#mn9 dr white

[thedome-rp]

DR. WILLIAM WHITE FROM MIGHTY NO. 9 HAS WOKEN UP IN THE DOME.

we're so happy to have you here! ... enjoy your stay.

What about you? Are you going to join them in The Dome too?

How about taking a trip to the VISITOR CENTER today and check out our HISTORY and LAWS. Maybe we can entice you to join our RESIDENTS too...

We'll see you in THE DOME...

[kessielrg]

[MNo9] Partners

Summary: At four months old, Pyrogen was more than familiar with the way the Battle Colosseum worked. But when the Colosseum opens up tag team matches, will Pyro be open to forming an alliance with his new partner?

Rating: K

Word count: 2,303 words

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At four months old, Pyrogen was familiar with the way the Battle Colosseum worked. Victoire was the sweet young woman that announced to the bots when their match was about to take place. Hector was the man in charge of the whole shebang, and he treated all the bots that fought there like an extended family. Pyrogen also knew that if he continued to win the battles he took part in, Dr. White would be able to finish the next in Pyrogen's line: something that the professor called the 'Mighty Numbers.' This was why, when the Colosseum announced that it would start doing tag team battles, Pyrogen was rather confused that he was to be paired with another robot during the fight.

“I thought the point of the Colosseum fights were to bring the winner's robotist a large sum of grant money?” Pyrogen had asked William White as some point.

“It is,” White agreed. “And that's why during the tag team events, the grant money would be split.” White gave a short pause before adding, “If it's any consideration, I'm not a fan of the idea myself.”

“I never said I disliked the idea,” Pryogen found himself softly arguing, “I'm just… confused, that is all.”

But Dr. White never answered him after that, because the professor's mind on gone on to more pressing matters. Perhaps Pryogen could still change the subject?

“The robot I am set to fight with isn't even from Sanda's numbers.” he decided to ask. After a short pause he even added, “Are they?”

“No.” Dr. White huffed. “CherryDyn helped create your 'partner.'”

Pyrogen gave a small nod, showing that he understood. He knew better than to ask further questions whenever CherryDyn was brought up. In some way, this help him see why Dr. White believed the tag team matches to be useless: both companies would see the grant money, instead of one monopolizing the funds from another. Dr. White -for his own reasons- just simply disliked having to share a victory (and the winning money) with Gregory Graham's robotics company.

“Good morning boys!” Victoire greeted them as they entered the preparation grounds. “You'll be in training room three today- your partner is already waiting for you Pyrogen.”

“Thank you Victoire.” both Dr. White and Pyro agreed before going on in. Sure enough, when the duo entered the training room, the simulation was already running with a robot going through basic defensive tactics.

The robot was even scrawnier than Pyrogen when he wasn't ignited- this robot looking to be nothing more but a large eye on top of a wire frame. The eye -Pyrogen had to admit- was well detailed to make sure the iris could display a range of emotion despite other limitations considering its lack of mouth or second eye. Whoever the robot's maker was was even generous enough to give them five fingered hands, despite them looking almost out of place against the thin piping that made up the robot's arms, torso, legs, and neck. The feet were not as lucky, they were designed to keep the bot upright and nothing more, and so they looked like not very creative cinder blocks.

Dr. White didn't seem very impressed by this robot, and to gain its attention, the professor cleared his throat loud enough for the bot to hear.

“Huh?” the robot questioned as it canceled the simulation. He -Pyro assumed it was a he now, based on its voice patterns- looked over at Dr. White and Pyrogen with a curious enough expression before a spark of recognition hit his circuits.

“Well I'll be bricked...” the bot mumbled to himself before shouting, “Hey Jory, look who I'm teamed up with!”

“Is it a bot without the EmoteCore?” a man shouted before coming into the room. “I told them...”

But when the robot's maker looked up, he gave a quick glance from Dr. White to Pryogen and back again before letting out a relieved -yet still stunned- exclamation of, “Well I'll be damned! If it isn't Dr. William White in the flesh! Amazing!”

In the human's moment of delighted bewilderment, Pyrogen decided to look over this human in full. The robot's maker looked more like a garage shop mechanic than a scientist. A fat man this 'Jory' was, dressed in a pair of blue overalls that had seen better days, grease stains on his hands and past his wrists, even his jet black hair looked over greased in the harsh overhead light of the preparation room. Upon closer inspection, Jory's fat seemed to be more muscle based compared to Dr. Sanda's… fluff, along with a taller stature that made the human larger than life itself. Pyrogen decided he was alright with Jory's appearance, but Dr. White looked wary.

Jory seemed to notice some on Dr. White's discontent, so he took the opportunity to give introductions.

“Dr. White, it is an honor to have your bot work with mine.” he gushed. “My name is Jory Jaxton, and my bot's name is Troilus- his serial's CDN 67-8.72.18 but I never call him that. Too formal and a pain to say when you're mad at 'em, you know?”

“No.” came Dr. White's emotionless response. The professor seemed to now that he was being a bit too frosty, so he shook his head and decided to ask, “Are you related to Graham?”

“No!” Jory snorted. “Hell no! The man just signs my checks, if that. I joke sometimes that he doesn't even know who I am- isn't that right Troilus!”

“I meant in a business sense.” Dr. White clarified, finding himself no less irked than before.

This did not distract from Jory's cheerful mood. To emphasize, with a wide smile he told Dr. White, “Like I said, I don't think the man even knows my name- he just signs the checks and I cash them in accordingly.”

“Hey,” Jory then suggested, “Let's give the bots some space to get used to each other, and we can talk more outside. What do'ya say?”

Dr. White stood a bit straighter and gave Pyrogen a dark glare. But, the professor diffused to agree with a small, “Sure.”

Cheerfully, Jory led Dr. White out of the room, leaving the two robots to their own devices.

“Whelp, let's get going.” Troilus decided, stretching his arms above his head. “We've gotta train before the match, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Pyrogen agreed with a small nod. For a brief moment, Troilus's eye flickered with light, indicating a gleeful smile.

