And so it's Day 3 for Draco. Anyway, why isn't anyone else reading my fanfic? I appreciate you Lilikoifish for reading my story. Well yeah, is there anything wrong with my title, the summary, or the story itself? I need help here! Maybe it's because I'm not advertising it enough. Gah...

Disclaimer

I do not own Phantasy Star Online whatsoever. Sega, Nintendo, and all those good companies do. However, I hope I become part of their family someday. Yush yush! Supah awesome video game programmer/designer JapanEyedPinoy.

Anyway, on to day 3!

Day 3: Optimism

"Wow! This place is beautiful."

"Eh? Whatever."

"The nature, the fresh air. I wish we came here sooner."

"You pansy! Snap out of it! Remember our mission?"

"Yeah, yeah."

What mission? What's going on?

"RISE AND SHINE, DRACO!"

"GAAAAAHHH! I told you to never do that!" I shouted with a start once again.

"Oh! I'm sorry," Doc said apologetically.

"Sure..." I glared.

"Truly! I am! I'm just excited to see how you'll fare with my next set of tests."

"Keep up the morning rituals and see if I survive before your tests," I replied with irritation. Nevertheless, I'm still stoked for the next round of fights.

"But before we begin, I did notice you enjoyed the fight simulations yesterday. Since that's the case, we'll put that off a little later for today."

"AW! Why?"

"Remember?"

"Oh. Yeah… Please don't remind me."

"Don't worry! Look at it this way: it's a treat for all the hard work you've done. That is, if you've done an adequate job with the chores."

"Ugh… okaaaaay… Where do I start?"

"You can start by cleaning all the rooms in this house."

"You can't be serious!"

"Well, Elenor doesn't have a problem with it."

"Oh. Yeah. Right. Ugh… okay, where do I get the equipment?"

"It's down the hallway and the fourth door on your left. It should say cleaning equipment on the door."

I dragged my feet down the long hallway to the cleaning equipment room. I could've won if I wanted to. It's that I could never hit Elenor. Why did she have to do something like that? To get out of doing chores? Payback for the two nights before?

"Hi, Draco!" It's Elenor.

"Oh. Elenor. Hi," I greeted dully.

"Need help with that?"

"No thank you," but she kept insisting. Eventually, I gave in. I know where this is going. "I appreciate the help, Elenor, but really, I'm fine by myself."

"No, it is okay. Since you are staying here for a while, I might as well pitch in with the housework. I'm sure you would like some company." Then she imitated me a couple of nights ago. We had a few laughs, but then I had to get serious with the cleaning. If I'm ever going to finish cleaning the whole lab on time, I have to work double hard.

"You know, you don't have to help me. You won the duel, remember?"

"I know. But I just thought you need help, considering how big this place is."

"Fine, do what you want, but make sure you don't slow me down. I wanna spar soon."

"Okay. You take the left rooms while I take the right."

"Sounds good, but let's not make a race out of it and the loser does something. I'm already in a bound as it is."

"Okay. But then again, you brought up the idea," she replied with a chuckle.

"Oh. Yeah…" I walked all the way to the other end of the hallway with the cleaning equipment. At least I get a chance to explore this place. Which reminds me, I wonder what is with my visions?

The sign, on the first door I went to, read Office. I opened the door, entered the dark room, and shut the door behind me. I wasn't prepared for what I was going to see next. I switched on the light and I saw an enormous room filled with what looked like shelves of books. I didn't know books still existed. Most data and stories are stored in disks. In the center of the half-circle of shelves full of books is Dr. Montague's desk. I walked towards the huge library in awe then realized that I'm going to clean this big room. I hope all the other rooms aren't like this.

I was halfway done mopping the floor when Elenor came in.

"I'm done! Draco? What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You know, there's a switch in every room that releases the cleaning bots."

You… can't… be… serious…

"Wha—why—ugh… OOOOH! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew."

"Really…?"

"Truly! I did!"

"Then why did Dr. Mo— Dr. Montague!" I began to fume.

"It seems that the doctor has a sense of humor after all."

"Grr!"

"It is a pain to watch these little guys. At first, they look cute running around cleaning. Then, they get annoying."

"Ugh… okay… show me where the switch is." She pushed a button by the door. "Oh. Thanks." Little robots entered through little openings on the walls. Everywhere you see, cleaning bots. They cleaned the ceilings, the floor, and even the shelves. The bots handled the books with lots of care, which is a good thing considering they are now obsolete and irreplaceable. Who knows what the doctor would do if any of them are destroyed?

