Downsized Hero 2 Ch 2

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that very little damage had been done to my refrigerator or its contents. It was depressingly bare, however, so we took my car to pick up some things at the nearby grocery chain.

'So what are we looking for?" Zoya looked around at the unfamiliar layout.

"Mostly the basics." I started toward the produce. "Eating out every day is expensive. Figured it would be good to have some simple meals on hand." I looked through the zucchini and squash, picking out one or two before moving over to the peppers.

"You cook?" Zoya followed along, making no move to peruse anything.

"Hardly a chef, but I can make some simple things. You learn fast living alone on a student salary."

"I commuted to school from home, so I was pretty lucky." She grimaced as we moved along to the lettuce and cabbages. "Or maybe not. Never considered learning stuff like this. Ammi tried to get me to help her cook, but gave up early on." She lifted a yellow onion in a cursory inspection, and held it out to me.

I took it, it looked fine and felt firm all around. I normally cooked with white onions, but this would work.

"I know you're vegetarian, but anything you particularly like or dislike?"

"Not a fan of raw tomatoes. Good seasoned and cooked, though." She thought a bit. "Mushrooms aren't my thing, either. But firm or extra firm tofu is a good protein replacement."

"Good to know. I don't cook a lot with mushrooms, so that's fine. And I can leave out the fresh tomatoes." I started putting together a simple meal plan in my head for the next few days. "I'll say I'm not a huge fan of spicy food. A little burn is about all I can take." I gave her a weak smile.

"Well, none of Ammi's cooking for you." She grinned back.

It was pleasantly domestic walking around the store with Zoya, exchanging opinions on cuisine preferences, staples to have on hand, fruits and vegetables that would get eaten before they went bad, favorite brands. Zoya dropped some bougie-looking ice cream pops and a pack of yogurt in her favorite brand into my cart basket. Then she added a toothbrush and other personal hygiene products with a coy smile. I was surprised how easy this felt, how natural. I imagined a time when this overlapping space would culminate in moving in together, and it didn't feel threatening or invasive at all. I didn't know how to feel about that.

In the end, the cost was significantly higher than I was used to spending in a single trip, padded as it was to feed 2 people. But it was quite a bit less than eating out for an equivalent number of meals.

Zoya made a show of picking up the heavier bags with ease, and I let her with a grin.

✦ ✦ ✦

Once everything was put away at home, I had Zoya follow me around to the back of the Victorian. It was late now in the afternoon, but we still had a little bit of time before Cate would arrive. There was a small communal yard I think I'd only ever been in once before for a neighbor's barbeque. The space was segmented into a quarter of concrete patio, followed by a swath of lawn composed of yellow-brown grass that Calafians insist is 'golden', and then bordered by a random assortment of overgrown shrubberies and evergreen trees providing a measure of privacy. Most of my neighbors were likely at work, excepting our sole retiree, Ms. Klein, so I hoped we might try our skills without any prying eyes.

"Can we start with mine?" Zoya was bouncing on her heels in anticipation.

"Sure, I don't really have any idea how to use my new skill, so why not?"

Zoya's eyes lit up, and she moved out to the yard to create some space, then turned back to me quizzically. "How do I turn it on? Or activate it, or whatever?" She tilted her head and I saw her eyes focus inward.

"Hmm, when I use them I just think of the skill I want to use and ... use it, I guess?" I thought about it. "Some skills need a target or something, but some just work."

As I was finishing my sentence, I felt something from Zoya, a burst of energy or power of some kind that was the familiar sense of skills at work.

"Whoa. Something happened." Zoya declared. She looked around the yard. I did, too, bringing up my journal at the same time to see what it said.

Zoya: Celestial Champion activated: Celestial Champion summoned.

"It says it worked. Something was summoned." I continued to look around, but I didn't see so much as a squirrel in the vicinity.

Zoya was also turning in place, searching the yard with a furrowed brow. "So where is it?" She queried.

With an abrupt insight, I opened my location map to see what it would show me.

"Huh. I don't see it any ... wait. It's inside?"

A new yellow dot was now showing up in the front room of my apartment.

"Really?" An excited Zoya went running around the side of the building toward the front door.

I hesitated, reading the name appearing above the dot. DRACO.

✦ ✦ ✦

"No way." I heard Zoya's hushed whisper as I approached the front room from the hall.

Floating in the air just beyond Zoya, and partially hidden by her body, was a familiar sight at first glance. A slightly large drone with sensors rising from its front, along with a number of instruments and antennae sprouting along its back. I heard the familiar whirring hum of the propellers along its sides keeping it aloft.

However, as I skirted around Zoya to get a better look, I saw the sensor assembly in front stretch outwards on a structure of cables and struts, tilting the foremost platform of cameras as if it were getting a better look at me as well. The irises of the lenses opened and closed as if it was blinking. What I assumed were antennae on its back were now clearly visible as a series of metal spines down the center and continuing along a twitching metal appendage that coiled in the air like a snake made of braided cable. As it shifted back and forth between Zoya and me, I saw the propellers had been replaced by multiple sets of elongated wings like dragonflies, buzzing in the air like a thousand hornets, keeping the construct aloft.

The basic structures of the drone and other equipment Zoya had built were all there, but had melded into a form-fitted superstructure clearly designed to evoke draconic features and design. Two of the prior antennae even curled from the top of its head in a representation of horns, while its former landing struts now quite obviously (and worryingly) ended in four scaled feet with wicked-looking hooked talons.

