Finally, got this done! And now, I have to start getting things done for my other stories before they linger on in development hell.

As for this story, overall, I've already have more episodes ready, so stay tuned! Two seasons worth actually! Things have been easier with a bit of planning ahead; something that I'm not really good at XD So, hopefully, I'll get the new chapters out soon.

Reviews

Going on and on and on:

Yep, here's another chapter for you :)

Thanks to toofergang, New Generation 1145 and Tigerdovefan34 for the faves and follows :)

The Drone

"AAAAHHHHH!"

And the morning began…

Another wailing scream coming from up the family bathroom. Good thing everyone else had their turns in the shower before Gumball did. It was that time of the week and the man had to shave. Using a razor, however, wasn't going to cut it…

The screams echoed all the way down the dining room, and yet, all in attendance somewhat not frightened by the sudden noise, except for the guest in the house. Dawn was a frequent visitor to the Watterson household, but she had never heard such a yell at this time of day. It sounded Mr. Watterson was being murdered or something and still, the family just went by like it was nothing. For all she knew, for the family at home, it was pretty much a normal thing.

"What the heck was that?" the fox girl asked.

"Oh, that's my Dad shredding his facial hair off." told Sunbeam, passively eating a sandwich made by his mother in the kitchen.

"Does he not know how to use a razor?" asked Dawn again, puzzled as to why Gumball had such a painful time shaving.

"Not a razor. Chewing gum." answered Sunbeam, baffling Dawn. She loved a little violence in the morning, but this was a little too much for her to swallow. Just thinking about tearing your fur off with chewing gum made her skin crawl. "Apparently, smearing the gum over your lip and then ripping out all the facial hair makes the hair grow slower than using a razor."

"Your father's going to have sore lips again." Penny mused, seating herself at the table with a bowl of oatmeal. It was funny, really. Back when they were children, Gumball always fantasied about how growing facial hair would make him feel more macho and manly. Apparently, reality gave him a different experience by the time adulthood caught up to him. Now, having a moustache and a beard didn't feel so cool as it used to.

Opposite the pair of friends, Raven was already finishing her own cereal before her mother would take her to school. Sunbeam and Dawn settled on taking the bus, insisting to take the burden off of the mother.

"Eh, he'll probably end up with worse today." said Raven, dismissively letting her amusement of her father's misfortunes known. Not that she hated her father; that was absolutely not the case. She loved her father, but it was just funny to see him wail in pain. Usually, children who would laugh at their dads screaming in agony were at their infancy, only giggling at the silliest things that they would get themselves into. Apparently, Raven hadn't got out of that, still enjoying the little mishaps her Dad faced. No one knew why she was that way; not even Raven herself could tell. In the end, no one dared to ask, knowing whom she got this habitual sense of entertainment...

Finishing the sandwich, Sunbeam got up, excusing himself from the table before reaching for his bag at the stairs.

"Well, I'm done with my breakfast. Time for us to head for school!" he cheered, Dawn joining him. Penny watched the two leave for the front yard when she spotted the boy lifting his bag. When Sunbeam grabbed hold of the bag strap, the boy was pulled back for a brief second, the weight of the bag seemingly acting against his will for a moment. That was when she knew something wasn't right.

"Sunbeam." Penny called suspiciously before her son left the door. Sunbeam froze, adding more credence to her suspicions. Call it a mother's instinct, if you will… "What's in the bag?"

"What do you mean?" said Sunbeam, scratching the back of his head. His voice sounded insistent, but that was what gave his shadiness away. "I've packed all the stuff I need."

Not convinced, Penny got off her chair and walked towards her son. Sunbeam backed off, hoping that her mother would be able to lift the bag up with no problem. Unfortunately, not even her iron grip could lift it up flawlessly. Penny, too, felt the sudden increase in weight in Sunbeam's bag.

"Did you pack a stack of bricks for school?" asked Penny, alarmed by the sheer weight. "What is in there?!" Then, she began to unzip the bag and dig right in. Sunbeam got even more restless, sweating all around. When Penny finished investigating, she couldn't believe what was in there. Her head turned to her son, going into full motherly lockdown mode.

"Son. You are not taking your gaming console to school." she demanded, crossing her arms. With nothing else to hide, Sunbeam tried to convince his mother that bringing his game console to school was not for leisure. One month had passed since he was nearly expelled by the school for flooding the place twice. Now was not the time to risk another breach in the rules. Tomorrow was a very important day and Sunbeam was going to use his own video game console for something better than just lazing around with it.

"Relax!" assured Sunbeam. "This ain't about playing games. It's for the science fair tomorrow. Dawn and I have been planning for something really cool. Aren't we, Dawn?"

"Yeah. It'll be a blast." Dawn added, but Penny didn't like how the girl commented with that word, knowing all too well of her mischievous intentions.

"And your project is…?" continued Penny, inquisitively.

"Ah! That will be our little secret." stopped Sunbeam.

"So, you can keep a secret related to your academic records to your friends, but you can't share it with your own mother?" asked Penny, getting warier by the moment.

"Hey! Don't overstretch your authority here. Even we kids have to have secrets." snapped Sunbeam, earning another unsure glare from his mother. "But, don't worry. Once we get our project done and ace that fair, you can see it for yourself!"

"Hmmmm…" Penny scanned the boy for any gestures that would tell her of any lies. Sunbeam wasn't as disobedient as Gumball was; in fact, he was a little more considerate about the things he'd get himself into and would opt for a more careful way out. But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; as long as he and Dawn were doing something together, there was no guarantee he would be coming home without a complaint or report on his actions.

But still, his intentions were, more often than not, good in nature. Yes, there was a science fair and Sunbeam did promise that he'd do well for this one. The only thing was; he was never one to delve into the art of science. It was just not his subject. Nevertheless, for this once, Penny would allow the boy to carry on. Finally, she sighed, allowing the kids to take their console with them.

"Fine, but you're going to need a bigger bag for your console."

"No prob. Dawn's got a bag for that." On cue, Dawn pulled out a large sack from out of the door. When she brought it in, however, out came a chicken, clucking wildly as it escaped the clutches of the evil girl that kidnapped it. Sunbeam gave Dawn a firm glare, while she looked away and whistled. "And don't bother telling me where you got it from."

After a quick inspection, the kids were finally given the go-ahead and moved out, waving Sunbeam's mother goodbye as they walked out to the sidewalk and awaited the bus.

"Make sure you bring it back in one piece!" urged Penny from the door. "For both you and your father's sake."

Then, behind her, Gumball was all dressed up and ready for work. To Penny's shock, she saw how swollen his mouth was after his rather 'simple' clean-up. He almost looked like a swarm of bees had stung him! Yet, Gumball remained as normal, unfathomed by the numbness he was feeling.

"Hey…" he spoke, muffled by the thickness of his lips. "What did I miss?" But suddenly, they both heard a scream coming from the kitchen, along with some clucking sounds.

"AAAH! Get off me, you feathered freak!"

The bus pulled over at the front of the school. The doors slid open and the passengers all poured out of the vehicle; everyone heading for the entrance to start their day in school.

Among them, Sunbeam and Dawn carried their bags into the building. Unfortunately, the boy had to be the one to carry the larger sack with his game console inside, in case he needed to transform and defend the tempting treat. Sunbeam was lucky to have one of the latest gaming consoles, and he could not risk losing it to anyone unworthy of his prize. They carefully walked their way into the hallway and headed for the classroom, where they planned to meet up with their science partners from the previous week.

Dawn acted as his escort, watching around for the sneakiest of snitches, the worst of the baddies. She'd give a warning if Linda Jonah was around, allowing them to find their escape paths to avoid her wrath.

Eventually, the two kids reached the classroom, creeping inside while on the lookout for any wandering students. After closing the door, they were safely inside, well-protected from all prying eyes. The room was already occupied by two other students inside. One of them being Hackman, the sentient tablet kid. After a rather unpleasant experience being a puppet of Dawn's shadowy scheme in the cafeteria, the boy was cautious to trust her again, only agreeing to partner up with them for the sake of his excellence and achievement in his programming. Meanwhile, the fourth participant eagerly waited for them, a little too much for everyone's tastes. What more could you expect from a girl who was constantly uneased by the slightest inconvenience? Gem, the stop-motion clay girl, had been clamouring for the essential parts needed for their science project, ranting and pacing around impatiently for their partners.

"There you two are!" she exclaimed. "Do you know how much time we've wasted because of you two?!"

"Oh chill, Gem." groaned Dawn. "We got all the time we need."

"Do you have the necessary parts for the project?" asked Hackman.

"We sure do, ladies and gentlemen." cheered Sunbeam. He dropped the sack down carefully onto a table, puffing in relief that he could finally let go of such a heavy load; so much so that he literally deflated like an open balloon. "You're welcome."

Meanwhile, Hackman extracted the goods out of the bag, laying his eyes upon the great masterpiece of gaming glory before him. He took a moment to admire the sheer joy just by looking at this trending piece of work, taking the console into his hands to enjoy its presence before most of his fellow students.

"A Z-Cube Five." Hackman scanned the gaming console, assessing the specifics of its components and formulating the compatibility with their project. "Perfect!"

Cracking his knuckles, Sunbeam was ready to get things done. This project was going to be the pinnacle of scientific excellence! (Or whatever that mumbo jumbo was that Hackman just declared about a week ago…) He spat at both of his palms and rubbed them together.

"Dawn. Let's work our magic." told Sunbeam.

"Make this quick. The fair is tomorrow! We don't have much time!" complained Gem.

"Remind me why we didn't do this sooner." added Hackman, fidgeting with his calculations. "Proper planning could have saved us valuable time! If we would have finished three days ago, we would have a probability of 78.237% that it would be fully operational. We haven't had time to check for bugs, glitches, performance issues, safety hazards and…!"

"Will you two relax?" groaned Dawn. "We still have one more day for that. We can make it work." She shook her head, contemplating on why Miss Simian had to pair them with these worrywarts. Gem was always a little timid when things didn't go her way. Hackman, on the other hand, was always fixed on achieving the best, most positive outcomes of his calculations, that any misstep in his plans would strike his odds down. Honestly, at the rate they're so acute to every minor detail, these two would probably survive the apocalypse. readying a rock-solid bomb shelter before anyone else.

"Now, how about you two help us out so we can get it done anyway?" complained Sunbeam.

"Fine." Gem and Hackman groaned in unison. Finally, the group resumed their week-long project, getting ready to break open Sunbeam's console and utilize the necessary components to be placed into their new contraption.

Unfortunately, just when they were about to take apart the console, Sunbeam hesitated. His eyes were glued to the still intact device that he wholeheartedly cherished since he first had his hands on it. The countless hours put into playing the latest releases, beating his way to the top (or, at least he tried to) of the online leaderboards. The engagement of the characters he created on El-Moor Scrolls V: Kyjim. All of that could be for nothing if he destroyed his prized treasure.

"I... I can't do it!" cried Sunbeam, on the verge of breaking down in tears, like a mother about to lose her child. "I spent years rising to video game prominence with this! My baby!" Annoyed by his wussy excuse, Dawn grabbed the boy by the collar, shooting her eyes onto his with the most serious of glares. Then, a hard slap struck Sunbeam at the cheek, snapping him out of his sadness.

