#Starpoint Squad AU

[theramblingsofadork]

I’m sure some of you have already seen this from my blog banner, but I figured why not celebrate my return by sharing a WIP of the entire Starpoint Squad! ✨💫

[theramblingsofadork]

Here are all of the art pieces from my Starpoint Squad AU synopsis post yesterday!

[theramblingsofadork]

I like to imagine that Rivet helps teach Surge and Kit about Extreme Gear riding when they try to steal her board to go run in a race.

While her and Surge may clash at times due to their combined stubbornness, Rivet just wants the best for her and Kit.

Plus, it’s a joy for her to share a hobby that she enjoys with others.

—

Short accompanying fic below the cut! 📗

“Uh oh.” Kit froze.

“What?” Surge looked over her shoulder to see Rivet standing in the doorway. Frowning wide with arms crossed over her chest. Her frightening mama bear look.

“What are you two doing?”

“Crap!” Surge swore. They had been found out. “Tck— nothing.” She then lied with a haggard ogre expression.

Rivet rose a brow. “Is that so? Because to me it looks like you were trying to sneak out.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “With my board.”

Surge gulped, and Kit hid behind his ears. “See Surge? I told you this was a bad idea…” he grumbled quietly.

“Shut it Kit!” Surge snapped back under her breath. “How else are we supposed to enter the race if we don’t have a ride??”

A flicker crossed over Rivet’s eyes. “Race? What race?”

Crap! She did it again! Surge groaned in frustration.

Kit peeked out from behind his ears. “Maybe we should just tell her?”

Surge GROOOAAANED and flopped like a defeated rag doll. “…UGHH FIIIINE!”

She frowned at Rivet. “There’s this big ole Extreme Gear race going on. The whole Restoration’s even getting involved! And we want in!!”

Rivet rose her brow disappointedly. “Aaaand you thought you could just sneak off with my board to run in this race, and I wouldn’t notice?”

“Ugh see? I told you she wouldn’t understand!” Surge angrily told Kit, who hid behind his ears again due to her volume.

“Oh no, I understand perfectly.” Rivet… smiled? And chuckled?? “Actually, you two remind me a lot of myself and my brother when we were younger. We used to try stuff like this too.”

So this must have been what they looked like to Hunter when he caught them trying to be sneaky. How amusing.

The two perked up. Kit came out from behind his ears hopefully. “So… does that mean we can borrow your board then?”

“Ahaha—Absolutely not.” Rivet’s look went from cheery to cold as ice again. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that they would crash it, especially with how reckless Surge could be.

“Drat.” The two sank down again.

“But! That being said—” The cat shut her eyes and raised her nose to the sky. “I’ve never been one to turn away someone excited about racing before.”

Her smile returned, and her green eyes sparkled as she beckoned for them to follow her. “So, come on. If you want to race, then we’re going to do this the proper way.”

The two kids exchanged a look with each other, before picking themselves up and following her out.

“Oh— and… don’t tell Starline.”

—

[theramblingsofadork]

Hide and Seek~ ✨

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“I’m so sorry…”

Sometimes grief can be too much to bear, even for the strong.

(Rivet goes through a lot, both in the AU and in canon.

She needs a hug. ;w;)

[theramblingsofadork]

R: “Ah! You got it!”

S: “It’s hard to believe that this is the thing we went through so much trouble for.”

I have a little headcanon that Rivet and Starline met once before the competition, when they found themselves searching for the same component for their individual projects.

It ends up being trickier than either of them anticipate, so amidst a series of hijinks, they end up having to work together in order to secure said component.

Unfortunately, at the end of it all, it ends up not being compatible with what Starline needed it for, so he tosses it over to Rivet as payment for saving him from being eaten by a giant cave worm.

“There. Now we’re even.”

[theramblingsofadork]

🎵 Honey, it’s time to leave the doubt behind.

Take my hand, cause you and I are gonna shine ✨🎵

Whenever Starline starts to have doubts, whether it be at the start of the competition or all the way at the end of the Restoration Arc, Rivet’s there to encourage and keep him and the others going.

No matter how badly off the rails a plan may go, or how low he may feel on a particular day, she’ll always try to find a way to uplift spirits and find a win-win to still make it work.

