Kick Start

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Scavenging. It was almost customary to the avian races, as much as it was an insufferable racist insult.

But such matters were of no concern to Gideon. He saw scavenging as just another way of living, just like how those who cleaned septic tanks and cesspools just do the smelly job for a living. You don't have to like or dislike something if it gets you food on your plate, or in Gideon’s preference, coins in his claws.

Which is why he frequently scavenged, though not completely in the sense of financial stability. While it did add to his source of income, it also gave him the opportunity to search for materials that—while others would see as nothing more than scrap—he saw as valuable as a diamond. From random metal plating to rusted bolts from the underside of chariots used in ancient wars, Gideon made use of whatever was thrown down and around the valley he lived near. The Great Landfill to most, the Great Treasure Trove for Gideon.

Today, he was scavenging at the surface of the ravine. A caravan from some canine civilization he has never heard of had dumped quite a load-full of scraps across the edge of the cliff this morning. And from a distant glance, his experienced eyes could definitely see many useful things inside the metal heap.

" What to see, what to take…" Gideon hummed to himself with a grainy base, adjusting his claw-made telescope lens over his left eye as he glided over a specific part of the new scrap field. His keen eyes quickly caught sight of a glimmer that stood out from the rest. It was quick and barely noticeable, but he managed to catch where it was. He shifted his wings to make a sharp turn, descending down towards the spot his eyes never left.

His leather-padded hind legs landed on the crooked metal ground while his front claws began to move the pieces of metal out of the way. It didn't take long for him to find the glimmer he was so focused on; a small metal fan blade. And to his luck, it was one made of a light-weight alloy that he was hoping to find for months now.

" Yes, about darn time!" Gideon wasted no time pulling the blade out from the scrap, opening his large leather saddlebag and inserting it in. With this, he'll now be able to forge the piece that has been halting his progress from his latest project, one he has yet to name but one he’s sure will definitely make his name spread like wildfire.

Just before making flight once more, though, Gideon’s left ear twitched as he heard a foreign sound wailing eastward. He glances towards the assumed entrance of the landfill and down the main road where the landfill donors normally come from. Using his telescope once more, he zoomed it into the maximum setting to see what was causing all that noise.

From what he could see, there seemed to be a… tilted carriage on the road. Bah, nothing of interest to anyone. That is what Gideon would’ve said, but his keen eyes caught hold of the decorative designs on the carriage, which screamed at him that this was something otherwise than uninteresting. Just by looking at the colorful decor, especially the precious metals aligning the carriage, it must be a noble's carriage.

Royalty, or at the very least a wealthy aristocrat. So it seems even the wealthy aren’t strangers to junkyards. How contradictory.

The carriage was clearly damaged, with both wheels on the right ripped off the hinges and torn to shreds. The contents from within spilled out onto the road, ranging from small fancy noble stuff to large luggage bags. It made Gideon tilt his head; there didn’t seem to be anything worth throwing in this land of scrap. Heck, it looked more like this carriage was just heading on a long trip.

His interest was piqued, and so Gideon decided to fly up closer. With a single flap, Gideon was tens of feet in the air, where he gave the area a quick look over before gliding down to the wreckage. And yes, as much as he tried to ignore it, the wailing never stopped, amplifying even more the closer he got. It was as if someone had left their baby and left. But that was unrealistic; it was probably one of those “high-tech” devices those city salesmen try to bait buyers with.

True to his evaluation, Gideon found nothing around the carriage that was meant to be thrown into the landfill. It was all just travel essentials, all for a family vacation if anything. Nothing worth his interest… except for maybe the perfume bottles. He needed to get that stench out of his home somehow.

“ Where is that darn thing…” Gideon grumbled to himself. His patience was thinning more and more the longer this thing kept wailing. He was going to go insane if this kept going! The problem is, it was coming from underneath a pile of the luggage on the side of the wreckage, but that didn't stop him whatsoever. Gideon began tossing the luggage over his shoulder one by one with ease, digging until he could get that stupid device and cut it off for good.

Eventually, he removed the last of the luggage blocking him from this insufferable annoyance, and he was greeted with a sight that made him wish he hadn’t gone through the effort of scavenging this wreckage, much less even coming close to it.

“...” Gideon’s face turned a sickly green, but he withheld himself from gagging. Now that he thinks about it, those canines didn’t look really noble, and as he can see, their actions on the real owners of the carriage were far from it.

Though greatly mortified, Gideon did catch the source of the noise, which was not too far off from the disturbing sight before him. Sneakingly settled in between the cavity of two bags, there laid a small and light brown infant. Like the victims before Gideon, the baby was none other than an equine, the fundamental form of a pony. The foal’s hair was dark brown… and that was about it when it came to details. Not that Gideon was all that concerned about details at the moment… which kindly reminded him how much he wanted to leave now. And how much he had jinxed himself.

It sucks, however, that he was a deep down compassionate fella. He could just leave right now, not letting this whole situation ruin his day any further, but his guts… no, bad choice of words. His morals were telling him to not leave this child by itself, no matter the numerous reasons why he could.

“ I’m going to regret this…” Gideon groaned audibly, doing his best to carefully fly over the undesirably vivid situation. The foal seemed to have heard him and stopped crying. But to add on to Gideon’s unfortunate circumstances, it cried even louder than it had before as he grabbed it and began to quickly fly off. Gideon tried his best to ignore his cries on his way home.

Kick Start
Chapter 1

7 Years later…

“ I must say, Mr. Gideon, this device is absolutely magnificent.”

Gideon looked over to the businessman besides him and gave him a dismissive scoff. “ Magnificent? This model isn’t even a tenth of the real thing.”

“ Even so, it is still a commemorable and revolutionary piece of technology. This will surely help our residential area achieve the desirable volume of water per day,” the businessman said. Sliding a hand through his suit, the businessman pulled out a small card and offered it to Gideon. “ Here, I implore you to receive my company’s card.”

Gideon looked down at the card with disdain, shaking his head slowly. “ You can keep that—”

“ Consider it the beginning of a great relationship,” the businessman cut off, smoothly sliding the card between Gideon’s claws. Readjusting his suit and slicking his already slick hair, the businessman nodded professionally at Gideon. “ On behalf of the company, we thank you for your service. Expect more purchases from us in the coming future.”

With that said, the businessman gave one final bow and made his way back into the grandiose carriage. And with a muted command from within the cabin, the carriage drove off down the steep road without a second wasted, leaving Gideon behind in a cloud of dust.

With a deadpan expression, Gideon looked down at the card in between his claws before ruthlessly stuffing it in his belt pouch and making his way back into his home, grumbling a train of insults under his breath.

Today marked another successful purchase for Gideon. And, as always, it was the same purchase of the same machine that every client before buys, nothing else. Some could argue that that wasn’t really a bad thing; he made a device that is not only revolutionary but is extremely profitable. Like, revolutionary to the point it got the attention of royalty. But still, after remaking the same device tens of hundreds of times over and still being requested more, Gideon is slowly beginning to get tired of it. No, he was already tired of it and wanted it to change really soon.

From the front door of his home/warehouse, Gideon stretched his wings and flew three stories up, landing smoothly on a small landing deck leading to his main office. It was one of the only places where he could find the quiet to actually do his work, most notably his blueprints for new machines that he oh so desperately needed. But, as he tossed his leather bag onto one of the numerous stacks of forgotten blueprint paper littering his office, he has made little progress in his next breakthrough.

With an annoyed sigh, Gideon slumped onto his small stool and picked up his pencil. He scanned over his current drawing to recollect where he had left off, and from there he spent the next twelve hours laser focused on inventing the next revolutionary water screw.

Unfortunately, he never got to that last part. With a loud bang, the windows to his office exploded, causing Gideon to jump with a yelp.

“ Gawk!” Gideon squawked in a similar manner as a chicken. His reaction was given a series of uncontrolled giggles at the assaulted window, which quickly snapped him out of his stupor. With a vein bulging out of his head, Gideon shot a glare towards the window, where he saw the ever notorious and insufferable small vermin hovering.

“ Hello, grandpa!”

“ Generator,” Gideon growled, his voice deep but slowly rising in volume, “ how many times do I have to tell you to not BREAK MY DARN WINDOW!”

“ But look grandpa—” Generator began, making an act to raise his hoof.

“ And I’ve told you numerous times to stop calling me that too!”

“ But you're an old bird, grandpa,” Generator pointed out, “ old birds are called grandpa and grandma!”

Gideon could only sigh in response, rubbing his claw between his nose. He could feel a headache growing, and that was the last thing amongst many last things he needed right now. To make matters worse, he felt a grainy texture on his nose, and when he moved his claw he noticed the crushed remains of one of his favorite pencils. His mood only soured more.

“ You’re going to fix that window, Generator.”

“ Nuh uh. Look, it isn’t broken,” Generator tapped a hoof on the ajar window to prove his words. As if to spite him, the entire window fell off the hinges and shattered onto the floor. “... I’ll fix it.”

“ Just tell me what you want, ” Gideon sighed quietly. With a beaming smile, Generator flapped his wings across the office and flopped himself right onto Gideon’s head, much to the griffon’s dismay “ you’re too old to be doing that, Generator. Get down!”

“ Fine,” Generator pouted but floated down to Gideon’s side. Sitting down on his hind legs, the colt detached his own smaller version of Gideon’s leather bag and stretched it out to the griffon in question. “ Here, look what I found! I think you’ll like it.”

His interests slightly piqued, Gideon took the bag and opened it. Within, he saw a small group of nuts and bolts, though beyond that there was nothing interesting. “ They’re just scrap.”

“ What, now way,” Generator pressed on, standing up and pulling out one of the bolts in the bag, “ see this? It’s all green and stuff! It has to be made of something cool!”

“ Green?” Gideon repeated, looking at the bolt closely. He took a healthy twelve seconds appraising the bolt, but no matter how intently he looked, the bolt was still the same silver gray color. He looked at Generator with an annoyed frown. “ I’m not falling for another one of your pranks, Generator.”

“ No, I’m being serious, look!” Generator insisted, taking out another bolt. “ This bolt is yellow, and when I was at the Great Landfill, all the other metals were orange or red!”

Gideon simply stared at the colt. “ And I thought I was colorblind.”

