As Quick As They Come

DWN 12 or Quick Man here! Hurry it up, I'm on the run!

[chargeman]

I can’t read the minds of humans who have been dead for over a century, maker.

[asquickastheycome]

Oh. My bad, I guess.

[magnet-man-blog]

[magnet-man-blog]

Oh! How delightful! That must make coming and going so much easier during the rainy days! No more mud up to our knees!

[asquickastheycome]

Oh well not that kind of road. It doesn’t really go around anything or lead anywhere. It’s for running on.

[magnet-man-blog]

Well, what kind of stuff and things, dear cousin? Don’t keep me in suspense!

[asquickastheycome]

We have a road now!

That’s it, I think.

[nitroman]

This place isn’t exactly easy to find || Nitro & Quick

[asquickastheycome]

“Yeah well it’s kind of a recent addition y’know and uh I don’t think Crash cares too much about things like roads. Hes not a road kinda guy!” Quick shrugged, figuring that was a good an answer as any. The only thing he got out of it was that if Nitro wanted it that bad he obviously wasn’t doing a good enough job at asking. Nitro: Second Place in Everything!

“But yeah it does suck that the other place got wrecked. Whatever though, this is what we have now. I just hate all this sand. Y’know I can’t run in sand, you can’t bike in it, it’s pretty awful. But that’s why we got the road. It’s pretty nice even if it’s small, just about a kilometer long.” Quick failed to realize he’d already explained that, oops.

“You wanna try it out or something?”

[nitroman]

Nitro held his tongue from clarifying that he’d not thought Crash would tell him because he was excited about a road himself, but for the stuntbot’s sake. Knowing ‘the destroyer’ though, Crash was probably furious with him for being gone as long as he had. He wasn’t looking forward to THAT conversation.

“Is there even a Robot here lightweight enough to not sink in the sand?” He questioned with a wrinkle of his nose, unseen behind his helmet. “Probably how the old man keeps you all indoors, hah.”

Looking around for a moment, Nitro thought on it. He probably should have checked in with his friends before agreeing to do something potentially dangerous, but that wasn’t him.

“Sure! I’ve got time.”

[asquickastheycome]

“Nah. Nobody here. Except maybe the ones that float? But they don’t count. And I guess it could be used to keep us inside...” He shrugged but grinned when Nitro responded to his question, looking genuinely interested in his answer.

“Yeah? Really? Okay, cool! I mean it’s sort of rough but you of all Masters should have a go at it. Those others, they don’t know what it’s like to be on the open road. Or this road, for that matter. And they don’t care.” Quick forgot what he was talking about. “You want me to spot you? I can run alongside you.”

[nitroman]

This place isn’t exactly easy to find || Nitro & Quick

[asquickastheycome]

“Oh? Nice, nice,” quick said flatly, only somewhat thoughtfully. “Nine countries in the last year. That’s a lot for someone on wheels. Must be exciting.” He didn’t mind the bragging. He also didn’t want to make Nitro feel bad about the fact that, well, he was kind of limited by those two wheels. He should be supportive.

The road, though, that was a conversation worth having. “Oh this thing? Not long, few months max, it gets re-paved whenever we can get someone to do it which is uh, so far, not very much.” Not at all, more like it. He rubbed his arm and had a look at it; even with his soft shocks lessening the blow of his fast feet, the road was getting a beating. It didn’t help that the foundation was basically made of sand. Quick was sacrificing his own frame and form to keep it as tidy and new as possible but it was obvious even that wasn’t enough. “You like it? It’s a little short, about 1 kilometer. But it’s not bad! I, y’know, got on Flash’s case and he had one built, so yeah. Pretty cool huh?”

[nitroman]

For someone on wheels, huh? Nitro bristled at the comment, but his smile was unwavering. “Yeah. It IS a lot.” He agreed defensively. Nitro knew for a fact that the Wilybots had been pretty much stuck on the island for over a year now, likely tearing themselves apart out of boredom.

“I would have hoped Crash would have messaged me about this, I’ve been whining about you guys needing a road for ages!” He said, but it was more like he’d said ‘it was my idea first.’

“It’s pretty nice. An improvement over a vast expanse of sand any day, but the last Fortress you guys were at was way better… Sucks your maker had to go and wreck it.”

[asquickastheycome]

“Yeah well it’s kind of a recent addition y’know and uh I don’t think Crash cares too much about things like roads. Hes not a road kinda guy!” Quick shrugged, figuring that was a good an answer as any. The only thing he got out of it was that if Nitro wanted it that bad he obviously wasn’t doing a good enough job at asking. Nitro: Second Place in Everything!

“But yeah it does suck that the other place got wrecked. Whatever though, this is what we have now. I just hate all this sand. Y’know I can’t run in sand, you can’t bike in it, it’s pretty awful. But that’s why we got the road. It’s pretty nice even if it’s small, just about a kilometer long.” Quick failed to realize he’d already explained that, oops.