"Suck it up, Watterson!" commanded Dawn. "Are you a man or are you a kitten?!"

"Well, I am half cat and I's still a kid, so..." whimpered Sunbeam, but he got slapped again.

"Do you want to succeed from the suffering of our enemies?!" added Dawn, pumping up the heat and shaking the boy.

"I dunno... That costed my parents a fortune to get me..." Sunbeam sobbed, but again, Dawn made her superiority clear and slapped him a third time. The green on Sunbeam's cheeks began to be coated bluish-purple from the hits to his face.

"You win this fair, and they'll be so proud of you, they'll be getting you that new Play-Nation Six you always wanted!" boasted Dawn.

"Wasn't it you who wanted...?" Sunbeam tried again, and again, he got his face slapped.

"That doesn't matter! You wanna come out a genius?!" screamed Dawn. Tired of arguing, Sunbeam nodded frantically. "Then, you will go through with this! Your Z-Cube's been through rough stuff to be just a play thing of our lazy Saturdays! It's time for it to serve a higher purpose!" She waved her hand around, eager to set her message home. "The protection of all student kind from the evil doers of the society of oppressors that plague our schools today!"

After a good look at the project blueprints laid out on the table for them, Sunbeam pondered about what was more important. It was either his own personal pride and glory, or the safety of his fellow kin in class. He looked back at the days that he, too, was a victim. A very hard victim to catch, but a victim nonetheless. The amount of time he spent escaping the clutches of his bullies had left him ignorant of the suffering of those who do end up getting caught, forced to be beaten down, chewed upon, stripped apart and even having their bodies sabotaged by knuckleheads. Eventually, he remembered the goals of his science project, the very mission that drove him. The chance to be heroic without physically getting himself mashed up in the fight.

He remembered why they were here as a team. Sunbeam and Dawn were always hot on their heels the moment Linda, the worst of the bullies, would strike. No matter how successful their escapes were, she would always find them the next day. That would all end soon… And what about Hackman and Gem? The victims

He would build this magnificent machine and revolutionize a new age of anti-bullying protocol. Together with this ragtag group of hopeless geniuses, he would bring them all to prominence! So what would a bunch of virtual worlds do to stop him from achieving the real deal?!

And heck, it's the age of the Internet; online saves are a thing…

"I'll do it." he sighed with a heavy heart. Other than his own love for the console, he was sure his dad would feel the loss, if not worse than what Sunbeam felt. But, at last, Dawn had his support and the work could finally begin.

"Then, let's get the tools!" She grabbed the tools needed for the job, with Sunbeam finally revitalized with enthusiasm and hope for a better school. But as they went to work, Hackman couldn't help but sympathize with the boy.

"Poor Sunbeam. I've been there..." he sighed, remembering the last time he was coaxed into serving a moral cause by that weasel of a fox a while ago. This time, however, the cause he was working for is a definite must. If Dawn tried to sugar-coat anything, he'd be wise to resist her.

"Are you sure you they know what they're doing?" asked Gem, fiddling with her fingerless palms.

"Well, Dawn is great at building things, but her expertise is meant for mischief and trouble." explained Hackman. "On the other hand, Sunbeam has no aptitude for coming up with anything technical, but he does balance out with his enthusiasm and the tendency to have some random miracle arrive at the worst time possible."

"So, mesh their traits together and they come up with our genius creation?"

"Yes. But the problem is; will they manage to build it that can get us an A+ or an early trip to our graves?" Hackman calculated the odds as if it were a real equation. Suffice to say; he did not find them good. "The chances for the latter are… quite decent…"

"But what about the A+?" pondered Gem, trying to find the positive side of the equation.

"You really want to know?" Hackman shook his body (since he doesn't have a head to actually shake and turn with…), his voice letting Gem know that he wasn't that optimistic about it. Gem shrugged her shoulders, letting him tell her anyway. "Minimal."

"That's just great." scoffed Gem. "First, Miss Simian assigns us to the most chaos-driven kids of all time, and because of that, our grades are at stake. What could go wrong this time?"

"She's done, guys." Finally, after minutes of sweat, tears and a bit of Red Pool Soda, the two innovators in the making had completed their creation. Gem and Hackman jumped to the table where their project sat ready for show and tell. There, they marvelled at the sheer ingenuity that they had invented.

The drone shined like a brilliant star, brandished with a coat of purple metal across its shell. Two robotic arms with functional pincer claws; the ones provided by Hackman from his pile of spare parts, laid out like a scorpion's. At the centre of the front, the drone had one eye, using a camera lens, borrowed from Gem's old photography set, to house in its optical sensors. On its rear end, two jet boosters that were once stolen from a nearby laboratory in a school field trip were placed to provide jet propulsion for the machine once it was ready.

Above all else, one of Hackman's state-of-the-art AI computer chips was slotted into the drone, giving it full access to a databank of endless information to be used to serve its ultimate purpose.

"She is a beauty!" commented Gem, her temper cooled by the results of their ingenuity. Those days of pestering and impatience could finally put to rest, knowing that they had constructed a full form of the drone.

"I call it; the King of Indestructible Youth and Oblivion to Meddlesome Intimidators!" declared Sunbeam, prouder than everyone else. But his teammates were not as enthusiastic after he had revealed its name. They all agreed that an acronym was needed for convenience's sake, and unfortunately, what it ended up being wasn't what everyone had in mind.

"You called it 'KIYOMI'?" squeaked Gem in disbelief. "That is not threatening! That's something you'd give to a little kitten!"

"From a certain point of view, she is not wrong. The term kiyomi is sort of used as a Korean slang to refer to someone ascute." explained Hackman. "Not to mention it was a meme that didn't last long in the last decade."

"Ah! And that will work to our advantage!" defended Sunbeam, still convinced that his decision to use that acronym was a good idea. "Bullies wouldn't think of it as threatening at first, and with such a name, they'd be a hundred percent fooled! Just think; they will be laughing their socks off when they hear its name. And then, when the time comes, they won't be laughing then when our drone pulls out all the stops and ATTACK!" Despite being joyful with his ambitious project, the others didn't share his optimism.

"Seriously, that will not be our drone's name." groaned Hackman.

"Come on! We'll think about naming conventions later." urged Sunbeam. "Let's test it out! We're pushed for time as it is!" Though the drone was impressive on the outside, the question remained; would the inside work? Could they make it fully operational just in time for the fair tomorrow? That was about to be put to the test.

At the school field, they would proceed to take their project out for another test drive on their way to perfection.

The camera's ready… The recording was live… The next test on their new project was about to begin. Gem was in charge of recording, taping the event for their records. At the stage of grass, Dawn and Hackman were front and centre to fill in the details of their drone. The former held a clipboard in her hands to read the script provided for this moment. She coughed up, clearing her throat for the report.

"Okay! "Test flight, Number 23." began Dawn. "We are gathered here today to begin our next belatedtest on our science project; the…" Her throat began to itch, her body shivered.

"The…" Her face cringed in a mix of disgust and awkward silence as she struggled to get the name out. Her eyes then glared dangerously towards Sunbeam, who was sitting at the stands, monitoring the test from the side-lines.

"Sunbeam, we are not naming this thing the KIYOMI…" growled Dawn. Gem didn't move the camera, focusing on the fox's disgruntled face while Sunbeam shouted off-screen.

"Just go with it! You'll thank me later!" shouted Sunbeam. Shaking her head, Dawn resumed the report.

"This time, with the added modifications, our drone, the…" Finally, she lost her patience, groaning in annoyance. "The KIYOMI…!" She wanted to bang her head in the mud below her feet for making such an embarrassing report. Instead, she just continued, with a more grained voice from her anger as she gritted her teeth. "Should be able to scan and record any secret information about our school from a mile away."

It was then Hackman's turn to explain to the camera, giving Dawn time to grumble at the boy who dared name their prized project.

"Assessing the student body and data from the school's records, it shall take note of any criminal history of each individual and determine the need to punish any wrongdoer based on the severity of their actions." Hackman explained. "In short, this drone is meant for anti-bullying operations."

Once she was done complaining, Dawn returned to the camera, back to giving her report with excitement. Her fingers spread out, with her claws out. Her grin wide enough to send chills down everyone's spines as they knew how restless she was about the drone's true purpose. She put in all the energy in her voice to deliver a gruelling message to those that shall fear their machine's might.

"With this, the forces of the oppressors that be the bullies of our school will never hurt us again! They shall bend to our feet when they witness the full power of our greatest weapon!"

"Good." Hackman sighed, shaking his head. "Now that we have needlessly repeated the goals of our science project that we've been blabbering about for every single recording, we shall now see if our modifications have enabled our prone to finally operate."

Then, Dawn noticed something from the stands, nudging Hackman to tell him of her discovery.

"Also, worth taking note, partner. Remind me to strip our robot right after the science fair. Sunbeam's getting gaming anxiety again." She pointed to the stands while Gem turned the camera to face Sunbeam. The boy was curled up on his seat, weeping with tears while mumbling inaudible words. True to Dawn's word, he was going through a rough trance of separation anxiety from his one and only source of off-school joy.

But the show must go on. Their drone would do a grand service to all students in Elmore Junior High. Sooner or later, there will be a demand for more drones and very soon, there would be no need for sacrificing game consoles to build these things. Research and development would do well to find proper alternatives to this indie project.

"Right. Let's begin." Hackman announced, clapping his hands together. "Start the scan." After sobbing a little more, Sunbeam grabbed one of the controllers he had, activating the drone. At the press of the buttons and the movement of the analog sticks, the drone responded according to his actions, as if he was playing an actual game. It fired up its thrusters and hovered over the ground. Sunbeam pushed the thumbstick to the left, turning the drone towards the school. He set his sights on a window where he then moved it up towards it.

Monitoring the drone's camera, Dawn used Hackman's face to view what it was seeing, coordinating closely with Sunbeam as she directed him towards their destination. Then, Sunbeam pressed another button, extending the robot's arms out. With two pinches of its mandibles, the drone then clipped them onto the window and opened it.

They inspected the room, seeing that the coast was clear. When no one was seen, the drone drifted into the room, heading for a desk on the other end of the room. The walls were lined with pictures and certificates that confirmed the location to the kids.

This was where they would the info they needed for the drone. Where else would you find such confidential records than the principal's office?

The drone then got to work to scan the room for the files. With its eye, it then projected a ray of light that beamed throughout the room. It slowly swung its scanner all around, scanning through the desk and the cabinets for the school files. They built the scanner with the latest in surveillance technology, allowing it to scan through any solid object to reach whatever was inside. In this case, the drone was able to get a good amount of information from within the filing cabinets and the desk drawers, picking up everything it could find.

The data upload was being operated from the other side, progress being displayed via Hackman's screen. The boy was connected into the drone's systems, reading along the statistics being formulated by the scan. The yellow bar began to fill up like the ones found on loading screens, giving the kids a good view on the progress.

Finally, after a minute of scanning, the bar was filled and the data sweep was complete.