Generator pouted before snatching the bag and stuffing the bolts back in. “ Fine, if you don’t believe me, then I’ll keep these bolts to myself. You’re gonna miss out when I figure out what they do!”

“ Good, it gives me more time working on this blueprint and less time tolerating your tomfoolery,” Gideon said, then pointing a claw towards a drawer in the corner, “ toss me another pencil on your way out.”

“...”

Gideon looked at the colt when given no response. Generator didn’t seem to hear him, because his attention was suddenly brought to the blueprint on the table. Being too short to see the full drawing, Generator flew up onto Gideon’s lap and placed both front hooves on the table to take a closer look at the blueprint.

“ What are you trying to make?” Generator asked.

“ What does it look like to you?” Gideon rolled his eyes with a scoff, “ another machine… one that’s different from my accursed yet prodigious first born…”

“ But it looks the same.”

“ That’s because I was taking reference!” Gideon shot back, crossing his arms. “ I was getting somewhere good before you decided to pull another one of your irresponsible stunts.”

Gideon’s comment seemed to have flown over Generator’s head, who had quickly funneled all his attention on to the blueprint. Gideon didn’t notice this, having gone on to ramble about the bane of the younger generations.

“ Sheesh, can’t have a single day where the young folks don’t do anything out of haste,” Gideon grumbled, “ wished today’s society would go back to the Grover I era. Learn a thing or two about the consequences of one’s actions…”

“ Why don’t you just make it into a circle?” Generator suddenly said.

Gideon snapped out of his phase, blinking at the colt’s words. “ What?”

“ Look,” Generator pointed at the illustration of the water screw in the water, “ you already have the screw sideways, right? Why don’t you make it upwards or something, turn it into a circle?”

“... Stop your babbling and make some sense, Generator,” Gideon said, not seeing the colt’s vision, “ what difference does it make if I were to make it a circle? That’ll just make it useless.”

“ But, look, you know how the screw takes the water in small bits? What if you did it like that but on a circle,” Generator explained. He paused for a second before his eyes lit up. “ Like a wheel! Yeah, make it into a wheel and have it pick up water!”

Gideon was silent for a moment, his mind trying to process the boy’s words. There was doubt, of course, since this was nothing more than a child’s rambling, but Gideon was slowly finding sense to it. Then, as if the pieces were put together, something suddenly clicked in Gideon’s mind.

“ Get me a pencil, Generator,” Gideon demanded.

Generator tilted his head in confusion. “ Huh, why—”

“ Just get it!”

“ O-Ok,” Generator quickly flew towards the wardrobe and brought another pencil to Gideon, who snatched it out his hoof without even looking. Grabbing a new sheet of blueprint paper, Gideon then began to draw a series of circle sketches with different parts and notes. He does this for the next handful of minutes, all while Generator watches to the side with interest.

Eventually, Gideon finished the sketches on his third paper. Bringing it up to the light, he inspected the drawing before nodding in approval.

“ Hmm, yes, this will do.”

“ What will do? Did we figure out something?” Generator asked.

“ We?” Gideon scoffed, rolling up the blueprint. “ No, Generator, this was 100% my ingenuity in the process. No child like you could’ve ever created such a brilliant plan.”

“ Hey, not true!” Generator shot back, pointing a hoof at Gideon accusingly. “ I was the one that told you about the circles, and you drew a whole bunch of them!”

“ What does that have to do with anything? I draw circles all the time,” Gideon said with a smug grin.

“ Well without my idea, you wouldn’t have thought of using hydrodynamics to spin the wheel and generate energy through the conversion of the water’s kinetic energy into mechanical energy.”

“...”

Generator grinned happily. “ I read your notes.”

“ Fine,” Gideon huffed, standing up from his desk, “ 96%...”

“ Hey, that’s higher than last time!” Generator exclaimed.

“ Get station twelve prepared, I’m going to get the necessary materials,” Gideon said, making his way out of the office with Generator in tow, “ I think I still have some ginger wood scrap left somewhere…”

“ You used it all up when you were—” Generator began.

“ Just shut it and do what I told you to do!” Gideon barked out.

“ Yes, sir!” And like a bolt of lightning, Generator zoomed down to the lower floors.

Gideon paused for a moment, looking down at the large hollow space of his home. “ What am I going to do with this kid…”

Author's Note

Thanks for reading! I'm building this as I go, so don't be surprised if it starts to make no sense. But do please point those plot holes out, as well as anything else I mess up on.🙏 Once again, thank you for reading the beginning of my new series!

Chapter 2

Spring has officially begun, and with it many farmers across the region have begun to tend to their lands. In the early morning, they get out of their homes and plow through their fields, loosening the soil for their soon to be crops. Some open the gates of their barns, allowing their livestock to bask in the warm spring sunlight, while others tend to their infant orchids to prepare for the fruit season.

But there was one farm that stood apart from the rest. Unlike its neighbors, this farm had the benefit of owning the only large corn mill in the region. It was large in stature, towering tens of feet over all structures across the region. With its earthly brown concrete and reflective blue windows, the tower proudly displayed a set of large metal turbine blades that were rivaled by none.

But unfortunately, these blades of the wind have tasted not a single breeze since the day of their creation.

At the base of the mill, which was situated not far off from a neighboring river, a lone farmer stood at the wooden docks. There was an air of nervousness around the farmer, and as much as he tried to appear laid back, there was an obvious sense of anticipation in his posture. On the side of the corn mill was a recently installed large contraption, one that was second to the tower in terms of gargantuan size. Unlike the tower though, it was completely made of wood and was circular in shape. It had blades just like the tower, though much smaller, less curved, and flatter. This new machine was currently suspended in the air with the aid of ropes and binds, waiting patiently for its soon to come work.

From the hub of the machine, a small latch suddenly opened. From within the metal interior came out a disoriented bundle of dark brown-orange and gray feathers. Some would call him the aged orange, some the feathery clay pot. But in this instance, it was just Gideon.

Stepping out from the hub and closing the latch tightly, Gideon climbed his way around the water wheel and landed on solid ground. Patting down his work attire—which consisted of nothing more than old jean trousers and his leathery utility belt—Gideon took a step back to gauge his machine from a distance.

“ Is everything alright?” The farmer asked, having walked up moments prior.

Gideon gave the farmer a look of fleeting irritation. “ You say that as if my machine has any problems.”

“ Well, ‘was just asking,” the farmer countered, crossing his arms, “ I wouldn’t want to see my money go down the drain, y’know?”

“ Bah, I wouldn’t worry about such trivial things,” Gideon snorted, walking up towards the side of the tower, “ not with my machinery, you wouldn’t.”

Sticking his hand in a crevice in the wall, Gideon yanked down a lever, causing the large machine to slowly descend down towards the awaiting river. The area was filled with the noises of gears turning and wood creaking, though much of the sounds were muffled out by the roars of the river. Once the machine hit the water to a certain level, Gideon then lifted the lever up and pulled on another switch, effectively locking the machine in place.

“ Oh, it’s working,” the farmer observed, having crouched down to see the large contraption in action. Sure enough, the machine was in immediate service; the river’s current began to push against the small blades, resulting in slow but steady revolutions.

“ As it should be,” Gideon stated proudly, taking a rag to wipe his dirty claws, “ get rid of the idea that my work is anything short of the most optimal out there.”

“ No kiddin’,” the farmer laughed out loud, walking over and putting a dark brown paw on Gideon’s shoulder, “ I have to thank ya, Mr. Gideon. Ya done good help to my lil’ mill here. She’s been out of commission since grandpa’s passing.”

“ I know, I know,” Gideon grunted, passively swatting the farmer’s paw away. A look of remembrance suddenly fell on Gideon’s face. “ I’m no stranger to this old tower... I was invited to its ‘grand opening’, in fact.”

“ Ya don’t say?”

Gideon uncharacteristically chuckled slowly, shaking his head. “ That old fool was set on being a step up over me... but in the end he was too embarrassed to even continue the whole event when the darn tower didn’t work.”

“ Ya knew my gramps?” the farmer asked inquisitively.

Gideon scoffed at the question, as if it were insulting. “ Don’t bother, we weren’t that close. He prided himself on being one of my worst critics.”

“ I’ll be,” the farmer exhaled with quiet awe, “ never knew ‘pa was that well known, even after all this time.”

“ You'd be surprised how much he glorified this tower,” Gideon grumbled with a displeased look, “ enough about that old geezer, I’ve got to check the tower’s gearwork. Then I’m done with this place.”

The farmer nodded at Gideon as he walked away. He spent a moment watching the huge machine doing it's thing. “ Ya never told me this machine’s name.”

Gideon turned back and scratched his cheek in thought. “ Hmm… What was it again? Ah, right, it’s called the water wheel. Though that's self explanatory even without saying.”

“ Water wheel,” the farmer repeated, “ simple name yet a real complex work.”

Gideon gave no response, making his way towards the door of the tower to waste no time. The farmer glanced over Gideon's leaving form with a respectful smile.

“ Hey, thanks for ya help, Mr. Gideon,” the farmer said, giving a thumbs up, “ stop by my house before you go, my hun’ll make you something for your trip back!”

“ Yeah yeah,” Gideon said in dismissive fashion, waving a claw over his shoulder as he entered the tower.

Kick Start
Chapter 2

“ Ooo, what’s this?”

Generator lifted a plate of bent metal to the side, finding the small shiny object that caught his eye. It was between a group of metal springs, most of which were heavily rusted. Carefully moving them aside, he picked up the shiny object and inspected it closely. It appeared to be some sort of valve, perhaps one used in pipe systems. Nodding to himself, Generator opened his saddlebag and tossed the piece inside before continuing his scavenging.

Today, Generator found himself exploring a completely new scrap field, one many miles away from the Great Landfill he normally ventured. Though much smaller and tame in comparison to the one back home, this one still had plenty of cool junk to go through. Like the valve he had found a moment ago, and this shiny disk he just discovered, which he eagerly stuffed into his awaiting saddlebag.

His eyes caught another glimmer underneath the full metal. Weaving his hooves around the twisted metals, Generator grabbed on to the third shiny object of the minute and yanked it out. He gave a disappointed frown when he saw the ruined remains of what could’ve been a perfectly conditioned hind guard.

“ Maybe I should pick these things slowly...”

