Doctor Anne Savita Boonchuy was not stupid.
The fact that she had graduated from college, gotten a PhD and ran the Amphibian department at the Long Beach aquarium of the pacific should have been enough to prove that.
However, that was only in her field of study.
Here in the middle of a robotics fair Anne had no idea what anyone was talking about.
She'd admit the robots looked cool, and it was also nice to appreciate them when they weren't trying to kill her and everyone she loved.
The problem was that Polly was more interested in the robots, and Jess and Ally than her.
Anne's relationship to Jess and Ally was strange, the two women were more acquaintances than close friends. The very next time she saw them was when they offered their services in trying to get Anne back to Amphibia, there was also the anniversary parties there were times they would talk about how Polly was probably doing, she enjoyed seeing them light up at the idea of Polly leading some sort of industrial revolution.
She had been subscribed to their channel, embarrassing though she hadn't watched any of their videos, or even remembered seeing any recently.
Despite that she still felt jealous how Polly seemed to prefer their company.
"What do you think Anne?" asked Jess.
Shoot they were trying to talk to her, "About what?" she said hoping to not appear stupid.
"The singularity, what form do you think it's going to take?"
Blinking Anne knew she needed to think of some sort of answer, to avoid looking stupid.
"Um, well, It's probably going to be one thing?"
Anne cringed as the piteous looked from the two older women made her feel like the idiot, the self-conscious teenager she was briefly returned.
"Yeah, Sorry," she apologized, "I wasn't paying attention."
The singularity Anne," said Polly, "The hypothetical point where Technology will surpass biological life to a point where there's no going back."
"Ooohhhh," said Anne nodding, if she pretended to understand then maybe they'd buy it.
"You still have-"
"I have no idea what you mean."
She saw Polly facepalm, which made her feel like a bigger idiot.
"Remember in the Eradicator movies? The machine gets so powerful it destroys the world?
Anne nodded, the image of a leather clad robot with a large gun entered Anne's mind, "Yeah?"
"Well, basically that."
"So it's a bad thing then?"
"Not particularly." said Ally.
"It could also be used to make things better, to improve humanity." added, Jess.
"We don't see that movie." said Anne jokingly.
"Sadly, but think of it eventually an A.I. may evolve beyond what our human-
"Or Amphibian." interrupted Polly
"-minds can comprehend."
Anne nodded somewhat understanding, "So basically Frobo or Panda-tron may get so smart that they'd be beyond anything we can understand?"
The three roboticists nodded, "Yep."
"Wow," said Anne, "I really should stop ignoring Frobo."
"Speaking of that, where is he and Panda-tron?"
The three looked around for a second, there were dozens of robots around them but no sign of the two robots, they would have stuck out, Polly had explained to Anne earlier that war robots like Frobo were mostly locked away, and no one in Amphibia had heard of a panda before, so even at this fair they'd stick out.
"Eh, they'll be fine," said Polly casually, let the robots have fun hanging out, I've got some stalls to visit come on guys I want to check out the merchandise stalls."
With that Polly and the I.T gals ran off, Anne sighed following slowly, today was not looking so bright after all.
…
Max cheered at the mallet attached to Sir Metalton, smashed into the Nurse Wrench V3.0, the smaller robot had a blade attached to her, but she was destroyed in just one hit.
The arena wasn't much, just a crowd of mostly male Amphibians watching as the robots fought, many would think that this was a display of barbarity.
Other however just loved seeing things get smashed, and besides this year the lack of Polly Plantars participation meant there would be less mindless desaturation overall.
Lucian groaned as the robot he supported lay there in a pile of scrap.
"Dang it," the toad boy muttered under his breath, he's brief hopes the smaller robot could rise to victory dashed.
Marcy watched this amused, she'd be the first to admit that this vicious displace was rather fun, Nicole was cheering alongside Max.
The four children were sitting at the front of the crowd, they had been watching the qualifying matches, enjoying all of it.
"Again Ladies and gentlemen last year's winner Sir Metalton has won again," said Duckweed grinning, the newt would never be called one to enjoy mindless violence but let it be never said he didn't know how to not work a crowd.
