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Over the period of a month, Xenon and Sarge kept in contact. The two discussed any information they received on “Project: Begin Purging Humans”. While Xenon would always pose the questions, Sarge always had answers. These were answers he wished he didn’t know. He wanted to be completely ignorant of what was happening right under his nose. Maybe then, he wouldn’t have gotten himself into this mess in the first place.

The following few days, Sarge had been setting up preparations. He communicated with law enforcement, the city hall, and even the military to scout out any signs of the robotic production line. As for himself, he staked out potential venues in his city. He hoped from the bottom of his heart that the automation had actually finished with his and Chomby’s two-man raid on the Epstein Warehouse a year ago, but he was doubtful that it truly had.

Tonight, he had to revisit that very place. Standing on the scaffolding next to a broken down window, Sarge recollected everything up to this point.

At every step of the process to get here, people showed extreme concern.

“You never told me what happened to you when you went to that warehouse a year ago. But out of respect for you, I didn’t ask.” Stacy had told Sarge when he brought up his idea to investigate the Epstein Warehouse again. “But are you sure you can handle it? You’re one of our best detectives. We can’t afford to lose you again.

Sarge said he would leave immediately if anything went wrong.

“That name of yours isn’t really real you know, Mister Sergeant Wolf,” said Truance the military representative that Sarge conversed with the following day. “You, by all means, are just a civilian. It isn’t your responsibility to stop a robot apocalypse.”

Sarge agreed, but he knew he had to do something.

“Really, Sarge?” Xenon had asked him last night, flabbergasted by Sarge’s idea. “Sarge, you’ve lost Chomby before. What’s going to stop it from happening again?”

Sarge said he would escape at the first signs of a robot appearing.

“Then I can’t have you two go in alone,” Xenon replied. “I’ll meet you there tomorrow night at midnight.”

Then there was Chomby... He had talked with Chomby immediately after talking to Xenon.

“Sarge, I’m not strong enough to take on a robot again. Do you really think we can do this?” Chomby sounded unsure. “I can’t let you lose me again. I know that sounds selfish, but I mean… I can’t let your heart be broken if you lose another friend.”

“I won’t let it happen this time,” Sarge said dryly. “It’s just to check if the basement factory is operational again. At any signs of a robot of any kind, we will leave. This isn’t a shut down operation. It’s scouting. Find the status of something, then leave. I’m not going to don you at any point during this operation.”

“But why are you doing it again? Why are you going back there? Can’t you get someone else to check for you?” Chomby pleaded.

“If someone else goes in and gets hurt, then it would be my fault, Chomby. If I go, then no one else will have to get hurt.”

Chomby seemed dissatisfied with the answer.

Sarge took a deep breath. “Remember when you talked to the computer?”

“Not much at all, actually. I only remember seeing it from your eyes.” Chomby grumbled.

“You spoke to it. It understood you. It showed that it had the potential for compassion.”

“So we can add ‘AI can empathize with Chomby’ to the list of ever-growing weird facts about me! What are you getting at, Sarge? Talk with me!”

“I talked with the military, the authorities, the mayor’s office, anyone that had power. They’re ready for a fight.”

“And we aren’t. You’re just barely overweight and I’m still recovering. Neither of us can deal with a giant robotic destroyer.”

Sarge shook his head. “I’m not going to fight. I want to talk. If there is another computer in there just like that one you found, then it can be reasoned with. We don’t have to fight.”

“IF there is another computer in there. What will you do if there’s nothing?”

“I will leave. I can declare my job done. But, as far as any of us know, this is the only known site for robotic production. If a computerized entity wanted to mass produce robots quickly again, it’d need to start up from a place it already had going for it. So far, this is the place.”

“Sarge….” Chomby stared into Sarge’s eyes for a long moment before he snorted and looked away. “I’ll go with whatever you think is right, but please, promise me you’ll keep us both safe.”

“Of course, Chomby.”