Suddenly, while he tossed the no longer interesting scrap behind him, the backdoor of the nearby home burst open. Generator stopped everything and looked back at the door, where he saw the lady of the home standing out with an annoyed expression. She wore an olive green dress with a milky white apron and a dark green scarf, all paired with a set of brown boots.

“ Cut all that noise!” The lady yelled out expressively. “ I allowed you to look around my yard, but you’re being too loud! I can’t even hear my own thoughts with all this ruckus!”

Generator sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a chuckle. “ Sorry, miss, I wasn’t really listening to myself.”

“ Hmph,” the lady harrumphed, her face expressing disdain towards the scrap pile, “ don’t even know why you like messing with all that junk. It’s absolutely filthy.”

“ Well, I think it’s cool,” Generator grinned, picking up a bent rod from the pile, “ you can find all sorts of random stuff in here. Like this rod, it’s shaped like a star!”

His example didn’t amuse her in the slightest, and she made it blatant with her stoic face. But, suddenly, realization dawned over her, and her face softened considerably. “ Say, young lad… you think you can get rid of all this junk? Completely?”

“ Huh?” Generator blinked at her random question. He took a quick look at everything around him, an uncertainty washing over his face. “ Maybe…?”

“ Good!” The lady beamed, clasping her paws together. “ If you can get this junk out of my backyard, I’ll pay you a hefty sum! What do ya say?”

Generator looked down at the scrap pile with thought. It wasn’t too much, but it wasn’t too little at the same time. It’ll probably take some time, especially with the few larger plates of metal. “ Hmm… I dunno…”

“ C’mon, it isn’t much to think of,” the lady insisted, pointing towards the small brown shed in the corner of her backyard, “ I’ve got a wheelbarrow back there for you to use. Other than that, I doubt you’d need any other tools for the job.”

Generator nodded slowly. A wheelbarrow would help a lot, and there were only a few large pieces of metal; the rest were small and easy to carry even without the wheelbarrow. It was going to be tedious, but it wasn’t impossible. And he was getting paid in the end too, which was something Gideon always told him to consider.

A smile grew on Generator’s face. “ Alright, I’ll do it miss.”

“ Good answer,” the lady hummed approvingly, walking back into her house, “ take all the time you need. I’d like it all gone, not a single speck left!”

With the door resoundingly closed, Generator shrugged and made his way towards the shed. With there being nothing more than the wheelbarrow and a few gardening tools, it took him no time coming back to begin his work. And really, he technically already did most of it. The majority of the metal was already organized in different piles, so all he needed to do was simply get them out of the yard.

But just when Generator was about to begin, there was a sudden gust of wind followed by a thunderous and hard landing, shaking the ground considerably.

“ Generator!”

“ Gah?!” Generator jumped in shock, dropping the metal he was holding. He turned around, seeing Gideon standing there with a clearly unamused scowl. The colt smiled warily. “ Uh, hello, grandpa.”

“ Don’t hello me. What in the western seas have you been doing!” Gideon barked out. “ I’ve been looking for you for a good ten minutes already!”

Generator sheepishly scratched the back of his head, looking down at the ground. “ Well, I was looking at this cool scrap pile and then—”

“ Enough, I don’t want to hear it,” Gideon snapped, extending his wings out, “ hurry up, I’m getting later and later the longer you dawdle around.”

“ But I, uh, can’t..." Generator hesitated, a sweat forming on the side of his face.

Gideon paused, his eyes slightly twitching. “ And why exactly can’t you?”

“ Cause I just promised the lady of this house that I’d remove all these scraps!”

Gideon looked down at the colt, then at the chaotic junk surrounding him. Then the griffon sighed heavily, his claws rubbing on his temple to ease an impending headache. “ You’re sure one heck of a moron, aren’t you?”

Generator winced, his ears drooping down on his head. “ Sorry…”

“ Have I taught you nothing?” Gideon asked sharply, his wings twitching with restrained frustration. “ You don’t go giving promises like that, especially promises you can’t even keep.”

“ Yeah, I know... but she asked nicely, so I couldn't say no..." Generator explained. The colt pouted, rubbing a hoof in the ground. " I'll just tell her that I can't—"

“ Nope."

"Huh?" Generator looked up in confusion.

" I sad no, you are not doing that,” Gideon firmly repeated.

" But didn't you just—"

" You will see it to the end," Gideon said, leaving no room for questioning, " that is by the code of honor. A griffon always stands by his words, no matter what.”

Generator swallowed. “ Oh…”

Gideon grumbled with resignation, his apathy towards the situation being apparent. “ And now I’m going to be late because of your poor lack of decision making.”

“ But wait, hear me out Gramps!"

Gideon deadpanned. " Gramps...?"

" Gramps, grandpa, same thing."

Gideon sighed, rubbing his eyes. " Just get on with it."

" The lady did said she’d pay me if I removed all this scrap,” Generator explained, giving a hopeful smile, “ plus she asked nicely… which is good, I think. I don't hear any of your clients as you stuff nicely.”

Gideon regarded the colt with a mixed expression. He eventually shook his head, but with a more calmed sigh. “ Well, aren’t you entertaining…” The griffon contemplated the distance for a moment before settling with a neutral demeanor. “ Alright, no point in sulking about it. How much have you done so far?”

“ Like half of it already,” Generator said, picking up the piece he had dropped earlier, “ I was already sorting them before she asked me to get rid of them, anyways.”

“ Hmm,” Gideon hummed thoughtfully. He approached the organized groups behind Generator and quickly gauged how he categorized them. “ And have you figured out where you’ll take them?”

“ Uh, I was still getting to that point…” Generator averted his gaze with an embarrassed look.

Gideon scoffed lightly with disapproval. “ And this is why you don’t jump into anything half-baked.”

“ I was thinking maybe the mountains though,” Generator said, pointing out towards the bordering mountains, “ I don’t think anygriffin goes up there, and it’s far enough to not bother anyone.”

Gideon glanced at the distant mountains contemplatively before shrugging nonchalantly. “Alright then… your call.”

“ Wait, for real?!” Generator’s eyes lit up withe excitement.

“ Don’t get me wrong, brat, I’m just not going to waste my energy thinking up a plan for your problem,” Gideon snorted with a hint of indignation. He strolled to the unorganized heap and picked up the closest scrap metal. “ Now hurry along, we can finish this in under half an hour at the most, preferably even less.”

“ Sure thing, Gramps!” Generator exclaimed with an eager smile, prancing over to Gideon's side. But before resuming, his eyes lit up with remembrance. “ Ah, by the way Gramps, before you do anything, the pile to the left is all the red pieces, the middle is yellow, and the right is green. Oh, and I haven’t found any orange ones, but you can toss them in the red pile. They're pretty much no difference."

Gideon looked plainly at Generator, though he failed to hide the amusement on his face. “ You’re still going on about that?”

“ I’m being serious!” Generator protested with an irritated frown. This wasn't the first time Gideon has doubt him about this. “ How can you not see it? They have different colors!”

“ I’m not going to argue about this again,” Gideon sighed, rolling his eyes as he randomly tossed the scrap into one of the piles, “ we have no time to stand around and debate over such a trivial thing.”

“ See? You got that wrong,” Generator dropped his scrap into the right pile and moved the one that Gideon threw into the left pile, “ that piece is red, not yellow.”

All Gideon did was drag out a long and insufferable sigh, silently muttering to himself a train of incoherent curses.

A few minutes later…

“ Hey… Gramps…”

“ What?” Gideon grunted.

Generator huffed, his neck straining as he pushed hard against the sloped hill. “ Why can’t we just—huff—fly over to the mountains?”

Gideon glanced back at Generator with a curled brow. “ Are you stupid? Wheelbarrows aren’t meant to be airborne. The center of balance would be too off even if you tie it right.”

“ But there has to be a better way,” Generator whined. The colt paused in his track, taking a moment to catch his breath. He looked over his shoulder to ensure the wheelbarrow was still properly tied and balanced, which thankfully it was. With the entire load tied to his body by thick ropes, though, it felt like he was being pulled by a group of very strong and scratchy snakes. “ An easier way… it’s too heavy.”

“ I told you, I’m not going to solve your mistakes,” Gideon said in a firm and harsh tone, “ you’ve got to learn the consequences of your actions. And remember, this trip was also your idea.”

“ Hrnn…” Generator pouted, but kept quiet. He really couldn’t afford to insist any further. They still had two more round trips to go, and he still wasn’t even sure how long this first one was. Woefully, it was better he just saved his energy than spend it complaining.

As the two maneuvered around another of the many rows of thick bush, a bug landed on Generator’s nose. He eyed the red critter with both wariness and a hint of curiosity as the bug began to crawl aimlessly around his snout, involuntarily causing it to itch considerably. He felt a sneeze building up, and he tried his best to hold it in. But it was no use; like the thunder of a storm, Generator let out a loud sneeze, a sneeze so strong that it jolted his entire body like he was shocked by lightning. As a result, he involuntarily went off balance, as did the load he was pulling.

“ Hm?” Gideon pointed his attention back at Generator, a teasing smirk growing. “ Don’t tell me you have an aller…”

“ Waaahaaa!!” Like an avalanche, Generator and the wheelbarrow were sent toppling down the hill. All of the scrap metal flew in the air in an explosive fashion, falling haphazardly downhill. Like a ball, Generator accelerated down the slope in a blur until he eventually slammed hard into the trunk of a tree. As the tree shook greatly, three green fruit fell from the canopy and landed in synchrony on top of Generator’s dazed head.

“ Ow…” Generator groaned, attempting to sit up but slumping down as his body was still too disoriented to move.

Gideon simply stared throughout the entire scene that had unfolded in front of him, unsure of how to respond. Eventually, he did what he usually did, which was to sigh exasperatedly as he begrudgingly made his way down the hill. “ This is going to take longer than I’d hoped…”

“ And what exactly are you doing now?” Gideon scowled, his judgemental gaze bearing holes upon Generator.

Standing behind a tall tree, Generator fastened the ends of two tightly intertwined ropes on the ground with a large crooked nail. The other ends of the ropes were wrapped around the top of a tall tree, which was severely bent from the tension of the ropes. On the canopy of the tree was a bundle of scrap metals also wrapped tightly with ropes.

Generator looked at Gideon with a confident and slightly proud grin. “ This is what I call the Metal Launcher 0.5! It’s the first prototype of this idea I just had, so I can’t really call it version 1 yet.”

