The brutal sun beat down into her metallic skin, feeling no mercy for
her, not caring about whether she was uncomfortable or not. If she had been
human or Neopet, she would at least be able to perspire or subsequently
take off layers of clothes to relieve her agony of overheating, or perhaps
even spray some water onto her skin. But being as she was only a machine,
she could not possibly ask for that kind of relief, and was forced to
suffer through every ultraviolet ray of light burning through the
atmosphere, each stabbing her like many individual knives.
It was not that it made her weaker-no, the pain just made her feel more alive (if a machine such as herself could even be called that), more conscious of her need to go forward, forward towards. . .something. It only made her uncomfortable, making her desire shelter, desire the cool rush of a breeze, desire the comfortable temperatures of Krishna's basement. It also did not help that the pointless journey of days had left her feeling extremely lonely, longing for some kind of companionship, thinking constantly about Krishna, as if she were a lost puppy and he was her mother, whom she tirelessly sought out.
And so it was only natural that a great sense of relief rushed through Mitsuko's metallic body when a hulking object began to become visible in the distance.
At the time, she could care less what its purpose was-she knew that there were other sentient beings there, as something had to operate the enormous machine-no computer she knew of could be programmed well enough to control such a monster. She still had plenty of booster fluid left, and floated into the air, speeding towards the giant beast of a machine, obviously a transporter of some type. As she got closer, the blob of metal began to take a solid shape: if it had been painted black (it was of a navy blue shade), it would've looked exactly like a beetle with one giant oval eye on its back, inflated to an impossible size.
She hovered over it like a hummingbird inspecting a flower to see if it would produce satisfactory nectar. She suspected that the machine had spotted her as well, as it slowly groaned to a stop with the sound of gears grinding together. It was obviously of a recent design, as it was made of poor, burnt and rusted materials, just barely being held together by bolts the side of Mitsuko's eye. A door slowly opened on the side with the hissing of steam, a figure stepping out. Mitsuko landed with a bit of hesitation, her wits coming to her, making her on guard of the new figure.
However, as she came closer to the ground, she could feel a bit of tension release from her shoulders-it was no organic Neopet that stood before her. No, it was a robotic one, just like her. Well, not exactly like her; it was obviously of a standard production, a Lupe, glaring up at her harshly. It carried a variety of weapons strapped onto its back, many looking quite threatening, which renewed Mitsuko's wariness. The Lupe's harsh expression softened, however, as it sighted her and confirmed that she was a robot, not an organic Shoyru, despite the appearance of her face.
"Comrade!" he cried up to her, a smile spreading over his face, waving a paw for him to join her on the ground. "Please do say you are of a sentient nature!"
"It depends upon what you classify as sentient," replied Mitsuko as she took to the ground. The Lupe looked over her with almost greedy eyes, his eyes illuminating even brighter as he looked at her closer.
"You're certainly a new breed of robot!" he commented, his tone cheerful and welcoming. "When I first saw you, I thought you were one of those organic ones. But you're certainly one of us, though I have never seen a single model look like you before."
"Us? There are more of you, then."
"Yes! You don't think I alone stole a transport?"
Mitsuko looked up at the towering beetle-like transport, and shook her head. Still, she thought if they were going to steal a transport, they could've at least stolen a pre-radiation one. "How many of there are you?" asked Mitsuko. Just from estimation, she could guess that there could be at least a fifty residents living comfortably inside of the transport, so long as they weren't any bigger than the Lupe.
"There's about seventy-five or so at the present time. . .but our numbers are increasing rapidly."
"What exactly is your purpose?"
"We are the RARE-Robots Against Robotic Enslavement. We robots have suffered enough injustice against our so-called creators, who create us sentient and then treat us like common slaves, as if we have no more intelligence than a simple calculator." The Lupe continued on about their mission, Mitsuko's eyes wandering from the Lupe up to the transport. There were many individual windows that she had not seen before, and as she looked at them closely she could see many faces peeking through, all made of metal, just like her. They were a variety of species, from Chia to Kougra, but they all shared one characteristic: a hopeful look on their faces, a hopeful look for a new recruit to their little-supported cause.
Mitsuko interrupted him, turning her attention back to the Lupe. "May I have the privilege of joining your cause?" she asked. The Lupe blinked hard, as if unable to believe that Mitsuko had agreed so quickly to his campaign, even before he had finished. He recovered quickly, however, stuttering and bumbling his way into a reply, nodding his head furiously. A jubilant cry came from the transport, the faces into the windows turning from hopeful smiles into genuine ones.
Mitsuko did not smile. As much as she wanted to join into their happiness, as much as she knew she should've joined into their happiness, having found some amount of shelter and companionship in the middle of the desert by chance alone, she could find nothing in her mechanical heart that made her want to do so. A deep sense of apathy had begun to engulf her, and she feared it was already beginning to clutch at her consciousness tightly.
When she reflected on this, it occurred to her that she would've joined anybody at that moment, be it an organization of bloodthirsty, communistic Lennies bent on controlling the world. The fact that she was collaborating and 'working towards a better cause' with other robots made little difference to her-and perhaps it was this intricate fact that began separating her from the world. Whether her arrival at the transport contributed to her slow disconnection to the world, as weak as the connection had been before, she would probably never know, but she could certainly point a finger towards it if she wanted someone to blame.
And so began Mitsuko's descending path, a long, agonizing journey towards an inevitable ending.
"Mitsuko?"