She has more than enough of a go-getter attitude for the both of them, and thankfully, it’s contagious. 💖🌟

[theramblingsofadork]

Have a stupid Rivetline joke comic that I thought of a few days ago and put way too much effort into, lololol—

Bonus doodle under the cut!

[theramblingsofadork]

None of the boys on the Starpoint Squad have a professional background in engineering or chemistry, so when Starline tells them not to eat in the lab or while constructing the robot, they don’t take him very seriously.

This results in him flipping his lid (reasonably so) when he finds them doing just that, despite his warnings.

They do meekly apologize when they learn there is actually a real, scientific reasoning behind his words, and it's not just because he's being a stick in the mud.

Goes to show, Starline’s not the only one to get a slice of humble pie during the competition! XD

Accompanying fanfic below the cut!

vvvvvv

📘📙 Fanfic: A Slice of Humble Pie

Accompanying Music Track: World Trigger - 12/30

Starline stopped dead in his tracks the moment he stepped into the room. The platypus’ eyes widened when he saw Charge, Hex, and Lug standing around a table in the center.

Munching on cookies and cinnamon covered churros as they worked on the robot’s response system to Cello’s chemical mix.

Rivet immediately saw the problem too and clicked her tongue, green eyes shifting to the doctor besides her as his fists tightened at his sides. “Oh dear...” She managed to get out before Starline’s patience utterly cracked.

“GENTLEMEN!!” He exploded at the group, all of whom immediately looked up and froze like they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. (Ironic, because of what they were snacking on.) “WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT EATING AROUND THE EQUIPMENT?!”

The three stared at him blankly before Hex slowly crunched down on the cookie still in his mouth to reply, “Um… not to do it?” He squeaked.

“And yet, here you are, going against my very clear instructions and making an absolute mess!” Starline exclaimed angrily before he stomped over to them with balled fists. “Did it not occur to you—“ He yoinked the cookies away from Charge. “—That I had a very good reason—“ He plucked away Hex’s next. “—For telling you all not to eat in here?!”

He reached to grab the churro away from Lug, but the bulldog knit his brows together and quickly held it up out of Starline’s reach in defiance. The platypus merely gave him an unamused deadpan before a portal activated over his head, allowing Starline to easily take it from him.

The bulldog sputtered at his now empty hand and at being outsmarted, before growling deeply as the doctor continued by without so much as a second glance. “Grrrh… Well MAYBE we just thought you were being a big ole, grumpy stickler! I paid for that, you know!!”

“Well then, maybe next time, you’ll heed my words,” Starline stated with an over the shoulder frown as he crossed over to the nearest trash can to dump the confiscated goods into it.

“I don’t get what the big deal is, doc,” Charge said as he frowned and rested on his elbow on the counter.

“Clearly.” The platypus’s tone was practically dripping with sarcasm.

“…I mean, I get the whole liquids thing for obvious reasons, but is food really THAT much of a problem?”

“Yes, it is. And quite frankly, I’m surprised I even have to be saying that!” Starline exclaimed before the bag of cookies made a particularly loud ‘cur-chunk!’ as it hit the bottom of the cylinder.

Starline then spun to face them again, crossing his arms like a disappointed parent. “I understand that none of you have ever had formal training in a professional setting like this… but even so! I expected you to have SOME common sense!“

“Hey! You calling us dumb or something?!” Lug complained as he leaned atop the counter.

Starline sighed dramatically and pushed his fingers into his ivory bangs. “Your words, not mine, Lug.”

“HUHHH??”

“Regardless! Since it seems that merely believing the words of a professional isn’t enough for you, I suppose I have no other choice than to make it perfectly clear why we mustn’t eat in here.”

Gazing out to the annoyed faces watching him, Starline began to explain. “Contrary to what you all might think of me, I tell you this NOT because I am a stickler and want you all to starve. But rather because ingesting food or drink in a setting like this poses a very real and very dangerous health hazard! Not to mention it could potentially mess with the reliability of our tech!”

“‘Health hazard?’ ‘Mess up reliability?’” Lug squinted suspiciously, not buying a word of it. “How?”

