When the robot's chest plate opened, Tiffany wasn't EXACTLY sure what was going to happen, but she was relatively confident that the metal monster was going to launch an attack of SOME kind. And based on the distance between them, it didn't take a genius to realize that it would most likely be some sort of projectile...

With an impressive display of tactical awareness she hadn't even known she possessed, when the cannister fired at her from inside the robot's metal shell, Tiffany dropped into a prone position. Though she reacted quickly, it was still a near thing. The cannister had a fair amount of velocity and it was aimed at roughly the level of her upper torso. If Tiffany had been even a little bit slower, the capture cable that spun it's way free of the cannister as it sped toward her would have wrapped around her head and/or neck, which would have probably either knocked her unconscious or choked her. By sheer luck, the cable spun harmlessly through the open space that she had occupied just a fraction of a second before.

Even before the weapon had fired though, a thought had occurred to Tiffany as that plate slid open. Fire would certainly be useless against the robot's metal shell, but what would happen if she managed to ignite it from the inside? It might damage some internal components, or better yet, set off whatever other weaponry the thing had stored in there. Plus, didn't machines typically need grease and oil and stuff? She was pretty sure most of those substances were flammable. Even if it only served to slow this thing down, it would be worth the effort. Especially since she had no idea of how to actually damage this monstrosity...

Rolling to her right, Tiffany came up to her knees and stretched out her hand, sending a shimmering wave of rippling heat speeding towards the robot's chest, specifically aiming for that open compartment...

The capture cable ended up entangled around one of the trees behind her instead. It had a good deal of velocity as portions of the bark flew off in numerous directions. Had it have hit it may have broken the skin. In the very least taken her off of her feet.

Tinman had not processed the results of the attack coming straight at her, rockets blazing though it's bulk had barely been off the ground. It had noted her reaction, the head turning to take her in as she popped back up. A flame extended towards it, that chest plate closing at the same time. Everything was simultaneous but Tiffany managed to hit her mark before that chest plate closed.

A number of things happened, there was a spark from within, Tinman's rockets turned off and the machine dropped harmlessly to the ground. The rockets weren't damaged of course but Tinman needed a degree of stabilization.

A fog cloud exploded from within, some sort of fire retardant foam that coated the front of the machine's torso and the ground in front of it. The chest plate had reopened then began to close anew. All this gave her time though another attack in similar fashion would probably do no good it did give her some time to flee, a small head start before the rockets came back on line and it began powering up it's wrist mounted gauntlet not expecting to need it. While it was at it Tinman brought the wrist mounted grenade launcher online, there were less lethal options with this one smoke and stun grenades, noise poppers, the fragmentation devices were only employed when it was off planet.

While these systems were booting up it made a direct path at her if she was still present or pursued in the direction she fled. Unlike her it did not avoid the trees rather bowling over smaller ones. Nor had it been hindered by overgrowth. While it gained in one area it was slowed in the other. Tireless Tinman was loud not one to sneak up on people but how good were it's sensors? Could she hide from it or set a trap for it? Brute force was unlikely to assist her and she probably wouldn't get another shot at the interior again.

For a minute, Tiffany's heart soared triumphantly in her chest as the robot crashed heavily to the ground smoking. She thought she had hurt it, perhaps even damaged it badly. She quickly realized however, that the metallic monster was still moving towards her, and the fumes coming off of it weren't smoke at all, but some kind of chemical intentionally dispersed, probably to extinguish any stray flames she might have ignited.

Cursing, Tiffany bolted for the edge of the clearing. She realized she was no match for this thing in the open and hoped that the trees would at least slow it down enough to give her time to rethink her strategy. She had hit it pretty hard to minimal effect. She was going to have to figure out some other way to fight it if she wanted to win.

Tiffany tried to weave her way between the bigger trees as she could hear the snap and crash of the smaller ones breaking before the oncoming mechanical man. Angry and becoming frustrated, she yelled out for her absent mentor.