Sarge felt his reality come back to him as the visions of his memories faded. His heart pounded heavily. When he looked through the broken window, he couldn’t see any signs of robots. That was a good start.

Sarge heard a knock from below. He looked down through the grate-like floor of the scaffolding. He could see the faintly-glowing, yellow eyes of Xenon.

Sarge gestured for Xenon to come up, so Xenon did.

“Well, seems you got here right on time,” Xenon smirked. “How long you actually been here?”

“Twenty minutes. It’s ten after midnight. I was just,” Sarge took a deep breath, “gumming up the courage to actually do this.”

“You don’t have to,” Xenon said. He looked into the warehouse. “Heck, I could just go in alone, if you’d like. I’m nowhere near the combatant that Chomby is, but I can hold my own in a fight.”

“No. Firstly, we aren’t fighting. Secondly, you are not going in alone.”

“Even if it’s just to talk?” Xenon asked. “I assume you’ve talked with Chomby about this.”

“At length.”

“And he said?”

“Same as everyone else. It’s not my job to do this.”

“Then why are you here?”

Sarge turned to the warehouse window. “Hope. If we can solve this with no casualties, I will take that option. It is the most logical one.”

“And you think you can do it?” Xenon asked.

“I can try, but only if there is actually a computer working in there.” Sarge looked up at Xenon, wanting to change the subject. “So why were you late?”

“Getting supplies.” Xenon nodded, putting a hand into his pocket. “Care to see what I got?”

“Sure.”

“Close your eyes.”

“How can I see it if you tell me to close my eyes?” Though Sarge was knowingly giving Xenon back-talk, he did as he was told.

He heard Xenon pull something out of his pocket. He then heard an object moving closer to his ear. And, within a quick second, he heard a snap and a sharp pain radiated from the bottom of his outer, right ear.

Sarge cringed. He opened his mouth to yelp but immediately felt a hand clamp it shut. His eyes began to water, so he opened his eyes.

Xenon was holding a hand to Sarge’s snout. “Earbuds earrings,” He whispered. “I figured that, since you talk to Chomby through his headphones, that he could talk to you through yours.”

“Xenon, I don’t WEAR earrings!” Sarge hissed, grabbing his earlobe. “If I wanted a piercing, I would have gone to a professional!”

“Oops.” Xenon shrugged. “Just give it a try. I want to see if it works!”

“And if it doesn’t, you just gave me an ear piercing for no reason.” Sarge glowered at Xenon before closing his eyes. When he saw Chomby in the mindscape, he quickly explained what was going on.

“Earrings?” Chomby chuckled. “You want me to talk to you through your new fashion accessory?”

“Not my choice! Just try to talk to me,” Sarge said.

“I don’t know how.” Chomby shrugged. “How did you even learn to talk to me through my headphones?”

“Persistence. Just imagine you’re looking at your mouth and watching yourself say things. That’s how I do it.”

“Alright.” Chomby nodded.

Sarge opened his eyes. He rubbed his ear. He could feel his regeneration starting to take effect. Because of the metal rod, however, he felt his ear regenerate around it… now officially giving him a pierced ear.

“S-ssss-sssssssss-saaaaaarge?” Sarge heard from the earbud. He could feel it vibrating.

“Chomby? Is that you?” Sarge whispered.

“Y-yyyyy-yeessss?” Chomby replied.

“Oh my gosh, it actually works.” Sarge looked at Xenon in disbelief.

Xenon squinted his eyes in a humored tone. “Knew you’d like it! Congrats on your first piercing! Looks good on you.”

“Oh hush,” Sarge barked quietly. He then looked back into the warehouse. “Chomby, I know you could passively gain information from the jacket, but it seems you can actively hear things now. Could you hear Xenon?”

“Yesssss.”

“Xenon, can you hear Chomby?” Sarge asked.

“I cannot, no.” Xenon shook his head. “Maybe if I wore the jacket and had that earring I could.”