"Are you wondering why we have to watch them?" she asked.

"Now that you mention it, yeah."

"Wait for a moment. Something is bound to happen."

What she meant by that, I soon found out. One of the bots hovered over to an unclean portion of the room, but another came out of nowhere and cleaned it before it did. Apparently, it got angry because it reared to bump the one that took its spot. Bot 1, the mad one, started to bump Bot 2 furiously in the back. Bot 2 turned around and attempted to grab Bot 1 with its claws, but it backed up so it missed. All the other bots stopped their work and watched the two of them fight. Bot 1 reared up again for another bump, but Bot 2 charged after it at full speed and caught Bot 1. It picked it up and smashed it repeatedly on the floor, sending pieces flying everywhere. The winner is Bot 2! After that, all the bots continued cleaning. Bot 1's remains were swept away.

"That is nothing. Just wait until all of them get involved in the tangle," she said with disgust. "It is also why we need the cleaning equipment. It is a back up in case all the cleaning bots in a room are destroyed. Now, robots have a mind of their own, which is why we can't program them to work without emotion easily. They found it efficient to give us robots a mind of our own; move in our own will, if we want to."

"Oh, I see. So, we should be thankful that humans gave us that trait. I bet they went a long way to get here.

"Yes, they did."

"Mmm-hmm… Anyway, why didn't you release the bots in the room you activated me in?

"Take a good guess what happened."

"Oh. I see. So, there's no way to stop them if they all fight each other?"

"Actually, there is. Just press and hold the button I pushed by the door and all the bots should stop moving after a few seconds. After that, release the button and the bots should reboot their systems."

"Easy as that, eh?"

"Easy as that. But, it does not guarantee that they will not fight again."

"But, why didn't it work in the room?"

"It was my fault. Doctor needed me and I forgot to order them to stop cleaning."

"And between then and when you got back, they got into a brawl."

"Precisely."

"Anyway, thanks for showing me how to clean, but I wish you told me about this sooner." The bots already finished cleaning and returned to their little hole. Now for the next room!

"I will see you later, Draco," she said as we exited the room. "I have to see Dr. Montague."

"Okay. But please, no more schemes…" I sighed.

"Understood," she replied with a laugh. "Also, you need a password for the armory. Since I am sharing this info with you, it means that we trust you. Although we only knew each other for a short time, it seems that you are trustworthy enough."

"Oh. Thanks… I guess."

"The password is 216-1215-207."

"216-1215-207. Got it!"

I went one way; she went the other. I turned around to watch her as she disappeared through a warp pad. I wonder what is out there. I haven't left the house since I awoke. Oh well… I'll get the chance to see what's out there soon. But first, clean.

Next is the armory. What was the password again? 216-1215-207. There we go! The door opened and I am, again, not ready for what I am going to see. This guy is rich! Doc has every single weapon and armor imagined. Has he used all of these? Or is it more of a collection? Most likely, he never used some of these and he seems the kind who would use his technique powers (TP) rather than brute strength.

I heard that you have to focus your energy to any limb on your body then cry out a single word in order to use TP. Depending on the word, a certain attack will come out of the selected limb. Of course, you could use only that limb if you wanted to, otherwise use another one. It depends on the situation. Also, depending on the will of the user, that's how strong the technique will be. Some can say it as close as a whisper, but with passion and the results will still be just as devastating as how some would say it aloud. Anyone, except us androids, can use TP. Force classes have the ability to expand their TP, stronger than the Hunter and Ranger classes, however, it's rumored that there's someone out there who's skilled enough to be any one of them and they don't even have to say the technique. I envy that person; let alone, all humans and newmen. But there's one thing that's bugging me after thinking of all this, how is it that I know these things? Anyhow, I need to get to work. My appointment awaits me.

I pressed the button and out came the bots again; hovering noises, whirring, and buzzing. The button felt a little odd. Oh well.

I stood by the door and watched the cleaning bots do their thing and hoped that none of them decide to start a free-for-all. Again, two start to fight. One of the sanitizer bots sprayed a vacuum bot by accident and, of course, the vacuum bot got mad and chased the sanitizer bot all over the place. The sanitizer bot bumped into a claw bot and the claw bot ends up mixing in the tangle. After that, a huge chain reaction! All the bots ended up fighting. Pieces are flying everywhere. I ran to the button to reboot the bots and do you think that's all? NOPE! All the bots didn't respond to the command and kept on fighting. I tried over and over again, but still no answer.