Starline motioned to Charge, whose ears flattened at being singled out. “For example: Charge is currently handling the concoction Cello made, testing if the fluid is potent enough for what we need to operate the hydraulics system, is that correct?”

Charge nodded and picked up the capped glass container with the glowing blue liquid inside. “Yeah. Cello wasn't sure how concentrated it needed to be, so I’m adding it little by little to get the proper dosage. But I’m keeping it covered so it doesn’t spill and no crumbs can get inside.” He gave the bottle a little shake, causing the liquid to noisily slosh against the sides.

“A measly effort at best to prevent incident,” Starline scoffed dismissively, which earned an immediate frown. “By handling the chemicals, then eating and sharing your food with the others immediately afterwards, you’re running the risk of making yourself and the group quite sick from cross contamination!”

Charge’s grumpy attitude and expression almost immediately dropped when the realization of what he said clicked. The lemon colored cat meekly set the concoction back down on the table and dropped his gaze with it. “…Ah,” he mumbled quietly.

Starline then turned to Hex and Lug. “And you two! Even if you’re not handling the chemicals, you’re still getting crumbs everywhere! And no matter how tidy you may try to be, they’re still going to end up getting into the ports and components of whatever you’re trying to build! Which, in the long run, can and will affect connection integrity, and potentially cause a multitude of other problems down the line!”

“Oh.” Both bulldog and rat too shrank down like wet, burlap sacks in embarrassment.

“That.. might actually explain some problems I ran into back home…” Hex mumbled, scratching at a tuft of purple fur as he recalled his favorite robot struggling to work properly after a few tests. He had snacked quite a bit around that one as well. Namely, pretzels and granola bars.

Starline huffed out a breath, pleased to hear their arguments silenced, though he was still just feeling plain annoyed. “Do you understand now why I was so insistent on this? One careless misstep, and our chances of winning the competition could be over before we even get the chance to show them all what we’re capable of.“

He sighed and pushed up his glasses as he pinched the bridge of his bill. “Honestly, I get being hungry on the job, but if you feel as though you MUST feast so badly, then please, for the sake of everyone here, do us all a favor and take it to the cafeteria where that stuff belongs!!”

The boys went silent, and Starline took that as a sign of their understanding. “Thank you!”

With that seemingly now settled, the platypus huffed from his long winded speech, feeling the twinge of a headache coming on. “…Augh.. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some air… I expect this place to be spotless when I come back, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Starline,” The three boys somewhat mutedly murmured in unison.

“Good.” The platypus shut his eyes and headed for the door, brushing past Rivet who hadn’t said a single word the entire time. “Honestly, the things I put up with...” he grumbled to himself as he walked out.

The room was deathly silent as the door closed shut behind him. Then Rivet shifted her gaze over to the group. Before she could even so much as breathe in their direction, Charge held up a hand. “Don’t say anything, sis.”

Rivet shrugged nonchalantly. “I wasn’t going to.” She paused. “…He is right though, you know.”

Charge groaned in response like he knew she was going to do that and grit his teeth. “I—!! Realize that! Ugh… Now, anyways.” He rolled his eyes sideways and slunk down.

“I didn’t mean to make him so upset…” Hex murmured softly, quietly picking at the hard plastic on his tablet. “I just didn’t want to fall behind on our tasks…”

“Augh, no, don’t blame yourself, Hex,” Lug groaned, rubbing his face with a gloved mitt. “We’re the older ones here. You were just following our example... Technically we should be the ones who are responsible..”

“Says the one who, up until a minute ago, was the most eager out of all of us to defy the doc’s instructions,” Charge pointed out.

Lug start, completely caught off guard. “WHA—! Yeah, okay, well— MAYBE I realize I was being petty… But it’s not exactly like you were any better!!” He then exclaimed.

“Yeah alright, you got me there.” Charge gave a small, sheepish huff. “I can admit I was wrong too…”

“Look, I’m sure you all didn’t mean any harm by it,” Rivet encouraged them. “But maybe from now on, just trust what he says when it comes to things like this, yeah? It’s clear to me that this competition is really important to him.” She chuckled weakly. “Otherwise, he.. probably would have kicked us to the curb about a week ago…”

The lavender cat then moved to join them at the table so she could lean back against it. “Yeah, he can be a bit arrogant, and… he’s a little rough around the edges at times. But I think he IS trying his best to work with us despite his pride. So… maybe we can do a bit more to work with him too, yeah?”