“ I see,” Gideon nodded, a vein bulging out on his forehead, “ so… you’re telling me that, throughout this entire time, you made me wait here as you wasted more time building this foolishness?!”

“ Trust me, Gramps,” Generator said with a laid back tone, “ this’ll make things ten times faster! Take a look!”

Grabbing hold of the crooked nail, Generator quickly yanked it off from the ground, releasing the tightened ropes. The tension of the ropes was instantly gone, and with it the tree quickly sprung back into its natural erect form. Like a catapult, the metal ball on the tree canopy was thrown into the air, cruising over the forest at alarmingly high speeds. At this pace, it was bound to reach the mountains in no time.

Generator adorned a look of pure satisfaction at the success of his new invention. He looked at Gideon with excitement, expecting bountiful praise. “ See, what did I say? It worked, even better than I thought!”

However, Gideon did not share Generator’s excitement. He remained completely impassive to the contraption’s success. In fact, he looked far from happy about any of this.

Concern washed Generator. But before he could ask what was wrong, there was a sudden loud and teeth-clattering screech of metal scraping against one another. Quickly looking back, Generator was able to just catch a glimpse of the ball of metal exploding outwards into multiple pieces of torn rope and fragments of scrap, all of which disappeared into the depths of the forest.

Generator stared off into the distance with absolute shock, having not expected that to happen in the slightest. Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down his spine as he felt two sharp eyes fall on to his form. The colt slowly looked back, sweat dripping down his face as he was met with Gideon’s ferocious gaze.

“ …” Gideon was quiet, but his face and body screamed every word to Generator that he was in trouble.

“ L-Look, Gramps, you see—” Generator began shakingly.

“ Quiet,” Gideon hissed, causing the colt to snap his mouth. The griffon then gradually approached the colt. “ Stay still.”

“ W-Wait, Gramps, I’m so—”

“ I said silence!” Gideon snapped, his patience having run thin. Generator whimpered into silence, closing his watering eyes tight as he awaited his impending punishment. He jolted as he felt a weight fall onto his back. Then more weight was added, and then more. Each second Generator felt more uncertainty, his legs buckling under the monstrous weight.

Then, it stopped. He felt no pain, no more weight. Nothing happened. Generator opens his eyes with uncertainty, and the first thing he sees is Gideon standing in front of him, a disappointed look adorning the griffon's face.

“... Huh?” Generator said dumbfoundedly. Confused, he looked back to see what was weighing him down if it wasn't Gideon, and his eyes slowly widened as he saw that instead it was a large stack of scrap metal tied tightly around his midsection. “ Huh?!?”

“ You don’t even begin to know half of all the wrong things your little experiment just did,” Gideon began, his disappointment palpable, “ and now you’ve only added more to your load of responsibilities today.”

“ But… what does that have to do with this stuff on my back,” Generator asked hesitantly. He tried to move, but it felt like any small movement would cause one of his legs to snap.

“ Oh, that?” Gideon asked, looking up at the load on Generator as if he's never seen it before. “ That’s your restriction.”

“ Huh?”

“ Your restriction. Limitation,” Gideon gruffed, “ don’t think you can get off from this that easily.”

He then stretched out a claw to his back and suddenly drew out an insanely large metal ax, one that looked to have such a sharp edge that it could cut through other metal.

Generator’s eyes grew into literal saucer plates, his voice stuttering as he pointed at the monstrous weapon. “ A-A-And w-what’s that for?”

Gideon smirked, lifting the blade up and eyeing it deviously. “ Ah, just a little something to keep you in check while you search the forest for all those scraps you thoughtlessly threw.”

“ Bu— GAAH!!” By the skin of his teeth, Generator just narrowly dodged a rapid strike from the ax. The force was so strong that the ax embedded itself several feet into the ground.

Gideon grunted as he struggled to pull out the blade. “ Darn… sharpened it too much.”

“ Gramps, you've gone insane!” Generator shouted out, taking a steak back and pointing at the griffon accusingly. “ You almost hit me with that!”

“ That's the whole point, darn it!” Gideon grunted, pulling hard against the stuck ax.

“ C-C’mon, Gramps, I'm sorry,” Generator insisted, helplessly trying to find a level ground, “ that was stupid of me! I won't do it again!”

“ That isn't going to fix the mess you made,” with a final grunt, Gideon ripped the ax free from the ground. He then gave Generator a cool but sinister smirk. “ Now, I suggest you make haste, Generator. This ax isn't waiting for anyone.”

“ This isn't fai—WAAAAHAA!!!”

Partially true to Gideon’s words, the duo—well, mostly Generator—had somehow completed the tasks in little under an hour. While they could've done it much faster, with Generator's surprisingly insisting corrections about which scrap goes where as well as the previous little mishaps, it took longer than what Gideon would've liked. Much, much longer.

With a Herculean effort, Generator tightened his jaw as he lifted the weighted wheelbarrow, dumping the last pile of scraps into a large and deep pit they had found in the upper foothills of the mountains. When the barrow was completely emptied, the colt let out a sigh of great relief, dropping the wheelbarrow down and unceremoniously slumping down on the ground.

“ Gramps,” Generator gasped for air, a smile growing on his sweat and band-aid covered face, “ I think… we're finished.”

“ Really? Thought we just started,” Gideon joked dryly, using the reflection of his ax to pick his teeth with his claw.

Generator frowned lightly at Gideon. “ Gramps.. did you… take your medicine this morning?”

“ Oh, shut it,” pushing himself off the rock he was leaning on, Gideon stretched out his agitated wings, “ get up from the ground and return that lady her wheelbarrow.”

“ Could I at least… get a moment… please,” Generator wheezed, dropping his head down on the dirt.

“ What, are you a baby?” Gideon frowned, snapping his claws impatiently. “ Up, now. You’re wasting more time than we’ve already wasted!”

“ Ok,” Generator muttered, slapping his cheeks to shake off his fatigue. Slowly rising up from the ground, he too began to stretch his unused wings. With the weight of the wheelbarrow being much lighter than before, he was now able to carry it through flight instead of trekking/running-for-his-dear-life through the forest. Finding strength in his wings, Generator began to levitate from the ground, his hooves tightly gripping on the wheelbarrow. “ I’ll be back real quick, Gramps.”

“ Not a single second wasted,” Gideon shouted as Generator flew off.

Using the still air to his advantage, Generator glided down the slope of the foothills of the mountain with relative ease. The sun’s warmth mixed with the coolness of the air, relieving Generator’s body from his previous toils.

The trip was vastly shorter than the one on foot and less taxing on his body, so it took Generator no time to reach the lady’s backyard and quickly return the wheelbarrow back to the old shed.

After putting up the borrowed item, Generator walked up to the backdoor and knocked on it three times. Hearing light footsteps approaching, the door soon opened, revealing the lady and her expecting gaze. She didn’t even acknowledge Generator until she had completely scanned her entire backyard of any scrap metal.

Generator gave the lady a tired but complete smile. “ I removed all the scraps, miss!”

A satisfied smirk grew on the lady’s face. “ Not bad, young boy. That was a lot quicker than I had expected.”

“ Thanks. I had some, uh, moral support,” Generator chuckled awkwardly, his fatigue momentarily forgotten, “ yeah… something like that.”

The lady nodded absentmindedly, disappearing into her home briefly before returning with a small brown bag. She handed it to Generator with a thankful smile. "Here's your payment, as promised."

“Thank you, miss,” Generator eagerly took the money bag and bowed his head gratefully. With everything set, and with his mood greatly lightened, Generator jumped up into flight and gave the lady a parting wave. “ I have to go now, so have a nice day!”

“ You as well,” the lady waved at the departing colt. Then she contemplated her newly clean yard with an elated giggle. “ Finally, I can finally look at my garden without all that hideousness in the way!”

With his reward received, Generator made an even quicker trip back, zipping across the land in a light-brown blur. Descending down to the dump clearing, the colt ran up to Gideon with excitement.

“ Look, Gramps, I told you!” Generator exclaimed, showing the bag to Gideon. “ She gave me a lot!”

Gideon took the bag and opened it, seeing the glimmering shine of silver coins. He hummed thoughtfully, closing the bag. “... I guess this wasn't too bad of an investment. For you, I mean.”

“ So I did good?”

Gideon snorted. “ No, not even in the slightest.”

“ Whaaat,” Generator pouted, crossing his hooves over his chest, “ after all of that, and I still didn't do anything good?”

“Nothing about this situation was good. It was completely avoidable,” Gideon opened his saddle and tossed the coin bag in, “ you should never jump into something without knowing your own situation.”

Generator pursed his lips before sighing in defeat. “ I guess this was kinda dumb…”

“ Glad you're seeing it,” Gideon jumped up from his spot and picking up his ax. “ Duck down.”

“ Wh—!!!” Generator quickly ducked down as Gideon spun the ax in his claws at alarming speeds before chucking it into the air. The ax shot out like a bullet, soaring over the region and past the other side of the mountain range.

“ That should do it,” Gideon hummed with approval.

Generator blinked dumbfoundedly. “ But… what if that hits someone.”

“Not my problem, should've ducked.”

Gideon then lowered himself down to get ground, ushering Generator over with his head on. “ Get on my back. We're going to have to fly a long distance and fast less I want to be even more late.”

“ Alright,” Generator showed no resistance, hopping on Gideon's back without waste. Adjusting himself comfortably, Generator hugged Gideon’s neck tightly with a sleepy yawn. “ I'm tired… that was too much.”

“ It's good for you. A griffon doesn't grow if he doesn't work his body,” Gideon said wisely.

“Mmm… where are we going?”

“ That's for me to know and for you to find out.” With a strong flap of his wings, Gideon ascended several feet into the air. As the trees and the farms became small dots, Gideon adjusted the angle of his wings and made a sharp turn due north. Finally, tightening his muscles, Gideon pushed his wings into full throttle, the duo quickly becoming a blur. The air became harsh and powerful winds, but Gideon appeared completely unfazed, flying a straight path through clouds and all.

Under the roar of the wind, Generator suddenly shouted out. “ Hey Gramps, I have a question!”

“ What?!” Gideon shouted back, tilting his ear closer.

“ What type of creatures were those guys?!”

