Amethyst was relaxing after a brief spell contest with Mojo. She was sprawled out on her back under a tree, enjoying the mild temperature in the shade. She giggled briefly as she remembered all the “fun” times that she had with Mojo. “A shame she's so gullible,” she lamented, “However, I probably would have less fun if she weren't.” Ame yawned, opening her mouth wide enough that you could clearly see her sharp teeth. “Some times I wish that I could have another student, though,” Ame thought, “It does get boring waiting for Mojo to show up.” Ame started to feel drowsy. “I guess it has been a while since I took a good nap,” she said as she forced another yawn, “Maybe...I should...get some...sleeeeep...” With that last pause, Ame turned on her side, tucked in her legs, and shut her eyes.

Meanwhile, a certain rambunctious robot was snooping as usual, it seemed. This robot's colour scheme was a rugged mix of rusty orange, dull grey, and murky silver. He had special symbols on his lower arms and his hat which one could easily correlate with the word “Metallix”. His crimson electronic eyes glared with fierce intensity. “So this is the pretty little magical girl that Mojo keeps mentioning, eh? Not much to *blarfle* look at,” the robot remarked, “Still, I'd very much like to see what all the fuss is about.” The robot appropriated a nearby bush, and proceeded to sneak his way to the blue-and-pink-scaled dragoness incognito. About half-way, he panicked when Ame began to shuffle, but abatted his fears when he realized she was only turning over on to her other side. The robot slowly crept up to her naked body. “Oh, how Lord Adrian would laugh at me if he saw me now, sneaking about like a scout drone,” the robot thought, “I dare say I'm going to have to learn a thing or two about stealth from the assassin units.” After muttering some profanity in binary language, the robot took out a needle and a spray can from a compartment in his hat, and slowly sprayed a mild numbing agent onto Ame. Ame winced a bit, and the robot tensed up. “Ok, now...I just have to do this very slowly,” the robot said, the needle poised in his metallic hand, “Nice and steady, now...” The robot quickly punctured the scaly skin of the dragon with his needle, drawing some blood and storing it back in his hat. He then began to sneak away inconspicuously in the bush he uprooted before.

“Juft a mibute, dere, Miftah Fteelpanf...” Ame growled. She blushed at how silly she sounded with her mouth partially numb. She had been awake since the numbing agent was applied, and she had a feeling this troublemaker was not some rabid fan of hers. She knew how dangerous dragon blood could be if it got into the wrong hands. “Fo, what were you plannen to do wif dat fample of blood?” she queried. The robot howled with laughter, his electronic voice echoing throughout the air. Ame grew angry. It was hard for people to take her seriously when she sounded like she had a swollen lip. She mumbled a few words, and aimed a spell at the aggravating android. Strangely enough, the spell bounced off of him like a ball along a wall. Ame was at a loss for words. How could a robot, a product of science, be capable of deflecting magic?

“Fu fu fu...I guess you didn't *Matt Damon* count on my personal barrier,” the robot gloated, “I suppose I should introduce myself now that you are awake...I am Bishop Unit R4-Z0R83-4RD, though you can call me 'Father'. I had heard talk of a magical dragon girl that had...defiled my master's property. I have come to see what sort of power could have done that. Hopefully, this *wakka* blood of yours will prove useful in my magitech research. I guess you pitiful organics are good for something, after all! Ahahahaha!!!” Ame scowled at the robot, then smirked. “Heh, fat barriur can't laft forevuh,” Ame said smugly, “Onfe it gofs down, your meballic behind if mine! Fen, mebbe I can find out how your barriur deflectf my fpellf!” Father looked at Ame and laughed again. “Here, here...hahaha...I can't...hoo hoo...*bonk* take it anymore,” Father said, overcome with laughter, “Just...hee hee...take this *boink* antidote...before I...ha ha...go into hysterics!” He tossed a vial to Ame. She searched the vial for signs of poison or magical inhibitors, though she found none. Hesistant, she gulped down the fluid, and quickly noticed her sense of touch and temperature coming back to her. Her body still felt a bit tingly, but she wasn't about to complain. Now she could do some real damage.