“We’ll see.” Sarge huffed. “Since both of you can now hear me, my plan is literally to sneak in, go down to the factory level, see if things are happening, then leave. Simple. Easy. No fighting.”

“And what if there are robots?” Xenon asked.

“I leave. We’d have our answer.”

“Nooooo talkiiing to the cooooommmmputttterrrr-r-r-r-r?” Chomby asked.

“Safety is top priority. We’re not going in guns blazing. We’re going in calm and collectively.” Sarge pointed a thumb to his chest. “We’re going in my way.”

He thought back to how he and Chomby raided the warehouse before. He’d planned for the two to sneak in through the broken window, make their way across the inner scaffolding, climb down the ladder at the other end, then make their way into the back where either the computer was being held or the robots were being made. If they ran into a robot, Sarge would zip into Chomby and Chomby would escape with his heightened speed. It was meant to be exactly what Sarge was trying to do here – no fighting. Just run.

But Chomby saw the robotic destroyer and felt a need to fight it. Despite Sarge’s desperate attempts to get Chomby to run away, Chomby stayed and insisted he stop it before it hurt anyone. Sarge reluctantly agreed.

Then they paid the price for it.

But this time, Sarge was ready. He knew exactly what he had to do and how he was going to do it.

“Ready?” Sarge asked.

Xenon nodded.

“Yes,” Chomby said.

Sarge pressed a hand against the broken window’s frame. He could see that the latch was undone, so the window opened up easily. He stepped over the bricks and gently dropped down onto the inner scaffolding. It was about three feet lower than the outside one. If he wanted to escape back up this way, he’d need to make a bigger jump. He noted this and began slinking down the walkway.

The warehouse was as abandoned as it had been the last time he came here. The only difference between now and then is that everything was now blackened, chipped, or broken from the battle Chomby and the robot had. Sarge imagined the fight playing out in real time as he observed the scene below. He remembered seeing Chomby dodge around boxes to avoid the robot’s claws and laser beam eyes. He then remembered Chomby sneaking behind the robot and blasting it with a strong sound wave. It crashed into the wall but wasn’t fully downed.

A small compartment opened up and a metallic ball on a pedestal rose out of it. It began letting off red sparks and then, within a moment, a blinding flash of light shot out in every direction, hitting every box… and then hitting Chomby.

That light… the EMP. That was what killed Chomby.

Sarge gripped around his jacket sleeve. His heart started to pound even harder than it had before.

“Ssssarge?” Chomby whispered through the earbuds. “I feeeeeel your heartbeeee-a-a-t rising. Your booooody temperattttture is getting coooooooooolder.”

Sarge hadn’t ever heard Chomby talk about what he felt when being worn. He closed one of his eyes and did his best to imagine the mindscape. He could vaguely see Chomby out of the corner of his eye. He only accessed his mindscape in this manner whenever he was in a stressful situation that required his focus. He found it extremely difficult to hold concentration, but he couldn’t talk out loud right now. “I’m just nervous,” Sarge said. “And sorry, can’t talk…”

“I know,” Chomby replied.

Sarge opened his eye again and continued slinking. He could see the ladder dipping down from the end of the walkway. The area seemed clear. He decided it was safe to continue and slowly descended the ladder. He continued to scan the warehouse for any sign of something abnormal. To his relief, he could not see any robots anywhere.

He dropped to the ground and backed up so Xenon could drop down as well. He then motioned Xenon toward the old, wooden door of the office. When the two arrived, he slowly creaked open the door, scanned the room, then walked inside. Xenon followed.

The room looked the same as it had been before. The motivational posters, neglected houseplant, and the wall panel were all still here. And then there was the computer again. It was still on the floor, smashed to pieces from when Chomby stomped it out beforehand. He could even see a bit of parted dust from where Chomby had...

Sarge shook his head and turned to the desk the computer had been on previously. To his dismay, or joy – he couldn’t quite tell, there was no new computer sitting on top of the desk.