The room was quiet for a moment, then Charge nodded, seeing her point. “..Yeah. Guess it isn’t in our best interest to pull a him by ignoring his request.”

Lug grumbled and put a hand on his neck in bashfulness. “Mm.. yeah… Especially when at the end of the day, he’s just looking out for our wellbeing,” the bulldog glanced over at the trash can where their treats now lay discarded.

“We’ll apologize then when he gets back,” Hex stated, holding up his determined little fists. “Let him know we do appreciate him! And that we’ll try even harder from now on to be the best teammates he could ask for!”

Charge gave the rat a nod of approval. “Yeah, sounds like a plan. Even if he’s going to lord it over our heads for a while…”

“Better than him staying quiet and letting you accidentally poison yourselves, right?” Rivet flashed them a smile and pushed off the table to retrieve a roll of paper towels from one of the nearby counters. As she passed them to head to her own work station, she bumped it against Lug’s chest.

Lug accepted it and blinked at the roll, turning it over in his hands. “Yeah, you’re right about that,” he stated, before sighing and ripping off a square of it. “All right then.. come on guys! Let’s get this place cleaned up like the doc instructed.”

The coder and bio-electric kinetic nodded, and the three got to work on cleaning while Rivet sat down to resume work on her part of the project.

When Starline would eventually return to the group ten minutes later, their work area would be just as he expected it to be.

Bright, clean, and sparkling, with not a single crumb or drop of chemical concoction in sight. ✨

[theramblingsofadork]

Hex comes to see Starline as a mentor and inspiration throughout the competition, often telling him about his projects and asking for his advice and critiques on coding for the team’s robot, as well as his own personal builds. Starline’s happy to oblige, seeing as Hex has great potential within him, and even reminds him a bit of himself when he was younger.

Whenever they get a free minute, the two will often take a walk around the facility and discuss programming and the like. (The stuff that comes out of the kid’s mouth honestly baffles the doctor sometimes. ✨)

[theramblingsofadork]

Rivet has only seen Charge use the full extent of his power twice.

Once when they were kids, and he had a full on electrical meltdown…

And once when they were older… when his mind was no longer his own.

She’ll never openly admit it, but despite being surrounded by him and his power for all of her life, seeing her brother’s true strength terrifies her.

Light vers. included beneath the cut because I like it too much not to include it.

[theramblingsofadork]

⋆｡°✩ Starpoint Squad AU Lore Post 2⋆｡°✩

— (Here’s a link in case you missed Act 1 )

— Competition Arc: Act II: The Plot

🚨 (Major spoilers ahead!)

Throughout the duration of the competition, there are multiple teams who are at odds with the Starpoint Squad. Several in particular clash with and pose more of a threat than the others. Like Skara the Skunk and Stormy the Mink.

Although Starline thinks them to be nothing more than rude, loud-mouthed bikers at first, he quickly finds out that they’re serious about being here, and are rather competent despite their unfitting appearance.

There’s also the pompous, above-it-all rich boy Atlas and his silent cohort (currently unnamed). Starline knows Atlas from their shared time at university, as they were somewhat at odds with each other, and graduated the same year. The friction of their opposing dynamics are ever present, even here.

There are also some human competitors involved in the mix, like a conservationist named Yew and a hotheaded brute named Dude. (Name TBD but Dude sounds funny.) Due to the tensions between the two races, partially in Aethos, this adds a whole other level of drama to the event.

Halfway through the competition, strange things begin to happen, including sabotages, fights, and Skara and Stormy dropping out of the running quite suddenly.

As these tensions and escalating events threaten to bring a premature end to the competition, Starline decides the only way to prevent that is to find out what’s really going on. So he and the squad begin to dig in and investigate.

What they eventually find out is that the tensions and sabatoges are being used to distract and draw security away from their usual outposts.

As Starline discovers from hacking someone’s personal computer, there’s a plot going on behind the scenes to weaken security and cause division, so the assailants can break into and take control of the Atmos CORE— using it’s power systems to take over security and turn both them and the competitor’s robots against them.

