Also, just to note, switching over to third person from now on.
Chapter 22: Building Plans (Of the Bodily Variety)
Trent sighed as he ambled through the camp in the mid-afternoon, his mind clouded as he thought on all the things that had happened since the beginning of the campaign. From the ship ride in the dead of night to the initial assault. The later combined attack and to the whole shouting match with Luquier that led to the current situation.
They'd be going after Amon soon enough, and that filled him with dread. The Demon Marquis might have looked something along the lines of a naked Christmas tree, but there was no lie that he was likely able to turn the man in the Cyberoid into a stain on the ground. Amon wasn't one of the few vying for single Lord of the Dark Irregulars by reputation alone.
With an almost lethargic move, the Cyberoid swept a hand through his hair as a breeze cradled his body, grimacing against the weather. He liked cold weather, but it honestly was annoying when not in the mood for it. But hopefully, when they got out of the mountains it would start warming up more like Dark Zone was supposed to be. Then again, Blackmore hated the heat with an ironically burning passion.
The various Shadow Paladins around the camp watched him warily from the corner of their eyes as he made his way to the corner of the camp set aside for the Link Joker (and Ashlei) members of the combined forces. Blackmore supposed that it made sense that they'd be wary, given their prior experience with Freezeray Dragon.
Dusting off his coat, the Яogue ducked into the tent set aside for him, the Colony Maker, and the Gravity Ball Dragon. The fabric was designed to let enough light in during the day that they wouldn't need lamps, but it could both breathe and wasn't so thin that they would freeze in the night. He could tell the owner of each section at a glance. The Colony Maker's section looked like a rainbow had exploded all over the everything with no attempt made at colour coordination or making the result less eye-searing. The Gravity Ball Dragon lacked a bed and had odd bits and pieces of other Link Joker units strewn about it, and was even at that moment pouring over a few pieces as if comparing them. As for Trent's own piece of privacy, it was mostly drab and unattended, simple and somewhat sloppily kept, the basic kit of a usual soldier's tent stuff set up.
He almost wanted to cry and shield his eyes from the sight of the Colony Maker's section, but settled for grimacing. Trent heaved another sigh as his shoulders slumped, "So, what're you shitlords up to? Planning world domination?"
"I'm trying to catalogue the parts that I'd managed to scavenge from the battlefield that hadn't been damaged beyond our ability to repair, seeing as we need to see what's usable," came the Gravity Ball's reply, the Cyber Dragon not looking up from its work. "Not like any of the Craians would know what they were looking at, and we don't want them looking anyway."
"You say that like they won't expect us to share technologies with them after the war ends. Wouldn't it be better to figure out the best ones that can be given without a great impact?" Blackmore shot back.
"We can figure those out later," Gravity Ball dismissed with an eye-roll, and then muttered, "if it even still matters later." Then his voice rose again. "Better to have the ability to make multiple copies and to be sure it won't accidentally blow up first. And for that, we need our own production facilities, and for that we need our own land. And for that we need a Nation."
Trent blinked once, then twice, and finally a third time. "Are you seriously planning for us to homebrew a Nation? You do realize, that at best, we'll get a small island somewhere, right?"
"If we have to. I figured that you'd somehow either get honor-debted one way or the other into at least one of them. At minimum we're going to have offers from the United Sanctuary, Dragon Empire and Dark Zone… and those are just off of the Craians you've already brought into the Clan. The ability to use our technology without contract… It's a powerful motivator, even without any goodwill you gain."
"…you know, I never really thought about it like that," The man admitted, having more been focused on going home. "Guess I do have some responsibility to see that you guys have a home before I leave…"
"-Or that you'd be a continue to show your defective programming and owe someone Big time."
Blackmore blinked again. "Oi, the fuck are you saying? I'm careful enough about shit like that. S' the Orzhov in me. Also, the university student in me, student loans are horrifying."
The Gravity Ball Dragon slowly blinked before shaking his head, dismissing that statement as more insane ramblings. "Anyway, while you're here, I got a couple of documents for you. One's a design first principles thing for both you and the Egoling and I have a rough draft of my next form sketched out." It tilted it's head towards a stack of papers on a hastily erected table, the kind that could be stored with a miniscule profile and be set-up or taken down in under a minute.
Picking up one of the sheets, the man looked it over, taking in the numerous small notes dotting the page, as well as a few sketches of a slimmed down version of the Cyber Dragon. His eyes sort of glazed over as he flipped it over and took in the small dragon's work, but after a moment, he put it down and declared, "Well, I see no issues here."
He was honestly rather surprised that the Link Joker wasn't aiming to go for a Grade up or two, but hey, he could understand going slow and being careful considering that they were surrounded by Shadow Paladins. Then again, there was also the fact that Trent trusted the little thing less than the distance he could throw it.
Then he picked up one of the smaller stacks of paper, and the Gravity Ball Dragon set down the different parts he was looking at, as if waiting for something. Blackmore shuffled through it, taking in the various sketches and notes. Nodding to himself as he finished the sheaf, he put it down and picked up the other one, which garnered much the same reaction from him.
With a final nod, he declared, "Neat."
The dragon inhaled sharply, and then repeated questioningly, "Neat? NEAT?! I slaved away on those, and all you can say is 'neat'?!"
"I mean, I'll be honest, it's a lot of technobabble... Which, as you may have noted, I'm not big on," the displaced man admitted easily. "I was a humanities student, sue me."
