When Sham awoke, she realized she never actually made it to her bed last night. Instead, her head was slumped over her desk and now her neck was sore. No wonder she had dreamt about her current project.

She stood up and stretched, looking over the blueprints she had been perfecting of a new robot power supply. And sure enough, there was drool on the page. Just perfect.

Sham grabbed the paper and shook it out, trying to dry it out a little bit. She was quite proud of the idea, after all, and planned on presenting it to the higher-ups later today, so she preferred to keep it looking as professional as possible, despite the fact she already could spot a doodle she had mindlessly put in the corner of it. Oops…

What time was it anyway?

"Computer, time?" Sham asked.

"It is currently 8:56 am," the monotone voice responded.

Sham gasped, rushing over to grab her formal clothes. Her meeting was at nine!

Changing clothes as quickly as possible for a clumsy girl like herself, Sham grabbed her hairbrush and her blueprints and rushed out of the room like a maniac, completely forgetting the formal shoes she had reserved for formal meetings or any shoes at all. Hopefully nobody would notice…

As she was running, frantically brushing her hair, Sham didn't pay any attention at ALL where she was going and tripped right over a tiny girl.

"So sorry!" Sham exclaimed quickly, trying to pick up her scattered blueprints but also the item the girl dropped. It was a large soft plush white bear, worn from years of love, it seemed. What was a girl who liked such cute things doing in a place like this?

"I made you drop your papers!" the girl exclaimed. "I-I didn't mean to!"

"No, no, it was my fault entirely!" Sham assured the girl, putting the plushie back into her hands. "I was in such a rush I didn't even notice you."

"Oh," was the only response the child gave, sadness in her large green eyes.

"You need to watch where you're going, Sham," the adult the child was with said strictly.

"Sorry…" Sham repeated.

"How many times do you need to be told not to run in the halls?" the adult pressed, before turning his attention back to the child. "Let's go."

Sham walked properly for just a few moments until she was out of the sight of the adult, before taking off running once again, slipping a little with her socks on the tiled halls, but eventually reaching her destination, rushing in and trying to regain her composure while being almost completely out of breath.

"Sham," a man's voice said. "You're two minutes late."

"Sorry dad!" Sham exclaimed. "I mean father! I mean sir!"

It was hard to remember to talk more professionally around her own father when she was talking business. This was, after all, the first time he let her present one of her ideas to him.

"This should be good," one of Sham's father's advisors said.

"And where are your shoes?" Sham's father asked.

"Umm…" Sham decided to just… not answer that. "So, I asked to meet with me because I totally- because I have a proposition for you."

"Get on with it," a different advisor rushed.

"Right!" Sham exclaimed. "Umm, so, I came up with a new idea to…" she took a breath, nerves kicking in a little bit, "you see, our current robots use a power supply that is not only inefficient, but creates a LOT of pollution-" she saw the expressions of those she was speaking to shift to annoyance "-and it costs a LOT! Like, a ton!" Sham emphasized, knowing that appealed to them so much more. "And it can be such a hassle since it only lasts a month before the robots have to return to us to get a recharge! So, I've come up with a new idea that is SO much more efficient, and while it can be a bit more complicated to handle at first, I think you'll find it quite superior to our current methods of powering our robots due to the fact that the power supply should last about 20 years per robot! That's like, a lot of years." Sham added. "And honestly, by the time they'd run out, the war'll totally be over by then, so, it's like, win-win-win!"

"Let me see those blueprints," Sham's father demanded, and Sham happily passed them over. So far, so good!

Sham's father and his advisors all began looking over the designs, and one of the advisors asked "Do you have a prototype?"

"Uh, yes!" Sham exclaimed, jumping. "I, uhh, left it in my room, but… I can go get it!"

"Yes, do," the advisor told her.

As Sham rushed out, she overheard an advisor ask "How old is she again?"

"12," Sham's father responded.

"Perhaps we should've started paying attention to her sooner…" a different advisor piped up.

Sham ran as fast as her legs could take her, slipping and sliding once again on the tile until she slipped and slid right into someone else. Thankfully, not a tiny child this time, but a 13-year-old girl who Sham knew quite well.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" the girl asked.

"Prototype! Room! Get! HELP!"

The girl sighed, expecting this sort of behavior to come from Sham. "I will help you," she agreed, picking Sham up like she weighed nothing and began flying through the air quickly. Like always, Sham's eyes lit up as she was carried through the air, and a memory from the first time she ever saw a Weapon Girl flying came to mind.