“ Again with your nonessential questions!”

“ I'm just curious,” Generator said, “ I thought they were prairie dogs but they had a thin skin between their paws.”

Gideon was silent for a moment before grunting, “ They call themselves Agoutis. But we griffons just call them water rats.”

“ Oh,” Generator hummed, lowering his head back down, “ that's cool.”

“ Hm.”

“... Why do they live in trees?”

“ Stop asking me those questions!” Gideon barked out. “ Now be quiet and get some rest. You won't be able to sleep where we're going.”

“ Ok,” Generator yawned, “ goodnight, Gramps.”

A sweat drop ran down Gideon’s face. “ It's only three past noon…”

Author's Note

Thanks for reading! I know, the transition from chapter 1 is weird, but trust me, it'll make sense soon. 👍

Chapter 3

“ Gramps, where are we even going?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Make use of your eyes and look around.”

The day was coming to an end. The skies were colored a beautiful palette of warm colors, which gradually shifted into a vibrant hue of purples and blues the further one looked from the setting sun. The once hilly and green terrain the Gideon and Generator had flown over was now an expansive tundra of bright white snow and towering mountains that stretched beyond the horizon.

From the back of Gideon, Generator took in the moving white canvas with wide eyes. “ …it looks pretty.”

“ Does that answer your question then?” Gideon gruffed.

“Mmmnope,” Generator smiled, leaning back, “ so where are we going?”

“ Shut it,” Gideon grumbled, not wanting to indulge in the colt’s repetitive questions, “ you'll find out soon enough.”

Generator hummed, pushing himself deeper onto Gideon’s back. He had woken up not too long ago, so he didn't feel like sleeping anymore. But still, it was hard to resist his grandfather’s surprisingly soft feathers. No one would’ve thought such a rough old bird would be as soft as a feathery pillow.

The two remained in their quiet cruise across the snowy lands for a while. They eventually flew over a low-hanging sea of clouds, which almost completely shrouded the land beneath. The winds then suddenly picked up considerably, washing the two in a wave of frigidness.

Generator shuttered, pushing himself further into Gideon’s back and curling inwards to avoid the coldness. “ It's too cold, Gramps.”

Gideon clicked his tongue in annoyance, sparing the colt a disapproving look. “ Is that what a grown griffon would say?”

“ Yeah… maybe… it's just—” another gust of wind pushed hard against them, causing Generator to shutter even more, “—way too cold for anygriffon.”

Gideon scoffed, shaking his head. “ Wrong. A griffon doesn't complain in any and all situations. A griffon’s pride comes second to their lives, if not first.”

“ Oh…”

“ Now shut your whining,” Gideon exhaled, narrowing his eyes forwards, “ we've already arrived.”

“ Really?” Generator perked up, leaning his head over the side. Although the clouds had somewhat receded, he was only met with the same empty snow lands they’ve been flying over . The only real difference was that there was now truly no vegetation. “ There's nothing here…”

“ And this is a perfect example of why you need to train your senses,” Gideon clicked his tongue, shaking his head in disappointment. In a reluctant manner, he pointed a dark brown claw towards the passageway between two mountain ranges. “ It’s right in between there.”

Generator looked to where Gideon was pointing, but no matter how much he looked, all he could see was gray and white. “ I still can't see it.”

“ Are you blind? It’s sticking out like a sore claw, for Grover’s sake!”

“ All I see is snow.”

“ Then just shut your mouth like I've told you already!” Gideon barked out, a vein bulging on the side of his head. “ You'll get to see how blind you are once we've landed.”

“ Alright…” Generator slumped back down onto his avian transport, a bored expression dawned on his face as he stared up. The sky had become darker, and now he could see the brightest of the stars appearing. There aren't many constellations he could call out on the spot—or in general—but the one he could always remember was the Ursa Major. The stories behind the constellation never fails to amaze him.

A silence returned over the two, the white noise of the wind humming smoothly in the back as Gideon began a slow descent from the upper edge of the troposphere. While masterfully weaving in between the large bodies of clouds, Generator inquisitively stuck a hoof into one of the large masses of fluffy white, managing to pull out a small clump. He stared at the miniature cloud in his hooves, eyes widened, for he wasn’t expecting to be able to hold a cloud. Curiously, he idly played with the small cloud-like dough, morphing into shapes such as a hammer, a duck, a poorly shaped griffon head, and then eventually a block of cheese.

Generator stared at the cloud cheese. His stomach grumbled on cue. “ Gramps, I'm hungry…”

Unwillingly hearing the colt’s complaint, Gideon groaned in annoyance. “ You just ate not long ago.”

“ Yeah, but—”

“ What did I just say about complaining?!”

“ Umph,” Generator sighed, repeating in a low monotonous voice, “ a griffon doesn't complain about anything.”

“ Good,” Gideon nodded approvingly, though his frown never left, “ now keep yourself busy with that in mind and you'll forget your hunger.”

“ Ok…” Generator contemplated his grandfather’s words. He looked down at clouds in his hooves, a small pout forming on his face, before he tossed his new discovery off the edge, where it passively floated back towards a larger cloud.

Generator amused himself by playing a guessing game as Gideon approached the lower parts of the mountains, his eyes scanning the snow lands darkened by the night. Suddenly, in a fleeting glimpse, his eyes widened as he caught a certain glint of shiny red in a shrub not far off in front of their path.

“ Oh, Gramps! Look!” Generator exclaimed, pointing a hoof towards the bush ahead of them. “ I see an apple tree!”

“ A what?” Gideon glanced back with narrowed eyes, though less intense than previously.

“ An apple tree… or bush. Just look, over there, it's—” Generator’s voice quickly died out as the two flew past the shrub in question, where he saw that it was in fact not apples but rather glowing circular mushrooms growing on a mossy boulder. He frowned lightly, a sweat drop running down his face. “ Uh… nevermind…they weren't apples.”

Gideon groaned exasperatedly.

Kick Start

Chapter 3

Eventually, as the skies became completely shrouded by night’s blanket of stars and shooting comets, it became clearer to Generator what Gideon had been talking about. Through the narrow passageway between the mountains, fixated on the side of a steep rocky slope, was a large metal platform. And “large” was a great understatement for this monstrous construct. The platform was like a whole city, containing a few small buildings situated at different levels, all supported below by massive metal pillars which shot down into the gravel-like ground.

Metallic scaffolding covered the entire face of the mountain which the platform hung from, stopping just a shy away from the summit which the low sea of clouds shrouded. Parts of the mountain had been carved out, chiseled, and shaped into glassless windows and staircases. With the help of the multitude of large magic gems dotting the edge of the platform, all of which faced the face of the mountain and shone a brilliant white light, Generator could further see the dull but dense metal plating covering the walls behind the windows. As a whole, this was not a mountain but rather an enormous fortress.

Gideon masterfully descended down onto the edge of the platform, landing on top of a yellow and black striped circle painted on one of the most elevated parts of the platform. Eagerly jumping off Gideon’s back, Generator looked around the new place with curiosity. This was the first time he saw anything made of metal besides the capital’s castle.

“ Strange… could've sworn they operated twenty-four seven,” Gideon muttered to himself, walking towards the flight of stairs at the end of the platform. He eyed the emptiness of the platform suspiciously, also noting the quietness in the air. Generator quickly followed from behind, completely in his own world as he marveled at the strange metal machinery resting around the corners.

“ What is this place?” Generator asked aloud, eyeing a tall copper-like machine with double-edge saw-like claws on the top.

“ It's a gem mine,” Gideon explained bluntly, craning his head over the railing to look down. He scowled when he was met with a blank canvas of metal flooring. “ the Northern Deficit Mines… which is supposed to be the most active mine in the region.”

“ So what happened?”

Gideon scoffed, sending a glance towards Generator. “ How should I know that? I'm not part of any of their business… only here ‘cause they requested my specialty.”

“ That's—woah,” as they reached the bottom of the staircase, Generator stopped in his tracks and stared in awe when he noticed the two towering doors situated on the side of the mountain. The double doors were, strangely, triangular in shape, with four massive metal latches connecting them in the center. “ Those are some big doors…”

“ You just noticed them now?” Gideon asked with a curled brow.

“ Yeah, they kinda mix in with the mountain,” Generator admitted, rubbing the back of his head, “ or fortress… yeah, big fortress.”

Gideon simply shook his head as the two approached closer to the massive entrance. Once a good distance away, Gideon inhaled deeply before shouting out with a loud voice, involuntarily causing Generator to jump. “ Hey! Maintenance here! Open the darn door already!”

As his words bounced across the mountains, Gideon was only met with the ambience of the night. Twitching his eyebrow, he glanced around, finding that not only was there no one here but every building had no light on. He then looked towards the closest building to the giant double doors, which was a two story metal watchtower. Gideon grunted before pointing towards it. “ Generator, get up there.”

“ Huh?” Generator blinked, looking towards the tower Gideon was pointing at.

“ I said get up there,” Gideon repeated, physically suppressing his agitation, “ and wait for my instructions once you get there.”

“ Sure thing, Gramps,” Generator nodded with a smile. Extending his small wings, Generator did a small leap before he began to rapidly flutter them. After getting his wings warmed up, he slowly flew up towards the watchtower. Once he arrived, he landed on the balcony of the second floor, turning around towards the impatient-looking Gideon. “ I made it!”

“ Good, now open the door and get in,” Gideon shouted back. He looked around a few more times before continuing. “ And keep the door open, I'll need you to tell me what's inside.”

“ Ok!” Generator skipped towards the door, got up onto his hind legs, and slowly turned the knob with his mouth. When he heard the click, he pulled back, allowing the outside light to seep into the bland looking room. Walking in cautiously, he looked around before his eyes fell on a metal desk with two chairs on it. Coming up closer, he flapped his wings over onto one of the seats and looked down at the content on the desk.

“ Generator!” Gideon barked from outside. “ Why in Tartarus are you keeping quiet?”

“ I found this metal table with a bunch of buttons and levers on it,” Generator shouted back.

“ And you’re deciding to keep quiet about that?”

“ Uh, sorry.”

Gideon audibly sighed before continuing. “ Just… read to me what's on the control panel.”

“ The control panel?”

“ Oh, for the love of—the metal table!”