The familiar gentle voice of the soft-spoken Kau android cut through Mitsuko's period of rest as her body lay tired against the wall. Mitsuko opened one eye, not bothering to open the other. She knew that the lease on the body she possessed would soon expire, and she was already showing signs of recession as the two-year mark approached. Of course, she worried little about this time, which its exact date was, admittedly, blurred in her memory. After all, there were plenty of places for a robot to refuel fully in the transport, even if most of the fuel was pirated and wasn't of the highest quality. They couldn't even guarantee that they had the right type of fuel required for her body, or enough-but she didn't enjoy minor things like those nagging in the back of her mind. They only caused her to lose precious recharging time.
"Yes, Yadira?" replied Mitsuko, her voice exceedingly icy. It wasn't that she minded Yadira-it was that she was simply that way to everybody.
"I'm. . .scared about tomorrow."
It was quite obvious that Yadira was knew little of Mitsuko's personality, thinking that the robotic Shoyru would offer an ear to hear her ailments-after all, she had just been enlisted recently with the recruitment surge RARE had been receiving lately, flocks of sentient robots seeming to find their way to the rogue transport, as if by some unknown radar, like bees to honey. Mitsuko hadn't had a roommate for the past two years-she had specifically asked for a room alone at the start, isolating herself after having been so lonely in a strange hypocritical fashion. Yet now, with the overflow of new recruits, there was no choice but to double up, some robots even having to share with two other roommates or more, Mitsuko, thankfully, not one of them.
"Am I supposed to say some comforting, false words here? I'm not familiar with contact like that of a human," replied Mitsuko coldly, getting up from the ground and moving over to the only piece of furniture in the room: a desk with a mirror in front of it. Why she required a mirror was beyond her, but Yadira seemed to enjoy it well enough.
Yadira seemed taken aback by Mitsuko's harsh words, retreating a bit into the hallway. Clearing her throat, she spoke again. "It's just. . .I've never been in battle before, and I've heard that you've seen your share of it. . .I was just wondering. . .is it scary?"
The word scary seemed so terribly childish in the situation that Mitsuko felt a strange bubbling within the back of her throat-laughter, she believed they called it, as she had heard it many times before from a loud- mouthed Tuskaninny named Tristus who seemed to constantly laugh over her own follies, not to mention other's. "You want to know if battle is scary?" snorted Mitsuko, a small, mocking smile appearing on her face. "Exactly when was your production model mass produced?"
Yadira frowned darkly, her innocence fading as she stepped more confidently into the room. "Only six-months ago. I was supposed to be of a house-cleaning model, but some of my circuits got reversed so I ended up sentient. Is there something wrong with being mass produced, just because you're a custom job?"
Mitsuko registered the anger in Yadira's voice, but hardly reacted to it. She could care less who got mad at her-feelings of others were of little concern to her. She fiddled momentarily with some switches on her body, and then returned to her corner of the room, resting her head against the wall. "I don't care whether you were produced by a mechanic who didn't know a screw from a bolt, really. You want to know about battle? There's plenty of knowledge of that sort stored in here, but only of the past few years. Perhaps there was a time before that, but I cannot remember." Why she was admitting this to Yadira was beyond her-she had never even told of her complete amnesia and lack of knowledge of her production model number to the head of RARE, having made up one when asked for it in registration.
"Really?" Yadira's voice had softened once more, and the Kau walked into the room, shutting the door behind her. With a clanking noise, she sat down hard onto the ground, staring at Mitsuko in fascination. "So you don't even know your creator?"
"No. Krishna is about as close to a 'creator' as you can get.but he's totally unrelated to my creation. But it's not the issue. You asked about battle, so I'll inform you on the subject." Mitsuko considered for a moment how to put it into words that Yadira would understand, being so newly created and obviously quite naïve-when she found that it was completely pointless to soften her point, not to mention completely out of character, she told it like she remembered.
"In some ways, it is a joyous occasion. . .there is nothing that charges the senses, artificial if they are, than the chance of being blown to bits by your enemy. There is nothing more exhilarating to be plunged into heat of battle, nothing but you and complex programming flowing throughout limbs harder than any flesh, fighting any opponent that is faceless for the time being, nothing but someone to achieve victory over, to pummel into the ground until they submit to your overwhelming dominance. It reminds you that you are living, or at least in a sense, your reflexes sharpened, your senses heightened, everything around you a massive blur of action and movement, never seeming to end.
"If battle was merely that, perhaps it would be tolerable-maybe even something to look forward to. Yet, unfortunately, it does end, and the false. 'adrenaline rush,' as organic creatures have, fades away, your opponent defeated. You should feel a sense of victory, a sense of being a hero.but the fact is, you don't. You look down at your opponents, see their terrified faces, their bruises, feel your own dents and battle scars. You feel wasted and torn, and horrible inside for what you've done-yet you can't escape from it. You did it to yourself, in the heat of the moment; and wish as you might to take back the damage you have done, you cannot.
"RARE has seen its share of battles in the last two years.approximately.and thus so have I. It always goes like that.and this battle will be no different. We're going into a town, again, to supposedly liberate the robots within the town. In reality, there will be no more than about.three actually sentient ones, so in all senses, we could've just taken them out without a bloody battle. But no. We will engage in battle against innocent civilians and warriors alike-in the heat of it all, nobody looks different. And so we'll ultimately destroy a town for the sake of two or three robotic lives. We've done it before. And it will not change," stated Mitsuko flatly, her eyes dull.
