-Location: At the End of Park Tunnel and near Manehattan's Mane Fair Hotel-

"If we're going to be traveling together," the mare offered, "Maybe we should exchange names." She had left her thoughts and worries behind for now, but she was still curious on other subjects. After getting through that bot-fest, she decided that if they did die, she at least wanted to know his name, and perhaps he know hers. The diamond dog had lifted the wall of debris for her and she slipped through, finding that this area was rather safe and secure, with walls around them and clear easy-to-see access points that would make it impossible for a bot to come in and attack them undetected. So, she brought the suggestion up to distract herself from her 'what ifs'.

"My name is Chipset, but I often get called Chip," she told him, grunting when she jumped off a ledge and landed firmly on her hooves, "I mean pretty much always. Ponies call me Chip." Well, that was lame. She wanted to go ram her face in a wall until it was numb.

"How about you?" Chip asked, trying to divert attention from her dull introduction.

"I don't have a name," he replied in his gravelly voice, gaining her attention.

"You must. Everyone has a name," she retorted, putting her hands in her hair and staring at him.

"Not everyone," he responded as he walked past her into another room of the stone building, Chip almost missing the cheerless tone in his voice. She blinked, trying to figure out what he meant before she followed him and grabbed his arm to get him to stop.

"Well, what did your parents call you?" she inquired instead, the diamond dog stopping in his tracks. He didn't look at her, just stood there for a moment or two before yanking his arm out of her grasp. She was a bit confused when he didn't talk for a while, pacing about the room.

"My real parents were killed in a bot attack when I was a pup," he finally told her, Chip's eyes going wide, "And the last good parent I had…abandoned me. After that, I grew up in the wilds…alone." Once he had informed her of his past, he walked into another room, not waiting for her. She looked down somewhat ashamed before running after him again.

"Well, what do the Ponies call you then?" she decided to continue, to distract him from the painful memories she probably stirred.

"Whitefang," he told her, and she smiled when he actually talked to her again, "That last parent I told you about gave me it and when we got around to other communities, they learned to call me that, too. Soon, when I was on my own, in the communities that I trade with, some of them stuck to calling me Whitefang. If you wanna give me a name, you can use that."

"Okay…" she liked how they were progressing so far, "Whitefang…" She tried it out and he turned to her. They were on a pile of metal containers shaped like a staircase, so he helped her up the last step when she started to climb. He nodded to her and she smiled again. This was nice…it felt like they had bonded somewhat in that minute or so. Maybe Whitefang wouldn't bite her head off at the end of all this, provided she gave him food, water, and other supplies to appease him. They found a hole in the wall of the building and gazed out. This new area was much more open and less crowded with vegetation. There seemed to be a bridge between a couple of buildings once, but some sort of cataclysmic event had torn it asunder and cast pieces of it aside. Perhaps an earthquake, he surmised. Whitefang went first and sprinted over to a stone barricade, glancing up from his position. Chip poked her head out, but Whitefang turned to her and furiously waved her over as discreetly as he could.

"Get down!" he yelled at her in a hushed tone, "Before that turret sees us!"

"Scanning," she automatically told him and threw her Sprite-bot up in the air.

"I don't think we can get through here," he observed, seeing as how most of the terrain combined with mines would make it difficult for Chip to go anywhere. Sure, Whitefang could probably get through this just fine, but without superior climbing skills, Chip was stuck since he couldn't afford being thrown off balance while carrying her. So, no clambering with her on his back, much to his frustration.

"Wait…I'm detecting a fuel source," Chip reported and Whitefang turned to look at her.

"A power cell?" he asked, interested.

"No, this is from the old days," she corrected him, "It's in that container. Looks like it's microspark cells." He nodded to her and she turned the Sprite-bot around to stare at the turret.

