|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:46 am
"We SHOULD turn it on, yes!" Atomica agreed and plunged her hand into the water to switch HIMAC on. Regular water bore no effect on her robotic body (though she did have issues with salt water), and she had used the same sort of construction on HIMAC to assure he wouldn't short out or start electrocuting everyone nearby like SOME electrically powered creatures tended to when they got wet....
Atomica shot a superior glance to Frankie Stein as HIMAC started up and his tentacle rudders started waving adorably.
"Well...that's....cute...." Mr. Hack commented as he wrote down some notes. The water in HIMAC's tank sloshed from one end to the other, creating the waves Ronan had described. Atomica pointed to a battery indicator attached to the outside of the tank.
"There! Can you see it? We just gained one half unit of energy! If HIMAC were to continue waving his adorable robo-tentacles in this tank, in just three days, he would recharge an entire AAA battery."
"That doesn't seem like a very big energy gain." Mr. Hack pointed out, without looking up from his notepad. "Does it have a stronger cycle?"
"It shouldn't be-" Ronan started to say, but Atomica cut him off.
"Yes! It's on 'low' right now. But I can show you how he works on 'high!'" Atomica was so eager to get a good grade on this after all the work she and Ronan had done. If Mr. Hack had asked them to turn HIMAC upside down and use him like a propeller, she would have done it. Atomica reached inside and flipped the switch on HIMAC's back.
His rotors started spinning faster and faster. The water in the tank sloshed back and forth stronger and stronger. Atomica grinned at Ronan and gave him a thumbs up.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:56 am
Despite the fact he was further toward the back of the classroom, Glen still subconsciously scooted his chair backward, thus further away from the display at the forefront of the classroom, and the water sloshing back and forth in growing waves.
That darn water allergy was just too much trouble! He couldn't do with being melted before he and Rory even had a chance to present their projects!
"`Scuse me." Glen whispered to Rory and he pulled out his iCoffin/wand and a glowing green 'umbrella' was conjured over him -- just in case.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:34 am
"I'm not sure this is such a good idea..." Ronan edged a little away from the machine which was now vibrating wildly. The motion of the tentacles and waves were too much for the machine to contain, water sloshing out onto the floor as the whole thing rocked unsteadily.
He cautioned a glance at Mr Hack who had stopped writing and was watching the thing with a lopsided grin on his hooded face.
Why oh why had they even given this thing a "high" function? He'd known it wouldn't be able to handle the energy generated.
Something went pop, then started to fizz. Smoke began to spew from the machine and Ronan just stared at it in wide eyed horror. Oh no, if it exploded, no doubt their grade would suffer.
"Turn it off" He hissed at Atomica.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:11 am
"Ronan! Pull the plug! It's about to go nuclear." Of course not really. Roswell had a way of over exaggerating a lot. It was just his way.
"Max? Can you turn it off?" He asked his trusty companion.
*BEEP BEEP!*
*BEEP BEEP!!*
"Atomica's shiny chrome? What does that have to do with anything? C'mon MAX focus!"
*BeeeeeP!*
"Well stellar, you're not help at all..." Roswell grumbles at MAX's negative answer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:03 pm
"Hang on, hang on...." Atomica dashed to the back of the tank to try to switch HIMAC off. The waves in the tank were getting higher and higher...Poor HIMAC's motor was starting to burn out. Atomica KNEW she should have listened to Lin's advice about going for a more powerful horsepower, but Ronan hadn't wanted to listen to word one from Lin for some reason.
"Almost..." HIMAC had shifted to the far end of the tank, and the tumultuous waves were making it hard to reach him. The water swayed angrily back and forth, back and forth....
Finally, Atomica's chromed digit poked HIMAC's back in just the right place and he powered off with a shuddering 'click.' Poor HIMAC, Atomica thought. She'd be sure to repair him perfectly this weekend.
"There, see? No harm-"
Before Atomica could finish, one final, tsunami-sized wave crested out of the tank and crashed to the ground, completely soaking Mr. Hack and the first row of students.
"-Done?" Students higher up laughed, except for Glen who had somehow managed to jump all the way up to the skylight. Atomica groaned and looked over at Ronan.
