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Description

Wall.e awoke the next morning feeling groggy, and unsure of what time it was. She stumbled to her feet, a low pitched alarm blaring from... somewhere. She had a low battery, and felt like a person who hadn't yet had their coffee. Wall.e stumbled towards the door, fumbling around for the switch. She began to grumble as she did so, still very much half asleep despite the alarm. She finally felt out a button and pressed it. The door began to creak open, waking Hal and Zephyr from their slumber. As sunlight began to pour in, Wall.e grumbled and tried to put her boots on... by stepping into them. She grumbled some more when she accidentally stepped on top of the boots, and the rubber simply collapsed and bent under her feet. Wall.e ended up sitting down and pulling the boots on herself, readjusting her pants legs afterward. Wall.e then grabbed the cooler, and clambered up onto the roof of her house. A pair of solar panels unfolded from the back of her chest armor, and turned towards the sun. Wall.e now waited for her daily recharge to finish while Hal and Zephyr went out hunting for breakfast.

Later that morning, Wall.e, Hal, and Zephyr were in the city center, the dragons poking around the trash heaps as usual, and Wall.e hard at work. Wall.e occasionally stopped to investigate something or other. The highlights included: accidentally smacking herself in the face multiple times with a paddleball, finding a pair of car keys and accidentally startling herself when the alarm went off, finding another spork, pulling a random crowbar out of a trash heap and accidentally whacking herself with it, Zephyr accidentally stepping on the discarded car keys and setting the alarm off again, and Hal returning from a mid day hunting trip with a partial ghost net in his mouth as well as fish. Wall.e then began to find more interesting things in the trash, such as a bra which she, having forgotten how to wear one, put the cups on over her lenses. She said, "Woah!" when she tried to look around with the bra on over her lenses, and put it in the cooler with the rest of the items she had found interesting enough to keep that day. Wall.e then heard a distant rumble- which could only mean one thing- a downpour was coming. She had thought ahead- an accessible building was nearby, and she could shelter from the rain if need be. Wall.e then took another look at the sky... and realized that something was off. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was happening, but she knew that rumble wasn't thunder. It sounded continuous... and thunder would have faded. Hal and Zephyr too had sensed something was off... they were both staring at the clouds, briefly squinting at them as if they wasn't sure what was going on either... except that that was no downpour. Wall.e tried to dismiss the thought, turning her attention to an old fridge. She tapped on the door a few times, then lasered the door off, and looked inside.

A small, green plant- a seedling- stared back at her. Wide eyed, Wall.e again had the feeling that she didn't quite know what was so important about this particular plant- it was just one in millions- but she knew it was important. The distant rumble still droning in the background, Wall.e carefully scooped the plant up, and looked for something to pot it in. She ended up putting the plant inside an old boot, and then placing the whole boot- plant and all- inside the cooler. Hal then nudged Wall.e, and gestured at his neck with one wing. Understanding the gesture, Wall.e clambered onto the back of Hal's neck, and they took off in the direction of the rumble. Zephyr took off after them, squawking nervously.

They flew through the urban jungle in silence, the rumbling now starting to creschendo into a dull roar. The steel skyscrapers and the monotlithic trash towers almost reached up towards the noise, a forest of trees scrambling upwards to greet the source. The air almost began to vibrate, and the normally silent spires pulsed and vibrated in resonance with the roar, unleashing a series of responding creaks, groans, and wails. Wall.e, Hal, and Zephyr now ignored the gaping metal maw which had swept Wall.e into a past era as they flew past it, even as it rang with electric hums and resonant beeps, tones, and echoes in response to the roar. The roar almost seemed to get louder as the motley trio landed at their home and dropped off the cooler. They then went back outside and scanned the skies above for the source of the noise. It was now growing louder by the second, now joined by a hollow wail from the metallic hollow in the distance. It was at this moment that Wall.e noticed a strange glowing red dot on the ground in front of her. She stared at it in confusion- could it be a glowing red beetle- one that was attracted to loud noises? She tried to pick it up to get a closer look, but it suddenly moved away- and it didn't look like it was scuttling. Wall.e ran after it, stopping to try and pick it up again. Again, the light moved away from her, this time jerking around towards the barren plain and recent fissure which Wall.e's house overlooked. Wall.e, fascinated, again gave chase. Hal and Zephyr ran after her, intrigued by the glowing red light. They all chased it downhill when it suddenly took off, gaining enough momentum to leap over the gorge without needing to do more than glide across. Normally, they would have outright flown across. The light crossed the chasm with little effort, just suddenly reappearing on the other side. Wall.e now realized that the dot was a landing light- and now Hal and Zephyr were chasing it again. Wall.e chased after the dragons now, shouting, , the three of them making it to the center of the plains in record time. Behind them, a ring of similar lights traced a path towards the center of the plain along the buildings, streets, and trash towers. The lights closed in on Hal, who had now pounced on the light, and was looking at his own paws in confusion on discovering that it wasn't tangible, Zephyr, who was now watching the circle of lights close around them in horror, and Wall.e, who was now trying to get her dragons to move away from the light. Too late, they looked up and saw three much larger lights directly above them.

