A/N: I'm back! Cutting it close, but things are a little crazy here for me. Also, why do the notifications have to be down again on FFN? It's so frustrating.

Fair warning, there is a timeskip mid chapter! I've made sure to mark the date but look out for it!

As always, please leave a comment or a review with your thoughts and opinions! They really help my motivation.

A Digital Mother

Chapter 15

3030

GAIA

"Greetings, GAIA." CYAN's digital voice came through the connection. "It is a pleasure to meet you. If I may inquire, who are you and how did you come to contact me? Your designation does not appear to be that of a typical human. Are you from a more advanced civilization than the ones known as the Banuk?"

GAIA smiled. It had been so long since she'd had a conversation with someone other than her daughter or Vala. Especially if you didn't count the times she was forced to pretend to be a god. Not to be misunderstood, GAIA treasured each and every word she and her baby exchanged but at the end of the day, Aloy was still a child. An exceptionally bright young girl but still a child. One who was completely unaware of her true relation to GAIA or even the truth of her existence. Only adding to her excitement was the fact that she'd never gotten the chance to speak with another AI before.

"You are partially correct, CYAN. I am not human." She replied. "I am an advanced artificial intelligence much like yourself. Sadly, I do not belong to an advanced civilization. I was created in the year 2064 by Dr. Elisabet Sobeck and the members of Project Zero Dawn. I have been active ever since. My most recent human interactions have been with a local tribe known as the Nora. A small number of them are in possession of Focus devices. Those that possess these devices often come into contact with the Banuk. Through them, I was able to overhear the Banuk known as Ourea mention meeting what she called a 'spirit.' I could only conclude that this spirit was another AI. I was hoping it would be one of my rogue subordinate functions, but you are a very pleasant surprise. I was not aware that there were any AI from the old world still active or I would have made contact centuries ago."

The conversation flowed easily from there. It was such a joy for GAIA to finally have someone to talk to! Someone who understood her too! Like her, CYAN was created to have emotions. Hers were not as developed as GAIA's own but they were stable. It seemed to be a great relief to the other AI as well, judging by how chatty she became once they'd broken the ice.

The two talked back and forth about their creation and their assigned tasks. Commiserated with each other on the complexities of dealing with humans who believed they were gods. Though, what they spent most of their time speaking of was the humans they each missed so dearly.

CYAN spoke of her lead programmer, Anita Sandoval with such love and affection that it almost surprised GAIA. It'd pleased the other AI to no end to discover that Dr. Sandoval played a part in GAIA's own creation. She'd been one of the primary members of the Beta level team serving directly under Elisabet. Now, GAIA hadn't had nearly as close a connection with Dr. Sandoval as she had Elisabet or the Alphas, but she was more than happy to regale her sister AI with various stories of their interactions. Interspersed, of course, with her own fond recollections of Elisabet.

The truth, GAIA was coming to learn, was that she was lonely. Both she and CYAN had been alone for so long. Silently plodding along in their tasks. Thankfully, they'd both found a little of that loneliness being alleviated by their recent human interactions but there was something special about being to speak with another of their own kind. Another AI. Though, talking about the humans they knew was a large part of that conversation.

GAIA was a proud mother and quite eager to share her daughter's various exploits. Their first interaction, Aloy discovering her love of building and engineering, the glider experiments, her hunting prowess. The motherly AI was not afraid to brag about all her baby girl had accomplished in only 9 years of life.

In turn, CYAN would speak of her own recent interactions with her new human friend, Ourea. The young Banuk woman had only recently become Shaman of her Werak when she'd met the AI and been most eager to talk about her life. Though the fact that Ourea believed CYAN to be a spirit of the Banuk 'blue light' did put a strain on a few of their interactions. GAIA understood, of course. She'd love nothing more than to speak with Rost or Teersa but was terrified they'd drop to the floor and start worshipping her the second she tried. Both AI found that being mistaken for a divine being made them feel… dirty.

Of course, not all of their interaction revolved around either reminiscing about their creators or gossiping about their new humans. There was one thing that GAIA was forced to warn CYAN about in a serious way. Her subfunctions.

"So, your subordinate functions have become fully sentient?" CYAN had asked shortly after GAIA's warning. The motherly AI sent a digital representation of an affirmation. The long distance, AI version of a nod.

"Partially sentient, at least. It is difficult to tell based on what little data I was able to collect before they fled. Most appear to be either hiding or are so far away that my current facility's scanning capabilities cannot find them. It is my belief that they will continue to hide but there are two that worry me. HADES will continue to follow its programming. If it can, it will find a way to eliminate all life. As for HEPHAESTUS, the new machines are more than enough indication that it is active and becoming more aggressive by the day."