"Scan complete." reported Hackman. The screen then changed to list out the details found by the drone. An extensive list of all of the students of Elmore Junior High was instantly recorded and categorized into several folders, placing each set of files for each student. "So far, so good." Hackman proceeded to read through the records, assessing each student to test for the drone's accuracy. So far, it was able to receive information about every student, past and present, that had been identified and evaluated by the school.

However, Hackman then shivered, moaning with disgust over a certain entry. Apparently, the drone proved to be too good at its job.

"Ergh... A little too good… Now, let us see if our drone shall respond and react to any of the bullies of our school."

For this test to fully prove successful, the crew needed one last phase to be completed. The drone was able to retrieve the intel in its processor. Now, it just needed to put that information to use. It was time to find a hamster to test its power on.

As the drone returned to them, Dawn looked around to find their test subject. It was a wise decision to set their test at the school field, because, like a grass field in the Monster Fight Friends video game, there were always wild critters ripe for the taking. It didn't take long before she found who they needed.

There was a guy doing push-ups on the football court, puffing wildly with each push of his body. The bear had a large build, buffed up with muscles broad enough to make any bodybuilder jealous. If only that impressive structure was backed up by a good personality, because Carter Klein was among the rough, tough guys in the school, always out to tyrannize everyone who got in his way. A contemporary to Linda Jonah, but he was only second to her power, only because Carter was more volatile than her. That, unfortunately for him, made him the perfect target for the team.

"And there's our test subject." Dawn grinned evilly. She went to face the jock from afar, ready to coax the boy into attacking her. "Hey, Carter!" she yelled. Like an actual predator, Carter heard the screams of a kid just begging to be beaten down to a pulp.

Enraged, he found Dawn calling out to him. Much like Linda, no one would dare call Carter Klein in the middle of his workout session, and Dawn was apparently about to sign her own death warrant. Oh, how the tables would turn…

Dawn then began to mock Carter, unleashing a barrage of wacky insults to provoke him. At the ready, Sunbeam prepared the drone for the defence. However, he, along with Hackman and Gene, were not so sure this plan would work out so well. Previous tests had them beaten up, bruised and flattened from failed tests of the drone. Ten test runs later, and they hoped for a miracle. Dawn, on the other hand, was ready to risk her life for this test to be a success. Thus, Sunbeam had to be ready for anything, ready to set the drone on manual control in case of a lack of response. At the first sign of trouble, he would race to pick everyone up and evacuate the scene. All he knew from there was that there was going to be a high-stakes chase if things didn't go right.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger called! He wants his voice back!" mocked Dawn. The first blow to Carter struck him, causing him to growl in anger.

"What did you say?!" he yelled back, gritting his canines with a voice so deep, so threatening that anyone would run at the very sound of him. Yet, Dawn didn't flinch, her confidence keeping her from faulting.

The drone kept an eye on the two, sensing the danger that was elevating. As if on human (or whatever you want to call the people of TAWOG) instinct, it picked up the hostility coming from the bully and immediately set its sights on him. A carry-over from Hackman's prototype of a security detector, along with a bit of Gem's input on threats and how to counter them.

"Is that a new hair-cut?! Hard to tell, but you sure wasted ten minutes of the barber's life, just by cutting one inch of your toothbrush of hair!" Dawn kept insulting Carter, further adding to his building anger.

"Don't make me come after you, Luna!" he threatened her with a claw out of his index finger. Despite the rising danger, Dawn stooped so low that she let out a yawn before delivering the last punch.

"Hey! I didn't mean to offend you!" she laughed sarcastically. "Feel free to file charges. Get it?! Because you're a bull?! HAHAHAHA!"

At last, Carter had reached the limit. His face literally painted red while his nose exhaled steam. His teeth and claws were fully sharpened and his body was pumped up with double the body size. With all the anger in his system, Carter had blown his top, roaring at the top of his voice. The booming power of his voice sent a earth-shattering chill down everyone's spine, except for Dawn's, who had nerves of steel.

After getting enraged enough, Carter then charged forward, running on all fours to tackle the girl who dared mock him. Dawn, however, remained still, standing in her place with a smug on her face while blowing on her claws.

"I'LL GET YOU!" Carter was about to jump over and pounce on the girl. But before anyone could react to save her, the boy was then hit with a stunning field of electricity, immediately putting an end to his angry dash. The bear fell to the ground, dragging his face along the dirt as he was incapacitated by cables that were wrapped around his body. His muscles shrunk back as he fell unconscious.

When Dawn looked behind, she grinned, seeing the drone had done its job. It had fired the Taser wires just in the nick of time, putting Carter down on the ground before he had the chance. After that brilliant save, the drone then flew over to the fallen body, reading out the terms of his crimes.

CARTER KLEIN. SUBJECT WANTED FOR SEVEN COUNTS OF PHYSICAL ASSAULT, THIRTY COUNTS OF MENTAL ABUSE, AND EIGHT-HUNDRED COUNTS OF ORDERING HAWAIIAN PIZZA…

SUBJECT MUST BE APPREHENDED AND SENT TO PRINCIPAL BROWN FOR DISCIPLANRY REHABILITATION.

It then lifted the heavy boy with its arms with surprising ease, hauling him towards a safe location where Carter would not escape. If all went well, he would serve as a prime example of what this drone could do.

"It worked…" Gem couldn't believe it. After all the failures they had to go through, it almost looked like it was going to be one last blow to their work before they'd turn up to the science fair completely empty-handed. Now, with the test a success, hope had been restored, victory and a perfect grade was reachable again! "It worked!" She jumped up and down, filled with joy. Hackman laughed along with her, elated that his hard work had paid off.

Sunbeam and Dawn ran over and gave each other a high-five. Another brilliant success at the hands of the pair. When the drone returned from its delivery, it landed next to them, shutting down after a successful capture of a bully in madness.

"This is it!" Hackman cheered. "The drone is fully operational. Soon, we shall have our success at last!" However, Dawn was not fully satisfied. The drone was able to knock out the second worst bully in school. If they were going to achieve the perfect results, they needed to be sure that the drone was ready against the worst of the worst.

"Oh no. It's not over yet." Dawn chuckled, rubbing her palms together in anticipations for the real deal. "We need this drone to undergo one last test."

Linda Jonah herself…

"We shall see if our glorious creation will stand up to the likes of every single bully in school!" she sneered with glee, putting the others in a state of worry over her apparent obsession.

But then again, seeing just how capable the drone was against Carter Klein made them feel hopeful. There was no way that anyone could stand against them now, so if Linda Jonah could be subdued, they would be the ultimate saviours of the school.

"Soon, everyone will know what this bad boy can do!"

Unfortunately, that little spark of victory was snuffed out too quickly…

"Okay. Maybe everyone except Linda…"

Sadly, the drone tried to withstand the might of the monstrous tyrant of the school, reduced to a wreck of nuts and bolts. The body was completely mauled and crushed, sparking a little to show its last moments of life.

By its sides, Hackman and Gem were stunned, feeling the shock of their loss right after their first taste of victory. Among those to grieve the most, though, was Sunbeam, who cried endlessly over the destruction of his favourite game console. The joy and memories saved into it were now gone, crushed and rendered useless. It was like all of his life had been shattered before his very eyes, bringing him down into an emotional mess.

"Z-Cube Five… What have I done…?!" he wailed, bending down to the ground with his tears flowing like a waterfall. "I may never find that 1001st coin ever again!"

"Relax, I can fix it back up." groaned Dawn, willing to use her mechanical skills to shut the boy up and have his console back. Seriously, it wasn't hard to rebuild that console. Technology had come a long way, and advancements had made it possible to provide easier maintenance for personal repairs. If Dawn could build a drone out of spare parts and junk, she could easily fix the Z-Cube until it was good as new.

Coming back to the issue at hand, the team was now back at square one. They could rebuild the drone with the same schematics and set up the same statistics, but as long as Linda was impervious to its power, it wasn't going to cut it for the science fair tomorrow.

"We'll need to modify it further." stated Dawn.

"Come on! Why don't we just rebuild as it is and just present it tomorrow?" suggested Gem, growing impatient again.

"Because, Gem…" urged Dawn. "If we can't prove to the world that our drone could bring down the worst bullies in the world, then it's useless." "For our drone to be a success, Linda Jonah must be defeated!"

"I can't argue with a perfect score." agreed Hackman. "But what modifications would you suggest? And we need to hurry, because we cannot afford another delay."

"You guys go ahead and rebuild the drone as much as you can." told Dawn.

"What?!" exclaimed Gem. "Why do we have to do the hard work?"

"Don't worry! The schematics will tell you everything you need to do." said Sunbeam. "Just reprogram the drone with the same numbers and it shall be fine again."

"We'll be back to finish with the rest." added Dawn, walking with Sunbeam and leaving the two teammates to fix the mess with disgruntled feelings. Meanwhile, the other pair were heading out from school to venture into the town, where they planned to head to the one place where they could get anything they wanted.

The search for the upgrades needed took Sunbeam and Dawn to the town's commercial district. Their trek through the Elmore evening took them to a well-known store amongst the people. What was once an old video rental store, it was now a new video game store, where it was fully dedicated to the sales of the trendiest games, consoles, hardware and merch for the gaming professionals of the town. The primary source for Sunbeam's video game entertainment stood where it had always been, even in the days of his dad's youth. Its new navy-blue walls stood out like a sore thumb, edged with purple lines that made the store a modern highlight within the more traditional suburban shop lots.

It was here that Sunbeam and Dawn would find their hardware for the drone. They entered through the automatic doors, bringing themselves in the fresh, sci-fi interior of the shop. Because of its appeal, there were numerous customers who were already browsing the PC releases at the shelves, looking for that new hot hit, Call of Booty: Pork Zone.

That left the counter completely open for the pair to tend to. Behind it, manning the store was a newcomer to Elmore's expanded collection of jobs. Archie Needlemeyer, cousin of the previous work horse, Larry Needlemeyer.

The new kid on the block looked very similar to his cousin, only with a pair of glasses and longer blonde hair that was tied to a ponytail behind his head. He and Larry shared the same voice, which proved to be an amusing fact to those who knew the latter well.

Ever since Larry had finally freed himself of the ultimate form of corporate slavery and went off to be married with his long-time lover (finally…), Archie had volunteered to take over and keep the town from falling into another dreadful apocalypse.

Needless to say; it proved to be a disaster from day one…

Unlike Larry, however, Archie Needlemeyer was a lot more incompetent at multi-managing Elmore's workforce than his cousin. He was clumsier, always stumbling and breaking things before they even arrived to customers. He was obtuse, unable to remember important details that could very well keep him at his job.

Still, he could be relied on when they needed the goods. But that was where his greatest weakness laid. Archie was a naïve individual, always falling for Dawn's manipulation when she wanted the things she needed. It was all too easy to bribe or coax him into partaking in her usual antics, allowing her and Sunbeam easy access to his services.

How he was able to keep his jobs and the town from descending into chaos was anyone's guess…

"Hey, Archie." greeted Dawn, leaning her arm onto the counter.

"Oh. Hey, Dawn. Sunbeam." welcomed Archie, waving his hand. "What can I get you guys today?"

