Runaway (Draylontis)

It had been three weeks since the first battle test of R.O.V.E.R Mk VII. So far it's combat application had come along quite well. It wouldn't be long until Arawn could submit the machine to the Academy for training purposes. But the more Arawn thought about it, but more dissatisfied he became. While true it would be an invaluable asset to the shinigami training process he felt the machine could have other uses. Why stop at combat training? Why not have it help with more mundane tasks? Paperwork and filing would be done with computer like efficacy. It could make deliveries without getting lost. Despite Simone's misgivings he and Bryce stayed up for two nights recalibrating the unit. It took some time to rewrite the battle protocols. But for the most part it was more and capable of preforming what they wanted. The first test would take place the follow morning. Arawn and his merry band slept in the lab. They were all too excited to return to the barracks to sleep.

Simone was the first one to wake. She had been against the idea, but she was the most excited about the project. She left the warehouse they had converted into a lab to procure coffee to help with the waking process. Arawn and Bryce woke while she was away. The night's events were blur, but they quickly remembered what this morning had in store. The first steps towards a revolutionary new invention for all of Soul Society was at hand. The test was simple, they attached R.O.V.E.R to a delivery cart and had it travel through Seireitei to the 12th Division barracks. The main problem was that once outside the warehouse they had to rely on a short distance controller and voice commands. They set up the cart outside the warehouse and filled it with some old books and files; nothing important in case the machine managed to destroy the cart. Simone returned with the coffee just a the two men began to boot the systems for their mechanical helper. The machine jerked to life as the power flowed through it.
"Rover, move outside the warehouse." Bryce ordered. He carried a mobile shutdown in his hand. The droid moved and walked toward the open doors. It stopped once outside and the three scientist followed it. "See it works perfectly." said the hunchback man turning to Arawn and Simone. "Let's begin the test." He turned back to the robot "Pull cart to 12th squad barracks."
R.O.V.E.R moved from the doors over to the cart. It grabbed the cart hand and yanked, in the next instant it took off in a dead run. A cloud of dust left in it's wake.
"SHIT!" was all Arawn could say as he raced after the machine. It was following the order, but they had forgotten to tell it how fast.
Bryce and Simone stood there staring in disbelief. "Wait!" Bryce suddenly yelled "You need the controller!!" It was too late both Arawn and the machine were out of sight.

The robot and the cart tore down the street at break neck speed. Arawn tried to keep up for all he was worth. How fast was this thing going? Sixty miles per hour. He focused his energy and shunpo, he landed in front of the machine.
"Rover stop!" he shouted. The robot came straight at him. He had to jump to avoid being run over. The droid continued on it's way without stopping.

As Dray limped back from his class he thought back on the previous day. I can't believe I twisted my ankle in training. At least now I know it's not a viable option for combat, a sharp turn at full speed, I have no idea why i expected anything different to happen. And now i have to walk all the way back to the dorms on this leg. I might as well take it slow and easy.

As Draylon shuffled along the street he heard a commotion from up ahead and saw... something humanoid coming his way with a cart behind it. As he watched a man lept in front of it and yelled, "Rover stop!" and then had to dodge out of the way to avoid being hit. It's coming straight at me, I better get out of the way. As he put pressure on his ankle trying to dodge out of the way, his leg gave out from under him and he dropped to one knee. Crap, this is bad what do i do now? Kido! "Seki!" As the thing made contact with him, it was suddenly repelled and sent flying into the air, as it was send flying dray started to smile, until he realized the cart was still coming at him at full speed. He only had time to mumble,"crap", before the cart made full contact with him. The contact sending them both tumbling and skidding down the street, papers and books flying through the air.

When Dray stopped tumbling he was face down on the ground, he then rolled over and sat up on one hand, feeling his head with the other, as he drew his hand away from his head he noticed there was a little bit of blood on his hand. Ugh, no wonder it hurts so much. He then looked around to survey the damage.

