[Exemplary] Family of Steel - Carved from the Blighted Oak

[Proto Man]

Proto Man was happy he couldn’t experience real emotions. If he could, he knew at this moment in time he’d be paralyzed with a mixture of horror and grief. The first few videos had been so full of life and wonder, and the most recent ones starred a terrifying, half-dead shell of the machine Proto Man had been tracking since his arrival in the Tangled Green. The wonder and curiosity had rotten away, leaving behind only paranoia and malice.

Do I even want to see what the next puck contains?

It took the red robot only a few moments to realize that there was no way he could walk away at this moment. What if Wood Man had found some way to prevent the spread of the Blight? What if he had found a cure? It was difficult not to leave, but Proto Man knew he had to press on… if not for Wood Man than for the countless others who could suffer at the hands of the Blight.

With that to motivate him, the robot continued toward the next data puck, which appeared to be located deeper into the blighted region of the forest. He kept the Proto Buster active and ready for use in the event that anything tried to jump him from the shadows.

Fortunately for the preteen android, nothing that went bump in the night attempted to drag him off into the darkness as he trudged through the forest. When he reached the end of the eight mile trip, he found himself staring at a large tree. Unlike the rest of the blighted, mutated piece of flora that filled the surrounding miles of forest, this tree was unaffected. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t 100% dead, but the two-hundred foot tree loomed high over its surrounding neighbors. At the base of the tree, Proto Man saw that the soil was loose, and what looked to be the top of a wooden chest was poking up through the dirt.

Dropping to his knees in front of the tree, the robot brushed away some of the black soil. After a gentle knock, he could confirm he was staring down at a semi-buried chest. Furrowing his brow, Proto Man started to scoop away the dirt until the chest was loose enough for him to pluck it up out of its haphazard grave and set it on solid ground. The chest wasn’t locked, so all he had to do was unhook the latch.

Inside, the seemingly nondescript chest was filled with only two items. One was a data puck, which bore a few hairline scratches and stains. The other item looked to be an oil-stained log at first glance. It was only when Proto Man picked it up and looked at it in more that he realized he was staring at the lower half of Wood Man’s leg—the very appendage the robot had sawed off in a mix of terror and madness. The preteen immediately dropped the limb back into the box, knowing full well that his half-brother had been infected via a wound to the same leg.

Turning his attention back to the data puck, Proto Man picked it up and fiddled with it until he managed to get it operational. Once the download was complete, he set it down on the severed limb and watched the video play out on his internal display.