Gretzky looked at them like they were crazy. He got told from Azure that they went into the sewer system, which made him very weary about their life choices. On the brighter side of things, they at least came back with some items that Gretzky could have, which he wasn't going to complain about. They both came together to sort through all of the items, so that Gretzky could have his supply of goodies.

Azure showed off the PipBuck several times to Gretzky, which made him become slightly curious about the architecture behind the magical device. Sadly for him, it wasn't up for being sold, it was Blitz's gift to Azure, to help him out either in the battlefield or just with everyday life. It was probably one of the greatest quality of life gifts that could have been acquired, at the time.

Azure passed over the weapons to Gretzky, which made Gretzky very happy, because he now had an arsenal of weapons up for sale. The look on his face was impossible to replace. He wore a smug and stoick grin, so they knew that he was happy about all of this. He brought out a portion of caps and passed them to both of them. They both looked confused, wanting confirmation on what he was doing.

"Here you go! I help you, you help me. Here's around five hundred caps in these bags, roughly one hundred in each bag. I hope that this will be sufficient for all of the work that you two have done for me." Gretzky thanked, pushing the caps closer to the pair. Azure and Blitz looked at each other and both looked back at Gretzky, making him blush a little.

"Why are you giving us caps?" Azure asked, taking the caps and passing them to Blitz, to put into his saddlebag. Blitz happily took them and put them into a safe pocket on the saddlebag, where he kept all of the caps that he had found. They both continued to look at Gretzky, even after Blitz had placed the caps into his saddlebag.

"Don't tell the others, but I could sell most of the stuff that they sold to me for about three times the price. What I mean is that if I chose to sell the stuff that you give to me, I could get three times the price, or at least three times the profit, by selling it to ponies and creatures outside the settlement." He explained, pretty much explaining it twice. They didn't mind it at all.

"Well thank you anyway Gretzky! If we happen to come across anything else that you might want, we'll collect it for you and bring it here." Azure announced, getting a firm and gentle nod from Gretzky. He looked back at Blitz and smiled, seeing that he was just bored of waiting for them to stop talking. It may have been rude, but it was funny to see his facial expression.

Blitz walked away, as he travelled over to Nightclaw's little area. He plainly stared at the gryphon and smiled after Nightclaw stared back. Nightclaw was in the process of finishing the different silencers for Blitz's weapons. He didn't know that Alchem had made the requests, but he was extremely curious to see how it all worked. Blitz walked up to the counter and leaned against it, watching the very satisfying movement of metal being filtered from each other.

Nightclaw approached him and bowed. He didn't know what to make of Blitz. He had never seen a changeling before, so he was very curious to get a look at Blitz for the first time. Nightclaw signalled for him to come into his area and Blitz happily accepted the invitation. Blitz travelled around the other side of the counter, allowing Nightclaw to see his chitin. Nightclaw was amazed! Azure approached the two of them and smiled, seeing that they were both interacting with each other, in some way at least.

"What might be your name, if I may ask?" Nightclaw asked, taking in the sight of Blitz's build in armour.

"My name is Soul Eater! What might yours be?" Blitz responded, adding another question for Nightclaw to answer.

"My name is Nightclaw and I'm the settlement blacksmith. Looking at your body, do those chitin plates come off?" Nightclaw continued to question, making sure that he understood everything about the chitin that Blitz was wearing. Blitz and Azure both shook their heads at the same time, indicating to Nightclaw that the chitin plates were like their fur, but it was changeling fur, he guessed at least. He knew that chitin was armour, but in the appropriate term, it was technically their fur.

"Well, if you don't mind then Soul Eater, I'd like to see how strong your armour is, if that is alright?" Nightclaw asked, looking to Blitz for reassurance, hoping that he would have said yes. Blitz nodded, sending a smile towards Nightclaw's beak. Blitz had never seen a gryphon so happy in all of his life, apart from Gretzky getting a huge amount of weapons and stuff from both Azure and Blitz.

That was another point to be explained. Azure and Blitz didn't want their real names being said, so they both just continued answering as Alchem and Eater. It was their little secret, to call themselves by their real names, as opposed to their display names, being visible and usable to all.

Nightclaw snapped them both into reality, seeing that both Blitz and Azure were distracted by something going on inside their minds. Blitz just stood there, before being dragged away from Azure, much to Azure's amusement. Azure followed them both, wondering what Nightclaw was going to do with Blitz. Nightclaw commanded that Blitz was to be stood up straight, on both of his hindlegs. Blitz abided by the rule that he was given, so he wobbled onto his hindlegs, to see that Nightclaw was washing his claws with something.

Nightclaw walked up to Blitz, before putting on some strange looking goggles. A gryphon in goggles! Not a sight that many would get to see, let alone enjoy. Nightclaw slowly walked up to Blitz, but Azure couldn't hold back a little chuckle. Nightclaw turned on him, staring at him blankly.