He had dodged the robot, but he had failed to notice someone else was behind him. After coming out of his sideways jump, he rolled to his feet in time to see the horrible head on collision. The young man did manage to repel the robot itself, but the cart was a separate matter. Arawn flinched as the metal cart mowed over the person sending books and papers every which way. The man was tossed to the round and sent rolling. The cart followed suit, it finally came to a stop several feet away.
"That's got to hurt." he gasped. On one side of the alley was the man and the other R.O.V.E.R lay in a crumpled heap. The cart sat overturned some distance from the two. Torn papers rained down like a confetti. The shinigami seemed to get up almost immediately. For that he was thankful, Arawn didn't know any first aid treatments. Best he could do is call for someone from the 4th squad. Unfortunately he didn't bring his phone with him. He must have left it in the warehouse. The boy would have to wait, not like he was going anywhere. Instead he turned his attention to R.O.V.E.R. The man's defense had sent it flying in the opposite direction and into a wall. It had sufficient armor such and impact shouldn't have much effect on it.

As expected the droid was in relatively good shape. There were scrapes on the metal. He looked at the imprint it's body had made from the crash into the stone wall. He was impressed by the machine's quality. Even if it wasn't originally his creation he took some measure of pride in it's programing and maintenance. Nothing broken, that was good. But it had failed to stop when commanded. Might be some internal problems. The body seemed limp, perhaps the crash had a greater effect than expected. He gave a sigh. No way of knowing until he got it back to the lab and opened it up. He turned and walked over to the young male. It seemed he was already sitting up. That was a good sign.
"Are you alright?" he said as he got closer. Not really sure what to do if he was injured. "That was quite the nasty spill you took." he chuckled trying to defuse the tension.
"TARGETS ACQUIRED." came an all too familiar mechanical voice. Arawn spun on his heel. "TARGETS LOCKED." The robot was now standing, it's single eye stared back at him. It took a step forward then another.
"Rover stop!" There should be no reason for it to target them. "Activate shutdown. Password: Silver knight." The droid halted in it's tracks and then took another step. "Crap!" the crash really did do a number on it. He wished he had brought the control device with him.
"BATTLE SEQUENCE #84 INITIATED." From the wrist as thin flat blade ejected. It extended past it's hand a good two feet. There was a crackle as electricity arched up the weapon's length. Arawn reached to his side, but his zanpukto wasn't on his hip. Yet another item left behind.

"Listen to me Rover! Stop now!" The droid only continued to advance slowly. Arawn turned his head slightly and spoke out of the corner of his mouth. "Hey you! If you can stand it's best you move now." The machine lunged forward thinking it's opponent was distracted. While Arawn easily managed to dodge the blade, he didn't dare dodge complete or the droid would target the person behind him. Even as he avoided the electrified weapon, the robot's other hand grabbed for him. Arawn grabbed the machine's wrists and pushed back for all he was worth. Somehow he managed to hold the creature at bay. But the robot wasn't done. It kicked it's foot out knocking Arawn backwards and too the ground. A groan escaped his lips as he rubbed his stomach where the machine had hit him. "I must remind Bryce to remove Sequence #84." he muttered.

As Draylon sat up and looked around he saw the.. thing indented into the wall, with the man he saw dodge, looking at it and mumbling to himself. He then sighed and walked over to Draylon and said "Are you alright, that was quite the nasty spill you took." Dray blinked and looked at the man through clouded vision, his head spinning in pain. All of a sudden Draylon heard a metallic voice say "TARGETS ACQUIRED." then "TARGETS LOCKED."

Draylon's eyes suddenly came back into focus. Wait what? Targets? who is it targeting? He watched as the man tried to order it to stand down. The Robot merely said in its metallic voice, "BATTLE SEQUENCE #84 INITIATED." The man whispered, "Hey you! If you can stand it's best you move now." My ankle is even worse now, there is no way i can even stand. The, Robot it seemed, suddenly leaped forwards and attacked the man, ending up in the man on the ground.

This is really bad, really really bad. What do i do? Can't move, he doesn't have his zanpakuto... I hate to do this but it's our only chance. Draylon glanced at his zanpakuto. You better let him. Dray grabbed his Zanpakuto from his waist and tossed it to the other Shinigami, "Catch." He thrust the hand he was using for support at the Robot and yelled, "Hado 1. Thrust" and released a wave of energy to try and knock the droid out of the way, to give the other Shinigami time to get the blade out. Dray was now supporting his weight with his left hand. This is all i can do in my current position, I hope it is enough... Wait it said targets, plural, damn it's after me too, and now I'm unarmed. Dray put his right arm horizontal to his body and prepared to use another repel.