"We need some parts for a new drone we're making for the science fair today. Do you have any augmentations for military-grade weapons?"

Archie flinched. sweat popping out from the back of his head. Panic filled in his head when Dawn made her intentions clear. He looked back and forth, his irises switching their focus between his customers and the girl. Conflicted over who to serve today, the newbie cashier man had to choose who would serve the business more than the other.

Dawn was always a customer who always looked for the rarer, higher-on-demand goods; the stuff that would not be easily available on the stands or the shelves. These were things that could be kept behind the scenes, made available only through private contact. Unfortunately, these are goods that were very shady, dangerous and considered contraband by the authorities. Should any transactions between anyone, much less with a little girl, be caught in the public eye, it was goodbye to Archie.

But the naïve man had the town's best interests in mind. He needed to keep this town stable, and as long as money was being transferred into the bank, he wouldn't mind. After all, this was Elmore; as if this town wasn't one to shy away from danger in any form.

Eventually, Archie chose to give in and allow the daughter of the most troublesome family in town to have her way, just as long as she didn't make a scene.

"Ahem!" Archie made a fake cough, trying to dissuade any suspicion while catching everyone's attention. "I don't know what you're talking about, valued customer! You won't find illegal arms anywhere in this peaceful town!" While the customers had their ears perked, the cashier then shouted out an announcement to the few people inside. He looked for an excuse to convince them to leave, but it had to be something that everyone had to fall for. Something really bizarre yet terrifying…

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen! We're closed for the day due to some… uh…

"Meme infestation!"

Then, all at once, the customers began to run out the door like a herd of wildebeest. Sunbeam braced for the brunt of the crowd running out the door, taking cover behind Dawn, while the fox girl checked her nails, neutral as always. When the dust was cleared and the store empty, there were only three people remaining.

"Thanks for stopping by!" cheered Archie, almost too late to bid his customers farewell. After the happy façade, however, he then scowled at the two kids at the front, growling in frustration that he had to close down the shop in another emergency; an emergency about something so random… Dawn played this to her advantage; if the people of Elmore can be this obtuse, then she'd be a master manipulator!

"You owe me, Luna." whispered Archie with venom. But Dawn was willing to compensate for the loss of customers. She turned to her friend behind her. She extended her palm towards him, gesturing for him to give her something.

"Cough it up, Sunbeam." she told him. Sunbeam dug through his pockets for the cash that Dawn needed. After a brief inspection, he then came up empty-handed. Shrugging his shoulders, the boy laughed sheepishly.

"Oops. Looks like I forgot to bring my allowance today." However, Dawn didn't buy it. With one powerful strike of her hand, she chopped Sunbeam in the stomach and the neck, forcing the boy to literally cough up what looked like ten dollars! Catching the soaked money, she then slapped the money onto the counter, much to the disgust of Archie.

"Here you go, Archie." Money was money, however, and despite his sickened state, the cashier proceeded to shove the money into his pocket.

A little reward for his services to her.

"ECK!" choked Sunbeam, holding his throat while gasping for air.

"Thought you could fool me this time?" mocked Dawn. Once he was recovered, Sunbeam stared at Dawn, swinging his fingers and pointed towards her.

"I'll get you one of these days, Dawn." he growled.

"Meme infestation… Who writes this stuff?" complained Archie. After the awkward exchange of cash, he walked into the staff room, where he moved to a desk and reached for a button underneath it.

After pressing it, the store began to shut itself in. Metal doors slammed down at the windows, blocking all sunlight from entering the building and darkening the interior.

The counter outside, where the cash register and all the smaller electronics being displayed for sale underneath a glass case were, began to shake while the kids watched. It then slid into the checker-tiled floor like a mole digging into the ground. In its place, a new counter popped out of the ground. On it, its top flipped over and expanded into several boards, revealing a new, secret assortment of goods, which ranged from what looked like bombs, swords, other electronics and more, neatly sorted and arranged based on different categories. All around, a fancy purple light illuminated from the thin slits underneath the objects, shining a brilliant display of colour that made the display even more attractive.

This was an emergency stash, only meant for safety precautions should Elmore be subjected to an alien invasion or another apocalypse. But there were other exceptions, mainly if a customer was so willing or crazy enough to afford these items. This was not the first time Sunbeam and Dawn were witnessing this, though. When they needed the more extreme equipment or tools, they'd resort to this secret stash of experimental or highly-classified goods to pick from and use to their hearts' content.

One would think Dawn would be crazy to being able to buy any of these dangerous tools, never mind using them. But she was a Luna, and the bigger the troubles, the bigger the explosions needed. Dawn's entire family wouldn't be mad at her for buying such explosive weapons; they'd be proud! They actually have a global business that profits off the suffering of others. At the rate the world was at the time, they were swimming in cash and gold coins every day, and all Dawn had to do to get a share of the cash was to tell her dad that she was cooking up a little scheme and he would be happy to oblige.

Meanwhile, Archie then exited the room after he shut the cameras down to avoid any detection from his manager. He returned to the kids as they viewed the new wave of rather illegal items that were being sold in secret.

"Here they are. Take your pick." Sunbeam and Dawn scanned the large collection of dangerous tools, figuring out what might be suitable for upgrading… Dawn cursed mentally, dreading to call their drone the cringe-worthy name that Sunbeam chose. One by one, she began to assess every weapon or accessory that could be of use to the drone. As far as she thought, all of them could be used. These bad boys were powerful enough to blow up an entire city, let alone one Linda Jonah. She just needed one that really packed the punch and she'd be fully complete. She did have to consider a safe option, however, as Sunbeam already made it clear that they needed an upgrade that was not world-shattering; just one that was enough to topple the mighty bully without blowing up the school. Tempting as it was to buy the huge death-ray blaster at the very top of the set, Dawn was forced to go along with the safer choices first. Besides, that one costed an entire mansion's worth of money! Best to save up before she could get it…

"Let's see. Flashbangs?" Dawn picked up the explosive canister and showed it to Sunbeam, asking for his opinion.

"Nah. Too bright." rejected the boy. Dawn then placed the flashbang down and went for another weapon, grabbing two tiny missiles.

"Mini Sidewinders?" asked Dawn again.

"Too explosive." dismissed Sunbeam. The list went on and on; Dawn picks up an item, Sunbeam rejects.

A can of eye-burning pepper spray…

"Pepper spray?"

"Too spicy."

A gun that shoots out icky, transparent goo of the undead…

"Ecto-blaster?"

"Too spooky."

Tinier versions of nuclear bombs in a box…

"Fat Man crackers?"

"You wanna start World War Four?"

"When did we have the third?"

"Don't you remember it ended just a few minutes after it began because of some stupid misunderstanding?"

"Oh yeah…"

And… some kind of metal conclave-shaped tubes with purple discs wrapped around them?

"Kryzoptian phase-shifters?"

"What are those for?" Dawn then read a label on one of the weird bullet-shaped objects.

Confidential… Known only to the personnel at Area 51…

"Nope. Might attract conspirators."

After viewing through all of their options, Sunbeam and Dawn started to run out of choices. There wasn't anything that was effective and discreet enough to be used for their drone. Their hopes were waning slowly, their desperation grew. They had to find the right stuff for the job, or Linda Jonah was going to go undefeated and the science project would be a bust. There was no room for second place. This drone could be the pinnacle of child safety for schools across the world! No bully was to be set free to overpower these mighty machines. Sunbeam and Dawn were set on making their creation a perfect invention.

Just then, when all hope was about to be lost, Dawn laid her eyes on one tiny piece of the collection that went unnoticed until now.

"Oohhh…" "What's this?"

A tiny chip with a red X slashed onto its surface, laid neatly within the larger tools. As Dawn took it into her fingers, the chip revealed its two rows of sharp, needle-like connectors. It didn't look awe-inspiring, but when Dawn picked it up, her senses tingled with her instincts kicking in. Her chaotic mind was already telling her that this miniscule chip would be the key to their problems.

This looked like some sort of computer chip, and Dawn's mind was telling her that that was what their drone needed, even if she didn't know what it did.

"Don't touch that!" Archie shouted, attempting to snatch the chip away from Dawn. Instinctively, she pulled back just in time to avoid the attack. She then looked at the man's face and noticed the sheer panic drawn all over him. Sweat was already dropping down his skin and heavy breathing made his body act like a tire pumper. Those were the signs that told Dawn that the small chip was something Archie did not want her, or anybody else, to touch.

"Archie." she called suspiciously. "Is there something you know about this?"

"You don't know what you're holding!" warned Archie. That AI chip was taken out of a government research lab. My contact gave this to me to hide it from the public." As he explained, Archie's story perplexed the pair, wondering how on Earth did this simple man got caught up with some governmental secret!

Archie kept telling them the dangers of possessing such a dangerous piece of hardware, roaring with fear and compassion as if he was telling some horror story.

"He told me this chip contains all the raw power and implementation of the entire computer network! Secrets can be accessed to harness great power. If this falls in the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic!

"This will spell the end of the world as we know it!"

"We'll take it." Dawn nonchalantly agreed to buy it. Weirdly enough, Archie too seemed to forget that she was holding something akin to a WMD and proceeded with the transaction.

"That'll be fifty thousand dollars." told Archie, shocking Sunbeam in particular.

"Fifty-thousand?!" the boy shouted, his whole body jerking with shock. That amount of money could buy him two-hundred Z-Cube's and then some! No way this tiny little piece of robotics was that expensive!

"Yes. This stuff must have costed them a fortune." explained Archie. "And I ain't cheap, so pay it up or book it."

Regardless, the two was prepared for the inevitability of a stubborn sales man, especially Archie. As blasphemous as the price was, there was always a way to go around this. And when it came to the foolish young man before them, the options were limitless.

"Alright, then." said Dawn, shrugging her shoulders. "How about we give you a little treat?" Archie lifted his one brow upwards, cautiously wondering what the girl was saying. The fox girl then pulled out a box from her bag before she placed it on the counter. Immediately, Archie's eyes lit up with watery fluid, gleaming brightly at the package put in front of him. His mouth salivated when he saw what was behind the plastic sheet that revealed the content inside. Like a baby staring at a lollipop, Archie was about to burst with joy when he saw the figure within. The action figure wore some ancient-looking robes and had a laser sword inside, automatically putting it within the science-fiction category. But what possibly made it so appealing to nerds like Archie was how it was coated in a transparent coat of icy-blue, standing over a flat diorama of sand.

"Is that…?!" Awestruck, Archie couldn't speak without stopping to bask in the glory of the special figure inside. His obsession for such a one-of-a-kind collectable was as clear as the shop's décor amongst the rest of the area.

"The rare figure of the 'Fork Ghost of Coby-One It-Cannot-Be?'" hummed Dawn, tempting the man towards this exclusively, ultra-rare figure. "Why, yes, it is…" Archie reached out to grab the box and finally feel the joy of having this legendary figure in his hands, only for it to be snatched away by Dawn, cutting the happiness short.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Dawn twiddled her finger, shaking her head.

"Don't you know many of those things they've made?!" exclaimed Archie. "Three! And they're worth all the gold and diamonds of the world! Even the President of the United States can't afford this!"