“ Oh,” squinting his eyes, Generator tried to read the small text on each of the buttons out loud, “there's one button called Redo, another called Sector Twelve, another called Elevator… Lights, Conveyors, Draco-pad, Anchovies, Gates, Steam Valves—”

“ That!” Gideon suddenly shouted out. “ What was that one you just said?”

“ Steam Valves?”

“ Of course not! I meant the one before that!”

“ Oh, Gates,” Generator said, looking back at the orange button, “ what about it?”

“ Stop asking these foolish questions and press the darn button already!” Gideon screeched in annoyance.

Generator pressed the button, but it didn't give in to his hoof. He tried again and again, and the results were the same. Just when he was about to give up, he noticed the faint glass-like reflection on the button. Suddenly it clicked to him what he was pressing on. “ Oh… it isn't a button, Gramps. It's a small light bulb!”

“ You…” Gideon groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “ alright… alright, what else does it say about it?”

“ Well, there's this white switch under the button, and it has the words open and—”

“ Just switch it to open and get down here!”

“ But… it's already on ‘open’, Gramps,” Generator revealed.

“ What?”

“ It was already on open. And I'm switching it right now and nothing is happening.”

There was a silence before Gideon spoke again, though this time with a slightly defeated tone. “ Get back down here, Generator.”

“ Uhm, ok,” Generator left the control panel and exited the building, thoughtfully closing the door behind him before descending down to Gideon. When he landed, he noticed that Gideon was staring at the giant doors with remorse.

“ There goes forty grand… off to the wind,” Gideon muttered.

“ Are you ok, Gramps,” Generator asked.

“ …Don't fret it, I'm… fine,” Gideon huffed, turning around, “ this was all futile in the end… we're going home now.”

As Gideon began the walk back to the landing pad, Generator looked back to the giant doors one more time. While looking, he noticed in the corner of his eyes a faint movement. He instantly snapped his head towards the source of the movement, but all he saw was a much smaller and normal door to the side of the mountain, slightly ajar.

“ Gramps, that door just opened,” Generator said, pointing at the suspected door.

“ Hm?” Gideon turned back and looked towards what Generator was saying. When he saw the open door, his eyes widened slightly. “ that was locked just…”

“ Should we go in?” Generator asked.

Gideon looked at Generator before growing a mischievous grin. “ How else are we going to get in?”

The hallways were almost pitch black. The outside light did little to reveal the path in front of them, so they resorted to walking slowly and cautiously. Every now and then, the distant clicks and cluttering noises of gearwork echoed across the interior.

Ever since entering the suspiciously open door and climbing the first flight of stairs, the two have spent what felt like hours walking down multiple hallways and climbing up even more staircases at the end of each hallway. It was getting to the point that Generator’s legs were growing numb.

“ Gramps, I'm tired,” Generator whined, dragging his hooves a few feet behind Gideon, “ can we take a break.”

“ You're already tired?” Gideon snorted, sparing an amused glance at Generator. “ C'mon now, stop complaining and keep moving. We won't be doing anything productive if we just sit around with our tails tucked in.”

“ But my legs sting, Gramps. I might fall soon.”

Gideon clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes. “ Then use your wings. You can rest your legs as you fly.”

Generator’s eyes widened as he perked up with a smile. “ I never thought of that. Thanks, Gramps!”

“ Hm.”

Stretching out his unused wings, Generator fluttered himself up into a hover, quickly picking up to Gideon. When they reached the end of this hallways, being greeted by yet another flight of stairs, Generator suddenly shot upwards, skipping the flight of stairs and landing right in front of the door to the next hallway.

Generator looked down at Gideon, who was climbing up the stairs with an exasperated look. “ Hey Gramps, why don't you fly up here too? It's quicker.”

“ Are you dumb? These stairs are too cramped for me to even stretch my wings out,” Gideon grunted, “ and I'm not going to waste all my energy like that. You don't even know how far we're going.”

“ Oh, ok,” Generator hummed, sitting down on his haunches as he waited for Gideon. As the sound of claws clicking on cold metal resonated through the small staircase, Generator suddenly heard a faint but close sound behind him. A sound that did not sound like gearwork.

Flinching, Generator jumped to his hooves and turned around rapidly, only to find the new hallway behind to be completely empty and dark. A few dust particles would wander past his vision, but otherwise it was lifeless.

A bead of sweat ran down Generator's face. “ Uhh, Gramps?”

“ Oh my— what now?!”

“ I think this place is haunted.”

“ …Don't worry over such nonsense,” Gideon grumbled in a lower tone, walking up the last of the stairs, “ ghosts are merely the fears of a weak griffon. And are you a weak griffon?”

“ N-No…”

“ Then keep moving,” Gideon ordered, walking past the stiff colt, “ you shouldn't be deterred by every little thing.”

“O-Ok,” Generator followed suit closely, though his demeanor was more timid and cautious. However, before the two could make it any further, one of the doors on the side of the hallway suddenly exploded open with a loud creaking noise, pouring out a flood of orange light into the darkness. As Generator jumped in shock, Gideon simply paused, his wings slightly extended out as he stared at the only door to have been opened from all the hallways they walked through.

“... Hm.”

“ I-I told you, Gramps,” Generator whispered from behind Gideon’s hind leg, visibly shaken,“ this place is freaking me out!”

“ Get out from behind there and walk besides me,” Gideon ordered, nonchalantly walking up towards the ajar door, “ this is no ghost… somegriffon wants us here.”

“ H-Huh?” Generator didn't get an explanation, for Gideon continued to approach the open door. Gulping, Generator shook his head as he followed his grandfather, keeping faith that he knew what he was doing.

Peeking his head into the room, Gideon discovered a small and furnished office. The light source came from a lamp sitting on a wooden desk in the center of the room, but the angle of the lamp obscured who was sitting behind the desk. Taking a quick glance across the room, Gideon entered the room without hesitation, Generator meekly following from behind.

“ It's a pleasure having you here, Mr. Gideon,” a deep and soothing voice suddenly spoke out. Gideon paused and gave the anonymous entity behind the lamp a scrutinizing look.

“ And who's this talking?”

In response, a furry paw grabbed the head of the lamp and pointed it upwards. With the light no longer blocking their vision, Gideon and Generator's eyes simultaneously widened as they were met with the large and broad form of a brown bear.

Dressed in a dark blue three-piece suit, the brown bear scooted the lamp to the edge of the desk before clasping his jewelry-cladded paws together, a serious look on his face.

“ Come sit. We have much to discuss.”

Author's Note

Just for a future reference, this isn't supposed to be a big story. I'm only going for 10 chapters at most. I might need to reconsider how I pace myself :moustache:

Chapter 4

“Come sit. We have much to discuss about.”

With mild trepidation, Gideon stared quietly at the brown bear seated in front of him, his eyes narrowed. “ …The hell is this all about?”

“ I'll explain everything, Gideon,” the brown bear continued, “ I just need you to sit down with me for a moment.” His voice held a lingering tone of exhaustion, but Gideon couldn't find any malice, or any other negativity of the matter.

Gideon eyed the bear with an unwavering suspicion. Eventually, grabbing a shell-shocked Generator by the skin of his neck, he entered the room.

The bear slowly moved his bulky arms and cupped his paws in front of him on the polished wood desk. “ I’m sure you must be confused right now… but things have changed since you've last been here.”

“ As if that isn't anymore obvious,” Gideon scoffed, blatantly giving a scowl, “ I would've appreciated a notice in advance, though. You’ve wasted my time.”

“ … apologies for that. We weren't able to contact anyone outside for some time.”

“ Hm,” Gideon hummed dismissively, stopping just a few steps away from the desk. Neither he nor Generator sat down. “ Just get to the point and tell me what's going on, Granite. I’m not fond of beating around the bush.”

Granite leaned back on his chair, a frown appearing on his snout. “ … About a month after your visit for maintenance, the new equipment managed to break into a new vein. It was pure mithril.”

A smug grin grew on Gideon’s face. “ Ho? So it looks like my junk wasn’t all that useless after all, huh?”

Granite snorted, closing his eyes. “ Don’t praise yourself, old bird. They broke down not long after, which is partly the reason why I called you here in the first place.”

“ Uh huh… and when exactly did they ‘break down’?”

“ About two months after you left.”

Gideon clicked his tongue, his disappointment palpable. “ Of course… you ruffians don't know a thing about care.”

Granite opened one eye at Gideon. “ We don't have the luxury of patience in these mines. If the equipment breaks, we get new ones and get back to work.”

“ Sounds like nothing more than carelessness,” Gideon responded blandly. Granite sighed loudly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“ … Our discovery of the mithril got leaked. The news obviously spread fast,” Granite continued, opening the drawer of his desk and placing down a gray newspaper with the bold print "The Daily Pickaxe” on the top. In the newspaper was an illustration of a cave’s interior, with mine workers standing beside a shiny rock stuck in a wall. “ We of course managed to fend off rival businesses and investors, but…we got into a little trouble with the locals.”

“ Locals”? Gideon repeated, staring down at the newspaper thoughtfully, “ all you have around these mountains are nomadic goats. The best they’ve got against you are their horns.”

Gideon’s remark, however, flew past Granite, who remained silent. The bear’s sudden silence was prolonged, his eyes having stared blankly at the newspaper, as if deep in thought. Growing agitated from the random quietness, Gideon snapped his claws.

“ Oi, wake up and get on with it. What in Tartarus did the ‘locals’ do to make the largest mine in this region shut down so easily? It sounds like a ruffle of rubbish.”

Granite snapped away from his dazed state and returned his gaze to Gideon, running a paw through his bushy beard, as trying to choose his words carefully. He chuckled as he replayed Gideon’s words in his head.

“ Hm, Tartarus… the irony of that…”

Eventually, he shook his head, giving a confused Gideon an eerily dead-serious look. “ I’m not talking about the nomads, Gideon. Not even two weeks after the news spread, monsters took over my mines.”

“ Monsters…” Gideon repeated. He ran his tongue inside his beak before a snarky smirk grew on his face. “ I can only think of cave dwellers being the only monsters here… are you saying that you lost your mines to those skinny critters?”

“ No… perhaps monsters was a poor choice of words,” Granite exhaled, rubbing his eyes, “ they're a lot worse than monsters.”

“ Didn’t I just tell you to not beat around the bush? It’s a nuisance, if you haven’t noticed.”