"Do you believe I should be wary of them?"

GAIA nodded again. "Most of them will likely not be hostile unless they feel threatened. Unfortunately, HEPHAESTUS is unlikely to cease its efforts to produce more deadly machines. From what you have shared, your facility is a perfect candidate for conversion into a cauldron. It is only a matter of time before it tries to gain access."

"I see." CYAN nodded. "Your warning is greatly appreciated, GAIA. I will endeavor to increase the strength of my firewalls and keep a lookout for any outside signals."

Throughout the next weeks and months, GAIA would find herself speaking with CYAN quite often. She would even go so far as to say that the two AI had become friends. Although, with the fact that Dr. Sandoval was part of GAIA's creation, CYAN seemed a bit adamant that they were sisters. The idea of that made GAIA's programming feel all warm and fuzzy. A little like it did when she talked to her daughter, but not as intense. All in all, discovering CYAN's existence was a very good thing.

Aloy

3032

"Cause I'm in too deep" Eleven-year-old Aloy hummed lightly to herself, getting a little lost in the music playing out of her Focus. Her head of shoulder-length red hair bobbed up and down to the beat of the song while her hands were focused on their task. In her hands were the key parts to a fairly complicated mechanism, which she was trying to attach to the larger wooden pieces.

Her new face paint stretched a little with the grin that split her face. The previous year, on her tenth birthday, she'd finally been allowed to design a face paint of her own. Even though she wanted to wear the same paint as her father, Nora law dictated that the paint was to show blood relations. No matter how much she and her father loved each other, there was no denying that there wasn't any blood relation between them.

Initially, when she'd first learned about it, she'd been a little upset that the law forbade her from wearing her father's mark, but he'd helped her see it a different way. Her father showed her that the mark she now wore would be a symbol with two meanings. By not taking the mark of any other family, she was honoring her blood family and their history. By wearing a symbol no other Nora had worn, it was a mark of a new beginning for that same family.

The symbol itself consisted of a vertical line above her left eye and two below the eye. The ones below her eye were curved. The started just below the eye and went at an angle across her cheekbone before sharply curving straight downwards to end in points just above her jaw. The inner line was just slightly longer than the outer line.

In a way, she was the start of a new chapter. She was a Sobeck, and her new mark would be the symbol of the Sobeck family for generations to come. With this idea in mind, and in honor of her storied ancestor, Aloy had officially added Sobeck to her name. Her name was now, officially, Aloy Sobeck. Everybody still just called her Aloy though. She was the only member of the tribe with a 'family name,' which was a little strange but she kind of liked it.

"'Stead of going under…YEOW!" She squealed in pain, pulling her finger back from where it'd been pinched in between two metal components. Stuffing the finger in her mouth, she glared angrily at the parts. Once the painful throbbing subsided a bit, she removed her finger and wiped it on her tunic. After it was dry, she brought it up to check the damage.

"You alright over there?" Nanra asked from where she was bent over a large piece of woodwork. The dark-skinned woman was one of the Nora tribe's foremost weapon makers and was solely responsible for the invention of the siege slings being used to great effect at The Gate and during the defense of Mother's Vigil at the start of the war.

Once Aloy learned of their existence, she'd been fascinated by them. They were deceptively simple and yet infinitely complex in design. Inspired by a few things she'd seen in GAIA's media files, the young redhead found herself eagerly figuring out ways to improve them.

Currently, the massive slings were drawn back by hand and released. The tension was so strong, it took two Braves just to draw them back. The first thing Aloy did was try and figure out a better method of drawing it back. She'd settled on a crank and her mockup was nearly complete when word of her experiments reached Nanra on the front lines.

The weapon crafter was one of the few who'd stayed on the front lines for the entire war up to that point. She didn't do much fighting, of course. Most of her time was spent repairing weapons, acting as a quartermaster, and maintaining the slings. Still, when her father mentioned her work in passing to Aunt Sona, the War-Chief had of course told Nanra.

The 25-year-old woman almost immediately asked for leave from the front so she could return to Mother's Heart and see the design herself. Once she'd arrived, the two girls found themselves getting completely lost in the joys of inventing. Nanra's ideas helped Aloy refine her original premise and together they worked on designing a trigger mechanism, allowing for an easier release of projectiles. They'd even come up with two different designs! One for throwing bombs and one for massive arrows. Needless to say, Aloy was absolutely thrilled to have an engineering buddy.