"Sorry, sorry! Continue please!" Azure apologized, trying to avoid another laugh. Blitz looked at him and smiled, watching as Azure blushed a little. Returning to Nightclaw, Blitz saw that he had a hungry look to him. He was hungry for the truth about chitin.

"Let me know if it hurts or if I'm about to split the chitin, if you will." Nightclaw commanded, pressing his claw against the chitin armour Blitz had. It was strong, Nightclaw knew that, but he wanted to see how much stronger it was compared to normal chitin. He pushed as hard as he could and Blitz didn't respond. Nightclaw was looking up at him and saw that he was still talking to Azure. Nightclaw shook his head before getting up and grabbing a syringe from the counter.

Blitz yelped, as a long needle went through his skin. The skin that was underneath the chitin was very soft, softer than a normal pony's fur and skin. It was also very sensitive to things like spikes and needles.

"Ouch! It really isn't meant to hurt that much is it?" Blitz called out, making not just Nightclaw look at him, but Azure as well. Azure chuckled a little, making Blitz's cheeks turn a little lighter shade of pink. This prompted Azure to cackle harder. "Don't laugh! It actually hurts!" Blitz enforced, making Azure's laughter calm down.

"I'm sorry, but you're just a little bit too dramatic." Azure spoke, trying to bring across his truth, which made Blitz look away from him. The skin that Nightclaw had penetrated the needle through was part of his body that didn't have chitin surrounding it. The chitin looked like it was armour, but it was just his exoskeleton. Exoskeletons were weird to most ponies, but for changelings, having fur was weird.

Nightclaw slowly pulled out the syringe and placed it back on the counter. He turned around and looked at the scene that Blitz and Azure were in. Azure was just where Blitz just was and Blitz was slowly walking backwards, not losing his eye contact with Nightclaw.

"Uhhh… ummm… ok?" Nightclaw stammered, not knowing what to make of their randomness. Blitz shook his head before moving forward and picking up Azure, before they both stood side by side. Nightclaw just didn't know what to make of them both, as they both continued to stare at him happily. He was awfully confused about the entire thing, but he decided to ignore it anyway.

As Nightclaw returned to his side of the counter, Blitz took notice of something that he was doing. He was checking on two pieces of metal that were in molds. They looked like pure metal suppressors and that was what made Blitz curious about them. He walked up to the counter to get a closer look, but Nightclaw submerged them back into a liquid, probably water or something similar.

"What's that there?" Blitz asked, Azure shaking his head and looking directly at Nightclaw. Nightclaw turned and saw Azure shaking his head first, followed by a curious and excited looking Blitz in front of him.

"Well, this is a little something that I'm experimenting with. I'm making gun modifications using a different type of metal." Nightclaw admitted, pointing one of his talons over at the metal that he had just submerged. He looked back at Blitz and smiled, taking a look at Azure and seeing that he was smiling. Blitz turned around and spotted Azure smiling, which he didn't stop doing, even when Blitz was still gazing at him.

"Anyway… is there anything that you want done at all? We got some free time here." Blitz explained, making Nightclaw raise an eyebrow at that response and smile.

"Ok then, but the only thing I need you to do for me now, is to wait for this to be finished." Nightclaw stated, pointing a claw at the metal that was submerged in a liquid, most likely to be water.

Umm… sure! How long do we have to wait for it?" Blitz stated, a little bit of excitement in his voice. Nightclaw sniggered at the comment that Blitz had just made, along with all of the excitement that proceeded with it. Blitz wanted to know what was so funny about the entire thing.

"Well, you'll have to wait for around… two or three days for it to be finished, with the state that this metal is in, the purities of the metal have changed, so I'm going to leave it to cool for a little while, so that I don't make a mistake." Nightclaw spoke, with a sense of advanced knowledge. Blitz could tell that he was proud of what he did, but when he heard that he'd have to wait two or three day, he couldn't help but crack a smile, knowing that Nightclaw was joking about wanting help.

Blitz knew that he was becoming more comfortable in the life that he was living, but eventually all of the good times would run out. Something bad was coming to sight on the horizon and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. This pondered Blitz's mind to focus on that thought, making his facial expressions stop and giving him a different perspective of reality. A reality within his head, his own reality.

Azure placed a hoof on Blitz's shoulder, instantly snapping him out of his apparent illusion. He kept looking at the ground, where he originally was looking, while he daydreamed away.

"Eater? You ok?" Azure asked, using his public name, instead of his real name. Blitz turned around and nodded slowly, making sure to only meet his eyes once.

"I… I need to go for a walk!" Blitz admitted, teleporting away. This made Azure get a little worried. He looked about before sighing.

"I better go and find him then. I'll see you later, Nightclaw." Azure said, turning around and slowly trotting, away from Nightclaw and his blacksmithing area. He raised a hoof to wave at Nightclaw and Nightclaw used one of his talons to wave back. Azure believed that Nightclaw was a nice gryphon, it was just the look of him that scared Azure.