"You know, Whitefang, if you could actually get up to that turret, you can take control of it," she turned to him and he set his mouth in a firm line. He understood what she was hinting at, and he couldn't find any real reason to protest since he could take out the turret and the blockade at the same time, but they just got out of bot territory. Or at least found a neutral zone where they could get a breather for once. Now, if he did happen to make it up to that turret and blow up the tanker, he knew that it would just draw more attention to them. However, time was of the essence, and the longer it took them to get to the crash site, the more bots there may be surrounding it. He wrestled with the pros and cons and decided that it was better if they got the blockade out of the way after all. Whitefang nodded to her and began leaping across the debris and wreckage of the bridge that once was, Chip distracting the bot every time Whitefang called for it. Once he reached the turret, he raised his staff and slapped it, making it shrink inside its metal shell like a snail. Whitefang hopped on it and when it arose again, he grabbed the auto-targeting system wiring that was around the barrels of its guns and tore it off. This gave him full control as Chip had briefed him before and braced himself for when the tanker would explode.

"All right, you ready?" he asked her, Chip giving a nod from her position and he fired. It blew the tanker sky high after the gasoline ignited and a mechanical and guttural cry rang out from the forest surrounding them.

"I'm detecting bots…lots of them!" she shouted, and he grimly hunkered down to take them out. He knew this would happen, but he supposed it was the path of lesser evils or trying to trek around it and be ambushed by the bots that were apparently close by.

"They're coming straight towards me!" she told him, continuing to hide behind the barricade.

"Can you climb up to my position?" he asked in a loud yell, but she shook her head, "Didn't think so…okay, just stay there! I'll take care of them!" Whitefang noticed the first wave of bots rush towards her and shot at them, accidentally shooting one of the barrels that were lying on the island and causing it to blow up the entire wave of bots that came.

"Whoa…now that's what I'm talking about," he smirked and as soon as the next wave got near another stacking of barrels, he shot at it and it exploded just as the other had. With a few strategic blows, Whitefang had destroyed a whole squadron of bots, but his eyes narrowed as he saw one lone bot advance on Chip's position.

"That bot is broadcasting!" she yelled, Whitefang cringing at the ringing of her voice in his head, "It's calling for reinforcements! Take it out!" His eyes darted everywhere, but he had used all of the explosive barrels during the beginning of the fight and growled in frustration before training the gatling-gun plasma rounds on the Broadcaster. He was able to take it out not a few seconds before it released its signal, Whitefang leaning back and relaxed slightly, breathing in and out slowly to calm himself.

"I think that's the last of them," she told him, rising up from her position, "Let's get out of here." He nodded and got off the turret, giving it one last look before extending his staff and driving it home into the support, leaving it broken. Then, he wrecked the barrels of its plasma gun, effectively rendering it useless. He put his staff away with a grimace. There were more than just these standard bots in the city and he had seen firsthand what sort of consequences arose from leaving dangerous and heavy-duty weapons around. With that, he began to swing towards her position by traversing the wall of the building next to him. When he reached her stone island, she stopped him from continuing forward.

"Hey, wait up! I've got an idea," she held up her front leg and the digital readout appeared once more, "I think I can upgrade your equipment." He looked at her in slight confusion before she held before him some schematics.

"I pulled these from all the bots you've destroyed," she flipped through a few images, "And a few artifacts that were lying around from the old times. From them, I've been figuring out how to update your gear, not that you need it, but it'll make things easier, like I said." Whitefang looked to the staff strapped to his right arm and then at her.

"You can improve this?" he held up his arm and she put her leg next to the retracted staff.

"Yeah, although it's already an amazing piece of machinery on its own," Chip glanced at him while she improved the staff's abilities, "How'd you come by this anyway?"

"It's called the Golden Rod…I got it from my master," he managed to get out before looking away, knowing that she'd look at him surprised.

"Master?" she asked, "You mean you've been enslaved before?"

"No, not that way," he waved off her misinterpretation, causing her to blush, "I meant like a teacher…also the last good parent I had, but…" She understood why he trailed off, but she was still curious.

