Night came once more, and with it, Judge entered the Studio again, now wearing his cameraman mask like a supervillain preparing for his big heist. Time for Phase Two. He summoned Clone-Judge again, and this time, he thought of the best materials he could think of to make his clone with.
He first activated his EC, he thought hard about the materials he would use. "Carbon fiber... titanium... cobalt-chrome alloy... yeah, sounds about right." He scratched his head. "Why does this feel like I'm about to build a luxury sports car?
And he doesn't even know how to make one"
He booted up his ether, and like an expert in a Blender tutorial, he made a mental 3D viewport and immediately pressed F12 for a quick render. The carbon fiber formed into a block, sturdy and lightweight—just like the Judge 2.0 should be. Then came the titanium, shiny and imposing, because why settle for anything less?
Finally, the cobalt-chrome alloy, because you need something that sounds super science-y to make a perfect clone.
Piece by piece(well he actually changed the state of metal and carbon fiber to liquid, but this is just here for context), he constructed Clone-Judge with a precision that any graphic designer would envy. Base of cobalt-chrome? Check. Joints of carbon fiber? Check. Titanium-coated exterior?
You bet. And for the final touch, a thin layer of carbon fiber over the whole thing—because Judge had no idea why, but it just looked cool. Maybe because walking around in a shiny titanium body was not the way to go, since most thieves in a fantasy world don't actually care if you are alive while looting.
For the final touch, he needed to make it look more like a human, because people aren't really textured like carbon fiber unless he was in an unfinished, glitchy videogame, which he definitely wasn't. He started with Acrylic Paint, making sure it reached every nook and cranny, then came the epoxy topcoat, which he put it over to mimic the luster of human skin.
But he changed it midway and decided to focus more on the facial features. After removing the epoxy and acrylic, he summoned some TPE (Thermoplastic elastomers) to make the face look more human, and applied it to the head, neck, and arms.
He jumped up as he marveled at the beauty he had created, it was a spitting image of himself... if he was made of carbon fiber of course. Without much time to spare, he sent the clone out into the real world with a snap of his fingers.
"Go forth, minion," Judge said, waving dismissively as Clone-Judge disappeared into the void. He did not know where it ended up, it could be inside a dense forest full of monsters for all he cared.
With the clone now outside the Studio, Judge felt a surge of satisfaction. "Now, for the big one. Let's do that tomorrow and head back now" Judge shrank to the size of a baby, and he accidentally did the teleportation-switch ethercraft instead of heading back from his studio to inside his crib. The ether hummed around him like it had just downed an entire pot of coffee—with milk, and then-
Judge swiftly tried to exit his studio, fully expecting to return to his crib and laugh at how smoothly everything had gone. Except... when his eyes opened, he wasn't in his crib. His two brain cells that were still functioning told him of how he had manually and absent-mindedly switched places with the clone that was sent out to the world instead of going back to bed. Stupid!
Judge stood in the middle of the forest, his mind racing and his feet glued to the ground. He looked up, way up, at the trees towering over him like skyscrapers that had grown ancient and grumpy.
The trees were so tall, that he half-expected them to start nagging him for not wearing a set of armor, or worse, messing with nature's plan.
The branches were twisted in such a way that it gave the impression that the trees had personalities, and those personalities were not very friendly. It was as if they were glaring at him, silently judging his life choices, and deciding whether to eat him raw or cooked (Fertilised).
"I have seriously jinxed this," Judge muttered to himself, spinning around in circles, trying to get his bearings. And the night inside this forest? Let's just say it had the vibe of, I'm watching you, kid.
The night air was cold with a hostile silence, broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves overhead. Those rustles? Yeah, they didn't sound innocent, like, not innocent at all—they had that creepy, 'I see you' vibe. He could practically feel the forest watching him, like he was the star of a survival reality show where the trees were the audience, and he was about to be voted off.
"Wooh!" Judge yelled into the night, his voice barely echoing back. His did that to keep his calm, not let his panic overtake him. "Where in the steampunky ether world am I?" This forest did not fit the steampunk theme that he had thought of the world.
It didn't take him long to realize that his perfect, genius plan had gone slightly off track, his genius brain, flawless in theory, had apparently decided to take a vacation. His clone had teleported to some random location in the middle of the wilderness, and now, thanks to their switch, Judge was the one stuck here.
Worse still, as he tried to call on his ether to return to the Studio, he felt a terrible emptiness inside.
His ether was completely drained, leaving just a few specks of ether inside him, which just helps his soul move his clone body, which, thankfully, did not drain his ether, the low battery notification had not yet popped up, so he made a mental note of adding one after he got out of the forest and figured out how.
"Are you kidding me?!" Judge groaned, slumping to the ground. "I'm a baby with world domination plans, stuck in a forest without a clue where I am."
He glanced up at the dark sky, now fully aware that the trees above him weren't just ominous—they were menacing. Leaves rustling rather ominously (very ominously) overhead. "This is fine. Totally fine. Not like I'm stranded or anything…" He was.
He continued to comfort himself, "I'm a genius, the best of current existence. I've got this." He did not, in fact, 'have this'.
And thus, Judge—baby mastermind extraordinaire—found himself stranded in the middle of nowhere, wearing a suit that was much too formal for the occasion, and with zero ether to get himself out.
"Yep, I'm a genius," he muttered sarcastically, staring into the dark forest with an annoyed expression, walking forward in his newly made clone, with all the dignity of a potato sack. "I'm a baby stuck in the woods with zero ether, and I didn't even bring snacks!"
Judge tugged at the collar of his outfit. His suit, which was custom-made for plotting and scheming, was entirely defenseless when it came to... well—defending.
"This suit was not made for hiking," he muttered, kicking at a stray twig. "I'm supposed to be plotting world domination, not going on some wilderness survival adventure." He opened his arms and half an arm-length shortsword popped out. "At least I have this for defense"
He touched his face to make sure the mask was still attached, which was unnecessary since he wouldn't be able to lift his hand without the mask (He would die If you haven't forgotten).
He decided to draft a story for the deity, since she was complaining of not getting any and he was just in the perfect condition. The MC being himself, since he hadn't gotten any personnel yet. He was thinking of an interview to be held soon. And also! A mysterious masked man, in a dark forest, in the middle of the night was what you call an intriguing setup.
Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. He heard something—a distant sound, it was faint but unmistakable. A waterfall, the sound came from his left.
Hoping to find a clue that would lead him out of this eerily quiet and mysteriously unhostile forest, he decided to travel to the sound. When he realized something, he again jinxed himself, talking about how the forest was mysteriously unhostile.
The waterfall formed a good-sized crystal clear pond that fed a river, the blue moonlight made the water shimmer in its light, making the scene more beautiful.
The scenery was something that could not be put into words, but his biggest concern was the giant bird that was drinking water from the scenic pond.
He decided to slowly back out, because even though his body was made of hard materials, his confidence in his body was not, and the deity had told him not to get cocky with his 'cameraman never dies' trait.
As he was slowly walking away, he stepped on a twig. Probably to get back at him for kicking a stray twig. But the plot was too cliche. Really? Stepping on a twig while retreating from an unnoticed enemy? He was still recording the story, maybe that caused the plot to pop up.
He looked at the bird in fear, and to his dismay, the golden and sharp eyes were staring at him, like an eye of a true predator. "Oh baby poops!" Judge squeaked, his voice now sounded like he was writing his will after knowing he would die today. "I should've chosen plot armor!"