Azure was looking about, within the settlement, for Blitz. He could have gone out already, but Azure knew, deep in his heart, that Blitz would be inside somewhere, preferably in the area that they were able to sleep in. Alchem raced to the building that they had already slept in and crept closer to it. By some luck, as Azure opened the door and saw Blitz looking at a broken mirror. Azure closed the door quietly and walked over to him, looking into the mirror and looking straight into Blitz's eyes. He struggled to look away from himself, but he eventually looked at Azure's gaze. Once he did that, Azure placed his wing around Blitz, making him feel a little comfier and warmer.

Blitz leaned back a little, not enough to get close enough to Azure, but close enough to Azure's wing, that he could get warmth out of it. Blitz sighed, trying to get rid of all of the evil thoughts within his head.

"Why do I think so negatively?" Blitz asked himself aloud, not noticing how loud he said it.

"Because it's the Wasteland. Just be happy that you're alive, cause I am." Azure mentioned, not seeing Blitz react. He slowly turned after a couple of seconds of thinking and looked dead at Azure.

"So you're happy that you're alive?" Blitz asked, questioning Azure's answer. He nodded, but then shook his head.

"That wasn't what I meant!" Azure stated, smiling brightly into the mirror.

"What did you mean?" Blitz asked, being curious to what exactly he meant. Azure got exactly behind Blitz and wrapped both wings around him, keeping him warm.

"I'm on about me being happy that you're alive silly." Azure admitted, making Blitz pause for a second. Azure used his hooves to massage Blitz's neck, plucking a feather from his own wings, wincing slightly but using it to tickle his neck and back, using his muzzle to hold the feather.

Blitz giggled a little bit, pushing back against Azure's tickling. Azure pushed back against Blitz's attempt to escape. It was futile! Blitz understood this, so he teleported just outside of Azure's reach, which made Azure pout sadly. Blitz rolled his eyes, before getting Azure's attention.

"Really? You just want to hug me?" Blitz chuckled, still seeing that Azure was looking really sad, like a colt had lost his toy. Again, Blitz rolled his eyes, before walking towards Azure and opening his hooves out wide. He wrapped them around Azure, sending loving warmth into the air. Blitz could sense that Azure was loving this a little too much.

Blitz opened his hooves again and accepted a hug from Azure, making them both feel a little better. As soon as they were done with their friendly hug, Blitz stepped towards the desk, the same desk that they had originally found the photo of the project chimera gryphon. He opened the draw and found the photo to still be in the draw. He took it out and carried it over to Azure.

"This 'thing' annoys me. I want to find out about this. How many ponies used it? Who was it originally meant for? So many questions to answer about this little project. Sure, there were bigger cases and projects that we could investigate, but this one is different." Blitz explained to Azure, showing that he was super locked onto the idea of investigating further into 'Project Chimera'.

Azure took hold of the photo and held it in his hooves. He had an idea, but he didn't want to cut directly to the chase. He had an assumption! He looked to Blitz and saw that he was a little too distracted for his own liking. Azure placed the photo to the right of him, before getting up slowly and walking over to Blitz, watching as Blitz kept changing his movement, going from left to right.

Blitz spotted Azure coming closer to him and smiled a little. It wasn't a huge noticeable smile, just one that he could feel, but not make anypony notice. Azure walked up to him and sat him down onto the bed, seeing that something was up. Blitz's chitin was hard, but the skin underneath was as soft as butter, just like him. His vicious exterior was unmatched by his soft spirited interior. The thought alone made Azure smile brightly. Blitz noticed this, but he didn't change his facial expression, due to having a battle going on inside his head.

"Is it bothering you that much?" Azure asked out of nowhere. Blitz snapped to Azure in an instant, before moving his head up and down slowly, indicating that he was bothered by it. "Just try to relax then. Just take time to sit back and unwind for a day." Azure suggested, getting a confused response from Blitz.

"I guess that you might be correct, but there is one thing that I do need to go and see." Blitz prompted, looking over to the window, hoping to see something that would change his mind. Azure was slightly curious to know what Blitz was on about, so he pressured him a little bit, moving a little closer.

"What do you need to do? Can I help you with it?" Azure asked, trying to speed things up, just so that they could get it done quicker and get Blitz relaxing. Blitz looked at him with confusion and then sharply turned his head away, thinking for a second. After about a minute of thinking, Blitz turned his head back to Azure and smiled softly. He could help, but he would need something first.

He held his hoof out to Azure, as he got off the bed. Azure blushed a little, before grabbing his hoof and being lifted onto his hooves. Blitz rushed over to the door and opened it, before allowing Azure to exit out of it first. Changeling or not, Blitz was the softest creature in the Wasteland. Blitz closed the door behind them and rushed towards Azure.