"What happened?" Chip asked as she continued to multi-task, but just as he was about to answer, Whitefang heard a strange noise and he grabbed her, hiding behind a derelict Sky Bandit, "What is it?" He held a finger up to his lips, not looking at her. He slowly looked over the head of the Bandit and saw what looked to be a scrawny pony, with clothes torn in several places, running for his life. Whitefang noticed that his clothes were similar to that of the slave-guards from the ship, but his Slave Collar had been taken off. Whitefang was about to shout at him, get his attention and maybe confer on how exactly he got his own Collar off when the pony turned around and looked in the direction he was fleeing, eyes wild with fear.

"No! No, stay back!" he yelled, his back pressed up against a stone building, "Stay-!" There was a flash of silver that hit Whitefang's eyes and he closed his eyes, blinking several times to shake off the effects before looking back at the man. He stood there, swaying for a moment and seemingly fine. Of course, that was before the upper-half of his body slid off his lower-half, Whitefang's eyes widening at the grotesque scene from him. A figure moved towards the pony out of the shadows of the trees and approached the corpse as the pony's legs buckled and fell with the rest of his body. It was Minotaur-like in its appearance, but the way it moved was predatory and animalistic. Whitefang looked closer at the abomination and narrowed his eyes as he saw tattoos marking his entire body. The flash that Whitefang had seen was explained by the two coiled whips at the figure's hips, one stained with freshly-spilled blood. And without the pony's screams and thundering footsteps, it felt as though the entire forest had quieted in the presence of the killer. Whitefang knew what this Minotaur was…one of the A-rank prisoners. He noticed the flash of red light that came from the Minotaur's neck and he knew that he had been enslaved, now hunting his fellow captives and chasing down any escapees from the wreckage.

"Whitefang…what's going on?" Chip asked in a loud whisper, startling both Whitefang and the Minotaur, his head jerking up and towards their direction. Whitefang cursed and grabbed her hoof.

"RUN!" Whitefang flung her to a nearby ledge to their right, Chip screaming through her descent in surprise. He jumped after her, not bothering to look if the Minotaur was chasing them as a silver flash blinded the spot where they had been hiding behind the Sky Bandit. An explosion occurred and gave them cover, but Whitefang didn't stop. The most important thing currently was to get Chip to a safer location, only then could he deal with the killer.

"Whitefang! What in Tartarus is going on?" she screamed at him, Whitefang swinging her onto his back, "Why are we running? And from what?"

"What else, a bucking slaver!" he yelled back at her, climbing the stairwell quickly to reach the top. Once they did, he looked behind him and saw the smoke ominously approaching them. Whitefang wasted no time in jumping through the hole in the side of the building and onto a ledge that lead to an open area. He cursed as he surveyed the area quickly, seeing that there weren't any surfaces where he could climb with Chip on his back, and there weren't any that he could throw her onto either. He dropped down with her under the ledge and let her down, pushing her into the corner and covering her with his own body, making her shrink into the concrete.

"Whitefang…" she whispered as softly as she could, understanding that talking now would be deathly, but she couldn't help it. This was scaring her. A normal slaver wouldn't have fazed Whitefang, she understood that from seeing him fighting bots.

"Shh…" he told her, his eyes going to the ledge above him. Just as he thought, the slaver had followed him through the smoke, his hoofsteps heavy and silence-inducing. Chip closed her eyes and hugged herself into a small ball, Whitefang bracing himself and gritting his teeth, eyes narrowed. The slaver took a few steps forward, some dust and rubble falling on the pair that was just below him. However, instead of investigating the area like Whitefang believed the slaver would, the Minotaur retreated. 'Retreated' being an accurate word because the Minotaur ran away, his steps alarming and somewhat fearful. Whitefang didn't quite understand it, but it seemed they were safe for now. He got off of her, Chip blinking her eyes open at the sudden light that assaulted her eyelids. She looked up and he nodded to her, a paw held out to help her.

"Is…is he gone?" she asked, taking that paw.

"Yeah…" he replied, dragging her to her hooves and observing the area that they had landed in. There was a statue of a stallion holding the world up, strange dots and lines carved into it and the stallion seemed to be in a rather painful position. He darkly chuckled, likening it to his fate: lifting a heavy burden with no say in the matter. Besides the archaic statue, there was a glass tank filled with fish and algae. He was surprised to see that anything besides a few sparse animals to be living, especially in an enclosure like this.

