Riddle Middle

Chapter 13: Training

(3rd person)

Phil soon awoke from his light sleep. He didn't know what time it was, but it was still dark out. He heard talking and assumed it may be important. He walked out into the hallway and saw Zack, leaving his variants room. "Oh, hello," Zack said. "Hello, what are you doing?" Phil asked. "I was talking to my variant. You?" he replied. "I heard talking and decided to eavesdrop," Phil responded. "Cool, can I come?" Zack asked. "Of course, I think the talking's coming from in here," Phil said. The two of them walked down the hallway and stopped around the corner from the bar. They couldn't see who was talking, but they could guess. "...They won't survive here if we don't." That sounded like Phreds variant. "Why do I always have to babysit those diodes?" That sounded like Smileys variant. "Hey now Smiley, you're going to have to cut back on the language now that there's kids here," That sounded unfamiliar. "So, we should take the ones that look like us," That sounded like Phreds again. "Where's Zack? That lazy undercarriage never comes to any meetings!" That was Smileys again. "What did I just say?" That was the unfamiliar one again. "Yes Smiley, you're going to need to act more appropriate if you want to take on an apprentice. What were you doing at the bar earlier? Are you OK?" That was Phreds. "I'm fine!" Smiley yelled. "I'll go tell Zack about this," said another unfamiliar voice. "We should go now," Phil whispered to Zack. Zack nodded and they rushed back to their room. They both fell asleep and didn't awake until morning. In the morning, Phreds variant came into their room. The friends were already awake and talking. "Hello," he said, with his usual politeness. "Last night, we decided to let each of your variants take you on as an apprentice," he said. "5, Joy, since your variants are unknown, you'll be with me," he said. 5 shrugged. "You seem nice enough," 5 said. Joy nodded in agreement. "Will we be able to get back home?" Phil asked. "You should be. It may be a while before I'm able to harness enough power to activate another portal, but don't worry. Since you're in the future, your world is not moving forward in time," he said. He crawled out of the room, and 5, Joy and Phred followed.

Phred's variants training session (3rd person)

"So, how'd I become a robot?" Phred asked his variant. "Your body was permanently paralyzed, and your friends transferred my organs into a dysfunctional robots body. I eventually designed an upgraded version of my older suit, and transferred my organs to the new one," he explained. "Where are we?" Joy asked. "The spot you teleported to was the exact spot of the portal, so you are not far from the museum," he answered. "What's the deal with those robots that attacked us?" 5 asked. "Those robots are the other side of the war. Most of the world's population has been taken over by them. We are some of the last humans alive," he responded. "So, is there any topics you're interested in?" Phreds variant asked. "I say we learn whatever's helpful here," 5 said. "Good idea. Give me a minute to generate topic ideas..." the robot said. "Wait! I have a question," Joy said. "Yes?" he asked. "Do those evil robots have a name?" she asked. "Yes, they're called Cybervexes," Phreds variant answered. "Generating topic ideas..." the robot said. "A helpful thing to learn is the Cybervexes weaknesses." Phreds variant said. "The weaknesses include Fire, viruses, 15 PH acid..."

Phils variants training session (3rd person)

Phil walked out to the bar area, where he found his variant waiting for him. "Hey there kiddo," he said. Phil turned. His variants face was half robot, and they had a slender metal body. "Is that a suit, or your body?" Phil asked. His variant grabbed a latch on his suit and opened it, revealing a pink sack in a jar of liquid. "Woah..." Phil said. "It's just my torso, the rest of me's a human," he said. "Well, except my hand. Watch this," he said, raising his hand, which seemed to be made of silver. He thrust his hand towards the ground, then held it up to show that his hand had become a knife. "Cool!" Phil said. His variant laughed. "Listen, we can't both be Phil, so I'm calling you kiddo," Young Phil nodded. "Good. Let's do combat training because that's actually fun," he said. Phil nodded. "Since you'll most likely find yourself with some sort of weapon, we should start with finding one for you. There's a spare weapon room downstairs," he said. "Downstairs?" Young Phil asked.