They both travelled across the settlement towards Gretzky. They were beginning to think that Gretzky would be their best friend within the Wasteland, due to how much they went to see him for things. The gryphon knew what he was doing, so he was an asset to any creature that was lucky enough to keep him in their settlement. They both passed by Zeke, raising a hoof to say hello to him. He bowed, before walking past them both.

"He's definitely grown to being inside the settlement." Azure stated aloud, getting a quick single nod from Blitz. They both looked back at Zeke and smiled, before turning back to facing forward and traveling on. Azure had no idea where they were going, but he knew that he would follow Blitz wherever he went. He had this effect on Azure, an effect of just positiveness, despite having such negativeness in the air, surrounding them both.

They saw that Gretzky was talking to Roselight and one of the other ponies of the settlement. Both Blitz and Azure were curious to meet that new pony, but that would have to wait. They stumbled closer, seeing that Roselight was just about to finish talking to him. Roselight turned to both of them and smiled, before looking back at Gretzky and taking a saddlebag with her.

"Umm… Gretzky?" Asked the mare, who was waiting with Roselight originally. He turned to look at her and smiled. His smile was one that they originally had seen on him. It was one of warmth, not excitement. It was a smile of comfort.

"Yes Plumjuice?" Gretzky replied, having a smile present on his face. He walked around from the counter and stood next to her, standing quite a bit taller than the dark red mare. The red mare had an even darker mane and tail, making her look like blood more than anything else. Her coat was a little dirty, mainly due to the dirt and dust on it, along with a couple of cuts and a distinct scar that was pure black on her face, next to her muzzle.

Plumjuice turned to both Azure and Blitz, seeing that she hadn't met them both before. She smiled and took a step back, offering the opportunity to speak to Gretzky.

"No, it's alright! We can wait, it's fine." Azure convinced her. Plumjuice nodded, before turning back to Gretzky and continuing with their conversation. Both Azure and Blitz took in the sight of both Plumjuice and Gretzky and remembered that they didn't originally have a good inspection of Gretzky. The Gryphon was huge, a lot bigger than the mare that he was speaking to, but he was soft, due to how he acted around both Azure and Blitz. He had a dark grey beak, with a lighter grey face. The rest of his body was the same look as charcoal, apart from his tail, which was a dark, rich blue. His tail looked so much out of place, that they nearly thought that it was a relic. Gretzky's talons were a little darker than his beak, showing that he had put his talons to good use.

The conversation between Plumjuice and Gretzky continued for a little bit, Azure and Blitz both dropping in and out of focus, multiple times. They picked up the fact that Gretzky and Plumjuice were dating, but judging by how they acted around each other, they didn't look like they were. Azure was about to go in and talk to them both, but Blitz placed a hoof around his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Let them talk. At least then Gretzky would be in a happier mood to speak to us after." Blitz suggested, looking back at the gryphon and the pony. They were about to finish their conversation, when something fell off the counter, due to Gretzky leaning over it. A white artifact was on display, until it fell down and smashed on the floor, making everyone jump. Gretzky looked to the floor in horror, as his artifact had fallen and was now a mess of while dust and shards.

"Great! Not anyone's fault, just me being clumsy." Gretzky stated, getting a brush and sweeping it into a pile, before depositing it into a black bag. Blitz's guess was that he was throwing it away, but he could have been placing it into the bag to give to Nightclaw or another creature or pony. Blitz shook his head and used his magic to make sure that there were not any little sharp pieces of the artifact on the ground. He deposited the remaining shards into the bag, making sure that no creature could hurt themselves by walking over it. Gretzky smiled at Blitz and nodded, before trying to finish his conversation with Plumjuice.

Blitz turned to Azure, who was looking at another artifact on Gretzky's counter. It looked beautiful, almost as beautiful as a changeling reforming. That was a sight to behold alone. The artifact was a little spiral, looking a little like a model of DNA. It had links that held it together, like that of a spider's web. It looked beautiful and slightly breathtaking. Azure was in awe, he couldn't deprive himself of the artifact. He just wanted the artifact, that was a given, due to the look on his face.

Gretzky approached them from behind the counter and smiled at them, knowing that they liked the artifact that had just come out onto display. Gretzky chuckled as he picked up the artifact, watching Azure's eyes tracking the object, like he was connected to it. He smiled and began to chuckle, instantly forgetting about the other artifact that had just dropped on the ground.

"Alchem is pretty fixed on this, ain't he Eater?" Gretzky asked, moving the object around and watching Azure's eyes track it.

"Indeed he is. That needs to change!" Blitz stated, sounding like he was getting slightly angry at Azure. It didn't do anything, so he did the only thing that he could think of. He dragged Azure back and rolled him over, breaking his eyesight from the object. Azure snapped out of his state and stared angrily at Blitz, making Blitz smile with amusement.