"I want to fly too!" Sham whined at only four years old. "Please can't I fly?"

"No Sham." her father repeated annoyedly. "We only give flight to those who can fight as Weapons."

"Then can I do that?" Sham asked.

"No." her father said sternly. "You aren't strong or talented. You don't have any potential."

Sham smirked. No potential, her butt! Maybe she wouldn't make a good Weapon, but she was a technology whiz, and now her father was finally seeing that.

Finally, they had arrived at Sham's room and she rushed inside, grabbing a bag she HAD packed, just forgot to bring.

"Do you want me to carry you back?" Sham's friend asked.

"Yes!" Sham exclaimed. "You're the best, Nath!"

Nath gave a small smile. "The best," she repeated thoughtfully to herself, before picking Sham back up and carrying her back. "You know," she said as they flew, "you could have taken that chance to put on some shoes."

"I totally could've!" Sham exclaimed. "I'm such an airhead sometimes!"

"Air… head?" Nath repeated in confusion, but there was no time for Sham to explain because that's when they got back to where they needed to be.

Nath dropped Sham off right in front of the door. "I need to get back to training." Nath told her. "Good luck."

"Thanks!" Sham exclaimed. "Laters!"

"'Laters'?" Nath repeated as a question as she flew off.

Sham then rushed back in, swinging her bag onto the table with a bit too much gusto, causing the panel of her judges to flinch. "Oops," she stated. "I uhh… only did that so you could see how durable it is!" she lied.

"Uh huh," her father responded, unimpressed.

"Right, right, um…" Sham took her device out of her bag as well as the equipment that could read the specs of it. "If you look here, you can see that it produces four times the wattage of energy than our current power supply! And here it shows its battery life."

The advisors made impressed sounds! A good sign!

"And what exactly is this made of?" Sham's father asked.

"Well… that's where it gets a little complicated…" Sham responded.

"Uncomplicate it for me," he stated.

"Well, you see, I MAY have been messing around with things I shouldn't… you remember that shipment that came in from the space station last month, the one that things went missing from?"

"Yes…" Sham's father responded, rage seeming to build.

"Well, I MAY or MAY NOT have been responsible for that…" Sham admitted.

"Sham, we thought the ENEMIES got ahold of that!" Sham's father shouted. "You saw us panicking about that, and didn't say anything?"

"I knew you wouldn't let me have it if I asked!" Sham exclaimed. "So… you always say a good scientist needs to know when to take risks, and I took one and this is the result! There's a certain kind of metal found in some of the meteoroids out in space that conducts power so extremely well that I was able to make this! Maybe we can even learn to make it synthetically one day with enough research? I just thought-"

"Quiet," Sham's father interrupted. "Go. We need to discuss."

"H-huh?" Sham asked.

"Go!" her father repeated. "We don't need you here any longer. Get out of here."

"Uh… y-yes, father…" Sham said sadly, slowly dawdling out.

"Maybe you're being a little harsh?" an advisor was saying as Sham left, but she knew her father wouldn't agree. Sham felt like crying. Now her ideas would NEVER be taken seriously…

"Sham!"

Sham looked up just in time to see Nath running towards her, nearly running right into her if she didn't dodge in time.

"Sham you have to help me!" Nath insisted. "My training has prepared me for a lot of things, but never this! I am not sure where to even begin with this!"

"What is it, a new kind of bad guy?" Sham asked. "A new weapon acting up? A bomb attached to the base that's going to blow up in mere moments?"

"Worse," Nath told her. "They want me to… to…"

"To what?" Sham asked. What could be worse than any of those things?

"To train a child!" Nath exclaimed.

Sham blinked. "What?"

"They want me to train a child! A little, childish child! She is the one they have been talking about, but she is nothing like I expected! She is… well… I am not sure how to describe her. But she does not have the personality I would expect of the Ultimate Weapon!"

"The Ultimate Weapon?" Sham asked. She had heard in passing about her, but wasn't she off being trained somewhere else? Were they really so desperate to bring her to the main base of operations already? "What do you want me to do about that?" Sham asked.

"Help me!" Nath repeated. "I can train her, but I cannot… appeal to her emotions properly! She has a plush toy! Why does she have a plush toy?"