. . .

“You do have some way of defending yourself… Do you?” Pyrogen asked as the two were about to start.

“Don't you?” Troilus teased. “Just step back a bit- it might get messy.”

Pyrogen had no reason not to oblige and took several generous steps back. Troilus let out a small snicker before going almost dead silent in concentration. Just as the Mighty Number was going to ask if the CherryDyn bot was alright, several pores in Troilus's framework started to leak a thick, and incredibly black oil. Pyrogen was just too mystified at this to be worried first- he watched as the oil started to coat against Troilus's frame in enough layers that more than tripled the initial framework's width.

The process took only five minutes, and within that time Troilus had a silhouette far more dangerous than his initial frame. His singular eye was even coated in a way that it looked like the robot wore a welding helmet; the eye acting at the visor.

Seeing Troilus completely covered in oil, and just now realizing how it reflected the light in an amusing rainbow-like pattern, Pyrogen found himself impressed by his partner's defensive ability.

“Amazed yet?” Troilus teased when he noticed that Pryo was looking at him. The single eyed bot even gave a smug blink that substituted for a wink.

“Partially.” Mighty Number 1 found himself admitting. “I suppose it's my turn now...”

“Please do.” Troilus mischievously agreed.

Now, Pyrogen's fire abilities were far quicker to activate- the Mighty Number only having to pound his fists together hard enough to spark a combustion in his burners that instantaneously covered his body with live flames. With his defensive abilities active, Pyrogen too looked like a completely different robot, and Troilus too took a moment to appreciate his new partner's abilities.

“Not bad.” Troilus snuffed. “Let's see what trouble we can get into now.”

Pyrogen offered a small smile. “After you.” he admitted with a trickster gleam in his eye.

As the two become familiar with each other and their powers, Pyrogen had to admit that he was having some fun. He was the one that suggested Troilus lay a layer of oil down to barricade them from an opponent, but Troilus was the one who had the idea of creating a whole ring around the opponent so the two could lay further traps on the battlefield. It was admittedly a rather dangerous move, since Troilus would have to be fairly close to their opponent, but after many a trail and error, the two were able to nail it down in no time.

“Can we take a break?” Pyrogen asked after several hours of work. “My systems need to cool off.”

“Sure!” Troilus agreed. “I think I need a bit of a recharge myself, you know?”

And with that decided, the two canceled their defensive and offensive powers (Troilus took longer, obviously, than Pyrogen to do so) and went back inside the preparation room.

“You know,” Troilus randomly decided to say after Pyrogen had given them each a decent bit of xel to process, “You really helped inspire the new gen of Battle Colosseum fighters. Even this generation is taking cues from your programming.”

“Huh?” the Mighty Number mumbled, not sure if he was hearing his fellow robot right. Where was this introspection coming from? But Troilus was serious -or as serious as a one eyed robot with no other face could get- and continued on in a grave voice.

“Pyro, I'm a whole year old, you know that? But I've only had the EmoteCore for 9 days- almost two months after Sanda Tech let it become public domain. And you know why? It's because you happened. Because the EmoteCore inside you is so impressive, every robotist and their mother wants their robots with it now. Without you, the rest of us would just be… lifeless. Without you, I wouldn't be me. You follow?”

“I'm trying...” Pyrogen admitted. There was just something about this conversation that seemed to evade his logical processors. The one eyed robot could see this in his friend, and gave a hard sigh before trying again.

“It's obvious Jory's a mechanic, right? Well, before you stepped onto the scene, I didn't have much of a personality to go off of, you see? He made me to be the endless supply of oil he needed so he didn't have to carry around a heavy bucket back and forth, and risk getting sick if some of it got on him. I wasn't meant for the Colosseum fights- Jory just didn't want that for me. He built me, and loved me, just because I was a tool he needed to make his life more simple.

“But then you came along with your first fight. You did something that none of the previous battle bots have done before: you showed mercy.”

“It wasn't that impressive.” the Mighty Number muttered under his breath- embarrassed all the same.

“Did you not hear me? You gave your opponent mercy- you didn't kill them in a torrent of blood and fire in an arena known for its blood and fire. That is impressive Pyro.”

Troilus then recoiled, now truly noticing how perplexed Pyrogen had been since the discussion started. “You… you really don't get how special you are in the field of robotic developments… do you?” he whispered. He looked away before adding, “Without you, I wouldn't be… me. You know?”

Pyrogen, still confused, gave a small nod of agreement.

“You already said that.” he pointed out, if only to keep the conversation going.

“I know.” Troilus agreed- the spirit of defiance coming back to him again. “And until you get it through your circuits, I'm going to keep repeating it!”

“I have no doubt about that.” Pyrogen muttered under his breath. Troilus gave him a rather hard look as his positronic brain tried to find a way to get the message through the bot's head. When no results came up, the CherryDyn bot came up with a new idea- and it was, unarguably, a much better thought.

“Hey Pyro, let's make a bet.” he suggested- his eye once more gleaming a rather mischievous and excited way.

“What kind?” the Mighty Number carefully questioned.

“If we win all our battles tonight, let's meet up after and get to know each other better- yeah? Maybe even swindle Hector to let us fight exclusively by each other's sides 'til one of your creators grants us a sibling. Whatcha say?”

The Mighty Number looked back on the CherryDyn bot with some thought. In his case, Pyro knew that he was going to have other robots in his line eventually- Dr. White had promised that much. But he would admit to be just slightly lonely at the time too...

But, in truth, Pyrogen didn't really know Troilus enough to trust him completely with… well, anything. But there was something about this bot that he did like. Maybe they could be (what was that word Dr. White used to describe his and Sanda's relationship?) friends? Pyro wouldn't have minded some friends that were not Dr. White or Dr. Sanda...

“Sure.” Pyrogen finally agreed. “But only if we win all the battles.”

