Archive of Our Own

>゜))))彡

"D-Structs? Heh- KZZT- wakey wakey?" 

The massive T-Trux blinked open his eyes, growling as he looked down at the scraptool that had awoken him.

"What do you want." It was more of a statement than a question, somehow. 

Skrap-It smiled up at him nervously. He had to be careful with what he said next, and how he said it. He'd come to realise that D-Structs was not a morning trux, often waking up at midday, or, if woken earlier, prone to being easily irritated and grumpy (well...more than he usually is).

The scraptool cleared his throat. "D-Structs! I just KZZT wanted to wake you up. It's uh- KZZT- noon already, and I figured we could, y'know, go out together and find some ore, maybe?" He blinked his eyes repeatedly at the T-Trux, who stretched and straightened up. 

"Fine," D-Structs muttered, giving his claw-tail a few swings to wake it up, "I suppose I'm up for steaing a trux's ore-"

He was interrupted by Skrap-It (shockingly). 

"No! I mean uh- maybe not? We always steal a trux's ore, and KZZT no matter how good of a fighter you are, it uh...it's getting a bit repetitive, and I uh...think it's a bit dangerous-"

The T-Trux smashed his claw down where Skrap-It would have been, had he not jumped out of the way in time. "Don't you dare try order me around, scraphead. I take ore from trux because it's fun. If you're too cowardly to do that, then leave."

Skrap-It gulped. "I-I'm sorry, KZZT, I wasn't ordering you around, I was just– ehh, making a suggestion." 

"Next time, keep your suggestions to yourself." D-Structs growled, rolling towards the entrance, when Skrap-It's mumble stopped him.

"Is it because you don't know how to find ore...?" 

D-Structs froze. Then, he scowled, and whipped around again. "What did you just say?"

Skrap-It flinched — he hadn't thought D-Structs would hear him. "A-ah, I uh, KZZT, didn't say anything, haha!"

D-Structs snarled. "I'm not an idiot. I heard what you said. You think I can't find my own ore, huh? You think I'm that pathetic, hm? Well, I'll show you." 

And with that, he drove off, leaving Skrap-It to stare at the empty space for a few seconds, shocked, before scurrying after him. Somewhere in those few seconds, it occured to Skrap-It that, despite all the yelling, he had somehow achieved his goal anyway. 

***

The flatirons were quiet. It was lunchtime, and Ty, Skya, Dozer, Ton-Ton and Revvit were at the Ore Station (Waldo, Ace and Click-Clack had gone to the reptool revine to get some parts.) 

The trux (and tool) gathered around their respective spots, pressed the pressure plates that would send ore to their bowls, and waited. Nothing. Not even a crumb. Dozer, Skya and Ton-Ton all groaned. Ty sighed. Revvit hummed. 

Ton-Ton was the first to voice his complaints. "Dude! The ore station's empty again! I can't go riding on an empty stomach!"

Skya and Dozer joined him, though they proceeded to argue over who ate the last piece of ore. 

Ty tried to ignore them, leaning down so he could bettter hear what Revvit was saying. 

"Ty, we will have to go on an ore run to replenish our supplies. I believe the best spot for ore will be just 2.4 miles eastwards from here." The reptool told him. Ty nodded, before turning to look at the others. 

"Alright, guys! It seems we're gonna have to go on an ore run. Revvit reckons there's a good spot 2.3 miles-" 

"2.4."

"Right, right, 2.4 miles eastwards from here." Ty finished, smiling at Revvit. 

Skya shrugged. "Doesn't seem too far."

However, Dozer was less positive. He groaned again. "I'm already hungry and tired! I don't have the energy to go 2-point-whatever miles just to dig up some ore!" 

"Dozer, calm down. You're just angry because you're hungry." Ty tried to reassure him. It was true, the dozeratops was infamous for being cranky when on an empty stomache. 

Ton-Ton nudged Dozer with his tread. "Yeah dude! Don't get all hangry on us! I bet we'll have a great time out there!" The ankylodump began rolling after the others, who had started making their way towards the ore spot.

"Yeah, if D-Structs doesn't turn up and ruin the day." Dozer muttered, before driving after them.

***

D-Structs was panicking.

Only internally, mind you. But still, panicking nonetheless. 

He'd overestimated his ore-finding abilities. Greatly overestimated. Turns out, living entirely off of stolen ore meant that he had never learnt how to actually find it.

He didn't think Skrap-It had caught on yet, the scraptool was frightfully dumb, but he was sure he would eventually. After all, you can only be told that you're just "finding the best spot" a few times before it starts getting suspicious. 

D-Structs was trying to smell the ore, he really was, but he didn't go out much, and all the scents of the crater were muddling with his brain. He could just take a gamble and smash the ground randomly, but what if he didn't find any ore? He'd look like an idiot infront of Skrap-It. 

With a glance backwards, he was partially relieved to see that the scraptool was still following behind him aimlessly, too distracted by a bolt he had found to actually notice something was off. 