Sarge felt Xenon’s hand on his shoulder. He turned to face Xenon and saw the alien’s expression. It was complex and difficult to read, but Sarge assumed it was worry. He had told Xenon about this room in great detail.

Sarge looked down at the ground, remembering the exact place Chomby’s body had given out before. He imagined seeing the body on the ground, cold and lifeless. He felt himself shudder and immediately grabbed at his mouth to stop himself from sobbing.

Xenon pulled Sarge into an embrace either to keep Sarge quiet or to comfort him. Sarge couldn’t tell which.

“Sssaaaaarge,” Chomby whispered. “I feeeeeel sadness. It’sss okayyyy, I’m heeere.”

Sarge closed his eyes to enter the mindscape. He saw Chomby standing in front of him.

“I… I can’t.” Sarge choked out, making sure he said it in his mind and not aloud. “I thought I was ready to come back… I thought I could-”

Chomby wrapped his arms around Sarge and placed his hand on the back of Sarge’s head. He then gently pushed Sarge’s head into his shoulder. “It’s okay, Sarge. It’s in the past now. But now, we should go. You clearly should not be the one to handle this.”

Sarge gritted his teeth. “I… I don’t want anyone to get hurt, though. If I could just-”

Sarge felt his body get shaken, forcing him out of the mindscape.

Xenon was looking at him with a frantic expression. Xenon then pointed out the wooden door to a set of boxes nearby.

Sarge squinted his eyes and focused his attention toward the boxes. He knew something was off immediately. There was a shadow projecting onto the boxes. The shadow was moving.

Xenon sneaked to the side of the door and grabbed a small, reflective mirror from his pocket. He looked down at it, angled the mirror, then immediately withdrew it back to his pocket. He looked at Sarge then bent his arms to ninety degrees and stiffly moved them up and down.

Robot.

Sarge bit his tongue. He was beginning to panic. He gestured to ask if it was big or small.

Xenon gestured it was big.

Sarge closed his eyes to talk to Chomby. “Robot. Big one.”

Chomby’s usual, angered expression turned into one of fear. His mouth began to quiver. “Destroyer?”

“Possibly. Maybe…. But we’re trapped in this room. It doesn’t have any windows or exits.”

“Maybe it doesn’t know we’re here?” Chomby asked.

“I don’t know. Did the destroyer have a heat sensor on it? If so, we’re screwed!”

“You remember more than I did, Sarge!” Chomby slapped a hand down on Sarge’s shoulder. “But you said so yourself, we need to get the heck out of dodge. NOW.”

“Can you run fast?” Sarge asked.

“I haven’t tested it. Assume the answer is no.”

“Okay.”

Sarge opened his eyes. He saw that the shadow’s position had changed. It appeared to be bigger now than it had been before. The robot was getting closer. At this point, it would be foolish to assume it couldn’t see them.

Sarge quickly snuck over to Xenon and started gesturing for the two to climb back up the ladder, run across the scaffold, and get out of the window.

Xenon nodded.

Sarge closed his eyes.

“Chomby, we have to hope it can’t see us… but it probably has. If it does see us, I will divert its attention. I’m going to give you to Xenon, just in case it tries to shoot off an EMP.”

Chomby’s eyes widened. “Excuse me, Sarge, but this is the opposite of what you said you were going to do!”

“This is a plan JUST IN CASE it sees us. It doesn’t mean it has!” Sarge tried to steady his breathing.

“What happened to your big plan on getting in and out without casualties?” Chomby barked.

“I actually wasn’t expecting there to be a robot, Chomby!” Sarge huffed. “I thought we would go in and find nothing.”

“If you expected that, then your plan to come in and check was a really stupid idea!” Chomby retorted. “Why did we even come back here then?!”

“Because I wanted to see this place again!” Sarge barked back.

“Why?!”

“BECAUSE OF YOU!” Sarge screamed into the mindscape. He could hear it echo around.

“Me? I’ve been telling you to NOT come back here! Everyone has!” Chomby’s eyes narrowed. Though he always looked angry, he now looked furious.