"Whitefang, mind explaining what in Tartarus was that?" she asked, breathing heavily. Whitefang turned back to Chip and looked up at the ledge.

"A-Rank prisoner turned slaver," he tried to keep it as short as possible, but her eyes were narrowing in an attempt to understand and he sighed, "Sometimes, the creatures they capture aren't just survivors. Sometimes, they're killers, creatures driven insane by the loss of loved ones or just by being alone for a long time. Heck, they could've been messed up from the beginning, and believe it or not, slavers have a justice system."

"Wait…how do you know this?" Chip asked, eyes closed now as she tried to process the new information.

"My master," he uttered and Chip nodded, accepting it, "My master believed that the bots still have some sort of old code still programmed into their circuits. It's barely there, but the Slavers are going along with it. Back in the day, those who killed, maimed, and murdered were punished."

"Those who kill, maim, and murder still get punished," Chip corrected him, but the dark look in his eyes made her pause. Whitefang closed his eyes, reflecting on the words that had been uttered to him in the darkest days of his youth.

"When our world ended," Whitefang began, Chip's eyes widening, "Their world began."

"Who's world?" she asked quietly, Whitefang looking back at her.

"When I was a pup, I thought my master meant the bots, but…" he walked over to the statue, "After what I've seen, they ain't the only thing to worry about." Chip understood what he was talking about. She had seen what ponies would do to survive, but it still gave her chills. Whitefang continued onward, circling the statue, observing it.

"My master was talking about the primal side, the chaos that was unleashed when bots took over. The things that our laws and rules were meant to keep locked up, like caged animals," Whitefang put a paw on the edge of the stone slab that the statue was placed on, "'The loss of morality and the blurring of the line between what was right and what was wrong', that was what my master was talking about. Because to you…nothing is worth more than your life." Chip shook her head, trying to keep out the darker elements of his speech.

"Stop it!" she yelled at him, hooves over her ears, and he felt the familiar and agonizing pain searing his brain as he stopped talking. He was clenching his teeth in pain as he fell, paws on his neck just as before. Trip calmed down after a few seconds and realized that she had inadvertently hurt him. She knelt beside him as the pain died down, Whitefang breathing heavy.

"I'm sorry, it's just…I can't believe that," Chip told him, a hoof on his shoulder as he got up.

"You can't…but I can," he replied in a grim manner, grunting as he stood up, "And so can my master." Chip was feeling more and more resentment against this master of his. What in Tartarus was this guy teaching him? And more so, he abandoned Whitefang when he needed him the most. Why? Didn't he realize that perhaps Whitefang's outlook on life was more pessimistic and devastating than any diamond dog should ever have because of it?

"It's not just what my master said," he quietly remarked, drawing Chip's attention back to reality, "I've seen it with my own eyes. So don't go thinking with that head of yours that I came out the way I did 'cuz of my master." She cast her eyes down, unable to look the diamond dog in the eye. Chip glanced to the fish tank and stared at it in wonder. She hadn't had the chance to look at what was in the fish tank because she was so focused on the slaver and Whitefang, but now…

"Oh, they're beautiful," she had jogged over to the fish tank and pressed her hands against the cool glass. Monkey, dropping the dismal subject, came over with her, already having seen the fish.

"Yeah," he replied, almost smiling at the breathlessness of his mare companion despite the harsh topics being discussed beforehoof, "That don't make any sense. They should be dead." Again, his bleak attitude about life was brought into play and she decided to rebel against it, hoping to at least give him second thoughts about it.

"It makes perfect sense!" she retorted immediately, "The sunlight feeds the plants. The plants oxygenate the water. The small fish eat the algae. The big fish eat the small fish." She had been circling around the tank all the while and finished her explanation absentmindedly and happy.

"It's a closed ecosystem," she pressed on, Whitefang joining her in pressing his paws against the glass, "Just like my home. My father designed our community to work in exactly the same way so that we'd never have to leave the outer compound walls. We grow our own food, condense our own water, create our own energy. We have everything." Chip hoped this was generating some sort of positive, if not hopeful, feeling in Whitefang, seeing his eyes chasing the fish.