Too distracted by impending death Arawn fails to noticed the man call out to him. The zanpukto hits the ground beside him. The spell that follows shakes him from his trance. The invisible impact knocked Rover back afew steps. It seems the other man is backing him up. He scrambles to his feet grabbing the weapon. He'd never tried to use another person's zanpukto before. Most people don't let other people borrow their swords. In the Academy they had only the practice swords so it didn't matter much. Reluctantly he looked back at downed man and nodded. I guess he doesn't mind he said to himself. With a smooth motion he pulled the weapon free from the sheath. It was a lovely weapon. But there wasn't the familiar feeling he got when he held his own weapon. Would it be able to withstand the attacks of the robot? No time like the present. Now was a hard part for Arawn. He had to disable the machine, but he didn’t want to completely destroy it.

“Careful with those kido.” He said over his shoulder. The droid had already regained it's footing and fixed upon the blade in his hand. Rover took a moment to assess the situation. Arawn focused his energies and shunpo’d behind the robot the silver blade flashed as he aimed for the neck. The zanpukto arc was cut short by a metal hand. The shock on Arawn’s face was undeniable. Without turning around the droid had successfully anticipated his attack. It’s body while looking humanoid wasn't restricted to the same movement of human's joints. Rover then turned his head 180 degrees to face Arawn. "INITAITING BATTLE SEQUENCE # 87.” spoke the mechanical voice. The other arm twisted with breakneck speed and stabbed. Arawn shunpo’d again. He reappeared some distance back, and dropped to one knee. He raised his open hand to his side. There was a cut in both his uniform and the tender flesh beneath it. Why was this thing so damned fast? The blade hadn’t cut him deep, but it’s electric shock hand effected his legs. Shakily he rose. Rover head was still facing him, but one of his arms now faced back forward towards Draylontis. A small nozzle rose from the metal wrist. Arawn’s eyes went wide; he’d seen that before. He shunpo’d again as a sheet of flame erupted forth, he scooped up the young man and jumped to the side. The intense heat washed over him as the fire roared past. Roughly he dropped his burden and turned to raise his hand. “Hado #17: Smite!” The lavender pillar formed and rushed at the robot. It flew headlong through the flame and stopped. Rover arms held the kido back from striking. It’s feet dug into the ground as the spell pushed at him. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat! Bakudo #10: Hōrin!" The creature's arms occupied he launched the second spell. The yellow orange tendril shot out of his hand and wrapped around the droid's body. Over and under it wove itself through it's outstretched arms until fused with itself like a knot. Arawn smiled as the robot struggled to free itself.
"Are you okay?" He asked again. He hated to have dropped him like that, but he had to act quickly.

Draylon watched as the man drew his blade and attacked, instantly appearing behind the robot. Gaping at the robot in amazement as it blocked the blow, it's arm at an odd angle, then spinning it's head around at the man. The man dodged as the Robot changed protocols, then stabbed the man in the side. Dray saw the other arm shift and point at him, a small tube coming out. What the heck is that thing.

The next thing he knew he was off to the side, carried by the man, then dropped. Upon which his head made contact with the ground once more, sending him into a daze. He heard the man saying something, but with his ears ringing and his vision blurred. By the time his vision cleared, the Robot was bound and the man was looking down at him, and said, "Are you okay?" Draylon closed his eyes as his head throbbed in pain, then opened them again. "Ugh, not really, my ankle is in bad shape and my head hurts, a lot. I don't think I can stand on my own." Dray put his hand to his head in an effort to dull the pain. "How are you going to shut that thing down?"

"Sorry about that" he murmured. "I was trying to stop it before it got anyone hurt, but seems I was too late." It was odd how things had turned out. If he hadn't dodge chances were that he would be the one on the ground unable to stand. The robot continued it's efforts to free itself. The man did raise a good point; how was he going to turn stop this thing? Voice commands didn't work. His only options were to take it back to the lab or disable/destroy it. I'd prefer not to resort to the latter, but the former was even more problematic. He gave the energy rope a yank. The droid hardly budged. He doubted he could drag the heavy plated machine all the way back the way they had come. Quite the pickle. As he thought about it the robot gave the rope a yank. Although it's arms and body were tangled by the coils, it's wait and legs were free. It's torso spun like a top and Arawn was yanked off his feet and slammed into the ground. The shock nearly made him drop the rope, but he held on for dear life. The droid twisted again tossing him in the other direction. This time Arawn braced himself for the impact as he knocked into the wall. He did manage a groan before the robot twisted again. He pulled with all his muscles. Breathing hard the rope sat tense between them. A lethal game of tug-o-war had begun. Rover pulled again, Arawn managed to hold his ground, it tried twisting, but he kept firmly rooted. The very same technique used to walk on empty air he now used to ward off the machine's strong tugs. His whole body hurt from the first to throws the droid has managed to land on him.
"I'm open to ideas, if you have any." he gasped. Destroying the machine was looking better and better by the second. He dared not let go of the rope. It would definitely not end well. "I don't know how much longer I can hold him like this."