“No!” Sarge said, backing up. “What I meant was…” He quieted his tone. “I wanted to come back here… to see the place where you died… so I could stop worrying… and stop having the nightmares.”

“Nightmares?”

“Seeing you die, Chomby. Feeling our body die.” Sarge gripped a hand to his chest. “I keep having nightmares about it. I thought that seeing the place was empty, and that you weren’t on the ground, dead… and that you were safe with me… would help me get over them.”

“Nightmares.” Chomby repeated. “Why- why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Sarge didn’t answer. He merely looked at the ground.

“No, wait, let me guess,” Chomby groaned. “You didn’t want to have me shoulder your pain. Right. Xenon told me.”

Sarge felt himself getting shaken again. He opened his eyes and saw that Xenon was now frantically gesturing toward the ladder.

Xenon then immediately turned the corner and ran.

Sarge followed quickly after. His mind started seeing things in slow motion as he left the room. Every footstep he took felt impossibly slow. He could see the shadow on the boxes was now a lot darker. The robot was right outside.

When Sarge turned his head to the left, he saw the massive, imposing figure of a robot. Its body was shaped like a giant, black, carbon fiber barrel with two metal joints poking out of either end. Attached to these joints were two, giant arms, about the size of minivans. At the end of one arm was a metal claw. Sarge recognized this as the claw that could tear through anything. It was currently aimed at where Xenon and Sarge had been hiding moments before. On the other arm was something Sarge hadn’t ever seen before. It looked like some form of parabolic microphone. It had a large dish at the end with a small protrusion coming out of it. It was aimed up at Xenon. What even was that?

Sarge then noticed the robot’s head. It was small compared to the body. It didn’t even have a mouth. It had a laser-guidance system that pointed a beam of red light to wherever it was looking. To Sarge’s dismay, it was looking right at him. He remembered that this light wasn’t only the robot’s vision, but also to help with its heat laser. It tried to take Chomby out several times with this thing.

Sarge saw that the laser, aimed at him, was beginning to expand. He knew this meant it was about to fire.

His head slowly turned back to in front of him as he felt his feet pound against the ground. He knew he needed to act fast, but he didn’t know if he could get his body to act fast enough. If he tried to pivot and backtrack, he would be shot by the laser. If he kept going forward, though, he’d still get shot by it. He couldn’t rely on Chomby’s speed right now… and definitely not against a robot. He needed a different plan.

Sarge came up with an idea as his foot hit the ground again. Rather than continuing his run, he bunched up his leg, and kicked it off the ground. Because he was not as fat as he was before, his body had a decently large amount of muscle with a lot less weight on it. This meant he was more nimble now. It’s exactly what he needed in this moment.

Sarge saw he was rising up. One foot, two feet, three feet, four feet, five… six… He managed to vault himself seven feet off the ground. He didn’t realize he was capable of doing this, but now wasn’t the time to question it.

He turned his body and prepared his feet to impact against the wooden boxes right outside the door. When he made contact with both feet on the wood, he shot his legs back out, causing him to bounce off the wood. He arched his back, forcing his body to start turning toward the ground. He spotted where he was going to land and set his sights on it. He then saw the beam of light zip past his snout. He felt the intense heat as it barely grazed his nose. It stung.

Sarge landed back on the ground and tucked himself into a roll. When his momentum stopped, he looked back at the robot and saw it was now aiming one of its metal claws at him.

“ZIP UP!” Sarge heard through his earpiece.

Sarge bunched up his legs again and shot himself forward, narrowly dodging the metal claws as they crashed their way into the ground, causing the stone to crack.

“ZIP UP!”

Sarge didn’t know what Chomby’s plan was, but he immediately ran to get distance between himself and the robot. He fluidly grabbed his hoodie zipper and tugged it up. When it was fastened, he bunched his legs up again and bounced off the ground. He twisted himself in the air, allowing the hood to fall down to his forehead. He then grabbed the hood and tugged it down as he righted himself, getting ready to land.

