42. Cheap Trinkets

The smiley face on my shirt squinted at Chuck warily. He waved it off. "It'll be fine."

When the Gem awakens to call a Hero, the world is ill prepared...and its fate is placed in the hands of a 17 year old boy, named Wendell. 

Some will say this is nothing but a tale of fiction.
Let them think as they may. 

After all...I can't fix stupid.

Previously: After Nat, Alhannah and Wendell (in a box), go to meet the richest gnome in Clockworks City in hope of a sponsorship…they ended up with a less-than-encouraging agreement.

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Anyone can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

…pull a hat out of a rabbit, then we’ll talk.

“That was it?” Chuck asked.

“That’s all he had to say — then the butler showed us to the front door and when I got the crate outside, I’m gonna say slammed it shut.”

“It was an enormous door, Alhannah,” Nat called from the other room, “he didn’t slam it shut.”

She snorted and scrunched her nose with a nod. “He definitely slammed it.”

“Will it be enough money? You seem worried,” I asked.

Taking another sip of coffee, Alhannah shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably. But we’re going to have to do this old school. Cut the corners we can and make up for it in skill." She took a sip, then grinned in her cute, mischievous way. "Like the first couple of seasons, when I won. It was simpler then. We all had gigantic machines wrapped around us, but we were limited to using mundane weapons. Swords, clubs, bars, chains — even guns, but they were basic. Not like now.”

What seemed odd to me was how calm I felt about all this. Still had no clue about piloting a giant mechanical robot, and I was not looking forward to having my 'bits' shaved off to be a gnome. But I felt no fear. This all felt more doable. More possible, because technology wasn't as foreign to me as magic.

I took the last bite of my sandwich. “What do they use now?”

“Gadgets,” she scoffed. “Lasers, radio controlled do-dads and heat seeking whatchamacallits. Doesn’t take much talent when all you have to do is pull a trigger and the weapons find you. I heard they even have robotic pets now!”

“Not yet,” called Nat. “They haven’t ruled on it yet, but it is under consideration.”

“What’s the point?!” she shouted back. “This was supposed to be about combat, pilots fighting against one another. Not some freak show!”

“I don’t know,” I said, wiping my face, “I think Mr. Bellows might be right.”