"But.they haven't been telling us that's what we're doing lately. They told me that I, along with a team of other robots, was supposed to find a certain person within the city.we're supposed to destroy him. The head Lupe said it was critical to our task," said Yadira, blinking, not seeming to follow Mitsuko too well.
"To intentionally destroy someone? Human?"
"Well.we were given a picture.he doesn't look all that human to me. But I've never really seen a human, to be honest." Yadira pulled out a picture from a compartment place in her side, handing it to Mitsuko. Her eyes scanned the picture, but she shrugged and shook her head.
"I've never seen him before," she admitted with a shrug, although in a strange way the picture did look eerily familiar. "But whatever you're assigned to, I suppose you should do."
"What are you supposed to do?"
"What I always do," answered Mitsuko, closing her eyes. "Destroy all." An uncomfortable silence fell between Yadira and Mitsuko, Mitsuko nominally uncaring about the tension in the air, Yadira feeling it deep within her, shifting her weight to her other side of her hooves. Finally, Yadira cleared her throat, faking a smile onto her face.
"Well.it's.um, do you want to go to the cafeteria with me?" asked Yadira, her eyes hopeful. Mitsuko opened one eye.
"Social interaction doesn't interest me," she fibbed, managing to keep up a good charade on that part. Despite her efforts to keep herself away from others, she seemed to be constantly drawn towards large groups-it took all of her effort possible to separate herself from the crowds, to keep to her lonesome. It was easier that way-others, as she had heard, could hurt you.
"Awww, c'mon. We're almost to the next town-if you get broken and then put back into enslavement, you don't want to sit there knowing your last few moments of free-functioning just sitting in your designated dormitory, do you?" asked Yadira, a small but true smile coming onto her face. Mitsuko gave her a long, hard look, at the robotic Kau, who tried to keep up her smile despite Mitsuko's glares. Yet much to Yadira's surprise, Mitsuko stood up, giving a sharp nod, heading towards Yadira and putting her hand on her shoulder roughly.
"Alright. But just this once."
The cafeteria, in most senses, wasn't really a place for congregating to eat-being the transport consisted of entirely robots, it would be completely pointless for them to need a place to eat. (Although some custom models did require the consumption of food, as they used it instead of gasoline or other types of fossil fuels, but such models were unconventional, for food was a shortage compared to the availability of various fossil fuels.) It was, instead, a place used for robots to sit idly and relax, recharging and socializing with others. Mitsuko rarely found herself in the place, although she knew of its existence-though she did secretly crave social interaction, such a large, crowded place did not appeal to her tastes.
Yadira seemed to already know the place well, however, even though she had just recently arrived. She made a bee-line for a single table with a few robots that Mitsuko managed to recognize-one was the obnoxious Tuskaninny robot Tristus, looking of a janitorial model, Psyche, a robotic Blumaroo, Tacitus, a moody Lupe robot, and the final, Kummer, a robotic Kiko whose hard drive was obviously not all there-for he was known to constantly rub his hands and look around the room suspiciously, as if something were constantly pursuing the tormented robot.
".no way that you're going to even dent the side of a house," smirked Tacitus, talking directly to Tristus. Even if Mitsuko didn't get out too much, she knew well enough that Tacitus and Tristus were more or less connected by the hip, and thus presented a problem: the two despised each other more than any thing else in the world. The only thing they had ever agreed on was that they couldn't stand humans-and that wasn't much to agree on.
"You wish, Tacky! You'll probably go down under the rubble."
"Not a chance, insolent junk-type! You're not even made for fighting!"
"It's not about how I'm made, it's about what's up here!"
"Yeah-and what's up there is just as junky as how you were made."
"That's IT, Tacky! I'll be sweepin' up somethin' tonight, alright- YOUR remains!"
"Bring it on, junk-type!"
The squabbling between the two commenced, the others at the small table seeming accustomed to their bickering, continuing on with normal conversations as Tacitus and Tristus went at it on the other side of the table, their struggles disrupting some of the items on the table, mostly assorted laser guns. Yadira took a seat, inviting Mitsuko to do the same, seemingly oblivious to Tacitus and Tristus' little argument.
"Are they always like that?" asked Mitsuko, more to herself than anyone else.
"Yeah. It's best just to ignore their love spats," snorted Psyche, twirling a piece of her artificial hair lazily, taking a long sip of the black gasoline within a cup, refueling herself in an almost organic way. "So you're that Mitsuko Shoyru, eh? Got a weird body unit.not to mention hard drive covering. Y'could almost pass for organic, if not for that thing on your forehead, and the body," commented Psyche, looking at Mitsuko mildly.
"The message.the message." whimpered Kummer, his eyes twitching back and forth, focusing on Mitsuko briefly, a small smile on his face. "You have the message, don't you?"
"The message," repeated Mitsuko flatly, glaring at the Kiko. Psyche came to his defense immediately, patting the Kiko on the head.
"It's best just to ignore him.what he says is mostly pointless. He used to be the program Neopets Version 2.but he got shoved away in the corner after Sloth abandoned his project. When he reactivated, some Neopets weren't very happy with his friend-snaring strategy. Shut 'im down, now most of his memory's zapped," explained Psyche, stroking the Kiko's head sympathetically. "We found 'im in the remains of the Virtupet Space Station and transferred the programming from the monitor to a body. Unfortunately, most of his sanity's been lost in his deactivation."
"Yeah, couldn't even help us locate Sloth. Useless piece of crap- can't even find its maker," shouted Tristus over her quarrel with Tacitus.
