as strange sound in worry as the smaller robot carried it with his blades, slamming its back against the nearby tree, making a loud cracking noise as its light armor gave in.

Gaz retracted his blade to let the drone go, but when he saw that the other robot still tried to stand up, he immediately started his motors in reverse, preparing for another ram, but he was stopped when the girl ran in front of the drone, crouching at his side.

He prepared to beep loudly so that she could get out of the way, but he became surprised, seeing as the girl’s finger morphed into a shape that resembled a screw-drive. Immediately after, she started to dismantle the stunned drone’s head, removing plating, inner protection, cables and everything else with a scary speed, and then removed its core from the head, where it immediately shattered.

Gaz stared at the scene in shock for a few seconds.

[Okay. Let’s add: “Pissing Red off” to our NEVER EVEN THINK OF DOING IT list.]

[Agreed.] Ekis said with a shocked tone.

The girl sat down on the ground, heaving a relieved sigh as the cat slowly approached her again, lightly rubbing itself on her fingers.

[Gaz. One of the other drone broke off from the fight. It’s coming this way.] She warned him suddenly.

[WHAT? Which way?] He asked while turning around in worry. This startled the other two, putting them back on their feet with the cat hissing loudly in front of the Morfian.

[IT’S CLOSE! RIGHT BEHIND YOU!] Ekis shouted worried.

“BEEPY! WATCH OUT!” Red shouted.

But before Gaz could even get away, he felt as a metallic claw dug into his turret-to-be. And with that, everything went dark.

…

[AAAARGH! What happened?] He shouted in pain and scared as his vison went dark and he couldn’t see anything else. A strange feeling similar to having his eye poked, yet clearly unique assaulted him.

[The claw landed on your camera damaging it!] Ekis said in a hurry. [I’m trying to bring it back up, just wait a moment.] She stopped for a moment. [Sorry… If I had noticed sooner…]

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

[No problem, just hurry up with the repair. And shut down the pain if you can…]

[Okay…]

As she said that, Gaz felt as something started to change within him. Not in the physical way, but something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It was probably Ekis working on whatever it is that she was doing, so he didn’t worry too much about it. Instead, he worried about the hissing sound and the girl’s cry of desperation.

Metal hitting metal echoed within his head as Mirage and the other drone started to duke it out. But being unable to see or pinpoint what was happening left him nervous, as whatever he tried could end up making his situation worse.

[Gaz! Use the presence sensor!] Ekis said suddenly.

[What?] He asked confused.

[Do you remember that you had another way to… I don’t know… See the world?] She asked in a hurry. [You saw a tutorial of that some time ago. It’s imbued in your camera and still online! Do it! Quickly.]

It took him a moment to understand her words, but after some time he nodded in his mind after remembering the sonar-like vision he had back at his first body.

Not sure how to activate it, he took a few seconds to understand what he had to do, but luckily, his software, hardware or whatever else it was managed to help him activate it, and suddenly the whole world around him changed.

It was a strange feeling. Firstly, what he “saw” was only the shape of things around him. No colors, no textures, simply shape. It was like looking at nothingness yet clearly seeing something in there. Secondly, his vision was short, going no further than a few meters from the center of where he was, yet he could even “see”” behind himself. Thirdly, his vision didn’t stop even when hitting something. He could “see” the stone two meters below him, but it felt blurred. The tree behind the tree in front of him was also fairly distinguishable.

He stood in shock for a moment, but quickly shook it off when another sound of metal clashing came to him. Quickly darting forward towards the sound, three new forms came to his vision. Mirage, Red and the drone.

Taking the drone by surprise, he repeated his strategy he used against the other drone of slamming his legs. But since this time he wasn’t damaged, he quickly got up while turning to Gaz, who was now making a sharp turn to get back.

[Gaz, I’ve made some analysis of your situation…]

[Let me guess, one tank is leaking, one repair-limb is gone and the right blade’s mechanism is stuck.] He said quickly.

[Yeah. That and the camera can’t be saved besides the presence sensor.] She said sadly, making Gaz curse in his mind. [And I don’t think we can get this drone by surprise again. What do we do?] She asked worried.

[Dammit… I have no idea…] He complained while swerving to avoid another claw from the drone. [If I knew I would end up in this situation I would spend less time playing videogames and more time watching robot fights…] He said with a self-depreciative tone.

[Not the time, Gaz.] She said angrily, but he simply chuckled before suddenly stopping.

[Scratch that. I just had a game-like idea…] He said while using his pistons to leap away from an attack. [But I will need to have it stopped for a moment.] He said while clicking his imaginary tone.

[I… I think I can work on that.] Ekis said suddenly.

[What?] He asked confused, but no answer came.

He cursed in his mind while breaking hurriedly as the robot landed ahead of him. Quickly engaging his reverse gear as it tried to land a pointy claw on him, he quickly reversed his direction with a quick turn before the drone could recover and darted away, trying to get some distance from it.

But true to Ekis words, this drone didn’t let him take much distance before covering it with a couple of leaps. But thanks to his strange vision, he managed to see it coming and managed to turn away right before the attack landed.

Seeing the attacks didn’t mean that he could counter. With half of his meager offensive power gone, he started to have some problems with dealing with this enemy. Having an attack that consisted solely on charging wasn’t a good idea in the end.

