Ch2 Ford Loco-Motive

Adventures of the Yordle Institute Ch. 2

A few hours later Ziggs opened his eyes.

He had somehow rolled out of bed while he slept. It was still dark out and the sun had not even touched the horizon yet. The yordle tried to lift himself up but his body was a little sore from sleeping on hard wood.

Ziggs was wide-awake and he had always found it hard to go back to sleep after waking up. He staggered around in the dark trying to find his writing desk. He found it and turned on the star rod lamp siting on the left side of his desk. Ziggs sat yawning; he looked at the analog desk clock.

3:45am its hands read.

"Oh sleep, who needs sleep? Sleep is for the weak." Ziggs said to himself.

Ziggs grabbed his backpack and took out Halley's star charts.

"I don't know what they think I can see," he groaned.

He looked over the charts comparing the three. The way the sky looked kind of reminded Ziggs of how dynamite swells before it explodes. Why would essence only disperse in a bubble?

"Well, that's about all I know," Ziggs conceded "Let's move on to something a little more my style." He opened a cabinet under his desk that was full of notes and diagrams of bombs. The one he pulled out was a bomb that when detonated would disperse pure essence.

This would be revolutionary.

Ziggs's new bombs would be able to do all kinds of neat things depending on what essence used. Freeze things, poison things, the possibilities were endless. The diagram was finished and the research done. All he needed to do was build it. Tomorrow was Saturday, which meant Ziggs, had no classes to teach. All Ziggs wanted to do tomorrow was create the things he loved the most.

Bombs.

The yordle fell asleep at his desk looking over his diagrams. A few hours later the clocks alarm began to ring. Ziggs jolted up in his chair and smacked the clock a crossed the room. Slowly he grabbed his pack and put his diagrams inside. He grabbed his goggles, covered his green cat-like eyes with them while grabbing his helmet, and donned that as well, hiding his bad case of helmet hair.

He opened his front door to find a women standing at the other end. It was Ziggs's landlady.

"Ziggs, your rent is due." She told him.

She was a middle-aged human woman. With graying blond hair and a perpetually tired look on her, face.

"I paid you last week!" Ziggs was r of this.

"That was last month's rent. I need this month's rent. We had an agreement that all payments would be made on the first of the month." The landlady said.

"You will get it, you always get it."

"I want it now Ziggs."

"Look I will have it next week I promise."

"I'm going to start charging you interest for your late payments, Ziggs." She said indifferently, her eyes narrowed.

"Oh come on lady! You're killing me." Ziggs said walking out the door and walked briskly past her.

Ziggs made it out and headed towards Bales Street once again, only for a cup of coffee. He had rounded the corner, and found Bales Street in a better condition it was in before the skirmish with Jinx last night.

Heimerdinger's Techmaturgical Repair Bots worked all night repairing the damage. They were still scurrying around trying to find their nests. They resembled tiny clockwork mice. The repair work they did was very detailed. They even repaired Cali's food stand to Ziggs relief. Cali was there counting what was left in his inventory. Cali was a white Yordle with long ears and a brown patch around his left eye.

Cali had noticed Ziggs and waved at him then pointed. "Hay there he is the one who stopped Jinx! I watched him do it. She almost shot 'em in the head."

"What?" Ziggs said confused.

A crowd started to gather around. Ziggs was not ready to socialize with such a large group so early in the morning. He quickly slipped inside one of Bales Streets coffee shops. One of the cute barista yordles Ziggs often flirted with was operating the cash register.

"Hay, babe. Why don't you give me something warm and sweet? It's cold outside." Ziggs winked.

"One large coffee with 10 spoons of sugar got it." The girl rolled her eyes. She smacked on her chewing gum as she made Ziggs the coffee. "Manager said it's on the house today."

Ziggs braced himself for a face full of molten hot coffee. Instead of pouring it on Ziggs like he was used to. She just set it on the counter.

"You're serious?" Ziggs said questioning his odd stroke of luck.

"It's the merchant's code you help one of us we give you something in return. If it wasn't for my boss, you would have been wearing it for what you did to Ezreal." The girl said in a eerie voice.

Ziggs grabbed his drink and quickly walked out of the coffee shop not wishing to tempt fate any further.

"Women are insane." Ziggs thought out load.

Ziggs was about to head for the institute when one of the Yordles he knew from the Institute grabbed him by the shoulders forcing Ziggs to spill hot coffee all over his hands.