"Except a future," he countered softly, Trip looking back at him in surprise to see his eyes on her. Those eyes were almost pitying, but his words were stated factually as if they were true.

"What do you mean?" she asked, disconcerted by the fact that he hadn't been at all affected by her proud speech about her home and even disputed on the matter that her home was perfectly safe.

"This is what I was talking about," he turned his head forward for a moment before looking back at her, "Oh, I've seen it all before. Scattered tribes coming together under one visionary leader. It's never long before they attract the attention of the slavers which…obviously has already happened."

"It was just one slave ship," Chip's words were dangerously soft, daring him to continue, as if his words decided her home's fate, "It only got a few of us."

"Think more won't follow?" he defied her own optimistic thinking and she turned to him in disbelief, Whitefang's eyebrows lifting in a manner that begged her to punch him in the face, except that it would be more likely to conclude that it'd hurt her hoof more than his face. Instead, Chip made a final stand against his attitude and beliefs.

"If these fish can survive for two hundred years against all the odds," she smiled gently, "So can we." Her strength and faith was admittedly surprising to someone like him who had seen many who carried on just by surviving, which wasn't the same as living. Whitefang himself was a survivor. This mare, however…lived. She had beliefs, she had a moral code, which he had seen despite having himself fitted by her for a Slave Collar, and more importantly, she had hope. Hope was something that crushed people. It was dangerous and better left alone, like a raging fire that could keep you safe and warm, but would most likely burn you and kill you if it got the chance. Yet, Chip carried hope like it was natural, confident that it wouldn't harm her. Whitefang felt something stir within him, a sort of protectiveness for this mare and the burning hope that she carried. However, before he could delve more deeply into his thoughts, a creaking noise captured his and Trip's attention and a gigantic ball of steel erupted from the glass in front of them, repelling them away from the fish. Whitefang and Chip rolled away in different directions, and when Chip regained her senses, she screamed. It was a bot, but it was an older model, as shown by the amount of rust it had been collecting at the bottom of the fish tank…

"The fish…" she whispered, her eyes wide and threatening to spill over with tears as she watched them flop around on the ground, searching for water. They were doomed to die. Whitefang got up and saw Chip stagger over to a corner of the room, already having gone through the routine a couple of times to understand that just being out of the way and safe was the best. He extended his staff and prepared to beat the behemoth, observing its size and the round steel fists at the ends of its arms. It was a slow-moving, hulking thing that would undoubtedly have trouble with targets that were faster than it, but that didn't give Whitefang the right to underestimate the bot. Whitefang saw it move aside the pieces of debris, as if thinking his prey had been crushed under the rocks and glass. After making sure that they weren't there, it zeroed in on Whitefang. He saw the monster look up and then roar at him in a mechanized bellow, stalking after him one thunderous step at a time and dragging those lethal metal weights.

"Whitefang, be careful," Chip cautioned him, Whitefang's mouth forming a firm line in determination. The golden bot before him was no ordinary one, to be certain, and he vaguely tried to remember what kind of bot it was. He made sure he was a good distance away, but drew its attention so that it wouldn't run after Chip. After staring at the bot's most obvious features, he remembered that it was a Kaboom-bot. Its attacks were comprised of launching those metal fists at him like a cannon, chains attached to those fists so that they could always be brought back in time for another strike. With that small bit of knowledge, Whitefang charged in, rolling out of the way of the first attack then marking the bot's side with the first blow of the struggle. At first, the exchange between the two combatants went well, Whitefang was able to stay ahead of the bot's attacks while simultaneously slamming his staff into various parts around its body. It also helped that the bot needed to rest after throwing its metal fists around, making it easier for Whitefang to strike. However, Whitefang was also affected by the length of the battle and it wore on him, his stamina fading fast as he retreated behind a pillar to get a breather.