"I know another piece of useless crap," snickered Tacitus into his paw, glancing sideways at Tristus. The robotic Tuskaninny seemed to inflate in rage.
"SHUT UP!"
"The message.the message." moaned Kummer, shaking, staring at Mitsuko relentlessly. Mitsuko turned her attention away from the disturbed robot, feeling his eyes staring into her back even as she didn't look at him.
"Anyway-who created you? You're obviously a custom job," asked Psyche, apparently interested. Mitsuko felt an uncomfortable sensation creep up her spine as the question was asked-she had little desire to answer it, or answer any questions at the moment. She kept quiet, hoping that the question would pass over like threatening clouds that looked like rain.
Thankfully, she was not required to answer it, as the transport suddenly jerked to a stop, all movement in the cafeteria halting, a bit of confusion going through the air, as they were not expected to reach their destination until the next day. The loudspeaker crackled to life with the familiar voice of the robotic Lupe, the head of the operation. "Attention, comrades! We have arrived early at our destination-Sakhmet City! Please report to your designated areas and prepare yourself for dispersal, as well as battle. We will free our brothers from unwilling slavery!"
A positive, roaring reply came from those in the cafeteria, and moving once again commenced, traffic now furiously channeling towards the door. Immediately, Mitsuko joined the crowds, able to push her way through, leaving Yadira behind. It was probable she needed to get to her post more than anyone there, besides perhaps those that were stationed in the front line with her. It hadn't surprised her that she had been shoved to the front of the line-those that were the strongest fighters were usually in the front line, because they would be able to last the longest at the head of the battle. Behind them were usually useless newbies who mostly hid behind the experienced ones. And Mitsuko, unlike the others, was not scrambling to get weapons-no, the body that Krishna had granted her was a weapon enough.
Getting to the launching pad, she found herself surrounded by many familiar robots, ones that she had battled with before. She had never gotten particularly close with any of them, and found it better that way- then, if one of them got injured or destroyed, she wouldn't have the obligation to mourn over them, or feel a deep heaviness in her heart. She didn't say hello to a single one of them as she squeezed into their ranks, onto the release platform-and likewise, none of them said hello to her.
Just as soon as she had stepped foot on the crammed platform, it jerked to life, descending downwards rapidly. In mere seconds, it came to a stiff halt, the other side of the elevator now open, letting natural light stream in. The robots dispersed from the crowded elevator and quickly got into formation, knowing it instinctively, as they had done it so many times before. They walked forward in formation, the robot in the front, a Jetsam, beginning to call off their orders into the air, as well as start a 'motivational' chant among the company, all contributing their voices automatically. Mitsuko, however, declined from singing-it was unnecessary excess in the beginning of a battle.
Before them loomed the great city of Sakhmet, the remains of its extravagant castle reaching into the sky, like broken clay fingers. It was much like the area that Mitsuko had originally been deactivated in, filled with dust-but no, it was not dust, but sand, catching into her exposed body parts, making it difficult to move. It certainly didn't help that her body's 'expiration date' was approaching. She grunted against it and kept going, advancing forward with the rest of her company.
But no-there was something wrong about the city through the sand, billowing clouds of an oncoming sandstorm beginning to pick up. Something stirred within Mitsuko that made her hesitate at the advance, making her suspicious of the city that they had so quickly arrived upon. Holograms, or any technology, was not sharp enough at that time to create the illusion of an entire city awaiting before the transport-but perhaps something else was, of a more mystical sort.
"No," whispered Mitsuko, the revelation coming to her like a brick to the face. Ahead of them was no city at all. "It's not Sakhmet.it's." The word came to her slowly, like a flower's gradual bloom. It confused her at first, though-what business did they have creating such a mirage in the middle of the desert? ".faeries."
As soon as the words had left her mouth, the city of Sakhmet disappeared before the robot's eyes, leaving the majority of the company of robots dazed and bamboozled, a city vanishing before their eyes. In its place floated at least a fleet of light faeries, among other sorts, holding staffs of magic before their perfect bodies, seeming drastically out of place in the beaten and fallen world. Above them all floated one that looked different from their conformist ranks. With long, purple hair, a golden tiara and elegant silk dress, the color matching her hair, it was obvious that she was a faerie of importance. She looked vaguely familiar, from a past life, but Mitsuko could not put a name to a face. However, most of the robots were courteous enough to shout out her name, as well as a few choice words added as suffixes or prefixes.
"Fyora!"
The faerie Fyora did not look triumphant, or cocky-she looked tired, but spoke to her fellow faeries in an even tone, giving them orders. For beings that were not supposed to suffer the effects of aging, her complexion made her look terribly elderly. "My sisters, our orders are from Tahora herself-we must destroy this unfortunate company of robots. Make it quick, sisters; all deserve painless deactivation."
And within moments, the faeries were upon them, sweeping down on the fleet of robots, many now behind Mitsuko's company, like so many birds of prey, their talons great magical staffs, able to diminish a robot to scrap metal in mere seconds. Their numbers seemed to be halved in seconds, the faeries making quick work, able to send out multiple destruction spells at a time. Mitsuko watched them whiz above her like angels of death. One of their flaming asteroids found its way towards the Shoyru. Instinctively, she jumped out of the way just before it slammed into the ground where she had been standing, leaving a black scar in the ground.
She could feel the programming working, charging up in her mind, flowing through her body. And she accepted it, as always, letting it take control of her body, allowing an unseen entity access to her body for just a while, sacrificing control for unbridled strength and ability.
