Behold, after a year, the story is finished. I hope you enjoy.
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ch.28
There was nothing but blackness that covered Anchorus and the vision he could see. His subconscious within his circuitry could sense he was about to suffer a critical error due to all the damage he sustained and the lack of oil which just hit him. It scrambled to keep him from failing, though all did not seem well.
Then, for a second, his eyes opened and looked upward. He saw a rather dim light staring back at him, but everything was out of focus and he could not correct it. he was likely running only on fumes and had mere seconds to comprehend what was happening before he shut down again. His body did not have enough power to move, leaving him paralyzed, which was bad, for he saw a figure approach him from one side of the dimly lit room. The movement of this being was sporadic, unpredictable and threatening all at once. Anchorus could hear something crumbling in the background, but it didn't matter much. The figure hovered over him, but slowly the figure became more feminine as it approached his face. Anchorus tried to focus his eyes, and what he saw was the deathly stare of cobra eyes staring back at him, though for a moment they reverted to slightly more human form. He could sense a hand gently moving over his face, and heard a distant voice in the background, as well as another coming from the looming figure. Anchorus tried to respond.
"W..what.... who... "
All he heard was a voice engulfed in sadness.
"I'm... so sorry Anch... please for...giv.... me..."
His system couldn't sustain itself any longer. Once again he closed his eyes and shut down, having run out of oil and being left to his fate.....
~
BZZZZT! Anchorus was suddenly jolted awake as a shock of electricity jumpstarted his system. He darted his head around and tried to find out what had happened. After speculation, he found he was within the underground Pyrale caves, where he had met up with the predators who had located Laureen. He looked down and found most of his severed wires hanging from his torso had been clamped shut as well as the wires from his left shoulder. His chest plate was open and gallons of oil were being transfused to his system thanks to a machine being operated by Al, of all people.
"AL?! What... are you doing here?"
He turned to Anchorus and gave his classic oldster grin.
"Hehe, well, I wanted to make sure ya'll got here without bein torn to shreds, so I flew across the continent to check up on ya. I see my jetpack didn't make it."
Anchorus looked down, but Al reassured him.
"Aw, relax sonny. It was a prototype. I expected such. The important thing is my two delivery boys ain't scrap metal, and I'm glad I was trackin' yer signals. Ya almost went offline fer good."
The portly droid rejoiced lightly, until it hit him regarding Anchus.
"Wait... where is Anchus? Is he okay?"
Al pointed to the corner of the room, where Anchus was out cold, receiving an oil transfusion of his own.
"The little guy ran out of oil too, which perplexed me, since his oil chamber wasn't busted. How odd..."
"oh... but wait... these are the caves... where is Laureen? And how did I get here?"
From behind him he heard the familiar voice of Jenny.
"I brought you here."
Anchorus turned around and looked into her eyes. They were caught in various conflicting emotions, the most of which were sadness and joy, and oddly, nausea.
"After I brought the formula to my friends here, they administered it to her while I came back to check on you. I didn't realize you were close to death, so I rallied a few of my people here and got you inside. It was grueling, but when we got you inside, that old human descended from the sky and asked to help, so it went from there."
Her gaze shifted to the unconscious Anchus.
"Thankfully, the formula you brought back actually worked, in a sense. Laureen couldn't stop herself from shifting into a Cobra naga, but she was able to control her urges for blood. Then when she wanted to see you, that little green friend of yours gave you all of his black blood. I don't know why, the crazy freak."
Anchorus couldn't believe his ear receptors. He turned towards his brother and then back to Al.
"Black blood? Oh, you mean oil! .... wait, Anchus gave me his oil... but why?"
Al shrugged.
"Who knows. I guess he had some to spare."
While they spoke of him, Anchus slowly rose up to a sitting position, looking at the injections of oil he was receiving.
"Anchorus...."
His brother looked at him.
"Yes Anchus?"
"I can see the organic already told you...."
The brothers exchanges glances, being in quite an awkward situation.
"Anchus... why did you give me your oil? You could've gone offline as well!"
"Why? Hehe. I know you wanted to see "her"... and we've been through hell and back just to do it."
His sitting positon soon evolved to a slight standing position, keeping the machine hooked up.
"I knew I'd never hear the end of it if you didn't get to see her after this... and you were so close after all. I can understand that being frustrating... so I gave you the rest of my oil so you could be awake to see her. Of course this was like a battlecruiser trying to power a planet, and I just didn't have enough to support you brother. I apologize. I don't even know if the oil helped."