Dray watched as the man started tugged around by the Robot. What do i do? What kido can i use? Lightning? but i don't really want to destroy something that isn't mine, binding would be easier. We need to stop this thing now, I guess I'll pour everything i have into it, but first medicine for focus. Draylon reached into his pouch at his waist and pulled out a few leaves, and popped them into his mouth and began chewing.

As his focus began returning he watched the man get slammed into a wall, nearly losing his grip. I guess it's now or never, this is going to be ridiculously difficult. Dray took a deep breath ignoring the pounding in his head and the man flying around. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!" Dray thrust out both hand, completing a double cast, sweat pouring down his face, only able to remain conscious because of the boost from the leaves. Tendrils shot out of Draylon's hands towards the Robot, attempting to add his own double kido to completely bind it. Dray sat there sweat on his face, using all he had to maintain the kido's. "Hurry up... and take it down... can't hold it... forever.."

As he racked his brain for a method to end the stand off the second shinigami launched his own kido. Too late did Arawn notice it was the very same spell he had cast. Securing the droid would be a problem anymore. He needed to figure a way to disable it. The other man's spell had given him time to think but no ideas came.
"I guess going for the head is the quickest way." he said as he gripped the borrowed zanpukto and took a step forward. As he gazed at the robot he noticed motion. Not too far behind him two figures were approaching down the road. Bryce and Simone had followed him, neither one was fast enough to take part in the chase completely. Now that they had stopped, it was only a matter of time before they caught up. Arawn smiled. Bryce had the controller. With that they could disable the machine without destroying it. "Hurry up!" he yelled and tightened his hold on the energy rope.
The glimmer of hope renewed his strength. The two assistants weren't moving fast enough. "We can't hold him all day, hurry!" Even running they seemed slow.

Simone and Bryce saw the ropes hold the robot and tried to pick up the pace. But they were scientist, physical prowess was not a strong trait. Bryce was a short man his stubby legs couldn't cover the distance quickly. Simone made long strides, but was already short of breath. She knew they needed to hurry. With a sudden grin she grabbed Bryce, and with inhuman strength, threw him. The woman fell to her knees gasping for air after the extreme effort. The shock on Arawn's face paled in comparison to Bryce's as he was suddenly airborne. The rotund man closed the distance, and hit the ground face first and rolled to a stop. He cried in pain and holding a bloodied nose. He was lucky that only his nose was broken and not his face. Still Arawn worried the throw might have damaged the controller. "Forget your nose! Hit the shutdown switch before he kills us!" The shout got Bryce to forget about his own pain and dig into his vest. He removed the control device and quickly checked it. All seemed in order. He closed his eyes and pointed it at the struggling robot as he pressed the button.
The robot stopped struggling. Arawn slowly released his rope and allowed the energy to dissipate. The droid made no move. He tightened his grip on the sword and took another step forward. No reaction. He took another step, and then another. He finally stopped a foot from the machine. With his other hand he reached out and tapped Rover's head. It didn't move. With a sigh he looked at the other shinigami. "You can release your spell." he stated flatly. He walked over to the ground and picked up the discarded sheath. He slid the weapon back into it's home and gave a grin. It was a good blade. He approached the downed man and offered his hand. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Draylon was so focused on maintaining his Kido that he didn't realize that two people were running down the street. The man that was fighting with dray yelled something to a Portly man sitting down, who then pulled out a remote and pointed it at the robot which stopped struggling. Is it over? Can i finally release it? He watched as the man approached it step by step and tapped it on the head, then turned to Draylon and said it was okay.