The Cyber Dragon repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist. "I was expecting I'd have to walk you through all the magical diagramming," he replied curtly as if things were getting more dismal by the moment. "But I do need you to fill one of the forms out. I can't start designing the changes until you do." The high pitched tone just this side of civil.
Trent picked up one of the sheets that was laden with questions, and gave it a quick scan. "I have no idea what I would do with wings. So that's right off the list."
"Most organisms fly with them," the Dragon retorted. "You can do it with pure Magic, but we seem more… 'Natural' with them. It also gives good surface area for certain materials that can aid in ranged reflection or thrust vectoring, or as an energy gathering platform. Besides, it's also for the Egoling as well."
The man nodded, as he thought on it a bit but remarked, "I'll probably just go for the pure magic route of flight, if only because I can't help but feel that wings would get in the way of a lot of things." He looked over to the Colony Maker and asked, "You want wings?"
"I am already in the possession of wings, but due to their nature, I'm able to fold them into the interior of my chassis," she answered candidly, looking between two swathes of fabric in her hands, one sky blue and the other a rusty red. "Adding additional wings would compromise the others, and look silly."
"How would looking silly matter? All we needed for an answer was the fact that it would compromise your functions," the Gravity Ball all but snarled, exasperated by the amount of emotion and illogic happening around him. "Besides, I would like to know if you would want them removed if another priority function were to be compromised by their retention."
"What priority function would be compromised? I fulfill all my functions nominally, and the wings are pleasing aesthetically when I use them," the Colony Maker opined blandly, her eyes still locked on the fabric.
"The designs I'm drawing should be considered an upgrade to our current bodies, if only in moving them towards more general utility," Gravity Ball Dragon replied with a sigh. "As such, I've put the option of adding functions you do not currently perform in the questions, and any function that you rate higher than the wings would cause us to reevaluate the body schematic."
"I do not believe that anything other than general augmentations would be necessary at the current time, and it is also important to note that we're currently under heavy scrutiny from our nominal allies," she replied, setting down the swathes of fabric to give the Gravity Ball a blank look. "To simply betray their trust so brazenly would not be an ideal move."
"We won't be building them any time soon, but better to have a design planned out for when we can than to be unable to utilize those future facilities for as long as it takes to determine what we will need. I might not be as dead set on efficiency as Nebula Lord Dragon, but I can still appreciate it."
Trent listened to the small rant, and simply replied with, "So, you're planning all this out, while making a lot of assumptions of how things are going to go? I mean, if you feel it's necessary, go nuts but I'll warn you, I'm pretty damn wishy-washy."
"Are you serious? Are you actually, serious? Do you not see the strategic necessity of these actions?" The Cyber Dragon questioned, claws gripping at the table and puncturing through the cheap material.
The Canadian shrugged, "Dude, we have so many unknowns on our end that trying to plan for anything outside of the inevitable seems like a risky thing to do. Besides, I'll probably just aim for the vaunted role of 'Muscle Wizard' or something along those lines. Nothing too crazy."
"Your current fighting style seems more to be 'Turndown Dragon, but as a Grade 2' and given your insistence on eating Locks I know I'm going to have to teach you the right way to deal with them. That means I can instantly plan on your next body having organs to create and manipulate Lock. I can also guess that you're still going to do what you already are, even though it's near crippled you. So, if I can get a Turndown Dragon's Void Circuitry, that will be wonderful. If not, I'll have to jury-rig it. Also because you've near crippled yourself I wouldn't be too surprised if we were soon given access to somewhere that these plans could be put into use."
"Fair enough, I guess," Trent admitted, weathering the small dragon's rant with the practiced air of a man who had a somewhat overbearing mother. "But really, dude, just breath deep and seek some peace, we've got to deal with this campaign before we actually have the resource to change anything."
"That's what you are here for," the Gravity Ball Dragon waved off. "The next meeting will decide the plan of attack on the primary objective, and then we're going to be sent off to the next place. There are more Яeverse out there and the United Sanctuary and the Shadow Paladins have neither the time nor patience to hunt down them all. We'll be handed around like used party favors. So yeah… I'm looking to the nearly immediate future. That's my job in trying to keep your malfunctioning self alive."
"I see, thank you for that, I suppose," Trent muttered, scratching at his cheek. "As for the whole being passed around… Well, we'll see how Ezel plans to have things go. Ruddy Deus ex Lion lad…"
The Gravity Ball Dragon stared at him. "I don't believe it," he muttered with a dawning horror. "We actually agree on something!" The Cyber Dragon's body then began to twitch and convulse.
The Canuck shrugged, a wry twist on his lips as he replied, "It'll happen on occasion, might want to get used to it, you little trash bandit."
He then held up a finger, but seriously, "Ezel's some hot bullshit."
"What is… 'Bullshit'?" the Colony Maker asked. "As Ezel is compared most often to a Lion, the change in animal comparison is strange."
"'S a euphemism, sweety, it means that he's ridiculous in a manner that I don't appreciate in the least." Trent explained casually, offering a small smile to the poor confused robot. "Also, it's a curse. Cursing helps some people feel good inside."
The gynoid picked up the swathes that she'd put down before and nodded, "No wonder you cursed so much during our travels, given how troubled you seemed."
"The support means so much to me, it really does," the Canadian remarked, wondering just how much he'd corrupt the robot before all was said and done.
