The idea dawned upon the young inventor one day in a brilliant stroke of genius.
Actually, it was because Teisel screwed up dinner again.
But nonetheless, it was an idea that made Tron push aside everything she had to do just to work on the project. She always knew that there were going to be more than one- forty, to her, seemed like a well rounded number so she planned for forty. Each day was spent figuring out a unique personality for each of the little creations, and she wrote it all down in a notebook dedicated to just the project. Making sure each one had their own ability and power took quite some time- Teisel helped a bit, but that was only because he wanted less chores to do (not that she was going to admit that she was trying to do the same thing). Then Tron started sketching.
Working slowly and carefully to get her vision out, Tron etched a tiny sketch on her notepad of the basic form. A simplistic design was what they needed, nothing over the top or too dramatic. She wanted something… dependable. Something that other folks unfamiliar with the Bonne family would never recognize, whereas enemies of the Bonne family would see the little robots and know exactly who they belonged to.
With a cold shiver, she realized that she needed something… cute. No one would ever trust a design that looked scary, threatening, or malicious if it ever walked up next to them on the street. It might get mistaken for a rouge Reaverbot, and that wasn't going to be good.
The sketch that she was satisfied with was one of the last ones she drew; the creation was going to hae small, jointed limbs and claw-like hands, most parts would be close to a cylinder shape except for the shoulder joint- it would be round to allow greater movement of the arms. It was a rather simple design, and unsuspecting. It was perfect.
Of course, the first person she gave the design to was Teisel.
He looked over the design for nearly ten minutes, rubbing his chin in thought and letting out sounds of decisive inquiry that he didn't disclose with Tron. It made her nervous. Could he just tell her how he felt about it and get it over with already?
"Did you create this yourself?" he finally asked. "It's a rather decent sketch."
"Yep." Tron affirmed with an anxious nod.
"Do you have the inside schematics finished yet?" Teisel then asked, looking up at her with a small raise of his eyebrow.
"No. But I found some other schematics that Momma had hidden away. I think they predate the world as we know it, but still seemed rather sound in design so I wanted to refine them."
"Do you think you can do it?" Teisel questioned.
Tron looked at him as if he was talking nonesense. "Duh!" came her curt reply. There wasn't even a second more before Tron found herself wrapped in Teisel's arms for a hug.
"I'm so proud of you Tron!" Teisel declared, pulling his sister even closer. "Wanting to take on such a huge project on your own! Great-great-great grandmother Ren would be so proud of you!"
"Teisel… you're… squishing… me…!"
"Oh! Sorry about that. But this is exciting! My little sister, creating her own artificial intelligence at the age of eleven!"
"It's not that hard Teisel." Tron told him, successfully peeling herself out of her brother's grip.
"For us it isn't." Teisel declared, pumping his fist in the air. "We Bonnes are attuned to the very forces that create such advanced AI! Believe me when I say that not everyone has the same knowledge we do Tron, never assume otherwise."
"So you approve the design?" Tron inquired, bringing the main discussion back up again.
"Absolutely." he firmly agreed. "But, uh… what are we going to do to fund this?"
"We're air pirates, aren't we?" Tron replied, cocking her eyebrow playfully. "There's more than enough banks between here and where ever our ship goes to steal what we need. We can always earn our own money of course, but there's not much fun in that. And… Teisel?"
"Yes Tron?"
"Can I… can I earn the Zenny on my own? I know you're the one that usually goes on the raids and stuff so I'm stuck as your Spotter, but… but I really want to do this on my own. Is… is that alright with you?"
Tron looked at her brother, half expecting him to protest. But he stood there; a faint well of tears started to gather in Teisel's eyes before he -unexpectedly- gave her another rather crushing hug.
"You're… growing up… so… fast!" he happily wept as his huge tears landed on Tron's dress, leaving behind a rather large wet spot. Tron gave an uneasy smile while trying to pry herself out of Teisel's grip again, this time to little prevail.
. . .
The old schematics made Tron feel like she needed to wear gloves just so they wouldn't fall apart while looking over them. As much as she wanted to know how her mother got the decaying piece of paper to begin with, she really wanted to know what the schematics were for; the main title had been torn and smeared though time, but she could still make out a few letters.
M*** M*N X M*IN R**L*I* D*SI*N
What on earth could that be?
Regardless, Tron copied a large part of the schematic onto a silhouette of her creation and took notes of what part would go were, if she could make them out on the main design. Some parts of the original design seemed rather outdated too (or far ahead of its time, some of it seemed like) and it led the young inventor to improvise some components. It wasn't anything she couldn't make herself after all. Teisel had been right about their family being extra adept to building robots and robotic-like machines, the ability had been in their family for so long it was almost second nature. Perhaps it was an effect of having been able to trace their family ties to before the world was mostly water.
Tron spent the next day finding what she needed to make the correct circuits. She quickly found out that she needed more Titanium X than what she had on hand, and she went to Teisel so they could find an island with a greater abundance. It was only when she and Teisel were going over their plans of attack when it donned upon Tron that this project wasn't going to be easy- and we're not talking about the mission, oh no, I mean the construction of her new creation. There were going to be other islands that they had to raid for supplies, there were going to be nights when she wouldn't sleep just because something wasn't working, there were going to be times where she'd stop paying attention to what she was doing and singe her fingers with a welder's torch.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Teisel asked her one last time as he helped her get comfortable inside the Gustaff MK.1. Tron didn't answer for a moment as she lulled over the question herself.
"I wouldn't be a Bonne if I backed out now." she finally replied with a shake of her head. Teisel looked at his sister and calmly placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry Tron, the first raid is always the easiest, especially when you come to a new island for the first time."
Tron looked up at her brother and gave a tiny smile. "Thanks Teisel." she graciously thanked. "Now prepare to set me down on this island!"
"Right away Tron!" Teisel agreed happily.