If Troilus had the power to smile, it would have been a rather wide and bright one indeed.

[eldritch-muppetshow]

i’m not entirely convinced dr white was 100% sober when creating the mighty numbers

(pyrogen)

white: “make the robot on fire”

sanda: “i don’t think that will”

white: “do everything within the limits of robotics to MAKE THE ROBOT ON FIRE”

(dynatron)

“lightbulb tiddy”

(battalion)

white: “ok start with a gun”

sanda: “alright seems fine”

white: “more gun”

sanda: “sir isn’t this a bit much”

white: “more fucking gun”

sanda: “ok i-“

“good”

“i feel bad for this thing already”

(beck)

white: “a visor but with. like. holes in it”

sanda: “just give him a regular visor— fuck it”

[the-sapphire-general]

My Thoughts and Feelings About Mighty No. 9

It’s been a long time since I wrote a review for a game I’ve played. Well, I played Mighty No. 9 for a while now, and I finally finished it. And boy, was it…meh? I know tons of people consider it a disappointment and that the game is hated, but after taking time to think, it’s just average. It’s not the worst video game to ever exist, but it’s also not the best game. It’s far from it. Intended to be a spiritual successor to Mega Man, Mighty No. 9 was supposed to be a great game. I’ve done plenty of research about its development and what Comcept’s intentions were at the time. But so much went wrong! I still somewhat like the game, it wasn’t that boring, but I wasn’t oblivious to its flaws. Boy, there’s a lot of them.

Before I go on, I never played a Mega Man game my whole life, so I’m not that familiar with the franchise. However, I checked out a Mega Man X playthrough made by a YouTuber known as Capitalist out of curiosity. People stated that Mighty No. 9 ruined what makes Mega Man so great, and despite not knowing much about the series, I can see why. Everything that Mighty No. 9 has pales in comparison to what Mega Man has in store.

The story had a lot of potential. It takes place in the year 20XX on a futuristic Earth where humans and robots exist together. There’s even a Battle Colosseum for robots. The robots go haywire, and it’s up to Beck to stop them from destroying everything. Along the way, he saves the other eight Mighty Numbers. It all sounds cool, but the way it’s written had me bored. Not much happened, and whenever there were plot points, they seemed like they were shoehorned in and without explanation. Even a few plot points were revealed during conversations as you played through a couple of the levels. The one about William White being the one who created Trinity should have been like a flashback cutscene. Show, don’t tell, to explain how Trinity was a failure. The story was lifeless because there were multiple ideas that weren’t explored. Why the heck does William have issues with Dr. Blackwell? How were the Mighty Numbers and Call created? And some of the plot was just told, and they just felt awkward. At first, we didn’t know Will was at fault for the robot rampage. Heck we never knew he was Trinity’s creator.

Just like the story, the characters weren’t great. Aside from a few noticeable traits, they were bland. They didn’t have enough personality. The Mighty Numbers had one-note types of personalities, and they were annoying. And Call…she had no personality! I really hated Call because she had no personality. She was too emotionless for my taste. Yes, she’s a robot, but did she have to be so robotic, that she had no personality?? In the end, I didn’t care about anyone, not even Brandish. Not much occurred with the characters. They all lacked depth, and it’s sad because they all looked pretty cool.

The gameplay, although I didn’t mind it much, it wasn’t that great compared to Mega Man X. Beck can only shoot in one direction. Not that it’s a problem(?), I mean Mega Man X did the same thing, but the difference between the two games is X looks way more fun than Mighty No. 9 (Mega Man in general looks more fun to play). That I can admit. Also, X can slide and jump on walls. That could have made things so much easier with Beck! There was also supposed to be a tutorial kind of thing in the beginning. It turns out I didn't know a few of the things I can do until I was too late into the game. If I had known I could configure buttons to the abilities I get instead of having to scroll through them, it would have been less of a hassle. Another thing about the gameplay is the ReXelections, powers that Beck can utilize like Mega Man. They were…okay, I guess. Some of them weren’t my favorites. Pyrogen’s ability seemed lame despite its limited use it had when I played the game. The same applies to Cryosphere’s ice ability. Dynatron’s and Countershade’s abilities were used only once, and I never bothered to use them again. Battalion and Aviator had good abilities, and Seismic wasn’t useful to me until the final boss (more on that later…). The only ability I really liked was Brandish’s ability, yet even that power could have been better.

Basically, the abilities were underwhelming. For example, Pyrogen. It’s a fire ability. What can it do? You blow stuff up. Sadly, you have to time it real well to blow stuff up, and it’s hardly of any use (along with the rest of them). I tried using it against Cryo since fire beats ice, but that backfired on me so badly, it cost me a life. This, along with the other abilities, should have been different. Maybe Pyrogen’s fire powers could have involved shooting explosives. Maybe Cryo’s ice could have included a blizzard bazooka or something like that. Avi’s power was okay, but maybe instead of floating down, it could have worked like a helicopter, to fly you over deadly pits (and then hurl the thing helping you fly at enemies). Dynatron’s ability is self-explanatory: intense electric attacks! Battalion’s is fine on its own in my opinion, though I would add a lock-on feature. Seismic’s shield is good, but executing it was clumsy, so that would be something I would fix. Countershade’s sniper ability is also good, but again, a lock-on feature could have helped. Finally, Brandish’s ability is one I like the way it is, but I admit it could have been more awesome. If you were to wield it, waves would fly right at the enemies. See?? I managed to come up with ways that could have made the abilities better. Heck, there are a plethora of idea that could have worked in general. If the abilities you get aren’t fun or lack opportunities to use them, then what’s the point?

As for the levels, they were meh. They generally lacked excitement. Whenever you take damage, it’s sometimes not your fault. Insta-death can occur in some of the levels, and some of them were complete bullshit. A game can be difficult, but it shouldn’t be too difficult or else it’ll just be frustrating. It was also tedious and annoying to go through a lot of the levels without finding any health items. Mega Man X’s enemies left health items, which made the game a bit easier. Mighty No. 9 doesn’t do that. You rarely get health on some of the checkpoints, but they are rarely helpful if you’re so low on health.

