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Something was wrong with Flippy. Perhaps too many trolls were allowed to touch the gerbils today, and one of them sabotaged Flippy's configurations. Nonetheless, last minute adjustments had to be made to the malfunctioning gerbil, just as one older redblood pointed out the potential flaws.

"What am I going to do with the obsolete models? What, you mean the losers?" Leeroi repeated Alifax's question, pondering for a moment. "I hadn't really given it much thought," He admitted, looking down at the robotic gerbil wiggling in his hands.

"It's like a test of skills, troubleshooting. All of them can be improved, you know, "polished"? But I can't see those things until I test 'em here, in the real ring." He explained, fixing Flippy as he talked. With the shrug of a shoulder, he added, "And of course, I want to know who's top woofbeast. But I don't think I'll be kicking any of 'em off the team for a glitch in their system." And he wouldn't admit it, but he had grown incredibly fond of his gerbil team since starting work on them. He had put a lot of work into them, after all.

"Maybe if one put up a really embarrassing show, I'd have to do something," He joked, looking smug.

Leeroi looked Flippy over. The screws were the problem after all... How could he have overlooked something so simple? Better yet, how did this guy know that? He glared up at Alifax, looking him over. Maybe he'd have to keep a closer eye on him in the future.

Psykgi Mentha

"Oh my gosh, so you're Guo?! I'm so glad we finally met!" Psy effused. She'd had a suspicion, from her vague knowledge of her moirail's bro, but this was her first time actually laying sightstalks on him. Being shoved aside... aside... she liked him.

-----

Aww, Flippy malfunctioned? Well gosh, he'd soon be right as rain in no time. She was more interested in the next fight, anyway. Knife - the gerbil with a knife strapped to it like a jousting sword - and Brainz, her personal favorite. Of course he was her favorite. He was basically her handiwork, or at least partially so.

Leeroi, of course, had built the cybernetics and robotic parts. When she'd first started helping him with the gerbils, it had surprised her just how good he was with them. Of course, she knew he was smart. He was smart. But robotics had seemed like something more along the lines of what Azrael would do, rather than her moirail.

But of course, she had accepted this surprising trait with her usual delight, and it was now not at all strange to her. She herself had only very basic, rudimentary knowledge of cyber-enhancement, but she still gladly stepped in to assist.

Ahh, the hours spent with the gerbils - she had been a part of many a gerb-modification. She'd done the small tasks like being an extra set of hands to hold the gerb in a particular way, or keep track of the anesthetic so Leeroi could focus entirely on the nitty gritty robotics stuff. She'd been a part of field testing for most of the gerbils, too. She'd also made sure he ate more than chips and soda, and calmed him down when something decided to work a**-backwards. It had been some serious quality time.

But Brainz... Brainz was special. She had been a part of his preparations much of the way, from selecting the improved brain materials to fiddling with the braincase. She'd helped Leeroi measure out the chemicals, Assisted with the complicated wiring of the neurons, held the gerb still as he sealed everything up, and most of all, she had trained the little b*****d.

After all, a souped up brain was only half the equation - she trained him to colors and sounds and commands, managed battle scenarios for him to learn from, taught him complex (for a gerbil) little mind games, and the result... he was ******** smart. He observed and learned and sure he didn't win every single time, but his odds got better and better with each testing fight that he was put through and with each battle observed. He knew his enemies, and he was subtle and tricky.

She knelt down to pet him, inspecting his equipment thoughtfully. All seemed well. "Hey Brainz..." she whispered in the gerbil's little ear, just next to the surgical scars from the braincase insertion, "You know exactly what to do here... You can win..." She gave him a little pat on the tiny rump, and fed him a whole assortment of gerbil treats, ”Make me proud out there, and I'll give you more.” she said. She was sure he was already motivated to win...

But bribery couldn't hurt.


Psykgi is Rooting for Brainz... emotion_awesome

((Over 450 words, +3 dice))

Poepoe doesn't know anything about gerbils, but clearly Knife is the name of a beautiful and talented girl gerbil, who is the best. She needs to be cheered on. Clapping his gloved hands he cheered for the knife-strapped gerbil. "Go Knife! I know you can do it!"

Points for Knife: 8

Guouli's eyes widened when the new challenger approached. No gerbil had ever been so beautiful. An inspiration. A standard for gerbils everywhere. Just. Wicked. Cool.

"KnIFE I LoVE YoU AnD If YoU DoN'T WiN I'lL HaVE No ReASON To LiVE!" he shouted.

Caiden zoomed from the gerbil racing booth to the snail races booth, the whily squirrel in his hands. Once he completed "rescuing" the run away beast he zoomed back to the gerbil booth and panted hard as he looked over the contestants. "Gerbils! Good luck guys!!" the orangeblood yelled as he cheered on his chosen rodent.
Rolling for Knife
USING SPECIAL TREAT

Rolled for Knife: 4

"You can do it, Knife! Knife for Life!" Cerpin screamed at the top of his lungs amongst the crowd of other gerBRAWL fans. Who knew it would be so popular? But the purpleblood was another fan hooked- he was going to cheer until the bitter end of this game. He couldn't believe he'd managed to bet on only losing gerbils so far but dammit, his luck was gonna turn up at some point, right?

Etsali still couldn't believe what had happened to Flippy the night before. She'd been so sure he had it, until the machines had gone all crazy! So Ephias had won that battle, but only by technicality! Today would be the real test! At least, that was what she kept saying. Giggling, the brownblood turned to consider the newest contenders, weighing the pros and cons. Knife was...well, Knife had a knife. Hard to top that, really.

"Come on, Knife! Show him how it's done!"

Points for Knife: 4