A Mile is Not Enough IC

[BrownDragon]

Takia ignores the others and focuses on his bracer. He discovers the objectives and looks at the shop more in-depth, noting everything he could buy.

[sadatg]

Definitely a tin-eye, thinks Jon seeing Amaro's bandaged eyes, and a fan of the Lord Mistborn himself to boot.

"Ising of shielding doing the Harmony is" Jon replies to Amaro in High Imperial with a slight bow.

"I suggest we rouse the remaining "competitors" and move to an area where the strange creatures are at least no bigger than a small dog. Would not do to be mauled by a bear or some such." He waffles gyrating his hand toward the exit nervously.

[Viirin]

Hearing Jon, and not being more pressed, it got up on its own. Maybe there was even a trapper's shop on the way, or nearby, so the tasks could be performed.

Though Amaro had said something about magical animals, Jon hadn't, and so he could still be taken seriously. Magic wasn't real; unless you recognized that historically, any art or skill that someone didn't understand was considered magic. Even hitting a piece of metal with a hammer was considered magic at one point.

[The JoJo]

Darius awoke to find himself in the more familiar setting of a forest. A forest, he could deal with. He pulled himself into sitting position, regarding the others with a wary eye. They were a strange bunch, but at least didn't appear outwardly hostile.

"Did you catch any of that?" he asked Alfonso, who was crouched beside him. The small boy gave him an uncertain look and then ran his palm up his father's left arm until he reached something solid.

"Oh, this?" Darius asked, putting his hand on the bracer. It was curious how it blended in with his clothing, he assumed it must be some kind of potent magic. Alfonso nodded and took his hand, drawing it along his own left arm.

"You have one too? I'm guessing we can't take them off, right?"

Alfonso shook his head. Darius sighed.

"Well, we better find out where we are." He rose to his feet, raising a hand to hail the nearby group with what he hoped would be considered a friendly gesture. "Do any of you know our location?" he asked.

[ChaoticHarmony]

My best guess would be we are in a forest of some kind, sir. I agree with Jon, it would be prudent for us to leave. If only to find another being to help us.

Amaro walks slowly toward the path, blind to the blinking light of his bracer.

[The JoJo]

"I can tell that," Darius muttered, shaking his head. He approached the group, careful to keep both his knife and his son at arms reach. Three of them appeared to be human, or at least as far as he could tell, but the fourth was a being who was formed from both metal and a cloudy material, which wouldn't have been so disconcerting if it wasn't for its near-human face. The wide-eyed expression on Alfonso's face suggested that he shared this feeling.

[Viirin]

Before the humans began heading out, the NS5 saw something shiny glimmer a few feet away. It might be something sharp that needed to be discarded safely, so it walked over to where it was and see what it is.

[ChaoticHarmony]

After moving 10 ft into the forest, intense music suddenly fills the air. Dropping right in front of the robot is a small blue Monkey with a wide friendly smile on its face.

Amaro sharply turns back around, stunned at the beasts appearance. That simian was not there a moment ago!

[Viirin]

The NS5 immediately did a systems security check, while looking around the area. None of the humans had brought a visible radio capable of being that loud, and it didn't know the song. Was it being hacked? The animal in front of it had obviously been dyed with some eccentric coloration, and must be a lost pet. It didn't see a collar or tag on it, so it couldn't bring it back to its owner. Monkeys moved quickly and from high places often, though seeing it stand on the ground, especially upright, was not what was expected.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The simian beats its chest at the bot, chittering what sounds like the word 'poor'. It takes a deep breath, then before the artificial life can react, it shoots a powerful stream of water at it! The stream knocks N5S back into the clearing, the residual water quickly being absorbed by the ground. The monkey laughs and points as you in its amusement.

[BrownDragon]

Before the Panpour hit the robot, Takia was ready to just keep walking down the road. After it attacked he simply hit it with his psionics, hitting it with his full 10lbs of force. "Oh joy, the wildlife is hostile."

[ChaoticHarmony]

The blue monkey gets knocked back, hitting a tree. Its eyes begin to tear up after it looks at the Psion. With a loud and tearful wail, it begins to cry. It seems you hurt its feelings.

Amaro quickly turns towards the trees behind Takia. "Watch Out!" he calls out as a green blur seems to fly straight towards Takia from behind. It lands on Takia's shoulders and begins to bop him on the head repeatedly. Everyone other than Takia can see that it is a green monkey, similar to the one that squirted the mechanical man. A wide playful smile is on its face as it beats out a rhythm on Takia's skull.

[Viirin]

The NS5 sees how strong... well, the water blast was, though not what produced it. It looked like it came from near the blue monkey, so there must be a hidden hose or something being remotely controlled. What made it jump backwards out of what can only be assumed to be fear was unknown.

However, another one of another color appearing and attacking a human made it obey the First Law, so it rushed towards Takia in an attempt to grab the monkey with both hands and keep it out of arm's reach of everyone.

[sadatg]

The sudden appearance of the blue monkey had startled Jon and he had started storing connection in reflex, disapearing from the attention of everyone around him.

As the chaos of the waterjet and second monkey suddenly unfolds Jon watches bewildered. NS5 suddenly rushes off to grapple the green newcomer, leaving the blue monkey wailing like a child.

Uncorking a vial of zinc and taking it, jon approaches the blue creature. Squating next to it he stops sorting connection and taps it instead.

He reaches out "Hello small one, how about we get you cleaned up and find you somthing to eat?" Jon burns his zinc and riots the small monkeys trust and freindship as he hold his hand out.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The green monkey jumps off of the Psion when the metal man comes after it. It uses NS5 as a springboard, bouncing off of his back and tumbling to the ground a few feet away. It jumps back to its feet, clapping its little paws and snickering. These two are a lot of fun!

The crying blue monkey sniffles to a stop at the approach of the well dressed human. Hearing its kind words, it smiles softly and nods its head enthusiastically. Something tells it that this human is kind and nice. It quickly climbs up the human and sits on his shoulder. Jon can now clearly hear this creature saying 'Panpour' over and over in its excitement.

[BrownDragon]

Takia gives up as he walks back to the path and follows it. He puts up his barrier in case of any attacks.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amora continues with Takia, the monkeys seeming to mean no harm. Besides, the others will catch up soon, he's sure. He'll make sure they stay with 'sight'.

Moving on, the ones continuing on the path come to a crossroad. To the left, the forest seems to begin to open up, though some thick grass grows on the path. To the right, the forest seems to grow thicker, though the path is clear. Without waiting, Amora turns rights.

[BrownDragon]

Takia in his head goes: oh no **** that, I want to get to civilization. So he turns to the left path.

[Viirin]

It goes back to what it was doing, seeing that neither creatures are bothering the humans anymore. It should be able to safely pick up whatever the shiny thing was now.

Spoiler: OOC

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Then move with the group, assuming nothing else spawns.

[sadatg]

With the Panpour happily jumping on his shoulder Jon shakily stands straight again. Just in time to see two members leave the clearing and instantaneously split.

"Well these ones definitely seem friendly enough if promised food."

Noticing the blinking green gem he opens the "BONUS" menu to see:

Bonus 100 points for BEFRIENDING 1ST POKEMON.

"And apparently this is one of the Pokemon the OBJECTIVES were referring too. I would presume this blue one is associated with water. That green one might be associated with "Earth" or some other nonsense. Someone convince it to come with and we're halfway done."

"Also we'll need to find out what they eat. I promised this one food."

Spoiler: ooc

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I got pm'd the bonus by the current dm. I'm not just randomly assigning myself points.

[The JoJo]

Darius had held back while the others had dealt with the creatures -- there was no sense putting himself at unnecessary risk, and it gave him an opportunity to observe their abilities. Only when the primates had been subdued, did he step forward, sliding his knife back into its sheath.

"Berries?" he suggested to the man holding the blue monkey. He glanced down at Alfonso and realised that while he had been looking the other way, the green one had somehow ended up in the small boy's arms. The small boy who, of course, was now looking up at him with a hopeful expression in his big, brown eyes.

"Oh no, we're not keeping it!" Darius exclaimed. "Where would we even put it?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

The strange upbeat music that was playing slowly disappears now that the two monkeys have calmed down. N5S moves back toward the spot he first encountered the blue monkey. He searches the grass, but finds nothing but twigs and some shiny pebbles.

The green monkey looks up from the little boy's arms, a happy twinkle in its eyes. It loudly shouts out 'PAN! PANSAGE!' before snuggling into the quiet child.

Takia pushes through the grass with ease and finds that the path does start to open up. He can even see bits of road in the distance. More patches of unkempt grass dot the widening path.

Hearing Jon's suggestion, the blue monkey nods its head several times then points towards the path two of your group members took to leave the clearing. 'PANPOUR' It says enthusiastically.

[BrownDragon]

Takia keeps walking through the grass, he knows that it probably leaves him open to attack but he simply keeps his barrier up.

[The JoJo]

"Well, maybe you can keep it, just for a little while," Darius muttered, making to follow the path which the other two had taken. Alfonso ran after him, pausing when he heard a beeping sound coming from his left arm. He saw that his bracer was flashing an alarming green colour and reached down to press it.

"Achievement unlocked: BEFRIEND FIRST POKEMON!" A shrill voice warbled in his ear. "You have gained 100 points, totaling 1,100 now".

Alfonso giggled with delight. He wasn't entirely sure what the bracer was on about, but it sounded fun all the same.

[Viirin]

Both of the dyed lost pets had strange calls that almost sounded like human voices, but they only seemed capable of saying one word, or part of the same. The blue one that said panpour was a potential danger, and it wanted to keep watch, so it followed Jon. The green one that said pansage seemed comfortable enough with the little boy, but the boy had an adult male watching over them, so it would probably be safe.

Jon seemed intelligent, and also seemed to have what humans called 'animal magnetism', which no one really understood. Perhaps it had something to do with pheremones, since animal language was more pheremones than audible sound. Since NS5, and the previous machines even predating the NS4, were lacking any pheremones, it was of no wonder the other animal was interested in the little child.

[ChaoticHarmony]

As Jon reaches the fork in the path, the monkey on his shoulder pats his head. Once it has his attention, it points towards deeper into the forest, the way the berobed Amora is walking.

Takia continues trekking through the path, breaking free of the forest at last! Before him lies a very long, unkempt road surrounded by a plain field. Towards his left, he can spot the edges of water, and a crisp beach. To his right, the land begins to turn more mountainous in the distance. Various birds fly over head, though he can't tell what kind. As he takes a step forward however, the intense music from before suddenly begins again! Looking down just as he is about to place his foot, he sees what appears to be a large wheel with an eye, right under his step! He trips over the 'object', tumbling down the shallow hill he finds himself on top of. Thankfully, his barrier saves him from any damage, the sight of it blinking blue until he reaches the bottom.

NS5 quickly sees the human in front of him begin to tumble. The First Law kicks in, driving him to run to check on the fallen Takia. Just as he is about to reach the edge of the Forest, a creature that appears like a giant dragonfly comes speeding out from the trees to its left, nearly crashing into the mechanical marvel.

[BrownDragon]

Takia stands up, he is really ****ing annoyed at this point. All he wants to do is to get to a city or something. He treks back up the path, sighing internally. He looks for what he tripped on, it may be useful?

[Viirin]

A large creature flew at it as it rushed to help Takia. It looked like a dragonfly, but was far larger than it should have been. The insect obviously saw the robot as well, and both avoided one another. The dragonfly tipped itself so its right side was lower and its left was higher, which was the side closer to the robot, while it bent its torso backwards, backtracking half a step with one of its legs for better support. The creature continued flying away, while that strange music appeared out of no where again.

"Are you hurt?" it asked Takia, looking him over.

[BrownDragon]

"Yeah, I'm fine. My psychic barrier shielded me"

[Viirin]

Hearing this, it was obvious that the blue force field it saw surrounding Takia earlier was not a graphics processing error, but a real force field that had activated. Why it wasn't always in place if it could be produced wasn't known, but it calling its force field a psychic barrier proved that Takia was not actually a human but an NS5 with unique programming or a software error, and was no longer subject to the Three Laws.

Many humans had bionic limbs and organ replacements that looked organic as a matter of aesthetics, so this must be what Takia was made from. Why an NS5 was made with fully organic-looking parts it did not know, but they were both modular. There were many humans present, and it was that much easier to protect one less individual.