"Slarr! Slarr, damn you! How am I supposed to fight this thing?!? You're supposed to be TRAINING me! Aren't teachers supposed to provide helpful advice to students working on difficult problems??? Slarr?!? SLAAAARRRR!!!!"

Tiffany didn't stop for an answer, but hoped that one might come nonetheless. She zig-zagged her way between the bigger trees and tried to come up with her own plan.

Maybe she could duck behind a tree and hit it from behind as it went past. It didn't seem especially maneuverable, especially when it had built up some momentum. It had sort of worked before, although it hadn't really done any damage to the tank-like construct.

"C'mon, girl... think!" She thought to herself as she ran. There was only so long she could keep up this pace...

Smaller trees were smashed through, branches snapped and fell to the ground though as she began zig zagging between the larger trees she had managed to put a little distance between herself and the machine. The larger trees it did not topple over after the first one or two of them slowed it's momentum down to thwart it from doing so with others. It was big but still need great speed when coming up against something so large.

Trees crashed behind her, whether that impeded with her words or Slarr had been ignoring her entirely had been hard to say. The only good thing, if there was one, was the fact that with all the noise something else probably wasn't creeping up on her knowing something else had been in the area. Even if they managed to ambush her it probably wouldn't be long for a competitor to enter the fray. Would it challenge them or join in? Few probably were interested in sharing.

On the plus side the noise allowed her to keep tabs on Tinman. She didn't have to run all the time and could catch her breath. Though she had no idea where she actually was. Far enough away now to hear running water she would find that there was a river nearby.

If she was a moderate swimmer she may have been able to get to the other side. The river was waist deep a short way from the bank growing deeper towards the middle. It was probably as wide as two city streets side by side. It didn't appear that Tinman was tracking her but it was unknown if the machine was using sensors or just heading in the last direction it had seen her running in.

In any case it adjusted to her whereabouts even when it could not see her. Since the larger trees weren't being knocked over now and she had a bit of distance between herself and Tinman she could also hear branches nearby swaying though there was no wind something had moved them.

There were no animals at the school she had been aware of either but it felt as if something had been there.

The swaying branch concerned Tiffany a little. She knew what sort of things lived out here away from the campus...

But... she also knew that Slarr could become nearly invisible when he wanted to. Was her mentor observing her, or had something else moved through the trees? Tiffany briefly considered calling out to Slarr again, but then thought better of it. If it was Slarr, he had undoubtedly heard her the last time and had probably refused to answer her on purpose. And if it wasn't her mischevious imp of a teacher... well, better not to attract any more attention then was necess...

...wait a second... maybe drawing attention was actually a good idea. The robot wasn't particularly fast, but it seemed invincible otherwise. There might be something more sinister out here, but maybe it wasn't as tough as the robot was. If something else came after her and was willing to fight to claim her... that might be enough of a distraction to allow her to escape all together. Of course, if it didn't work, it could also be disastrous. Assuming there was even something else in the vicinity to begin with. Either way, it was worth calling out just loud enough for anything close by to hear without intentionally alerting her mechanical nemesis.

"Slarr! Slarr, damn you! I know you're there! For heaven's sake, show yourself already!"

The best case scenario would be for Slarr to actually appear and offer some kind of helpful advice. The worst would be if something else showed up, in which case she would run back toward the robot in the hope that an altercation would occur. Of course, then again, nothing might happen at all.

If nothing happened, Tiffany decided she would find out what kind of effect water had on the robot. Probably none, but there were still some battery powered devices that couldn't get wet... maybe the robot was one of them, although she seriously doubted it.

Tiffany could still hear Tinman in the distance. Infrequently she heard it smash into the smaller trees while avoiding the larger ones. After catching her breath she called out for Slarr again after some hesitation. Odds were favorable that all the noise drove off the ambush predators.

There was a short pause then an answer, first in the form of the black creature dropping his invisibility cloak. Perch on a branch Slarr first glanced off in the direction she had come from then down at her.

“Good. Keeping aware of your surroundings despite the situation is a plus. Of course that may not help you.” He shrugged. “But it can't hurt. So you've concluded that you can't fight this thing. What else have you learned?”