Call only got one level, and it’s one of my least favorite levels ever! Her abilities are weak and limited compared to Beck, and she couldn’t AcXelerate into enemies, making gameplay so tedious. And in addition to her lack of a personality due to how painfully robotic she is, during gameplay she kept on saying what she was doing! “Jump!” “Holding.” “Barrier.” That was annoying, I wished she had a mute button. She’s cute in appearance, but everything else about her is just bad. Seriously, ONE level?!!

And Trinity…..*sigh* Her level is fine, but once you get to the boss, it all changes. Yes, the final boss should be difficult, I know! But battling Trinity was a major pain in the ass! Even though I chose the right ReXelections and selected the three buttons for them in order to choose them real-time (something I discovered real late), Trinity kept beating me. The battle was more frustrating than any other boss I’ve fought. It took me nearly two hours (from two different days) to beat that final stage and battle Trinity! You don’t even get taken to the second phase, which is bullshit. With all the other flaws the game had, the final boss was frustrating! Once I finally beat her, I wasn’t satisfied. I was just relieved I was done with the game, so I can finally move on to a more fun game that won’t make me feel like I might lose my mind. It wasn’t my fault! That boss was just annoying. Out of all the bosses, Trinity is the only one I despise! Avi’s battle wasn’t even that hard.

A game can be difficult, but if it’s too hard to the point that it will only make the game not fun, then that’s the problem. A few games that are known for being difficult are the “Devil May Cry” games. Those are difficult, but I would rather play those games than deal with Mighty No. 9’s final boss. Games are allowed to be challenging, and that’s why Devil May Cry is fun, but the difference between DMC and MN9 is that one is poorly executed and unfair. Yes, DMC can be unfair to some, but the thing is the games’ difficulty is connected to your skills. If you lose miserably in, say, “Dante Must Die” mode, that’s on you because your performance probably wasn’t great. All you have to do is improve. Higher difficulty levels are available once unlocked, and you can get the hang of things in the normal difficulty level. MN9’s difficulty, however, is hard. No matter what you do, you’ll struggle. Heck, it has three other difficulties! Hard, Hyper, and Maniac! But since the game is already difficult (and a pain) to play, it’s not worth it. You have to be a pro to tackle those difficulty levels. I’m not a pro, and I admit that without reluctance, so I won’t be doing those difficulty levels for myself. Playing it normally was already a pain (especially with Trinity!! Arrrgh!!). Therefore, Mighty No. 9’s difficulty was the result of poor design, meaning some of the hits (and deaths) you take are bullshit. So Mighty No. 9's difficulty was unfair and sometimes uneven. Countershade's level wasn't that difficult in my opinion. And has anyone realized that some (not all) of the advice it gives you before you enter a level hinted at the weakness?? Such as Dyna's ability being effective during Countershade's battle? But even the advice is useless because with the abilities being the way they are, they just weren't worth using at times. I did more damage using Beck's regular shooting abilities.

In conclusion, Mighty No. 9 gets a 5/10 from me. I can forgive some of the stuff. The music was good, the bosses were okay, and the designs for the characters were tasteful. So I'm showing just a hint of mercy despite the whole Trinity crap. But the gameplay wasn't super exciting, the final boss was frustrating as hell and no satisfaction can be received even after beating Trinity. The story was bland and it glossed over what could have been great storytelling if it wasn't poorly written, and the characters were boring and annoying (looking at you, Call!). Also, there's a boss rush!...I'm NEVER going for it because of Trinity. I can try to master the other bosses, but Trinity is one that I wish to never battle again (unless I want to torture myself out of boredom). I might try the challenges??? I'm not too sure. Despite the game's flaws, I oddly don't mind playing it. I like other games that are disliked by everyone. Last Rebellion and Shadow the Hedgehog are a few examples. Even Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7. People have different tastes, you know.

Still...what happened with this game?? Where did they money go??? Where????? Because $4 million dollars should have been enough to develop a fun and cool video game for Mega Man fans and newcomers. I also know that there were plans for a TV show and movie. If they had made better decisions throughout this whole process, Mighty No. 9 could have been great. I would have watched the TV show (or was it an anime?) and movie. Oh, and they had plans for a sequel...the post-credits scene was a sequel hook. But due to how the game turned out, I'm not sure if there will be a sequel, or a TV show/anime, or a movie, or anything. Then again, never say never. Bubsy came back with a new game after Bubsy 3D, and it took 21 years! Though the game wasn't that well-received. The point is if they do want to continue Mighty No. 9, please make better decisions. Reboot the game if you must (not that it's likely at this point), but don't do the same thing you did here. Mighty No. 9 has wasted potential, just like many other video games. Those certain games failed as a result of rushed development, bad decisions, and/or just plain laziness. Mighty No. 9 could have been great, and it's a shame that it didn't reach its full potential.

[deterioratingrobot]

for the meme (kind of), as a more ooc question than anything directed at ray herself, how exactly does a muse like ray work, where she just.. wants to eat most potential characters she could interact with? i would imagine this makes it very difficult to have much beyond fighting / antagonistic threads with other mn9 / etc blogs. and on that, how does she feel about humans and other non-robots? does she have any kind of positive interactions, and if so with what kind of muses?

a bit long and a small amount of spoilers

This RAY RP blog combines all the three universal RAYs in the MN9 game:

-JP has barely restrained anger outside of Beck, dead focused on sustaining herselfand finding Dr. White. Seems sort of mild in reaction the gladiator robot ageand humans (“Today’s people will never change, eh? Such simple children’sentertainment.”). I also heard her say Blackwell a few times, but alas, mytranslation skills can only get me so far. (The ‘Blackwell’ parts might be mostlikely omitted to prevent early spoilers.)

