Xenotober 2022 14 Mechanical

a/n: Frye and Doug and two OC Crosses on a trip to Noctilum. Hey, what's that over there, down in the lagoon?

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft.


Kadzyk gave an appreciative whistle. "That is some nice scrap, and I say that as someone that was never interested in being a Reclaimer." The new recruit was looking down at a sheltered lagoon, in the center of which rested a conglomeration of mechanical wreckage. A residual energy signature glowed sulkily in the center, but the rest was dark and unpowered. Even after years of neglect, the edges that ranged out of the surface of the water shone sharply. It was hard to see what it had been in its earlier life: a ship? a transport? a beacon? Some parts looked like bridge cables, while others indicated propulsion. Kadzyk ruffled his hair thoughtfully. "I'm going to guess it was some kind of funicular that brought cargo up from a harbor. When the entrance silted over [he pointed to the edge closest to the ocean], whoever was using it abandoned it. Or maybe they abandoned it first, and then the harbor settled into disuse. We'd have to measure the rate of siltation, but we also don't know enough about weather or even mitigation. A neat problem to solve."

"Whoa, knock it off, boy-o. You're starting to sound like my brother." Frye slapped Kadzyk hard enough on the shoulder to make the other man wobble on the cliff's edge.

"Might make some nice credits if we salvage it," drawled the Harrier behind them. If Frye was tall and Kadzyk was solid, Doug was the sum of the both of them. He smiled wickedly at Frye. "At the very least I can get a nice trinket for Alexa."

Frye pointed at Doug with a touch of heat. "No way, buddy. Me and my guy Kadz found it. We're going to go smack it until we get an armload of auto parts. You stay here with Case."

"I can swim too," Case said softly, her head down. She was occupied with cleaning her weapon. Today her layout included psycho launchers, and while those ran exceptionally clean, when they needed maintenance it was a longish process. The leafy path, high above the rest of Noctilum, had seemed like a good rest point for doing exactly that. "I'm almost done."

"You and Doug can jump in later," Frye reassured her. "It's not like we can move that entire heap by ourselves, right?"

Doug looked serious for a moment. "Hang on. You can swim okay, right?" he asked Kadzyk.

"Pffft," Kadzyk hissed. "I do okay. I kept up with Elma and her village idiot when they started straight for Sylvalum. WITHOUT A SKELL." He shook his head dramatically. "I still have water in my ears from that outing."

Doug laughed. "Don't feel too bad. They do that to most of the new guys. It's a way of pushing you and letting you know you can do much more than you think."

"Come on, come on. I'm getting rusty even if the scrap isn't," urged Frye. He backed up, took a running start, and hurtled off the edge of the cliff. Kadzyk followed right behind him.

"You should probably watch this," Doug said with a smirk. Case snapped the last cover panel in place and stood next to Doug. Two tiny splashes were moving toward the mound of scrap,

"Wait for it," intoned Doug. "Wait for it."

The mass of scrap unfolded, rising higher and higher. Cables snapped into divots, turning into arms set into powerful shoulders. A knife-tipped hand shot into the cliff beneath Case and Doug, too low to be any danger, but explosive enough to fill the air with startled seabirds.

"We should help," Case said urgently. Her psycho launchers whirred to life.

"Naw, they'll just run for their lives. I mean, swim for it. They can get to shore in time, no worries."

"Uh, they aren't swimming away."

Doug made a disgusted noise. "I am going to have words with whoever taught Frye to fight while swimming. Now he makes everyone do it. Come on, Case. We better help them."


a/n: We all love, or at least remember, Go-rha the Baptismal Surprise. I wish we could fight in water instead of just splashing. New ways to get party wipe-outs!

Next up: Hope.