Chapter 7
Another chapter here for you guys to read! On to the chapter!
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Elder was just how Add imagined a city would be. Of course he'd seen one before, but he was always restrained and never had the ability to explore one on his own. The streets were crowded, the people were a bit rude and pushed and shoved as they walked, and it was noisy. Despite that, Add loved it. He didn't exactly like the shoving and pushing part or the noise, but such was to be expected.
"Master Add! Wait for your loyal servant," Dynamo said as he zoomed behind him trying to keep up. Add was suddenly pushed right out of the crowd of people and landed near some sort of shop.
"Ow," he muttered as he glared in the direction that the shove came from. "Dynamo don't call me Master Add. That's weird," Add spoke when Dynamo reached him. Some people gave him strange looks, but he ignored them.
Add turned around to find a little girl, maybe nine years old, staring at him from the front door of the shop that he sat in front of. He looked away from the girl and examined the shop only to relize that it was actually a building dedicated to alchemy. "Hey! Hey you! Yes, you. Come here," the girl said. She caught his attention and he got up, dusting himself off before going over to the girl. Why? Well, she kind of reminded him of someone whose name had been erased from his memory.
"What do you want?" Add asked the little girl.
"You're a traveler aren't you. Echo can tell. Only travelers get pushed out of the crowd. Since you ended up here, Echo has a job for you. If you do it, you'll get paid. How does that sound?" the little girl said. Add just looked at her as he thought about her offer. He didn't actually have any money and he could really use some.
"Aren't you a little young to be negotiating or something like that?" Add awkwardly asked.
"Age has nothing to do with this. None of the adults are listening to Echo, so Echo decided to take matters into her own hands. Now are you going to do the job or not?" the little girl said.
"I don't even know what the job is," Add said in his defense.
The girl went inside the little alchemy building and came back out with an open laptop. "There's something going on in the waterways down underneath Elder. Echo was able to figure out that they're EMP signals, but Echo can't actually go and investigate. Echo wouldn't be allowed to and the Red Knights would stop Echo before Echo could even get close enough," she explained as she pulled up her investigations on her laptop.
Add was a little surprised at how much she could do at her age and the fact that she kept refering to herself in the third person but he didn't really mind. "So you want me to investigate for you since you can't go anywhere," Add concluded.
"Exactly. Then Echo will pay you," the girl said with a nod.
"Okay. Dynamo, let's go," Add said as he began to walk away.
"Hey wait! Echo didn't tell you where the entrance is!" Echo called.
"How do you know that I don't already know?" Add replied.
"You're new here. Echo has never seen you before," the little girl plainly stated.
"Okay, so I don't know. But I'll find it anyway," Add said with a shrug as he started to walk away again.
"Hey wait!" Echo said, stopping him once more.
"What is it this time?" Add said as he turned to face the girl.
"Your name. Echo doesn't know what it is. You would want at least one person to know just in case you didn't make it back, right?" she replied.
"Am I not supposed to make it back?" Add skeptically asked.
"Let's just say that you aren't the first one that Echo has sent on this job," the girl said. Add gave her a questioning look but she responded with a look that said 'please don't ask' so he said nothing about it.
"My name is Add, if you must know, and this is Dynamo, my uh....annoying acquaintance." Add could have sworn he saw Dynamo's digital eye twitch in irritation, but he assumed it was just a glitch. Besides, nasods didn't harbor true emotions.
"Add? Isn't that an odd name?" the little girl said.
"Oh really? Then what's your name if mine is so strange?" Add countered already knowing that the girl's name was Echo.
"It's Echo. What's so strange about that?" she said tilting her head. Add pushed the topic aside and ruffled the girl's hair. He didn't know why but he did. Maybe it had something to do with that person whose name he could not think of.
"I'll be back later, Echo," Add promised hoping he could keep his word.
"But shouldn't you change into something a little more casual?" Echo said before Add could leave.
"What are talking about?" Add questioned, but then he noticed that he still had the broken chain around his neck and his attire wasn't all that nice either. So that's why those people gave him strange looks. Minutes later, Add had changed into new clothes that had been in Echo's storage.
"See, now you don't look suspicious. Echo thinks you should keep the clothes. Think of them as a gift," Echo said.
"Yeah whatever. Thanks I guess," Add muttered. He then disappeared into the crowd and started his little mission. "Dynamo. Can you run a scan on the area and find any possible entrances to the waterways under Elder? I'd prefer that it be futher away from this crowd of people," Add said as he wove through the crowd. He didn't care if anyone heard him, and they could have cared less about what he said.
"Already in progress, Master Add," Dynamo spoke. Add decided not to say anything to Dynamo about how he adressed him this time. "Access point found. Finding the quickest route to destination....route found." Dynamo sped up and went past Add towards the destination although he went at a pace that Add was able to keep up with. They ended up outside Elder in a relatively unpopulated area with a hatch leading down into the waterways.
"Good work, Dynamo. Now let's go," Add said as he was about to walk over to the hatch.
"I detect a presence nearby," Dynamo alerted him. Add looked to Dynamo before searching the area but saw no one. He was certain that Dynamo hadn't made a mistake. The little floating nasod hadn't failed since Add met him....well then again, he did get his name wrong.
"Who do you think you are trespassing in my territory, huh kid?" a voice said as a figure appeared walking into view from the nearby greenery. How Add hadn't noticed him before was something he couldn't understand himself. "You're just a little runt. You don't know where you are do you? No worries though. If you just give me your valuables then you can leave here unharmed," the person said. He was a bandit with a large wooden bat of sorts propped on his shoulder. The mask that he wore was quite repulsing. Add could only stare as the guy towered over him. "Hey, didn't you hear me? Hand over your valuables kid!" the bandit repeated.
"I haven't got anything!" Add said as he backed away from the bandit.
"Sure you do. You've got the clothes that you're wearing. That should do," the bandit said.
"What?" Add continued to back away from the thief.
"You're starting to make me impatient kid. Come on, hand over everything that you've got." The bandit swung his bat at Add. He stumbled backwards just in time to dodge the attack but the bandit attacked again, hitting the ground this time. Add was able to dodge that but it caused him to fall. He couldn't recover in time to avoid the third attack. The blow left Add stunned and on the ground still. "You're weaker than I thought you'd be. That doesn't mean I'm letting you escape. I don't know if you noticed, but those who are weak are of no use around here. I'm going to have to get rid of you," the bandit said. Add could only sit up, holding his wound.
"Goodbye you weak lit-...!" The bandit was suddenly hit pretty hard in the head by a speeding object. It was Dynamo, and the little nasod was now floating above the possibly dead bandit.
"Attack response ended. Target is eliminated," Dynamo said as a small amount of blood dripped from his side. Add stared at the small nasod in shock. Once his mind slowly wrapped around what had just happened, he got an idea. If this plan of his worked, he'd never be called weak again.
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I've got more chapters to write so until next time you cool readers!
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