Infact, he seemed too distracted to notice anything. Maybe, if D-Structs hit a random spot and didn't get any ore, Skrap-It wouldn't realise what was going on.

D-Structs took a deep breath, made a quick mental prayer (he didn't believe in any God, but it was worth a shot anyways), and spun, smashing his tail into the ground. He turned around, waiting for the dust to clear, and tried to hide his slight tremble. 

please be ore please be ore please be ore please be ore please be ore please be ore please be ore-

The dust cleared. D-Structs considered converting to Christianity. 

Infront of him, in the hole he'd made in the ground, lay a large vein of ore. Skrap-It immediately seemed to smell it and ran over. 

"Wow, D-Structs! You KZZT did know a good spot after all! Uh- not that I doubted you or anything-" 

D-Structs was so relieved that he didn't even bring up Skrap-It's lack of faith in him. He spun again, breaking the ore apart with his tail before grabbing as much as he could in his claw. 

He glanced down at Skrap-It.The scraptool was silent for once, frozen in shock and staring at something behind him.

That's strange.

The T-Trux turned around, and stared into the eyes of four trux and a reptool. 

***

Ty stared into D-Structs' eyes.

Him and his friends had been alarmed to find D-Structs in the flatirons, especially heading towards where they were meant to go. They'd briefly wondered if he had spied on them earlier and come to ambush them, but their alarm turned to shock as they watched D-Structs dig up his own ore for once, instead of taking it off of another trux. 

Now, he was locked in some weird staring contest with his enemy, who looked perturbed at his prescence. 

Ton-Ton leaned closer to Ty, whispering, "dude. Why's he just...staring at you?" 

Ty whispered back, "I have no idea." 

They lapsed back into silence for a few seconds, before Ty cleared his throat. "D-Structs! Uhm...fancy seeing you here...finding your own ore."

D-Structs remained silent. Then he blinked. "Stop talking to me." 

Skya scoffed. "Rude, much." She glared at D-Structs, who glared back. 

Dozer decided to add his own two cents, piping up. "So, you heard we were gonna get ore from this spot and decided to steal it?" 

D-Structs' eyes flicked to Skrap-It momentarily, before he spoke up again. "...No." 

Dozer stared at him sceptically. "Oh yeah? Then what were you doing here then?" 

Ty opened his mouth to tell Dozer to back off, when D-Structs responded coldly.  "Getting ore. Isn't it obvious, you idiot?" 

"Woah, D-Structs! Let's try to avoid that kinda language-" Ty butted in, subtly rolling infront of Dozer to prevent him from ramming the black-and-white T-Trux. 

Skya scoffed. "Yeah, right. Since when have you ever gotten your own ore? You always take it off someone else." 

D-Structs scowled. "Since today. Now, are we done?" 

Ton-Ton snorted. "Done? No way, Dude-Structs! We know somethings up, you'd never just go get your own ore!" 

Revvit finally spoke up. "Ton-Ton, that's enough. Unusual as it is, D-Structs appears to have no ulterior motive. It's best to leave him be, or else you'll make him actually attack us. Same goes for the rest of you." He looked at D-Structs, whose scowl had lessened to a frown. "Have a good day, D-Structs. You may go now." 

D-Structs scoffed. "You're lucky my claw is full, or I'd turn you all to scrap." And with that, he whipped around and rolled away, Skrap-It scurrying behind him.

The builders stared after him. 

Skya spoke up. "So...we all can agree that he has no idea how to find ore, right?"

Dozer chuckled. "Yeah, watching him was painful. I'm just surprised he got so lucky." 

Ty sighed. "Almost feel bad for the guy. That's like...a basic life skill." 

The others (minus Revvit, who was watching after D-Structs) all gave Ty a weird look, then burst out laughing. 

"Yeah, yeah, feel bad for the guy who tries to kill us every week," Skya managed to say between gasps for breath. 

Ton-Ton was full-on cackling, whilst Dozer chuckled under his breath. Ty frowned. 

"C'mon guys, it's not nice to make fun of him. He may be controlling and rude, but he's clearly in need of help-" 

Now it was Dozer's time to speak up. "Help? Help D-Structs? Teach him how to find ore like he's a little kid?!" 

Whilst the others leant on each other, giggling and laughing, Ty looked up at Revvit, silently asking for advice. The reptool hummed. 

"I suppose I could etch some instructions on a slab of rock and deposit it by his lair, if that is what you want." 

Ty smiled, nodding. 

***

The next day, Ty and Revvit watched from a far, behind a rock, as D-Structs rolled through the flatirons, Skrap-It chatting excitedly at his side. The anochrome T-Trux raised his head in the air, scenting it, and suddenly spun around, his tail crashing to the ground and unearthing a vein of ore. The technique wasn't the best, but with practice it would improve.

As Skrap-It squealed and hurried to it, Ty turned to Revvit, smiling. 

>゜))))彡