"And with only a sum of five-thousand dollars, it's yours." assured Dawn, going full saleswoman mode on him. "So, we makin' this trade or what?"

Archie stopped to think about the ethical side of the trade. Was it really worth exchanging what was possibly the world's most dangerous secret with a mere figure? A figure that was so rare, so valuable that it would make him the envy of countless Stellar Odyssey nerds out there! This was his only chance to have it! Should he risk trading the chip over the figure with the likes of Dawn Luna, the frequent abuser of the stuff she gets from his stores?

It didn't take long for Archie to make the right decision…

"Fine!" Archie slammed his head onto the counter, having to rest from his nerdy dilemma. "Here." In defeat, he handed the chip to Dawn, who obliged to the offer and gave the man what he wanted. A victorious smirk flashed on her face while she flipped the chip up in the air with her thumb, catching it before placing it in her pocket.

"Thanks, Archie. Glad we had this deal." Now that she was done, Dawn and Sunbeam turned around to exit the store. Behind them, Archie held onto the box like a new-born baby, grinning madly and his brain swirling crazily over having what was the pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow. He punched his fist into the air, triumph over the rich folk burning brightly in his heart.

"Yes! The nerds of the town will bend to my feet in awe! Screw you, collectors! Don't underestimate the common worker!"

While the store clerk cheered wildly, the two kids exited the store with their new prize. Dawn took the chip out of her pocket and gave it to Sunbeam. With such a tiny piece, the boy had to be very careful with it, and he knew better than to trust Dawn with it. For all he knew, she would probably use it for her own nefarious deeds. If this AI chip could be useful for their drone, then it was important that the more morally-inclined teammate would safeguard it until they could build the drone.

"Great. Now, we just need to place this in…" Dawn said, but then groaned again at the mention of their drone's cursed name. "KIYOMI… And it won't be just bully-proof. It'll be…"

Together, Sunbeam and Dawn cheered, jumping in the air and high-fiving each other with powerful enthusiasm.

"EVIL-PROOF!" They landed on the ground afterwards, ready to head back to their team and resume construction of the drone.

"Seriously, though, we really need to come up with a better name, or we'll be the laughing stock of the fair…" sighed Dawn, but Sunbeam still refused to budge against his own choices…

The cafeteria was like a meadow for a herd of cows. Students craved for food after tenuous periods of boring classes, willing to sit their butts down without having to be subjected to their teachers' varying flaws, which ranged from sheer boredom to absolute tyranny. Recess was the only time, other than the school's end, when the students would feel the joy of freedom, having to enjoy every single second of their rest, chatting away or playing around, until the bell rang.

Everyone wanted to have a break, especially since there was a very important event to prepare for. Those involved with the science fair later that day had to be energized and ready to present their projects to the school and visiting science-related people, who'd come to find dreamers with potential.

Among those dreamers were Gem and Hackman. Sat a table in the cafeteria, eating up their usual meals, they were joined by their science partners. After spending the night rebuilding their drone and applying the upgrade Dawn obtained, they were now blissfully enjoying their meal.

However, time was of the essence. While their drone, which Sunbeam still hadn't bothered to change its name, was successful against Carter Klein, they still had to be sure that it was fully capable of dealing with Linda Jonah, the worst of the worst. Their last attempt to pacify the giant war machine ended in total failure, costing them a day of repairs and modifications.

Gem's frantic mind raced back and forth, her eyes shifting between her food and the clock. The science fair was only hours away and they were pressed for time. If they couldn't find Linda before then, then the test was a failure and they'd have to settle on second best.

Worse still, if they do find her, would the drone be able to beat her this time? If not, then it would be destroyed again, and they did not have the time to rebuild.

Part of Gem and Hackman wished they would just leave Linda alone and settle on the successful capture of Carter as their prime evidence. Truthfully, however, deep down inside them, they all wanted to see Linda pay for the crimes she committed on basically everyone.

Dawn had her hopes high, munching on her half-eaten hotdog, keeping her eyes peeled for any clues on Linda's whereabouts. The drone sat waiting underneath the table for the ambush, Sunbeam keeping the controller on his lap for when the time arrived.

They would have probably gone to search for Linda themselves. However, being victims of her wrath had given them basically everything they needed to know about her hunting routine. If there's one place where Linda Jonah would be to terrorize her prey, it would be here at the cafeteria, preying upon unsuspecting occupants in the cafeteria and demanding their lunch or money.

And truly enough, they would have their predictions confirmed.

From out the doors, a large monster truck burst in, busting open the doors with a raging charge. The loud and violent entrance of Linda sent a brutal shockwave throughout everyone's spines, sounding the alarms of every person in the cafeteria, even the cafeteria lady. All of the students, including Gem and Hackman, ran for their lives. Everyone ran out the doors to safety, leaving the room empty. Gem and Hackman, on the other hand, decided to hide behind a pillar, watching in horror as the bully set her sights on the two lone students left at their table.

But with Linda's thunderous entrance, everyone virtually abandoned the cafeteria. Everyone except Sunbeam and Dawn… This was it. The bait had been set; time to catch them a bully.

At this point, everyone would have thought Sunbeam and Dawn were mad. Usually, they too would run; Sunbeam from out of pure terror while Dawn just enjoyed the thrill of being chased. Today, they did not even bother to stand, continuing to eat as normal. Linda must have thought they were being stupid, because they should know well by now, that everyone should run while she was around.

Alas, because of their apparent stupidity, she decided to target them anyway.

"Hey, kitty-cat!" she yelled. Again, where once her threats would send Sunbeam cowering in fear, now there was no response. Just a neutral hand wave and a general greeting.

"Hey, Linda." greeted Sunbeam before winking at Dawn. The two grinned, waiting for the bully to drive closer. Gem and Hackman remained far away, observing the showdown from behind the pillar. The doll prayed frantically while Hackman began to habitually assess the odds of success, as usual.

Linda didn't really care why the pair weren't running; all that mattered was that they were sitting still. So, she could probably call this her lucky day. She drove dangerously close to the boy first, engine growling and huffing a cloud of exhaust smoke onto him. Sunbeam did his best not to break down as his body was being bombarded with fear and trauma. It was like visiting a great white shark in the ocean, but without the safety cage. A carnivore was about to pounce on him and his mind was telling him to run.

But he stayed his course. This is exactly what everyone needed; to have Linda at the moment of great vulnerability and allow their drone to seize the opportunity. All hopes laid on that tiny upgrade; the apparently nuclear explosion—level experimental AI chip that was implanted into KIYOMI. There weren't any visible changes to the drone after the insertion of the chip, but he hoped that the upgrade would work when in action.

So, he sat by, taking out the second sandwich from his lunch bag and proceeding to take a bite, in an attempt to goad Linda into threatening him further.

"I see you've brought lunch, peasant." growled Linda. "Care to pay your taxes?"

"Actually, I'm keeping my lunch for today." Despite the threat, Sunbeam defied her, taking one more bite as an insult.

"Oh… so you think you can rebel against me, do 'ya?!" roared Linda, booming with anger. Her tires dragged on the tiled floor, revving up for retaliation. Her eyes shot themselves onto Sunbeam with all her vigour. She raised her front part of her body like a stallion ready to charge with flames bursting out of her exhaust pipes. The fiery display of rage proved to be overwhelming for the "I sentence you to death!"

The monster truck was about to slam her front wheels down and squash the insects who dared to resist her rule. Sunbeam then grabbed the controller from his lap and pressed the button. At once, the drone flew from out of the table and towards Linda, ready to make use of its modifications to subdue the bully once again.

It readied its net launcher to fire its electrical net on the monster truck, deploying the tubular cannon from out of its back and aimed right for her. Before Linda could get the jump on her, the drone then fired the net, launching a sparking net of cable wires large enough to envelop the truck down. The current channelling through the wires was sent firing away at the mechanical insides, shocking Linda in a frenzy of high voltage punishment. The power of the shock was tremendous enough to singe through her thick body. However, it wasn't enough to pin her down.

"Why that little-!" Linda spun around to see that useless piece of junk again. She'd laugh at how pathetic the kids were when they tried to rebuild it, but her anger was already built up to do some damage. She was about to throw up her cable arms from her dashboard to catch that drone and slam it down for her to roll over and crush.

But as she reached out, the drone successfully shifted to the side, buzzing around to avoid more of her attempts to catch it. Each time it dodged her, the truck grew angrier and angrier, getting more aggressive with her attacks.

Finally, after evading all of her moves, KIYOMI finally prepared its ultimate weapon; the highlight of the project. From its back, a new different cannon was deployed, larger and far more formidable in form. It aimed for Linda with a laser that beamed towards her face. Before she could react, the drone then fired the cannon, launching a massive ion blast that shocked the truck with greater power than the net.

The burst sent a stunning pulse throughout Linda's body, striking all circuits and wires that acted as her blood vessels and nerves. The full force of the blast shut down all activity in her body as she suffered from a spasm of pure shocking terror. After fidgeting wildly for a brief second, the truck fell onto the ground, tires spread out as she seemed to have fallen unconscious.

After the attack, Sunbeam and Dawn slowly and carefully approached the fallen bully, with Gem and Hackman still hiding behind their cover to await the results. The giant was dropped down like a sleeping bear, fried from the shock she received from the drone. Everyone came to see if it did the trick. Getting slowly closer, they inspected the body, watching out for the slightest sign of recovery. They bided their time, giving themselves a few seconds to check if Linda was going to remain motionless.

Five seconds in, as they came close enough, Sunbeam poked her front tire, checking for a sign. A few seconds later and the bully was still down for the count, unable to move. Her eyes were closed, telling them she was knocked out. Her breathing was at a calm slow, Otherwise, there seemed to be no waking up from this; Linda was finally beaten.

The drone came down to deliver the report on the bully, confirming what they all hoped for.

LINDA JONAH, SUBJECT WANTED FOR ONE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT COUNTS OF PHYSICAL ASSAULT, NINETY-THREE COUNTS OF MENTAL ABUSE, ONE THOUSAND COUNTS OF ACTIVE DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY THROUGHOUT ELMORE...

AND ONE COUNT OF ASSAULT ON ME...

SUBJECT MUST BE APPREHENDED AND SENT TO PRINCIPAL BROWN FOR EXTREME REHABILITATION.

If there was a way to describe their happiness, it would be like a grand celebration.

Their bodies couldn't contain the extra excitement that came from defeating someone who was once thought to be invincible. Years of being subjugated by Linda left them without hope of ever rising up against her.

Now, with one single drone, it was finally possible… The tyrant could fall, at last!

They cheered at the top of their lungs, bringing themselves into a group hug and jumping for joy for defeating Linda. Their drone continued to drift emotionless up above them as they celebrated the downfall of their worst foe yet. They kept their cheers up for the next minute, letting the joy settle in for a while. Sunbeam chortled with delight at seeing his worst enemy down on the ground, finally confirming to everyone that their newest creation was unstoppable. He could finally show their new project to the brilliant minds of the world and bring an end to bullying in schools throughout the world! They continued to cheer for another minute until the jumping stopped.

