001 [Audio then Video] [Originating from Solian Temple]

[kungfugeek]

 Oi! What's going on here!? 

[Well, someone's not entirely happy today, are they?  Then again, if you were just running with your buddies and suddenly found yourself waking up in front of a shrine, you'd be a little intrigued about it. Enough to half-heartedly listen to the robed beings explain the situation to you.  He wasn't sure if he believed them, either.  It's not like he'd met them before, and no one was able to vouch for them.  Really, what did he care about them?]

Deckerd! Duke! Are you there?

[They're the ones he was with last, after all.]

Anyone?? I'm by some weird shrine and these creeps came up to me and gave me this--

[Suddenly, it switches to video, showing a very confused Power Joe.]

THIS THING.  

[Glad to see you're adjusting well, PJ.]

Comments

[mccrane]

My A.I. chip deactivated.

[He begins rolling, leading the way towards the northeast.]

I was dead.

[It had been his ultimate failure--being dead had prevented him from his duties, and caused undue stress on the others. It scared him, too.]

[kungfugeek]

[He slows to a stop. McCrane, you pretty much just stunned him into silence. If he'd died...how did he come back?]

How...?

That's impossible!!

[mccrane]

[McCrane drives on for a moment more, before slowing to a stop some feed ahead of Power Joe.]

I thought that, as well.

It happened, however.

I do not remember dying, but I remember coming back after being dead. The Firstforged revived me, somehow.

[He never had gotten the memories back, though.]

[kungfugeek]

McCrane.

[He scoots up a bit closer, completely in shock (not that you can see it)]

...

So these FirstForged guys can bring us back from death?

[That was...scary to think about. If they can give life, they can just as easily take it away.]

And you trust them?

[mccrane]

[McCrane idles in place, feeling horribly awkward about all this, but...he'd promised to tell. He'd promised.]

I...hope that I can trust them, given what they did.

When I have spoken to Prima, he has answered my questions...

but I don't know that we have a choice.

These Glyphs connect us to them.

[kungfugeek]

[PJ just can't take that as an answer. To him, this didn't seem right. It made them feel like robots. Lifeless machines destined to listen to orders. Like they didn't have souls.]

So we have to accept that we're pretty much under their thumb.

[Sorry McCrane, he's really trying to adjust to this. It's hard for him, personally. It goes against his nature.]

They'd better be as good as they're hyped up. I don't take to people I can't trust.

Boss is the only REAL boss for me.

[mccrane]

[McCrane doesn't particularly like it either.]

We do, yes.

[In a way, though, it wasn't different from Nanamagari. Their choices there were sometimes limited, without any real sentient robotic presence on Earth before them. Slowly, he starts rolling along again.]

Most of the time, we do not even interact with them. They have their own business to attend to.

...

It is probably best it stays that way.

[He finds them daunting and occasionally frustrating.]

[kungfugeek]

[And like clockwork, PJ follows.]

Seems like they don't really care enough to take care of problems, so it's up to us?

..

Yeah, I agree.

[mccrane]

Exactly.

Which I prefer.

We are best at handling problems when we can operate the way we always have.

[Which is together, and...well, not unhindered, but with a defined set of rules that can sometimes be broken for the good of humanity.]

I am glad you are here, Power Joe.

[kungfugeek]

...

Me too. Seems like you were pretty lost without me, yeah?

[A little jab to lighten the mood. It only...slightly works.]

[mccrane]

I can only form a torso by myself.

[And he maybe misses hearing you practicing martial arts.]

[kungfugeek]

[And another laugh follows.]

Oi, not sure how good a pair of arms will get you. We need Dumpson if we're gonna get anywhere.

[McCrane if you tell him that he is never leaving your side.]

[mccrane]

True.

Though with Drill Boy now we can fly, and we can punch. That is more than previous.

[Such a ferocious weapon that makes them. Also, never leave his side anyhow. He gets molds.]

[kungfugeek]

Hey yeah! You're right! All we need to do is find someone who can turn into legs!

[mccrane]

If we did that--we might be able to upgrade.

[Which would be...well, it would make fighting a lot easier.]

And then we could use the Max Cannon.

[kungfugeek]

...IF he'll work with us.

[Someone's not too optimistic.]

He quit, I heard.

[mccrane]

I think I could get him to cooperate.

[Gunmax had been oddly cooperative with him lately. It might have had something to do with the mistletoe. And the other part, that came after the mistletoe.]

He did. After Todou...left.

[Since it's still hard to just come right out and admit someone is dead.]

I think I could understand why at that point.

[If Seia had come, and that had happened to her? McCrane would have needed the time alone.]

[kungfugeek]

McCrane.

[Power Joe pauses, as if thinking things over. There was something on his mind, and he may or may not be a bit embarrassed to admit it.]

He'll help us. He's part of the team.

Even if he's a pain...