"Whitefang!" Chip shouted out, the only warning he got after he was struck for the first time. The monster-bot rammed a gigantic metal fist through the pillar he was resting behind and blasted through it to reach the diamond dog. The blow to his back nearly paralyzed him, pain blossoming up his spine as he was slammed against the wall of the buildings that surrounded the enclose, grunting as he felt a rib crack. He got up, however, and persevered, getting out of the way after the Kaboom-bot decided to rest again. Whitefang decided that there wasn't a way to win with this thing until he did one last final hit to the bot's head, somehow knocking loose a coolant wire that kept the bot's systems from overheating which in turn lead to overloading.

"His systems are overloading!" she yelled, Whitefang able to hear her over the heart beat that was pounding in his ear, "He's-he's losing control!" Whitefang swore when it began exhuming red fumes and sparks, its speed increasing tenfold as it seemed to fly into a rage that smashed anything within its distance. He heard Chip scream when the bot swung a fist into a boulder near her, sending pieces flying towards her area and striking her enough to cause her distress. Now, coupled with his own heartbeat was that of Chip's. The bot was a bigger threat now, since the rage it flew into made everything its target, no longer just focusing on Whitefang and possibly killing them both. This had to stop. NOW.

"Chip, hang on! I'm coming!" he yelled, enduring the pain by taking a healing potion and regenerating, bone knitting together along with precious spinal nerves, "HEY! Bolts for brains!" The enraged bot turned to him, having heard the insult, and rushed at Whitefang. He dived out the way and it hit the wall, causing a small tremor to travel through the entire area. Chip looked up after having dodged the debris and noticed the statue with the gigantic Globe on its back wobble, she got an idea.

"Whitefang! The statue!" she pointed to it and he nodded, understanding what the plan was. He noticed that the bot had cooled its systems manually and began its slow lumbering walk towards him again. Whitefang, having healed the break in his rib and the damaged nerves in his spine, easily enraged the large Kaboom-bot once more. He drew it over to the statue where it ran straight into it and again the globe threatened to come loose from its place.

"It's working! Do it again!" she shouted to him, Whitefang slamming his staff into the bot's head again to loosen more coolant wires, "He's out of control! Use it to your advantage!" This time was a little more difficult because the bot's rage continued to grow as its systems became more and more overheated. The bot now focused completely on Whitefang in its anger, red optics like two coals burning in a fire place. It swung and crushed anything between it and Whitefang, until Whitefang began taunting it once more and it charged the statue again.

"That's it! Get it to hit the statue again!" Chip called out and Whitefang stood directly in front of the statue, the metal from the statue's hooves crumbling under the duress it was enduring from the bot. The bot itself had stayed in its enraged state and charged towards Whitefang, the diamond dog leaping out of the way just in time for the machine to slam into the statue. It's arms completely gave way to the globe and it fell on the bot, the machine looking up in confusion as it was crushed. Once the metal ball had done its job, it rolled away, leaving the bot's broken husk laying there for all to see. It groaned in an almost sad and tired way. Whitefang walked back to the bot, knowing that it wouldn't put up a fight any longer, and grabbed the back of its head, lifting it up and grabbing the core processor that was at the base of the head. With that, the terrible fiery eyes of the machine died out, leaving it empty.

"The fish…" Chip's weak sobs caught Whitefang's attention and he carried the core processor to her, "The fish…" Chip had confidence that these fish would survive, as her community would survive, but in an instant, their fragile glass world broke and everything in it would die in a matter of minutes. An entire ecosystem destroyed by one act. It was an almost foreboding feeling that had intensified her sadness at the loss of such beautiful creatures.