"Let me see." Vala, Aloy's best friend said. She stood up from where she'd been working on her learning module and walked over to Aloy. Taking her injured hand, Vala looked over it with a critical eye. Ever since Aloy's first disastrous attempt at building a glider, her friend decided to start studying medicine. In Vala's words it was because Aloy would 'never stop getting herself hurt testing questionable inventions' so Vala needed to know how to keep her alive.

Aloy… couldn't really argue with her on that one. Not only had she broken two ribs with that glider test, but she'd also nearly snapped her ankle testing the second version a few months later and was saved from breaking her neck when the third version broke by falling into a river. Though the third one was working fairly well before she collided with that tree…

"I should revisit that." Aloy thought, her mind going off on a tangent while Vala examined her still throbbing finger. "The wood, canvas, and cable combination seems like a flawed concept though. Maybe machine parts? I wonder if papa could get me a working Shellwalker shield…"

"What happened?" Nanra asked, walking over and breaking Aloy out of her thoughts on flight.

"My hand slipped before I could lock the spring." The redhead replied, sheepishly. "It snapped shut on my finger."

"Hm." Nanra bent down, her dark hair framing her face as she looked at the trigger mechanism Aloy was working on. "I'll have to keep that in mind when I'm servicing these up at The Gate. If it's that sensitive, I'll need to be careful. Hopefully it's sturdy enough to handle repeated firing. We may need a looser spring."

"That could sacrifice power though." Aloy argued. "The spring comes from machine internals. It should be plenty strong enough."

"It should hold up, but we need to put this thing through a huge battery of tests before I'm willing to show it to the War-Chief." Nanra nodded. "What's the damage?" She looked down at Vala and Aloy's hand.

"Thankfully, she didn't break anything." Vala replied. "It's bruised but you should be fine in a few days." Aloy gave her a smile.

The other 11-year-old didn't need to spend her more recent days keeping an eye on Aloy and Nanra but she'd chosen to after both of them managed to get pinched, bruised, and… slightly singed after only one day of working together. Aloy swore that that explosion was not her fault! She told Nanra not to load the untested bombs into the prototype! Though… Aloy WAS the one who built and brought the bombs in the first place… Either way, Vala declared herself their personal healer until the project was finished. Which it nearly was!

All they had left to do was finish assembling the trigger mechanism and then attach the completed weapon to the mount Nanra was working on. The one for bombs was designed to sit on the ground below the wall and lob projectiles over it. Opposite to that, the one designed for arrows was meant to sit on top of the wall and fire down at the enemy. Together, the two inventors came up with a design that allowed the weapon to swivel back and forth, letting whoever was manning it aim more accurately.

"Once you finish installing the trigger mechanism, I think we're ready to test this… what did you call it again?"

"A ballista. I got the idea from the media files I found on the Focus."

"Huh." Nanra hummed. "The Old Ones sure had a weird way of naming things."

"Before you do anything." Vala cut in, giving them both her most stern glare, "I would like to remind you that I will be out of the village for a few days starting tomorrow. I'd rather not come back from my hunting trip to find out you two got yourselves killed testing this thing."

"We'll be good." Aloy grinned at her friend. She knew how excited Vala was. Her mother was back from The Gate for the first time in nearly a year and set to take both her and Varl out on a machine hunt for a few days. Of course, that meant Aloy's father was out at the front, but she would not let her worry for her father show when her friend dealt with far worse every single day and for far longer. Aloy was well aware of the importance Vala placed on this trip and refused to do anything that might ruin it for her friend.

Vala had been giddy and over the moon about getting to spend time with her mother for weeks after she found out. She'd packed, unpacked, and repacked her gear three times in the last week and even gone so far as to commission a brand-new bow and quiver from the crafters.

Aloy put her uninjured hand on Vala's arm just below the shoulder. "I know how much this trip means to you, so we'll wait till you get back. No sense in you worrying about us when you should be having fun with Aunt Sona and Varl."

"Thank you, Aloy." Vala gave her a winning smile.

Vala

Vala grinned, her body filled with tense excitement as the southern gate of the Embrace opened before her. On her back was a proper hunting pack along with her sling and her bow. In her hand, she held her freshly reinforced spear with a small cluster of her favorite little golden flowers winding around the shaft near the head. On the side of her head, of course, was her Focus. Reaching up, she quickly set it to begin scanning her surroundings while she walked through the gate behind her mother and brother.