“You wanna try it out or something?”

[asquickastheycome]

Tengu:

When Quick hit three, Tengu immediately jumped forward, activating his jets while airborne and tilting forward. His take-off was slower than Quick’s, but he was quick to gain speed afterwards. He was moving at about 50 feet above the track.

> How about 1000? Or is that pushing it?

Tengu’s competitive nature got the best of him. This close to the ground, 800 was already pushing him with the higher air pressure and different atmospheric traits. Without letting Quick reply, Tengu folded the wings in slightly for more aerodynamics to let him move faster.

Rounding that first curve would’ve been a breeze, but that asphalt cloud wasn’t exactly fun for his jets to fly through. Muttering a few curses, Tengu rotated his entire body to get through easily, without slowing much.

> 1000 laps? Or kph? Gotta be clear, dude!

Quick kept his pace, not really paying much attention to Tengu overhead except to check that he wasn’t being outpaced, or outpacing him. Each turn was handled differently, the intensity of the dust varying depending on how much fun Quick wanted to have, and how easy he wanted to be on his joints. He was trying, though, to be fair, and not make it too hard on Tengu, who was already at a disadvantage.

> If you wanna go 1000 kph that’s cool with me! Not sure you should fly that many laps though, no offense! Dust’s not good for the jet engines and I got no way of stopping it!

[nitroman]

This place isn’t exactly easy to find || Nitro & Quick

[nitroman]

Nitro was unaware of the second gen’s daydreaming about the two of them in chaps and hats, but had he known what the other Robot Master was thinking, he wouldn’t have been very surprised to hear that Quick’s fantasy vision of himself included assless chaps.

“Hey,” He repeated as casually, this time standing up as straight as possible as he lifted his visor to get a good look at Quick Man. “I’ve been here, there, everywhere. 9 Different countries in the last year.” He was certainly bragging. 

“So, uh, when did you guys get a road?”

Quick wasn’t the only one who could sassily jut out a hip! Nitro did the same, hand rested there and all. The air around them was as tense as it was dusty.

[asquickastheycome]

“Oh? Nice, nice,” quick said flatly, only somewhat thoughtfully. “Nine countries in the last year. That’s a lot for someone on wheels. Must be exciting.” He didn’t mind the bragging. He also didn’t want to make Nitro feel bad about the fact that, well, he was kind of limited by those two wheels. He should be supportive.

The road, though, that was a conversation worth having. “Oh this thing? Not long, few months max, it gets re-paved whenever we can get someone to do it which is uh, so far, not very much.” Not at all, more like it. He rubbed his arm and had a look at it; even with his soft shocks lessening the blow of his fast feet, the road was getting a beating. It didn’t help that the foundation was basically made of sand. Quick was sacrificing his own frame and form to keep it as tidy and new as possible but it was obvious even that wasn’t enough. “You like it? It’s a little short, about 1 kilometer. But it’s not bad! I, y’know, got on Flash’s case and he had one built, so yeah. Pretty cool huh?”

[nitroman]

This place isn’t exactly easy to find || Nitro & Quick

Just when the stunt robot had been thinking that it’d been far too long since he’d seen the Wily boys on good ol’ skull-island, he’d actually arrived. Though he was a light weight model he still sank a few inches into the sand, and his face scrunched in displeasure. How long had he been saying that this place needed a ro-..a..d…

A road! Just in the distance! Could robots see mirages? He honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if he could, knowing all of the other useless things his maker felt necessary to program him with. What the hell did he need minesweeper for, anyway?

Scrambling to pull his boots free from the sand, Nitro trudged his way over in disbelief, looking down at what appeared to be a freshly paved road. It was real alright; as real as the streak of red and gold currently tearing it up, too.

“Hey!”

[asquickastheycome]

Quick barely registered that Nitro was there at all but he could tell something was getting dangerously close to the roadway. At the speed he was going he needed a few laps to slow down to a stop without risking absolutely destroying the already-well-worn asphalt. He controlled himself and in a matter of one or two seconds was standing at the edge of the big loop right where Nitro happened to have approached, and nothing but a thick, dirty cloud hovered in the air around them both. It was shockingly akin to those which appeared in typical Western movies during a standoff. They just needed a tumbleweed, some hats, and leather chaps. Nitro’s would have to be assless, since he was a motorcycle.

The second-gen strutted forward after imagining how comical it’d be to see Nitro in a hat. The black, gritty dust that coated the lower portions of his legs would have undoubtedly been a turn-off for any robot that didn’t know what it meant to go fast. Quick, though, wore it like a badge of honor, not bothering to wipe or scrape any of it off as he approached the younger, slower ‘bot. Nitro could feast his eyes. He truly had tore it up in a literal sense.

“Hey,” he said nonchalantly, cocking his hip to shift his weight onto the leg that hadn’t taken the majority of the turns, “it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Where you been?”