"Ouch! Really?" Ziggs snapped at his bad luck.

"I'm, sorry Ziggs," Rico apologized "Hay buddy can you help me out? I'm about to present my steam engine to the citizens of Piltover."

Rico had rusty colored fur with a brown left eye and blue right eye. His face looked like a tabby cats with strips going up his face and down his body. He had one his left ear had a notch missing and a monocle goggle fixed above his right eye.

His wardrobe consisted of a brown embroidered long coat, a blue tunic with brass buttons running up and down it, a gold chain draped crossed into a pocket containing a watch. He had on a pair of dark navy blue pants tucked in a pair of long shiny black boots. He was carrying a sack full of blueprints for his new steam engine.

The rail system was Rico's brainchild. He had just traveled to Demacia negotiating with plans on connecting a rail line between them and Piltover. The crown of Demacia gave permission to proceed. Now he had to convince the people of Piltover that the project was worth funding.

At night, Bales Street was a place for preforming artists, but by day it became a place where new political dignitaries voiced their views and where inventors showed off their prototypes.

Rico dragged Ziggs over to where he had set up his steam engine. It was the first time Ziggs had seen a life sized prototype of it.

Ziggs was impressed. The steam locomotive was huge. It had eight wheels, 2 unconnected wheels in front and six large wheels connected in the back. The wheels in the back were as big as an adult male human and the small ones were as big as Ziggs. In the back above the big wheels, there was a cab where the operators would go. This could fit four adult humans comfortably. The large steam engine hissed in front as a few students from the academy filling the firebox with coal. The students covered in soot.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Rico said star struck. "This will revolutionize travel. Corki followed my design perfectly! You know I was half afraid I would have found a pair of wings attached to it." Rico said excitedly, his arm set over Ziggs shoulder. "All we have to do is convince Piltover that it's as great as I know it will be."

"What do you need me to do?" Ziggs sighed.

"People know you Ziggs, you're a hero. If the people see you like my steam engine surly the will take interest. You can be the ambassador of the rails. "Rico said starry-eyed. He drew invisible rainbows as he said, "Ambassador of the rails".

"Just sit here in the cab so everyone can see you." Rico said pushing Ziggs up into the steam engine.

"How long will this take?" Ziggs asked

Rico did not respond. He stood on a milk crate in front of the steam engine where everyone could see him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention! This is a turning point in the industrialization of Runeterra. What you see before you is not just a feat of engineering. It's Piltover's gift to the world. My steam engine will revolutionize travel for all Valoran. Just think a two weeks travel to Freljord would take only hours, a trip to Demacia would take a few days. The journey you take to Bandle City will only take a week and a half. Imagine that, not traveling months just to visit relatives."

Rico's claim about the travel time to Bandle had caught the attention of other yordles. Humans also started to gather to gawk at the giant machine bellowing steam.

"But only if we construct the railways and the machines necessary. Demacia has agreed to build their side of the railway. The only major hurdle is getting threw the Ironspick mountains. We have the power. We have the bomb power..." Rico gestured towards Ziggs in the cab, his head hanging outside the window.

"Did I hear you right Rico?" Ziggs asked excitedly, "I'm going to blow holes through mountains?"

"That you are my friend, this project will provide countless opportunity's for all involved." Rico told the crowd.

The promise for travel and jobs attracted more to the crowed.

"All we need now is the funding! Is there anyone out there who believes in Piltover enough to aid in it progress? "

A tall figure stepped forth from the crowed. It was a beast kin in the form of an otter. He appeared to be a very wealthy and popular entrepreneur. He was dressed for travel with a leather fur coat and red scarf.

"Give me one good reason why I should fund ground travel when the power of flight is already here?" The otter asked.

"Well, I talked at great lengths about this with Corki, Bandle's greatest aviators. He is the muscle behind my steam engine prototype. It is true, flight gives us many things but my steam engine will be able to pull thousands of people at once. Sea real tones of tradable goods can be sent from city to city." Rico said

"The machine does look like Corki's handy work." The beast kin said.

He stepped closer to examine the Steam Engine. "It looks a little like an iron dragon." The otter said.

The otter's hand rested on his chin as he stroked the machines cast iron coat. "Forgive me," the otter said looking down at Rico. "My name is Luther Mustelide. Here is my card."