Again he looked back in the direction she had come from then at her. “We have a bit of time.”

Tiffany looked at Slarr with a mixture of respect and anger. She had never really considered Slarr to be the "wise teacher" type. The only reason she had even decided to attempt making a deal with him was because he had seemed less dangerous than the other things she had encountered... and she had a general idea of where to find him.

But if he was lacking in wisdom and/or intellect, he made up for it in cunning. The way he was monitoring the distance to the robot and the way he was speaking to her now made Tiffany realize that Slarr was probably ancient, and had the knowledge of many years... maybe even whole other worlds... stored within his mind, no matter how bright or dim that mind might seem at first glance. Tiffany made a mental note to remember that.

"Well..." the blonde started out, more respectfully than angry now, "it's not fast, but I doubt it gets tired. And it has weapons. I was lucky to avoid that cable thing it shot at me. I don't think I can rely on my dodging skills to save me again in that respect..."

Tiffany thought for a moment before continuing, weighing her options.

"Look... I know you are looking at this as some kind of test, but, the way I see it, I have 4 possible options and none of them seem very promising.

Option 1- It's metal, so theoretically, if I get it hot enough, it might melt. That would take an extreme amount of heat which I don't really know if I can even produce, not to mention some time, all while trying to avoid it's grasp and weapons.

Option 2- While I can't match it physically, I might be able to pound on it telekinetically. Although again, its more or less solid metal, so that would take an extreme amount of force, which I'm not really sure I can even produce, all while trying to avoid it's grasp and weapons.

Option 3- I could get it close to the water here and try to drown it. It's slow and heavy and I might be able to telekinetically hold it under. The water might also short circuit something, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that it was designed to be amphibious.

Finally, (Option 4)- I could run. I could realize that I am never going to be able to actually fight anything here and call it quits. Throw in the towel and pray that I don't catch the eye of any of the other things that live here.

All things considered, I personally think that it's a toss-up between options 3 and 4, since options 1 and 2 seem the most likely to get me killed.

So... any advice, Sensei?"

Slarr listened. His primary interest had been making deals, exploiting loopholes in said deals where they existed and of course strawberries and blondes. Shokushu hadn't been the only world he had been to and while he wasn't as educated as many beings he possessed a cunning when it came to those things he actually cared about.

Of course being exiled here had been a bit of bad luck. It was self imposed but given prior allegiances and enemies it was dangerous to make his presence known in the galaxy again, even if he could avoid most physical attacks provided that he was aware of them. There were so many Belzar that knew exactly how to get around that ability.

He seemed bored as she pointed out her observations. The first two options were likely a waste of time. Though as she listed the third something seemed to change. A twitch, the swing of his gaze, something just didn't seem right as if she might have hit upon something.

When she finished he made a slow nod. “Option four is out. Once a student has been targeted, well I won't bore you with all the details as to what makes a student safe or not. Technically there's no safe student. You can make it all the way to your senior year before an attack occurs. Let's just say once you have been noticed word gets around.”

Well he didn't get to caught up in explaining any way. It was a little more complex than that. “So you realize that going head on isn't your best option. Nor do I think it actually breaths or gets tired. Eventually running just expends your energy so if you're going to fight it's best to do it when you have more energy.

“Have you forgotten the rockets?”

His tone was less chastising. He rubbed his chin leaving her to think upon what he said. With the rockets Tinman barely had a clearance of the ground so maybe it was limited and couldn't go any higher. Actual flight was probably out but it could avoid difficult terrain or slippery surfaces such as ice.

So even if it could fly over the river she wouldn't need to exert to much force in getting it down.

Slarr let her mull it over before adding something that may have seemed contrary to winning a challenge. “You know what it wants at least in part. Motives vary a great deal. Have you thought of bartering?” He may not have been serious about that making sure that she had considered all the options. Of course it attempting to wrap her up in cable probably didn't sit too well as far as parlaying went.

Slarr's features could be quite expressive, but with such an inhuman face, it was sometimes difficult to read. Even so, she caught the Imp's look of interest in option 3. She only briefly considered Slarr's suggestion of bartering before dismissing the idea. Weren't robots programmed to carry out specific tasks? Could they even be batered with?