“...” Granite seemed to struggle in what he was about to say before eventually sighing, “... Demons, Gideon. Demons raided my mines.”

“ Dem…” Gideon’s voice gradually died out as Granite’s last words sunk into his head. Suddenly, in an uncharacteristic fashion, he took a weak step backwards, his pupils dilating into pinpricks. “ D-Demons…?”

“ Yes. A group of twenty demons,” Granite’s face seemed to have paled, his body visibly fidgeting, “ nineteen are candle grade. They’re led by a torch grade demon.”

“ Torch?!” Gideon exclaimed in alarm, his wings slightly extending outwards. His sudden outburst jumpscared the confused Generator, who had been quietly and poorly attempting to follow with the conversation. The colt’s stomach dropped as he saw Gideon’s fearful expression. It was the first time he had ever seen anything like this from him.

“ G-Gramps, what’s wrong?” Generator tugged on Gideon’s leg fervently, his own fear swelling as well. “ What are demons? What about torches?”

Gideon slowly closed his gaped mouth, a cold sweat forming on his now pale face. He glanced down at his leg, seeing Generator’s worried, scared, and shakened form. He gnawed at his tongue before glaring back at Granite. “ Is this supposed to be some kind of joke, Granite? Am I supposed to believe that a full squadron of demons have colonized this place?”

“ Gideon, tell me…” Granite stared back with his own glare. It was clear how serious he was. “ Who in their right minds would ever joke about demons?”

Gideon pressed his lips at the question, his brows furrowing. “ …are they still here?”

“ … Ever since their arrival,” Granite huffed exasperatedly, his shoulders visibly slacked, “ they haven’t left since their leader ordered the doors to be locked. They’re in the lowest levels right now, mining all the mithril for themselves…”

“ …tch,” Gideon clicked his tongue, pulling up one of the seats to finally sit down. He ran his claws through his orange-brown crown, his face scrunched in thought. “ How many of your men managed to escape?”

For the first time since introducing himself, Granite gave a genuine smile. “ All of them. None of my men were left behind, nor were any of them sacrificed.”

Gideon narrowed his eyes at the proud claim, the good news unaffecting his now pensive mood. In fact, it only agitated him more. “ Bullshit.”

“ Take it as you will, Gideon, but just know that I couldn’t let any of them be affected by this,” Granite said firmly. Yet even with his firm tone, his paws were just slightly shaken. It was clear he also had some doubt in his own words. “ These are my mines… my responsibility… so I… I made a blood contract with their leader.”

“ You did WHAT?!” Gideon suddenly screeched out, a surge of anger bursting through him as he slammed his clenched claws onto the desk, hard. “ Do you want to die, fool?!”

“ The decision has long been made, Gideon... I’ve come to terms with the consequences,” Granite responded calmly, unfazed from Gideon’s outburst.

“ G-Grandpa, w-what’s going on? I’m confused…” Generator whimpered from the side ,tugging on Gideon again as tears began to form in the corner of his eyes. The griffon’s anger dispatched as he looked down at Generator remorsefully, having almost forgotten of the colt’s presence again.

He tightened his fists until the knuckles of his claws turned white. Eventually, his face shifted to that of finality. “ I’ve heard enough of this, Granite. We’re leaving.”

Strangely, there was no negative reaction. As if a weight had been lifted off his shoulder, Granite gave out a deep and lengthy sigh. “ I… figured you’d say that.”

“ …” Gideon stared at the bear, as if looking for something. In this rare instance of expressiveness from the bird, Gideon showed some resemblance of sympathy. “ … it sounds like there's no longer a need for the equipment’s repair. This place has become Tartarus’s playground, and I don’t plan on staying any longer.”

Cutting himself off, Gideon looked down at Generator’s shaken form, who was trying hard to hold back his tears. This made his eyes soften even more. “ I… I’ve found something worth living for.”

“ Well,” Granite hummed, giving a sparring glance at Generator. Being the first instance where he fully addressed the colt, he held a neutral expression. “...it seems you have…”

“ You’re on your own on this one, Granite,” Gideon huffed, standing up from his seat, “ I suggest choosing your steps carefully from now on… you should already know the agreements of your contract better than anygriffon.”

“ I'd be a fool if I didn't.”

Gideon paused for a moment before shaking his head, making way to the partly closed iron door. Generator silently followed closely, like a chick to a mother hen. “ …Just don't die, Granite.”

“ … that’s a promise I cannot keep, Gideon,” Granite chuckled, leaning his head on his chair. His gaze went up to the ceiling, as if he were staring up to something far in the skies. “ If I fail to comply with any order, even once, then I must compensate for my failure with my dying breath.”

“ Did you even bother to negotiate?”

“ As if I were in any position to bargain,” Granite sighed exasperatedly, “ not like that matters though. My current order was to repair the damaged equipment, and it seems I’ve failed in doing that.”

“...what?”

“ They’ve been using the equipment to mine the mithril,” Granite continued, “ because of that, two of them broke down. They’ve likely damaged them beyond repair, but they still demand repairs.”

“...” Gideon remained quiet in his place, a shadow forming over his face. Having mentally prepared himself for leaving, this new element has added onto him one glaring burden. If he were to leave now, Granite’s fate was sealed. If he were to stay… at the very least, survival was not guaranteed. In other words, the bear’s life was in his hands at this very moment. “ You are a selfish bear, Granite.”

“ …I know… I know that very well,” Granite smiled at Gideon, and it was enough to make the griffon nearly forget his anger. Granite’s eyes were anything from worried or fearful, but held a palpable radiance of sereneness. These were the eyes of acceptance, of a strong-willed resolve. “ I don’t need you to stay, Gideon. Just give me the blueprints and instructions on the equipment and I’ll do it myself. I’ve… already dragged you into this more than I wanted to.”

Gideon was once again plagued by silence, his face baffled. He took into consideration Generator, who buried his face into his feathery side. He slowly and hesitantly placed a claw on the colt's head, ruffling his black mane. Eventually, he pushed the colt away and continued onwards. “ There will be no need for that.”

“ Gramps?” Generator looked up as Gideon left towards the door. In panic, he made haste to follow him. “ Gra—”

“ You will stay here with Granite, Generator,” Gideon ordered, glaring back at the colt. He showed no signs of negotiation. “ I will hear nothing of it. Do as I say until I return. Is that clear?”

“ B-Bu—”

“ Silence!” Gideon boomed, causing Generator to flinch back. He frowned at the colt for a split second before clicking his tongue and pushing through the door. However, before fully leaving, he looked back to Granite. “ Where do you keep your armory?”

“ I… three floors down, second most door due east,” Granite sighed, bowing his head, “ th… thank you, Gideon. I’ll… open the gates for you.”

“ Hm, save your thanks,” Gideon grumbled, his voice echoing through the empty halls.

Kick Start

Chapter 4

The Northern Deficit Mines. Deep and filled with rich abundance of gems, the mine prides itself as being the lead competitor in the jewelry business. With the long and organic structure of tunnels that stretched throughout the mountain range, there is not a single corner that would not lead to a gem vein that hasn't been untapped.

The company that holds jurisdiction of these mines enjoyed the benefit of guaranteed profits. Even as they quickly explore the mines and loot the bountiful resources, there are areas that have yet to be discovered. Perhaps for the better, perhaps not.

In a recent rare discovery, though, great attention has been brought to these minds. Many eyes were set on the prize's mithril that is so rarely seen that its existence still remains partially a myth. A specific set of eyes, though, have managed to take hold of this finding for their own agenda.

Within the dark interiors of the lower levels of the mines, there was a subtle but evident gradient on the gray walls, shifting from a rocky and dusty surface into a slimy and sickly rose-red mucus. The air visibly changed the further one went into the slimy terrain, a foul odor cloaking the stale air. There was no light present, but the subtle pulse of red emitting from the veins on the structure gave enough to view the scene unfolding.

Chipping away fervently at the crystalline-like gem, groups of short, pitch-black imps eagerly hacked away at the crystalline vein of mithril while using crude and severely damaged pickaxes. Their leathery like wings flapped earnestly with each gravelly snicker that came from their throats, their glowing red tongues flickering out in-between their orange fangs like a snake. Thin rat-like tails swung around wildly like a dog, the tips burning with the orange-red hue of a small flame.

Truly, these were the descriptions of demons. And befitting of them, the air around them held nothing but pure negativity.

Behind the group of imps stood a being of greater height and broadness. He held the same features as the imps before him, though what stood out the most was his third eye in-between two erect horns, neither of which the imps harbored. And with similar contrast to the imps, this large demon held a deep and hateful scowl.

“ Can you good-for-nothing fools pick it up already!” He barked out in anger, his fists tightening on his dry and hard skin. “ I don’t have the luxury to wait for your idiocracy, now move!”

The imps began to make an array of crittering sounds. One of them stopped for a moment and raised their voice. “ These tools are weak, boss! We can't—”

The imp didn't get a chance to finish their sentence, for a metal minecart was thrown in their way, crashing into them and sending them flying over their fellow imps and into the slimy wall with a deafening crunch. As the cart slid down and crashed onto the floor, the imp’s body was comically flattened like a pancake, their eyes swirling in unconsciousness.

“ I could care less of your worthless excuses,” The taller demon seethed, his pupil-less eyes widened with rage as he turned to the rest, “ now hurry up and work until your dying breath, or else you’ll meet an end worse than that moron!”

The other imps didn't need any second clarification. With great eagerness, they all went back to fervently mining at the mithril, many times faster than before. But even then, the progress had only just slightly increased; they were still basically in a standstill.

The taller demon growled, slamming his fist on the side of one of the many damaged mining equipment. The stainless metal dent from his attack, but he could care less; they had broken down faster than they could've done anything useful. They were nothing more than heaps of scrap metal, and if they weren't going to be repaired anytime soon, then he was seconds away from permanently ending their further usage.

“ Where the hell is that stupid bear…” He looked up the tunnel, his scowl deepening even further. With the confidence that brown bear had shown when promising to get into contact with a repair specialist, the demon had humored the idea of letting him go on and do as he so fervently pleaded to do. He was starting to regret it now. Letting the owner of these dusty old mines go away was a poor play of his cards, and although he particularly could care less if the bear had broken the contract, he would've much preferred making full use of the bear here instead of letting him die off elsewhere.