"CRAP! WHY WON'T YOU GUYS STOP!" I yelled in horror. I got to do something, but what? Then, few of the bots thought they'd want to bring the fight outside.

"Oh, no you don't!" I ran in front of the door to prevent them from leaving the room. Unfortunately, that didn't work. They just hovered under me and continued their battle outside. "Damn… THAT'S IT! YOU GUYS ARE ASKING FOR IT!"

I grabbed a buster and activated it. All the bots, including the ones outside, turned their attentions towards me. I know this won't end well. After a short stand off, they all charged at me. I swiped a few of them with the buster I picked up, then they all got organized and charged in groups. It's hard to kill these little devils because they're so small and I have to bend over to exterminate them. One of them jumped at me and attempted to grab my face with its tiny suction. I ducked in time and it crashed into the wall with a suck, but that was just a mere distraction because another bot managed to clamp onto my legs with its claws and it hurts like hell!

"ARGH! You… guys… are… DEAD!"

Then I thrashed all over the place, knocking bots and shelved merchandise all over the floor. A bolt of light zipped passed my head. What the hell is that? Oh shoot… One of the sanitizer bots has a handgun in its little trigger and shot at me, at the same time spraying sanitizer fluid at me. Mmm… Lemony fresh…

"This seriously won't end well," I said to myself in dismay.

I ran all over the large armory trying to destroy every single cleaning bot while trying to shake off the dangerous bot with the gun. In the end, all that's left is the dangerous sanitizer bot. I slipped on some sanitizing fluid and dropped my buster. Yup! I'm screwed! It drew closer and I crawled backwards in fear. This is the worst way to go. Too bad Elenor and Dr. Montague aren't here to help me. There is one chance to get away from this situation: pick up something and throw it at the evil bot. I looked around frantically and found a piece of a cleaning bot. It's hard to tell what kind it is. I picked it up and chucked it at the bot with all my might. Did I get it? Did I get it? Unfortunately, I missed. I felt for something on my chest, but there isn't anything again. A shot fired.

"ARGH!"

"Lucky we came by." It's Dr. Montague! He shot the bot with a gun that has a suppressor and in his other hand is a staff that has a fan-looking tip. He looked somewhat like a priest with goggles.

"Just in time, too!" I gasped in a great relief.

"HA HA HA HA! Getting overrun by a little cleaning bot!"

"I would like to see how you'd handle it," I retorted.

"Ha ha ha… Phew! Anyway, we had to come back for two reasons. We had difficulties with our quest and Elenor forgot to tell you that the reboot command for this room doesn't work too well. There's a specific way to push it."

I heaved a sigh, "Elenor… I told you, no more schemes."

"I did not mean to put you through such a predicament this time," she replied sincerely.

"'This time?'"

"Yes," she said with a smile.

"Why you…" I chased after her, but it wasn't out of anger. She began to laugh. "I'm gonna get you!"

Then Doc notified, "And by the way Draco, you still have to clean this mess."

"WHA…? Can't you just send some cleaner bots?"

"Nope! The bots get attached to the room they clean in, so they don't leave the room." I wish he'd stop smiling at times like this.

"Fine… I'll get the mop." I dragged my feet across the floor to get the cleaning equipment.

It took me the rest of the day to clean at least half of the huge armory. I gave up and agreed to clean the rest tomorrow. It's too bad I couldn't train today.

I walked with Elenor to her room.

"Relax, Draco," Elenor said.

"Easy for you to say," I replied dully.

"Be patient. You will get the chance to train again."

I scoffed and said dully, "If more stuff pop up, I'll never get the chance to."

"Do not think that way! Keep it up and you will sulk in your despair and cause yourself more distress. Be more optimistic."

"I don't know… I guess that isn't programmed in me yet." I let off a short chuckle.

"That is the spirit! That is not hard."

"Thanks."

"Oh? For what?"

"For cheering me up, even if it's your fault I'm in this pickle."

"Really? I wonder who it was who thought of the wager in the first place?"

"Oh…"

Then, we both laughed as we entered Elenor's room. I hope there's nothing that'll go wrong tomorrow. Damn cleaner bots….

Gyah... So I will now advertise my story on gaiaonline. That's pretty much the only way I can spread the word. Anyway, catch y'all on the flipside (whoever "y'all" may be). See ya on Day 4!