Something to Protect

Spoiler:

A young, pearly white furred mimiga boy named Shumei sat quietly on the edge of the platform that hanged just above a small pool of water, chains keeping it's stony surface from falling into the water below. The young mimiga had a fishing pole wrapped tightly in his paws and a piece of straw in his mouth as he waited for the elusive Chin Fish to bite upon his bait.

"Still having trouble there Shumei?" An older Mimiga asked, hopping from the shore and onto the platform, patting the young boy on the back before sitting at the edge of the platform. Chase dipped his paws down into the water, and smirked when he heard a huff from Shumei.

"Don't do that Chase, you're gonna scare away the fish! Besides, don't you have to be in training right now?" Shumei exclaimed, obviously angry about the soldier suddenly barging in and disrupting his peace.

Chase scoffed at the question, "Are you kidding? That stuff is for new recruits! Besides, all the high ranking soldiers left to go on some mission over in Sand Zone, and stuck me and all the new recruits with protecting the town. What I wouldn't give for a bit of action, you know? I can fight just as well as everyone else, so why can't I join the fight topside?"

"Cuz I heard those Andro-whats its can't make it down here because of all the traps we set up. The only way they could get through is through that hole up there, but all the water in reservoir gets replenished by the water that comes through that, so there's no way an android could come out of the-" Shumei started to say, only to quickly silence himself as large splash shot up from the water behind the duo.

"Androids! Androids! Everybody run!!" Shumei panicked, ditching his fishing pole right there and running away, heading towards the town in the next tunnel so that he could warn everyone of the incoming threat. Chase shot up to his footpaws and scurried over to the platform's edge, all the while regretting the fact that he had left his scythe back at his home. He paused for a moment, watching silently as a white skinned robot, dressed only in a vest and some sweatpants, rose up from the water and collapsed onto the rocky shore.

Another android dropped down into the resevior following the first. This one, a female, also had vey pale white skin, but when she emerged from the water she came out completely dry. She looked all around the resevior, as if dazed from the fall and a little disorientated from being in a new place.

Smoke seemed to rise from the small disks on the fallen android's head, before it twitched violently and then sat still, face down on the rocky shore. Chase, without weapons and scared of the possible threat entering the town, picked up a nearby rock from a small mound on the platform and chucked it at the pair of androids.

"Get out of our town, you monsters! If you don't th-then we'll beat you down!" Chase cried, knowing all to well that he was probably going to get shot at by the androids, but he had to keep those mindless killing machines away from the village, if only for a few moments.

Now finally regathering her senses, the female android was quickly alerted by the smoke now coming from the other android. "Woah! I had no clue another android had made it down here!" she exclaimed, thouroghly suprised. "Looks like he didn't have a bubble sheild, though...." she said with concern as she bent down to asses the damage. That's when a rock wizzed right past her. "Hey now! No throwing rocks around injured people!" she called, slightly annoyed but not furious. She heard a voice shouting at her to get out of town, but she ignored it. She was too busy trying to figure out how to fix the other android.

The android seemed to dismiss Chase, much to his dismay, but seemed more preoccupied by her fallen comrade than by him. This was the perfect chance for him to go and get his weapon, and show the villagers that he really was a reliable soldier! Chase hopped across the platforms and onto shore, quickly running past the androids and out the entryway. Through there, he entered the main hub, where most of the buildings in town were located, most of them lifted off of the ground by large chunks of land that were held in the air by massive chains. Chase took one of the newly built lifts down to the spot of land where his house was located, and after swiftly unlocking his door, he rushed into the his home and grabbed the scythe that hung proudly off the wall, ready to serve his village proudly with it.

The fallen robot sputtered to life the moment the older mimiga had left. He silently rose, shaking his head before turning to the android that stood next to him. His voice seemed to repeat or skip parts of his speech, as if he were a scratched CD, as he asked, "Wh-wh-where where am I-I-I?"

"It's okay, don't overwork yourself. You just took a nasty nosedive into a LOT of water." Arrietty said calmly, explaining the situation. "You're in the water resevoir in Mimiga Village. You came from that opening there." she continiued, pointing to the hole they had fallen from. "I'm suprised your bubble sheild didn't activate once you hit the water, unless you don't have one...." she mused silently.

"Bu-bu-bubble shield? Wha-wha-wha- that?" The android said, his speech skipping slightly. Thankfully enough, his speech didn't get effected much by the last skip, and his body didn't seem to twitch anymore. He turned back to the mimiga who had ran away moments before, then looked down and picked up his gun and grappler.

