Metempsychotic

Faulty Memory

The radio signal was like an obnoxious buzzing that you couldn't get out of your head. Worst of all, Vent couldn't pinpoint it to a single location to stop it.

"The distress call definitely came from this area," Prairie affirmed, sensing Vent's discomfort over the sound, "The signal is too weak to pinpoint an exact location."

"I can't get a lock on it either." Vent grumbled back into the headset. "Is there a way to drain some of the feedback? The ping is really starting to grade on my nerves."

"Maybe." Prairie decided after a few moments. "Dampening the signals on your end may mess up our feed, but I'll see what I can do. Are you sure that is what you want to do?"

"Yeah." Vent affirmed. "That would help a lot. I'll proceed onward and let you know if I find anything."

"Understood." the commander agreed before the boy continued on.

. . .

The Guardian's live fire course seemed more like laser tag. You had to shoot targets, dodge others, and try not to get hit yourself. Aile was already up to level A at this point, she just needed to be a smidge faster to get the SA rank. Her accuracy had no problem at all, it was just her ability to fire. Sometimes she ended up hesitating at a target- it became more noticeable if an 'innocent' target was around the 'hostile' one. At these instances, Model X would give her his opinion on how to approach (usually by moving to a different angle) before Aile took her shot.

At some point, Aile paused a moment to check her score so far. Seeing how well she was doing made the young girl beam with overconfidence.

"If we keep up at this rate, I bet I'll be even better than you were!" Aile triumphantly declared. At her words, the girl noticed an immediate change in the Biometal, as if it had experienced something that horrified it.

'Aile, stop! Stop!' Model X suddenly declared as he forced the two of them to demerge.

"What?" Aile questioned, now feeling worried, "What?!"

'I... I just need to take a break.' the Biometal quickly told her. Aile wasn't sure how it was possible, but she swore she could feel it quiver in fear... or sadness.

"Did I do it? Did I scare you?" the girl asked it carefully, unsure of how to make it feel better, or what sparked this reaction to begin with.

'N-no... it's not that at all!' Model X then assured her. 'I really seem to be falling back on older ISOs a lot recently.'

"Do you want to see Fleuve?" Aile offered kindly. "I'm sure he could take a look at you."

'No, please, the poor Reploid has other things to worry about than me. I just... Aile... who took care of you when you were young?'

Aile recoiled a little, not quite willing to tell him.

'Someone did take care of you other than that dog, didn't they?' Model X questioned, almost sounding to be angered.

"I.. can't remember him... very well..." Aile carefully admitted, looking up at the Biometal with a sheepish, and very flushed face.

'You're telling me that you can't remember who cared for you during the first ten years of your life?'

"Well... yes and no... It's kinda like a paradox, he existed without really existing. And now, to fix the timeline or whatever, my memory of him is fading."

'Aile, do you understand how much it infuriates me that you can't remember someone who might not have even existed?' the Biometal then said to her. 'Do you realize how much danger you were in if you were just left to your devices at such a young age?! Aile... Aile, if I had known this, I would have... We... we could have done something...'