The hoodie began to constrict him. Usually the process was very slow, but with his heightened adrenaline, and Chomby’s desperation, the transformation finished right as Chomby touched the ground.

Without waiting, Chomby exhaled a large blast of sound toward the robot. The sound waves pushed boxes out of the way and crashed into the robot, causing its body to shudder a bit. Chomby didn’t expect it to do much, but this was enough to at least get its calibrations to be off momentarily.

Chomby looked up to see that Xenon was no longer on the scaffold. Hopefully, the alien managed to escape. Now Chomby needed to do the same.

He quickly scanned the area and saw a few sets of boxes. Though they seemed to be meticulously stacked for easy access, they were stacked in such a way to allow Chomby to jump up the boxes and, hopefully, from there, leap to the scaffolding. He’d then be able to make it through the window quickly.

“Chomby, if this robot is anything like the last, your sonic blast wouldn’t have done much. It’s probably readying to attack you again.”

“I know!” Chomby bounded toward the boxes. While he was doing so, he saw that the robot was now trying to re-aim itself at him. Its current weapon of choice was the strange parabolic microphone.

Chomby scrunched his legs and jumped to the top of the first box, which was a good five feet off the ground. He then jumped to the next, and then the next. With his final step, he jumped to the top box of the stack, now on level with the scaffolding.

Chomby scrunched up his legs, aimed for the scaffolding and kicked off with all his might. With his trajectory, he knew he was going to make it. He reoriented himself so his feet would land firmly down on the grate… but then he saw, through the corner of his eye, a familiar flash of red light. The EMP.

He already knew what he was going to do if he found himself in a situation like this again. While still midair, he grabbed the zipper on his neck and pulled it down, just in time to have Sarge come out and take the brunt of what he assumed was going to be a wave of red light… but it looked more targeted this time.

All of Sarge’s surroundings lit up as the beam of light shot through and around him. His earpiece began to screech a static cacophony that threatened to blow out his eardrums. He winced in pain, unable to concentrate on landing safely. This caused his body’s momentum to shove him right into the side of the scaffolding. His stomach crashed into the metal handrail, causing the wind to get knocked out of him.

He scrabbled his hands against the side, trying to grab hold. He was having trouble concentrating as his earpiece continued to shriek in his ear. His vision became hazy. He was losing his focus.

He hoisted his feet up and got a solid footing on the grate. He wasn’t fully sure what was about to happen, but he kicked off the grate while latching onto the handrail. He felt his body flip around to the other side. He tried to land properly, but stumbled, almost falling over. He looked behind him. He could see the blurry image of the robot. Its weird parabolic arm was still aimed at him… and he finally knew what was happening.

He clambered to his feet and limped his way across the scaffold to the window. His ears continued to ring, and his earpiece was now the only thing he could hear anymore. It was becoming too much! His vision began to fade.

He was almost at the window, but he felt his body beginning to falter. As his head hit the scaffolding, he saw a blurred figure jump through the window and run over to him. Everything went black...

Sarge found himself waking up with a slap across his face. He gasped and shot into a sitting position. His ear felt like it had been torn up. His head was pounding furiously.

“Sarge, get a hold of yourself!” Sarge could hear a voice. It sounded distant.

Sarge looked around, squinting his eyes. Everything was still hazy to him, but he could make out a pair of glowing, yellow eyes. It was Xenon.

“Xenon?” Sarge asked. He felt his ears begin to ring again as the distant sound of Xenon’s voice started to become clearer.

“Get up. We gotta go. NOW!” Xenon stood up and, without giving Sarge time to think, grabbed Sarge’s arm and pulled him to his feet.

Sarge felt like his legs were going to give way, but Xenon supported him enough to walk. He didn’t know where they were going, but he let Xenon guide him.