Sunbeam let go of his friends and finished his laughter, feeling victorious in achieving the impossible. He turned to tell his friends of what they shall achieve next, full of hope and confidence. When he looked at his friends after their cheers, he spotted something…

Off…

As they stopped laughing, Gem and Hackman faced each other with aspiring glee. Unfortunately for Sunbeam, it wasn't the happy kind of glee. His nerves began to tingle uncomfortably as he looked at their new faces. Their grins crept upwards a little more, almost wicked in a sense. Their teeth gritted with only unsettling giggles escaping their mouths. The irises in their eyes shrunk to tiny dots, making them look delirious, unhinged, mad…

Mad with power…

"With our drone, we won't need to fear anyone, anymore!" declared Hackman, uncharacteristically jumping into a dictatorial state of pride.

"It is our greatest weapon yet! Soon, we will distribute these to schools across the world! And with their service to the greater good of the student body, we will be rich!" added Gem, just as ambitious. With Linda Jonah defeated, their minds were expanding on the newer possibilities of utilizing their new toy against those who shall tremble before its lethal arsenal. The taste for revenge was almost too sweet for them to ignore.

Their sudden change of emotions threw Sunbeam into a mix of confusion and fright. The boy's body shivered awkwardly for being in the presence of two whacked-out students, flabbergasted by how they just turned from young, excited hopefuls to delusional, power-hungry psychos the next second. Soon, he realized that their greatest prize proved to be too great…

"I'm starting to think this whole thing's getting into their heads, Dawn." he tried to talk to the fox girl, but then, he noticed that she wasn't around as well. "Dawn?"

"Guys, I have an idea." Then, much to Sunbeam's fear, Dawn looked to be just as grimly wicked as the others were, lost in the power of their weapon. Again, his worries grew exponentially, fearing the worst out of this development. The boy didn't like where she was going with this 'idea' she had. An idea from Dawn Luna could only mean the worst possible thing anyone could ever think of, and now that she joined the circle of, obsessed with power, the world was about to turn upside down.

"We can use our drone not just for the bullies!" declared Dawn, so loud that the whole school could hear her.

"What?!" screamed Sunbeam.

"Yeah! There are people out there who have defied us, called us losers and made a fool out of us!" agreed Hackman.

"Maybe we can help those who felt rejections in their lives and make them rise from the ashes of humiliation and defeat!" reasoned Gem.

"Yes! Nothing will stop us now!" With Dawn's final cry, the trio laughed evilly. Lightning began to flash outside with roars of thunder adding to the sudden thrill of fear.

Outside the cafeteria, Dawn then stood at the middle of the doorway, hands pushed against her hips as she faced a crowd of onlookers who bore witness to the events that unfolded. What Sunbeam saw in their faces, however, was not what he wanted to see. Instead of the happy cheers and grateful cries of celebration he envisioned from the students, there was only utter, destructive fear. Boys and girls turning white by the sheer power of their drone, fearful by what had been declared aloud by Gem and Hackman. And what was worse; Dawn was just as wild with her aspirations as they were!

At the violent sound of her voice, Dawn made everyone tremble in fear, causing them all to run for their lives as she boldly declared her power over them.

"That's right, you fools! Run while you can!" she taunted with an evil laugh. "We have created the tool that shall bring your demise!"

Sunbeam became unsettled by what was happening. His friends were turning into madmen! By bringing down Linda, they had become too addicted to the power their drone brought.

For a moment, Sunbeam, too, felt the temptation try to take hold of him, giving him a small picture of what they saw from using their drone for such control over the school and onwards. People used to look down on him, too. At times, he felt like he deserved to rise up and take chances to climb up the popularity ladder and become one of the greatest students in all of Elmore.

But by the time he realized what was happening to his friends, the fear and doubt had already taken over him, stopping him from giving into the temptation. He saw his friends falling into a state of villainous delight right before he could think about joining them. That was enough to save him from a psychopathic descent into madness.

Finally, the boy could not wait any longer. He would try and make them snap out of their lust for power and reason with them about the true purpose of the drone before it was too late

"Guys!" he yelled angrily. "The drone was supposed to be our project! To protect the innocent! Not to destroy!" But the three of them laughed, ignorant of his pleas. Dawn then shook her head, chuckling evilly at the boy.

"Sunbeam, Sunbeam, Sunbeam…" she laughed. "What's the point of peace if people like them are going to keep coming back?" Then, with a fist in the air, she roared again. "I say we keep using it to bring order to the school! No one will mess with us ever again!" The three kids laughed wickedly with unnerving vigour, bent on dominating the entire student body and beyond with their greatest weapon.

But for Sunbeam, the trio was becoming nothing more than a pack of rabid wolves, ready to exterminate the entire food chain. Unleashed, they would wreak havoc among the community, and that was putting it broadly in Watterson standards!

This had to stop. If he was to save all of the school, and of course, his own life, Sunbeam had to counteract before they would go too far. He was going to put a stop to this, even if he was going to be mangled to death by three crazy friends.

"Okay! That's it!" He jumped forward and grabbed the controller on the table, standing on top of it and looking down at his friends. The trio spotted the device in their supposed teammate's hands, triggered by shock and betrayal that one of their own had yet to see their ways.

"What are you doing?!" screamed Gem.

"Taking the controller back! You guys have clearly lost it!" yelled Sunbeam.

"Give that back!" shouted Hackman, charging for the controller. The tablet then reached his hands out to grab the controller, catching Sunbeam by surprise. The cat boy held onto his device, struggling to resist against Hackman's pull on it. Then, the two girls joined in, pulling Hackman and adding to the tension. An unfair tug-of-war ensued as three power-hungry kids fought against one sane boy.

"No!" With the force of three students against him, Sunbeam tried to even the odds. With his quick thinking, he transformed into his bear form, adding extra muscle to his side. "We need this for the science fair, not world domination!" The bear then pulled with immense strength, pulling the three all the way up and tossing them aside. They crashed onto the floor in a pile, allowing Sunbeam the chance to escape.

However, Dawn's reflexes kicked in and she was the first to get back up. Just as Sunbeam transformed back to his kid form, she immediately jumped from the pile and tackled him down. Trapping him down, she tried to reach for the controller, but Sunbeam resisted, reaching his arm out as far as he could while trying to kick his way out.

While he was pinned, Gem ran out for the controller and snatched it right out of Sunbeam's hand as he struggled, running away. The boy then quickly kicked Dawn off of him, setting his sights on the fleeing doll before transforming into a falcon and flew for her. His blade-like wings flapped once before swooping down, with his talons aimed for Gem's right arm. With one swipe, the bird managed to rip the arm off with the controller literally in hand!

Bits of cotton 'bled' out of the hole made by the tearing. Thankfully, and because she's a doll, the pain was unfelt. Instead, Gem was angered by the move. She had her body parts ripped off before, so much so that it became just annoying at this point.

"Hey!" screamed Gem.

Sunbeam attempted to carry the controller, which was still held the hand of Gem's dismembered arm, and fly out of them room. He was about halfway to the doors to the hallway and off to safety.

Suddenly, the doors slammed themselves shut. Sunbeam didn't have enough time to react before he slammed himself straight into them, dropping the arm and the controller down on the floor. He fell face flat on the tiles, unable to see the controller until he was too late. By the time he looked up, Hackman already grabbed the controller and ran back to the group.

"Hehehehe…!" the little robot beeped happily as he ran back to his compatriots. Sunbeam came back to it and saw the tablet scatter away. Getting back up, he flew towards Hackman and proceeded to snatch the controller of the robot's hands. Pulling hard, he managed to hold on tightly as Sunbeam struggled to maintain his grip of the device. Sooner or later, the rest of the group joined in and pulled the bird down to pry him off. Instantly, Sunbeam then turned back into his normal form and tried to pull the controller back, despite the girls pinching him from both sides.

The tug-of-war ensued, with Hackman pulling from one end and Sunbeam on the other, while the latter was being tormented by the two girls.

"Let go!" warned Hackman.

"No! You let go!" argued Sunbeam, putting all of his energy into it. The pulling continued, unbroken for the next minute. Each passing second, the controller was slowly slipping away from Sunbeam, hands wetted with sweat and overcome by tiredness, not to mention the pain suffered from the two girls' fingers pressing hardly onto his skin.

Eventually, Sunbeam then tried to exert all he could to make one more pull to shake the tablet off his grip. Putting his strength out, the boy then threw his arms out, feeling the sudden release of the controller slip past his hands as his body bent backwards and threw the girls off of him.

Sunbeam turned to watch the controller fly backwards, high in the air before coming down towards the ground. However, where it would land would send a shivering chill down the boy's spine.

The drone had been flying idly by while the fight between its creators ensued, leaving it unable to respond without proper authorization over who shall be its target. So, for the whole debacle, it hovered without moving once. Unfortunately, it stayed right in the path of the flying controller.

The device slammed right onto the cervical centre of the drone; in other words, its head.

"Oh no!" shouted Sunbeam, forced to watch as his drone was hit square on the head. As the controller fell to the ground, it cracked into a few pieces, leaving bits of its shell scattered and wires coming out of the openings. As for the drone, the crash had left a big dent on its head. It was strong enough to cause sparks to fly out of it, making it fidget from the damage.

The robot fizzed and jolted, convulsing here and there as it suffered a malfunction from internal damage. It spun out of control, its arms flailing around madly. The kids watched on while it continued to spiral around without stop. After spoiling itself for a while, it then stopped, facing away from the kids in a state of suspense.

The three maddened members of the group had stopped being driven with power to witness what was happening to the drone, joining Sunbeam as if they didn't just try to choke him out of betrayal. They waited for a response from the drone, which still had its back facing them as they nervously stood by.

Then, without warning, the drone turned around and stared right at them, with its one eye glowing red. The sudden, intimidating glance frightened them as its new, dark look sent an evil, chilling shock to their bodies. The look on its lens presented a somewhat unhinged, angry aura that haunted their very souls. Worse still, its arms began to shake violently all around, adding more fear to its mad state of damage.

It then began to beep loudly. blurting out error warnings as it was unable to properly function.

ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!

EMERGENCY OVERRIDE, INITIATED!

Its systems were starting to be tampered by a combined state of internal damage and programming errors that it was forced to initiate a new, emergency initiative. An emergency initiative that was poorly planned on their part…

When it spoke, its voice evolved from its emotionless, neutral tone to a more menacing, diabolical one.

ALL STUDENTS MUST BE ELIMINATED!

Everyone made a collective gulp down their throats, panic already raised to the limit. The drone was setting its sights, and its targeting computer, onto them, bent on fulfilling its damaged programming. At its hands, large claws extended further, pinching together for the kill. The cannon on top opened up, but instead of using its non-lethal electric energy, a deadly glow of red shined from within the barrel, suggesting a more powerful weapon was being used. All of these sudden changes presented a more dangerous image for the drone, coming off as now a machine of destruction.

Its systems and weapons were now upgraded, poised to cause death, and everyone, including its creators, are a target!

"Uh oh…" gulped Gem. While she, Sunbeam and Hackman were shivering with fear, Dawn just scoffed, suddenly letting her fears go in her usual manner.

