"The sound of screaming and loud monstrous roars made Gus shiver in fear. Right before his eyes, the Gremlin Woods were being ravaged by metal monsters and giants!
Families were being forced to run away as their homes were wrecked and flattened down into nothing. Widgets were crying and the Fifinellas were in a state of panic along with several young adult Gremlins.
It was the end of the world!
    Try as they might, these giants and their monsters heard no reason, they kept on destroying the land that the Gremlins had once called home, forcing them to retreat to safer and higher ground.
In minutes, what had taken years to build was gone, and with it, the rich history that came along with their experiences.
The Gremlins were now homeless...
    But would they give up? No. They stayed and watched as the giants called upon even more monsters and built something big and filthy. A nest for big metal birds.
It was the ugliest thing Gus had ever seen in all his life.
    When the metal birds started flying, the racket just made it all the worse. Ugly and noisy! What kind of creature would have alloyed such an...And abomination roam the skies?!
The giants used them to fly and fight.
Gus wouldn't have any of it.
The giants and their metal monsters had come to their territory, so now they'd learn some manners..."


---{E}---


    Gus jolted in his sleep, causing a sleeping Jamface and Markus to mumble something under their breaths as they woke up as well.
All the Gremlins had fallen asleep at some point while Prescott worked, and the whole noise and the familiarity of the factory had caused Gus to remember some things in his sleep. He wished he hadn't.
 "Uncle...? What's wrong?" Markus asked while fighting back a yawn. The poor boy was tired.
 "It's...it's nothing. Go back to sleep you two." he whispered to both Gremlins who complied and quickly closed their eyes, falling back into peaceful slumber. How Gus envied them...
    Calming himself, the older Gremlin looked around the room, seeing Prescott still up and working on the other machines. Adding as many parts as possible to them.
His plan was simple, risky but simple. It was odd considering Prescott liked to put unnecessary detail into his work at times, maybe his time with the Petes ahd changed him more then what met the eye.
Sure he looked a little dull due to depression, but he seemed to be bouncing back quite well.
His colors were returning and despite staying silent around the Petes, Gus could tell the boy was holding back a rather nasty insult or two.
    Who knew their company could fix up the slightly anti-social Gremlin in a few hours? He who'd isolated himself out of anger and neglect.
Something Gus would make up for if they ever got out of this alive...
    Even back when they were at war, Prescott had always been a bit of an oddball among the Gremlins. But at the time, he stock around Markus never leaving his side unless he went to thwart Pilot Prescott's flights. He'd been rather good at it too.
    Suddenly Gus noticed he was being stared at. Prescott was eyeing him tiredly, with an expression that clearly said "What's on your mind old man?".
It was very much like Prescott to question everything, he'd always been eager to know more, and knowing that this wasn't lost to the Gremlin was a relief to Gus.
 "You are still awake." The older Gremlin said.
    The younger Gremlin opened his mouth for a brief moment, before closing it and simply nodding. he didn't want the Petes to realize he was regaining his senses so suddenly. They would beat him black and blue and back to gray if they found out.
As much as he craved to speak his mind, Prescott couldn't risk it.
 "You should rest." Gus told him.
    A shake of the head. He couldn't afford that. Sure he was tired, but he needed to finish off the parts before Big Bad Pete or Petetronic came along and found him sleeping instead of doing anything productive.
So, Prescott pointed a finger at Gus instead.
 "Me?" Gus asked. He thought for a bit and then shrugged. "I'll get to it in a bit Prescott...Just, try to rest...You don't look well."
    That earned him a slight nod and then a wave as the sickly Gremlin went back to work, putting together motors and adding more unnecessary parts to completed machines.
Although it was slightly noisy, Gus couldn't help be lulled back to sleep. It felt unwelcoming and cold, yet also familiar and heartwarming.
It felt eerily like home...