Swerving once more, he felt as the metallic claws scratched the surface of his armor and even managed to hit on one of the treads. But luckily, it didn’t do any real damage to it, or else he would have large problems.

By now, he had gone away from Red and only Mirage was still within his vision’s range, trying to land occasional attacks every once in a while. But the cat wasn’t strong enough to deal any type of real damage to the drone, as its claws were way too weak.

At least he was managing to outmaneuver the drone to buy Ekis enough time to do whatever it was that she was doing. Yet he couldn’t help but feel that he wouldn’t last much longer, as his leaking steam tank made him increase the furnace’s output, so his fuel tank was getting dangerously low by now.

Suddenly, he saw as Mirage suddenly flinched, standing still for a couple of seconds as if shocked. Immediately after, it charged directly towards the drone, ignoring any attempt for stealth.

[Got… It…] Ekis suddenly said, sounding exhausted. [Mirage will… Buy you… Some time…] She said between mental breaths.

Gaz became worried, but he didn’t have much time to focus on a conversation as he saw the cat landing on the drone’s back and using its claws to pierce the leg’s joint. The drone stumbled towards the ground, sliding face-first into the dirt for a few meters.

Taking his chance, Gaz took some distance before turning back and aiming at the drone. He stood still for some time while gathering steam on his tanks once again. Since he was barely on the edge of his vision, he could see as the drone started to struggle against the cat, trying to remove it by shaking its body.

[She can’t… Hold on… Much longer…] Ekis said exhausted. [And a… Charge… Won’t be enough… Probably…] She started to sound in pain, which left Gaz worried, but he quickly shook it off.

[This isn’t a simple charge.] He said, his voice a strange mix of a seriousness and playfulness. Contradicting his words, he immediately started darting forward at full speed. [MOVE MIRAGE AWAY!]

As he shouted that said as he used a whole tank of steam on the pistons, leaping high into the air before starting a parabole towards the drone, falling with his treads first. The cat immediately jumped away, leaving a confused drone behind.

Gaz started preparing his second tank to discharge everything into the pistons once again. He was betting everything in this single attack, as afterwards he would be unable to move for a few seconds until he recovered the pressure.

The hound turned towards him, and he couldn’t help but imagine whether it was confused, shocked or didn’t really care at what was happening. These thoughts only lasted for a moment, before he turned his attention back to the present.

[IT’S MARIO TIME, MOTHERBEEPER!] He shouted in his mind as he activated the pistons once again.

The sound of metal hitting metal, steam leaking from a screaming piston threatening to break, a girl shouting in surprise and metal being crushed echoed in that moment.

Gaz fell down on the ground with his treads bent, barely functional, but at least still moveable. One of his pistons had burst completely after being used above its maximum capacity twice in such a short time. His turret hatch had an ugly gash on it, showing the inner parts of his body. One of his repair limbs was gone with no traces left, and his left blade was stuck in a position that would burst another piston if he tried to move it.

The other robot, simply had its head crushed to half of the side, with no sign of movement.

“Beepy! Are you alright?” He heard Red asking him while running towards him. In her arms was the missing repair limb.

“BeeEEeeeEppP!”

[Goddamit! Even the beeper?] He asked annoyed.

[He… He…] Ekis laughed weakly.

[Ekis, are you alright?] He asked worried.

[Yeah… Just… Need some rest… Forcing a connection… is tiring…] She said with difficulty.

[You connected with Mirage?] He asked surprised.

[Yep... Tried the drone first… Couldn’t… Mirage worked… Some reason…]

[Wow…] Gaz said surprised, but not by what she made. [Just… Rest for now, ok? Later you tell me what happened.] She didn’t say anything, but he could feel as she sent him some thankful feelings.

Turning his attention back to the outside, he saw as Red approached him with the limb still in hands and crouched behind him while checking on his situation. With the proximity, he could clearly see the worry in her face as she lightly ran her fingers around his damaged parts, giving him a tingling feeling.

He decided to ask Ekis again about feeling pain and touch even while being a robot. But that’s after she recovered, of course.

Red looked at him for a bit longer with some frustration clear in her face, and even Mirage came to his side, meowing in worry. The VIP suddenly turned away, looking in the distance as her eyes widened in surprise before smiling slightly.

She stood up and started waving her hands. A voice reached Gaz before he could see whoever it was.

“Red! You are alright!” He heard Lunn shouting in surprise right as she appeared in his vision, jumping at the girl and hugging her tightly. “We thought the Drones would get you!” She said with a worried voice while taking a good look at the girl.

“I’m fine…” The girl said, he voice trembling slightly. “But what about Volgoff? His wounds look serious!” She said while raising her head.

“I’m fine… It will heal in a couple… Of minutes…” The troll’s voice came from outside of his vision, still sounding gentle, even when he clearly was feeling some pain. “Some dwarves came from others checkpoints and got us by surprise.” He said with a wry tone. “But what about the drones that escaped?”

“Hmm… Beepy and Mirage protected me…” Red said with a low tone while taking a glance at Beepy.

“Beepy?” Lunn asked confused before finally turning to him, and her face turning into one of sheer shock. “Oh… My… God… Beepy, what happened to you?” Lunn asked in shock.

“beEeEEEeepppPyyYYY!” He tried answering without much success.

“…Ylli is soooo killing us…” Lunn said with sheer fear in her voice.