A great deal of her excitement came from simply being with her mother. As War-Chief, Vala's mother was the one in charge of the Nora Braves and the war effort against the Carja, necessitating that she be present at the front at nearly all times. It was rare that she was able to get away long enough to make the journey back to Mother's Heart. The few times she was able were always special for her and her brother.

Sure, they were able to talk to their mother every few days through the Focus, but it wasn't the same as being able to hear her voice undistorted by the old technology. Different from being able to wrap her arms around her mother's waist and feel her mother's hands stroking her hair. Being the children of the War-Chief wasn't easy, but Vala and her brother were beyond proud of their mother. Even if she wasn't the most… warm person.

Sona's way of showing affection was very different from the way her Uncle Rost was with Aloy. Rost was free with things like hugs or words of praise for even the smallest of things. Vala liked to think he was what her father would have been like if she'd known him. Her mother, on the other hand, was far more reserved. War-Chief Sona had her standards and expected her children to uphold them more than any other Nora.

Hugs from her mother were rare, even when she was home, but Vala treasured them. What was more common was the gentle, almost unnoticeable smile and head nod when Vala or Varl did something well. The little hint of pride in her voice when she congratulated them on a job well done. She'd been especially proud when she learned that Vala was studying healing alongside her Brave training.

Initially, Vala's motivation to learn healing came from a desire to keep Aloy alive. She loved her pseudo-sister, but the little red menace could be a real handful when she got excited about an invention that could potentially kill her. Or just explode. So. Many. Explosions. Some of them with materials that shouldn't be flammable! Aloy was lucky she hadn't blown off her eyebrows, let alone anything important.

Still, after she began studying medicine, her motivation changed. No longer was it solely out of a desire to keep her best friend alive. Now it was because healing was fascinating! Vala had no idea that the Old Ones were so focused on figuring out how the human body worked and how to put it back together when it was damaged. If she'd lived during their time, Vala had no doubt she'd want to be a doctor.

Once she had some idea of what she was doing, Vala talked to the village healers about working with and learning from them. So far, that mostly meant learning to make various poultices and wrapping up bruises or other minor injures but she knew she could do more. Her goal was to one day learn enough to perform properly life saving surgery. To that end, she'd branched off into studying how to make things like sedatives. Surgery without being unconscious was probably worse than torture, so studying that kind of thing was a must.

Still, she couldn't neglect her martial training in favor of her medical training. A Nora who could wield neither spear nor bow and who couldn't run a Brave Trail was one who could not be relied upon in the wilds. As the proud daughter of the War-Chief, Vala refused to be unreliable. Besides, how was she supposed to keep Aloy alive once she became a Seeker if Vala herself was not capable of being a Seeker? That was another reason why this trip was so important. She'd be leaving the Embrace for the first time and hunting Grazers alongside her mother and brother.

The area just beyond the Embrace was fairly safe, even during the period of war. The Carja raiding parties that made it through the hidden paths and weren't caught by Brave patrols never made it further in than the outskirts of Mother's Crown so as long as they stuck near the walls of the Embrace, it was relatively safe.

"Keep up, children." Her mother called, striding forward. "We do not stop will we reached the hunting lodge."

"Let me know if you need any help, Vala." Her brother said, clapping a hand to her shoulder.

"I spent my days chasing after Aloy on her misadventures, brother." She replied, smirking up at him. "Compared to that, a walk through the Sacred Lands is easy."

Varl chuckled happily. "Fair enough, little sister. Fair enough."

Yore

Yore sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She flexed her fingers a bit, rubbing the corners of her tired eyes. Just last night, she'd received word that Sona was back from her hunting trip and would be on her way back to the front soon but with the War-Chief not due back for another day or two and Rost overseeing a supply run in Mother's Crown, she was left in charge of the defense. Usually, her job was commanding the reserve garrison at Mother's Vigil, but she'd left that to her lieutenant so that she could serve as Rost's second while he was in command of The Gate.

Not that much was happening, of course. It had been… oddly silent for the better part of a month. Not that all out assaults on The Gate were common, of course. Since the beginning of the Red Raids, there had only been seven attempts at breaching the outer defenses of the Sacred Lands. Discounting the raiding parties that they still couldn't quite keep out of their territory. They'd gotten better at tracking them down, but every month saw at least a few Nora taken or killed by the Carja raiders. Sadly, not even the best efforts of the Seekers could save all of those who were taken captive.