Thinking back to the vision he had with the looming figure, he turned to Anchus.
"So that figure.... that must've been...."
The big droid shook his head.
"I... I think it helped brother. And I appreciate it. Thanks... but where is she? Now that I'm awake, we can be together now!"
At this Anchus sunk back down.
"Well... that's the reason I gave you my oil Anchorus... she isn't here anymore..."
His optimism was crushed immediately, as he turned to Jenny.
"What? Is this true Jenny?!"
"I'm afraid it is. You see, the formula you gave us had a strange side effect... Laureen could control herself, but she was now prone to violent mood swings. Heck, she almost tore you to pieces after breaking through a wall, though thankfully she stopped herself before she did any harm to you. She said she was sorry to your unconscious body before getting off of you and slithering outside."
Jenny couldn't stand to face Anchorus, so she turned her head to the hallway. This revealed a scar she had been given by Laureen in her "violent" mood swing.
"I brought this problem to everyone here, and there was only one solution. She would have to undergo some mental conditioning on another continent, so after she said goodbye to you, she and a few others, along with that Ginelle character, all departed from here..."
She turned back to Anchorus.
"It was the only way to make sure she could control her urges AND violent emotional bursts. Without the proper mental training, she would still be a threat to everyone here... You understand, right?"
Jenny could see Anchorus's face. It was clear to her what he felt and went inside to let him deal with reality.
"Laureen.... she's gone again... and I didn't even get to say goodbye...."
He slouched, taking a look to Al and Anchus with a sullen expression, as Anchus gritted his teeth.
"Grrr, that really pisses me off! They don't know what we've been through! And yet they just leave us here! And after I nearly risk my own system to help. I swear, it's like nobody gives a damn."
Anchorus then got looked at his right arm, being the only limb he still had attached. Thinking it over, he actually let out a smile.
"I know how you feel Anchus... but she's safe. And... I guess that's all that matters. Right? It's what I wanted to do, and I won't spit on a good thing."
Al nodded along.
"That's the spirit big fella. And once we get you and your brother fixed up, I'll run a cross diagnostic and we can keep tabs on that lady friend of yers. Of course, ya'll will need to pull me in some additional revenue, since yer replacement parts won't be cheap."
"I understand Al. I'm willing to make up the cost. Thank you again."
He laid back down and looked at the roof of the cave.
"As long as I get the chance to see her again... I can wait a little longer. The important thing is there's still a chance."
Anchus shrugged and laid back as well.
"Whatever you say. I usually don't feel like putting up with such organic shenanigans... but it's over for now. I'm just gonna enjoy a little downtime. Now, on the topic of getting home..."
When he said this, he could hear several of the women there appear in the room, as if they had been listening, Jenny at the forefront of the group. Anchus turned around and gave them a pleasant look.
"Well, I guess that question answered itself. Certainly you predator types can help Anchorus and myself home, right? You brought him here after all, if I'm not mistaken. And it will be a LONG journey home. My brother will barely survive in those harsh elements."
When he said this, some of them held looks of fear on their faces, while others had the expression of being visibly ill. An iguaness in the back literally ran out of the room to vomit. Jenny rubbed the back of her head, as if she wasn't saying everything on her mind, but she wasn't fooling Anchus. Al stood in the back to try and avoid what he could sense coming from a mile away.
".... you CAN help us, right? I mean, we pulled ourselves through hell and back for you and that Laureen character."
Jenny creeped forward, taking a deep breath, as this wouldn't be easy for her to say.
"Look, we appreciate what you did for Laureen. She really meant alot to me, and was a good naga to the people here. We've been good friends since childhood. Don't think I'm not grateful... but..."
Taking a glance back to her friends, she sighed.
"You two are just a bad omen."
Anchorus looked over, puzzled.
"Bad omen? what do you mean?"
Jenny stepped forward again, cringing every step of the way.
"Look, we barely got you here because... well, you had a horrible odor attached to you, like you were rolling around the Mycoria forest's ground all day long, then took a trip into a filthy Tonorion's hive. We barely got you here without three women getting ill and having to run off to vomit. To think of bringing you any farther... well, it churns my stomach, to be honest..."
Anchus couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"You're... joking, right?"
She shrugged.
"I can't joke about this kind of stench. Infact, I can barely get close to you or your brother without feeling queasy. And on the topic of your brother..."
Her gaze shifted momentarily to Anchorus, who lay there with half a torso ripped off and only one arm left functioning.