He hasn't felt the contract being released, though. The bear was probably just stalling then… a sound reminder to the demon that he should put a timer on his contracts. In any case, until their “maintenance” came along, they were essentially sitting ducks. Something he wishes he could hate more than he already was hating.

There was an awkward silence in the small office. The desk lamp buzzed quietly as Granite sat like a statute, his gaze locked onto his paws in yet another phase of deep thought. Not far from across the desk was Generator, who shifted anxiously in his spot. Many things were clouding the colt’s mind, but one thing that stood out the most to him was the alarming expression Gideon had shown whilst speaking to the bear. This was the first time he’s ever seen the griffon so dead worried about something, and it was genuinely scaring him.

With too many questions clogging his head, Generator seeked for answers. He meekly looked up at Granite, his body innately quivering at the monstrous size of the forest beast. He rolled his words in his head before speaking. U-Um, M-Mr. Granite…?”

“ Hm?” Granite glanced up from his dazed state, his eyes locking onto the colt. Generator flinched as the black orbs bore holes through him, as if two hot poles were stabbing him. But the more he looked back, the more he realized the smaller features of Granite. His eyes looked sunken, and there was a visible sag on his lower eyelids. He also seemed really exhausted, as if he lacked much sleep. “ …Is there something you need, child?”

“ U-Uh, y-yeah,” Generator tried to shake off his fear. Gideon knew this bear, and their conversation sounded like they were friendly… well, as friendly as any conversation with Gideon could get. That would, at the very least, imply that Generator wasn’t in any immediate danger. “ I, uh, j-just want to know what’s going on… and everything…”

Granite’s gaze lingered longer than Generator would’ve liked. Eventually, the bear sighed. “ This… isn’t a topic best suited for your age, child. Just stay here as your… grandfather deals with this matter.”

“ But I wanna know,” Generator insisted, taking a step forward, “ what are demons, and why are you two all jumpy when you talk about them? Are they bad? Please tell me, I really don’t like being left behind.”

“ I…” Granite bit his lips before sighing, seemingly giving in to the colt’s pleas easily, “ ok.. Fine, I’ll explain. But I must warn you that this topic is not for the light hearted.”

“ Light hearted…?” Generator blinked in confusion at the bear’s words. Was it supposed to be scary? Well, this whole situation was already scary for Generator, so that was off the list. Maybe it was too complex? Well, Generator likes complex stuff, so that really isn’t an issue here.

But, suddenly, and for some odd reason, his mind switched into replay mode and went all the way back to a specific night, where he had snuck into Gideon’s bedroom at the highest point of the moon. In this memory, he remembers shuffling through the griffon’s files, eventually stumbling across the ‘Geography’ folder. He had quickly learnt moments later that Gideon had a profound interest in tennis.

Generator scratched his cheek sheepishly with a small smile. “ If you’re talking about the big boy things, I’ve already seen them, so I’m not light-hearted.”

“... big boy things?”

“ That’s what Gramps said was the adult stuff. He never lets me see them, but I already looked at all of them when he was asleep.”

Granite blinked, a sweat drop running down his face. “ Uh, I… don’t mean it in that sense…”

Generator tilted his head. Maybe he had just over-thought it.“ Then what? What’s so bad about demons?”

The innocent question seemed to have irked Granite to some degree, though the bear withheld any visible reaction. He rested his chin on his thumbs with a head shake “ Everything about demons is wrong, child. They’re the residents of Tartarus itself. Their very existence is an insult to life itself.”

Generator awed at Granite’s explanation. He’s always heard the word ‘Tartarus’ and always thought it was simply just a curse word. But apparently it's an actual place, with creatures living in it? “ Insult to life? So… like death?”

“ Precisely. Everywhere a demon goes, there is always death.”

“ A-Always…?!” Generator repeated under his breath. His eyes then widened in alarm as he dutifully remembered that Gideon was, in fact, going into the mines… where these supposed death-inducing demons are currently residing. “ W-Wait, but that means—Gramps is going to them! W-We have to stop him, and—”

“ No, child, you must stay,” Granite raised his voice, causing Generator to freeze in his spot before he did anything. The bear exhaled sharply, rubbing the bridge of his snout. “ Listen to your grandfather’s words. Stay. Demons are not to be taken lightly… just as how they do not take their prey lightly. They do not discriminate in their bloodlust.”

“ B-But Gramps,” Generator stuttered. He felt the tears he had tried hard to hold back beginning to return. “ G-Gramps is going to them, right? A-And you said there’s t-twenty of them!”

“... I understand your concerns, child,” Granite sighed, though a small smile formed on his face, “ but don’t take your grandfather lightly, either. Has he not told you of his time in the military?”

“ N-No…?” Generator shook his head, his overwhelming feeling of concern diluting back into confusion. Military? Gideon was in the military? Generator’s never heard anything like that about his grandfather, like ever.

Granite hummed thoughtfully, taking the colt’s reaction to heart. “ I see… strange, for him to… well then, forget what I had said. The point I’m giving here is that Gideon is very capable of handling himself.”

“ B-But didn’t you say demons bring death?”

“ I did, but Gideon normally reciprocates the action,” Granite leaned back, chuckling. His eyes were filled with a resemblance of nostalgia. “ And much faster and efficiently, I must say.”

Generator kept quiet from Granite’s comment, unsure how to respond. From what he could get of it, Granite was implying that Gideon has fought demons before. But… Generator has never heard of anything like this from Gideon before. Heck, he hasn’t even seen Gideon fight once in his life! It’s like they’re talking about a completely different person altogether.

Still, it bothered Generator that Gideon was going alone when these demons are supposed death-bringers. Was he really capable of handling all twenty of those demons? Gideon is too old… what if the demons overpowered him? Generator quickly shook that thought away for his own good, instead focusing on the next batch of questions still lingering in him. “ Um, you also said something about candles and torches before… what about them?

“ That would be referring to the grading system we give for demons, based on their danger level,” Granite explained. He then raised a paw and showed all five digits. “ There's a total of five grades. Candle grade is the second lowest grade. It implies that the demon is capable of causing havoc to a small general community… something akin to a neighborhood boogey monster.”

Generator leaned in, soaking in every word that Granite said. There was even a whole system to categorize the demons. How had he not heard about this sooner? If he ignored the whole death thing… this was kind of interesting. “ And what about torch grade? It's stronger, right?”

“ Greatly,” Granite nodded, growing an unpleasant frown, “ a torch grade demon is exponentially stronger. They’re capable of wiping out an entire unguarded town with ease.”

“... T-That doesn’t sound good…” Generator was set off from Granite’s explanation. One torch grade demon capable of destroying an entire town? That… really made Generator shiver.

“ Yes, and which is why any citing of a torch grade demon is to be reported immediately,” Granite stretched in his chair, popping his stiff joints, “ unfortunately, my company never had the opportunity to do that… the demon had captured my men as ransom.”

“ Oh… sorry about that,” Generator’s ears flattened on his head. From what he has learnt about Granite, the bear seems to have suffered a lot from this situation. Generator wouldn’t wish this to the worst of his enemies… though, he doesn’t have any enemies to begin with.

“ Ah, don’t mop about it, child,” Granite grinned, though it was clear it was rather forced, “ as I said, I made the contract. All my men have evacuated back to their homes, spot free.”

“... but what about you, Mr. Granite? What about your family?”

Generator’s question cut Granite off from any immediate response. The bear’s smile fell down into a gloomy scowl, his eyes glazed over. He eventually muttered quietly. “ … There’s no family for me to return to. I… only have myself.”

“ That sucks, Mr. Granite.”

The curt response from Generator brought some life back into Granite. “ Ha, you could say that again…”

The room fell back into a silence, though this time with little awkwardness present. Generator felt much more relaxed than he initially had with Granite. The bear seemed nice and wasn’t showing any signs of wanting to devour him. Plus, his outfit was really cool.

Generator watched as Granite slowly returned to his daydreaming state. He must have a lot going on in his head, which was making him look sadder and sadder. Maybe Generator should ask some more questions, just to keep the bear distracted. Granite really did look like he needed a distraction.

“ Hey, Mr. Granite?” Generator started.

“ Hm?”

“ How do you know Gramps? Did you meet in the army?” Generator’s face brightened. “ Oh, and tell me more about Gramps being in the military! He never told me any of that before!”

Granite stared at the colt before chuckling, shaking his head. “ Well, we weren’t actually in the military together. But actually, I had first seen him…”

Gideon stared at the array of weapons before him, his eyes blandly scanning across the full blades. Without any power circulating through the mines, he was left to scan the room with the unhelpful dim light of the moon, which was further dimmed by the dust particles in the air. Fortunately, his keen eyes aided him in seeing the mediocrity of the weapons before him.

“... Such crude designs,” he flicked a claw at one of the spears, a loud but scratchy chime echoing through the armory. He was unable to feel the proper vibration of well-smelted metal. With a sigh, Gideon moved along the wooden racks loaded with similarly poor weaponry. The more he looked, the more he realized just how unprepared this mine was in terms of offense. His doubts began to resurge on how Granite really managed to get everyone to escape without any casualties. Perhaps it was a merely delusional lie…

Gideon’s eyes stopped at a pair of brass knuckles. They were large, harboring chunky but long spikes at each knuckle brace. They hung from thin woven rope, dangling quietly like dream catchers. He stared at them for a moment before grabbing them. In comparison to the other bland equipment, they were the most… passable equipment.

With half of his business completed, Gideon moved towards the armor stands. There was, unsurprisingly, nothing to fully fit a griffon. However, he made use of the claw gauntlets, knee pads, and hind guards that fit too tightly—all of which were, of course, made of crudely smelted metal alloy. In any case, it was better than dying. Hopefully the weight wouldn’t be a substantial hindrance.

With his equipment set, Gideon made his way out of the armory and down the nye infinite flight of stairs. His normally annoyed facial expression turned into a blank canvas, his neutral eyes staring onwards like an artificial soldier. His thoughts were washed away, giving room for one sole and concrete goal.

To kill all demons.

Author's Note

Thanks for the read! I didn't do my usual quadruple-proofreading-that-lasts-nearly-two-weeks-and-involves-lots-of-editing, so do point out anything that is off in this chapter! :pinkiehappy: