Discendo Discimus - While Teaching, We Learn [Tekuma]

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Power Level: 11,500
Word Count: 225

‘Hmm…!’ Its telepathic echoes grunting quietly within the back of the minds of passers-by, Azguard had finally managed to discern some new facts about the corruptive life forms that were known as viruses. Still, the common cold eluded some of the medicinal marvel’s understanding, but that was to be expected. After all, it was still in its early days, as far as its personal research was concerned. On the other hand, bacteria posed little issue.

Having finished processing its most recent specimens, the azure entity finally made to move, shifting its way quietly through the streets of the enormous and sprawling conurbation. There was always more to learn – an abundance of enigmas to which it wished to find an answer. One such enigma was soon to present itself.

Sitting on a bench, a young human girl seemed to scribble away upon a notepad. Comparatively short, with a fair but at least somewhat healthy complexion, it was not until Azguard drew closer that it realised abnormalities in the individual’s appearance. As human as she looked, with bright jade eyes and hair that looked magenta thanks to the sapphire Plasm that encompassed the cellular life form, there were features of her physiology that stood out.

‘Excuse me,’ the entity’s thoughts resonated as it hovered behind the girl. ‘Are you healthy? You have strange growths on your head.’

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Azguard (336699)

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Power Level: 11,500
Word Count: 396

“What growths do I have on my head, do you mean my horns?” Curious. According to the red-haired one, she was well aware of the protrusions that adorned her head, and accepted them as a part of her anatomy. Indeed, according to her, they were completely natural! For sure, Azguard was taken aback by such a revelation – never before had it encountered a life form known as a ‘Demon’, and so it really did not know what to expect. Entranced little eyes, unblinking amidst the mass of blue that encompassed its body, traced these so-called horns. They reminded it of those animals known as ‘goats’, but somewhat more slender. And here it had thought they were some symptom of an as of yet unknown illness.

How foolish!

Spinning out of what might have been embarrassment as its own forgetfulness, Azguard had once more messed up its initial greeting. So concerned was the medicinal marvel with the health of others and the satisfaction of its own curiosity that it had not even introduced itself! People skills weren’t exactly its specialty, given the number of people it had already knocked down in its quest to make them healthy. But hey! No harm, no foul.

‘Azguard is Azguard,’ replied the slime psychically. The pale grey Core hovered now at head height for the girl, while the mass of Plasm that encompassed it abandoned its somewhat humanoid state and adopted a spherical form, balanced upon the street whilst supported by passive levitation. It paused, having come across a brand new hurdle. How, exactly, was it supposed to describe itself? There wasn’t exactly a concise description it was aware of regarding its composition, purpose, and racial identity. Indeed, there was no other way it could thing of other than calling itself by name.

_{But it tried:
‘Azguard is… They are a medicine? Like a white blood cell!’}

The more it learned about normal human interaction, the less it really understood it. Fortunately, it had met one individual with a better understanding of what it was meant to be. Admittedly, Walker was not human – that much Azguard had determined – but the Dryad was knowledgeable and wise enough to compare the enigmatic entity to something that most people should have known about. If anything, the comparison to leukocytes was one of the most accurate possible. Hopefully, the bespectacled bonnie would comprehend that description…

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_{Azguard (336699)
Tekuma (000099)}

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Power Level: 11,500
Word Count: 177

‘Azguard has not met a Demon before,’ the Bio-Android responded, innate curiosity forging all sorts of potential questions within the amorphous entity’s mind. Humans were the primary make-up of everything it had encountered since its allotted freedom – Walker was the only immediately noticeable exception. That being said, it had also met Cado, but even the traveller from Konats was at least human in appearance. The same applied to this one; a mysterious girl that even Azguard had mistaken for a human, for she really looked the part.

Curious.

‘They do not know what one is. Oh! What is your name?’ it asked, introductions being a strange thing. Slowly but surely, Azguard was growing used to human social norms. As much as it wished to, a surprisingly small percentage of the population were fond of being enshrouded in a mass of blue slime, and so it had refrained from such things. Rather, asking individuals whether or not they believed themselves to be healthy – as well as observing for symptoms of ailment – seemed to be far more easily accepted…

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_{Azguard (336699)
Tekuma (000099)}

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Power Level: 11,500
Word Count: 245

“The sky is much more than it appears to be,” the girl commented, gesturing to the endless above. Azguard listened, curiously eyeing the skies as it did so, as if searching for something particular – perhaps the Makyo Star that she had mentioned? But alas, finding such a thing was near enough impossible. It didn’t help that the infantile entity hadn’t the foggiest idea what such a thing was in the first place. It sounded like some sort of illness, based on the young Halfling’s wording.

‘This Makyo Star sounds like a disease – an airborne infection? Or maybe an allergic reaction?’ the medical marvel thought, still unintentionally radiating its thoughts through telepathy; ‘Azguard will find a way to prevent it. Maybe it has a source which they can absorb…’

The Core swam a slow loop within the Plasm, before looking back to the now properly introduced Tekuma: Had she not just stated that she was unaffected by this anomalous ailment? A thought sprang to mind as the curious creation hovered there for a moment. Trapped within the naïve and innocent belief that the Makyo Star was an illness, it instinctually considered the possibility that it reacted with something in a Demon’s cells to cause these apparently bad things. To that end, if Tekuma was of Demonic descent and yet was also resistant to its influence, then perhaps something about her – her genetic code or immune system – provided her with immunity?

‘Hmm.’ Azguard mimed Walker’s strange habit…

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_{Azguard (336699)
Tekuma (000099)}

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Power Level: 11,500
Word Count: 271

“It’s not something you can cure, Azguard,” were words that stung somewhat. Driven by an instinctive goal to achieve medical perfection, the cellular sludge was most definitely taken aback by the words that the devil-horned damsel had spoken. The concept of being unable to cure an ailment, no matter how far it progressed, was unnerving – almost frightening. But, thinking back to the conversation it had had with Walker, it was also contradictory to what the Dryad had said:

_{‘You can always strive higher…
Find what drives you;
And pursue it until you cannot walk another step.’}

Such words had been something of an inspiration to Azguard, and yet the nascent panacea had not quite realised this until now. It knew what its drive was – that was the very core of its existence – and was going to pursue it as recommended. But, who was it to believe? Was there perhaps a middle ground between what the fellow Bio-Android and the Halfling had both stated? It dawned on the entity that it didn’t actually walk, save for mimicry of such movement through the Plasm.

‘…Demons have a rash? Where?’ the malleable medic said quizzically, its lapse in concentration meaning that it had missed a little of what Tekuma was trying to tell it. However, it soon realised its mistake, and proceeded to correct itself without the slightest hint of embarrassment. How was one supposed to show embarrassment when they were both a Telepath and incapable of facial expression? ‘Oh. Azguard misheard…’

_{‘Tekuma knows a lot about Demon biology and other things.’
It continued:
‘Did your father teach you about plants and oxygen, too…?’}

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_{Azguard (336699)
Tekuma (000099)}

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Power Level: 11,500
Word Count: 201

‘Azguard learned everything they know in a laboratory,’ the amorphous one replied, sharing its locale of education as Tekuma had done. It remembered the days of being confined within a glassy prison, swimming haplessly throughout the Plasm that it was its life support system. Those were interesting times, fed all manner of genomes to which it could cling and adapt, developing its natural immunity to illness and thus improving its chances of becoming that perfect medicinal mould. ‘…Almost. They have learned a lot since being released, too! There are so many different bacteria and viruses – and so many different people!’

It hovered idly for a moment.

‘Does Tekuma think that Azguard will be able to learn more if they go to Orange Star High School?’ Azguard asked innocently, not entirely aware of what a school was. Within its thoughts, it pieced together a simple concept – was it a building, just as the hospital in which it had been born was? Humans seemed to have a fascination with creating architecture for specific purposes, so it did not seem all too unusual to the Bio-Android that a school would follow the same principles.

_{Curiosity manifested:
‘What is biology class? Is it a person…?’}

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_{Azguard (336699)
Tekuma (000099)}