"Most children like objects of comfort," Sham said with a lot more certainty in her voice then she actually had. She hadn't ever actually MET any children who weren't Weapons, but she was pretty sure that's what they were like from the few movies she had managed to see. "Wait, is she the tiny little thing I tripped over this morning?"

"I do not know?" Nath responded. "She is quite small."

"Oh my gosh!" Sham exclaimed, before taking a more playful tone. "Whoopsie daisy!"

"So, will you help me?"

"Considering I just got a WHOLE lot more free time," Sham said with an eye roll, "totes."

"Totes?" Nath repeated. "Will putting the child in a tote bag help? She is a bit too big for that."

Sham tried not to laugh. She might've been the airheaded one when it came to remembering important things, but Nath's street smarts were at a nice comfortable zero.

"Yes, I'll help." Sham rephrased.

"I deeply appreciate it." Nath told her before carrying her and flying once again, this time to an area of HQ that Sham didn't often go to. The location the Weapon Girls trained. Most of the girls would come here for only a few months up to a year before being relocated, but being one of the best, Nath was stationed right here at HQ permanently. Currently, she was the ONLY Weapon Girl here. Or, at least, she WAS before the child got brought here.

And now Sham saw her, clinging to her stuffed bear like it was a lifeline.

"I'm sorry!" the girl exclaimed nearly in tears upon seeing Sham.

"For what?" Sham asked. "Oh, you mean the papers? That was totally my fault, not yours. I wasn't looking where I was going, so you can just forget about it, 'kay?"

"...okay…"

Sham tried to do a friendly smile, though she wasn't really used to talking to strangers. "My name's Sham." she said, hoping she was coming off cheerful. "What's your name?"

The girl muttered something into her bear, muffling the sound.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't catch that," Sham said. "Could you please say it again?"

The girl hugged her bear tighter, burying her face in it even more. If she said something, Sham couldn't tell.

"Do you see the problem?" Nath asked. "I cannot train her if I cannot speak to her."

Sham thought for a moment. Then, she crouched down. "Hi there, beary!" she said, making eye contact with the embroidered eyes of the plush. "Would you be so kind as to tell me the name of that nice girl standing behind you? I'd love to be her friend!"

The girl whimpered a little, then held up her bear, moving it as if it was speaking. "H-her name is S-Sora," the girl whispered.

"Sora." Sham said. "That's such a pretty name. It means sky, right?"

Sora made the bear nod.

Nath, however, didn't seem to understand. "The bear is not talking, it is the girl who-"

"Just let it happen," Sham instructed her. Turning her attention back to the bear, Sham asked "Could you please tell me how old Sora is?"

"U-uh sh-she… she's seven."

"Seven!" Sham exclaimed, giving a big smile despite that not being impressive at all. "What a big girl she is!"

"I-is that good?" Sora asked, looking up from behind the bear with her big green eyes that were surprisingly deep for a seven-year-old. "To be a big girl?"

"Of course!" Sham told her. "Big girls get to do all the fun things little girls are always told they're too young to do!"

"Fun things?" Sora asked. "Like what?"

"Uhh…" Sham didn't actually have an answer for that. What was fun for a seven-year-old? Or, most people in general? "Well, what's something you've always wanted to do but were always told you couldn't?"

"See the sky…" Sora responded.

Sham's eyes widened. Gosh, her idea that children were simplistic was WAY off.

"Sorry… I shouldn't have said that."

"No, that's fine." Sham told her. "You SHOULD be honest. Unfortunately, that's not something a big girl can do any more than a little girl can."

"Oh…" she looked immensely disappointed.

"U-uh…" Sham had no idea what to do now. "What about games? Do you have any games you like to play?"

"Games?" Sora asked. Sham wasn't sure if she was just trying to think of one or simply didn't know what a game was. She guessed it made sense either way - if this really was the Ultimate Weapon Girl, she was probably taken away at such a young age that she couldn't remember what it was like to be a normal girl. All of the Weapon Girls were like that.

"Truth be told, I don't really know any either," Sham admitted. "Maybe we can come up with some together?"

Sora's eyes lit up. "Y-yeah!" she responded. "That sounds fun!"

"For reals? Perfect!" Sham exclaimed, happy she figured out the right thing to say. "But for now… I kinda sorta am here for a reason…"

"You're here to help me learn to fight, aren't you?" Sora asked darkly.