"What are you doing?" Azure shouted, pushing Blitz off him. Blitz got a little mad, as he hit his head against the floor from being pushed. Azure caught wind of this and instantly ran over to him. "My bad!" Azure apologized, checking to see if Blitz was ok. He checked his head for any signs of an injury. There were no injuries, which Azure was glad about.

Blitz gave Azure an angry look, which made Azure wince a little in response to it. Blitz then smiled at him, trying to reassure him that he was in fact okay. He gave a little chuckle before they both looked back at Gretzky. He was a little confused at the events that had just transpired, but that didn't stop him from talking to them both.

"Did you two need anything, or were you just hanging around here?" Gretzky asked, wanting to know the answer to his question. Azure shook his head, but Blitz had other ideas. He nodded and then looked down to Azure, making him smile softly.

"I want to see if you still had it, from the last time I saw it." Blitz stated, slowly walking up to the desk again and taking a peep inside.

"Had what?" Gretzky called out from across the counter, looking more like a customer, rather than the seller. Blitz continued to search for it, until he spotted it. A white fabric with a dark red cross on it. It wasn't spotless or in the greatest of conditions, but it was something that Azure could have possibly loved. Azure hopped over the counter, along the Gretzky. They both walked up to Blitz and inspected what he was looking at.

It was an old medical cloak, like ones that the head mares of the hospitals wore. Azure instantly recognized it instantly and smiled, making him begin to remember good memories and even better dreams.

"How much?" Azure asked rapidly, making his words sound like they were jumbled. Gretzky looked at him and smiled, being smooth and sly in his effort to sell the item. He looked it over before coming up with a price for it.

"How about ten caps?" Gretzky offered, making his order significantly cheaper than what other ponies or creatures would have made it. Azure went wide eyed and nodded dramatically, rushing across to Blitz, who was still looking at it. He wasn't moving though, like he was in a deep thinking process or something like that. Azure and up him and shook him.

"Can we have it? Can we have it?" Azure asked like a little colt being excited to get some ice cream. Blitz still didn't respond, not until Azure began to shake him, snapping him out of his alluring vision.

"What? How much?" Blitz muttered, not knowing what the price was.

"Ten caps!" Azure called out, being way too excited for just a simple medical coat. Why did Blitz immediately feel like a parent to a foal? No idea! He opened his saddlebag and brought out some caps. They only had twelve caps left.

"Celestia damn it! Some caps are gone! They must have dropped out when I jumped into the water to get away or just fell out, due to me not doing up my saddlebag." Blitz admitted, feeling a little worse about all of the events that had transpired in the last couple of days.
He passed the caps to Azure and picked up the medical cloak, being sure to check for anything or any damage. Gladly, he didn't find that there was anything wrong with it. It looked like it would fit Azure perfectly.

Blitz passed the medical cloak to Azure, before turning to Gretzky again. Azure went off in a direction, Blitz assuming that he was going to go and try on the cloak.

"Anyway, the main reason I came to you is because I need to borrow something from you, for Alchem." Blitz explained. Gretzky nodded his head, before turning around and grabbing something that looked like a rope, followed by a harness. It was a battle saddle!

"Alchem was asking for this earlier, so I searched around for it and found it under… this!" Gretzky pointed out, pointing toward all of his stuff. It wasn't junk, because junk was classed as useless. Blitz knew well enough that if anything was at a pony's or creature's disposal, it would be useful in one way or another. Nothing in the Wasteland was useless. That word was only used for creatures or ponies that couldn't or wouldn't do anything.

"I would pay you for it, but as you could see, I am a bit short on caps." Blitz spoke aloud, his ears folding backwards, before Gretzky chucked it over to him. Blitz caught it with his magic, before looking from the harness or battle saddle, to Gretzky.

"No need! If it keeps him alive, then I'm happy to give it away. Just don't let him die, I need as many customers as I can. You two are great business!" He joked, winking at Blitz and making him laugh.

"Thank you!" Blitz said, smiling at Gretzky, before walking over to Azure, but stopping to turn around. "That wasn't even what I was going to ask you for! You completely threw me off with that. I need a gas mask or radiation suit for Alchem." Blitz added, slowly walking over to Gretzky again.

"Like I said Eater, if it keeps you both alive, I'll let you borrow it, but I do want it back." Gretzky explained, going from being happy, to being stern. Blitz nodded at him as Gretzky tried to go back and look for the radiation suit, the one that he was going to use for Blitz originally. He had moved everything he had originally, to look for the battle saddle for Azure. He was going to need to look a little more. He turned to Blitz and smiled. "You might have to come back later Eater. I need to search for it. Go give Alchem the battle saddle and I'll come and grab you when I find it." Gretzky promoted, making Blitz nod in response.