They walked like this for several minutes. All the while, Xenon was on his phone. Sarge could hear him talking, mentioning what the two had found, and saying to get an ambulance to the vicinity as soon as possible.

The two walked for a while before Xenon hung up the phone and turned his attention to Sarge. “Stay with me, buddy. We’re getting you to a hospital.”

“Xenon…” Sarge coughed out. “It was a robot…”

“A big one, too. I don’t know what that weird gun was, but when I saw it hit you, I thought you were done for.”

“It looked like an EMP… but it was… not?” Sarge put a hand to his ear, remembering that it was in pain. “It was sound. It created such a high frequency noise. My ear piece.”

“Sorry, bud. I ripped your earpiece out. Didn’t have time. It was making a really terrible noise. I assumed it was making it hard for you to move.”

“But Chomby was about to be hit by it. He thought it was an EMP.”

“Is Chomby okay?” Xenon asked. Sarge could hear both panic and concern in his voice.

“I’m… not sure. He didn’t get hit by the blast. I did.”

Sarge closed his eyes. He saw the mindscape. He then saw Chomby, standing next to him.

“Sarge!” Chomby yelled, grabbing hold of Sarge and lifting him into a hug. “Oh thank goodness you’re okay!”

“But you! What about you?” Sarge asked, pushing himself out of Chomby’s embrace to look the soundbyte over. “Are you hurt? Are you in pain? Is your body failing?” Sarge looked up at Chomby, eyes beginning to water. “Please don’t go! Please! I’m sorry!”

“Huh?” Chomby stared down at Sarge with his usual, angered expression. He tilted his head to the side. He then looked up and opened his mouth. “Oh… right.” His tone sounded concerned.

Sarge latched onto Chomby. His mind began to flood with images of the nightmares he’d been having. “I just got you back! But now I was the idiot! Please, don’t go this time!” Sarge choked out another breath. “Please! I can’t say goodbye again! I just-”

“I’m fine.” Chomby said this quietly and calmly, yet somehow Sarge could hear it over his own frantic yelling. “I dunno what happened after I unzipped, but you were in a lot of pain, and I was hearing a terribly loud screeching noise. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Then it stopped.”

“Oh, uh… sorry.” Sarge stood up straight and rubbed one of his arms. “It was the earpiece. Xenon had to rip it out.” Sarge gritted his teeth and pointed at his ear. “Piercings. Not a good idea.”

“Though being able to talk to you was neat.” Chomby sat himself down on the ground and patted for Sarge to sit. “Since it seems we survived this time, did you wanna talk about it?”

“Not yet.” Sarge shook his head, dislodging his frantic thoughts. “Ambulance first… and… then, need to think about that weapon.”

“What about it?” Chomby asked.

“It reminded me of your sonic screech. I’ve never been on the receiving end of it, granted, but it seemed to do exactly what you shriek did to the previous destroyer.”

“Collapse the target and make it lose motor function?” Chomby asked.

“Yes.” Sarge nodded.

“So… it copied me?”

“I think so, yes.”

“What… does that mean?” Chomby asked. His voice was now sounding hollow. He seemed to be thinking of an answer.

“I need to make some calls.” Sarge stated.

“Who are we calling?” Chomby asked.

“City hall.” Sarge said. He opened one of his eyes to look at Xenon. He could see the alien was still staring at him, but had stopped the two at the side of the road. There was an ambulance just stopping nearby.

Sarge then turned back to the warehouse. Though it looked quiet now, he knew there was a giant, destructive robot inside there. It was armed, and it was ready to kill. Worst of all, it adapted. Whatever entity created the first destroyer learned something new and copied the very thing that defeated it the first time. It copied Chomby.

Sarge spoke both out loud to Xenon and in the mindscape to Chomby. “We need to evacuate.”

~~~~

Here's the next part of this strangely continuing story I have. I've been writing up a storm now and have a lot down on paper!

BUT, thanks for tuning in! :D

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Art/Story/Sarge/Chomby/Xenon ©  pikminpedia Me