At this revelation, Starline finds himself torn. On one hand, he could use to his advantage by ‘joining’ them, only to then betray and assume control later on, allowing him to hand over Atmos and the CORE to Eggman.

But on the other hand, if his plan somehow fails, that could have this dangerous and ancient artifact in the hands of an idiot.

It’s at this point that he’s discovered and confronted by a teammate, and the farce he sought to maintain crumbles. His morals and reason for being here are challenged, and he’s given a single choice.

Join the saboteurs and show everyone his true colors, or help the team— HIS team, to stop a tried and true disaster from occurring.

Starline grapples with his selfishness, and the part of him that’s become attached to the squad. And he ultimately decides..

He’s gone soft. Not only would the improper handling of the CORE be a catastrophe, but he knows the others are going to charge in regardless of what he chooses. And whether he wants to admit it or not, some small part of him doesn’t want to see them get hurt.

So, they all head to stop the plot from happening, and in doing so, stumble upon Stormy and Skara, who did in fact NOT drop out, but were instead captured and locked up for discovering the grand scheme earlier on.

The assailants reveal themselves to the entire competition, applauding the squad for making it this far before stating that they’re ultimately too late.

A widespread broadcast activates on the intercom for the entire facility, and the CORE is activated, being directed to take over security and capture the both the Board of Directors and the competition participants.

What started out as a simple little competition suddenly turns into a fight for Atmos, and by extension— like or or not—the very balance of the world as they know it.

[theramblingsofadork]

Here’s a sneak peek of one of the art pieces for the next part of the Starpoint Squad AU synopsis! I’m getting super eager for it to be completed, so it’s hard for me to resist sharing a WIP.

[theramblingsofadork]

I have this headcanon that Rivet has a hilariously horrible sense of navigation and thusly, can get lost easily if she doesn’t have a GPS.

It’s pretty embarrassing for her, especially considering she likes to race, but Charge can attest to the fact that she just sucks at directions.

She tries her hardest not to let people find out, since she either gets The Look of Disappointment ™ or straight up laughter when they do, but it inevitably happens. And those who do find out never her live it down. The bane of her existence…

Starline finds this fact about her out the hard way when they get lost, and she assures him to let her take lead, since she knows which way to go.

…Spoiler alert: It doesn’t work out.

[theramblingsofadork]

📘 Starpoint Squad AU Fanfic: Deciding On A Team Name

It’s been about a week into the competition. Up until now, Starline and the others haven’t been able to decide on a team name because the group have been at such conflicting odds with each other, thanks to Starline’s failed attempts to control everything.

They’ve been ruthlessly teased for it too by another team who are shaping up to be their immediate rivals. “Not much of a team if you can’t even decide on a name! HA HA!”

So after Starline talks with Rivet and Charge and changes his tactics to allow everyone to be involved, they finally mellow out enough to come together and decide on something.

—

Mood Music: World Trigger - 31/40

“As you all know, today’s the last day to submit our team name,” Starline told the group huddled around in a comfortable circle, with some standing, and some sitting on the couches and chairs. He himself had chosen to stand.

“I realize we got off to a rough start. Simply put… this last week has been a disaster. But now that we’re all somewhat on the same page, we need to figure something out now.”

Starline then pressed his fingers together and glanced around. “So—in order to show my good will and that I’m serious about listening to what you all have to say, I have decided to open up the floor to whatever suggestions you may have.”

There was a tangible pause as the group weighed the sincerity of his words, debating who was going to test that theory and speak up first.

Surprisingly, Hex was the one to take first crack at it, raising his gloved hand into the air.

Starline nodded to him. “Yes, Hex?”

“Um.. How about ‘Misfits?’” The small purple rat suggested, dropping his arm and dangling it with his other one over the back of the rolling chair he was occupying. “Y’know, because we’re all kind of a band of misfits working together?”