**Templar.** A cold and mechanical voice echoed in my head. **Tell me your name.**

Well. It talks.

After a few beats of shocked silence, I leaned close to Zoya and whispered, "Pretty sure that's you."

She seemed to start from a trance, before responding out loud. "Zoya. I'm Zoya."

**Mistress Zoya. We have answered your summons. How may we serve?** There was no emotion or inflection in the voice as it continued to echo in our minds.

"What?" Zoya's eyes focused, but still appeared to understand only one word out of three.

**Is this Hero yours?** I felt its cold regard appraising me, behind the mechanical eyes was an ancient, primal presence. I stood up as best I could, wanting to make a good impression for Zoya's sake.

"Ah, yes!" Her eyes widened, then a slow smile began to tug at her lips. "Uhm, I mean, yeah, Arty's mine." She blushed at the admission, and I felt a similar heat rise in my cheeks.

The metal head swiveled from side to side, peering at each of us, and dipped once in acknowledgement.

**Very well. We will honor our ancient oaths. Tell me what you would have me do.**

"You're ... "

**Hmm?**

"You're ... so frickin' cute!" Zoya squealed, and reached out to pull the metal drone/dragon into a mid-air hug.

**Unhand me, whelp!** The creature was in obvious distress, wings surging along its sides to unsuccessfully pull itself away from Zoya's embrace. Their limbs flailed futilely, yet carefully avoiding her bare skin with his razor-tipped claws. **By the shards you are freakishly strong!** I saw its camera irises dilate in shock and indignation.

Metal and plastic creaked in torment, but Zoya was blissfully unaware, wrapping her arms around her creation in loving constriction.

"Arty! It's a dragon! My very own dragon!" Her eyes were squeezed shut, wetness forming at the corners, paying no attention whatsoever to the struggles of the object of her affections.

"Wow," I nodded, blinking rapidly. "Though you might want to let up a bit, remember you just leveled up."

Zoya abruptly let go and backed away a step. "Oh Draco, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Her voice wobbled in concern.

'Draco' bobbed slightly in the air, recovering its balance, before shaking its head back and forth in a very dog-like fashion, before reorienting on Zoya.

**Draco!?** An incredulous indignation came through the voice in our heads. **That is the name you've assigned to this form? And speaking of which,** the mecha-dragon hovered, twisting its neck to look back and around its body. **What is this profane construct you've summoned me into?**

"DRACO's what I called you when I built it. It stands for, uh, nevermind. But I never believed in a million years you'd be turning into an actual dragon! This is so FUCKING COOL!" She shouted the last as if she could barely contain her joy, and did another little dance back and forth, hopping from foot to foot, her ponytail swaying. She looked adorable, like a little kid at a theme park that needed to go to the bathroom but was trying to hold it in as long as possible to experience it all. I promised to myself I would never tell her about that mental image in my head. But no matter what kinds of trouble having a dragon around was going to cause me in the future, seeing that kind of pure, unbridled delight twice in the same day had to be worth it.

✦ ✦ ✦

**This is straining all credibility.** The deeply disappointed Draco had settled themselves on the back of the sofa. Including its tail, it now nearly took up its entire length. It had tucked its foreclaws under its body like a cat and sat there glaring at the two of us. Zoya was sitting sideways on the couch, joy undeterred, while I sat a bit further away in the lounge chair so I could view the metal dragon without craning my neck. **If the summoning hadn't worked, I would not have believed it possible to enter a world so distant from primal sources of power.**

Taiga slinked in partway through the conversation, and was now eyeing the dragon warily. It was seated in her afternoon sunbathing location. She licked her back leg in feigned disinterest, but I watched her ears twitch at every shift of the metal tail.

"How does the summoning work, anyway? It's not like there's a manual telling me about the skill." Zoya complained, which was offset entirely by her attempt to scratch the dragon's metal chin, as the creature in question simultaneously lifted their head further away out of her reach.

**There most certainly are manuals. But I can see why one might not be available to you.** The dragon paused to look pointedly at Zoya in disapproval, before proceeding. **In truth, the summoning can take many forms, but in this case it appears that you have summoned my spirit to reside in a construct of your devising. That you have crafted the construct yourself forges a closer association and focus for the ritual to succeed. And as there are draconic themes, no doubt it was inevitable that a dragon spirit would be summoned.**

After a thoughtful pause, it continued. **In any event, you called and I answered. A portion of my soul was taken up and has now imbued this mechanized body with life. What do you require of me?**

"Uhm," Zoya's mouth twisted into an embarrassed and lopsided grin. "I just wanted a pet my dad wouldn't be allergic to."

Silence.

**Ah.**

I thought I saw an actuator twitch near their ocular sensors.

**And what timeframe did you specify for this service in your summoning?**

I heard the note of desperation submersed beneath its words in my head like a silent scream.

"Uhm. I didn't."

**An unspecified timeframe.** If the mecha-dragon would've had a vein and a forehead to contain it, I'm positive it would have throbbed.

"Wait." A thought suddenly dawned on me. "Can you turn it back to how it was? Or leave the equipment somehow?" My desperation was nearly a match for Draco's own.

**I cannot leave until my summoned task is complete, or the focus of my summoning is destroyed.** The voice was quiet and small now, as if giving form to the words had somehow made them more true.

"Zoya, is that our only prototype?" I tried to keep my voice calm, but my eyes were wide with fearful anticipation as I looked to where Zoya sat.

Her eyes grew round as the implication sunk in. "Oh."