Exausted Draylon released his Kido, falling back onto the ground, his eyes closed, breathing heavily. After a few moments the man approached him and said, "Come on, let's get you out of here." Draylon noticed he had his arm extended, Draylon reached out and grabbed the arm, then pulled himself up. Now standing on one leg, breathing heavily. "I'll need aid to walk, and I don't fancy walking all the way over to the 4th squad barracks. I have some medicine and bandages in the pouch at my waist, if we can get to a good place to sit down and treat our wounds." Draylon leaned heavily on the other man, turning his head downward and breathing heavily, as if just talking had tired him. By now Draylon had a small stream of blood coming down the side of his face, occasionally dripping blood off his chin every few seconds.

"Well guess you took a bigger hit than expected." Arawn stated observing the state of the man. He really wasn't fond of the sight of blood. During a battle it wasn't hardly an issue. He has no issue with seeing other people's blood it was his own. If he himself was bleeding like that chance were he'd be on the floor already.
"Maybe we should try to patch you up abit before moving you." Simone piped up. She reached for the mentioned pouch and took out the supplies. She moved in close to examine the young man. Her multi-faucet eyes examined him intently.
"You know first aid, Simone?" Arawn asked skeptically. After her performance with Bryce he didn't see her as the helping hand type. On that note he started at their chubby friend still holding his broken nose. The bleeding had stopped already his blood caked on his hand. "Maybe you should treat Bryce."
The brunette snorted. "That freak can wait, I'll deal with the cutie first." she grinned. Bryce's tentacle arm made an easy to interpret gesture at Simone's back. The woman obviously didn't care and set to work on treating Draylontis' wounds. She dabbed him with hankerchief to gently clean the injury then applied some salve. Finally she slowly wrapped the whole of his head with a bandage asking him frequently if it was too tight or not.

Once done she moved to examine the ankle and leg. Slowly she used more bandages to wrap sprain. She gave a smile and a wink when finished. Arawn rolled his eyes. "Help Bryce already." he said flatly. The woman sighed and went to check on their hunchback friend. The friendly beside manner vanished almost instantly as she set his nose with a crack. She then went as far to roughly wrap his head with the remainder of the bandages completely blinding him. Bryce's tentacle arm quickly grabbed Simone's hair and started yanking. Arawn turned away from the display."It's like having kids." he muttered. "Please hold on tight." He tucked his arm under the man, and lifted him off his feet. It felt awkward holding another man like a princess, but it was easier this way. Focusing his energy into his legs and feet Arawn shunpo'd. This was one of the rare time for him to flash step while carrying someone. It took alot out of him. But it was far quicker than walking. Truthfully Arawn couldn't cover long distances, with a second person even that distance was halved. By the eight shunpo his breathing was quite ragged.
"Let's just walk the rest of the way." he said between gasps for air. The 4th squad was already in sight. "I really am sorry, you got involved in all this. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you give me a yell sometime."

Dray waited patiently as the Woman fixed him up, Dray was going in and out of consciousness as he was standing there being patched up. First she bandaged his head then his leg, while he knew they were talking to each other, he couldn't seem to put the words together incoherent fashion in his mind. Next thing he knew the man had picked him up and started rushing down the road, ending up near the 4th squad barracks. The man then set him down and told him that he couldn't carry him anymore and he would need to walk. As he started hobbling towards the barracks the man said, ""I really am sorry, you got involved in all this. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you give me a yell sometime." Draylon merely nodded and continued to hobble towards the barracks, paused and then said, "You should get your cut looked at too. By the way I'm Draylon Kerosu, nice to meet you."

Draylon then Hobbled the rest of the way to the barracks, once inside he was carried to a bed in the medical center and taken care of for a few days. Dray didn't really remember most of those days, a blur of people coming in and out and a great amount of sleep, but he was released a few days later to go back to classes, fully recovered.

The man seemed to be doing better. Well enough to walk at least. Arawn was happy to be relieved of his burden. He was quite heavy. Leaning against the wall the took several deep breaths and stretched his back. Already he could feel the slight pains from pulled muscles and strain. I'm going to feel this in the morning. he took the time to check the wound he had gotten from the robot. It wasn't deep, the electricity had been the real star of that show. It's weapon was more a taser than a blade.
"I'll get it looked at later." he said aloud, he was more worried about moving Rover. That machine was too heavy to do by hand, they might have to get another cart. He sighed. The young man named Draylontis was speaking to him. "Arawn Dan'Shir, 12 Squad." he said with a nod. Might as well know the name of the man that maimed and saved him. Arawn bowed and turned once the shinigami entered the barracks.
"Well that's that. Now I have work to do." he slowly walked back to his waiting assistants.