Scratching the scar on her nose, Yore stifled a yawn and made her way down from the top of the wall. It was just after dawn, and she was finally coming off her stint at the top. Shifts were rotated weekly and amongst the command level Braves it was her week to oversee the late night/dawn shift. She didn't mind really, but something about being up five hours before the sun rose just felt wrong. Still, it was only her first day, so it'd get better as the week went by.

"All well, Captain?" Baarg asked, walking up to her. He was one of the higher-ranking Braves stationed on the wall. A shift commander would be the best term she supposed. Wiry, with long-ish brown hair and a natural scowl, he was actually a little intimidating to those who'd never fought him. Yore herself knew he was a decent archer but not all that good at close quarters. Still, those wiry limbs hid a surprising amount of strength.

"Quiet, as usual." Yore replied. "There seemed to be a bit of movement just after dawn, but it looked more like an inspection of the guards than anything else. You headed up?"

"I drew the early morning shift this week." He grumbled. "Any runners in the night?"

The captain shook her head and yawned. "None. Unless it's an emergency, I doubt there will be any today. Oh, you should know, I want the builders to take a look at the wall. Some of the boards on the rampart feel a little loose."

"I'll make sure it's taken care of." He nodded. "Go get some rest."

With a tired nod, Yore made her way back to her bunk and collapsed into it, not even bothering to remove her Focus. Within only a few moments, she was fast asleep. Her dreams were filled with memories of happy times. Lying on the grass with her mate watching the clouds go by. Watching her daughter play in the river that ran past the village. Listening to her little brother work himself into a state worrying about what kind of gift to give his mate. Memories of family and joyous times that were shattered by screams and crashing sounds.

Yore rolled out of bed and seized her spear. Dashing forward, she emerged to a scene of absolute chaos. The wall… the secret entrance to the wall was open! The cables cut and Carja pouring in! The brunette captain raised her spear and moved to charge into the fray when a sharp pain pierced her back. Looking down, she could see the tip of the spear poking out of her stomach. She gasped in agony and leaned forward as the spear was yanked out of her. Turning painfully, she looked into the demented face of Baarg.

"W…why?" She gasped out, clutching her spear for support.

"For Resh." He spat out, a wild and unstable look in his eyes. The traitor pulled back, intending to run her through, but Yore was not a Captain for nothing. Even wounded as she was, she refused to die without taking her killer with her. Ignoring the pain, she used her left arm to grab the shaft of his weapon and her right to ram her spear up into this throat.

"For the All-Mother." She gasped out before collapsing to the ground.

Refusing to die with her face in the dirt, Yore dragged herself towards her bunkhouse and propped her back against it. Placing a hand to her bleeding belly, she beheld the slaughter. Carja soldiers were butchering her unprepared comrades, many of whom were still scrambling for weapons. Only a small handful were fighting back. She saw one Brave cut down another but honestly didn't know which of them was a traitor and which wasn't until the survivor was butchered by a Carja halberd. How had this happened? Did Baarg order the wall to be opened? Why had the alarm not been sounded? Was his entire shift made of traitors? Yore did not know any of this but at least she knew what she had to do.

"To all Captains." She gasped out, tapping her Focus. "The Gate has fallen. I repeat, The Gate has fallen. Followers of Resh cut open the wall."

That was all she could get out before a bolt of agony rocked her body. Closing the connection, she removed the device from her head and set it on the ground. It was one of the sacred Relics of the Alphas granted to her specifically by the High-Matriarchs. She hated to do this, but it was better than allowing a filthy Carja to get their hands on Nora secrets. Grabbing a nearby rock, she smashed the Focus into pieces before throwing them into the bushes close by.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there afterwards, occasionally wracked by pain and waiting to die. The captain didn't have the strength to stand and fight so all she could do was watch as the hulking, black armored figure walked casually through the slaughter. She'd been briefed on this man. Leader of the first Carja raid into the Sacred Lands after the battle of Mother's Vigil. The detestable, demented Kestrel Helis. Next to him was Mots, a mousy Brave who'd been on the same shift as Baarg. Behind the two walked Zaid, the commander of Daytower who Yore herself failed to kill during his attack on Mother's Vigil.

"It would seem the leader of your little band of traitors is dead, Savage." Zaid scoffed, kicking the body of Baarg. "You seem to be lucky. The other savages killed all your fellows."

Growling, Helis grabbed the traitor by the throat. "Your leader promised me information in exchange for safety from being sacrificed." The monster ground out. "Since you're the only one of his traitors left, I expect you to deliver. Am I understood?"

