The ship's hull creaked and groaned as the port activated motion freezing magic to stop the ship. Oliver looked up as the hanger clicked into a slot on the dock. He liked to keep it open when possible but now, he saw a group stepping onto the hangar platform.
"Uh oh." He said as he realized they were there for him. Oliver stands up and wipes his oil-stained hands on his shirt, his wielding goggles still on. The 7 people approaching him stop and the 6 guards split to the sides in groups of 3 to let the young man wearing an official-styled uniform through.
"I take it you are young Oliver Gearsmith?" The man asked with skepticism in his voice as he looked Oliver up and down then gazed at the suit that Oliver had been fixing when the ship had docked. His gaze softened and anyone could see that his brain was racing as he tried to figure out how it worked.
"Uh, Yes sir, I'm Oliver Gearsmith. Might I ask who you are?" Oliver saw the man about to pick up a piece of the suit's custom Magi-thrusters.
"Ah, Sir caref..." Oliver trailed off as the Magi-thruster activated and shot out of the man's hands. It shot around the hangar till it smacked into a small transport boat and sputtered to a stop.
"Uhhh, I'm guessing that was not intended to happen, Oliver? Oh! Yes, greetings, I am the head of this fine institute. My name is James Cogworsth. I am the Headmaster here. I heard about your exploit recently, the one where you took your Flux-Mana Suit for a ride to clear the weather. And while it was a commendable act, You were instructed to bring the Suit in for testing here," James said with a trace of frustration in his voice. "The King and his advisors are already here to see the initial tests. What am I to tell them now that it's broken!" Anger grew in James' voice.
Just then the captain and a few crew entered the hangar.
"Aah James, My friend I didn't know you knew our smart young Oliver! Are you up for some drinks with me and the boys later kiddo!?" Mellanox slapped James on the back causing him to stumble forward.
"Perhaps later Hubert, right now I'm in the middle of reprimanding this young man for breaking the suit that was to be tested in front of his majesty," James' face lit up as though he had a genius idea. "Hubert, Would you be willing to help repair it?"
Hubert stroked his graying beard as he thought. "Hmm, I might be able to. Is that workshop still there?"
Oliver stood confused as the two began planning and talking about how they could get the suit fixed in time. After a few minutes, James looked back at Oliver. "You and Hubert will be heading to the Clockwork Lab. I want that Suit fixed by tomorrow," James said exhausted. He shook his head as he headed out, returning to his office.
After a bit, Hubert and his crew moved to the lab and began to assist Oliver with repairing the suit. It grew in size as parts were changed and as the next morning drew near the Suit stood finished in the Lab's workshop. "So we did it, kid," Hubert yawned, covered in charcoal, oil, and other things from assisting Oliver with the redesign and build. The crew had all fallen asleep around 3 in the morning.
Oliver looked at Hubert and smiled. "It was initially 6'6' but now it's 20'. You think James is gonna let it go that the design is completely different?" Oliver asked as he set the wrench down in the tool bin.
"He'll have to take it as it is Oliver. Now go get yourself to the food hall and grab some food. Don't think I missed that you haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday. I finished cleaning up and doing the few last-minute adjustments."
Oliver nodded and stretched. The smock he was wearing was covered in various materials. He took it off with a grunt and headed out. The lab was located off to the side of the academy and had been unused for a few decades. He ran his hands through his dusty brown hair. He sneezed as the dust fell out. As he walked he thought of a few alternations he would love to make to the new Suit which the team and he had decided to call the Flux Mech Mk1.
As Oliver entered the dorms a bell jingled. The receptionist looked up as the door opened revealing a tired and dirty Oliver. "Uh, can I help you?" She asked confused and nervous about who the stranger before was. Curfew had started at 9 the previous night now it was nearly 4 in the morning.
"Yeah, My name is Oliver Gearsmith. I have a double status here and was wondering if you could tell me where I'm supposed to go for my room."
The receptionist's attitude changed into professionalism as she flipped through a book that said Where all the student's rooms were. "Uh, Mr. Oliver you are also a professor according to this. As such you don't have a dorm room. You are supposed to use your own house in the city.'" Oliver felt his face go pale. "You mean I don't have a dorm..." Oliver could feel panic setting in through his confused exhaustion.
" Yes, All professors are to use their private residences while they stay at the academy." The receptionist hit a button on a device that had a rod you could talk into. A small vocal transmission magic circle on the rod lets her voice travel to the matching circle and vice versa. "Yes, sorry Curtis, Mr. Oliver Gearsmith is here and doesn't seem to have a residence. Uh-huh, ok, yes I will tell him that." She hit a button and the magic circle on the rod disappeared.
"I have been informed that due to your double status as a student and professor, you may have a dorm room as well. However, there is a small problem. All the rooms in the men's wing are full and the the only opening is in a room with a female student, would you be willing to try talking to her?" She began to stand up after Oliver nodded. "Follow me then sir." She guided Oliver through the building till they reached a room on the second floor. "Room 4529, this is the one please wait a moment." The light on the other side is shown through the slit at the bottom of the door.