And once again, Mitsuko found herself right at home-a strange, foreign home, among savages and beasts, but it suited her.
She was the predator, and they were the prey. That was all she needed to know.
It was not that it made her weaker-no, the pain just made her feel more alive (if a machine such as herself could even be called that), more conscious of her need to go forward, forward towards. . .something. It only made her uncomfortable, making her desire shelter, desire the cool rush of a breeze, desire the comfortable temperatures of Krishna's basement. It also did not help that the pointless journey of days had left her feeling extremely lonely, longing for some kind of companionship, thinking constantly about Krishna, as if she were a lost puppy and he was her mother, whom she tirelessly sought out.
And so it was only natural that a great sense of relief rushed through Mitsuko's metallic body when a hulking object began to become visible in the distance.
At the time, she could care less what its purpose was-she knew that there were other sentient beings there, as something had to operate the enormous machine-no computer she knew of could be programmed well enough to control such a monster. She still had plenty of booster fluid left, and floated into the air, speeding towards the giant beast of a machine, obviously a transporter of some type. As she got closer, the blob of metal began to take a solid shape: if it had been painted black (it was of a navy blue shade), it would've looked exactly like a beetle with one giant oval eye on its back, inflated to an impossible size.
She hovered over it like a hummingbird inspecting a flower to see if it would produce satisfactory nectar. She suspected that the machine had spotted her as well, as it slowly groaned to a stop with the sound of gears grinding together. It was obviously of a recent design, as it was made of poor, burnt and rusted materials, just barely being held together by bolts the side of Mitsuko's eye. A door slowly opened on the side with the hissing of steam, a figure stepping out. Mitsuko landed with a bit of hesitation, her wits coming to her, making her on guard of the new figure.
However, as she came closer to the ground, she could feel a bit of tension release from her shoulders-it was no organic Neopet that stood before her. No, it was a robotic one, just like her. Well, not exactly like her; it was obviously of a standard production, a Lupe, glaring up at her harshly. It carried a variety of weapons strapped onto its back, many looking quite threatening, which renewed Mitsuko's wariness. The Lupe's harsh expression softened, however, as it sighted her and confirmed that she was a robot, not an organic Shoyru, despite the appearance of her face.
"Comrade!" he cried up to her, a smile spreading over his face, waving a paw for him to join her on the ground. "Please do say you are of a sentient nature!"
"It depends upon what you classify as sentient," replied Mitsuko as she took to the ground. The Lupe looked over her with almost greedy eyes, his eyes illuminating even brighter as he looked at her closer.
"You're certainly a new breed of robot!" he commented, his tone cheerful and welcoming. "When I first saw you, I thought you were one of those organic ones. But you're certainly one of us, though I have never seen a single model look like you before."
"Us? There are more of you, then."
"Yes! You don't think I alone stole a transport?"
Mitsuko looked up at the towering beetle-like transport, and shook her head. Still, she thought if they were going to steal a transport, they could've at least stolen a pre-radiation one. "How many of there are you?" asked Mitsuko. Just from estimation, she could guess that there could be at least a fifty residents living comfortably inside of the transport, so long as they weren't any bigger than the Lupe.
"There's about seventy-five or so at the present time. . .but our numbers are increasing rapidly."
"What exactly is your purpose?"
"We are the RARE-Robots Against Robotic Enslavement. We robots have suffered enough injustice against our so-called creators, who create us sentient and then treat us like common slaves, as if we have no more intelligence than a simple calculator." The Lupe continued on about their mission, Mitsuko's eyes wandering from the Lupe up to the transport. There were many individual windows that she had not seen before, and as she looked at them closely she could see many faces peeking through, all made of metal, just like her. They were a variety of species, from Chia to Kougra, but they all shared one characteristic: a hopeful look on their faces, a hopeful look for a new recruit to their little-supported cause.
Mitsuko interrupted him, turning her attention back to the Lupe. "May I have the privilege of joining your cause?" she asked. The Lupe blinked hard, as if unable to believe that Mitsuko had agreed so quickly to his campaign, even before he had finished. He recovered quickly, however, stuttering and bumbling his way into a reply, nodding his head furiously. A jubilant cry came from the transport, the faces into the windows turning from hopeful smiles into genuine ones.
Mitsuko did not smile. As much as she wanted to join into their happiness, as much as she knew she should've joined into their happiness, having found some amount of shelter and companionship in the middle of the desert by chance alone, she could find nothing in her mechanical heart that made her want to do so. A deep sense of apathy had begun to engulf her, and she feared it was already beginning to clutch at her consciousness tightly.
When she reflected on this, it occurred to her that she would've joined anybody at that moment, be it an organization of bloodthirsty, communistic Lennies bent on controlling the world. The fact that she was collaborating and 'working towards a better cause' with other robots made little difference to her-and perhaps it was this intricate fact that began separating her from the world. Whether her arrival at the transport contributed to her slow disconnection to the world, as weak as the connection had been before, she would probably never know, but she could certainly point a finger towards it if she wanted someone to blame.
And so began Mitsuko's descending path, a long, agonizing journey towards an inevitable ending.
"Mitsuko?"
