With two Realmgates being rebuilt, it was taking a considerable amount of time to get the ships stuck in Rokanth back in the air and into ports to give the Halflings some breathing room. The Halflings were eager at the prospect of getting some form of normality back. As the sun rose for the new day, an alarm rang in Delselii\u2019s quarters. He snorted as the noise woke him up, then groaned as he was reoriented to an extent. His arm simply slapped the nightstand until it hit the alarm button. The noise stopped and Delselii yawned. He swung the sheets off him, then sat up with his feet resting on the floor. Something felt off to him, but he decided he would think about it when he had his coffee. He got up and put his foot forward\u2026then promptly fell to the floor. When he recovered, He sat up and started asking himself questions along the lines of \u201cWhy did I fall?\u201d, \u201cAm I sick?\u201d, and \u201cWhy can\u2019t I feel my right foot?\u201d That last question alarmed him. He never usually thinks that in the morning. He looked down and did the only thing one could do in his situation\u2026scream in abject terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Markulak\u2019s recharge cycle ended. He was looking forward to the day, especially since he got actual quarters and met the Three Maidens themselves! With the Robot Liberation Front ready to find more allies, he anticipated a quick end to the Final War. \u201cHello, Endeavor<\/em> and crew!\u201d he sighed happily to himself. \u201cToday is a brand new-!\u201d He then fell to the floor. Questions like Delselii\u2019s raced through his mind, only the last question concerned his left foot. He looked down and, like Delselii, screamed at what he saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After breakfast, Arsha made her way to the bridge. She saw Denstra, Shalvey, Nazay, Thangred, Endea, and a robot shaped like a dome with five long, spindly legs helping it move. It had five metal tendrils with five-digited pincer claws on each end to grasp and manipulate things. \u201cMr. Rultanga,\u201d called Arsha, \u201chow\u2019s life on the ship treating you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am fully operational, Captain,\u201d replied the robot, Rultanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s been a perfect night-shift engineer,\u201d praised Thangred. \u201cGood thing we met him. Though, his emotions could use work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d asked Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe means that I do not have any emotions yet,\u201d explained Rultanga. \u201cIt has been the dream of my previous iterations to have them. Markulak is in the process of teaching me to have emotions, starting with humor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh yeah?\u201d asked Arsha. \u201cHow did he start?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe introduced me to a concept called a \u2018prank.\u2019 He had decorated my main body in a pink color, and he attached stickers on areas he had missed. After a few crew members laughed and explained what he did, Markulak said that I was now obligated to \u2018get even with them\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou need to prank him now, hm?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have already done so, him AND Delselii while I thought about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhoa, wait a minute!\u201d Arsha was a little apprehensive. \u201cThere ARE some unwritten rules of pranking and one of them is-!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRULTANGA!\u201d roared Markulak\u2019s voice as he and Delselii hopped onto the bridge, each missing a leg! The crew, sans Rultanga, cried out in surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat in the Depths?!\u201d shrieked Endea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat happened to your legs?!\u201d yelped Thangred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHE-\u201d Markulak pointed an accusing finger at Rultanga- \u201camputated them while we were sleeping!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHa ha. Got you,\u201d replied Rultanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWHAT?!\u201d asked Delselii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have retaliated against you and pranked Delselii in the process. That is my practical joke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t a joke, you psychopath!\u201d shouted Markulak. \u201cYou dismembered us AND you dragged an innocent guy into this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am confused. You said to be creative, and you said to do it when you least expected it. You also said to try pranking other people. I have adhered to all three directives. I DID use anesthesia on Delselii on the chance he would wake up while I tried to prank him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRultanga, you took their legs in the middle of the night?!\u201d demanded Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course, Captain Royana. It would not do to try such a joke during the day when they are more alert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, where in the Depths ARE they?!\u201d wailed Delselii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you are referring to the legs, I have hidden them. With the tracker installed in Markulak\u2019s leg, you should be able to find it in a \u2018humorous\u2019 location, considering their importance to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou piece of s***!\u201d snarled Markulak as he and Delselii jumped as menacingly as they could towards Rultanga. The bridge crew rushed to hold them back as they uttered all sorts of threats, ranging from scrapping Rultanga to unplugging him during recharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMr. Markulak, can you find the tracker\u2019s frequency?\u201d asked Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, but-!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRevenge can wait! It\u2019d take some pressure off my mind if you just searched for your legs. Endea, Thangred, help them find their legs\u2026never thought I\u2019d give that order in my lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAye, Captain,\u201d replied Endea as she and Thangred led Delselii and Markulak off the bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re sick!\u201d snarled Markulak. \u201cI mean it! There\u2019s something really wrong with you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTeaching an unemotional robot that understands the concept of unwritten rules as well as a non-Sentina snail does about a prank war?!\u201d Marshii barked at Delselii once his and Markulak\u2019s legs were located and they were taken to Sick Bay and Main Engineering respectively. The elderly Mermaid was sewing Delselii\u2019s leg back on as she griped \u201cWhat were you thinking?!\u201d She jabbed the needle into Delselii\u2019s stump and brought it out below the seam, like she was fixing up trousers. The procedure is not exactly a pleasant one for a Homunculus, forcing the poor patient to yelp whenever they feel the needle enter their flesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFirst off,\u201d grunted Delselii, \u201cI DIDN\u2019T teach Rultanga about a prank war!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom what Bashoon told me during her physical,\u201d Marshii jabbed the needle again, eliciting a yelp from the Homunculus, \u201cyou suggested it to Markulak! I\u2019d say that makes you equally as culpable!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCome on, I didn\u2019t tell Markulak to actually do it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, you STILL should have stopped him!\u201d Another jab, another yelp. Marshii finished up her work. \u201cThere, all done! Now, wiggle your toes.\u201d Delselii did so. They responded to his brain\u2019s signals immediately. \u201cNow get up and try to walk.\u201d Delselii got up from the cot and walked around the room as if nothing happened to him. \u201cWe\u2019re done here,\u201d declared Marshii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you, Doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you REALLY want to thank me, don\u2019t come in here while holding one of your detached limbs! It takes DAYS for people to stop laughing at the poor doctor who has to add this to her daily logs and transmit them to Realmfleet!\u201d Delselii sighed and walked out of Sick Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With two Realmgates being rebuilt, it was taking a considerable amount of time to get the ships stuck in Rokanth back in the air and into ports to give the Halflings some breathing room. The Halflings were eager at the prospect of getting some form of normality back. As the sun rose for the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,238],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-5267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-three-realms","category-the-three-realms-book-5-the-final-fight","tag-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5268,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5267\/revisions\/5268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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