--{E}---


    Prescott watched as Gus went back to sleep. The older Gremlin was to nice for his own good at times. But then again, Prescott also knew that Gus could be stern when he wanted to be, he was a veteran of war after all. Every Gremlin was.
Old forgotten veterans...
    Shaking his head at this, he continued his work. Just a few more boxes and he'd be officially out of parts.
Funny, this was similar to something that happened to him when he was still a plane sabotager...
    He'd been so enthusiastic about messing with Pilot Prescott, that even after landing he'd kept on causing all sorts of trouble to the plane, until he was literally out of parts to ruin!
Needles to say, Pilot Prescott needed to get a new one after that particular day.
    Come to think of it, Prescott wondered what ever happened to their human masters. They were character too, so why hadn't they ever seen them around in Wasteland?
Then again, it was the first time he and the others had seen the plane factory replica on the land for forgotten characters.
Was it that maybe there were more areas that they didn't know of? More forgotten characters to meet?
Were the human pilots somewhere near, yet so far away?
    All of these questions plagued the sickly Gremlin's mind. If their human masters were here, he hoped they were safe and as far away from the plane factory as possible.
It would be nice to be rescued by them, but Prescott didn't want any harm to come to them.
They who'd offered them a home when anyone else would have shrugged them off as stupid creatures. They who'd helped millions with only one thing in mind as a reward. Peace.
If the Petes ever managed to grab them and harm them, Prescott was sure he'd feel horrible, along with the other Gremlins of course.
    Even though they'd been rather aggressive at first, considering humans had taken their home and built a horrible factory in it's place, Gremlins and Pilots had become close friends and allies. The favored human being the blond pilot by the name Gus.
The one their very leader sabotaged and then helped.
    Pilot Gus was the favored human because he was kindhearted and gentle. But that didn't mean the other humans weren't nice either.
    Pilot Jamface liked to meet everyone and would get them the best postage stamps for dinner.
    Pilot Markus would sing and dance, providing amusement and entertainment with all sorts of moves and tunes that the Gremlins had ever seen.
    Pilot Prescott was intellectual and a very charismatic man. He liked to help his friends and was somewhat of a great psychologist. You just opened up to him quickly which was why he, Gremlin Prescott, had taken upon himself to annoy the man until it drove him insane. He'd done his best but the Pilot had always bounced off with a smile, which made the Gremlin wonder how Markus hadn't picked him in the first place...
    Markus, despite sabotaging the plane of Pilot Markus, had always been too much of a softy to actually do something that would send his pilot to death or worse.
He ended up befriending him at some point when he'd found him dancing while listening to the radio.
If Prescott remembered correctly, Markus had described it like "The human was going crazy! It was listening to some strange sound and then it started shaking wildly like a wild cricket caught in a spiderweb!" which he'd soon learned was the man dancing the swing by himself.
He'd been missing his sweetheart back home. Poor guy.
    Shaking his head and realizing he was wasting time with foolish little things, Prescott went back to work. Finishing off the boxes of parts and finally collapsing from being so tired.
His sleep was filled with dancing humans and Gremlins by a nice looking building.


---{E}---


 "What do you mean his gears were stolen?!" Oswald exclaimed, looking wide eyed at Horace who was guarding the Clock Tower along with a few Card Guards.
    He and Mickey had reached the Clock Tower, bent on speaking with him, but were stopped by Horace Horsecollar whom had the task of telling them that they wouldn't be able to talk with the Clock Tower at the moment.
 "I mean someone sneaked in, took several of his gears without anyone realizing, and left." Horace stated. "We only realized this because when we finished fixing his front and turned him on, he started going berserk and telling time backwards. Then he tried to crush us. Again."
    Oswald moaned and clutched his ears, pulling at them. Perfect...just frigging perfect. How were they going to get some information out of him then?!
The Clock Tower was needed for their investigation!
    Mickey frowned and then gripped his chin in thought. What to do now? They needed to fix things and fast...Gus and the others' lives might depend on it.
 "Say, why don't I go in and try to pain some new gears?" he asked.
    Horace seemed to ponder this, before shaking his head. He wished it was that simple, sadly it wasn't.
 "Those gears are special. They have carvings that would take you years to decorate. It was specially designed to keep him functioning properly and sanely enough. Without them he's just a giant living clock with big smash-y arms." He said. "But if you find the gears, I'm sure we could put him back together in no time."
    Sharing a look both brothers frowned but silently agreed. If they didn't do this, there was no way they'd find the Gremlins without a good reference point that the Clock might be able to provide.
 "Ok Horace. We'll find the gears." Oswald said. "But what exactly do they look like?"
    Horace smiled. That was easy. They were very distinct so the two wouldn't get the wrong ones, that was for sure.
 "Well they vary between blue and pastel in color and have strange carved lines. We're missing 6 of them, so as soon as you find them, come here and we might be able to put them back into place."
    The two nodded and ran off, keeping an eye out for the gears. This was going to be a very tedious quest, they could feel it.
Still if it helped find the Gremlins and stop the Petes, the two would do it. Regardless of their levels of boredom.