"Pfft! Relax! We made this thing, remember?" laughed Dawn. "We're like its parents. It can't possibly hurt us." To prove her point, she walked in front to face the still-glaring drone. Its red eye was staring her down, watching her walk up in defiance to its power.

Detecting her movement, the drone scanned the girl and, instantly, it delivered its results without a second thought.

DAWN LUNA! WANTED FOR CHARGES TOO VARIED TO COUNT…

PREPARING INSTANT TERMINATION!

Dawn reeled back in disbelief when the drone didn't recognize her as its master. Her confidence now turned into fright when the cannon came out to do her in. As it charged, she was about to make a run for it.

"Wait! Wait!" Suddenly, Sunbeam shouted out, jumping in front of Dawn and stopping the drone from firing. Standing up for his friend, he then tried to order it to shut down by his own means. "KIYOMI. I command you to shut down this instant! Code phrase: Graves!"

For a while, the drone didn't move, probably registering the code that Sunbeam called out. The boy eagerly waited for a good sign that his efforts had stopped the mad machine from destroying them.

CODE UNRECOGNIZED! Alas, the drone did not comply, its weapon still charging and programming set on finishing them all.

"What?!" screamed Sunbeam. "What do you mean?!"

SUNBEAM WATTERSON! YOU BEEN TARGETED FOR GIVING ME THE MOST RIDICULOUS NAME EVER! ACTION: PURE TORTURE AND SUFFERING BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS!

"Okay, start screaming…" yelped Sunbeam.

"RUN!" screamed Hackman, causing everyone to disperse. The drone then finished charging its cannon and fired a large laser beam that burned a big, charred hole on the floor. Missing its targets, it then began moving around, catching the kids in a frantic chase as they exited the cafeteria and ran straight out to the halls.

Engulfed in another hectic run through the hallways, the four kids ran for their dear lives, followed furiously by their crazed drone. It fired away, letting loose deadly lasers throughout the corridors, hitting the walls, lockers and doors, spreading more fear towards anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way of the onslaught.

The group continued to run their way through the halls, bent on finding their way out of the school. Their run soon took them to a pair of red doors. Desperately, they were about to open them up and enter, without ever considering about what they might find inside.

"Wait! Stop! That's where…!" Gem tried to warn them, but it was too little too late. When they opened the doors, they simply ran right in. They found themselves in the basketball court; the place where Gem hoped they wouldn't be right now…

"The science fair is…"

The kids looked around in panic to find the entire science fair before them, already set up and about to begin. All around the court, there were the students who were preparing their projects for the event. The teachers were at one corner of the room, discussing with each other. No one seemed to be interested in what these four kids were running from, unaware of the danger that was coming.

In an effort to block the drone out, Sunbeam spotted the nearest table he could find, which was already occupied by someone else's project; a stack of… Cheese?

Yet, to save their skins, he just grabbed the table up and ran for the door, dropping the entire wobbly tower of sticky substance onto the ground as it splattered all over the floor. Its owner, one of the students in Sunbeam's class, screamed in horror as his project was utterly demolished before his eyes.

"My tower of cheese! NOOO!" he screamed, kneeling to the ground in pure defeat.

Meanwhile, despite the drama that he had caused, Sunbeam then threw the table against the door, barricading themselves in. The noise from the throw, however, did not go unnoticed.

Hearing the sudden crash on the door, the teachers were alerted to the sound. When they spotted the four kids leaning against the table, one of them, Principal Brown, grew exasperated by the commotion. Leaving the two other teachers behind, the walking pile of hair made his way to the children, face gruff as ever. Once again, he was forced to witness Sunbeam and Dawn in the act again; a little shocked that the more obedient Gem and Hackman were in it as well. Whatever stunt they were trying to pull, he was about to set them straight.

"Watterson!" exclaimed Nigel. The kids, however, were too busy trying to hold the door down to give him their attention. "What are you doing?!" Sunbeam figured there was no point hiding what was about to burst right in, so he laid the whole truth out and hoped that the principal would see the reason to trust him.

"Well, you see, Principal Brown… There's a killer drone outside and it's about to incinerate all of us!" he shouted in alarm, catching some of the students by surprise and putting them in a state of panic as well.

However, the old man wasn't so convinced. If he knew anything from the Wattersons, anything they say would most likely be an excuse to steer away from any responsibility. Here, he must have thought Sunbeam's little stunt was one such excuse, but it was one too farfetched for even this sceptical victim of his antics.

"I have no time for your games, boy." groaned Principal Brown, clipboard being held in his armpit as he placed his fists onto his hips, bending forward to stare the boy in the face. "The fair is about to begin. Do you have your project or not?"

Just as Sunbeam was about to insist, he was soon blown back by a sudden force behind them.

BOOM!

An explosion threw the table and the kids back, busting the doors open in a brilliant, hot flash that stunned the entire court. The shockwave produced sent a shattering force that nearly threw everyone away by the blast. Everyone's startled faces turned to the explosion in alarm, stopping whatever they were doing to bear witness to the sheer terror that was about to enter.

From the smoke, a floating silhouette emerged, flashing a red dot at its centre. Its sharp fingers fiddling together gave off a sinister vibe, adding more anxiety throughout the court. When it cleared through the smoke, it finally revealed itself to the masses. Where Sunbeam's group wanted to display it as a hopeful symbol of anti-bullying prowess, it now came as a menacing evil that was about to incinerate everyone!

While the whole room fell dreadfully silent in fear, Sunbeam pointed up at the drone to tell Principal Brown what was in front of them.

"That's our project, sir…"

"EVERYONE, RUN!" screamed Principal Brown, sending the entire science fair into a frenzy. Everyone abandoned the spectacle of the fair and began running around like a herd of sheep being hunted by a wolf. Like a predator, the drone scanned every single person in the room and immediately registered them all as targets for termination.

The drone then fired its laser all over the place, causing people to duck and jump in utter panic. The tables and stalls were being levelled, either stomped to the ground by the feet of fleeing people as they tried to escape or being cut down by the drone's laser. Science projects of all varieties and functionalities were utterly destroyed by the beams, but no one seemed to care as their lives were at stake.

At one instance, Principal Brown wasn't able to dodge the laser and it barely singed through a layer of his hair, exposing a bit of burnt skin before he was caught on fire from the blast. He ran with a burning flame behind his back, frantically rushing for the washroom to extinguish the flame.

Meanwhile, while the court was being vacated, Sunbeam and his friends hid underneath a still-standing table, which had barely survived the initial onslaught. While the screams died down, they began to contemplate their creation, their madness for power already gone. Except for Dawn, of course, who was still relishing in the destruction her drone was causing.

Sunbeam peeked from behind the table cloth, seeing the drone destroying more of the room. Sweat was pouring down his face faster than rain on a stormy day. His nerves jittered madly under his skin, causing him to slowly tremble in fear as he witnessed the raw carnage his invention was ensuing. The fright was shared by Gem and Hackman behind him, who were crawled up under the same table.

"You think we can still get an A+ out of this?" gulped Hackman.

"How can you think about grades at a time like this?!" hushed Gem. "There's always a time for optimism. And then, there's a time for blood-curdling screams!"

"Dawn! This is all our fault!" cried Sunbeam. "We fuelled that thing with too much power and now, everyone's a target!" Unlike the three of them, Dawn was still relishing in the chaos, as usual. Out of everyone who had been driven mad, she was still stuck in that state.

"I know! Soon, the entire school will bend to our will! Even the teachers would be wise never to mess with us kids again! Isn't that great?!" she bellowed with pride and joy.

"NO!" shouted Sunbeam, grabbing Dawn by the collar with both hands and shook her up. "It's the complete opposite of great! We're going to die! Snap out of it, girl!"

Then, the table began to lift up, bringing light back into the shade. When the kids looked up, they saw the drone stretching its one arm up to raise the table, while the other pinched several times, eager for the kill.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Everyone, even Dawn, ran away, just in time before it fired another laser beam, drilling a deep, charred hole within the polished wooden floor. The kids ran off to the exit on the other side of the gym, but were then intercepted by the drone. It then fired its laser onto the door, blasting away at the doors and leaving a blazing fire at the doorway, trapping them inside. With no exit in sight, they then scurried for the next cover they could find.

Everyone broke out into different directions, running away as the drone chased them all around. Hackman ran here and there, barely avoiding the beams of firepower with what many would perceive as dumb luck. When the drone switched targets and fired towards Gem, the one-armed doll skipped desperately around, also narrowly dodging laser blasts as she went.

While those two were being chased around helplessly, Sunbeam and Dawn jumped behind a table that had fallen on its side. What looked like a puddle of slime from another student's project covered their feet. With the deadly robot distracted by the other two, they were able to catch their breath for a short while. Shortly afterwards, Sunbeam grew restless after hearing the destruction going around in the background, watching Hackman and Gem running around for their lives while his robot was trying to vaporize them.

"What do we do?" cried Sunbeam. "If this keeps up, it'll trash the whole school." The more it blasted, the more devastated the gym was. Now that the science fair was totalled, it had to

"Hey, it's not our fault you named that thing KIYOMI in the first place." argued Dawn.

"Well, what about that AI chip? I told you it was a bad idea to use it!" countered Sunbeam.

"No, you didn't. You were just as excited as I was when we put it in there. You were like… 'DEW IT! Make the transaction!' Remember?" joked Dawn.

"Okay, fine! We need to switch it off!" said Sunbeam. He then held out what was left of his controller, still in a state of disrepair. "Too bad the controller's all busted." Taking her turn to look, Dawn then peeked over the table to find the drone. By then, Gem and Hackman were already gone, behind some other table. She then pointed towards the robot, where she wanted Sunbeam to look at.

"There! The off switch!" The boy took a closer look and saw a red button at the rear of the drone. He couldn't believe that Dawn had to choose the most impossible spot where they would switch off a rogue device in any emergency. It's like trying to wrestle down a hungry grizzly bear with rabies on steroids… with a laser cannon attached to its back!

"You put the off switch on the freaking robot?!" screamed Sunbeam in disbelief.

"Hey! You wanted it to be fool proof, so I put it in the place where no one can reach it." defended Dawn.

"No one including us?" countered Sunbeam as he slapped his forehead.

"I thought it was a good idea at the time!" added Dawn. Sunbeam shook his head, choosing to ignore the debate and focused back on the drone.

"Well, we better shut the drone down!" he reminded.

"Okay." agreed Dawn. "So how do we do that?" Sunbeam resisted the urge to smack-talk her at this point, thinking she would know something when she was the one built the button on the drone in the first place.

There was no time for intricate strategies or tactical analysis. This was a desperate situation that was building up rapidly, so they could not stall any longer. Action was needed, the school needed to be saved and more importantly, they had to do something, or it's off to the principal's office for the worst offences.

"The only thing we can do…" sighed Sunbeam before rising up with bravado and gusto. "Rush right in and take it down!"

"That's it? That's all you could think of?" said Dawn, deadpanned by the lack of a better plan.

"Sorry. I can't really plan things when we're being attacked like this." said Sunbeam, scratching the back of his head.