"Man, I'd love to enter one of these," said Lucian.
"Why don't you?" asked Marcy, "Polly would probably help you build a robot that would take all the competition down."
"Well firstly Polly is banned from entering the contests remember? The tears, the lawsuits, the swearing, I didn't know there were that many swears starting with Q" said Lucian still looking at the floor dejected.
A small box-like robot rushed up to the remains of the losing robot, and swept it up with a small dustpan, such a helpful task earned it a glare from Nicole, "Stupid metal box," she muttered.
"You want to pick up garbage?" said Marcy giving her a smile.
"It starts with garbage," muttered an annoyed Nicole, "But soon they'll be cooking our food, and then doing all the farming and the ruling us with an iron fist."
Max looked at her, a smile on his face, "That might be a bit of an overreaction."
"Besides," added Lucian, "Weren't you just working for Polly a few days ago?"
Nicole looked down in the peak of stroppiness, "That was before I realized just how the robots could replace us."
Marcy gave her a reassuring smile, "They'll never replace you Marcy, you just need to accept that your menial tasks are just not that important."
"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" replied Nicole.
"Yeah, I sounded stupid the moment I said it, but maybe you could try to aim higher?"
The next two robots entered the area, one was a triangle wedge, the other one had a metal sheet attached to two masts, Max thought it looked like a type of forklift.
"So is there are prizes for this?" said Max.
Lucian nodded, "Five thousand gold pieces."
Marcy sighed, "You had to tell him."
"Tell him what Mar?" said Lucian.
"Tell him-Mar?"
"Yeah, you know, They called Marcy Mar-Mar and you can be Mar."
Marcy looked at Lucian and smiled, "Okay, Lucy."
Lucian's eyes widened, "You said you'd never use that nickname again," he said terrified.
The frog girl nodded, "Yes but if Mar going to be my nickname and if you suggest a bad idea to Max I'm going to change that so fast."
"What bad ideas?"
"You know he's going to try and use us to get money."
"Max wouldn't do that."
"Yeah, by the way Lucian can I borrow five coppers?"
Lucian was about to reach into his pocket when Marcy slapped his hand away.
"No, We will not be doing whatever plan Max has in the slight-"
"Well hello. Marcy."
The voice that just spoke had a smiley feel to it, like a used car salesman mated with a Music executive to make the most dishonest politician in the world.
The look on Marcy changed to one of upmost dread, "Hello, Montgomery," she said in a tiny voice
Max saw the newt standing behind him, and was instantly reminded of every single wealthy bully he had ever seen in a movie mixed into a blender.
He was wearing a bright green shirt and a purple jacket, with tan shorts, his blonde hair was slicked back, ('Where did they get hair gel?' Max thought.)
There was also that punchable smile on his face.
"Looks like you and Lucser had made a new friend,"
"I hate that nickname more." whispered Lucian.
"I'm sorry," said Max instantly having this slicked back jerk, "Who is this"
"I-" said the newt in the snootiest voice imaginable, "am Montgomery Hightower, Heir to the Hightower fortune and Marcy's future fiancée."
"I'm not your fiancée" grumbled Marcy.
"Oh please, who else, Lucian? You're better off with a high standing newt."
"Hey," said Nicole turning around, "He's better than you,"
"Really," said Montgomery with a superior smile on his face, "and you are?"
"A newt not as high standing, but I'll be bigger one day but right now I'm not afraid to say you're a jackass." There was a smile on Nicole face the same kid would have when using a what they thought was a swear.
Montgomery sneered and shoved the small Eft, she was about to land on the floor when Max caught her with one hand.
"Well, looks like the human does something at least."
There were a hundred things Max could have done right now, he could have punched him in the face, he could have growled like a monster.
Instead, he just sat there with a smile on his face
"I'm sorry," he said with a gentle voice, "Are you here for something?"
Montgomery snorted, "Of course I'm here to tell Marcy that I shall be taking part in the robot fights."
Marcy continued to look on the floor, Max could just see tears coming from her eyes, oddly he fought back the urge to clench his fists.
"And?" asked Max.
"And when I do, I was hoping she would join me at the winners circle, I need my girl by my side."
Max smiled, "Sounds right, that's if you win right?"
"I will win," said Montgomery, annoyed that this monster dared to question him.
Max smiled continued to be pleasant, "Well I think you might have a problem, because our robot is going to destroy yours."
The newt just looked at him before laughing, "You have a robot, it's probably trash."
"Yeah, you don't know much about earth, do you?" said Max his smile morphing into a sneer, "We build robots daily, to beat up self entitled little runts like you."
Montgomery glared at him his teeth bared "You listen-"
Max stood up and glared at him, despite being the smallest of the humans Max was still pretty terrifying, from the height to the predatory eyes, any confidence vanished the newt had vanished now seeing a human at full height.
"Well," said Max, a wicked grim appearing on his face, "I'm listening."
The newt just stood there terrified for a second before he turned and walked away quite quickly.
"That was awesome," said Lucian.
"Can you really build a robot?" Said Nicole.
"Nope, But I have a plan," said Max, "Does he go after you guys like that often?"
"Montgomery is the son of the richest new families in the world." Said Nicole bitterly, "They rebuilt half of Amphibia after the war.
"He's a self-entitled jerk," said Lucian, who had moved over to Marcy, holding her hand.
"I'm guessing he's been doing this for a while?"
Marcy nodded quietly, Max had to be honest he'd take goodie two shoes Marcy over sad sack Marcy.
"He's had a crush on her for years, and whenever she says no she sends his friends to beat up Lucian," said Nicole.
"I almost had them last time, before they hit me with that club."
"No you got beat up, and then they hit you with the club because they thought it was funny." replied Nicole.
Max looked at the three Amphibians, they looked pathetic, a smile appeared on his lips.
"Okay, are you three ready to humiliate him?"
"How?" Asked Marcy, her head darting upwards, seemingly out of her moping mood.
"We win via options that are not stated in the rule," replied Max smiling.
"You mean cheat?" replied Marcy.
"Yes," said Max nodding, "Now I know-"
"I'm in," said Marcy.
Max looked at her eyes widened, "What?"
"If I can take Montgomery down a peg I'm in," said the frog girl sternly.
Max smiled, he knew she had some limits, he turned to Lucian who was smiling back and Nicole looking quizzically.
"I don't know, it's still dangerous." said the eft.
"I can guarantee you can destroy one of those cleaning robots.
"Deal"
"Okay, We're going to need some parts, do they have scrap metal around here?"
"Yeah," replied Lucian.
"Big enough to fit an Eft in?"
"I'm liking this plan," said Nicole smiling.
…
Sprig smiled as he watched the four friends run off, they seemed to be doing fine, part of him knew he should have interfered when that Newt boy showed up, but he saw how Max got involved in the end.
He started to follow them from a distance, he knew if they saw him again they'd think it was creepy, but he needed to be sure Max would be okay, and he'd keep his friendship with them alive, so that when they were separated he'd still remembered the good times and never focus on the bad ones at all.
Sprig smiled this was a nice thing he was doing for Max,
As he was passing an alleyway however he was surprised that a pair of hands wrapped themselves around his stomach and mouth.
"Sprig Plantar," said a gravely voice.
Sprigs eyes widened in fear.
"Ambush." whispered the voice
The hands released him, he turned and what he saw caused his heart to flutter, his ambusher was a yellow frog with red hair, blank plants and a red shirt.
"IVY!"
"Good to see that you haven't forgotten me over the last few days."
Sprig nodded, trying to fight off the guilt. Truth is his mind had been on other things. The return of his best friend had kind of overtaken anything else.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, just spending time with Anne and well looking after her young human friend."
Ivy nodded, "Sure, I get that, so you want to spend the day at the fair?"
Sprig turned around and looked at Max and his friends as they passed around a corner, he could keep an eye on them, he just needed to be cleaver.
"Sure, though I don't think there's that much romance in robotics fair."
Ivy smiled, "I just dragged you into an alley, I think we both know my ideas of romance are a lot different from the normal girls."
…
Anne had to be honest maybe coming here was a bad idea, On the plus side Polly seemed to be having fun with her friends.
During their walk through the fair Polly had dragged her across the place, usually she'd be fine with that, but now she was just confused, Here she was stuck in a convention with no idea what was going on.
What's worse was that Polly didn't even seem to care she was here. All Polly could do was talk to Jess and Ally about robots.
Anne looked at her watch, they had two more hours at this thing before the spa maybe she could wait it out.
However, Polly was currently standing with the two older women looking at some new robotics parts.
Looking behind her Anne sighed, she noticed a snack kiosk across the fair, deciding to drown her sorrows in amphibian popcorn.
She was halfway across the market a voice rang out.
"ANNE?"
The herpetologist turned to see a strange sight, There was a newt rushing towards her, she had blue skin, and blonde hair, on top of her head was a bugball cap with the words 'Amazonian deliveries' written on it, strangely enough they were wearing armor, a strange thing to see a newt wear, however the surprising thing was the fact that the newt was around her height.
There were few Amphibians that had towered over when she was younger, but this newt was the size of a human adult, in her arms was a small crate.
The identity of this newt however was answered the moment she saw he cross shaped scar on their face.
Instantly she was brought back to a mall in Newtopia, a small little newt, one who had given her a gift
"Pearl?"
The newt tackled her into a hug.
"It is you, How are you?"
Anne laughed, glad to see someone was happy to see here today.
"I'm fine, you've grown a lot."
Pearl giggled, an action that somewhat contrasted with her armor, she released Anne from the hug. "I never got the chance to ask did your mom love the butterfly?"
Anne nodded, "She did, She still displays it at home." She didn't bother to mention that her dear departed Domino had spent the remaining years of his life trying to knock it down from its shelf.
"That great, and-" The newt looked behind Anne to the stall. "Is that Polly?"
Anne nodded, "Yeah, that's her."
"Oh good I got a delivery for her."
"You know Polly?"
"Yeah, she's always ordering parts from other roboticists."
"Well let's get the order to her,"
Anne led the Newt towards the stall.
"Hey, Polly."
Polly looked up from the robotic arm she was looking at, "What is…" the works died as she saw the tall newt standing there, her eyes widened, "Oh, Pearl."
"Hey Polly, got something for you," the new detached a clipboard and pen from her belt.
Anne watched as Polly took the pen from the newt, "Thanks Prett– I mean Pearl."
Polly scribbled, on the paper, Anne looked at the signature she wrote, to her shock she saw a heart.
Something was going on here.
"So I guess you're at home in the middle of all this robotics stuff." said Pearl with a smile, that looked really cute.
"Oh, Yeah," said Polly sounding really nervous, "I just love all robot things, like the beeps and the boops and-um"
This was weird What force in the universe could turn Polly from the strong confident frog that she knew into his incoherent mess, the frog wasn't even looking at her face and–
That's when it hit Anne faster than a fly.
Polly Plantar had a crush.
Anne looked to the sky, expecting to see a red moon hurtling towards the planet.
Nothing
Surprised by the lack of an apocalypse this clearly was a sign of Anne struggled to keep herself calm.
She knew she needed to do something about this.
"So Polly, you and Pearl know each other?"
Polly nodded, "Oh yeah, I met her on the day she arrived in town eight years ago, She was like walking through town and confused, So I showed her around."
Pearl laughed, "I remember it more like you bumping into me and threatening my life."
Polly laughed awkwardly, Yeah, that sounds familiar,"
A flying robot flew next to Pearl, "Pearlie, We got another delivery," said a gruff voice from the other side.
"On it mom,"
As the fly flew away Pearl looked at the two Plantars apologetically, "Sorry, I need to go see you later."
The tall newt turned and ran off, Anne noticed Polly looking at the muscular newt ran off, she heard her sister's sigh.
"Sooo Polly, I finally found your type."
Polly turned to Anne with a stern look on her face,"Don't" she said with a serious tone in her voice.
"Don't, what?"
"Don't try and do what you did with Sprig and Ivy."
"Oh it wasn't that bad."
"We almost got eaten!"
"That describes a good two third of all our adventures."
"Anne, No," Said Polly.
The hepatologist sighed, "Okay Polly."
The frog nodded and walked back to the other two humans who were currently talking to a nerdy looking newt.
Anne turned and looked at a stall across the market, anonymous Robot messengers, A wicked smile appeared on her face, Polly said that she shouldn't interfere, but she didn't say anything about a robot.
…
Frobo had to be honest Panda-tron freaked him out.
Maybe it was the silent nature of the robot or the fact that he kept stopping to look at any robots around him, it just weirded him out, it didn't help that the onlookers that noticed the giant robot kept muttering of how impressive the robot was, and no one mention how awesome he was, he knew that most of the towns people and attendees had seen him before, but the lack of attention still got to him.
"Sooo, what's it like on earth, are there any more robots?"
"Nope." replied Panda-tron flatly, "Just me."
"Oh," said Frobo, "Well at least you get to explore L.A."
"Can't do that either," said Frobo annoyed, "I'm stuck in a garage, unable to leave."
Frobo felt a little bit embarrassed, "Well, Look at it like this, You're one of a kind."
"Yay," said the robot sarcastically.
All of a sudden there was a series of stomps coming towards, Frobo looked up to see a large robot rushing towards them, a frog was running behind it, screaming.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY RUN AWAY ROBOT."
Frobo was about to chase after it when Panda-tron ran towards it, despite his size the lager construction robot towered above him, Panda-tron collided with him and pushed back, the other robot slowed down. His legs however were still slowly moving.
"FROBO!" yelled Panda-tron, "KID UNDERNEATH FOOT!"
Just underneath the construction robot's foot was a small polliwog, in less than a second Frobo rushed towards the child, in seconds he reached the polliwog, he grabbed the kid and jumped out of the foot.
"EVERYONE, GET BACK."
Panda-tron pulled back his fist and slammed it into the bigger robot, ripping a hole through the steel plating.
The robot stood there for a second before wobbling, and then falling to the ground with a loud THUD.
Frobo put the kid down, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thank you mister Frobo." said the Polliwog before turning to the biggest robot, "Thank you big wobot."
"You're welcome," said Panda=tron some warmth in his voice, He was standing over the body of the robot, the frog who was chasing him looking at him impressed.
"Thank you, I don't know what went wrong with him, he's been glitchy recently, I told my bosses that we needed another few months, but it still malfunctions"
"It's fine," said Panda=tron who moved his hand towards the hole in the larger robot's chest, from his fingers cables snaked out, they entered the robot's chest and felt around.
"What are you doing?" asked the frog.
"Just fixing up those glitches, What exactly made it freak out?"
"Well I ask it to build construct a small hut but…"
"Ah, that it, just fixing it…there."
In a second the cables were out of the robot's chest, the large robot sat up and then stood up.
"All fixed hopefully no more rampages."
The frog looked at Panda-tron then the robot, "Um, return to the stage area."
The robot turned and slowly made its way to the stage, the frog turned back to Panda-tron and nodded, "Thanks buddy."
Frobo looked at the massive robot, maybe there was a hidden heart of gold in the robot's chest.
"Come on Tiny, I want to see if that robot still works," said Panda-tron.
The mechanical Plantar looked at him, "You said you just fixed it?"
"I know but… Just in case."
Not seeing any reason to disagree with him Frobo kept walking.
He never noticed Frobo eyes briefly flashed red, ahead of them the construction robot eyes flashed red as well.
"Connected," Panda-tron said out loud.
"What?"
Panda=tron looked down to see Frobo standing beside him.
"Um, We're now connected as best friends." said the Giant bear shaped robot.
"Oh," said Frobo, "Um I'm connected to you to buddy."
