Reese ruffled his curly hair. Tension filled the room as he realized his plan had failed. All his soldiers have either been cornered or killed by a woman in brown. Impatient, she casually picked up a piece that formerly belonged to Reese. She fiddled with it using her fingers, making it seem to float around her pale hand.

"Reese, it's a checkmate." The woman yawned of boredom. Obviously, she had raised her son to be too much of a winner. Reese isn't giving up yet."Just forfeit and it'll be all over..."

A little boy that sat across both of them stared at the wooden pieces. The board was still full of peices, but somehow, Reese lost once again on the first few moves. The boy yawned, and his eyes felt droopy. He's gonna fall asleep watching a sore loser refuse to quit.

"Just get it over with..." The boy sighed. His eyes had gotten too heavy. His eyelids finally closed, and soon enough, he felt at peace.

"Ugh, the 20th time in a day..." Finally, Reese leaned on his wooden chair in defeat. His king had been cornered. In a few moves. The woman casually stood up and cleanly brushed off the dirt on her brown dress.

"I believe the universal rule is that the loser cleans up, Reese." The woman casually picked up an old broom and silently sweeped the stone cold floor. Reese let out a loud groan as he sunk his face on the table.

"Start cleaning, you nitwit!" The boy, who has been sitting there the whole time, slowly lost his patience. Seeing no productivity in his defeated friend, he began to pull his arms and shook them around. Maybe, if he keeps doing that, he'd be able to make Reese do something.

Reese ignored him. He silently lifted his head and picked up his white king, cornered by the woman's bishops. He gently placed it in a small box.

"Well ol' buddy, sorry for our defeats today..." Reese looked glum the entire time. His friend, unamused, raised a brow.

"If you don't hurry up, I'm leaving without you." He hopped off his seat and hunched a small bag that began clanking it's contents on his back. He slowly made his way to the door. Too... heavy...

Reese placed the lid back and pushed him and his chair back with the sheer strength of his legs. He glanced at his mother who was in their kitchen, sweeping as she loomed over their stove.

"Mom," Reese hastily grabbed the bag off of the child with a quick 'I'll take that' whisper. The child growled for a moment before exiting the cottage. Reese paced towards his mother."How did you beat me so easily?"

"Well... it all goes down to strategy and thinking abilities, Reese." His mother placed the broom aside and faced Reese with a simple smile."Though I believe that isn't the answer you were looking for."

Reese nodded.

"Well... I think it's more on experience, son." His mother, realizing that her son, even if he wasn't doing anything robotic related, still looked like a mess. His sleeves were slightly torn, and a few buttons were missing from his brown polo. She sighed.

"What...?" He furrowed his brows in confusion. Slowly, he placed two and two together, but he can't seem to find the answer.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Reese." She ran her hands around Reese's red hair. Sure, it is curly, but she wondered how her son could even have gotten it to look as if he had been electrocuted.

Maybe he was, considering he would work with dangerous energy pulsers.

He was slightly taller than her, she had realized. Her son, no bigger than her hands, now loom over her, impatiently watching her finish combing her hair. Silently, he held the brown leather bag. She glanced at it and noticed copper wires and cogs. Reese noticed her  looking and decided to explain.

"Baron and I will be at his home, building a small robot." Reese gently removed his mom's hand off her head."We won't be back until later."

"Well, don't blow up anything." His mother adjusted his collar. She looked down to see her welding goggles hanging on his neck."And don't break that. That's my grandfather's" she pointed at the leather bound goggles.

"Sure thing." Reese slowly moved away. He turned around to face Baron and slowly opened the door, revealing a beautiful garden. At the sky above them, they saw a magnificent airship looming over them. It's missile - like structure slowly flew past the old cottage.

Reese closed the door and walked behind Baron, who was ahead, looking at a blue flower.

"You know, it's about time." Baron exhaled sharply. He kneeled down and plucked the beautiful blue flower.

Reese waited for him to finish, and suddenly, Reese had a looked at Baron in horror.

Mercilessly, Baron crumpled the flower. Hastily, he stuffed the crumpled violet in a small marble like container he pulled out of his pockets. He glanced at Reese with a questioning face as he snapped the small marble shut.

"What? Did I do something?"

Reese, for a moment, stared at Baron in shock before snapping back and shaking his head.

"Nothing. I was just... surprised." He casually walked pass Baron and opened a small metallic gate."Though I'd like to know about what on earth you just did to one of my mom's violets."