"Fine. Then, we're going to need some weapons." suggested Dawn, looking around for anything useful that the science fair might have. Besides herself, someone would be bound to have created something destructive sooner or later.

"Don't need one." said Sunbeam, cracking up a wise grin before he jumped out from behind the table. His whole body then transformed into his turtle form and stood upright, with his back facing the drone to use his shell as a shield. He didn't know how much firepower he'd take, but it was worth the risk to immobilize it. "I am the weapon!" Getting behind the shell, Dawn prepared to move out, doing whatever she did best at the moment; bare claws and everything.

When the two kids popped out, the drone immediately turned around after detecting the presence of the children behind it. Locking onto the turtle, it then loaded up another cannon and aimed for them.

THREATS DETECTED! SWITCHING TO STAPLER ROUNDS!

From out the barrel, a barrage of tiny, sharp stapler clips fired like a machinegun towards the hard shell. The pelleting bullets rapidly bounced off Sunbeam, protecting Dawn from behind. His body vibrated with the wave of bullets clinking against him while the fox girl pushed the turtle forward and slowly inched towards the drone so she could get a closer shot.

Slowly, they got closer and closer; the drone's weapon still firing away, unable to puncture through the rock-hard shell. Dawn kept hiding behind the turtle, pushing him on until Sunbeam would give her the signal to jump up and attack. After a while, the drone stopped firing, with its cannon out of ammo.

"Now!" Sunbeam shouted. Leaping above him, Dawn then ninja-jumped over his head and pounced on the drone, attempting to reach for the rear and press the button. She grabbed on tightly on its top, wrapping her arms around it as it then tried to wrestle her off. Like a bull-rider trying to tame his beast, she kept her hold for dear life as the wild robot jumped up and down, spinning rapidly to throw her off. She crept up closer to the reset button, bracing the tremendous force of the spinning and swinging.

After a round of mad shaking, the drone then threw its arms back and managed to grab Dawn, throwing her off and sending the girl flying back to Sunbeam. She then crashed right into the boy and they both fell to the ground, forcing the former to morph back into his normal form.

Slightly concussed, they both then got back up dizzily, rubbing their heads from the nausea they suffered. When they recovered, they saw the drone aiming at them again after reloading its stapler gun. It fired the weapon again, unleashing another round of clips onto them. They dodged the incoming bullets, rolling away and running in separate directions.

Sunbeam took cover behind the broken remains of a machine made by another student, its burning wreck protecting him from the hailstorm of stapler clips that clattered all over it. Dawn, on the other hand, leapt to a nearby stall, where another student had lost his homemade volcano. The burning mountain made of rubber and filled with hot sauce instead of actual lava, much to her disappointment, laid on its side, spewing out a blob of sauce onto the floor. Settling with it anyway, Dawn picked it up and pressed a remote button to fire the volcano onto the drone.

"THAR, SHE BLOWS!"

The volcano then blew its top, firing a blast of 'lava' all over the drone. The sauce splattered all over it, which then proceeded to burn into the insides. It spun around in utter, robotic agony, fidgeting with sparks and jolting without control. The purple metal hull reddened from the searing hot sauce that was melting through the durable metal.

While the machine burned, Sunbeam then took his turn to reach for the button. He flapped his wings hard and zoomed for the drone, zipping around it and attempted to press the button. However, KIYOMI was able to catch him before he could grab hold of it, spinning over and narrowly dodging the boy. Sunbeam flew past it and was unable to stop himself before he then painfully crashed into the brick wall, blasting a huge hole into it.

With Sunbeam out of the way, Dawn then took matters into her own hands, grabbing what looked like a giant Swiss-army knife from another booth. She flipped out a large pair of cutters and proceeded to charge with a vicious roar. She swung the cutters down to try and deal some massive damage, but the drone evaded the attack, shifting to the side before snatching the giant knife away and throwing Dawn to the ground.

After crashing to the floor, Dawn rubbed her head, suffering a bit more pain to the head. Her visage then focused on the drone as it charged another laser beam at her. Before the cannon fired, the drone was then knocked by something that zoomed towards it, hitting it and forced it to fire the beam upwards into the roof, breaking another hole in the school.

The zooming figure then zipped in front of Dawn, revealing himself to be Sunbeam in a weasel form. He then transformed back into his normal form and helped his friend up. But before they could take on their drone again, the machine was able to get a lock on them again and fired more stapler rounds at them. The two ran for cover and leapt into a huge diorama of a… trench warfare display? Regardless whether it was out of place in a science fair or not, they jumped into the dugout trench, barely avoiding the painful barrage from hitting them.

The bullets kept hitting the edge of the trench, pinning the kids down. Dressed in military uniforms, they kept their heads down, their ears somewhat ringing from the endless riddling of shells. Soon, the colour around them turned bleak and the next thing they knew it, they were starting to hear explosions in the background, coming from the drone's lasers.

"Cover me!" shouted Sunbeam, like a military officer. "We're going over the top!"

"What?!" yelled Dawn, pulling him back and sounding like a soldier. "But that's suicide!" Sunbeam grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her back and forth, rebuking her for her lack of a spine.

"Where's your honour, soldier?!"

"What are you talking about?! We're kids, not soldiers!" yelled Dawn. "And why are we suddenly in the middle of the Great War?! Did Patty build a war set for a science fair?!"

"Don't you ruin this epic parody scene for me!" yelled Sunbeam before letting her go. From the ground, he grabbed something made out of a broom with some metal parts and a roll of tissue paper in the end, possibly to resemble a rifle since the story is basically for kids and the network would sue me if I actually include a weapon in it, even if it's a fanfiction…

Dawn picked up another makeshift weapon and prepared to follow Sunbeam to the fight, the field still hammered by the drone's attack.

Around his neck, Sunbeam grabbed the whistle, blowing hard and signalling to his only soldier to jump out and attack.

"CHARGE!" The two roared loudly in full glorious fashion, running blindly towards the enemy with the sole intention of defeating it once and for all. To save their country, or school for the matter, they would rush through the fire and take out their enemy, no matter the cost. They would go out in a blaze of glory if they had to…!

If only their imagination was just as awesome as it would be in real life…

Instead of being knocked back by an explosion, Sunbeam got whacked out by a roll of tissue paper, immediately ending the imaginative scenario with all the glorious music and bravado gone in an instant.

Dawn stopped to see Sunbeam fall down in the most anticlimactic way possible. She then looked up at the drone, realizing the stupid move she just made, holding a fake weapon in her hands. Chuckling sheepishly, she dropped it down on the ground, backing off as the drone moved in for the win.

It hovered over Sunbeam, sensing that he was already knocked out for him to pose any threat. All there was left was Dawn Luna, ripe for the taking. She kept rearing back, just as the drone was about to finally vaporize her with its laser weapon.

As Dawn braced for the killing blow, she waited eagerly for another brief moment to recollect her life before her eventual death… only to hear Sunbeam yell out.

"Psyche!" When she opened her eyes, Dawn saw Sunbeam throwing a lone brick that had fallen from one of the explosions. The object then flew right for the drone and, finally, hit the rear, pressing hard on the button.

A little too hard, unfortunately…

The drone then began to fizz out uncontrollably, spinning wildly with its arms again swinging in all directions. The off button was completely wrecked by the throw that it was pushed right into the hole. The messed up circuits inside soon sent the drone into a malfunctioning frenzy, fidgeting like crazy until, finally, it fell to the ground, bursting into flames, ending the chaos for good.

After the drone fell, Sunbeam and Dawn looked at the burning wreckage, slowly approaching it to make sure it was gone. They gave it a minute to confirm that the drone was finally out of commission.

Sunbeam began to tear up, a wet droplet escaped his eye as he moped silently for another 'death' of his favourite console. He knelt down, picking up a piece of the console that had broken off from the drone, clenching his fist to embrace what remained of the Z-Cube.

"My Z-Cube…" wept the boy. By his side, Dawn comforted him with a pat on the back, assuring him that she could get it repaired.

"I can fix it, bro." she told him. It was good to know that whatever Dawn could destroy, she could fix it just as good, mainly so she could destroy it over and over again. but she also liked playing with the Z-Cube, and she would restore it to its prime.

But for now, the chaos was over. As much as Dawn wanted to keep going, there was already so much they could take. Even the two biggest troublemakers of Elmore had to have their break. Their bodies were already bruised and burnt enough as it was, so they might as well enjoy the peace while it lasted…

But they weren't about to enjoy it anytime soon…

"WATTERSON! LUNA!" The loud yell of Principal Brown shook them to their core, the man already on his way to get some things done with them. His hair was blackened with soot, burnt from the laser that singed through him earlier, but his temper was much more flaring hot, furious with another shenanigan pulled by the infamous duo. "Do you two have any idea what you have done?!"

"Uh… demonstrating our science project?" answered Sunbeam, shrugging his shoulders.

"This is not a science project…" Nigel Brown urged, pointing his finger at the destruction with vigour. "This… is a weapon of mass destruction!" Groaning with frustration, the man rubbed his hairy temples, shaking his head in disappointment. Another disastrous round of bills and renovations were going to made after this was over. As for the fair, a chance for Elmore Junior High to be recognized had been lost once again…

"What am I going to do with you two?" he groaned. "Actually, where are your teammates?"

"Here, sir." From behind him, Gem and Hackman, both battered just as much, came up to answer to the teacher. Even if they were victims in this disaster, they too could not deny that they were responsible for the drone as well. So, they had no choice but to submit themselves for punishment, joining their two other teammates in the blame game.

"Since you four had come up with a rather monstrous machine, I would have given you all an F." urged the Principal. The four had figured this was the way to go. Gem took the news very badly, of course, while Hackman was forced to sigh in discontent for another flaw in his programming. But then, Principal Brown was about to give them a little bit of good news. "But since no one else had their projects laid out and the fair needs a winner, I suppose I can give you an D- for being the only ones with a project."

"Yes!" Sunbeam cheered. His teammates, however, didn't share his optimism. "Not an F!" But before Sunbeam could jump for joy, Principal Brown then handed him a broom, ceasing the joy and putting the team to work on cleaning up the mess.

"Now, start cleaning up."

"Darn it…"

And so, an hour was spent cleaning up the aftermath of the quagmire that happened today. Four disgruntled students, sweeping and mopping up the charred remains of a fair that they hoped to find excellence in, only for it all to come burning down, literally.

Sunbeam was busy sweeping up the wreckage of his drone, keeping it all in a black garbage bag so he could bring it back home and have Dawn repair it. Amidst the punishment, he started to realize the importance of today's fiasco.

"Hey, at least we all learnt an important lesson today." cleared Sunbeam.

"That we should never build deadly robots with laser eyes and crushing hands?" said Dawn.

"That revenge does not equate to justice?" added Hackman.

"That having you two as lab partners is a death sentence?" groaned Gem.

"Nope! We learnt that we should use living animals as our next science project! I'm thinking; lizard transformations! Wouldn't it be cool if we made a dinosaur out of one?!"

Then, as he chortled on with delusions of grandeur, Sunbeam soon found himself alone; his teammates gone without a trace. The equipment they were using had dropped to the ground, leaving the boy all on his own…

"Guys?"