The familiar gentle voice of the soft-spoken Kau android cut through Mitsuko's period of rest as her body lay tired against the wall. Mitsuko opened one eye, not bothering to open the other. She knew that the lease on the body she possessed would soon expire, and she was already showing signs of recession as the two-year mark approached. Of course, she worried little about this time, which its exact date was, admittedly, blurred in her memory. After all, there were plenty of places for a robot to refuel fully in the transport, even if most of the fuel was pirated and wasn't of the highest quality. They couldn't even guarantee that they had the right type of fuel required for her body, or enough-but she didn't enjoy minor things like those nagging in the back of her mind. They only caused her to lose precious recharging time.
"Yes, Yadira?" replied Mitsuko, her voice exceedingly icy. It wasn't that she minded Yadira-it was that she was simply that way to everybody.
"I'm. . .scared about tomorrow."
It was quite obvious that Yadira was knew little of Mitsuko's personality, thinking that the robotic Shoyru would offer an ear to hear her ailments-after all, she had just been enlisted recently with the recruitment surge RARE had been receiving lately, flocks of sentient robots seeming to find their way to the rogue transport, as if by some unknown radar, like bees to honey. Mitsuko hadn't had a roommate for the past two years-she had specifically asked for a room alone at the start, isolating herself after having been so lonely in a strange hypocritical fashion. Yet now, with the overflow of new recruits, there was no choice but to double up, some robots even having to share with two other roommates or more, Mitsuko, thankfully, not one of them.
"Am I supposed to say some comforting, false words here? I'm not familiar with contact like that of a human," replied Mitsuko coldly, getting up from the ground and moving over to the only piece of furniture in the room: a desk with a mirror in front of it. Why she required a mirror was beyond her, but Yadira seemed to enjoy it well enough.
Yadira seemed taken aback by Mitsuko's harsh words, retreating a bit into the hallway. Clearing her throat, she spoke again. "It's just. . .I've never been in battle before, and I've heard that you've seen your share of it. . .I was just wondering. . .is it scary?"
The word scary seemed so terribly childish in the situation that Mitsuko felt a strange bubbling within the back of her throat-laughter, she believed they called it, as she had heard it many times before from a loud- mouthed Tuskaninny named Tristus who seemed to constantly laugh over her own follies, not to mention other's. "You want to know if battle is scary?" snorted Mitsuko, a small, mocking smile appearing on her face. "Exactly when was your production model mass produced?"
Yadira frowned darkly, her innocence fading as she stepped more confidently into the room. "Only six-months ago. I was supposed to be of a house-cleaning model, but some of my circuits got reversed so I ended up sentient. Is there something wrong with being mass produced, just because you're a custom job?"
Mitsuko registered the anger in Yadira's voice, but hardly reacted to it. She could care less who got mad at her-feelings of others were of little concern to her. She fiddled momentarily with some switches on her body, and then returned to her corner of the room, resting her head against the wall. "I don't care whether you were produced by a mechanic who didn't know a screw from a bolt, really. You want to know about battle? There's plenty of knowledge of that sort stored in here, but only of the past few years. Perhaps there was a time before that, but I cannot remember." Why she was admitting this to Yadira was beyond her-she had never even told of her complete amnesia and lack of knowledge of her production model number to the head of RARE, having made up one when asked for it in registration.
"Really?" Yadira's voice had softened once more, and the Kau walked into the room, shutting the door behind her. With a clanking noise, she sat down hard onto the ground, staring at Mitsuko in fascination. "So you don't even know your creator?"
"No. Krishna is about as close to a 'creator' as you can get.but he's totally unrelated to my creation. But it's not the issue. You asked about battle, so I'll inform you on the subject." Mitsuko considered for a moment how to put it into words that Yadira would understand, being so newly created and obviously quite naïve-when she found that it was completely pointless to soften her point, not to mention completely out of character, she told it like she remembered.
"In some ways, it is a joyous occasion. . .there is nothing that charges the senses, artificial if they are, than the chance of being blown to bits by your enemy. There is nothing more exhilarating to be plunged into heat of battle, nothing but you and complex programming flowing throughout limbs harder than any flesh, fighting any opponent that is faceless for the time being, nothing but someone to achieve victory over, to pummel into the ground until they submit to your overwhelming dominance. It reminds you that you are living, or at least in a sense, your reflexes sharpened, your senses heightened, everything around you a massive blur of action and movement, never seeming to end.
"If battle was merely that, perhaps it would be tolerable-maybe even something to look forward to. Yet, unfortunately, it does end, and the false. 'adrenaline rush,' as organic creatures have, fades away, your opponent defeated. You should feel a sense of victory, a sense of being a hero.but the fact is, you don't. You look down at your opponents, see their terrified faces, their bruises, feel your own dents and battle scars. You feel wasted and torn, and horrible inside for what you've done-yet you can't escape from it. You did it to yourself, in the heat of the moment; and wish as you might to take back the damage you have done, you cannot.
"RARE has seen its share of battles in the last two years.approximately.and thus so have I. It always goes like that.and this battle will be no different. We're going into a town, again, to supposedly liberate the robots within the town. In reality, there will be no more than about.three actually sentient ones, so in all senses, we could've just taken them out without a bloody battle. But no. We will engage in battle against innocent civilians and warriors alike-in the heat of it all, nobody looks different. And so we'll ultimately destroy a town for the sake of two or three robotic lives. We've done it before. And it will not change," stated Mitsuko flatly, her eyes dull.
"But.they haven't been telling us that's what we're doing lately. They told me that I, along with a team of other robots, was supposed to find a certain person within the city.we're supposed to destroy him. The head Lupe said it was critical to our task," said Yadira, blinking, not seeming to follow Mitsuko too well.
