Steam here with another update. :D This time I decided to take another bot's perspective for this chapter, hope you enjoy.

Credit to Natsume for Medabots, AproposFool89 for Alice Silverwind and Beta Reading, and me for everyone else.

*Aimflash*- And we appreciate reviews, so leave one will ya?

Hey, how'd you get here?

*Aimflash*- I went through the door, duh.

I'll have to fix that. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and rate and review please.

This chapter is from Sherlock's POV

Chapter 7

I am regretful to say that I wish our team's training session went better than it actually did. It started fine when Miss Natalie and I met up with Masters Marcus and Aimflash, that is until Master Trigger and his two brutes of medabots met us to begin training. We weren't even five minutes into our training before Wild Harry and Gun Desperado started pushing me out of the session; rather forcefully might I add. Aimflash intercepted them after a while, though it eventually turned into a rather nasty brawl between the three 'teammates' and the two medafighters. Natalie was able to separate them after a while, just as I have with the Guns and Aimflash. We all were pretty roughed up, but we eventually headed for our evening medabots class in utter silence. We arrived to the door of our classroom to find a note stuck to it.

"Hey," Master Marcus said, "What's that?"

Miss Natalie lifted the note slightly to read it.

"Had to attend an unplanned and important conference on the other side of town," She read, "Class is cancelled tonight, will make up for it tomorrow with a longer lesson. Keep training. Signed, Professor Winthrop."

"So class is cancelled?" Aimflash clarified.

"Aye lad," Someone called, "It be the truth, and we be here before ya."

We turned around to find Masters Hector and Piraskull, though it looks like the latter had seen better days. The poor bot looked like he had been shot in the head with a rather forceful blast.

"Good gosh…" Master Marcus gasped as he looked at Piraskull, "What happened to him?"

"Ahh, the Lad Inyo be what happened." Master Hector sighed, "It be a long story ya see."

"Well then keep it to yourself," Trigger grunted, "Because I don't have time for this."

He and his two brutes left in silence.

"Well, WE'D like to hear it." Miss Natalie urged.

"It seems we have ourselves an audience Captain." Piraskull said.

"So it would seem me boy." Hector sighed as he began the explanation, "So it started as a simple trainin' session with the team earlier this afternoon. We had found a discreet spot to use for trainin', and then Mallory's team is found spyin' on us, though the Lass claimed that she thought that the spot was still vacant. Our other teammate Karlos told 'er off, rather rudely however, and then Inyo be the one to challenge us to a marathon robattle in her stead. Cap'n Alice agreed as I be the one to robattle Inyo, Karlos be takin' on Mallory, and then Reno faced Alice. It was a tough robattle it was, but alas the boy got the better of us when we least expected it."

Piraskull rubbed the blast in his head-hat with his left hand claw and moaned.

"The boy had beaten us fair an' square," Hector continued, "And then it be Mallory versus Karlos. And might I say that be the shortest fight in the history of robattlin', Shin Saber lasted not even five minutes against Cutter's raw power. So at this point the score be tied one-to-one, and the last two to battle were Reno and Cap'n Alice. It be a tough fight it was, eventually getting' to the point of resortin' to hand combat since their blades be shattered and unusable. They battled like it be their last robattle, and dueled to a standoff. Both struggled to stand, but then fell in defeat at the same moment, resultin' in our match endin' in a draw."

"Dang…" Master Marcus sighed, "I wish I was there to see it. Sounds like it was epic-ness all-round."

"It certainly was Lad," Hector returned, "But that robattle certainly made it clear why Alice be the Cap'n of our team."

I must admit, I am relieved to hear that we weren't the only team to be having problems.

"Well I hate to tell tales an' run," He finished, "But as ya see I have a poor crewmate that needs fixin'."

"Alright, take care." Aimflash waved as they set off.

Figuring that there was not much use to stay around since our class was cancelled, we agreed to meet up tomorrow around the same time for training and hopefully have a better result. We bid each other farewell and then headed back to our separate dorms. Along the way however, we found both Miss Mallory and Master Inyo in the empty hallway. Miss Natalie dove around the corner and pulled me with her.

"Miss Natalie, "I asked, "What are we doing exactly?"

"Listening Sherlock," She replied, "Now shush. I wanna see this."

We opened our ears and hearing circuits to hear what they were saying. They were the only ones in the corridor, so it wasn't all that difficult.

"Thanks again for sticking up for me earlier today." We heard Mallory say, "I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"Well we ARE teammates after all," Inyo returned with a grin, "And teammates stick up for each other."

"Yeah, that's true. But I mean more so than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean when Karlos was saying all those things earlier during our robattle, you stood for me and tried to stop him. I… I'm honestly at a loss for words for how I feel."

"Well then don't say anything." Inyo smiled.

"You really are too sweet Inyo…"

"And you're too amazing to be talked to like that."

Both looked each other square in the eye before clasping one another in each other's arms. This truly was a tender moment, I can see now why Miss Natalie wanted to stay out of sight, and the grin on her face show that she felt the same about them. She nudged me and pointed back the other way. I quickly understood as we crept back around the corridor and down a separate flight of stairs, just to let those two have their moment. Ultimately it was the long way around to the Pigeon Blood dorms, but I undoubtedly believe with every circuit of my being that it was worth it. We eventually made it back to our dorm, room forty-two, and entered to find Alice working on Natsu's body in silence.

"Hey," Miss Natalie greeted, "You hear that class was cancelled tonight?"

"Why do you think I'm here and not there?" She answered, not looking up or breaking her focus.

Both Miss Natalie and I shrugged as she went into our room to change, and then let me enter afterwards. Miss Mallory made it back to the room approximately ten minutes later at 6:15. She was quiet, but she had a sense of incredible ecstasy about her. She quietly knocked on our door about three minutes later.

"Come in." Miss Natalie answered.

"Hey," Miss Mallory smiled, "Can you talk?"

"Of course, come on in."

I took that as my cue to leave. Honestly I was intrigued and interested in hearing what Miss Mallory wanted to talk about, but I ultimately knew it was none of my business unless she chose to make it so. I exited the room and closed the door behind me as I started for the main living area to take a seat on the sofa. Alice took notice of my presence, though said nothing as she continued to repair Natsu. About an hour passed as Alice had competed the repairs on Natsu and reactivated her, though Misses Natalie and Mallory were still closed up in our room talking. Alice then departed for her room, leaving myself and Natsu alone in the main living area.

"Good to see you functioning once again." I greeted.

She gave me a look.

"I heard about your robattle with Masters Reno and Ranger."

"And how I lost to them?"

"Quite the contrary," I corrected, "I heard that you and Ranger had tied in a duel of strength and wits."

"So what?"

"So it would take an incredible amount of skill to tie in a robattle, more skill than to win or lose in my honest opinion."

"It doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because I still fell in battle. And to Alice it's either I win or I'm never forgiven."

I was now trumped with confusion. Did she say forgiven? What on earth did she do that would require her to be forgiven?

"Forgiven?" I repeated.

She clenched a fist.

"Forget it," She said, "Just leave me alone."

Hmm… There seems to be more and more of a mystery to this medabot and her medafighter than meets the eye. But I do need to respect their space.

"Alright then." I nodded, "But should you ever need to talk, just know that I'm here and you can trust me."

"Doubt it."

I left the living area in silence and then decided to sit next to the door to Miss Natalie's room and initiate sleep mode for a little while. I was aroused about two hours later by Natsu.

"Walk with me." She said simply.

I got up from my spot on the floor and stood up. I still saw that Misses Natalie and Mallory were talking still, though I knew not what, and then I looked to the window. The sun had gone down and the sky was black, with the lights of the moon and stars being the only light outside from the streetlights. Natsu had me follow her to the roof of the building in silence. It was quiet, but still lighted by the moon and a couple floodlights posted on the corners of the building.

"You once said I can trust you." She began, "Can I?"

"Why of course." I responded as we sat down on a concrete slab, "Why would you bring that into question?"

"Because I don't want what I'm about to say go any farther than you." She returned, "If I hear that it did, I will personally crush your medal in my hands."

I gulped slightly, "Well rest assured, nothing will come out of me."

"Good."

She then sighed.

"You still want to know why I said forgiven?"

"Only if you feel for sharing it."

She sighed again.

"It's because… I hurt her…"

"Hurt her?" I repeated, "How-"

"Her scar…" She interrupted, "I was the one that caused it."

How can this be? Surely it must be some mistake. The look in her optics however says otherwise.

"You?" I asked, "Gave her that scar?"

"That's correct." She nodded, as her left hand fingers ran along her right arm blade, "It was about two years ago. We were robattling someone and his medabot. It was a close match, and after a while it seemed like I had the upper hand when I delivered a swift uppercut to him. He landed on his back and remained motionless. As I neared him to make sure he was down and nonfunctional, he caught me off guard and returned my uppercut with a powerful kick to my chest. I was sent flailing backwards, and at Alice. She managed to barely get out of the way, but due to my flailing my blade cut along her left eye with my blade before she could make it out of harm's way completely. She screamed in pain as she covered her eye, and as I was struck frozen in fear of what I just did, as well as seeing her blood drip down my blade, my opponent had added a punch to my side and launched me into a tree. Ultimately he and his medafighter won that robattle by default since Alice was unable to give orders, and she was taken to the E.R. afterwards by a passerby that saw what happened. I was repaired by that person as the doctor was able to clean Alice's wound and fix it. He told her that her eye was fine, but the scar would never go away. She went to school a couple days later, and she was ridiculed and mocked because of her scar, calling her things like abusive and cruel and ugly; and they placed all the blame on me, saying that I did what happened on purpose since I hated Alice."

I'm… I'm honestly at a loss for words. My word…

"…Oh, my…" I managed to say, "You poor thing."

"Sure Alice is strict, but I couldn't ever hate her. In fact I wouldn't even dream of harming her… But then it actually happened…"

"It was only an accident Natsu, and accidents happen."

"But do accidents leave permanent scars?" She returned sharply, "I was blamed for something I had no control over. I was attacked and forced in the direction of my medafighter against my will, and I ended up harming her because of it! Now Alice barely even speaks to me besides whatever order she gives me, be it in a robattle or outside of one. I obey her without question, even if her order is dangerous or harmful to me, in hopes that she can one day forgive me of what I did."

"But didn't you get chances in the past to apologize for what you've done? Surely there should have been more than one opportunity."

"She doesn't say anything, and she hasn't since that day. I know that I'm her medabot, and that I won't ever be replaced or abandoned, but sometimes I think of those alternatives and wonder if they're any better than never being forgiven."

"Oh come now." I said, "You mustn't think like that. Yes things may seem bleak at times, but you must persevere and show her that you care and you're sorry for what you did. It was an accident my dear Natsu, and I can easily see that you truly had no intentions of injuring Miss Alice on purpose."

"At least you see it that way." She returned, "How can I make up for a mistake that I had no control over? I've tried in the past to tell her I'm sorry, but she doesn't say anything back."

"My assumption would be that she's still trying to process the change in her life. Obtaining a scar, either physical or otherwise, can sometimes be a difficult thing to understand and accept."

"After nearly two years?"

"Some people accept change faster than others, and I deduce that, based on what was said, Miss Alice has not only received a physical scar… but also an emotional one, and those are the hardest ones to overcome."

Natsu remained silent in thought before speaking.

"Thank you for trying to make me feel better." She said, "But I'm afraid that things between me and Alice may never return to what they once were."

"Just try and remain positive." I answered, "Over time I'm sure she'll eventually see your remorse."

"So I'll dream about. But until then, just stay out of my way and leave me alone."

I was silent a moment before speaking.

"I shall do my best."

Natsu got up and then started back for the dorm, with me following a few feet behind her. My word, this medabot had been through a lot of hard times, the poor girl. I wish there was something I could do to help, but I'm sworn to secrecy, in more ways than one I might add. Though even then I long for something to do in hopes to help repair the tragic relationship between Miss Alice and Natsu. Unfortunately I would likely do nothing more than get in the way if I tried to do something, so I'm afraid I'm restricted to standing back and hoping for the best. As we neared the door to our dorm, Natsu turned to me again.

"Thank you for letting me vent." She said, "I feel a little better to have gotten that weight off my chest."

"The pleasure was all mine." I returned cheerfully, "And keep your chin up, things will be better one day."

"I can only hope."

We then entered our room to find that it was the same as it was when we left. Natsu proceeded for Alice's room as I headed for Miss Natalie's room. Just as I neared the door, Miss Mallory had opened the door and departed for her own room.

"Sorry that took so long Sherlock." Miss Natalie sighed, "Mal had a lot of stuff to get off her chest she wanted me to be there for her."

"Say no more." I replied, "I understand completely."

"So what'd you do the whole time?"

Allow me to recall… nothing really besides learning more about Alice and Natsu, but I cannot say anything on that issue unless she says it's fine to.

"Oh nothing much," I said, "Just watched Alice repair Natsu and dozed off for a couple hours."

"Alright, cool. Well I'm gonna call it a night, so I'll see you in the morning Sherlock."

"Sleep well Miss Natalie."

The room went silent and dark as I sat down in a corner and got comfortable. I honestly truly wish there was something I could do for Natsu to help her and Alice restore their fragmented bond, but since I'm unable to do anything, all I can really do is hope that one day things WILL get better between the two of them. With this being the last thought in my processors, I went into sleep mode once again.

The next morning I was awakened to hear Miss Natalie reenter the room after a trip to the washroom to shower and get ready for today.

"Morning Sherlock." She chirped.

"Good morning Miss Natalie," I returned, "Sleep well?"

I sensed a slight hesitation in her voice.

"Eh… Could have slept better I guess."

"Sorry to hear, perhaps it was about what you and Miss Mallory were talking about?"

"That's exactly it actually. How'd you guess?"

"I AM a detective type after all."

She chuckled, "And you certainly are one Mr. Holmes."

"So? Would you care to talk about it?"

"There really wasn't a whole lot to talk about actually. It was just more getting her to calm down and stop crying."

"Crying?"

"Tears of joy Sherlock. Mal explained everything that happened yesterday from her perspective, as well as Inyo being the first to stand for and defend her. She said that she never had anyone do that for her in the past, and that Inyo did it for her so willingly."

"Understandable. How did she feel about it?"

"She told me that she thinks that she's beginning to really like Inyo, but didn't know exactly how to say it."

"Sounds like the common dilemma that plagues every person her age."

She gave me a look.

"And by that you're referring that I'm going through it too, right? Since we're BOTH eighteen?"

"Why not? Master Marcus clearly takes an interest in you."

I saw Miss Natalie turn a little red at my rebuttal and look away.

"Well either way," She continued, redirecting the topic, "I told Mal that if she really does like Inyo like she believes, then she should tell 'em."

"It would indeed be the option to pursue, though I will say from the male perspective that it would be easier said than done for one to admit their feelings."

"Well I think that if Inyo really likes Mal like we saw last night, I have a feeling he'll try and say how he feels."

"Sounds like a good explanation, shall we stick with that one?"

"Yes we shall," She said as she sat down on her bed and began tying her hair into a ponytail, "So what's on my schedule for today?"

"You have a Math class at 10:00 and an English class at 1:00."

"Have you talked to Aimflash yet regarding whether to try and meet for individual training while we're in class?"

"I'm… sorry?"

I honestly had forgotten about the individual training sessions we planned to do.

"Contacting Aimflash through your internal server." Miss Natalie replied, "You exchanged server information with him after the first night of class."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. I actually haven't tried to contact him yet. I shall do so as you leave and then meet where we agreed upon."

"Sounds like a plan." She nodded as she picked up her book bag and headed for the door to leave and get to class.

Now let's see… I pulled up Master Aimflash's server address from my memory banks and attempted to make contact with him. He answered a little bit later.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Good morning Master Aimflash." I returned.

"Sherlock? How're you contacting me?"

"It's elementary my dear Aimflash, I saved your mainframe's server address to my memory banks, so I was able to contact you wirelessly."

"Oh yeah… I forgot we could do that. Anyway, what's up?"

"I was wondering where it would be possible to meet and perhaps train while we wait on Master Marcus and Miss Natalie."

"Umm… How about nearby the track around the campus football field?"

"Sounds like a splendid plan to me. How soon can you be there?"

"I can basically leave any time since I have nothing to do while Chief's in class, you wanna meet in ten minutes or so?"

"I'd agree to that. See you then."

"Laters."

He hung up as I headed for the door.

"Going somewhere?" I heard someone call.

I looked back to see Shin Saber leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. Looks like the fellow's been repaired.

"Oh, good morning Master Shin Saber." I greeted, "I was just on my way to meet with Master Aimflash and train. And might I say you're looking much better today."

"Well I got fixed after Mallory came back to our room." He returned.

"Makes sense. Well I must be on my way, so I'll see you later."

"Careful now Detective."

I opened the door as Master Shin Saber closed it behind me. With that I headed down the stairs and outside to head for the rear of the campus. Some five minutes later I found Master Aimflash skate up to me and coast to a halt.

"Hey pal," He greeted cheerfully, "You ready to train?"

"Ready when you are." I returned, "Did you contact either of the Guns?"

"Nope, and in all honesty I really don't want to if they're gonna push you around and keep you outta the fight."

"Well I'm honored, so what shall we practice first?"