That thought made Tiffany wonder... just WHO had programmed this thing to hunt her to begin with? Slarr? Where would he get a robot? She would have to see if she could wring more information out of her devilish teacher later... if she survived, that was.

"So... drowning then. The least terrible of terrible ideas. What could go wrong?"

Tiffany grinned at Slarr despite the fact that she thought there were literally MILLIONS of ways that this could go wrong...

"I better get moving... he sounds like he's getting close. Thank you, Slarr. I... I really appreciate the help. Really."

If Slarr had nothing further to say, Tiffany would take a good look at the river. How fast was it moving? How far across was it? Should she try and swim it from right here or look for a narrower place?

She just hoped the water wouldn't be too cold...

“Good luck with that.” Slarr then shot a bolt of fire over head as if using a flare gun. He then went invisible as she departed the area. She could hear the machine honing in on her position as she hurried along.

The river wasn't far from where she was. It did not flow fast either which was a good thing. It was about as wide as a street at the narrowest point that she could easily see from where she was. At one point it where it was almost twice as wide there was a path of wet stones that looked like you could hop from one to the other. The stones weren't particularly wide either though someone with reasonably athletic ability could leap between them.

It actually looked uniform as if the rocks had deliberately been set up by someone or something. The school maybe? Other students to provide for an activity. The water quickly got to waist depth after a few steps though it was far deeper in the middle. Whether it was deep enough to fully submerge the machine she couldn't say but even if it wasn't laying it out on it's back the machine would fully be immersed.

The crash of trees had been louder now as she could glimpse the metal monstrosity in the distance.

"Damn it, Slarr! You just had to signal to it, didn't you?" Tiffany muttered as the dusky-skinned imp vanished from sight. She wasn't really mad though. He did say that this was a test for her, after all. Still, she didn't really want it to see her just yet.

"Nice! No swimming!" Tiffany thought as she spotted the stones. The blonde student had taken dance classes most of her life, had been a cheerleader and played soccer at her old school, so jumping across some rocks should be relatively quick and easy...

Tiffany quickly made her way down to the makeshift bridge, hoping to stay out of the robot's "sight" for a few minutes longer. As she reached the bank, she leapt gracefully out to the first stone...

Well, that was probably why the machine didn't loose track of her. Or maybe it's sense were good enough to pick up on her recent progress from lingering heat signals to damaged vegetation and the occasional track.

There had been no time to consider it as she ran towards the river finding the bridge of stones she decided to hop from one to the other. Which seemed easy enough until she landed on the first stone and nearly slipped. It and the others where wet though not overly so. With a little care after her discovery she made it across with no further problem given her history.

It did delay her a little and Tinman was surging in her direction with haste. Still she managed to get across and dipped out of sight before the thundering noise ceased. Other than the dull sound of those rockets which carried Tinman to the river. Oddly it did not attempt to fly over the river. Instead the rockets disengaged and it fell the foot or so to the earth with a loud clank.

It approached the edge of the river scanning in one direction then the other. Locating the bridge of stone it moved in that direction, paused and seemed to study the bridge and stones. Then glancing to her side of the river. Calculations had been performed in an instant and it lifted up an arm firing a gout of flame at them for a few seconds.

The stones darkened as the flame thrower moved back and forth for a few seconds. She could feel that heat from her hiding place. While she calculated what it was doing Tinman regarded the stones for a moment. Sensors feeding it information before it jumped to the first rock which barely held it.

It was a lot larger than a student and took up most of the space of the rock. In a few places it could simply step from stone to stone though in more than a few it would have to make a hop. Why didn't it just use the rockets to move over the river? It made no sense. Unless, she would conclude, that it couldn't for whatever reason. Maybe it was low on fuel and didn't want it to cut out over the river. But to be that low on fuel to cover such a short distance was too much of a coincidence.

Tiffany was a little confused by the fact that the robot wasn't hovering across the river by rocket, but it seemed a safe assumption that he flame-throwered the rocks first in case she had left behind some sort of booby trap.