"To intentionally destroy someone? Human?"
"Well.we were given a picture.he doesn't look all that human to me. But I've never really seen a human, to be honest." Yadira pulled out a picture from a compartment place in her side, handing it to Mitsuko. Her eyes scanned the picture, but she shrugged and shook her head.
"I've never seen him before," she admitted with a shrug, although in a strange way the picture did look eerily familiar. "But whatever you're assigned to, I suppose you should do."
"What are you supposed to do?"
"What I always do," answered Mitsuko, closing her eyes. "Destroy all." An uncomfortable silence fell between Yadira and Mitsuko, Mitsuko nominally uncaring about the tension in the air, Yadira feeling it deep within her, shifting her weight to her other side of her hooves. Finally, Yadira cleared her throat, faking a smile onto her face.
"Well.it's.um, do you want to go to the cafeteria with me?" asked Yadira, her eyes hopeful. Mitsuko opened one eye.
"Social interaction doesn't interest me," she fibbed, managing to keep up a good charade on that part. Despite her efforts to keep herself away from others, she seemed to be constantly drawn towards large groups-it took all of her effort possible to separate herself from the crowds, to keep to her lonesome. It was easier that way-others, as she had heard, could hurt you.
"Awww, c'mon. We're almost to the next town-if you get broken and then put back into enslavement, you don't want to sit there knowing your last few moments of free-functioning just sitting in your designated dormitory, do you?" asked Yadira, a small but true smile coming onto her face. Mitsuko gave her a long, hard look, at the robotic Kau, who tried to keep up her smile despite Mitsuko's glares. Yet much to Yadira's surprise, Mitsuko stood up, giving a sharp nod, heading towards Yadira and putting her hand on her shoulder roughly.
"Alright. But just this once."
The cafeteria, in most senses, wasn't really a place for congregating to eat-being the transport consisted of entirely robots, it would be completely pointless for them to need a place to eat. (Although some custom models did require the consumption of food, as they used it instead of gasoline or other types of fossil fuels, but such models were unconventional, for food was a shortage compared to the availability of various fossil fuels.) It was, instead, a place used for robots to sit idly and relax, recharging and socializing with others. Mitsuko rarely found herself in the place, although she knew of its existence-though she did secretly crave social interaction, such a large, crowded place did not appeal to her tastes.
Yadira seemed to already know the place well, however, even though she had just recently arrived. She made a bee-line for a single table with a few robots that Mitsuko managed to recognize-one was the obnoxious Tuskaninny robot Tristus, looking of a janitorial model, Psyche, a robotic Blumaroo, Tacitus, a moody Lupe robot, and the final, Kummer, a robotic Kiko whose hard drive was obviously not all there-for he was known to constantly rub his hands and look around the room suspiciously, as if something were constantly pursuing the tormented robot.
".no way that you're going to even dent the side of a house," smirked Tacitus, talking directly to Tristus. Even if Mitsuko didn't get out too much, she knew well enough that Tacitus and Tristus were more or less connected by the hip, and thus presented a problem: the two despised each other more than any thing else in the world. The only thing they had ever agreed on was that they couldn't stand humans-and that wasn't much to agree on.
"You wish, Tacky! You'll probably go down under the rubble."
"Not a chance, insolent junk-type! You're not even made for fighting!"
"It's not about how I'm made, it's about what's up here!"
"Yeah-and what's up there is just as junky as how you were made."
"That's IT, Tacky! I'll be sweepin' up somethin' tonight, alright- YOUR remains!"
"Bring it on, junk-type!"
The squabbling between the two commenced, the others at the small table seeming accustomed to their bickering, continuing on with normal conversations as Tacitus and Tristus went at it on the other side of the table, their struggles disrupting some of the items on the table, mostly assorted laser guns. Yadira took a seat, inviting Mitsuko to do the same, seemingly oblivious to Tacitus and Tristus' little argument.
"Are they always like that?" asked Mitsuko, more to herself than anyone else.
"Yeah. It's best just to ignore their love spats," snorted Psyche, twirling a piece of her artificial hair lazily, taking a long sip of the black gasoline within a cup, refueling herself in an almost organic way. "So you're that Mitsuko Shoyru, eh? Got a weird body unit.not to mention hard drive covering. Y'could almost pass for organic, if not for that thing on your forehead, and the body," commented Psyche, looking at Mitsuko mildly.
"The message.the message." whimpered Kummer, his eyes twitching back and forth, focusing on Mitsuko briefly, a small smile on his face. "You have the message, don't you?"
"The message," repeated Mitsuko flatly, glaring at the Kiko. Psyche came to his defense immediately, patting the Kiko on the head.
"It's best just to ignore him.what he says is mostly pointless. He used to be the program Neopets Version 2.but he got shoved away in the corner after Sloth abandoned his project. When he reactivated, some Neopets weren't very happy with his friend-snaring strategy. Shut 'im down, now most of his memory's zapped," explained Psyche, stroking the Kiko's head sympathetically. "We found 'im in the remains of the Virtupet Space Station and transferred the programming from the monitor to a body. Unfortunately, most of his sanity's been lost in his deactivation."
"Yeah, couldn't even help us locate Sloth. Useless piece of crap- can't even find its maker," shouted Tristus over her quarrel with Tacitus.
"I know another piece of useless crap," snickered Tacitus into his paw, glancing sideways at Tristus. The robotic Tuskaninny seemed to inflate in rage.
"SHUT UP!"