Ame bore a wide grin on her scaly face, and her eyes sparkled with a mischievous gleam. Father didn't look all that impressed...at least, not until Ame raised and shifted the ground beneath him. Surprised, Father activated his boosters to dash out of harm's way. “Hmm...I guess you need to concentrate to activate your barrier, don't you?” Ame cooed, “Well, that's nice to know.” Father quickly went from looking entertained to looking intractably serious. “All right, you little *derp* witch, you want to play hard ball?” Father growled, “I can *star jumps* play hard ball!” With that, Father emitted a high pitched hum. Ame covered her ears in pain. Being a dragon, she naturally had a much more acute sense of hearing than other creatures. However, it didn't seem like this was what the mechanical miscreant intended to defeat her with, as he stopped within a few seconds. Ame would soon wish he kept humming, as a large mechanical suit dropped from the sky mere minutes after the humming had stopped.

“My pride and joy,” Father said, “I call it the Rune Unit. It can operate *nyoro~n* autonomously, or it can act as a suit of armour for other units. It uses prototype magitech to *morf* augment its own weapons and defenses. Do you like it?” Ame was speechless for a moment, did a quick double-take, and came back to her senses. “Big deal,” she said, “That thing looks as slow as molasses. I'll be done with it in a second.” Father chuckled. “Oh, ho! Feeling brave, are we?” Father retorted, “Fine, I guess I'll let you take it on without me operating it.” Ame smirked. Now that Father had decided against riding this powerhouse, it would be five times easier to defeat it. “Ready when you are!” Father shouted. “Bring it on!” said a bold Ame.

The Rune Unit charged at Ame and tried to throw a punch at her. Within seconds, she had already cast a spell that gave her super strength, allowing her to shift the weight of the robot via its hand and throw it clean over her shoulder. “Heh, is that all you got?” Ame said, a smug grin forming on her face. The large robot squirmed a bit, and lept back up. It looked a little dazed, but besides that, it looked like it hadn't been damaged at all. “Ha! These robots are built to last!” Father gloated, “You'll never beat it!”  “We'll see about that,” Ame said, “I bet these bots don’t do so well in water.” Father puzzled over her question a bit, only to realize what she was up to. There were rivers and underground canals that the dragon girl could deluge his masterpiece with. “Blast my lack of foresight!” Father thought, “Wait, there may still be a way to work this in my favour...” Father grinned mischievously. “Go on, try to drench my robot! You'll be sorry!” he taunted. Ame's anger mounted. Concentrating to the extreme, she summoned a huge ball of water from the environment and hurled it at Father and his brutish friend. As she thought, the robot began to short circuit, and when the water washed away, the hulk looked weakened by the experience. “Now to finish it off,” she thought, “I'd better act quickly, before the brute gets his second wind...” With that, Ame began to conjure up a great ball of electricity. Knowing the dangers of firing electricity in a damp area, she flew up high into the azure sky above her, and launched her attack.

The Rune Unit stood no chance. Even if the electricity was magically conjured, it was still electricity. Its magical defences weren't enough to neutralize the blast, and it collapsed. Ame gently drifted down, her flight taking a bit of an egotistical swagger. “Heh, told you I could beat it,” she said as she landed. It was then that she noticed that Father had taken the moment to disappear. “Is he still here?” she thought. As she contemplated where her steel foe had gone off to, Father ambushed her. He grabbed her by the wrists, opened the compartment with his synthetic chaos emerald, and began to absorb some of her magical energies. Ame started to feel weak. She became dizzy and sick. However, she wasn't defenceless. She figured that Father would be too distracted to put up his barrier, so she concentrated on him and unleashed whatever spell she could conceive of first. It appeared to work, because Father loosened his grip, but she couldn't see what had happened to him. It didn't really matter, at any rate, because she had gone unconscious at that point.