--One thing that is pretty interesting to JP RAY alone is she isn’t aggressive at first (excluding her berserk form). When Beck knows about Dr. White, she asks him, then Beck refuses. RAY then goes: “Seems that I have resort to brute force…

-ENG is a ‘rougher’ version of that and also screams a lothates humans with a passion. Except Dr. White, of course. This one showscomplete disdain to pretty much everyone.

-FR combines both, with making her grumpy moreso. Comes with how old she basically is, in a sense.

Even despite the differences, they’re pretty much the same faultybut well-spoken cannibal robot. They all become quiet and docile when leftalone to themselves.

RAY has no qualms about beating upher Mighty No.s siblings to get info about their (and her own) creator.She felt guilty for a bit after she learned they were her siblings but trudgedon nonetheless.

Except Beck.

She just can’t understand how Beck can survive in not devouring his opponents, when she herself hasno other option. When she was defeated at the end of her boss fight, she thought Beck was going to absorbher for real instead of (attempting) to fix her, because she thought he is a “predator” like her. She also looks scared when Beck tried to cleanse her xels at that moment.

Beck also reduced her lifespan to twelve hours for anaccidental insult to injury. RAY most likely wouldn’t be happy meeting himagain at all.

About humans and other non-robots, all RAY cares is Dr.White and robots made of xels.

Every second of RAY’s life is on the line, so those who don’tfit the criteria are pretty much wholly ignored. Unless they become a threat,then either RAY will just leave or fight depending if it leads to her target.

For ‘positive’ interactions, I think the only thing positiveto come from RAY if anybody just supplies her food, like how people would feed a stray cat ordog for various reasons. It’s an adaptive strategy that helps ensures her survival. That’s it.

I removed the 12 hour limit for the RP blog because that would be confusing for it to work. She can still die, since I pretty much changed the limit to ‘she can die any second now if she skips over her xels’.

On a slightly different note, there’s also another RAY around! You might want to check her out too! An interesting spin on RAY too yes

[kessielrg]

[MNo9] Little Sister

aka, I Want Another Little Sister! A Short Complaint Story by Cryosphere

Summary: Something I promised three-some years ago, the backstory for Cryo's 'Little Sister' in Pier Pressure: Ever since Dynatron, Cryo's been craving to have another little sister. After Avi is announced, along with the bombshell that Dr. White may not make any more female Mighty Numbers, Cryo runs away and forms a bond with the oddest of things: an old Cabbage Patch doll.

Rating: K+

Word count: 2,057 words

If you like the story, please consider donating through Ko-fi or Patreon!

Cryosphere could never explain why, but she had always liked the idea of having little sisters. It must have started after Dynatron was finished -the two had hit it off rather well on first impressions- and that helped fuel Cryo's desire for more.

Then Seismic was created. Now, don't get her wrong, Cryo really does love Mighty Number Four and his hugs are bar none. But after his first handful of Battle Colosseum wins, Mic's head started to inflate and his attitude became unbearable. For several months, Mic was not someone Cryo (or anyone else for that matter) wanted to be around; it wasn't until Pryogen's old friend, Troilus, took Seismic down single handedly at what seemed to be a curb-stomp battle in Mic's favor. (And it was, just not for Mic.) After that, Mighty Number Four calmed down a bit and became the best brother to hug in times of hugging emergencies. Cryo liked that, it worked despite Mic not being a girl.

And then Battalion was created. When Doctor White told the Mighty Numbers about Bat's basic theme, Cryo already knew that Mighty Number Five was going to be assigned as a boy. She was annoyed then, the ratio between the two genders were now in favor of the guys; and when you want more sisters than brothers, it will make you incredibly irritable. Cryo wasn't even subtle about her dismay either. She'd tell Dyna, sometimes she'd even tell Pyrogen. But when she got a hold of Doctor White himself? He'd have to force her out of the room -or tell her a lie that seemed to soothe her for the moment- before she would even remotely leave him alone.

Now the Professor was starting to shut himself away from the world again. He always did this when he was about to reveal a new Mighty Number- which means that Cryo always filled up with hope for a new sister.

“The odds are literally 50/50 Cryo.” Pyrogen told her as she paced outside the professor's door, waiting for him to come out with the blueprint for the new Mighty Number. “You need to relax a little.”

“I'm so perfectly 'chill'-ed that I'm getting goosebumps!” Cryo replied with an ecstatic giggle. “Don't tell me to 'cool' off when you're the hot head!”

Mighty Number One let out a small chuckle. “Just don't get too excited this time, you nearly blew one of your cooling regulators last time.”

But Cryo chose to ignore him, deterring the subject by asking, “'Water' you want Pyro?”

“Doesn't matter to me, I'm just glad our family is growing.” Pyrogen decided. “Besides, with current trends, at least one of us at some point will be nonbinary, so it shouldn't matter what the gender OS is.”

“Why do you have to be such a 'wet' blanket?” Cryosphere whined, making the sound of sticking her tongue out at him, despite him not being able to see it from under her helmet.

“Just trying to keep you from 'burning' out.” Number One mused with a smirk. Despite being a pun appreciator, Cryosphere let out a groan of disgust just as Doctor White came out from his private lab.

“What's the news, Professor?” Pyrogen asked his creator, smiling a little. Cyrosphere turned around and gave Doctor White a rather unexpected hug.

“So Professor,” Cyro immediately -and very sweetly- inquired, “Boy or a girl?”

It took the human a moment to realize what Number Two was asking, and with a sigh, he told her.

. . .

There was no other way to describe it: Cryosphere was pissed. And boy, she really didn't want anyone to leave her vacancy without them knowing too. After learning about the situation, Bat and Mic did their best to stay out of her way but Dyna and Pyro remained to try to soothe her.

“It isn't fair!” Cryosphere complained for the umpteenth time. “Why does the Professor have to make only boy Mighty Numbers? What's wrong with girl Numbers, huh?!”

“What izzz that one zzzaying?” Dyna teased. “You get what you get, and you do not throw a fit?”

“Shut up!” she snapped.

“Cryosphere!” Pyrogen snapped back.

“Pyrogen!” replied the irritable second Mighty Number. The two then gave each other a heated glare before Pyro finally said,

“We need to talk. Alone.”

Cryo huffed, but said nothing against it so the two bid Dyna farewell and went to find a place where they could be alone. Number Two huffed the entire way there with her arms folded in annoyance. Pyrogen wasn't falling for it in the slightest.

“Cryosphere, you have no reason to be acting like this.” Pyrogen then proceeded to chastise. “It's fine to be upset, but when are you going to realize that the Professor will design whatever he wants for us Mighty Numbers? Our genders are, for the most part, cosmetic extensions to our main purpose. We're lucky that the Professor is even able to create more of us- isn't that the most important part for you?”

Cryo looked away from her brother before letting out a defiant mumble of, “No...”

“Cryosphere,” Pyro eventually sigh in defeat, “Just… Just grow up.”

Hearing this, the second oldest Mighty Number almost broke down in tears. Of course Pyrogen would never understand he wants and desires- he never asked for anything because he was just so boring in trying to be the perfect role model for all the Mighty Numbers. He didn't know, he wouldn't understand, and knowing that made Cryosphere even more angry. After some time of trying to hold back her frustration and bitterness, Cryosphere looked at Pyrogen to darkly say,

“Now I know why my nickname's Cryo, it's because I Cryo-lot!”

Mighty Number One's expression softened. “Cryosphere, you know that's not true.”

“It is! It is!” the robot insisted before fleeing.

“Cryo!” Pyrogen called after her, but the name fell on deaf ears and Cryosphere ran as far as she could away from her family.

She wasn't even sure how she did it, but Cryo had found herself in the middle of a festival in Darlington, Maryland. It was apparently an annual thing and they made a big deal about apples, or something? Cryo didn't care, she was away from the rest of her family to even worry about whatever autumn rituals humans had. At least she wasn't far from the Susquehanna here, she could go ice skating later. Creating ice flows in active water ways always made Crysosphere feel better.

She then figured, if she was going to be near humans, then she had to remove her helmet, water tank, and replace her nozzles for actual hands before going further in. So that was what she did; her helmet and tank were tossed on the ground and she retracted her nozzles to reform into thin, but still robotic looking, hands with five little fingers. Unfamiliar to the mere idea of fingers, Cryosphere had some humor with hers by wiggling them for awhile before moving onward.

It didn't take much for Cyrosphere to move with the wave of humans. Just like a tide, she moved with them as they pushed and pulled against each other as they moved across the cleared street to gather at various vendor tents. Here and there Cyro would see a fellow robot, but most of them weren't as sophisticated as she was, or the other bots she knew at the Battle Colosseum. They were simple machines, designed to make a disabled human's life easier than anything else- and those were the bots that she disliked the most. If you didn't give them a personality, then why bother making a robot?

Letting out an annoyed huff, Cyrosphere happened to look up as she walked by a vendor tent with vintage Barbies and American Girl dolls on display. She only gave it a quick glance at first, but then she looked again at a doll that didn't look like the others. The little doll was fair skinned, with rooted brown yarn for hair. The vinyl head was slightly squished near the left eye- the paint on the eyes themselves were slightly scratched and worn from many playtimes in the past. There was no denying that the eyes were colored a dark blue though, and that was what Cryosphere found that she was so drawn to. Carefully, Mighty Number 2 picked the doll up off the table and sat down on the ground to look at it further. The doll's body was made of some kind of fabric and stuffed with something super soft and squishy. After a few test pokes, Cryo found herself giving the doll a small hug.

It was nothing like Mic's hugs, but it seemed just as comforting.

That was were Cryosphere remained for a good hour after, up until her family was able to track her down again. The festival goers didn't pay much attention to her as she cooed at the doll, telling it her life story, as many thought that she was the vendor's daughter or something. The vender themselves thought that Cryo was just a lost child waiting for their parents to come back around, so they allowed her to stay there. It's not like she was doing any harm anyway. No one seemed to recognize her as a Mighty Number though. Weird; they must not have cable.

Cryo has been so enraptured by the doll that she didn't even flinch when Dr. White suddenly shouted “Cryosphere!” when he saw her, and instead scaring a few people that happened to be next to him at the time. When he was closer, Dr. White once more snapped, “Mighty Number Two!”

This succeeded in startling Cryo, making her quickly scramble to her feet and declare in shock, “Dr. White!” Her surprise was short lived when she saw that Pyrogen had joined Dr. White, and her sour attitude returned at the reminder of a broken promise that never was.

“What?” Cryosphere snapped. “No Bat?”

“I assure you that he is nearby.” Dr. White affirmed, “He can't be near this large of a concentration of humans. I'm sure you're aware of how easily he'll cause a public panic?”

“Sure, sure.” Number Two huffed before turning her attention back to the doll.

“Crysophere, stop sassing the professor!” Pyrogen snapped. To Dr. White he apologized, “I'm sorry professor, this is all my fault.”

Beyond exasperated at this point, Dr. White rubbed the bridge of his nose before saying, “This isn't your fault Number One. However, I do not see why she expects there to be more female Numbers when she's more trouble than she's worth! Even Number Three wouldn't act like this.”

Cryo flinched at this, absently tracing her fingers through the doll's hair. That was when she had remembered she was holding the old doll and making the quick decision to change the subject by presenting it to her brother and creator.

“This is my little sister.” Cryosphere told them in a matter-of-fact tone. “If you're not going to build any more female Numbers, then let me have this dollie as my sister instead. I won't go back until you say yes professor!”

For a rather long amount of time, Dr. White looked at his creation as if she had suddenly decided to speak a different language.

“How much for the doll?” Dr. White then asked the vendor as he started to get out his wallet.

“Dunno,” the vendor teased, “That Cabbage Patch Kid has been in my family for two generations- it might be worth quite a bit if you ask me.”

Dr. White raised a very unamused eyebrow.

“20 bucks.” the vendor told him.

“Thank you.” the professor agreed, getting out the cash needed. Knowing that she was going to keep the doll, Cryosphere let out an ecstatic squeal as she hugged the doll once more.

“You're all mine now!” she happily said to the doll. “Oh…! I love you so much, my new little sister! I do! I do! I do!”

“Are you happy now?” Pyrogen asked her with his arms crossed. He still wasn't amused with her, but there was little he could do about it now.

Cryosphere didn't answer because she was too preoccupied with the doll. “I'm going to call you Kaberi, Kabi for short! Cryosphere and Kaberi, Cryo and Kabi! Oh, we'd make the perfect team!!”

[kessielrg]

[Mighty Number 9] Synergy

Summary: In which Doctor White and Leilani work together to repair a Patch unit.

Rating: K+

Word count: 2,309

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Today, William and Leilani are set to work together to repair a Patch unit that has gone out of commission. There will be a small observation team with them that consists of myself, Call, Raychel, Beck, and whomever else is interested in such a feat (which I anticipate would not be anyone, honestly). They have unlimited time to do what they need- and they will need all the time they have. This is not because they are idiots (far from it!), but they… they tend not to get along very well… I worry about this project, but it must be done.

William and Leilani are far more alike than they think.

-From Doctor Soichiro Sanda's personal notebook

. . .

The only sound in the room was the soft hum of the LED lights above them and Call preparing the workstation. There were quite a few tools out that she knew William White liked to be in a particular location, along with making sure that the disabled Patch unit had the parts it needed to be repaired to begin with. From the observation deck, Doctor Soichiro Sanda was messing around with the room's intercom system to make sure that it was still in working order.

After giving the mic a few taps (and getting the feedback from it), Sanda then cleared his throat to say into it; “How do things look down there Call?”

“Everything is already for the repair Doctor Sanda.” Call decided in her usual toneless voice, directing herself to the observation deck because looking away from him while answering would have been rude.

“Good!” Sanda declared as he clapped his hands together. “Very good! Now we just need to wait for the two of them to arrive. Here's hoping that it goes just as smoothly...”

“I will contact Beck to let him know that we are ready.” Call nodded.

“Yes please.” agreed Sanda. “I'll get into contact with Leilani.”

As the duo contacted their respective contacts, Beck was calmly walking through Sanda Technologies while waiting. He knew he had arrived too early, but it was better than waiting around at home. Doctor White was in the facilities as well, Beck just couldn't tell you where exactly.

“Beck,” Call's voice suddenly said from over his headphones, “Do you read me? We are ready to begin the repair.”

“Alright.” the bot agreed. “Meet you there soon.” and without further ado he started in that direction. Beck knew the layout of Sanda Tech well enough that all he had to do was keep walking down the corridor he was in, make a right at the crossroads, and then the training room would be the tenth door on the right. When Beck reached the crossroads, he saw someone come from the opposite direction; when he realized who it was, he froze.

Leilani Blaise walked down the hall of Sanda Tech with the attitude of a snobbish movie star. Her hair was tied up tightly behind her, a pair of sunglasses hid her eyes from the public, and if it weren't for her sneakers, you would have assumed that she had dressed for an important business meeting. Not far from her was Ray- the older looking bot was fully decked out in her vermillion armor. The scowl on her face easily illustrated to everyone that if they dared to even speak to Leilani, Ray was going to serve their head on a silver platter post haste. Beck wondered for a moment if her weapons were even active at the moment, and then he shook the thought away. He didn't want to know that. It was easier not thinking about it.

“Hey Beck.” Leilani greeted in passing. For a moment, it utterly surprised the little bot. Leilani had acknowledged him? And without a snarky comment?! So, it was true that she did have some respect for Beck and not for Doctor White, his creator, but it certainly wasn't normal for her either. By the time he could stutter out a reply, she was already gone. Without meaning to, Beck gave a sigh of relief before remembering that she was heading to the same place he was going. With a small flinch, he continued to the training room.

Turns out, he was the last one to arrive in all said and done. Doctor White was already in the training room making sure that everything was where it should be for him to start. Call and Doctor Sanda were in the observation deck to ensure that they had covered all the bases needed for the repair. Ray and Leilani were in a corner with Ray giving the human many possessive kisses around Leilani's jawline and her neck. Beck stared at them for a bit too long- Leilani noticed him and in giving a genuinely guilty looking expression, she shied Ray off of her. The little robot looked away when Ray kissed the human before Leilani left to enter the training room with Doctor White.

Once everyone was settled in their positions, Doctor Sanda tested the intercom system one more time before asking, “Are you two ready?”

“Yes sir.” Leilani and Doctor White answered at the same time, each giving a bow of reverence.

“Good. Now, as you can see before you,” Sanda started, “This Patch unit has been decommissioned. At the moment, the cause of its failure is still unknown; it will be your job to find the error, correct it, and successfully reactivate the Patch unit. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir.” the two agreed once more.

“Well then, you may begin.”

“Sounds easy enough.” White mumbled to himself as he looked over the unit. “The first thing to do would be-”

“To crack it open.” Leilani interrupted with a smirk.

“What?” White snapped. “No! We give it a charge to see if it's a battery failure.”

“You can find that out by taking it apart too.” came the counter argument. “Remove the battery and you can test it separately. If it's an error that's causing the battery to short out (say, oh I don't know, corrosion), we would know by taking it out of the unit.”

“No. We charge the unit and see how it responds to the stimulus. If the unit does not turn on, then we will know that there is an internal issue. If it does turn on for a moment or two, then it is likely that the cause is the battery.”

“And what if it fries the unit more, nimrod?” Leilani snorted. “Ever have a faulty laptop charger that killed the battery off too?”

White started to give a reply, but Leilani cut him off.

“What am I talking about?” she mused. “You don't know anything about batteries- I've been trying to fix one of yours for the past five years!”

“You're not fixing anything- you're illegally modifying my design.”

“And making it better. Perfect, even. Who knows, if I modify it enough I could patent it as my own creation.”

Hearing this, all the color drained from William White's face as he got dangerously close to the young woman. “You. Wouldn't. Dare.” he hissed.

To this, Leilani smirked. “Try me.”

That was what inspired them to glare at each other directly in the eye for a rather long amount of time. At the same time, they both snapped their heads to look up at the observation deck. “Sanda!” the two of them even whined in unison.

“I can't work like this!” White declared.

“I'm 19, sir.” Leilani mused, not even looking at White. “I have a reason to be an ass, but he's, like, 69 and not any better.”

“I'm 41.” grumbled White under his breath.

“I-I'm sorry you two,” Sanda tried to argue, “But you can not leave until the Patch unit is fixed. We all agreed to that. R-remember…?”

“Faintly.” Doctor White muttered.

“That's 'cuz you're ancient.” Leilani mused back.

Back at the observation deck, the others were starting to get annoyed at the duo's antics.

“If they keep arguing, that Patch unit is never going to fixed...” Beck noted with some sadness mixed in his voice.

“I will admit,” Call sighed, “I am very glad they are not working on me.”

“Rest assured Call,” Sanda then told her, “Only I am authorized to change your programming. Anyone else will have to go through me.”

“Although it would not be much of a fight,” noted Call, “I do appreciate the attempted reassurance Doctor Sanda.”

“No one but the flower is allowed to touch me.” Ray grumbled under her breath. “Not even Will.”

Beck looked at Ray curiously before looking back at the professor and Leilani. No one was allowed to modify his code either expect for his own creator. Leilani had been able to fix him after a fight with Ray, but she hadn't changed him. Did he want her to? In his own opinion, Leilani seemed just as skilled as Doctor White. In that moment Beck decided that he would let Leilani change his code if it needed to be done. Maybe if -for whatever reason or another- Doctor White was no longer able to fix him, Leilani would be his next and only choice.

“Fine,” Doctor White finally gave in, “We'll open up the Patch and separate the battery from the unit.”

Leilani did not object, instead giving a wide smile filled with attitude as she reached for a screwdriver.

“I need the allen wrench.” White then opposed.

“We're supposed to be working together.” Leilani objected. “And I want to work with this.”

White gave a roll of his eyes and let her do it. Her watched her with scrutinized eye as she opened the back of the unit to reveal its battery compartment. As Leilani worked to get the battery out of its wiring, she noticed something.

“Hey,” she said to White while swinging an overhead lamp into the open crevice, “Check this out.”

Annoyed for a moment, White looked at the area she was pointing too and easily saw the issue as well.

“The Auto-Dispense Motor is jammed.” he noted.

“That's not all,” Leilani agreed, showing him the wires around the motor. “The overload shorted out the Item-Projector and battery wires. If we had gone along with charging the unit beforehand-”

“It would have likely exploded...” White finished. “Between the Auto-Dispense Motor being jammed and the influx of rerouted power to the battery, it would have caused a level 6 xel implosion.”

“I've never seen the inside of a Patch look this messed up before.” Leilani said, mostly to herself. “Is there any safe way to fix it?”

“We'd have to gut it.”

The young woman bit her lip. She wasn't used to gutting out robots to make them work again. Doctor White sensed this and located a small drill to use.

“We have to start with the faulty wires.” he told her. “But carefully. As I take out the motherboard, could you handle the item index chip?”

“Sure.” Leilani nodded. After making sure that each of them had the tools they needed, Leilani and Doctor White moved in unison as they removed the components inside the Patch unit. Despite arguing only ten minutes before, the duo moved as a single unit while removing everything inside the Patch. Their observers could barely believe their eyes.

“Sizzling synergy!” Sanda exclaimed. “Look at them go!”

Beck peered a bit closer, just to make sure he was seeing it right. He would admit that they didn't truly work together like, say, a pair of old friends would. But, it felt more like the two shared a very similar mindset that enabled them to work together. They weren't friend or foe, but just… geniuses. Equal geniuses that had finally found a way to cooperate.

The stunned silence of the observation deck continued as Doctor White and Leilani then reassembled the Patch unit. Leilani was now moving a bit faster than Doctor White -as this was how she learned robotics, after all- and her memory of where everything went was even more impressive. Everyone watched as the two placed a new battery in the Patch and everyone held their breath as they waited for the unit to turn back on again.

As the lights on the Patch's face started to light up and its side arms rose, Beck almost felt the need to cheer.

“We did it.” Leilani marveled. Doctor White seemed to stiffen a little at the idea, but it was true. Sucking up much of his pride, he turned to her and offered his hand out to her.

“Good work.” he said, toneless and without any love lost. Or earned, for that matter.

Leilani looked at his hand before looking up at him. With an amused grin, she took hold of his hand and shook it. “You could have done better.” she teased. White didn't even bother to respond before the two turned to the observation deck and gave a finishing bow to their observers.

“Excellent job you two!” Sanda congratulated over the intercom. “Since you have done what I requested, you may leave.”

“Beck, I'm going home.” Doctor White immediately said back and without further note he left.

“Raychel, don't go anywhere, I'm coming up to get you.” Leilani then said. Ray gave a firm nod and stepped back a bit. Beck eased back a little as well.

“Call, can you recover the Patch unit?” Doctor Sanda requested. “Take it to R&D and have them run the usual productivity tests.”

“Yes sir.” the robotess agreed. Beck watched her and then looked back at Sanda. Why would he want the Patch unit to be looked over? Was it to make sure that it was completely operational again? As Leilani entered the observation deck to greet Ray, Beck had a sudden, random thought.

What was Doctor Sanda planning between Leilani and Doctor White?