Metempsychotic

Hug From a Ghost

Now Aile could understand Vent's dislike of being blown at by missiles: being chased by active lava flow wasn't very fun either. She made a mental note to apologize to him later for making fun of him. When she entered the room that the Pseudoroid was meant to be in, she was greeted with nothing but dirt. Suddenly, a small rubble from underneath of her made Aile look down, when she realized that the Pseudoroid was underground and now making its way up to her, she quickly jumped out of the way. Emerging from the ground was a small, mole-like Pseudoroid that didn't seem to notice her for a moment. When it did, it gave her a cold, unfriendly glare dead in the eye.

"Oh... it's you." the Pseudoroid grumbled. "You're one of those clods goin' around and stealin' the Biometal. I could feel your presence a mile away..."

For a moment, Aile found herself rather impressed at such an ability, before remembering her duties. The Pseudoroid continued its spiel though, with or without her interest.

"Lord Serpent said there is an even more powerful Biometal lingering, close close to the ground. I've been diggin' around for it all day. But! Nothin' is comin' up! I am the Model F Pseudoroid, Flammole. I'll take ya down and the Biometal you stole will be back, safe in our hands!"

With a cackle, the Pseudoroid went back underground in an attempt to get Aile from under, but she was ready and moved out of the way- Flammole drilled with enough force that he kept moving forward into the low ceiling, allowing Aile to fire at him. When the Pseudoroid started to attack her on the ground, she carefully dodged each attack and retaliated with precise slashes from Model Z's blade.

"I see now..." Flammole wheezed as his system shut down, "You weren't the one I sensed. It musta been... Model W? Or... is it somethin' else entirely...?" In this thought, the Pseudoroid gave in to his damage and combusted. Aile switched over to Model F to retrieve the rest of its data shortly after the debris cleared. The data returned to Model F, much to his glee.

'What a waste that a loser like that had my power!' Model F even chuckled to himself. To Aile, he then said (she could see in her mind's eye that he was still snickering at the ordeal), 'Sorry, but it'll be some time before I can recover the password. Don't worry though kid, I'll get it for you.'

"Take your time." Aile encouraged. "Now we just need to report back to Prairie."

As Aile worked her way back to the transerver, Model X, at the back of her mind, inquired, 'I wonder how Vent is doing.'

For a moment, Aile stopped. She had forgotten about Vent...

'One of us should have stayed behind with him.'

"Rush would watch him." Aile protested. "He's not completely alone."

'Pfft, that mutt?!' Model F snickered, 'The thing's got the loyalty of a Sour Patch Kid; here one minute, gone the other and no one knows what side he's on.'

'Regardless,' Model X then interrupted, moving Model F out of the way, 'The next time we see Vent, we should apologize. Things were said that we didn't really mean. You two would make an excellent team if you would just work together. It hurts me to see you two fight like that...'

"I'll apologize when I see him again." Aile promised the Biometal as she entered the transerver room. "The poor guy, he's lost practically everyone close to him. But I've never had anyone like that. No one I can remember anyway. I don't know what that's like... I'll apologize to him Model X, promise."

From the back of her mind, she could feel the Biometal smile. It wasn't until later that Aile realized Model Z was purposely trying to hold its opinions back, no matter how much it was starting to irritate him. For now though, Aile finished the mission report and received her next orders from Prairie.