"First of all," Baron walked outside and hopped down the small elevated garden with he help of some pebbles he used as a pathway."Those were clearly blue, not violet. Sceondly, that was a mini regenerative compactor I had created. It stores objects inside and repairs them so they look normal as before when you open the container."

"Well what'll you use the flower for?"

"Nothing. I just liked it." Baron strode forwards, casually ignoring the massive meadow surrounding them and the pebble path they walked on. Reese looked ahead to see the city was a little downhill. And farther ahead was the castle of the king that ruled over their empire-- the Ironclad Union.

Far off in the distance, metal walls stood, and above them were airships and magnificent floating islands. Reese sighed at all its beauty. He looked back and saw his small village getting smaller and smaller as he moved closer to the city.

"You know, those twenty chess games of you losing simultaneously made me feel tired." Baron yawned for a moment."Next time, if you're gonna get your butt handed to you, do it faster, okay?" Baron turned around with a smug face.

"Eh, sure." Reese walked passed the little kid and patted him on the head, as well as messing with his brown hair.

"Hey nitwit, as good as that felt, my hair is precious, so don't bother messing it about." He gently smacked Reese on the side. Of course, as a little boy, he couldn't really hurt Reese easily. Silently, Reese nodded.

"Sure, boss." He gave Baron a smug smile as well as he slowly walked into the market. Baron sighed.

"Maybe some originality would also do you some good..." He muttered. Silently, he made his way onto the cobblestone paths that lead to the city proper. The roads were purely clean. Little clockwork mechanisms lie everywhere they would turn their heads. Massive airships flew across the afternoon sky and people dressed in an industrial fashion wandered about.

"I hate this city..." Baron carefully looked around, hoping no capital guard heard him."Always noisy, smells like food... and oil..." Baron kept on going as they made their way to some small cottages that lied right next to small buildings.

Baron headed for the door and pulled out some gloves coated in metal particles. After placing them on, Reese looked at the boy you casually held onto the handles guarded by a strange blue aura Reese recognized as an energy field.

"This door is protected by this field." Baron noticed Reese's expression which showed curiosity."Wearing these gloves, I make sure that I can open the door without the fear of getting hurt or burnt or anything." Baron slowly ushered Reese to come in.

Silently, Reese looked at the door handle. Curiously, he held out his hand as soon as Baron had left him be and told him to close the door after he made it in.

'This will be... okay... probably.' Reese gently moved his hands closer.'Just a thought..'

But before he could place his hand on the blue field, an arm shot out of the door.

"You nitwit! People lost their arms trying to hold that!" A little arm dragged Reese inside the house by surprise."Unless you wanna lose an arm or something, don't touch it!"

"Maybe we can make a synthetic arm... or maybe limbs..." As he walked away, Reese locked his eyes onto the door handles, which he found interesting. How can a little boy like Baron do such things?

"That's a nice idea..." Baron muttered."I can't believe I never thought of that..."

Reese looked around. As soon as he managed to get his eyes off from the door's grasp, his eyes were redirected to a massive cabin, dimly lit by the fireplace. Around it were some comfy chairs, tattered and contained patches of different cloth. The wooden floor creaked with each step he took.

"Stop staring at my dad's furniture and stuff and get over here!" Baron motioned for Reese to follow him to the stairs. Reese, once more, walked forwards but was unable to get his eyes off this old house. Truly a beauty which has been preserved to make it up to this day.

"How old is this place?" Reese ran his fingers across the rough edges of the walls as he paced upwards. He stared at the child who was ahead of him. Baron looked down at the floor, tapping his chin. A slight 'hm' echoed the halls.

"I don't know."

'Of course,' Reese gave Baron a very dissapointed look as he proceeded to move upwards. Unsatisfied with the answer, he sighed.'How did I not expect that answer from him, of all people...?'

As he reached the top of the stairs, Reese could hear the creaking of the wooden floors more and more, along with some violent stomping. He glanced to the side to see Baron viscously stomping stomping his feet on a blue rug in front of a wall.

"C'mon, you imbecile!" Baron growled at the rig, that seemed to be doing nothing. Reese felt the entire floor vibrate with all of Baron's impatient stomping."LET. ME. IN."

Reese tried to open his mouth to ask something, only to be interrupted by a loud clicking sound. Instantly, Baron stopped hopping on the rug and exhaled sharply."About time, you dingle!"