He returned his gaze to his fellow android and asked her, "Who are y-y-you?"

"Oh, sorry! I completely forgot to introduce myself!" the female android laughed. "My name is Arrietty, and I'm an android too. So don't worry, you can trust me!" she smiled. "I'd never hurt another android, especially not a wounded one. Oh, and a bubble sheild protects androids like us from water, which is really dangerous to us." she continiued, feeling relieved that he seemed to be getting better. "So, what's your name?" Arrietty asked.

The android gave Arrietty a puzzled look, "My na-na-na-na-nanananana--"

Smoke poured out of the disks on the side of the android's head, until a loud BZZT broke the silence, the smoke petering off as the android's voice cut out. The android slumped for a moment, then jumped back up to a straight position.

"Query denied. Information classified. Returning to passive mode."

The android blinked, his face full of confusion, as if he had just woken up from a dream. He looked over to Arrietty and smiled, "My name is Query, it's nice to me-meet you."

"Um, are you sure you're feeling ok? Maybe we should find a place for you to rest awhile, I think maybe the resevoir really did do some damage to you." Arrietty said with concern, looking at him with a slight frown. "I don't like the looks of all that smoke coming out of your head."

She thought for a second, then smiled again. "And it's nice to meet you, too!"

"Huh? But I feel fi-fi-fine!" Query replied, smiling a little due to the fact that Arrietty had actually cared about his well being. Then, without even changing his expression, or even turning to look, he fired his gun, the Nova, and a grunt echoed through the reservoir as Chase's scythe was shot out of his hands.

"Hey, who's that?" Query asked, finally looking over to the Mimiga, who was scrambling to retrieve his weapon.

After hearing the grunt, Arrietty instinctively whipped her gun, Solar Flare, from its holster on her belt and aimed it directly at the Mimiga. "Show yourself!" she demanded. Her eyes suddenly phased from their normal clear-blue to a blood red color, signifying her change from her normal attitude to a more hostile one.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Query said, getting in front of Arriety's gun before turning to face the Mimiga, who now clutched the scythe in his hands, readying himself to strike the android.

"Calm down, we're not going to hurt you. I'm sorry that I shot at you, but you were just swinging that dangerous thing around and I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Now, why don't we just lay down our weapons and talk-" Query stated, his voice not cutting out for once, as he was simply interrupted by Chase, whose eyes were watering slightly.

"Sh-shut up! I've seen your kind before. You're heartless killers, and if you want to get into the village, you're gonna have to go through me first!" Chase replied, his scythe shaking slightly, as he had never actually attacked a sentient creature before, especially not an android.

Arrietty didn't lower her sharp gaze for one second, but she did lower her gun. She was stuck in this "offensive overdrive" until any threats were terminated, but she had enough sense to listen to her fellow android and understand that fighting would get them nowhere fast. As long as the Mimiga didn't try anything funny, she wouldn't attack.

"Heartless killer? What are you talking about?" Query asked, oblivious to the entire conflict going on between the General's androids and the inhabitants of the Island. Hearing this took the Mimiga off guard, and he lowered the scythe slightly in confusion.

"S-surely you're joking?! You're androids, walking death machines! You kill anything that doesn't have white skin, and you're saying you don't know what's going on?!" Chase pointed out, more confused and frustrated than scared at this point.

"He's not aware of these times of war. He's injured and doesn't remember so leave him be. He's no threat to you." Arrietty spoke softly. Her eyes had shifted back to blue, and she re-holstered her weapon. "If anyone's the threat, it's me. Leave him out of it." she finished.

Query turned, giving Arrietty a confused look, "What do you mean? War...but we're supposed to protect these creatures, aren't we? I don't understand..."

"Of course you don't understand, you're a machine. Now if you really think you should be protecting us, then you should leave back the way you came." Chase replied, placing his scythe into the holster on his back and walking closer to the two androids.

"But I can't. I can't jump that high, and I don't have a booster."

"...Fine, you wait here, and you...Arriety was it, you should hide underwater until the guards leave. I wouldn't do this for any android...but you can be of use to us, and you're not one of the general's goons, so we can be sure that you won't attack us." Chase said, remembering the group of mimiga soldiers who were making their way here to investigate the "androids" that Shumei had been screaming about.

