The Glorious Championship! [S3G5] [Round... Uh, Seven? The Oasis]

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

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AMP sat back and let the debate between his competitors flow over him, taking the opportunity to gain more insight into their personalities. Gaurinn: Abrasive, callous, informal, complains, may underestimate my abilities. Could be useful. Elimine piped up, and AMP shifted his focus to her. Elimine Fraze: Apologetic, skeptical, diplomat, people-pleaser. Basic team material. He fired off a response he hoped would get her on his side, and was rewarded well enough for him to call it a success. Capricous. Elimine turned to Cailean, and one of AMP's cameras did as well. Cailean Lachlan: Stoic, knife fetish. More information required.

"More the merrier, lass. Let’s have him along."

AMP's center mass dipped slightly in as much of a bow as he could manage. "Many thanks, new allies. Now, shall we be on our way?" Noises of consent came from the group, and AMP hovered in the air patiently as he waited for someone to move.

After a few awkward moments without movement, Cailean coughed and shifted. "So, uh, you have anywhere in mind, AMP?"

One of the cameras tracked his face quizzically. "I am ambivalent as to our next location, Sir Lachlan." AMP moved to hover next to the door leading to the room he had exited before the others appeared. "However, I have already scouted this path and found only a damaged information box." He paused, then swiveled the camera towards Gaurinn. "Noble Gaurinn, perhaps you could repair it?"

Gaurinn scuttled over to the door and peered in. "Why ask me to--Christ, there's a dead guy in here." He turned back to AMP. "Did you kill that dude?"

AMP rolled back into the room. "No, he was deactivated when I found him."

Elimine and Cailean joined them. "Deactivated and dead are two different things, AMP." Cailean knelt to examine the body while Elimine and Gaurinn took a look at the computer. "Yep, it's busted. Seems fine on the outside, though. Too bad, I bet we could have used it to at least get a map or something." She turned back to AMP. "Did you get anything from it or was it useless when you got here."

"It is possible my magnetic field had an adverse effect on its processing ability, Lady Fraze." AMP rolled closer to the computer. "Is it repairable, Noble Gaurinn?"

Gaurinn looked back at him bemusedly. "How should I know? I can't even type on a keyboard, much less fix a computer."

AMP paused. "Was your specialty not electronics?"

"Electronics...what? No, that's electricity, pal."

AMP quickly corrected the entry in his database. "I see. Thank you."

"Whatever." Guarinn snaked his way out of the room. "There's nothing here, let's go." Cailean shrugged and stood up from the body, then followed, along with Elimine and AMP. Gaurinn opened the other door just as they entered the main room, and they arrived in time to see him dive to the side as a pair of robotic pitbulls dived out at him. Electricity crackled from Gaurinn's body, and a bolt of lightning connected him and the nearest robot briefly. It jerked around for a few moments and thin wisps of smoke emerged from its joints. One of its legs went stiff, but it proved itself perfectly capable of attacking regardless, leaping at Gaurinn despite the loss of limb, albeit in a rather jerky fashion. The other ran at the trio watching the spectacle.

AMP immediately began calculating. His electrically-driven thoughts, moving at the speed of light, made the robot dogs' movements seem almost slothlike in comparison. The one approaching Gaurinn is a top priority. The one approaching us is a secondary priority. Two mental trajectory lines sketched out the motion paths of the dogs, while similar lines highlighted the possible intercept courses he could place components from his metal cloud in. AMP only took a few nanoseconds to decide on the best course of action.

Less than a second after the dog leaped at Gaurinn, a chunk of metal the size of a computer monitor slammed into it, knocking it backwards. By the time it hit the ground, a few crude spikes had found their way into its head and chest, the most logical places for critical components to be stored. A moment later, the dog charging at the trio was also hit in the face with a magnetically propelled chunk, crushing its head and stopping it dead in its tracks. Without missing a beat, AMP rolled over the nearest dog and began tearing into its lifeless chassis with his metal cloud, breaking the body down and absorbing the broken shards.

Cailean stopped reaching for his knife and Elimine dropped her hand from her trombone. Gaurinn snaked around the destroyed dog chassis near him, expression indecipherable, until AMP finished with the other dog and moved on to the one near Gaurinn. Once he had finished and the clangs of metal clashing against metal subsided, he noted that he had become the center of attention. "Is something the matter, allies?"

Cailean coughed. "Ah, nothing. We best be moving on, methinks." He hastily made his way towards the door, followed by Elimine, Gaurinn, and a somewhat confused AMP.