Whatever deep, romantic crush he had harbored on her had CLEARLY been squashed by the wave, too. He was as close to furious as she'd ever seen a meat creature.
"I, uh, I..." Atomica stuttered, her internal processor looking for a good way to diffuse Ronan's temper. The two of them were interrupted, though, by wheezing, hacking laughter from Mr. Hackington.
"Excellent!" He applauded. "Fangtastic job! Not only did you create an energy source, but also developed a catastrophic weapon of natural destruction! Oh, I'm so proud."
Did he wipe away water, or was that a tear coming out of his bloodshot eyes?
"It's good to know that my lectures about Professor Hydron weren't in vain. B plus for Servo and Aalto! I knocked off ten points because the wave should have gotten the entire student body."
B plus! Atomica would have preferred an "A," but she'd take the B Plus. Atomica grinned. She took Ronan's hand and the two of them took a bow before dragging the tank off the floor and retaking their slightly damp seats.
"See? I told you it's beast to go first."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:53 pm
Melody applauded at Atomica and Ronan's experiment, it was truly wonderful, but it did look like it wasn't on purpose ..
She was very nervous about their experiment, what if it didn't turn out as planned and cause a unmixed chemical reaction causing the students to fail?
She moved her hand under the shared lab tables and took hold of Roswell's, gripping it softly, letting him know how nervous she was.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:08 am
Ronan had managed to edge a fair distance from the machine before Atomica finally stopped it, glaring at the ghoul with clear, seething disapproval. He was going to fail and it was ALL HER FAULT. Ridiculous malfunctioning mechanoid, she was nothing short of a danger to others.
Mr Hack's reaction however took him totally off guard. At first he'd thought the old scientist was laughing AT them, but soon it became clear he had actually enjoyed the catastrophic demonstration.
Ronan blinked in incomprehension, his rage dissipating rapidly as he tried to make sense of what was going on.
"Well weapon capability really wasn't the inten..." Atomica cut him off with a sharp tug on his arm.
"Uh... I mean..t.. thank you sir. "
Ronan bowed stiffly and helped Atomica drag the machine to one side before taking a soggy seat and trying in vain to wring the water from his hat and clothes.
"At least it didn't explode" He whispered, sighing with relief. They hadn't failed, and a B plus was good enough considering his lab partner put him at a clear disadvantage. Perhaps next time the foolish machine ghoul would listen to him, but he doubted he'd be so lucky.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:41 am
Draconia wrung out her hair. Apparently, sitting up close to the front had been a bad decision on her part. She did feel heartened by the good grade Ronan and Atomica had managed to get. Perhaps Mr. Hackington was going to be lenient in his grading for once?
Somehow, Draconia doubted that would actually be the case. She looked at Scarah, who was trying to drain some water out of her ears.
"Do you think we should go next, get it over with?" Draconia asked her lab partner, who shrugged.
"I'm not sure I want to go up there soppin' wet." She replied. Heath Burns, who was seated behind them brightened up.
"Need some hot air, llllllllladies?" He asked, igniting his head. "I have plenty to spare!"
"You certainly do." Scarah replied drolly.
"I-wait! That's not what I meant!" Heath stammered, flustered. In the meantime, Mr. Hackington had turned to the rest of the students.
"Who's next?! Hellene Harpie! Invisibilly! Get up there and present!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:13 am
Water dripped into Ronan's eyes, no getting around it, he was drenched as was most of the front row.
Several of the other students kept casting annoyed looks his way, he didn't need to be an expert at body language to understand those shivering glares.
He wanted to shout "it's Atomica's fault, blame her. it's always her fault" but he realised such an outburst would only result in detention and another weekend lost doing something far more demeaning than chroming Mr Hack's car.
Sinking into his wet chair, he huffed and scowled at Atomica.
Why was he always getting blamed for her actions? It wasn't fair.
"Next time, when you get a bright idea to do something... don't." He muttered at the ghoul.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:24 am
"You think that I should just be like you and do NOTHING?!" Atomica shot back at Ronan, keeping her voice synthesizer low enough that it wouldn't attract Mr. Hackington's attention. "You stood up there gaping like a trout! If I hadn't done any of my 'bright ideas,' we would have failed for sure! Mr. Hackington ASKED us to see more power, and it's just lucky that we could show him what he wanted. Sometimes, Ronan Aalto, you HAVE to take a CHANCE if you want to SHINE."
