Writer’s spot: Greetings friends! Leaving the forest, onwards to the city!

SO, a medium chapter today, with 2k words, and two new characters introduced. But that is not what I’m here for. What I would like to say is, what did you guys think of the group’s equipment/techiniques? I kind of wanted to convert classic fantasy game classes into a more Scy-fyish tone, but I’m not sure how it worked. The intention was something around: Ross is a tank, hitting close with his shotgun. Yllivia is a rogue with her hit-and-run tactics and Sorius is a mage with his rifle and powers. What did you guys think about them? Mainly about Ross’ gears, to tell the truth.

BESIDES, the break have been having an effect, and I’m starting to get some ideas for Insania’s next arc! Including the so expected SS of portable doom and daddy! I will try to make a few chapters of the SS beforehand and release them together with the chapters. No promises, though.

BESIDES(II), for now, I plan on extending the break until next Sunday, but I might change my mind…

Beep, and enjoy your story!

-----

[No… I’m not sure I like that one…]

[Hmm… Well, I’m getting out of ideas here…] Gaz said with a mental sigh. [For now, the only one I can think of is Glados, but I don’t think you would like that name…]

[Glados? I kind of like that one! Sounds like I’m glad about something. Sounds cheerful too!] The goddess commented in his head.

[Well, she was rogue A.I. that slaughtered all living beings within a scientific facility for the sake of doing a test.] He said in his best indifferent tone.

[Oh…]

[Funny sense of humor, though. That and the slow clap circuits. Oh! And she was a potato once!] He said with a cheerful tone. [I actually need of those circuits, would be funny…]

[I don’t like that name anymore…] The goddess said in such a way that he could even see her pouting. [And how does an A.I. even become a potato in first place?]

[Long story…] he said with a tone that made it easy to see him shrugging. [Anyway, I AM out of names by now. At least feminine ones. Are you sure you don’t want Cortana? You did take her voice at the beginning.] He said in one last try.

[I already told you! Cortana sounds so… Old. I don’t like it… If I knew that was her name I would have tried another voice…]

Gaz chuckled in his mind as he and the still non-named goddess discussed possible names for her. He had offered a bunch of robots and A.I. names from games, manga and movies he knew, but she wasn’t very satisfied with the options, so they were back into a stalemate.  Well, not that it was much of a problem, since the only person they could talk to was each other at the moment, so there was barely any need to call names.

Feeling as someone lightly tapped his plating, he stopped for a moment and saw as Yllivia’s hand pointing towards a certain direction of the forest. He gave a quick beep before rolling towards the appointed direction.

Right now he had been giving a ride to Yllivia since her injured leg had been slowing the team down, and now she was sitting atop of him. Surprisingly, she hadn’t complained about it being uncomfortable, still, he used the hand-things he had installed to offer her some backrest.

Sorius had already recovered and was carrying an extra sack filled with the pistons they got from the leapers.

Ross had to remove the damaged parts of his armor and carry it on hand, but otherwise he was fine. He kept taunting Yllivia from time to time, and Gaz could barely make out the word ‘armor’ from his voice. Not that said armor protected him from the girl’s revenge punch. Somehow, he also found time to pick up his old body and had been tinkering with it whenever they stopped for the night.

“!$@#!@#!met, Beepy!” Yllivia said suddenly, and Gaz took a moment to understand her words.

[I think she said that this is the place where you met.]

[Is it?] he asked as he stopped to look around for a moment. [Now that you mention it… Didn’t we appear a few meters from here?] He asked surprised.

[Yup!]

As he rolled away through the small area where he had first appeared, he noticed as the others simply went straight ahead crossing the forest without paying much more attention. He let out a mental sigh for a moment, but left it alone, since it wasn’t strange that they did not know about his origin at all.

The trio quickly stopped to camp a few minutes later, with Yllivia climbing down from atop Gaz so she could start fixing something for them to eat. She also took out a fruit from her bag and gave it to him, since he had to use a bit of his steam to carry her extra weight, since the basic motor was barely enough for himself.

Lifting his center piece and using the hands, he quickly threw the fruit within the slot and felt as his core started to process it into some bio-fuel. He wasn’t quite sure how the process worked, but he wasn’t about to start complaining about it.

Sorius quickly took out a small radio from his backpack and made a call to someone. Gaz couldn’t quite pick-up his words since the translation percentage was still within eight percent, but he imagined he was calling someone to pick them up. When he came back, he looked really annoyed for some reason, but Ross simply smirked at him while the elf sighed.

Wondering what happened, he didn’t manage to pick anything up from their usual banters, so he quickly gave up and simply sat there while watching the cat-girl working on whatever it was that she was cooking.

The group soon came together to have their lunch and didn’t dally any longer after finishing it, which left the robot a bit confused since they usually rested around one or so hours every time they ate.

But it didn’t take him much longer to discover, as a few minutes later…

[Wait… There was a road literally one hour away on the opposite direction?]

He had mixed feelings about this, since he started going the wrong way right at the start and would have found civilization much faster going towards this place. On the other hand, he had no idea who he would meet while walking in this direction, so it might be a good thing that he found Yllivia and the others before anyone else.