A door shaped part of the wall retracted a few inches backwards, before sliding upwards, revealing a big room full of nothing but boxes and tables. Reese looked around with a brow raised.'What the hell...'

"I suggest you come in." Baron motioned for Reese to go inside the room."I don't think it would be a good idea to build our plan in a hall with a window where the colossi can perfectly see us."

Reese ignored Baron and proceeded inside. It's copper walls patched together with giant screws gave an eerie echo of Baron's muttering. Reese leaned towards a box which contained nothing but small little machines he found familiar.

"Aren't these... my designs...?" Reese gently picked up a small box made of glass. Reese could clearly see the contents of the box- small circuitry, that seemed to power itself if you waved it around.

"The self sustaining flashlight..." Baron appeared out of nowhere and delicately grabbed the box from Reese's hands."Yes, I take your lessons by heart. It is easy to learn after all."

"Aww shucks." Reese gave Baron a grin."I'm so flattered."

"Shut your trap before I use your design of the tranquil dart against you."

Reese shrugged and proceeded to sit on the floor. With a yawn, he watched as Baron pulled out another marble container which was slightly bigger. Without hesitation, he cracked the marble in two and a crumpled piece of paper popped out. Reese furrowed his brows.

"So--"

"Wait for it..."

After a few moments, the crumpled paper began to reform itself back to its original shape. Reese watched as it unfolded every fold and repaired every rip on the paper. Soon enough, what lied in front of Reese was a perfectly laid out price of paper with some very understandable writing and sketches.

"Ta-daa! Our plan!" Baron proudly pointed at the paper."It's foolproof... I think. As long as you don't mess up, the plan shall go flawless... hopefully."

The paper had a small sketch of the Ironclad Castle in it. Reese glanced above it to read 'Evesdropping' right next to the word 'Plan name.' Reese sighed.

"You really wanna do this?" Reese pointed at the piece of paper.

"Yeah. Problem with that?"

Reese dissaprovingly pointed  at a sketch on the bottom of the paper that had 'Gun in Case of Emergency' for a caption.

"You never know, Reese." Baron paused for a moment before attempting to explain himself."Plus, it's not like I'll use it to kill anyone if I had it. It's just for emergencies!"

"What you're trying to make me do is utterly illegal." Reese sighed. Of course, he follows a boy genius to their house, he ends up almost helping a minor eavesdrop on the empires most powerful man.

"But if you look at it on my perspective," Baron pointed to the air randomly."We've never seen anyone from beyond the wall! Specifically, someone from that corrupted northern empire!"

"It was, not is corrupted."

"Aren't you curious as to how they would look after generations of exposure to waste magic?" Baron inched closer to Reese, who moved an inch further from Baron."Maybe they may be some sort of... I dunno... tentacle people?"

"Tentacle people?"

"I don't know, you imbecile! That's why we're going to figure out!"

Reese sighed. There was no point in arguing with this guy. He did make a slightly fair point. Plus, even if it was wrong of them to do this...

... Reese got a little curious.

'It won't hurt to take a sneak peek...' A voice inside Reese's mind echoed.'Now that you think about it, you, like most people, are completely unaware of the outside world... with this giant wall surrounding the empire. Just think about it!'

And if he doesn't do it?

'You're a sissy.'

"Maybe you make a very reasonable point..." Reese tapped his chin. He gave Baron a long stare, thinking of the advantages and disadvantages of the little boy's plan."...Being knowledgeable of the outside world, specifically the northern empire, would be a great finding... for us mediocre folk..."

"It's about time my plan dug into your thick skull." Baron sighed calmly. At long last, Reese managed to see the bright side of this magnificent idea.

"Even learning little things about the outside world makes us far smarter than the people around us!" Baron leaned a little forwards, his arms supporting his body ss columns as they pushed against the floor."Heck, just learning about their eye color from a distance makes us more knowledgeable than the nitwits in this empire!"

"I don't agree with you in the nitwit part, but fine!" Reese smirked."You got me interested."

"Good," Baron absent-mindedly turned away from Reese with a shrug and spun back with a handful of papers."Now get to building our portable ladder!"

"But no guns."

"No guns?!"

"Yeah. I'm gonna stake out illegally, not murder someone."

"Fine then." Baron sighed.

-----------------------

Um. Hi.

About time... huh?

Really sorry bout' that.

I didn't know how to write what's in my head 😐.

But I'm (hopefully) sorta done with hiatus  and writers block so on with the story :D