"Some of us feel he's... extremely unlucky. I mean, look at him! He's half a torso! The fact that he isn't dead is just.... disturbing, even if he's a golem. My friends just don't wanna risk his luck rubbing off on us. We may already be in trouble for just bringing him here."
Anchus's eye twitched, for he couldn't believe what he heard. He ripped the oil injector out of his system in anger.
"You... you can't be serious.... we... we risked our LIVES! WE ALMOST GOT CRUSHED AND TURNED INTO SOUP CANS BY OVER 10 DIFFERENT CREATURES/PEOPLE WHO HATE US! AND YOU'RE GONNA LEAVE US TO DIE BECAUSE WE SMELL BAD?!!!"
She looked down to Anchus, not sure what to say.
"Now, come on. Don't get so uppity. After all, you were the reason she was in danger in the first place, so-"
The tiny droid jumped up onto Anchorus to get a higher ground to speak.
"NO! We coulda left her to die! But nooooo! My brother is now a walking limbless torso because he wanted to help her! But I guess that wasn't enough for you ungrateful WHORES! We stood up to BloodClaw Apes, a Tonorion the size of a football field, a naga and harpy hellbent on tearing us to pieces, AND SO MUCH MORE! BUT NO, I GUESS IT'S TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR YOU TO HOLD YOUR NOSES AND HELP US!"
Jenny picked up Anchus and looked him in the eyes.
"Now listen here! There's no need to get uptight with us, I mean after all..."
Anchus, in a fit of anger, jabbed his arm into her finger, sending electrical impules through her body and causing her a deal of pain. She dropped him, to which he landed on his feet and walked back.
"I don't wanna hear any more, you ungrateful organic. You've been nothing but a pain in our sides, and yet my brother was more than willing to comply with you, despite you holding a SPEAR to our backs and threatening to kill us if we didn't come back successful. We don't need you scaly freaks. ANCHORUS! Let's get going. We should have enough oil to get home at least."
Anchorus got to attention using his right arm, and put his and Anchus' oil injectors on his back. He crawled past Jenny and the other predators without saying a word, following his brother out of the caves. There wasn't any sign of anger upon his expression, but rather a feeling of coldness and emptiness, as if he had been jabbed in the motherboard. He remained this way the entire trip out of the caves and to the surface of the Pyrale Mountains, everyone who he passed holding their noses. Al wasn't too far behind as he used his power suit to jet into the air and follow after the boys, but not before turning back to Jenny.
"Well, thank ye kindly fer whatever services ya provided anyway. We best start the venture back to Negav before nightfall comes."
He jetted out of the caves and flew beside Anchus and Anchorus, who crawled slowly away from the caves. Jenny looked at them and was slightly discomforted by what had taken place. ''I can breathe much better, but at what cost'', she thought. The Iguaness tried not thinking about it as she went back inside to console her fellow friends. Anchus didn't even bother turning back, but rather continued looking forward towards the destination they had to reach.
"Okay, so we just need to cross the Great Marsh, that place that rains alot, the muddy mangrove section... urgh, I'm so angry I can't even access my memory files..."
Al pulled out the holo-map he gave the brothers and activated it.
"Thank goodness I got this baby fixed. Ya'll leave the navigatin' to me Anchus and we'll be home in no time."
"No offense Al, but me and Anchorus have gotten through this before, and-"
"I know ya'll have, but I've charted this entire area out, so you'll need my expertise and knowhow. What dya think I did during my thousand years here?"
"We're not newly created files on a computer, Al. We know how to take care of oursel-"
"Dangit boy, do ya gotta be difficult? I know yer still in a hissy after that fight with them Iguanesses..."
"ME in a hissy? Look, I don't take kindly to being looked upon. That's all. Now just let me see the map an-"
"Hey, go build your own sonny! This thing was expensive AND risky to make..."
They continued to bicker and argue on Anchorus's back, but the crawling droid didn't seem to care. It was all mindless clutter which he was quick to ignore. His thoughts were only turned to Laureen, who he yearned to see. He SAID he was okay with not seeing her so long as her safety was assured, but there was a confliction he felt inside his processor which made him feel differently. Inside the conflict just tore him apart, so he tried not to focus on it, but all he heard when he attempted that was the conflict outside his body, on his back to be specific.
"Oh yeah Al? At least my mother didn't have the artificial capacity of a toaster!"
"Now that's going too far Anchus! I'll have ya'll know my mother unit could toast bagels as well as waffles. Could yer creators do that? Hmmm?"