Blitz travelled to where he knew that Azure was going to be, at home, or at least their makeshift home for the time being. Azure opened the door and saw Azure lying on the floor. Blitz rushed over to him and saw that he was perfectly okay. Blitz smiled a little, before he dropped the battle saddle on the floor. Azure was wearing the medical cloak and smiled at Blitz, knowing that he had forgotten the battle saddle on purpose.

"Blitz? Can I talk to you about something?" Azure asked, sounding somewhat sympathetic. Blitz looked at Azure with a confused look, not knowing exactly what was going on or what Azure wanted to speak to him about. He sat down beside Azure and kept his eyes locked on his ally's

"Sure Azure! What do you want to talk about?" Blitz asked, being super curious to know what he was going on about. Azure looked to the ground and placed his head on it, looking as if he was a little scared. "What's wrong buddy?" Blitz spoke softly, lying down next to him and transforming his wings, so that they were like gryphon ones. He then placed his wings around Azure, making him feel a little warmer. Azure then looked at Blitz with a strong and passionate glare.

"I've known you for a little while and that scares me. Everyday, I wake up to the thought that some ponies and creatures would leave me. I've made plenty of friends throughout my time, but none like you. You've had my back on multiple occasions and I'm just worried that on one occasion, you won't. I'll be forced to do whatever it takes to survive. I need a friend in this world, one that I can rely on. Can you be that one friend, Blitz?" He admitted, looking like he was starting to cry.

Blitz slowly got closer and nuzzled Azure, before taking the doctor's cloak away from him and making him stand on all four legs. Azure was slightly confused, until he saw that Blitz was holding the battle saddle in his magic. Blitz placed it on top of the medical cloak and got a look of surprise from Azure. Blitz pushed Azure onto his back legs and hugged him close. He noticed that Azure was speechless, just like he wanted him to be. He did need a friend and so did Blitz himself. Blitz trusted Azure with even the most difficult of tasks and didn't want anything to happen to him. Blitz considered every other creature and pony, an acquaintance, but not Azure. Azure was a friend indeed.

They both stayed in the hug for a little while, before they both contracted from the hug. As Blitz backed off, he could see that Azure had a couple of tears on his face. He walked back up to him and wiped his face, making sure that there were not tears to be had from their event, their moment together.

"You want me to help you put this on?" Blitz asked Azure. Azure didn't say anything, but just nodded back at Blitz. Blitz teleported the battle saddle onto Azure, scaring him in the process.

"Ahhhh! I… I didn't know that ponies could teleport things onto their bodies, let alone another pony's body." Azure admitted, looking a little surprised. It distracted him away from the previous feelings that he had, so Blitz was happy with just messing around and confusing Azure, to make him feel a little happier. Blitz teleported the medical cloak back onto Azure's back, before walking towards Azure with a smile.

"I need to tighten it up for you. Is that ok?" Blitz asked Azure, getting a quick nod in response. Blitz used his magic to tug at the straps that tightened the battle saddle and tilted his head in confusion. Blitz was unsure of something, so he took the battle saddle off Azure and placed the medical cloak on first, then the battle saddle on top. It worked better, so Blitz tightened it up for the final time and got closer to the calipers, the things that would hold the weapons that Azure had.

Azure took out a weapon with his maw, passing it over in Blitz's direction. The weapon slapped him in the back and got Blitz to turn, making Azure turn from a dark blue furred pegasus, to a burning purple mess, changing only his face to a dark purple. Blitz chuckled and placed the pistol that Azure chucked at him, into the system of the battle saddle. He needed a couple of tools, but he could bypass it by using his magic and creating the correct tool for the job. He spotted the pistol into the socket and tightened it up, making sure that the pistol was not misaligned.

"What else do you want on here?" Blitz asked, looking up at Azure. Azure pondered for a couple of seconds before coming to a conclusion.

"The syringe gun!" Azure stated quickly. Blitz nodded and pulled out the syringe gun from Azure's saddlebag. He placed it in the socket and tightened it up, again making sure that it was lined up properly. Azure let Blitz finish what he was doing on battle saddle, before he began to take steps to see how the saddlebag would work. It weighed a little bit extra, but it was no different to carrying another saddlebag. He enjoyed the comfort of it, especially with the medical cloak underneath it, not making the metal and plastic rub against his form.

Blitz observed the sight before him. He saw that Azure was enjoying himself to the fullest. He looked awesome in the medical cloak and was wielding his pistol and syringe gun. It made him look like the stallion that you didn't want to mess with. Blitz remembered something that he needed to do to Azure's battle saddle, so he sat him down with his magic, before he went to work. If Azure was to fire, it would shoot both the pistol and the syringe gun, defeating the purpose of having a weapon on there.

With a little bit of work, Blitz was able to make it so that one of Azure's weapons would fire when he got one of the mouth triggers into his muzzle. The same thing was done to the other side, the side where he had the syringe gun. This was making it so that Azure had the option to either kill or save somepony or creature. A ure was most likely to save somepony, as opposed to ending their lives. The gun being on there was as defense or as a last resort.