“Yeah, I guess that would make sense,” Rivet agreed, pointing to herself, then to her brother who was lounging next to her on the couch. “I mean, Charge and I are riders that grew up in an isolated village without any technology—“ She then pointed across the circle to Cello. “Cello’s a hardcore scientist in a family of strict miners, Starline does multiple fields of study, Hex is a kid genius who could probably outcode the sun if he wanted to, and Lug—“

The lavender cat paused, as if suddenly realizing the bulldog didn’t really have anything noteworthy about himself to speak of. “…Well, Lug is Lug!”

Starline sighed as he crossed his arms, rubbing the bridge of his bill. Not… off to a great start.. “We are not going with Misfits,” he stated firmly. “A team name is supposed to inspire confidence, not make us sound as if we have no idea what we’re doing.” He shook his head haughtily.

“Well, how about ‘Intellects’ then?” Cello suggested next, her deadpanned expression unwavering as she adjusted her round, large framed glasses. “To show that we’re the opposite?”

“That’s too obvious though,” Charge pointed out, resting his arm over the back of the couch with his other pressed under his chin. His yellow ears flicked to the side. “And.. it kinda makes us sound like a bunch of know-it-alls. Not really a good look.”

The firefly crossed her arms and grumpily glowered over at the lounging cat. “Well then, do YOU have any better ideas?” Cello pointedly asked him.

Charge hummed and debated for a moment, then stated, “…Well, how about ‘The Hex Squad’? Y’know, because there’s six of us—a hex bolt has six points—and we’re primarily working on constructing robots and such?”

“I’ll confess that is a clever... utilization of that word…” Starline started, slightly impressed he had come up with that on the fly. “But I think the problem with that one should be fairly obvious.”

“Oh?” Charge glanced over at him.

Hex cleared his throat as he rose his hand again.

“…Oh, right—“ The cat acknowledged with a chuckle, scratching at his cheek fur sheepishly. “Guess we shouldn’t use the name of one of our teammates, huh?”

“I mean, it’s not that I wouldn’t mind my nickname being part of the team name,” Hex started, rubbing the back of his visor-clad head. “Honestly, I’d be kind of flattered really… But if we go with that, then everyone might think I’m the leader.” He shuddered in cold fear. “And I don’t think I could deal with the stress of that…”

“Yeah, you have a point there,” Charge agreed before hiding his mouth in the crook of his scarf. “I just thought it might make us seem cool and clever.”

The cat then blinked and side glanced at Rivet. “How about you, sis? You’re good at coming up with names. Got anything cooking up in that nogin of yours?”

“Mmm.. sorry to say it, but no, not really,“ Rivet stated as she crossed her arms and shifted her weight to the other hip. “Most of the ones I thought of were already taken by the other groups early on. And it’s kind of hard to encompass so many people with so many different talents under one name.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “Honestly, the best I’ve got at this moment would be something like ‘Team Vision’ or ‘Team Innovation’.”

The group grumbled and collectively deflated with a sigh.

“I mean, yeah, those would technically work, but they are pretty bland and generic…” Hex stated with a weak chuckle.

“Which is precisely why I didn’t bring them up...”

Starline rubbed his face as each of their ideas came up short. This was shaping up to be a bigger disappointment than the platypus had originally hoped. After all their insistance to be involved and work as a team, he had hoped they might be able to surprise him a bit and prove they were deserving of the voice he was giving to them. But so far, things were playing out just the way he thought they would.

The platypus huffed a bit, deciding it best to take control again. “Well then… unless you all can come up with something respectably appropriate by this evening, then I’m afraid we’ll have no choice but to fall back on the name that I chose earlier.”

“Oh please no,” Hex groaned, putting his face into his hands. “Not that one.”

“Yeah, can’t say I’m exactly thrilled about being called ‘Dr. Starline and his Minions’ either,” Charge admitted with a frown.

Starline scoffed and stuck his bill in the air. “It is a perfectly acceptable name!”

“Yeah, for you maybe!!” Cello ground her teeth together like a dog ready to chomp on his head. “I don’t much appreciate being called a ‘minion’. And if Hex can’t have his name be part of the team one, then why can you? Like? Ego much?”

Starline blanched and glowered over at the firefly. “We’ve been over this already, Cello!” He argued, clenching a fist in annoyance. “I can do whatever I please because I AM the leader!”