Description

Wall.e awoke the next morning feeling groggy, and unsure of what time it was. She stumbled to her feet, a low pitched alarm blaring from... somewhere. She had a low battery, and felt like a person who hadn't yet had their coffee. Wall.e stumbled towards the door, fumbling around for the switch. She began to grumble as she did so, still very much half asleep despite the alarm. She finally felt out a button and pressed it. The door began to creak open, waking Hal and Zephyr from their slumber. As sunlight began to pour in, Wall.e grumbled and tried to put her boots on... by stepping into them. She grumbled some more when she accidentally stepped on top of the boots, and the rubber simply collapsed and bent under her feet. Wall.e ended up sitting down and pulling the boots on herself, readjusting her pants legs afterward. Wall.e then grabbed the cooler, and clambered up onto the roof of her house. A pair of solar panels unfolded from the back of her chest armor, and turned towards the sun. Wall.e now waited for her daily recharge to finish while Hal and Zephyr went out hunting for breakfast.

Later that morning, Wall.e, Hal, and Zephyr were in the city center, the dragons poking around the trash heaps as usual, and Wall.e hard at work. Wall.e occasionally stopped to investigate something or other. The highlights included: accidentally smacking herself in the face multiple times with a paddleball, finding a pair of car keys and accidentally startling herself when the alarm went off, finding another spork, pulling a random crowbar out of a trash heap and accidentally whacking herself with it, Zephyr accidentally stepping on the discarded car keys and setting the alarm off again, and Hal returning from a mid day hunting trip with a partial ghost net in his mouth as well as fish. Wall.e then began to find more interesting things in the trash, such as a bra which she, having forgotten how to wear one, put the cups on over her lenses. She said, "Woah!" when she tried to look around with the bra on over her lenses, and put it in the cooler with the rest of the items she had found interesting enough to keep that day. Wall.e then heard a distant rumble- which could only mean one thing- a downpour was coming. She had thought ahead- an accessible building was nearby, and she could shelter from the rain if need be. Wall.e then took another look at the sky... and realized that something was off. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was happening, but she knew that rumble wasn't thunder. It sounded continuous... and thunder would have faded. Hal and Zephyr too had sensed something was off... they were both staring at the clouds, briefly squinting at them as if they wasn't sure what was going on either... except that that was no downpour. Wall.e tried to dismiss the thought, turning her attention to an old fridge. She tapped on the door a few times, then lasered the door off, and looked inside.

A small, green plant- a seedling- stared back at her. Wide eyed, Wall.e again had the feeling that she didn't quite know what was so important about this particular plant- it was just one in millions- but she knew it was important. The distant rumble still droning in the background, Wall.e carefully scooped the plant up, and looked for something to pot it in. She ended up putting the plant inside an old boot, and then placing the whole boot- plant and all- inside the cooler. Hal then nudged Wall.e, and gestured at his neck with one wing. Understanding the gesture, Wall.e clambered onto the back of Hal's neck, and they took off in the direction of the rumble. Zephyr took off after them, squawking nervously.

They flew through the urban jungle in silence, the rumbling now starting to creschendo into a dull roar. The steel skyscrapers and the monotlithic trash towers almost reached up towards the noise, a forest of trees scrambling upwards to greet the source. The air almost began to vibrate, and the normally silent spires pulsed and vibrated in resonance with the roar, unleashing a series of responding creaks, groans, and wails. Wall.e, Hal, and Zephyr now ignored the gaping metal maw which had swept Wall.e into a past era as they flew past it, even as it rang with electric hums and resonant beeps, tones, and echoes in response to the roar. The roar almost seemed to get louder as the motley trio landed at their home and dropped off the cooler. They then went back outside and scanned the skies above for the source of the noise. It was now growing louder by the second, now joined by a hollow wail from the metallic hollow in the distance. It was at this moment that Wall.e noticed a strange glowing red dot on the ground in front of her. She stared at it in confusion- could it be a glowing red beetle- one that was attracted to loud noises? She tried to pick it up to get a closer look, but it suddenly moved away- and it didn't look like it was scuttling. Wall.e ran after it, stopping to try and pick it up again. Again, the light moved away from her, this time jerking around towards the barren plain and recent fissure which Wall.e's house overlooked. Wall.e, fascinated, again gave chase. Hal and Zephyr ran after her, intrigued by the glowing red light. They all chased it downhill when it suddenly took off, gaining enough momentum to leap over the gorge without needing to do more than glide across. Normally, they would have outright flown across. The light crossed the chasm with little effort, just suddenly reappearing on the other side. Wall.e now realized that the dot was a landing light- and now Hal and Zephyr were chasing it again. Wall.e chased after the dragons now, shouting, , the three of them making it to the center of the plains in record time. Behind them, a ring of similar lights traced a path towards the center of the plain along the buildings, streets, and trash towers. The lights closed in on Hal, who had now pounced on the light, and was looking at his own paws in confusion on discovering that it wasn't tangible, Zephyr, who was now watching the circle of lights close around them in horror, and Wall.e, who was now trying to get her dragons to move away from the light. Too late, they looked up and saw three much larger lights directly above them.