We stood in the center of the scrap yard, the air thick with the smell of ozone and burnt rubber. On one side stood me, adjusting my high-collared coat and trying to look like a legendary commander. In front of me was Pod, hopping excitedly in place, looking less like a warrior and more like a vibrating bowl of dessert.
"Bloop! Bloop!"
"So, what are we gonna do next, Lord Kuro?" I asked, looking up at the black cat perched precariously on a stack of rusted pipes.
Kuro flicked his tail, looking down at me with the judgmental gaze of a king watching a peasant try to solve a math problem. "Well, you know these species are made to be owned. You need to 'own' him, human. Wake his power capability."
I scratched my head, feeling the grit of the Lower Districts in my hair. "But how am I gonna know what his power is? And the main question—how am I gonna do it? Is there a button? Do I need a remote?"
"Control him," Kuro explained, his voice dripping with feline patience. "Make him believe he can trust you. Once he trusts you, he'll do whatever you ask. These species need to be commanded. If he accepts you, you can control him."
Kuro paused, his ears twitching as he tapped his chin with a paw. "Now, what was his specific power again?" he muttered to himself. "Ah, yes. Machine control.
Something like that."
"Okay, machine control. Simple enough," I muttered. I puffed out my chest, pointed a dramatic finger at the jelly, and narrowed my eyes. "I command you! Be a powerful robot! Transform and... uh... roll out!"
Pod stopped hopping. He let out a long, slow, wet bloop of pure, unadulterated confusion. He just sat there, tilting his translucent head at me, looking like I'd just asked him to explain quantum physics.
"I said machine control, not shape-shifting, you fool!" Kuro hissed, nearly falling off his pipes in exasperation. "He's an Ooze, not a miracle worker! Ask him to take over a machine!"
I looked around the yard, my face heating up with embarrassment. My eyes landed on an old, rusted cart-type machine—a hunk of dead iron half-buried in the dirt, looking about as useful as I felt.
"Okay then. Focus. Fuen, focus," I whispered to myself, heart hammering against my ribs. I pointed a finger at the wreck. "Pod! Go! Take over that machine! Command... Initiate!"
Pod didn't move. He stayed right where he was, watching a fly buzz past his watery eyes. He looked bored. Actually bored.
"I am going to cry," I groaned. My shoulders slumped, and the frustration finally boiled over. The fancy coat, the cat, the talking jelly—it all felt like a joke. "It's not gonna happen. I can't do it."
I sat down right there in the dirt, the disappointment heavy in my chest. I was a "Null." A mistake. A guy who couldn't even convince a puddle of neon snot to move two feet.
"Hey, you fool!" Kuro snapped, jumping down from his perch and landing in front of me. "If you can't do this, then you can't do anything! Is this where you give up? On a scrap pile?"
Kael was standing off to the side, her arms crossed over her grease-stained coveralls. Usually, she had a snarky comment ready, but she was quiet. She looked at me, her eyes steady and strangely serious. "Do it, Null," she said, her voice cutting through the hum of the city above. "Make us proud.
Prove you aren't just trash waiting to be recycled."
I looked at my hands, then at Pod. I didn't want to be the guy sitting in the dirt anymore. Something in my chest—maybe it was pride, or maybe just pure stubbornness—finally clicked.
I looked at Pod. I didn't shout this time. I didn't point. I just reached out my hand toward him, thinking about that machine. It was broken, forgotten, and considered "trash" by everyone who walked past it. Just like me.
"Pod," I said, my voice quiet but firm, resonating with a sudden, strange clarity.
"We're in this together. We're both the things they threw away. Take the machine. Let's show them what the 'refuse' can do."
Pod's neon glow suddenly flared. It wasn't a soft light anymore; it was a brilliant, pulsing cyan that made the shadows in the yard retreat. He let out a determined, high-pitched "BLOOP!" and launched himself at the cart like a glowing rocket.
He didn't just sit on it; he melted into it. I watched, mesmerized, as the jelly dissolved into the rusted metal, seeping into every seized gear, every frayed wire, and every empty socket.
The cart groaned. It was a sound of ancient metal being forced back to life. The rusted wheels snapped into place with a series of violent clanks. The old, cracked headlights suddenly flared to life with a fierce, neon-blue fire. The machine rose up, the metal plates twisting and shifting until the cart had transformed into a hunched, mechanical beast—a six-foot-tall scavenger golem.
[ UNIT DETECTED: JUNK-STRIDER ]
[ PILOT: POD ]
[ STATUS: SYNCED ]
Kael's jaw dropped, her soldering iron nearly slipping from her hand. "No way... he actually jump-started a Class-4 wreck with sheer intent."
Lord Kuro gave a slow, satisfied purr, his eyes reflecting the blue glow of our new "tank." "Finally," he whispered. "You found your voice, human. Now, try not to lose it."
I stood up, looking at the towering machine that was now an extension of my teammate.
I wasn't just a Null anymore. I was a Commander of the Scrap.