And with that, Atomica crossed her pretty chrome arms and gave Ronan the chilliest of LED stares.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:48 am
Who really needs something as useless as Mad Science when you have a class with far greater potential like... ready for it? -- CHOP CLASS! At least in CHOP CLASS you put your efforts to good use to build projects that are useful for everyday unliving! Building little doodads for your folks as presents or something to help your day-to-day bootines easier and more unbearable.
You get what I'm saying?
CHOP CLASS rocks! Plus it doesn't suffer through all of those explosions and repair jobs like Mad Science ... well most of the time it doesn't. Okay some of the time but it's still more useful!
The teacher, Mister Hyde Ra, paced back and forth in front of the class, two of his many arms clasped behind his back as he eyed each duo at their respective tables. Clawd Wolf and Deuce Gorgon had just finished their presentation, and due to its relatively harmless nature, they were awarded an A++.
Mister Hyde Ra was sort of an easy mark in that regard, considering he's lost and replaced so many limbs over the years!
With two of his claws still clasped behind his back, he rubbed two others in front of him with anticipation.
"Very good! Very good! Now class, who wants to go next?"
Mister Hyde Ra gazed around at the many faces who eyed one another, but nobody really came forth. Everybody was anxious to get this over with, but it didn't mean they were anxious to step in front of the entire class and possibly make fools of themselves. There was usually ONE student who was always anxious to show his work off, well his and his HERO'S of course, but oddly enough, he hadn't made a peep as of yet...
"Nobody?" Mister Ra murmured. "Good. That means I get to pick!"
He started walking around the tables until he came to the one with the stoic Gryff seated as if he hadn't a care in the world, and a certain mopey looking gremlin with his chin flattened on the edge of the table and a dramatic sigh escaping his squished lips.
"Mister Gryff!" The teacher growled. "Why don't you and your little gremlin friend show the class what you have for us?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:21 am
Hellene and Invisibilly walked down to the front of room slowly, Invisibilly carefully carrying their project. It was a lot smaller than everyone else's, easily managed by the boo even with the long embroidered silk boucle drape covering it. He set it down carefully in front of the desk and Hellene took a quick peek under fabric.
She straightened and pulled out a compact, smoothing her feathers in place so that when she faced the class her appearance was absolutely impeccable. Mr. Hack narrowed his eyes.
Hellene merely flashed a smile and snapped the compact closed before facing the class.
"Since the time of the pharaohs, monsters have ornamented themselves with gold and jewels, all for that most noble pursuit: style. As soon as the first proto-swampire dragged itself onto dry land, it began fashioning palm fronds into capes."
Several of the students giggled.
"Every culture has its own sense of aesthetic, separating monsters by social and economic rank, age, season and even emotional state. Now we separate ourselves by fandom," here she pointed at Heath, who was sporting a Justice Crypt t-shirt, "hacktivities," she extended a talon towards some of the casketball players, "and more usually, personal expression," and here she gestured to the entire room.
"But throughout the ages, no matter what demarcations for fashion have been, true style is absolutely timeless and surpasses all cultural boundaries. There is such a thing as Absolute Style!"
"You're supposed to be making energy, not wasting time," Mr. Hack said sternly.
"We're not! This is our introduction," Invisibilly replied, "it is vital for the understanding of the function of our project."
Hellene nodded, "It really is, and I'm skipping over the whole history of textile design and color theory even that in and of itself is very important to the understanding of fashion itself as a concept, but these fundamental functions of fashion are absolutely key to the method by which our project produces its..."
"Yes yes, fine, get on with is," Mr. Hack hissed, rolling his eyes and rubbing his temples.
"Absolute Style is a rare thing; most monsters are merely dressed. Some of them are dressed sort of ok and some are subject to repeated ticketing by the fashion police. Badly dressed, or even merely mediocrely dressed, monsters are everywhere. Poor taste is our greatest natural resource, and yet we do nothing with it! We present to you, the Cycling Rotational Transformer for Ionically Quantifiable Energy. The CRTIQuE Engine!"