[asquickastheycome]

Tengu:  “I meant 80 laps, you twithead.” Tengu said while rolling his eyes, his arms crossed. He looked rather impatient. “But I could go for 800 too, in whichever sense you wanna take that in.” Tengu looked a little insulted now. “Of course I can go that fast, who do you think I am, that one third?” He stretched a little, looking a bit bored now. “Are we going or what?”

“Oh!” Quick laughed. “Sure, 800 laps at 800 kph. And yeah, let’s go! On the count of three, one two three-!” annnd Quick was off, almost too quickly at first, he had to slow himself, oh no that was too slow! Speed up slow down speed up slow down, it probably wasn’t apparent to Tengu but he was trying to regulate his speed to move that slowly.

It was nice, though! He managed to maintain a strict pace of a measly 800 kph, basically a relaxed jog. Flash would be happy that he wasn’t wearing out his pumps.

> How you doin up there huh? 800 fast enough for you?

Quick commed him just about the time he was ready to take his first turn, a grin growing on his face as he effortlessly leaned into the turn and sent a cloud of dust up into the air as he rounded it. The composition of that cloud? Asphalt, mostly, with a few stray blackened pebbles.

[asquickastheycome]

That’s pretty cool. How come it’s named after a duck though

[chargeman]

Because the human who designed and built it liked ducks…? How am I supposed to know?

[asquickastheycome]

You’re a train, wouldn’t you know about

train stuff

[asquickastheycome]

No no it’s cool, I just thought, y’know, there’s different kinds of trains and I just wasn’t sure. I know some of them are meant to go real fast. Is that what that one you just said is? A Mallard or whatever? Isn’t that a kind of duck or something?

[chargeman]

I wasn’t referring to a duck. The class A4 4468 Mallard holds the world speed record for steam trains and has done for well over a century. It was a lot more aerodynamic than I am, so of course it could reach higher speeds.

[asquickastheycome]

That’s pretty cool. How come it’s named after a duck though

[asquickastheycome]

Tengu: Tengu flew a lap high above the track before he landed. It was unknown if he was testing the track, or just trying to sound like an asshole? Probably both. Those curves~

“Huh, not bad. How does 80 sound, or do you wanna go for more?

“Eighty?” Quick stopped and stood still. “You mean 80 kph? Man no offense but that is a crawl. That’s like my walking speed.”

He put his hands on his hips and then folded his arms right away. “Of course I wanna go for more! More like 800. That should do it right? That’s top speed for a few planes. I mean, if you can go that fast. It’s still a crawl for me but at least I’ll be moving and not basically standing in the same spot.”

[asquickastheycome]

Top:  Then go get some roller-skates then… Though I’m not certain what will happen if you try to skate at your speeds…

I can’t wear roller-skates I’ve got no legs under these legs.

[asquickastheycome]

sinnamon-with-a-ctrl-c

>I’m in Monstro, I think. Unless Light has a lab somewhere else on the mainland.

>Ugh my GPS isn’t even working, and I’m on Main Street somewhere, you’d never find me. I’m just going to get the prototype to take me back to the lab and make the old man finish patching me up.

> Okay so I probably could find you because I mean, I’m really fast and everything, but yeah if you’re getting him to take you back that’s cool just, yknow, don’t do anything to get yourself into trouble!

> This is all so weird.

[asquickastheycome]

sinnamon-with-a-ctrl-c

>I’m kind of sitting on a sidewalk trying to make sense of all these warnings in my head?? I don’t think the old man was done fixing me, either that or his fat fingers just can’t do their job anymore.

> Look look. Warning things, those sound bad. I don’t know if I can help with that but if you’re on a sidewalk I don’t think that’s doing anything good either? And if your comms are broken...

> Do you know like, anything that would help me find you? I don’t want you to explode or something. I can bug my brother once you’re uh

> not wherever you are now I guess

[asquickastheycome]

sinnamon-with-a-ctrl-c

>Maker FINALLY, I don’t know what happened to my comms but they don’t WORK until someone comms me first.

>And seriously, purple bow. Come on. I thought you were supposed to be fast.

> I am fast! Sheesh! I don’t know anything about a purple bow okay? Or any bow for that matter. But I’m really glad it’s you anyway, wow!

> Hang on though, your comms are broken? Where even are you? You should get them fixed if it’s that much of a pain.

[asquickastheycome]

sinnamon-with-a-ctrl-c

I don’t know, why don’t you go ask one?

… I’m obviously missing something huh.

[sinnamon-with-a-ctrl-c-blog1]

Well you obviously didn’t miss me.

[asquickastheycome]

[Quick hesitates because this is requiring a lot of processing. There’s no comm activity for a few moments as he thinks it through, tries delving into the deepest files in the deepest sub-folders, looks for anything that could act as even a vague reminder. It isn’t until he reads the display name a few times that his search results are narrow enough to make sense.]

Oh my maker.

[He switches to a private frequency.]

> Copy? Seriously? This isn’t a trick is it?