"Alright..." Arrietty answered solomnly, not all too eager to leave Query in the hands of those who hated them. She felt like he didn't need to be any more involved in all this mess than he already was, considering his condition and lack of memory. "Be warned though," Arrietty said, her voice now cold and serious, "if you try to harm my commrad in any sort of way while I'm not around, I promise you I won't allow you the pleasure of dying a quick death." she hissed through her teeth, then gracefully dove back into the depths of the resevior.

Chase didn't say anything as a handful of shaking, scared mimigas carrying a variety of weaponry and small arms came into the Reservoir, all of them aiming their weapons at Query.

Chase waved his arms at them, "Hold on, don't fire! I managed to reprogram this one, it'll help us now! See, he isn't gonna hurt any of us!"

The soldiers gave the vest wearing soldier a quizzical stare, looking over to Query and seeing that he hadn't even bothered to lift his weapons for an attack. The group did nothing for a moment, but slowly lowered their weapons and started to leave, averting any further bloodshed created by Query's presence.

Chase returned to the waters edge and splashed the water at the shore, signaling for Arriety to ascend to the surface.

Arrietty noticed the splashing and slowely crept up and out of the water, cautiously, keeping all her weapons holstered for the time being.

"Good to see you can't drown. Now, about getting you out of town...Hm, do you think you could play dead for a minute Arrietty? If you can do that, I can say I fished you out of the river and take you to the teleporter. That way you can get out of town and leave us alone. As for you Query, if you're gonna try and help this island, you'll want to get branded by a soldier, namely me. Otherwise you'll be shot on sight by my brethren. Don't worry, it's just waterproof paint, you can chip it off once you save the world or whatever crap your trying to feed me. Listen, I trust you two about as far as I can throw you, so don't do anything funny!" Chase said, crossing his arms and tapping his right foot on the ground impatiently. It was obvious that he was more than anxious about the androids in front of him, but seeing as how the General's brainwashing signal hadn't gotten to them yet, they could possibly get off of the island.

"Understood. Arrietty, I'll carry you, so don't worry, alright?" Query offered, extending a hand to the female android.

"Actually, I think I can play dead well enough." she joked, smiling a little. She took Query's hand and got up. "For the time being, I'm going to enter sleep mode." she explained. She looked over to Query. "When we get to the teleporter, use the command phrase 'Terminate Temporary Hibernation' to wake me back up." she told him. Then her eyes opened up a little wider and her voice became flat and automated. "Command prompt: Activate Temporary Sleep Mode." she said, although it really didn't seem to be her speaking. "Temporary hibernation requested. Standby for conformation from Central Core." the voice that had replaced Arrietty's continiued. "Request accepted. Bypass code B2019190. Preparing to activate sleep mode." the voice finished, the the color disapeered from her eyes and she immediatly went limp, begining to collapse.

Query immediately caught the "sleeping" android, carefully draping her over his shoulder before turning to Chase, who was motioning for him to follow. Query reluctantly followed, walking out of the reservoir and out into the village itself. Numerous buildings sat upon moats of rock that were suspended in mid air by massive chains, with wooden rope bridges connecting each of the tons of rock that hung in the air. However, Query had no time to take in the sites, as he quietly followed Chase down, down for what seemed like miles, before reaching a three story home at the very bottom of the village, that certainly looked worse for wear.

Chase pulled out a small key and unlocked the door, opening it to reveal the contents of Arthur the Brave's home, the house that Chase had inherited. Query walked into the home, and waited for Chase to close the door before speaking, "Terminate Temporary Hibernation,"

Arrietty's eyes flew open mechanically. "Hibernate terminated. Central core reactivated. Restoring standerd performance perameters." the voice from before said. Then Arrietty seemed to turn back into her normal self. She moved around kind of sluggishly, shaking her head to try to get herself back to normal. "Ohh, I hate hibernation....." she mumbled.

"It's a lot better than being dismantled, isn't it? Now, go take that teleporter over there to where ever. I'd suggest you avoid Sand Zone though, it's not exactly the safest place on the island right now." Chase said, pointing to the old, but still functional teleporter that must've sat where it was for an undeterminable number of years. Then again, those teleporters were certainly built to last.

"Wait, I'm not going anywhere until I learn more about this "General", just who is he?" Query asked, not budging an inch from where he stood, adamant to learn just what was going on.

"Why don't you ask your friend, she probably knows more about that jerk head than I do." Chase retorted, obviously bitter towards the general, and having a hard time warming up to two of the "enemy".