"That's a low blow Al! You know we were made by humans!"
"Hehe. And it shows."
"Oh, that's it! I'M CLEANING YOUR BROKEN CLOCK, YOU DAMN OLDSTER!"
The two started a petty brawl atop Anchorus, however nothing more serious than a few traded blows. Despite how loud it became, though, the big droid again didn't care. All he wanted was to get back to Al's lab and recharge. He could sense the Great Marshes approaching, and knew it was gonna be a long trip back. He silently thought to himself in a meditative fashion.
"Well, it's gonna be a long way home, but with Al and Anchus... things should be okay. I can always look to the situation getting better eventually...right?"
He looked to the evening sun, which began the descent to Twilight and then night.
"Yeah, of course. I mean, things can't possibly get any worse."
~~~~
As the sun set, in a dark metallic hall of a Forest bound facility, a man in a grease covered labcoat ran as fast as he could through the not so tranquil hallways, holding steady a clipboard with important documentation on it. He ran into a large dome where several scientists much like himself were scurrying around, preparing for some big event. A large group of engineers were readying some big tube to be opened, which was filled with contents unfathomable at the moment. A countdown from 3 was initiated, and on the final count, they all activated their respective machines, which drained the tube before having it slide open. Steam and sparks shot out of it, as a series of MASSIVE footsteps were taken. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The humans looked up and saw the green colored machine that emerged from the tube, in his newly refurbished body, the one they had come to know as "Anchodamus". The man holding the clipboard, taken back and nervous, stood straight and took a deep breath.
"A-Anchodamus? I just... just came down from the engineering bay. They wanted me to see how your body was working."
He looked upon his weapons, but for the most part, they were refurbished and recycled pieces from their earlier machinations, nothing compared to his old body. The guns in his arms and weapons on his back were under what he expected. He stared down at the man.
"Well, I've certainly been in better condition, but considering our 'circumstances', this battle chasse will do. Anyway, I would like a report of what has happened while I was offline being repaired."
He began to move down a specific hallway, the clipboard man following right behind him, bringing his own megaphone so Anchodamus could hear him.
"Our scouts confirmed that the two predators you sent out had engaged the targets."
Ancho continued walking, pondering this.
"You mean Endrynna and Gisor? Good. Tell me more."
"First confrontation was in that dimentionally unstable forest. Due to all the radio interference, we couldn't get an exact feed of what happened. However, it appears they were not successful, as the targets emerged from the forest an hour later."
There was an air of disappointment surrounding Anchodamus, but he kept it downplayed.
"Okay, go on."
"We last saw the two predators engaging in an aerial dogfight with the two. The targets and their method of propulsion appeared to differ from what they used the first time we spotted them. However..."
The man shuddered and tried not to sweat as he delivered the news.
"... we lost visual with the predators over the Sunken Forest. It's assumed they fell into the Abyss within... my apologies Mister Anchodamus."
The stalwart machine shook his head and stopped infront of a door, as the scientist walked right infront of him. He was afraid of what anger he would face, especially from a 50 foot green titan. What he heard was completely unexpected though.
"There is no need for apologies human. Deep down I calculated the possibilities of those two failing. I just needed to know what the 'targets' were capable of. Having them lost in combat will set us back ever so slightly, but it is of no importance."
The man gulped as he felt very nervous, though he was also relieved Anchodamus didn't seem angry.
"So w-what is the plan now, sir? Do you have any more contacts with predators we could call in?"
"No. I have a better idea. It's what I've been planning for, and this passing year gave me all the time to complete it."
He scanned the door lock and deactivated it, slowly opening it to reveal the dark chamber within.
"Why do you think I bypassed the chance for my old superior body? I needed to save every good weapon for my master plan..."
The man stared into the darkness of the room and shook.
"And... what plan is that?"
The room opened up entirely, light flooding a few of the corridors within two by two. As Ancho held his arm into the room, he shouted out several lines of code at a high speed, unintelligible to the humans around him, but perfectly understood to the beings in the dark room. Without warning, several hundred red eyes activated and stared directly at Anchodamus, a good portion of them activating while standing up, in a particularly disturbing mass salute. A sinister grin overtook his mechanical expression.
"You see, after the failures of Endrynna and Gisor, I've learned that you never send an organic to do a machine's job. And, hehe.... I've got a few hundred machines that can do the job just nicely..."
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Subject: Re: The Anchor Brothers: The Great Search 
Fri Oct 22, 2010 3:53 pm