Invisibilly went invisible he whipped off the drape dramatically, revealing a silver cage that was both minimalist and yet subtly ornate. It's shape was both graceful and yet strong, feminine and yet masculine. Hellene opened the base of the cage genteelly, exposing for a moment the complicated engine. In the cage, on an elegant perch, sat a dark, feathered shape, glaring disdainfully at the student body.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am
"OooooooOooo." Rory admired Hellene and Billy's unique-looking project. "That's impressive, whatever it is! Do you see that, Glen?"
Rory looked to his left to note that his cousin had vanished.
"Glen?" A tapping sound from above alerted Rory to look up to see two dangling ruby sneakers near the skylight where Glen was floating, sitting on his skateboard.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:57 am
Hellene opened the door of the cage and scratched the head of the creature inside, which made an appreciative low hoot.
"This is Lophostrix Criticata Sartoriali, more mundanely known as the Great Crested Judge Owl, native to the Grimalayan mountains. Monks worshiped this owl for its impeccable sense of Absolute Style and would make pilgrimages to the mountains. The owl turns away from all things unfashionable. My sis...I mean, certain academics have theorized that this was an evolutionary advantage to avoid eating animals with sickly and gross communicable diseases, although their picky eating habits have made them extremely rare. This one is named Karl."
Some of the boys in class began rolling their eyes and Heath snorted.
"It doesn't seem to have any problem with YOU," Mr. Hack said dryly.
Hellene withdrew her hand, "Mr. Hack," she gasped, "fashion is my unlife! But, if you introduce it to someone with less taste..."
The cage floated up as Invisibilly walked it over to Heath Burns. The owl peered out at him, staring at his lunch-stained shirt and flame pants, sniffed once and then whipped its head around haughtily. The perch spun and whirred, charging the battery below, and a meter ticked up.
"Heath Burns is worth 8.2 Chanels of disdain," Invisibilly's voice said, reading the meter
"Hey! That bird doesn't know what real taste is, I got this shirt at Necrocon for $2!" Heath balked, wiping a smudge of mayo from his collar.
Invisibilly walked the cage over towards Ronan and Atomica, still sopping wet. The bird looked at them coldly while Atomica was wringing out her hair. The water flecked towards Karl. He hissed and puffed up indignantly, whipping his head away from her violently so that the perch made several revolutions.
"We're at 17 Chanels of disdain, that's enough to power an iCoffin for 10 minutes!"
He brought the cage back up to the front of the room, passing through the row of sopping wet students. Karl began whipping his head away from them furiously, spinning out of control until finally he fell off the perch and bellowed angrily.
"HOOT HOOT HOOT KRRSSSSSSSSSSS!"
Hastily Hellene put the drape back on.
"Obviously this is just a proto-type, but a flock of these in any high school or Wail-Mart around the country would provide a sustainable energy source."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:20 pm
Ronan was about to respond to Atomica when Hellene and Invisibilly began their preamble.
So he instead simply glared darkly at the ghoul while he tried to think of an appropriately scathing retort.
He had nothing.
She made a good point, but he wasn't about to admit that.
The caged contraption was brought closer and Ronan stared at the bird incredulously.
A machine fuelled by a bird who thought itself a judge of clothing, something a bird had no need of? He couldn't help it, speaking before he could stop himself.
"Disdain? That is the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard."
Everyone turned to stare at him and he froze.
"uh... "
"Got something ta say Aalto?" Mr Hack smirked unpleasantly.
"I um... well." Ronan slowly rose from his seat. "It's not exactly a particularly efficient source of power. I mean, you'd get a more steady source from simply running hamsters in wheels. And honestly? An animal that claims to be any judge of fashion sense? What use does a bird have for fashion? it's a bird!"
Mr Hack laughed his awful hacking laugh. "Sit down boy. "
Ronan did as he was told, sitting back down with a damp squelch. Everyone was still staring at him. He really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.
Mr Hack broke the frigid silence with a cough.
"Ya were sayin'?" He waved a hand at Hellene and Billy, urging them to continue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