When Ame came to, she felt very confused. Surely, despite her spell, Father would have killed her or had her taken to some lab. Yet, here she was, still alive and well, right where she had fallen unconscious. “So, where is Father?” Ame thought, all the while keeping an eye out for an ambush. She eventually got up and surveyed the land. Nothing. Then, she heard it...a faint, tiny whimper from some bushes. Did she turn Father into something? “It'd serve him right,” she thought, “He almost killed me!” She parted the bushes, and she was shocked at what she saw. Father was hiding in the bushes, but he wasn't quite himself. He still had his vest, hat and “pants”, but he was flesh and blood. She had turned him into a handsome young dragon with ochre and ebony scales. His horns looked like they were sawed off. His body was cut up and bleeding. “But...there's no one here,” Ame said quietly, “How did he get like this?” Suddenly, Father perked up, spun around, and grabbed Ame by the throat, his eyes full of hatred and madness. He tightened his grip on her neck. “WHAT...HAVE...YOU...DONE TO ME?!!” Father screamed, “YOU'VE MADE ME INTO A WRETCHED ORGANIC!!! I HATE THIS BODY!! I'M FEELING ALL SORTS OF EMOTIONS AND SENSATIONS I'VE NEVER FELT BEFORE...IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE!!! INSANE, YOU HEAR ME, INSANE!!! CHANGE ME BACK! CHANGE ME BAAA-HAA-HAA-AACK!!!” However, before Father could say anything more, he dropped Ame and shuffled back. He went into a vacant stare. His eyes started to water, and he fell to his knees. Finally, he exploded in a torrent of sorrow and despair.  After that, he curled up in a fetal position and sobbed solemnly.

Ame was dealing with a dilemma. On the one hand, the spell would wear off soon, and Father could just go on his merry way. On the other hand, it didn't seem right to leave him like this. She could change him back...but was that going to solve things? “I think he needs to learn how to cope with these feelings so that he won’t be overwhelmed again.” she thought.  She crouched down and looked at Father sympathetically.  “Come on, it's not that bad,” she said, “You shouldn't hate yourself for having feelings.  They aren't a weakness unless you make them out to be a weakness.  Here, let me help you.”

Father stopped sobbing for a minute, and looked at her.  At first, he seemed to extend his hand out to Ame's, but then he bit her arm.  Ame cringed in pain, and thwacked Father with her other hand.  “YOU IDIOT!” she yelled at him, “I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!”  Father turned his head away.  “I don't need your help,” he mumbled, “Just leave me alone.”  Ame felt like turning the wretch into a toad, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so.  “Alright, if you won't let me help, at least hear me out,” Ame said,  “The spell will wear off soon, so you'll be back to your old self, but if you concentrate, you should be able to transform back.  It's just a matter of will.  Now, I'm going to watch you, and you'd better at least try it.  If you don't, I'll turn you into a tree.  Then you won't have to deal with those 'horrible emotions'.”  Father grumbled a bit, spouted some profanity, and got up.  He breathed.  It felt weird needing to breath all the time.  He focused his acute mind on becoming his old, metal self.  He wanted to return to his original form so much, he changed back within an instant.  Ame was amazed.  “Wow, not bad,” she said, “Even some of my kind find it hard to transform so fast.  Hmm...I don't suppose you'd care to do some magical combat with me?”  Father scoffed and shuffled around shyly.  Evidently, some emotions were still lingering in his head.  “Bah,” he said, “I don't need magic, I have my technology!  Mark my words, though, I'll have my revenge on you.”  With that, Father slogged off in the direction of his base.  Ame shrugged.  “I guess you just can't change a robot,” she thought.  As she began to walk over to her tree, though, she heard a faint “thank you” from the distance.  Turning around, she smiled at the cheeky robot, and sat down at the base of her tree, looking at the clouds as she did before.  “You know,” she thought, “I think he'll make a great student.  Oh, he says he won't use magic, but I know better.  It would be interesting to see what magic a robot with a chaos emerald could weave.  Ah, but that's a ways away from now...I think...I'll just...sleep on it...for...now...”

The END