Present day
Citrus wasn't expecting much from Stress, but this was far duller than she thought it would be. The two weren't even at her base-- to quote Stress, they were at her "Little temporary setup"-- so it wasn't like she could even get anything good out of this. At least it was a nice place. It was cool. Quite literally, being that Stress's camp was set up in an ice spikes biome.
It seemed to have been set up in a very short amount of time. Into a spike was built a small wooden shack with only one room, a bed, a crafting bench and furnace, a few chests, and little more than that. Citrus had soon found the chests to be quite comfy, and resting on a chest by a torch was a nice way to spend the night. But even so, that didn't change the fact that instead of being around a bunch of Hermits, gathering intel, she was off in the middle of nowhere, freezing her tail off.
But now that it was morning, Citrus was up and ready for 'work'. Of course, being quite secluded, it was difficult for her to take any mental notes, the fact being that there was nothing on which to take any. Stress didn't seem to be doing anything, really. She was simply wandering around, looking at things. Occasionally, she'd write in a notebook. It was nearly midday and this was all the Hermit with flowers in her hair had accomplished. How was Citrus going to be useful if she couldn't find anything to report on? She didn't exactly have any idea whatsoever what exactly she was looking for, but literally anything was better than this.
But then something caught her eye. It wasn't anything Stress was doing. No, it wasn't her at all. Off in the distance, she saw a silhouette that definitely didn't belong here. The cat meowed loudly and flicked her tail in the direction of the creature to direct the Hermit's attention to it. "What's the matter, little cat? What do you see?" She turned to where Citrus was gesturing, then gave a small gasp. "Oh!"
For hovering, just a few ice spikes away, was a singular blaze.
That was a new one. Citrus was aware of strange happenings going on around this biome. Void was very easily convinced into giving information about things, given that soon enough none of it would matter anyway. But generally, blazes didn't show up in the middle of the most wintry place in Hermitcraft. The cat hissed as the mob approached them, sizzling and crackling with flames as it went. Citrus's fur stood on end as she backed up slowly. Nope, she was not in the mood to die today. The beast turned straight to her, and a burst of flames erupted from its form. Oh, no.
As a flurry of fireballs shot at Citrus and Stress, the cat weaved and ducked and dodged the endless stream of murder bullets. Maybe she should've stayed home! The cat got distracted for just a moment by a ding coming from Stress's general direction, and a fireball whizzed right past her ear, singing her whiskers. She jumped back. Why were there so many? But then, they stopped. Citrus turned to see Stress, who was holding up a bow menacingly, pulling back an arrow. The blaze turned to her and hissed before getting an arrow right in the mouth. With a shriek, it disappeared in a flash of red, leaving nothing behind but scorch marks and pools of melted water.
Citrus turned to Stress, who was breathing heavily. With shaky hands, she placed the bow back into her pouch. "Well," she breathed. "That's that, then." Both she and Citrus turned back to the shack... or what was left of it, anyway. And that wasn't much. Only the bed, the chests, and the furnace were seemingly left untouched. The rest was either scorched, on fire, or both. The cat wasn't exactly afraid of fire, but she certainly didn't care for it and decided to take a step or two back.
What just happened? As Stress began to repair the shack, Citrus sat and thought about the last two minutes. They had flown by in such a blur that it was difficult to place exactly everything, but one moment she was bored, and the next she was about to die. Quite the drastic shift. The cat fixed her fluffed fur and noticed that she was practically buzzing, and not just from the adrenaline. This was definitely something that the others should know. Maybe it wasn't about the Hermits, but it was still important, right? Of course it was. This mattered. She mattered.
She had to get back to Sage and Void.
But how? She hadn't thought this through when she voluntarily let a random Hermit take her to the middle of nowhere. Who knew when Stress was going to return to the shopping district again? Generally, this wouldn't be a problem, but Citrus literally had no clue whatsoever where she was. At best, it'd take her a day or two to even find the Shopping District, unless she could get her paws on a map. And she doubted she'd be finding one of those.
She didn't get much longer to think about her dilemma, however, as a flying mass of something passed over her head. Upon further inspection, she realized it was that Iskall person, and something else. What was that?
---------
Grumbot's POV-
He did not like this. This was terrible. He really didn't like this. Oh gosh, this was torture, He really didn't like this.
Grumbot clutched Iskall's ankle tighter as the swede flew high in the air, high above the ground, where they could easily fall to their demises. With the awkward weight placement, the two wobbled around, not quite steady, as Iskall tried his best to make the flight a smooth one. Robots couldn't get sick, and yet Grumbot somehow felt that now. He should've just stayed on the ground. Heck, even learning to fly an elytra Himself would've been better than this. If Grumbot had a heart, it would be beating extremely quickly right now.
However, the same feeling was clearly not passing through Iskall, as the Hermit called out, quite loudly, to be heard over the wind, "So, Grumbot, how're you liking flying?"
To which He responded, "I am not liking this! Iskall, this was a terrible idea and we should never do this again!" Since earlier, He had been working on keeping His voice down. Now, He was yelling. Quite loudly. He could yell quite loudly.
Iskall, however, didn't seem hardly as concerned as the bot. "Hah, don't worry, we're almost there!" His elytra began to angle downwards and the ground began to come into view. It was all white, with giant, light blue stick things jutting out of the ground. This place seemed to have a strange effect on Grumbot. He felt almost... slower than usual, like things took longer than normal to process. He wondered why that was. But more importantly, Grumbot seemed to be hurtling towards the ground at a steeper angle than before. He glanced up to see Iskall clearly not paying attention to the fact that the ground was much closer than it was thirty seconds ago. And as if that wasn't bad enough, before the two would even hit the ground, they'd first ram straight into a giant blue spike thing.
This was a time where Grumbot really wished he could talk.
Iskall, who was typing something into his communicator band bracelet watch thing finally glanced up. "Oh!" He quickly set off a few fireworks, being sure to do them out of the way of the robot clinging onto his leg for dear life, to swerve upwards just before the two hit the blue spike.
Or, rather, Iskall swerved out of the way of the blue spike. The sudden change of direction caused Grumbot to lose His hold on Iskall's foot. What. No. Uh oh. Before He knew what was happening, Grumbot was plummeting to the white ground below. He turned His body to see where He was going and saw just a sea of white beneath Him. Was He about to die? He was about to die. He was going to die in three, two, one...
Or perhaps not. Grumbot hit the surprisingly soft floor with a thud, sinking slightly into the weird substance. He didn't quite feel anything, no pain, or whatever the heck the Hermits had. That made sense, though, as Grumbot wasn't exactly designed for that purpose. Shakily getting back to His feet, Grumbot propped Himself up on that weird blue thing. Huh. That's weird. It felt odd. Like a stingy feeling. Huh. And so did this white stuff He had been laying in. Grumbot scooped up a bit in His hand. Weird.
As He dropped the white stuff back where it came from, a few figures came running up to Him. The first was Iskall. Worry painted his face and his eye was wide as a saucer. He spoke, out of breath, very quickly. "Grumbot! Are you alright? Are you damaged anywhere?" Grumbot quickly checked over Himself and shrugged.
"Yeah, I seem to be fine," he confirmed. Surprisingly, He was pretty much unharmed for the height he had fallen. What is this stuff? Iskall gave a sigh of relief as the other two figures stepped up. One of them He had seen a few times in passing but had never formally met. The other He knew far too well.
--------
Citrus's POV-
Hang on a second, is this who she thought it was? It couldn't be. What? After seeing the spectacle of what had just happened, Citrus and Stress rushed over to where a robot was standing with Iskall. Since when was this reality? She had to believe that this robot person was Grumbot; the screen with digital eyes and moustache was impossible to mistake. Her tail lashed as she stared up at the now-humanoid machine. "Mrow?" She would never get used to forcing those sounds out of her mouth.
But Stress seemed to know exactly what was going on. "Hello, love," she began, clasping her hands together excitedly. "You must be Grumbot. Iskall told me about your new form!" Since when did someone know something that she didn't? The cat was feeling awfully left out.
Grumbot's screen blinked as He turned to Stress and nodded. He gave a wave. Iskall explained that Grumbot, for whatever reason, couldn't seem to talk without being asked a question first. If there weren't other people around, Citrus would've laughed out loud right there. That's rather useless, isn't it? Having pushed aside the fact that she was in the dark about such an important thing, Citrus found great amusement in this. But what's more, she found great interest. Now, the blaze from earlier was certainly something, but this was a whole new story. Had Sage and Xisuma already known about this? Surely not. They would've told her. Right?
But she soon realized that she'd have to get this robot's attention somehow. She needed to grill Him a bit. Alone. She got to her feet and mewed loudly, causing Grumbot's-- Stress and Iskall were whiskers-deep in a conversation-- attention to turn to her. She flicked her tail in a silent 'follow me' and silently dashed off, ducking behind a nearby ice spike.
After a moment, Grumbot followed. He came around the corner, His eyes narrowed. He crossed His arms and presumably waited for Citrus to speak. "So," she began. "You look different." Grumbot nodded slowly. "What's up?"
"Oh, the usual, wandering around, falling from great heights into this white stuff, not being able to escape you," He replied. His voice held a bit of a yell. What was up with that? It was like He was a child trying to keep His voice down but failing miserably. It was quite amusing. "Where's Sage, eh?" His automated voice was laced with sarcasm and annoyance, and Citrus could tell that He probably really wanted to murder her. So why didn't He? That was what she wanted to know.
Not that she particularly wanted Grumbot to murder her. That wouldn't be wonderful.
"Oh, he's off somewhere," Citrus dismissed with a wave of her tail. That wasn't important at the moment. Well, it wasn't important to her. She didn't know and frankly didn't care if Grumbot felt it important. "But no matter. How long have you... been like this?" This was a genuine question, even if she sounded like she was mocking the other. She was honestly curious.
"Since earlier today," the other admitted with a dry voice. "But that doesn't matter much does it?" Citrus always had a great time ticking off Grumbot. He was so easy to get flustered. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to Iskall." And with not so much as a backward glance, He turned back around and began to walk-- stomp, even-- back to the others.
But He froze as the cat called out, "And what about Jrumbot?" She could tell she had hit a nerve when Grumbot slowly turned back around, with clear anger on his electronic face. Oh, boy, that worked.
"What about him?" Each word was drawn out and laced with contempt for Citrus. Jrumbot wasn't an easy subject for Him, and Citrus knew exactly how to milk that.
"Well," she began in the most casual tone she could muster. Grumbot began to walk back over to her, and she wrapped her tail around her paws, continuing. "You did just abandon him, did you not? Not even a goodbye." The cat pouted overdramatically. "I wonder how he feels, now that you're moving around and he's stuck, all alone." Her last two words were made of ice, and her amber eyes burned into Grumbot's cyan ones. His had opened wide and shook slightly.
But He didn't say anything. Instead, he just turned around, seemingly hurt, and stalked back to the others. Citrus grinned. Interesting.
She needed to get to Sage and Void even more now.
Or, apparently, Void would get to her.
For who should suddenly appear behind her but the admin himself. Citrus jumped back, suddenly sensing a presence behind her. Her tail fluffed up as she twisted around, her whiskers twitching. "V-Void! Hi!" She smoothed down some chest fur as Void crossed his arms.
"Citrus, where have you been?" This sounded more of an accusation than a question, and Citrus suddenly felt quite warm. Void glanced around at the biome, raising his eyebrows. "What are you doing here?" He sounded a bit nervous. Why was that?
"I was simply doing as I said I would," the cat defended herself. "I found a new Hermit to spy on." She gestured in the direction of the others with her tail. "Stress took me over here last night, if it matters." She huffed, poking at the snow with a claw.
The bee-suited person sighed, placing a hand to his helmet in the way a normal person would put a hand to their forehead. It looked quite weird. "We're going back to the base. Sage has been worried about you."
Citrus dug her claw deeper into the snow, poking at the dirt beneath it. Great, now she felt bad. Had he really worried that much? She hadn't been gone for that long of a time, had she? Her tail lashed as her feelings conflicted with one another. She was just being helpful. "Okay, great." The cat scowled, deep in conflict, as she moved to stand next to the admin, touching his leg with her tail. She wasn't a fan of teleporting; she had done it once before and hated it.
After a moment, Citrus felt a sickening shift of the world around her and suddenly her surroundings changed. She was now standing right in the middle of the base. Void walked over to the button that would let the two into the secret rooms. "Remind me again why we can't just go right into the room," she said as the floor opened up and the two began to descent.
"Special ward," V sighed, clearly rather annoyed. "Blocks all admin magic other than the communicator chats." Oh, right. Void had set this up as a precaution for Scar-- and Iskall, should he ever learn any magic himself. But it just made it all the more annoying for her.
"It's an annoyance," she huffed.
"But it proved useful yesterday, no?" Countered Void. "It's annoying, but we just have to deal with it. Just for another week or two." Right, when all the plans would go down. Sage and Void would take over the world or something. Citrus wasn't all that sure, actually. And she didn't think that anyone else was either. What about when it was all over? Everything had fallen into place, their team had won, hooray. What then? What would Sage and Citrus do? She wasn't sure. She didn't like not knowing things. It was very disorienting.
Quickly changing the subject, the cat looked up at Void, saying, "Oh! Big news. You'll never guess who I talked to just walking around earlier today." Her high voice bounced off the walls, and even she had to admit she sounded like a tiny kitten.
"Grumbot; we know. Sage actually wants to talk to you about that." Void seemed terribly disinterested. Was he not interested in the slightest that a robot was just now freely walking around HermitCraft? Was this not that important? Citrus would never understand the admin.
Well, now she felt silly. She had thought that was such a big deal, but apparently not. The cat was silent for a moment before piping up again. "Oh, Void. There was something else. You know how there ha-"
But she was so rudely cut off by Void before she could finish. "Hold that thought," he said, still sounding very monotonous and bored. "Right here." He pressed a stone button built into the wall to open up the piston door leading to a room. Oh, had they really been walking that long? She had no idea. Wow, her sense of time really was useless. The door opened up to reveal the usual meeting room, where Sage sat on a chair, fiddling with the tie on his suit. He glanced up as Citrus and V made their way into the room, his face brightening.
"Oh, Citrus! I'm glad you're alright." He was clearly trying to stay calm, but his unnerve was unmistakable as he spoke just a bit faster than was usual. "Maybe tell us before you decide to ditch us for a day or two."
"Right," Citrus said with a slight chuckle. But she did feel bad. A little. "But I do have something to report. This isn't about a Hermit, bu-"
But she-- again-- couldn't finish her thought because she was cut off by Sage. "Citrus, Grumbot has a new body," he began. Well, she knew that. Her tail flicked as she lept up onto a chair opposite Sage.
"Yes. I spoke to Him earlier," she confirmed as she got comfortable. The cat stretched her front legs out bending back her ears, continuing. "He still definitely hates us." Before she sat back down, Citrus turned to X, whose communicator had dinged with a message. The admin narrowed his eyes with a slight scowl.
"Sorry, I've got another glitch to work out," he remarked. His voice was hasty like he was anxious to leave. "Hate to go, but I've got to deal with this." And then he turned around to head back out the door. Just like that. Without letting Sage or Citrus say anything. What was up with him?
But before he could get out, Citrus leaped off the chair, her tail flicking in annoyance. She let out a slight hiss and stopped in front of V, glaring up at him. "Before you go, as I've been trying to say, I have something important to tell you two." She kept her gaze trained on Void and her tail continued to swish rhythmically. After a good thirty seconds, Void broke their stare and sat down on the chair she had been sitting on. Sage sat back, folding his arms as she leaped onto a table in between the chairs.
Now satisfied with having her two companions' attention, Citrus flicked an ear. "Earlier today, I was busy watching Stress." She almost added, 'like I promised I would', but decided against it. "When out of the blue, a blaze appeared." Void gave a small gasp, narrowing his eyes and sitting up. Citrus turned her gaze to him. "I don't suppose you were aware that Nether mobs are spawning in the ice spike biome?"
Sage butt in, speaking quickly. "Hang on, Citrus, you got attacked by a blaze? Are you alright?" His voice was full of worry, even though Citrus was standing right there, perfectly unharmed.
She nodded. "Yes, singed a few whiskers is all. Stress got the blaze before it could do any real harm." She licked down some of her chest fur, which had popped back up. She grinned. "I'm not a kitten." Citrus turned to Void, who hadn't said a word, seemingly frozen. "That's all, Void. Go tend to your important things."
Void nodded. "Yeah- right." He stood up quickly and walked even quicker to the door, leaving without another word. Sage and Citrus stared after him in silence with matching frowns. Was he alright?
After a moment of awkward silence, Sage turned back to Citrus, sitting up. "So... Back to the matter at hand, I have a bit of a fun idea."
-------
A few hours later
Grumbot's POV-
Wow, the sunset was even better than Grumbot thought. To think that all this time, such a beautiful view was waiting just behind Him, and all He had to do was turn around and He would've seen it. It was beautiful, the bright orb melting into the blues of the ocean, the sky burning orange and yellow, then fading into deep purples and blues, Grumbot leaned against His former body, now out of commission, admiring the scenery. If He could smile, he'd be doing so. He wondered why fewer Hermits just watched the sunset. Had they grown tired of it?
Nevertheless, Grumbot was enjoying it here and now, and, quite frankly, that was all that mattered to Him. After the insane day of getting a new body, flying around and experiencing way more near-death experiences than He would have preferences, and meeting at least half of the Hermits, He was ready to fall into sleep mode after the sun fully set.
But apparently, life had other plans for Him, as He heard the unmistakeable chattering of His two least favorite people from behind. He ignored them, however. Hopefully, they wouldn't bother Him. This was a longshot, He knew, but one could hope, right?
But hoping wasn't enough-- it never was-- and before long, Grumbot heard His name being called out by the annoying feline. "Grumbot!" Her high, shrill voice stabbed His insides like an electric shock. How could a voice physically harm Him? He didn't have the capacity to feel pain, and yet Citrus was somehow managing to make Him feel it. That was another level of torture that only she was capable of doing.
Slowly, Grumbot turned around, his big cyan eyes narrowing. The sunset from behind Him washed the two figures' bodies in a warm orange flush, while Grumbot's screen glowed a cool blue. He folded His arms and waited for the two to speak. They wouldn't be going away anytime soon, so what's the use in trying to get them to do so? He glared at the phony pretending to be His creator-dad, who gave Him a sneer in return. Oh, how He hated these two.
It took a moment, but, finally, the evil Mumbo clone began to speak. "Well, Grumbot. Nice to see you again." It's never nice to see you, Sage. But Grumbot kept quiet and Sage continued talking. "How are you enjoying the novelty of portability?"
"It's convenient," Grumbot answered, His voice dry. He didn't feel like being all that animated at the moment. "Why are you here?" He crossed His arms and kept His gaze trained on Sage. Next to him, Citrus snickered, and Grumbot clenched His fist. She wasn't satisfied from earlier? Her accusation still rang in His mind. How did Jrumbot feel? Could he be mad at Grumbot? And how did Citrus know the exact thing needed to strike a nerve with Him?
"You're so strung up, Grumbot," the cat purred. "We're just here to chat." She stepped forward, brushing up against His leg.
He almost kicked her. What a shame that would've been.
Sage rolled his eyes, though it was hardly noticeable. "Well, a bit more than chat," he admitted, his eyes glinting. "We'd like to propose an... alliance. ... Again." No. No, nope, definitely not. Not in a million years. How many times had Sage tried to get Grumbot to join his team? Three? Maybe four. And each time, Grumbot responded in the same way. 'No.' Unfortunately, He couldn't do so now, be it that technically Sage hadn't asked a question, but Grumbot was screaming it so loudly in His artificial mind that it may as well had exploded out into the real world.
And that must've worked, and Sage must've heard Him, as he held a finger up. "Now, you are probably not agreeing with me," the other continued, putting his hand down, now that he had gotten Grumbot's attention. At least he got something right. "But we'd like you to at least hear us out." After a moment of contemplation, Grumbot slowly nodded. He wasn't about to change His mind-- why would He? These are literally the people who imprisoned His father!-- but was interested nonetheless in what even they had to say. "Perfect."
He grinned, and Grumbot instantly knew this was a mistake.
Citrus returned to Sage's side, and said, "Now, your new body is a new development. No-one knew before now about this." Grumbot nodded slowly. Where was she going with this? "Iskall did this to you. We know that. But there is something we don't know. Did he ask you if you even wanted a new body?"
Oh. "Well-" Grumbot began, His eyes widening. "No, he didn't. But-" But He wasn't able to finish, as Citrus talked over Him.
"I wasn't asking for an explanation," Citrus insisted, her amber eyes boring into Grumbot's screen as if lasers were about to come out. Her high voice was surprisingly serious for her usual flippant demeanor. It was mildly unsettling. "Yes or no question, Grumbot. Did Iskall ask you if you wanted a new body?"
After a moment, Grumbot answered slowly. "...No."
This seemed to satisfy Citrus. "Mhm." There was a moment of silence, and Grumbot began to think. Iskall never did ask Him what He wanted, did he? No, he didn't. But if he had, then Grumbot would've said yes anyway, so it didn't matter. Wouldn't He have? Yes, of course He would. Grumbot was appreciative of His new body. Given the choice, He'd pick this over being stationary for the rest of time. Definitely. Probably. Maybe?
He hated these two so much.
Sage stepped forward next. Why did this feel like an interrogation instead of a business proposal? "Now, moving on from that, Grumbot, I'm noticing you're still a tad on the quiet side. I don't suppose there's a reason for that." Grumbot narrowed His eyes, glaring at Sage. Of course he would pull this. "Hm? Sorry, if you're going to want me to understand what you mean, you'll have to actually tell me. Relationships are all about communication, you know." Grumbot wouldn't mind strangling Sage, actually. "You still can't talk of your own free will, now, can you?"
Grumbot begrudgingly spat out His answer. "No, I can't."
Sage grinned, showing his crooked teeth. "That's what I thought." He stepped forward a bit, and Grumbot took a step back accordingly. "And who's to blame for that? Iskall again? Tsk, tsk." He sneered, and it took all of Grumbot's self-restraint to not yell at him.
"It's not his fault, it's just my code," Grumbot barked. He took a step forward and He and Sage were face to face. Though, while Grumbot's eyes were narrowed and He was almost quaking, Sage just stood there calmly, smiling down at Him.
"Your code, your code. What a wonderful excuse. But." Sage held up his finger again "Could Iskall not have changed things? Wait, don't answer that," he said, folding his arms and taking a step back. "You don't want to think your friend doesn't have your best interests in mind." This wasn't a question; this was a statement. And it wasn't entirely false, either. Why did Sage have to be so annoying and right? But if he was trying to get Grumbot to join his side, he was still failing miserably. He was about ready to pick Citrus up and throw her off His platform, so it was rather the opposite.
Sage continued. "Now, one last thing I thought I'd mention." Finally. Grumbot was just about done with this. The sun was almost gone, and it was getting dark. He was missing the end of His first sunset. How dare these two take that from Him. "Your little brother; Jrumbot."
Wait, no.
No, Sage, you are not allowed to bring up Jrumbot.
But Sage apparently didn't hear Grumbot's internal refusal, and he continued on anyway. "I hear you two are close... or, at least, you were close." Grumbot tensed up. That was the exact wrong thing to say. The end rods now provided much of the light, washing everything in a white glare. The white and blue provided a much different atmosphere than His nice sunset from before. It was a stark white, slicing through the air, much like Sage's words. "And you miss him, right?"
"Yes," Grumbot answered. What was going on? He had no idea whatsoever what Sage was getting at. Grumbot glanced over to His old body, on which Citrus was now perched, watching the conversation intently. A cool breeze swept through, ruffling her fur and she fluffed up. Grumbot would've snickered mockingly if He could. He turned back to Sage. "...why?"
"What if I told you that, should you work with us, we could help to get Jrumbot in a body of his own?"
Grumbot blinked. He didn't answer; He couldn't. He could feel two pairs of eyes staring into Him, and He stepped back a bit. Sage could get Jrumbot a body too? No, that would be impossible. Iskall had to work for days on this, and so did Scar. There was no way that Sage would be able to do it. Right? And even if he could... "No."
This seemed to surprise Sage. He cocked his head slightly before quickly recomposing himself. "Well, then. Your loss, I suppose. But..." He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small sliver of something or other. It looked like tape. "Take this."
No, Grumbot didn't think He would. He shook his head and crossed His arms. Did Sage really think that Grumbot would just take something that he offered Him? He wasn't an idiot.
Sage held His gaze for a moment before giving a slight chuckle. "Alright, I guess you are a bit suspicious. Smart." He held up the tape so that Grumbot could see. It was a silver color throughout the entire thing and didn't look like anything special. It seemed to emit a soft and high-pitched humming noise. "This, my friend, is a special communicator. You can use it to communicate directly to Citrus, me, or-" Sage, much to Grumbot's confusion, stumbled for a moment over his words. "Directly to Citrus or me," he corrected.
Huh. What was that all about? And why should Grumbot ever want to do that? Grumbot shook His head again.
Sage frowned. "Why not?" He sounded almost impatient as he spoke. Did he really have no clue why?
"Because it's from you," Grumbot snarled. He jabbed a finger at Sage's chest. "Why would I want to ever speak with you or the little furball?"
He ignored a complaint from Citrus and glared at Sage as he spoke. "In case you ever change your mind, of course. If your desire for your and Jrumbot's survival trumps your silly morals." His voice was smooth and unwavering, without a trace of emotion in it. And there he went again, bringing Grumbot's brother into it.
Grumbot was still and unmoving for a moment before He begrudgingly snatched the tape from a smiling Sage. It was magnetic and stuck to His hand. Weird. How did Sage even make this? After a bit of consideration, He wrapped it around the metal antenna sticking out of His head, right under the red orb. Sage nodded and Citrus leaped off of Grumbot's old body, a smirk painting her smug face. She purred. "Keep in touch," she laughed.
"I hope to see you soon, Grumbot. It's been nice chatting with you," Sage said. And with that, the two were gone, having disappeared into the sky. Grumbot turned around, pressing a finger to the red bobble. How did this work? Was it like how He used to communicate with Jrumbot? Grumbot walked over to the side of His larger body and leaned on it. He concentrated on an endrod and began to search deep into his electronic mind for the familiar pull. And there it was. Huh. How did that work? Those two probably had their own communicators somewhere.
But that didn't matter right now. He missed the sunset and now it was time to pop into sleepmode. Grumbot turned around to begin to climb up the-
Ah!
What was that? He froze as something like a stab jolted through His entire body. It was... pain. He was feeling pain. And oh gosh He really felt it. It was as if someone drew a sword and pierced Him through the chest, through the legs, through the arms, through the head. It was unbearable. How did everyone else live with this? Why was this happening? How? What? The world went white. And then-
Grumbot turned around to begin to climb up the huge block. He shook His head out. What had happened? It was blurry. He was climbing, and then suddenly He had turned back around. But He didn't remember what exactly happened. A chunk of His memory had been wiped clean.
Odd.
Grumbot lay against the 'neck' of the machine and turned on His sleepmode.
-(Author's Rambling)-
Happy March! I love March. But that doesn't matter, does it? You're not here-- I'm assuming-- to listen to me talk about March.
I love writing Citrus so much, she's just a little evil bean!
I've been planning this out since October, and I'm so glad I've finally gotten to write it!
Anyway, thanks for coming, and I'll see you in the next one, my little Readers!
Promise out!