As the two began to bicker back and forth, Rivet sighed loudly. “Aaand, there they go again… Honestly, you think they’d get tired of fighting after a while...”

“What do you expect? They’re both very opinionated people. Of course they’re gonna clash.” Charge stated before looking at her. “Starline does have a point though. None of our ideas are really working, and we’re almost out of time.”

“You’re right… If only we hadn’t spent so much time squabbling amongst each other this last week…” Rivet grumbled, rubbing the back of her head.

Hex made a thoughtful noise, then glanced over to the bulldog sitting wide stanced in the couch chair besides him, twiddling his big gloved thumbs. “…Lug? What about you? You’ve been pretty quiet this whole time. You got any ideas?”

“Huh?” Lug glanced over at his best friend, before shrugging his shoulders at being addressed. “Oh, well, I mean—I do have one, but it’s probably not that good.”

“Aha—dear boy, I don’t think it can be any worse than anything we’ve heard already,” Starline scoffed, breaking off from listening to Cello’s flaming remarks and earning a dirty look from her and the others in the process.

Lug debated that silently for a moment, then his ears perked as he decided to just shoot his shot. “Well then, how about… ‘Starpoint’?”

The air of the group suddenly shifted as tensions dropped and everyone looked to him with complete confusion.

“‘Starpoint’?” Rivet echoed, tilting her head a bit in interest and bewilderment.

“Yeah!” The bulldog looked around at the collective group. “I mean— we are all here to prove something, right? To show that… we’re something more than what they say we are?”

Hex and Starline’s eyes widened.

“That we can be better versions of ourselves, and make a real difference?”

Rivet and Cello exchanged a thoughtful glance.

‘We’re gonna ‘reach for the stars’? Fulfill our goals and all that stuff?”

Charge rose a brow as he let out an impressed little noise.

Lug held out his hands like he had just told the punchline to a joke and was awaiting the audience’s response. “Ehh? Makes sense, right?”

“Starpoint..” Starline murmured thoughtfully, putting a hand to his bill in earnest contemplation as the platypus suddenly found himself genuinely surprised by the depth and insightfulness of that name.

How shocking for it to be coming from their arguably dumbest member as well.

“Hmm.. It does have a nice ring to it,” Rivet spoke up after a moment of thinking as well.

“Not too haughty or degrading…” Cello added as she also put a hand on her chin. “It fits our group dynamics pretty well too...”

“And it sounds cool as heck!” Charge nodded. “I think it’s perfect.”

“Yeah?” Lug sat up straighter as his grin grew even wider. Almost like he didn’t expect them to like it.

“Yes..” Starline wagged a finger through the air as he weighed this new option, before glancing across to Lug with a rather impressed grin. “I do believe you might be onto something there, Lug. Well done!” A genuine compliment he did not expect to be giving.

“So, if sour face over there is behind it too, does this mean we’re going with it, or not?” Cello asked, ignoring Starline’s sharp, withering glare as her eyes darting from person to person, trying to judge the vibe of the room.

“Why not?” Rivet asked, shifting her weight to the other side. “Beats the other option by a mile.”

Starline grumbled, feeling his pride take two severe hits, like a flaming arrow to the heart. But the self proclaimed doctor quickly moved past it and cleared his throat to give an approving nod as well, despite his disbelief that he was doing so. “I suppose it does encapsulate our shared goals quite well... and if everyone’s in agreement with it, then I see no problem with us being the ‘Starpoint Team’.”

“SQUAD!” Hex suddenly exclaimed, his eyes suddenly lighting up. “Let’s be the ‘Starpoint Squad’, like how Charge suggested instead!!” He practically leapt up onto his seat cushion with a rare physical zeal. “I JUST realized that if we do that, we’ll be JUST like my favorite heroes from Hero Mania: Mega Battle Robots VII! A team of powerful warriors using their combined skills to protect the world and make it a better place! Haha!”

“Ahah..” Starline hesitated, feeling a dip of reluctance to let that change slip through. He had already approved of Lug’s idea. Not to mention ‘Team’ sounded much more put together and professional than ‘Squad’ did. “Hex… we aren’t in a video game—“ he started to say. But the kid was too eager to let him finish.