"The message.the message." moaned Kummer, shaking, staring at Mitsuko relentlessly. Mitsuko turned her attention away from the disturbed robot, feeling his eyes staring into her back even as she didn't look at him.
"Anyway-who created you? You're obviously a custom job," asked Psyche, apparently interested. Mitsuko felt an uncomfortable sensation creep up her spine as the question was asked-she had little desire to answer it, or answer any questions at the moment. She kept quiet, hoping that the question would pass over like threatening clouds that looked like rain.
Thankfully, she was not required to answer it, as the transport suddenly jerked to a stop, all movement in the cafeteria halting, a bit of confusion going through the air, as they were not expected to reach their destination until the next day. The loudspeaker crackled to life with the familiar voice of the robotic Lupe, the head of the operation. "Attention, comrades! We have arrived early at our destination-Sakhmet City! Please report to your designated areas and prepare yourself for dispersal, as well as battle. We will free our brothers from unwilling slavery!"
A positive, roaring reply came from those in the cafeteria, and moving once again commenced, traffic now furiously channeling towards the door. Immediately, Mitsuko joined the crowds, able to push her way through, leaving Yadira behind. It was probable she needed to get to her post more than anyone there, besides perhaps those that were stationed in the front line with her. It hadn't surprised her that she had been shoved to the front of the line-those that were the strongest fighters were usually in the front line, because they would be able to last the longest at the head of the battle. Behind them were usually useless newbies who mostly hid behind the experienced ones. And Mitsuko, unlike the others, was not scrambling to get weapons-no, the body that Krishna had granted her was a weapon enough.
Getting to the launching pad, she found herself surrounded by many familiar robots, ones that she had battled with before. She had never gotten particularly close with any of them, and found it better that way- then, if one of them got injured or destroyed, she wouldn't have the obligation to mourn over them, or feel a deep heaviness in her heart. She didn't say hello to a single one of them as she squeezed into their ranks, onto the release platform-and likewise, none of them said hello to her.
Just as soon as she had stepped foot on the crammed platform, it jerked to life, descending downwards rapidly. In mere seconds, it came to a stiff halt, the other side of the elevator now open, letting natural light stream in. The robots dispersed from the crowded elevator and quickly got into formation, knowing it instinctively, as they had done it so many times before. They walked forward in formation, the robot in the front, a Jetsam, beginning to call off their orders into the air, as well as start a 'motivational' chant among the company, all contributing their voices automatically. Mitsuko, however, declined from singing-it was unnecessary excess in the beginning of a battle.
Before them loomed the great city of Sakhmet, the remains of its extravagant castle reaching into the sky, like broken clay fingers. It was much like the area that Mitsuko had originally been deactivated in, filled with dust-but no, it was not dust, but sand, catching into her exposed body parts, making it difficult to move. It certainly didn't help that her body's 'expiration date' was approaching. She grunted against it and kept going, advancing forward with the rest of her company.
But no-there was something wrong about the city through the sand, billowing clouds of an oncoming sandstorm beginning to pick up. Something stirred within Mitsuko that made her hesitate at the advance, making her suspicious of the city that they had so quickly arrived upon. Holograms, or any technology, was not sharp enough at that time to create the illusion of an entire city awaiting before the transport-but perhaps something else was, of a more mystical sort.
"No," whispered Mitsuko, the revelation coming to her like a brick to the face. Ahead of them was no city at all. "It's not Sakhmet.it's." The word came to her slowly, like a flower's gradual bloom. It confused her at first, though-what business did they have creating such a mirage in the middle of the desert? ".faeries."
As soon as the words had left her mouth, the city of Sakhmet disappeared before the robot's eyes, leaving the majority of the company of robots dazed and bamboozled, a city vanishing before their eyes. In its place floated at least a fleet of light faeries, among other sorts, holding staffs of magic before their perfect bodies, seeming drastically out of place in the beaten and fallen world. Above them all floated one that looked different from their conformist ranks. With long, purple hair, a golden tiara and elegant silk dress, the color matching her hair, it was obvious that she was a faerie of importance. She looked vaguely familiar, from a past life, but Mitsuko could not put a name to a face. However, most of the robots were courteous enough to shout out her name, as well as a few choice words added as suffixes or prefixes.
"Fyora!"
The faerie Fyora did not look triumphant, or cocky-she looked tired, but spoke to her fellow faeries in an even tone, giving them orders. For beings that were not supposed to suffer the effects of aging, her complexion made her look terribly elderly. "My sisters, our orders are from Tahora herself-we must destroy this unfortunate company of robots. Make it quick, sisters; all deserve painless deactivation."
And within moments, the faeries were upon them, sweeping down on the fleet of robots, many now behind Mitsuko's company, like so many birds of prey, their talons great magical staffs, able to diminish a robot to scrap metal in mere seconds. Their numbers seemed to be halved in seconds, the faeries making quick work, able to send out multiple destruction spells at a time. Mitsuko watched them whiz above her like angels of death. One of their flaming asteroids found its way towards the Shoyru. Instinctively, she jumped out of the way just before it slammed into the ground where she had been standing, leaving a black scar in the ground.
She could feel the programming working, charging up in her mind, flowing through her body. And she accepted it, as always, letting it take control of her body, allowing an unseen entity access to her body for just a while, sacrificing control for unbridled strength and ability.
And once again, Mitsuko found herself right at home-a strange, foreign home, among savages and beasts, but it suited her.
She was the predator, and they were the prey. That was all she needed to know.