Blitz was satisfied with what he had done to the battle saddle and then allowed Azure to move around with it one. Azure looked like a medical pony had just gone crazy, so Blitz wanted in on the fun. As Azure turned around, he went stone cold as he saw Blitz in his corrupted looking state. He wore chains around his neck and had fake blood around them. He had a prison shackle around one of his hindlegs and he had a bandage around one of his forelegs.

He wore the same cloak, which made it a very nice addition to the uniform of the Wasteland. He was dirty as ever and looking menacing. Azure trembled a little, before realising that it was actually just Blitz. He looked like he fitted in perfectly with the raiders. That made Azure think about something, before raising a hoof.

"Wouldn't you be able to go back to Journey like that and blend in with the rest of the raiders?" Azure asked, being slightly curious if that would work. Blitz shook his head, the chain making a rattling noise in the process. Azure sighed, before getting up and walking around the room. Blitz just sat down and watched him march around the room. It was slightly entertaining, seeing him walk around with so much pride.

A knock came from the door, as Blitz slowly got back to his hooves and walked towards it. He had a good idea on who it was going to be, but pondered the possibility of a raider being at the door. Blitz opened the door to see Gretzky standing there, holding the radiation suit in his claws. Blitz looked down at it and smiled, looking back at Azure.

They began to walk down the paved road, the one that Blitz had travelled down earlier today. Blitz was marching happily ahead and looked behind to see a protected Azure. He was wearing the radiation suit that Gretzky had brought to them. Azure had to leave his medical cloak at the building, because it would have only made Azure overheat, plus, it was a tight radiation suit, so there wouldn't have been any room for the cloak.

Blitz managed to get the battle saddle on the radiation suit, without ripping the suit at all. It was almost as if they were designed for being used on a radiation suit. Azure still had his weapons on it as well, being the pistol to his right side and his syringe gun to the left. Blitz received a bundle of harmful and helpful syringe ammo for Azure's syringe gun, so he gave them all to Azure to use. The design for them worked almost like a tranquilizer, but a little bit less effective, but with a lot more force and acting more like a bullet than a syringe.

As Blitz slowed down a little, he allowed himself to ease up and look around, trying to distract himself from the badness of the Wasteland. Although he looked the part for venturing in the Wasteland, he didn't enjoy the risk of others coming out with him, especially if they were friends of his. He kept looking around and then at Azure, making sure that he was ok. Everytime he checked, Azure was fine.

"I hate this!" Blitz stated softly, Azure looking over at him in the process.

"What do you hate, Blitz?" Azure asked, getting a little quicker with his steps.

"Just… this! Walking around and risking the safety of others travelling with me." Blitz replied, stating his version of the truth. Azure just looked at him in disbelief, but could understand where he was coming from. Azure nodded, noticing that Blitz saw the nod.

"That is true, I'd hate that too, but you gotta remember that you'd probably go insane if you didn't travel around with anypony. On top of that, nopony or any creatures would have your back in a tricky situation." Azure told bluntly, trying to spin Blitz's opinion on its head.
Blitz shook his head and took in a deep breath, before sighing loudly. Azure smiled at that.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Blitz admitted, feeling a little defeated at the topic. If he could, Azure would have wrapped a wing around him and hugged him close, but due to the suit, it was near impossible. He needed the radiation suit to go with Blitz to the factory, the same factory that had been reduced to ruins, or so Blitz had stated.

They continued their little walk, until they got closer and closer to the ruins. The radiation levels were rapidly climbing. They could both tell this, due to the new PipBuck that Azure was wearing. As the radiation suit was being put on, they removed the PipBuck and placed it on, over the top of the suit. It stuck out a bit, but it was going to be more help than they both knew.

Azure looked down at the PipBuck and saw that the rads on it were soaring out of control. If the suit was to tear, Azure would surely die. Blitz knew this, so he kept his bright red glowing eyes on Azure, making sure that nothing bad could happen to him. They were just looking to scavenge and look around the once usable factory.

The factory doors were closed, which was a little funny to Blitz, because everything around those doors were fully open. The doors were the only things that were blocking their path. They both slowly walked up to the door and then walked around them, seeing that they were both still locked. That made Blitz chuckle a tiny amount, before they both continued to have a little look around.

Rubble was the only thing that was visible. Grey rubble! All of the colour that would have been in the factory before the bombs fell, must have vanished along with the ponies that worked there. It hurt a little, Blitz knowing that his father did something along the lines of working in a factory. It made Blitz stop and think, again getting the attention of Azure.

"Preserve Blitz! We have to move on!" Azure commanded, making Blitz smile a little. He knew that he had to forget about the past, but he couldn't help it half the time. Everything played with his mind and emotions. He shook his head and tried to press on, noticing that Azure had already started to move things. Blitz walked over to the stairwell that was somewhat standing. He began to scavenge through the debris of the building, picking up pieces with his magic and throwing them out of the boundaries of the factory's previously standing wall.