“Awwww come on, please???” Hex put his hands together and gave the platypus his best puppy dog look.

Lug was immediately ready to back his best friend up, giving a big ole, sad frown as he pushed to the rat’s side as if to showcase him like a used car salesman. “Aww, I know you’re a big grump an’ all, Starline, but you wouldn’t say no to a face like this, ✨ would you? ✨”

“Yes, I would,” Starline said without skipping a beat, and Lug bristled like a cat being thrown into water. “WOW—SO COLD!!”

Charge chuckled at their back and forth before leaning forward on his knees to glance over at Starline. “Come on Doc, let the kid have his fun,” he said chidingly. “You know it won’t hurt anything in the long run.”

Starline grumbled beneath his breath, suddenly feeling very bullied from all sides. Hex certainly wasn’t going to let this go, was he? And was it really worth his time and effort to argue with them on this? Especially when they were already so far behind schedule as is?

“Don’t lose sight of your goal. You’re doing this to gain Eggman’s attention…” he begrudgingly reminded himself, pressing a hand to his well-maintained bangs.

The platypus finally sighed loudly and waved a hand through the air with a dramatic reluctance as he conceeded. “…Very well, fine! If you so insist, ‘Starpoint Squad’ it is.”

“YES!!” Hex exclaimed excitedly as he quite literally jumped out of his seat in joy, and Starline couldn’t help but huff a bit and shake his head.

“See? I knew it,” Rivet’s voice caused him to look up again, just in time to see the rider smirk as she gently shoulder bumped him. “You do have a heart in there.”

Scoffing, Starline rolled his eyes as he straightened his blazer. “It has nothing to do with having a heart,” he stated as he watched Lug hoist the excited, giggling rat into the air and spin him around. “Your brother is right. At the end of the day, the work we complete will be ultimately what matters.”

“Mmm.. sure, okay. Whatever you say, Doc.” Rivet hummed thoughtful. She didn’t sound like she believed a word of it.

“It’s simply strategy,” Starline thought to himself, dismissing her words. “Nothing more.”

Still… watching the laughing Hex, he did have to admit.. The boy’s energy over such a small thing was contagious.

The platypus smiled. Just a little bit.

He supposed he could deal with allowing this change.

[theramblingsofadork]

It dawned on me this morning that—at the start of the competition, Hex isn’t very experienced with large scale projects or building full-sized robots.

He’s built a lot of smaller scale robots in his garage, using stuff he’s found lying around, (like the toaster, which he got in big trouble for disassembling...)

…But due to his small size and lack of proper resources, his robots were never quite up to the elite standards he wanted them to be, looking more ‘kiddish’ and cobbled together’ than ‘sleek’ and ‘epic’ like how he visualized in his head.

His fascination with video games—in particular a game franchise called Hero Mania— is what got him into coding and inventing in the first place; seeing as they featured giant hero mechs, which he became inspired to one day build and control/pilot in real life.

But his inability to make The Thing™ a reality, along with all the negative voices in his life got him discouraged. So, he began to focus on the coding side of things instead.

His headset acts very much like a VR one, giving him access to a 3D digital space where he can work with and build his creations while not being limited by resources or space.

Using this and his custom coded tablet, he ended up learning how to write up programs and build digital versions of the robots and suits he wants to bring to life.

But until he meets Lug, he has no idea how he’s ever going to pull it off— or if it’s even possible. But the bulldog loves the whole concept and wants to see him succeed, so he helps him obtain bigger and better materials. Helps him with the building side of things, and even encourages him to silence out those negative voices.

He’s also the one to introduce Hex to the competition in the first place. He thinks it’ll be good for Hex to try his hand in a place with other inventors.

Not to mention—the Atmos Corporation has a plethora of supplies and space, something Hex can use to attempt one of his larger scale robots. (Although of course, they don’t understand just how tricky doing that will actually be until they’re already doing it.)

⭐️ Bonus note to add: During prelims, people—including Starline—do end up judging Hex on his robots’ appearance since it is still quite crude. But his programming and what he makes it do is what really blows them away.

It’s the only reason he and Lug even get through the first round in the first place. And why Starline tracks them down to get them to join his team.

So yeah! There’s your character lore dump for the day. :)