Astral's Rise Part 81: Surface Contact

Astrid and Zeta flew through space as the gravitational pull of the planet was lower than earth. Zeta snatched Astrid with one hand as he turned on his adjustment thrusters, getting back to the surface. "I know you wanna help him big guy, but we gotta do this for those on the station." Astrid was set down by Zeta as his face turned into a bright smiley face.

"Then we should hurry as fast as we can. Astral did a seismic scan, so check the battlemap." Zeta opened the map. The planet was massive, there was a tunnel down to the core of the planet as only one existed, they had to head there. "Well, we have only a couple hundred of miles to go." Zeta morphed down into an android size to blend in.

Astrid peered up and saw the number of rings solid and orbiting the planet. "Woah, look at how it sparkles!" Astrid pulled out a bottle of liquid and downed it. Looking in her bag she realized she had only one left. "Hopefully it doesn't get warmer."

Zeta started walking forward. "It shouldn't there is plenty of cold space air for us, I'd worry about freezing before the heat." Astrid jogged and caught up.

"Hey, we may have been programmed, and have free thought, but what keeps us attached to Astral?" Astrid asked as their pace was fast enough to make it to the hole in the ground in three hours.

"He earned my respect. You remember the battle tournament, he trusted both of us, he told me I could hold any choice in my hand." Zeta's voice paused as he thought it. "If he didn't trust me, we would all be dead." He remembered the fateful battle where Astral went unconscious in his shell.

Astrid looked over and up to Zeta. "Yeah, I feel like my view is different as they treat me like their child despite being made. Usually he doesn't allow me to do as much and is highly protective. So being on the frontlines feels different despite being trained and built for it." She felt Nyan activate and wrap himself around her neck.

"How did Astral react to you being destroyed by those lizards and their specialized rockets?" Astrid asked as she covered her eye while speaking, feeling the oddity of his reactions.

"It took him a second to realize what happened, but he improved the overall design of my shielding and armor to resist that attack. He apologized and congratulated me." Zeta felt the odd shift too. "He didn't make it a priority to fix me and he went about fixing me to calm himself. It worked but now he has to deal with this instead." Zeta checked his systems as they were amped beyond the level of the battle tournament.

"He is so ill mannered while being proper." She looked over and made a sad face as Zeta's screen made a laughing emoji. 

"He tries, but being alive for these many thousands of millions of years has probably made him bored of the standard fare, he wants to care for those around him. Look at the twins and their passion for him as they receive his love." Zeta spoke as the distance felt like it was taking forever.

"I get that, its the same passion he shows us." Zeta felt a massive tremor from where Astral was, coming to a sudden stop as he felt a second one come at him. It was moving but why? It was coming to them rather than attacking them.

It was the tunnel as well, Astrid scanned with her robotic eye as the system kept shifting. Wait, the planet itself is a robit. Nyan turned into a sword as she stabbed it into the ground. Seeing the relay of information she saw the tunnel coming at them was in fact the basis of their leader. "Are you ready, this is the battle Astral wanted us to have."

Astral saw the drones coming and decided to get this party started before it was filmed. Astral's scythe slid down his back as he grabbed it. With one flick of the wrist he cleaved through eight of the robots in front of him. They were cut in half and yet the upper halves still came at him.

Click. Murasama filled his other hand as he sliced through another wave of robots, dicing up their upper halves with the Murasama. 'Their computing isn't attached to their bodies but a separate entity, I see, Robit is the face of this army while the other robots are a hive mind.' One of the robots dove and grabbed his left leg.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Astral looked down as he spun around in a flurry and diced the next wave of robots, launching the one on his leg into the ground. Shattering the area causing an earthquake shaking the planet as it starts to rumble. Was it a rebound from him or more enemies?

Astral sheathed his sword as he peered up seeing the drones finally arriving as his scythe vanished for the standard rifle of the army. Astral peered at it as he got surrounded by robots that paused for a second before attacking.

"Ha, you will all die to normal technology, nothing beats classic bullets." Astral had the weapon glow as attachments of a foregrip and two sights appeared. He started to open fire on the robots, it became a one way shooting gallery as he was drilling the robots in their skulls as he ran circles around all of them.

Astral realized how useful these modifications were, giving him the extra second of aiming to fire at the robots as he changed the mags faster than the camera's on the drones could perceive. "Adam, stream this optionally to every device that agrees to watch." He punched a robot that got close as he gave a thumbs up to the camera.

"Best to have the leader of it all show his strength." Astral muttered as five robots jumped to attack him from behind, being boxed away by his paws. Astral flicked the rifle up as he unloaded one magazine into a robot coming at him, shredding it.