The road was a strange one, with a smooth looking surface, different from the usual asphalt ones he had seen back at his world, but it clearly showed some signs of disuses, such as cracks and some smaller roads. Both sides were surrounded by forests, so this probably meant that this was some kind of back-road that not many people used, but with enough movement to be paved.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The group simply sat down to wait the moment they reached the paved road, probably waiting whoever it was that was coming to pick them up. Gaz was a bit preoccupied that it would take too long, but his worries were unfounded, as not even five minutes later he heard the familiar sound of a motor rumbling through the grounds.

A few seconds later, a shiny black truck appeared from a corner up ahead and quickly approached the group.

It was different from all others trucks Gaz had seen up to then, being a mix between sci-fi and steam punk.

It was all black, both the cabin and the trailer, having smooth edges and a shiny gloss to it. The cabin looks fairly similar to the ones he knew, with a long nose and some protective grills, but instead of wheels, it had treadmill. The exhausts that went out trough the top were much more numerous than usual, going around six pipes in total, and from all of them you could clearly see as the vapor fumed out.

The trailer was much simpler, being mostly a large box with real wheels this time, but two pairs of large piston suspensors laid upward on each side of the trailer, probably so that they could bring it down and lift the trailer. Probably in case of camping on a decline or something. The robot couldn’t be so sure with only a glance.

While it approached the group, the steam slowly stopped coming out from the vents as it came to a halt, stopping right beside the group.

The passenger door opened, and from there came down an elf.

Different from Sorius and his serious and somber tone, the new elf was the exact opposite. The new elf was a girl with a bright pink hair and a similarly colored eyes. Her clothes looked much less militaristic than the ones that Sorius used, being a lot more… Casual. A sci-fyish looking sleeveless grey blouse with a maybe too deep cleavage, tight pants but large stylish boots. In her arms were a pair of stylish gloves that seemed to have some kind of device added to its surface. Finally, completing the set were a pair of headphones made to fit perfectly her pointed ears.

“What’s%#$#, Sorius? I$!$fainted!#!#%psy?” She said something to the black-haired elf with a taunting smirk on her face.

“#&!%*$#, Lunns.” He said in a dead-serious and clearly offensive tone. It didn’t take much for Gaz to understand that he just told the girl to shut-up. The sparks between their eyes were kind of a giveaway to tell the truth. Not in the literal sense, mind you. “$%&Yllivia#!Beepy#$@” He pointed towards Gaz.

The elf girl blinked surprised before turning towards him and staring for a while, before finally crouching down towards him and waving.

“Hello, Beepy! ##@#$Lunn!” She said with a smiler.

“Beep.” He answered.

The girl widened her eyes for a moment before turning back to the truck and shouting something cheerfully. Beepy looked confused for a moment before hearing another voice coming from the truck. This one being much deeper and slower, almost lethargic.

There was a short exchange between the two before Gaz heard the other door opening up, and from there another person came out.

Well, calling him a person would be a bit of an stretch. What came out from the other side of the truck was a HUGE person, towering around two or so meters. His body was completely covered in a thick blue fur, revealing only his face and large tusks in his mouth. He walked around the truck surprisingly slowly for someone his size, but then, he was pretty much walking crouched. His clothing was surprisingly normal, being a simple white shirt and a pair of kakis pants. No shoes whatsoever on his two large feet.

He turned around and quickly greeted the others before turning to beepy and looking surprised. Finally, he gave a surprisingly gentle and lethargic smile before crouching.

“!#%!$Beepy?!%#meet you. $!#%Volgoff.” He said while gently using his huge furred hands to pet the shocked robot.

Gaz gave a quick beep, feeling a bit awkward. Even if they were introducing themselves, he couldn’t help but feel that they were still treating him as a pet.

[Ok, I get that the girl is an elf. But what the hell is that guy?] He asked confused.

[Hmm… Let me think…] The goddess stopped to think for a moment. [He is a bit different from what I remember, but he reminds me of the second race the maker of the dwarves created…]

[It kind of feels that all gods created two races…] He said intrigued.

[Pretty much. That was what we managed with our remaining energy at the time.] She said in a slightly awkward tone. [But if I remember right…] She said getting back to the topic.[Those ones were made to be the companions of the dwarves. While the dwarves would be good with tools, these ones were supposed to be really strong…] He could almost see her tilting her head while thinking deeply. [Back then they were so resistant that they could even regrow a limb.]

[Wait… If they helped the dwarves, then they lived in caves… Living in caves, regeneration, strong… Are they trolls?]

[Yeah! That is what they were called!] She said cheerfully.

[Hmm… I kind of expected them to be a bit more intimidating…] Gaz said after taking one last look as the large Volgoff walked back to the driver’s seat. [And can he even drive well? Being huge like that?] He asked no one in particular, earning a confused sensation from the goddess.

But before he could explain, he felt as Yllivia tapped him once again and pointed towards the back of the truck. A quick beep and he drove away, seeing as the trailer’s back came down, forming a ramp that he could climb over easily. Thanking silently in his mind whoever made such a door, he quickly climbed up while carrying the girl on his back, the others soon following.

Inside the trailer was a bit boring, to tell the truth. Only two large benches on which the others quickly sat and tied their seatbelts. Standing on the space between the two benches, Gaz silently laid there as he felt the truck start to shake slightly as the steam engine started up.

[So… Where do you think we are going?] She asked.

[A city probably…] He said with a sigh. [Probably a good place to start looking for the right pieces, I guess.]

[Hmm… Think we will find any robots there?]

[Who knows?] he answered finally as he saw the back-door slowly closing up.