Time had passed them both, as minutes became hours. They had been looking around for a fair while. If there was an oxygen supply for Azure's radiation suit, then it would have been depleted soon. They had gathered a fair amount of resources through doing all of the scavenging. The items ranged from metal, to rubber, to caps and medical supplies. All of the items were not there before, which made Blitz a little skeptical with how it got there.

Azure was still searching around and kept looking back at the body of the Steel Ranger that they had found, under the rubble. The visor on the Steel Ranger's helmet was caved in, meaning that the Steel Ranger within was surely dead, due to not having an intact skull. They didn't have the items to restart the armour, which made it impossible to open. The PipBuck could have been used, but it was hopeless, since they both didn't understand any of the coding to do with restarting programmes. It confused both of them, let alone Azure or Blitz on their own.

Azure came to the stairwell that Blitz had originally started on and nearly tripped over something below him. He looked down and saw more steps going down, underneath the factory.

"Blitz? What's down here?" Azure asked, kicking the ground below him. Blitz's ears perked up, as he remembered the underground part of the factory. He ran over to Azure and bucked the ground trying to make the ground move. Nothing happened. Blitz remembered the second way to get in and out of the factory's underside. He signalled for Azure to follow him, before he walked out of the previous walls of the building and down to the river, which was still running without problem, meaning that there was a way in.

Blitz grabbed Azure with his magic and carried him, using his magic. He stepped into the running river, which was very, very cold and swam up steam, trying to enter the underside of the building, carrying Azure, using his magic. It was a dangerous struggle, but it was able to be done, as Blitz pushed forward and got inside. He dropped off Azure, before jumping out of the water and trying to get warm again. Azure dipped his hoof in the water, through the radiation suit and found that it was cold. Not just cold, cold cold! He turned to Blitz and watched as he used his magic to burn the floor, before sitting on it, to try and warm himself up.

As Blitz was doing this, he used his magic against a wall, to try and see whether standing on his hindlegs would work. He instantly regretted it, as a sharp pain made an appearance in his leg. From where he had been shot and sliced previously. He blasted a beam of razor, red hot energy at a wall and watched as it burnt the wall and knocked it down, revealing a secret compartment. Blitz instantly forgot about his pain and looked at Azure and then back at the entrance to the new area. He slowly stepped forward and into the room.

There were posters of inspirational ponies in it. They literally littered the wall, apart from a section that had all six ministry mares on it, surrounded with a lot of notes. Azure entered the room and looked around, finding the room to be somewhat eye-catching. They both looked around and looked to see if anything could have been of use. Azure spotted a safe and Blitz spotted something else. Something that he knew exactly how to use. There was a memory orb, but unlike all of the others that he had seen, it was slightly cracked.

Azure looked over to Blitz, before rolling his eyes and grabbing a lockpick and listening to the combination of the safe. He had done this before, but on a stronger, more secure safe, so this safe would have been easier. Blitz on the other hand, was looking at some notes that related to the owner of the factory. He was just skimming over them until he saw something in there mentioning 'Project Chimera'. He took the notes and folded them up, before placing them in a safer pocket of his saddlebag. He turned to Azure and watched him as he tried to crack open the safe. Without another second wasted, Azure heard a click on the safe and opened the door.

Inside the safe, was a load of bits, weapons and ammo, as well as some documents that were sealed in an airtight bag. There was some cheat armour as well as some leg armour, that was in very, very good condition. They took everything in the safe and began to chuck it carefully into their saddlebags. Blitz walked over to the memory orb and grabbed it, placing it in his saddlebag for later Without a trace, they left the under part of the factory, Blitz getting wet again, but wanting to get back to the settlement as fast as he could. As soon as they got outside the factory confines, Blitz suggested for Azure to ride on his back. Azure was hesitant at first, but he accepted the offer, climbing onto Blitz's back and keeping hold of Blitz's cloak.

Blitz took off into the air and hovered across the landscape, his wings creating a little bit of noise, as they glided along. Within five minutes, they got back to the settlement. It was surprising how fast flying was compared to walking, for the amount of energy both used. They flew over the gate, defeating the purpose of it entirely and landed on the ground, next to their makeshift home. Blitz quickly opened the door and allowed Azure to walk in, before closing the door and locking it shut. Azure didn't understand why Blitz was in such a rush, but he just rolled with it.

"Ok! I'm going to go into this memory orb. Don't distract me while I'm in it, otherwise you might lose me!" Blitz commanded, watching a look of fear appear on Azure's face. He nodded slowly, before watching Blitz run over to a corner and lying on the ground. He grabbed the orb from his saddlebag and touched it to his horn.

His world faded away, as he drifted into the unknown.