"I would suggest something to get on the Gun's radars; something that'll prove how useful you are."

"Such as? I have no attack parts equipped as of current."

"Alright, then we'll work on speed. If you can move quickly and evade incoming fire, that oughta give you an edge."

"Sounds like a smashing idea."

"Awesome. Now let's see… Why not use the running track? It seems empty at the moment."

"Why not?"

We then walked towards the track to find several medabots there already, though there was still plenty of room to run and move around.

"Alright Sherlock, here's the plan." Master Aimflash started as we set foot on the track, "We'll start slow and work our way up to speed. All ya gotta do is keep up with me."

"Understood," I nodded, "Ready when you are."

"Alrighty then."

Master Aimflash started slow with one periodic push on his skates and let himself coast as he watched me carefully. Eventually he decreased the time between skates and started simply running on their power. We increasingly got faster, and my inward timer clocked up at approximately fifteen seconds and we already were well down from where we started. We approached the first turn as Master Aimflash changed his lane to the most inward one. I clocked us again around thirty-five seconds and I was doing a pretty good job keeping up with Master Aimflash.

"Alright pal," He said, "Now we're really gonna start the training; that was just a warm-up."

I beg your pardon? Did I hear you correctly?

"See ya!" He called as he increased speed.

"W-what?!" I stammered, "H-hey, wait!"

I tried to increase my speed and at least gain ground, but by the time we both passed the point where we started, I hadn't closed anything.

"Master… Aimflash…" I huffed, "Slow down… a tad… will you… please?"

"Sorry Sherlock," He called back, "But if ya wanna show those dopey Guns that you're invaluable you'll have to do better than that. We're not stopping until you can at the minimum keep up with me on a straight track."

"But…"

"No buts! Now come on, work those circuits!"

Thankfully he wasn't increasing his speed, so at least I had a goal to reach. It took a great deal of effort, but I was able to incrementally close the distance of about ten feet by approximately an inch every thirty seconds or so. After I finally made it even with him, we made one final lap to see how long I could hold the position.

"Not bad," He nodded, "Not bad at all."

We passed the start point and slowed to a stop. My word I don't think I've ever run that fast before… But I DO feel a little more capable after that ordeal.

"Good start," Master Aimflash said, "So we know that you can push yourself when it comes to your land speed. Now we can go right into evading… heh heh…"

I don't think I like the sound of that… He shot a meda-bullet right between my feet as I leaped back in surprise.

"Have you gone mad!?" I called.

"Quite the opposite," He returned, "Now you better keep moving if you don't wanna get shot."

He made another shot at me, though I sidestepped to the left and broke into a run as his left arm continued to hound me with a steady trail of meda-bullets behind me. He ceased fire and then opened it once again, though in front of me. I screeched to a halt before breaking into a jog in the opposite direction.

"Yo Sherlock!" Master Aimflash called, "Stop lookin' at where to run to and start lookin' at your opponent! How're you supposed to be making a plan otherwise?"

Fair point. I had better watch carefully and see if there's a way to get close enough to him. Looking through my magnifying lens, I could read that he had a sore spot smack on his elbow joint. Maybe if I can get in close enough, I could try and use that to my advantage. He continued to fire at me, switching sides occasionally. I broke into a sprint and skipped left and right to avoid the incoming fire as I neared him. Alright Sherlock, now's the chance to show the fellow just what you can do.

"Hey!" He said, "What're you doing!?"

"Why it's elementary my dear Aimflash," I returned as I finally closed the distance and blew a puff of smoke from my pipe into his face to temporarily blind him, "Strategy is the key to winning, is it not?"

I then struck the elbow joint on his left arm and shut off his gatling gun. Master Aimflash wiped the smoke away and checked his arm to find that I have indeed disabled it.

"Huh," He remarked, "Not bad Sherlock. You got some good strategy to ya."

"Why thank you my dear Master Aimflash." I laughed as I took a bow.

We continued to train until Master Marcus and Miss Natalie came looking for us and said that we needed to find Master Trigger. Honestly I've come to have a rather large dislike for those two imbeciles of medabots he has, but they are OUR teammates; so I may as well get used to it and make the best of the situation.

So there IS more to Alice and Natsu than meets the eye… And it seems that Inyo and Mallory have grown closer. Is there really a tender relationship here? Will something take place in the future to sway their feelings? And what exactly is up with Alice and Natsu? What'll take place next? You'll have to come back and read to find out.

Rate and review please.

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