[Video -> Text] [Transmission Originating From: Vectorian Sector]

[wakizashi_straight]

[The video is only on for a few moments - long enough to show a purple bot with wide shoulders, a samurai helmet, and glowing yellow optics - before shutting off. After that is a burst of text.]

Many of you exceed WRB height restrictions. You also violate a number of other WRB regulations, including illegal use of weapons and possession non-standard upgrades.

I am not where I should be.

[He would just like to let you all know YOU ARE SO ILLEGAL. SO. ILLEGAL now down to a few extra messages-]

If anyone happens to see Charlie Kenton I would like to be informed. He is a human with short, dark hair and brown eyes. He also has a son, Max. I do not wish them to be alone with unfamiliar bots if they come here.

Gunmax. Thank you for the ride, when we arrived. It was kind of you.

To the bot with the fins on his head: My name is Noisy Boy. 'Soundwave' is a terrible name.

And there was a red and white bot. I apologize if I fightened you somehow.

Comments

[video]

[sword_redemption]

[This is making his head hurt. Because he's trying to understand but he has only his frame of reference.]

Well, [He sounds a bit uncertain,] what matters is that you're happy with it.

[Are you?]

And is that how it was for you?

[text]

[wakizashi_straight]

[Noisy Boy is having the same problem, really.]

If I can fight, I am content with it.

[The fight is the important part.]

No. I believe Tak was unhappy with how my match against Rubicon went. He retired for a time after it.

[He couldn't ask Tak's reasoning at the time, so he'll likely never know.]

[video]

[sword_redemption]

Even if it's fighting for yourself, not an owner?

[Drift hopes so; he's not crazy on the robot trying to find an owner here.]

So, he blamed you for the loss? One loss? [Ouch.]

[text]

[wakizashi_straight]

Without a handler I cannot fight. I cannot acquire another handler without my previous handler transferring ownership to them.

And bots cannot own other bots.

[Besides, even with the whole Midas thing... Noisy Boy kind of likes Charlie and Max. He's not going to replace them.]

It was a difficult loss for both of us. I was the bot with previous experience and I was better-made. I should have won. [While he forgave Rubicon a long time ago, it's still hard on Noisy.]

[video]

[sword_redemption]

But your handler's not here.

[So...how's this supposed to work exactly?]

Sometimes it just happens, though. You do everything, and you still lose. That doesn't mean you...stop trying. End a partnership.

[Does it?]

[text]

[wakizashi_straight]

Then I function independently until my handler arrives. But I cannot fight.

[This isn't a situation he was designed for, really.]

No, but
[The text stops for a while. He shouldn't speculate, and thinking of Tak in that way hurts, but...]
I do not think he could stand to see me after that. He wanted a winner, and I had lost a championship bout that I should not have.

[video]

[sword_redemption]

Until.

[Yeah, he's not going to go there, that possibility his handler might not ever arrive.] Who is your handler now? So I can look out for him?

[Ouch. Yeah, maybe you think you're doing a good job about the 'hiding how much it hurts' thing? You're...not. Because Drift feels the slap of that from all the way over here.]

It wasn't your fault. You know that, right? And no friend abandons his own for losing one fight.

[You might think Tak is god, Drift thinks he's kind of a jerk.]

[text]

[wakizashi_straight]

My current handler is Charlie Kenton. He is a good man, but he seems to bite off more than he can chew, as the saying goes.

[He also adds a fairly accurate description of Hugh Jackman his handler after that.]

[Noisy Boy had only ever wanted to please Tak, really. Being given up on was tough.]

I have not had 'friends' before. Just handlers, mechanics, fans, and opponents. And I know it was not all my fault.

[The tough part is that Tak is god to him... even if Tak is also kind of a jerk. But Noisy Boy doesn't have that information, himself.]