"Me?" Sham asked. "No, definitely not! I don't know the first thing about fighting! But, my friend here does. And yeah, she's supposed to train you. But she's like, super nice! This is my BFF Forever, Nath."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Nath said. "I am Nath."

Sora buried her face into her bear once again, clearly not the biggest fan of Nath.

"Sham, I require further assistance," Nath stated.

Sham let out a breath. "Okay, maybe we should all tell each other a few things about ourselves. I'll start: I'm Sham, I love to build robots, I'm totally obsessed with chocolate, and I sing so loud in the shower I've gotten complaints multiple times. Nath?"

Nath stared at Sham for a few moments before saying "I am Nath. I am 13 years of age. Sham is my friend," Nath said, then was seemingly done.

"Naaaaath!" Sham exclaimed. "You have to tell her more than that!"

"Such as?"

"Your hobbies, your likes and dislikes, your favorite food!"

"I do not think we are at that level yet," Nath disagreed.

"At least tell her SOMETHING so she can feel like she knows you!"

Nath sighed. "I…" she paused. "When I am not on duty I do enjoy the occasional hand craft…" she admitted.

"See?" Sham asked. "Was that so hard?"

Nath looked away in embarrassment.

"What about you, Sora?" Sham asked. "What do you like to do?"

"I don't know," Sora responded. "I've never really done much more than train. And I don't like training."

"That's okay too," Sham told her. "We'll find you something!"

"Sham!" a voice suddenly shouted.

Nath stood up straighter, and all of the personality Sham had worked so hard to draw out of Sora slinked back into its shell.

"Yes, father?" Sham responded, turning to face the man who yelled.

"What are you doing in here?" her father demanded. "You have no purpose here!"

"I was just…" Sham trailed off, not wanting to throw Nath under the bus for asking for help. Sham would get scolded for being bad, but Nath would get outright punished. "Sorry dad, I just wanted to meet the new girl. Nath was trying to get me to leave but I wouldn't listen."

Nath made eye contact with Sham, but Sham shook her head and Nath's gaze went back to the floor.

"Is this true, Nath?" Sham's father demanded.

"U-u-uh… y-yes, sir." Nath lied.

"How many times have I told you to stop bothering the Weapons while they train?" Sham's father asked, grabbing her arm and dragging her out. As she was being dragged, she looked back just in time to see Nath mouth 'thank you', making the upcoming scolding all worth it.

"She lied," Sora stated when the two were completely gone.

"Sham lies a lot," Nath responded. "She is quite talented at it. But she did it this time to protect me."

"Protect," Sora repeated. "That's what I like to do. Or, what I want to do, anyway. Protect."

Nath gave Sora a subtle smile. "Then Sham is a good role model for you."

"She seems nice," Sora commented.

After a scolding that felt like it lasted forever, Sham's father finally switched topics. "So about your idea…"

"I know, I shouldn't have used the meteoroid…" Sham finished.

"Well, no. You shouldn't have. And we'll talk about that later. But for now, I'd like to say… your idea is actually quite useful."

"What?" Sham asked.

"We should've thought to try this sooner. And your blueprint is very detailed, despite the kitten drawing in the corner. We're going to be using this power source from now on and I'd like you to personally teach all the scientists how you made it."

Sham gasped, her eyes wide. "For real?" she asked.

Her father sighed. "'For real'," he confirmed.

Sham ran up and hugged her father tightly. "Thank you dad!"

Her father pushed her off gently. "I expect you to be ON TIME for this masterclass though. And to dress a little more professionally than you did this morning."

"I will!" Sham exclaimed.

"You'll be presenting it two days from now, so try to be prepared."

"I will! I will! I WILL!" Sham nearly shrieked in excitement. Finally, people were ACTUALLY taking her seriously!

"And if you have any more ideas like this," her father concluded, "feel free to schedule another meeting. We're all very curious to see what you will come up with next."

Sham's face was beaming with excitement.

"But one more thing," her father said seriously.

"Yes, dad?"

"Stop interfering with the training of the Weapons. Especially this new one. I can tell with certainty that Sora is the only one capable of winning this war for us."

"Understood, father," Sham said, though she couldn't help but feel bad for Nath, who had been working so hard for so long to complete the very same goal just to be replaced.

Then again, Nath would probably just be happy the war was over, no matter who was responsible.

But not interfering?

That was something Sham was basically incapable of.