"Hey Chip. Chip, come on," Whitefang finally spoke to her, having squatted down to her level while she kneeled to mourn the fish, "Come on, you've gotta scan this thing." She looked at him almost offended and disbelieving that he wasn't feeling the same sorrow as she was, but she understood what he was trying to do. He was giving her a mission, something to do besides focus on the fish. She took the paw that was offered to her and she got up with a sobbing whimper. He even gave her the core processor, which he figured was important. After looking up at the sky and seeing it turn red with the setting of the sun, they set up camp, tired, hungry, and a little wet because of the fish tank having exploded on them due to the bot's interference. Whitefang had scouted out a building that seemed to once hold multiple ponies in it at the same time, which he guessed was a 'hotel', another lesson from his master from long ago. They decided to share a room, but there was only one bed. Whitefang decided to sleep on the floor on the grounds that he'd be fine sleeping anywhere, having gotten used to it during the time he lived in the wilds. Chip agreed to the arrangement, mostly because she'd gotten used to sleeping on a bed herself. However, she couldn't help but turn her head to look at the one who was her protector, her guardian, and smile. She was touched by the way he held her hoof while she cried for the fish, which now seemed a little silly looking back on the moment, but he had comforted her as best he could in his own way, and that was enough for her.

"Thanks…Whitefang…" she whispered to him before turning away from him, unbeknownst that he was still awake. When he knew she was sleeping, he got up and walked over to the balcony of the room, leaving the door open so that fresh air could flow in and to make sure that nothing could sneak up on Chip without making a sound. Whitefang needed time to think. All the while, he'd been going along with Chip, doing as she said mostly because she would use the collar if he ever disobeyed, but despite that, they had some personal moments that made him rethink completely cutting himself off from pony life save for the occasional supplies. Whitefang then thought of the one pony who had been haunting his dreams lately, before the slaver ship had caught him and this whole mess started.

"Master…it's been ten years since I saw you…" he was leaning against the railing and looking up at the moonlit sky, "I need your guidance. And as much as I hate it, I wish you were here…Master…" With that, he closed his eyes and rested his head on his arms that were crossed on the railing. So deep in thought was he that he didn't notice the small green-blue Sprite-bot he had caught was escaping the open room and flying over his head. It met with its brethren back at the massive tree and seemed to converse with them in an odd and funny squeaking language. Some of them had been watching their journey across the mine-ridden fields, others observing the battle between Whitefang and the behemoth. Then, the Sprite-bot Whitefang had caught flew in the direction of the slaver ship with the other Sprite-bots in tow.

-Location: Slaver Ship Crash-Landing Site (The Bridge)-

The small group of Sprite-bots accompanied Chip's Sprite-bot as it flew over the waters and above the guard bots, flying to where Priority One was resting and meditating in a pose. An eye opened at their arrival and they stood up, holding their hooves out to greet them.

"Welcome, welcome," Priority murmured, their hooves glancing over their wings in a gentle gesture and the small bots gave little trills of delight, "Yes, I've missed you, too. Now what news do you have for me about my pupil?" They answered in mechanized whirs and squeaks, to which Priority's eyes widened.

"Captured by a ginger-haired beauty you say…" Priority looked back in the direction where the Sprite-bot came from, presumably where Whitefang had decided to camp for the night with Chip, "Perhaps I should have had that birds and the bees talk with him when he was younger…" The Sprite-bots shook their heads and beeped at Priority, making their head turn.

"Ah, with a Slave Collar…" Priority sighed and sat back down, "Quite a situation he has on his paws…I thought I taught him better than to leave himself unguarded like that. Although, I do admit, having to escape a crashing ship is a rather hard factor to predict…" Priority One cocked their head and closed their eyes, thinking. By no means was Priority a cruel and unfeeling master, but Priority did demand responsibility for their students' actions and consequences. After listening to the rest of the Sprite-bot' observations, Priority nodded. The master was proud, having wished they could have witnessed such an event as the destruction of a Kaboom-bot by Whitefang's paws. Then, when the news of the silver whip slaver came into the report, Priority One's lips set into a deep frown. Well, as far as they had heard, the Minotaur knew of the dangers in Manehattan. A dangerous adversary had stepped into their midst, and it wasn't likely that their most recent encounter would be their last.

"I see…very well, continue your investigation. And continue to report any other mishaps. It will give me time to prepare for their arrival," Priority One let the Sprite-bots run off, flying back towards Whitefang and Chip, "Oh Whitefang…I am always there. Even when you can't see me I am always there with you…just trust in what you feel and what I've taught you, silly dog. And you can do no wrong…"