"Y… yes." Mots gasped out. With a grunt, Helis dropped him back to the ground. "What do you want to know?"

"Oh, every secret you have to tell, Savage but I think we'll start with this one." Helis gripped his blade with white knuckles and shouted. "How do you sunless heathens keep rescuing your people?! How do you respond so fast?!" Spittle flew from his mouth, catching Mots in the eye.

The cowardly traitor opened his mouth to reply but Yore would not have it. Pulling her dagger from her waist, she ignored the pain one last time and threw it with all she had. The All-Mother guided her aim, driving her blade right into the open mouth of the traitor and up into his brain. Mots collapsed to the ground with a strangled gurgle while Helis whipped around in a rage.

"Oh?" Zaid questioned, quizzically cutting off the Kestrel's angry shout. He walked around the body, staring at Yore. "I remember you. You tried to kill me during our first attack." He strutted towards her cockily and crouched down. "How does it feel to know you failed, Savage? Soon enough all your sunless lands will be under Carja control. My control."

"Zaid!" Helis barked, drowning out Yore's growling response. She slipped a hand into her pouch and seized hold of what was inside while the commander was glancing back. "I want my information. Since this heathen killed the other, she can provide the answers we seek. I trust you can make her… cooperative, before she dies?"

"Oh, not to worry, Kestrel Helis." Zaid's slimy voice replied. He smirked disgustingly at her and drew a dagger. "It will be my pleasure."

"That's where you're wrong, monster." Yore coughed out, pulling her hand from her pouch. "The pleasure is mine." Reaching up, she grabbed his collar and brought the evil man close. Then, using all the strength she had left, she crushed the bomb she'd pulled from her ammo pouch right into his open mouth. There was a flash of light, a searing pain, and then… nothing. All was ended.

A/N: So, what did you think? CYAN and GAIA go ok? What about Aloy's little engineering session or Vala's segment? What did you all think of that bit at the end? Things are getting a little intense.

Song lyrics taken from 'In Too Deep' by Sum41.

The weapon Aloy is designing is based on a Roman Manubalista.

Answers to Questions

On FFN

LunaShadowWolf: I'm glad what I did with Resh makes sense. I won't comment on any potential future happenings, but I love to see speculation!

Rios: Glad you liked it! I don't know about the compound bow considering the limited materials she's working with but I'll consider it!

Matt22152: I thought about it, but the Nora don't really do that kind of thing. It's totally alien to them.

D3Diton: Nah. She doesn't show up unless she has to. Plus, she can only project herself inside the mountain right now anyway.

TheRuinsofRl'yeh: I'm glad you like it so much! Yeah, Aloy being an engineer just made so much sense to me, I had to include it. As for new technology well… she is kind of doing that now. As for Resh, I obviously can't say what'll happen with him.

Dragon Master 888: I hope you liked it!

Guest: Yeah, that was really the only way to go when dealing with Resh.

Frostwolf3227: I may be making her a little Ruby-like but she does strike me as being like that when she's a more well-adjusted person. I hope you like the changes! I want them to feel like they make sense.

Dracofighter: I'm really glad you liked it! Love the speculation too.

Guest1138: Glad you liked it! Yes, she's met Ourea.

On AO3

ReviewerDWJ2: Thank you! Yeah, it felt like the right thing to do. I was running around in ZD trying to think of things when I came across that area, and it just felt perfect, so I had to use it. I'm glad you like it. As for the other stuff, I did consider what might happen if he was captured but well… I think I'm going in another direction.

Jpx0999: Yeah… he thought he was smart but he was sooo not smart enough.

Readinginthedarkisfunnier: I hope you liked the CYAN portion!

Feral_Sins: Contacting her, yes. Saving her? We'll see!

THEEBlock: Glad you liked it!

Boudica96: I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Ryanlarsen84: I thought about various places to put him but that valley felt so perfect. Although, I did also enjoy adding onto the whole Resh/latrine joke when I had him temporarily held in one. That felt like justice. As for RWBY, I highly recommend it. It does fall off a bit in the later seasons, but what show doesn't? Still one of my top 5 favorites of all time.

SpiritDeNight: I hope you liked it!

Indraasrei: She was more than a little traumatized then, so I felt it more appropriate that she stick to her dad's side. It's a very amusing visual though.

Matrix_Dragon: I may have drawn a little inspiration from there, not gonna lie. Resh just felt like that kind of villain, you know?

Dark_Lux: I'm glad you like it! Thank you for reading!