"Damn it…" Dante made a faint hissing sound, drawing air between his clenched teeth. "That… that was a really stupid idea." "Stupid? More like retarded." Finn said. "You might as well be kicking cars if it's ." "Nah, cars are much softer. They bend too easily." "Why does it sound like talking from experience?" [I won't be surprised if it's true.] In his excitement, Dante forgot to hold back and ended up making a rather painful mistake. Even as he held the ice bag to his foot, he still didn't understand why he felt the urge to kick the yellow bot like that. It was true that he had gotten used to kicking entire cars around with no problems, but that was while wearing a Level 2 armor. Trying the same thing with nothing on was asking for his leg to be broken. Taking the ice pack off, he stared at the purple pot going up his shin. Volcan said nothing was broken, but the pin told a different story. [Serves you right, asshole.] His eyes shot to the yellow tin can, prompting it to hide behind its owner. Surprisingly, the bot barely had a scratch on him after everything. "You sure you didn't mess up his main model?" Dante asked. "Yeah, it's kinda weird hearing him talk instead of typing things." Finn looked over his shoulder. "Even I am surprised the tone tuning turned out this well." [And now I can tell you to piss off to your face.] Said Jake. The pain coursing through his body urged Dante to return the glare directed at him by the yellow bot, but that same pain made it difficult to focus on such a thing. Getting tired of it. Dante opened his Storage and took out the RED bottle. Staring at it for a while, he twisted the cap off and popped a single pill into his mouth. It would be a while before the meds kicked in, so until then, he had no choice but to put up with the pain. "The attitude aside." Groaning as he pushed himself up, he dusted off his clothes and turned to look at the yellow bot once more. "The bot itself is really well made. Sturdy as well. Still, how did you get it to move like that?" "It's not that complicated," Finn replied. "It's like rigging a 3D model so it can be moved around with a controller. You know, like in video games." "Yup. There are plenty of animations and actions available online. Since AIs aren't limited by buttons on a controller, you can just add a bunch of things and bind them to specific commands. After that, you only need to wait for them to learn how to use those commands." Get full chapters from 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥 [I see…] Volcan said. 'You understood any of that?' [Yes. To put it simply, the actions and movements characters make in games are animations triggered by the execution of a command initiated by the press of a button. Instead of a game character, the animations are instead performed by the android body, and with the AI being capable of issuing unlimited commands, the result would be the ability to perform a wide range of movements unrestricted by the inputs of a controller. Dante didn't understand the technicality of it all, but that didn't matter. 'So… you can create better controls for the androids now?' [Indeed,] Said Volcan. [I have already begun working on it.] He could already see it—a dozen androids working as his support, all moving in perfect coordination with him. If Volcan were to add some of those martial arts programs people like to use with their SREs, the training session would get far more interesting. A raging beast woke up and filled the warehouse with its demanding growl. Dante was startled by the sound of his own stomach, which had decided that now was a good time to remind him that he had only eaten a light breakfast that morning. Now that he had swallowed a RED pill, he needed something to refuel or he risked passing out. Standing up, he took a nutrient pack out of his storage and squeezed some of the sweet jelly into his mouth. "Well, time to drop by grandma's place." Apparently stunned still by the monstrous call of his guts, both Finn and his AI friend continued to stare at Dante even as he stalked to them. Finn wanted to go finish working on something, so Dante delivered him back to Suzuka's place before heading back to Hollowgrid. By the time he made it to the Bowl of Fortune, Dante was so famished it felt like he hadn't eaten anything for days. That was a sign of the medicine working, sure, but knowing that didn't make it any less uncomfortable. For once, Nobara didn't welcome him with nagging or complaints. Jonah was there as well, having some late lunch after yet another long shift. The wrinkles on the old officer's face were worse than before, as if he had aged several more years since the last time they met. Apparently, things weren't a peaceful as yesterday's night walk had shown. "See you later, old hag." "Take it easy, boy! You're still fresh out of the hospital bed!" Having filled his belly with Nobara's cooking, Dante started toward his apartment. He felt his brain lagging as he tried to decide what to do next, and each time he came up with something, sleep would push it down his priority list, as if trying to send him a message about his body needing rest. Volcan was already done working on the controls for the white androids, so he was considering testing them before calling it a day. Just as he was about to make up his mind, his resident AI informed him that trouble had come to look for him. It started with what looked like an average street rat following him around, but then another three joined in. Volcan evaluated them as nothing special, so Dante decided not to pay them any mind, but then they made the bold move of surrounding him as he entered a side alley, not realizing that he purposefully drew them there.