Knock, Knock "Miss Flora? Are you available for a bit?" The secretary called out. A commotion was heard on the other side. "One Second please Miss. Polarus, I need to put on a shirt first!" Flora called back through the door. Ms. Polarus glanced at Oliver who was blushing at what he had just heard. "Get your mind out of the gutter young man!" Ms. Polarus snapped and smacked the top of his head.
The door opened and a short cute girl popped her head out. What is it ... AAAHHHH!" Flora's face was red as she slammed the door. Oliver could have sworn he saw her panties. A hurried clattering of metal and ruffling of cloth came from beyond the door. She reopened the door face redder than a tomato. Um, sorry bout that, Oliver watched the short girl step into the hallway, this time wearing a bottom, though he could tell from a glance that she had hurried to dress. Ms. Polarus caught his gaze and raised her hand. Oliver quickly looked away and Ms. Polarus dropped her hand with a hrmph.
"Ms. Flora, Might you be willing to share your dorm room with this man? This is the new professor and a new student named Oliver Gearsmith." Ms. Polarus introduced Oliver as he studied Flora. She had a large chest for her size and even bordered sexy. However, her face could make anyone think Cute and drew attention with her purple eyes that seemed to hold the twilight in them.
"Hey there," Oliver said He had cleaned up as they had walked through the building on the way here. Ms. Polarus had been insistent that he needed to at least wipe away the oil, a few streaks remained but for the most part, he had cleaned up well with a towel.
Flora looked him over. "So, My roommate is a boy?" She said interested, spotting the book that was worn and over-stuffed with various papers, one of which she could see was a blueprint of the Flux Mech Mk1's cockpit. The only thing on her mind was seeing the rest of the design when she answered "Sure thing, But give me a bit to clean up. The common space is a mess 'cause I thought it was just gonna be me." She ran back into the room and more clattering and ruffling, as well as a couple of curses, could be heard. Less than a minute later Flora opened the door panting as sweat dripped off her forehead. Come in, your room is the room to the left. Oliver glanced around the room and spotted the workspace each dorm common room had for the students to use for homework.
"Sorry, but are you making a Flux capacitor?" he said walking over to her workspace. The partially assembled Flux Capacitor sat inner working partly assembled. When he had moved to her workspace he dropped his book on the common table. The book opened like a spring finally being let go after being squished. Papers flew everywhere. Flora eyed them like they were masterpieces and headed to Oliver. "yeah but I can't get it to start. It keeps spinning up the Flux but not translating its amount stored," She said staring at the Capacitor like it was evil.
"Makes sense. You have the Flux sensor backward and the Mana converting array
is off by a few strokes, also the main transmission coil is shot, it looks like it burned out about 9 tries ago," Oliver said. Ms. Polaris shook her head and left the two of them to talk, After a bit the two of them fell asleep at the table, both slouched over their ends of the table as the capacitor sat between them nearly finished, Flora shook Oliver awake as someone hammered on their door, "Oliver! We're late, It's 9 am and classes started at 8, Quick get ready!" She hissed, Oliver could see that she had just woken up herself from how disheveled her clothes were, her shirt showing part of her bra which made him quickly look away, Oliver ran to the door and opened it once Flora had entered the bathroom, the various papers from his book still were scattered and the Flux capacitor they had fallen asleep working on still had bits strewn across the room, James was at the door. Anger was plain on his face. "You're late. The first class you were supposed to teach has already ended and the royals are waiting." Just then Flora came out of the bathroom in a towel, James glanced at her. "So the meeting with the Royal family is less important than sleeping with your students huh!" James was red in the face as his fist clenched. Flora poked her head out of her private room, "Sir, We did no such thing now please leave and stand in the hall!" She said annoyed. Oliver followed James out and towards the Testing grounds on the other side of the academy. James calmed down after a bit and handed Oliver a food box, inside was his breakfast, Oliver wolfed down the bacon and eggs then the pancakes which made him choke James thumped him on the back to help it go down better. Nearly an hour later, The two arrived at the grand building that served as the exterior of the testing grounds, James guided Oliver to the testing depot, its massive 30' doors made of wood, metal, and stone, The Flux-mech Mk1 stood at a maintenance dock, The dock seemed to have been created without any idea what it was exactly supposed to be for, Oliver smirked at that, No one had made a Suit or Mech before since power always kept it from being possible, and the strain that the components were under always caused it to break, Now Oliver was about to prove that Mechs were possible. Oliver climbed into the mech's cockpit and walked forward, the footsteps booming, the crowd in the stands looked at Depot's opening doors with confusion as to what could cause that much noise, "It sounds like footsteps!" One student watching said, that nearly half of the people present in the stands were chattering about the strange noise as the doors opened fully and The Flux-Mech came shooting out, the magi-thrusters on its back, The Flux-Mech shot into the air and spun, then landed nearly 10 yards from the depot's doors, after landing Oliver controlled the mech to walk forward then take a knee before the Royal viewing box, The cockpit hatch hissed open and Oliver climbed out and kneeled as well. The onlookers were all stunned by what they were looking at.