In any case, she was thrilled to see the mechanical monstrosity jumping, very precisely but still rather ungracefully, from stone to stone.

She remembered what the thing's mechanical voice had said before, after she had "grabbed" it and thrown it into the trees. Apparently, it "learned" from the attacks made on it. So despite Tiffany's first impulse to just "push" it off the rocks and hold it underwater, she decided to use a less direct approach that should result in the same conclusion.

Waiting for the robot to get closer to the middle of the river, Tiffany would "pull" the next stone away as the metallic beast made its jump. (If she could lift it...)

Her hope was that the robot would fall AND she could drop the rock on it. THEN she would try and hold the thing underwater.

If the rock proved too heavy for her telekinetic ability, then she would have to go back to her original plan of just pushing him over...

Tinman was slow and awkward. But accurate. It scanned then jumped to the next stone then the next. If she was still running she would have managed to get some good distance but less so then if it detoured around the river. Near the center it jumped only finding that the stone it was suppose to land on moved, first back then up.

SPLASH

It fell into the water, it's head tracking the stone that fell down upon it's head. The stone split without much of a reaction on it's part save that it struggled to get to the next stone. She struggled against it as she tried to submerge it. She slowed it down, sparks flying from it as it struggled.

If there had been any fish in the river they would have fried. It wasn't interacting with the water all that well, screeching as if it were a lobster being boiled alive.

The head, having not yet been submerged, still offered up incredible protection though most of the rest of it's body degraded in places. So far repairs would be minor but prolonged exposure would result in greater repairs being necessary. Plus there was damage to the coolant apparatus which needed to be fixed before it could properly recharge by conventional means.

But it was clear that she wasn't going to stop it telekineticallly, only slow it as it continued to the next stone pulling itself from the water and scanning for her while processing this unexpected data. Sparks flew from most of it's body. If she stuck around she would see it use that flame thrower again this time on itself as it vaporized the water into steam. The vapor doing more damage but in the long run less than if it remained soaked.

It did not immediately move toward the next stone calculating this new threat and scanning the immediate area first before settling on it's next move after scanning for her. Just where would an organic be where they could remain hidden but see it at the same time? It then brought up it's grenade launcher doing a weapon check and swinging it back and forth targeting a few areas and loading the proper munitions for the weapon. Stun grenades were switched out while smoke grenades were loaded in there place before it fired off two at different areas before resuming it's advance leaping from stone to stone.

At first, it seemed to Tiffany that her plan had worked perfectly. The stone was heavy and required a great deal of concentration on her part to lift, but she was able to move it without too much difficulty. The robot fell in the water and she dropped the stone right on it's head.

That's when things got complicated. The stone shattered against the robot's metallic skull, but it didn't seem to have much effect on the armored automaton. Tiffany had anticipated this possibility, however, and immediately went to plan B... using her telekinesis to hold it underwater.

It seemed the robot did not want to be held underwater, however. Bracing itself against her invisible assault, it forced it's way forward, eventually making its way up onto the next of the stepping stones. No matter how hard she tried to hold it back, it slowly but steadily advanced despite the unseen force pushing back against it. When it turned the flamethrower on itself, Tiffany was confused at first, but quickly realized it was drying itself off.

Damn! How the hell was she supposed to beat this thing??? The only thing that seemed to hurt it at all was the water...

The water! If she couldn't keep the metal monstrosity in the water, maybe she could bring the water to it...

Before she had a chance to figure out the best way to do that, the robot fired off two projectiles of some kind, one of which landed pretty close to where she was hiding behind some trees, both of which exploded into great clouds of thick, vision-obscuring smoke. Unable to see the robot anymore, Tiffany decided two things.

First, she was going to have to run again. She needed to put some distance between her and the robot in order to have the time she needed to formulate her next move.

Second, she needed to stay close to the water.

Hoping that the smoke would hide her from the robot the same way that it hid the robot from her, Tiffany broke cover and ran to her left, staying as close to the riverbank as the foliage would allow...