Inside the cab, Ziggs had a grin of incomprehensible size for such a small face. Was he really going to get to blow a hole through the Iron Spike Mountains? Ziggs never dreamed of something so fantastic. How was he going to do it? Which bombs would he use?

My dynamite should work best for blowing up mountains...Ziggs thought to himself.

Ziggs's smile could only be matched by how wide eyed Rico was. Luther Mustelide was one of the richest men in Valoran, and he was looking at his steam engine.

"Have you gotten the approval from the Parliament?" Luther asked.

"The Yordle Institute has permission to start construction, we just lack the funding." Rico said.

Luther stepped closer to the steam entrances and motioned for permission to step inside the cab.

"Please, by all means step inside." Rico gestured to Luther nervously. The entrepreneur did so. He climbed up the ladder, and walked through the doorway to the cab. Ziggs shook out of his daydream to look Luther's way.

"Oh I know you!" Luther said, "You are one of Piltover's champions." Ziggs recognized Luther as one of the shopkeepers he dealt with occasionally in Summoner's Rift.

"Oh hay, Luther." Ziggs said nonchalantly.

Luther stood in the middle of the cab, standing tall hands on his hips his broad shoulders unyielding as he looked around the cab. He saw the potential in Rico's invention.

"I will invest for a share of the profits." Luther said.

"We can negotiate that." Rico assured Luther.

"Let's do. Let's talk this over a drink or two on me."

Luther and Rico left Ziggs alone for the pub a crossed the street.

"Well, that was rude." Ziggs thought feeling a little forgotten. He looked at the clock tower for the time.

"There's no way it is one thirty!" Ziggs yelled to himself. "I gotta get to the lab!"

Ziggs jumped out of the steam engine and headed towards YIST's headquarters .He ran through the wide hall and arrived at the building, climbing the stairs to the corridor leading to the basement.

The Ziggs had to walk down several flights of stairs before reaching the ballistics lab. The basement was dark and musty, riddled with the faint smell of diesel and gunpowder wafting through the air.

At the bottom of the stairwell, there was a single reinforced iron door. There was a plaque on the side it read, "Ballistics Lab." It had a yellow caution signs and a red star lamp at the top of the door that lit up when the lab was in use. Ziggs grabbed the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

He switched the star rod lamp and since switch on the rooms energy source. The star lamps on the celling all clicked on one by one. Taking a moment to brighten, the lights promptly lit 3 acres of lab space. There was a shooting range, a blasting chamber, a chemical lab, and Ziggs 'own office.

This was the dean of demolition's favorite place to be. He could do all the testing he wanted and no one would stop him.

Ziggs gathered what he needed and for hours he worked constructed his essence bombs. Glass spheres glowing white. Ziggs could not wait he went to the double reinforced lead walled blasting chamber. The yordle trembled with anticipation. He lived solely this moment. Throwing the bomb, and then exploding the bomb. Ziggs placed the bomb in the middle of the room with a three-minute timer attached to it. He started the timer than darted behind a retaining wall.

"Oh this will be good." Ziggs cackled to himself.

Three minutes went by and the time Ziggs peeked through the reinforced glass window. There was an intense silent flash fallowed by a poof of smoke. Ziggs stood there disappointed. Ziggs walked to his office, sat at his writing desk, and wrote down a few notes.

In a notebook, he titled:

Property of Ziggs

Essence bomb detonation log #1:

The bomb didn't explode like I would have hoped. There was just a flash and some smoke. Maybe I should try more essence.

Ziggs did just this he had added double the amount of essence he used earlier. Conducting the same test had the same reaction. The flash wasn't even brighter this time.

"What? How!?" Ziggs pondered. He wrote in his journal again. Ziggs getting really impatient than decided he should use all the essence he had in his lab. Ten times what the second bomb head. Using class tube and beakers he even managed to grab a little extra essence present in the air. The bomb was huge, about the size of Ziggs.

He sat his hexplosive in the middle of the room again. The timer went off the bomb went off in a flash and a poof of smoke. Ziggs was dumbfounded.

"That bomb had enough essence to power a wizard for a week, and it just poofs." Ziggs spoke to himself.

The little yordle began to seethe. He was starved both of food and explosions. He grabbed all the big bombs he owned and threw all of them into the middle of the room with a timer set to three minutes. Giggling madly, Ziggs ran behind the retaining wall. After the three minute mark there was a tremendous explosion a flash of heat and smoke in the form of a mushroom cloud. It blasted the blasting chambers reinforced door off the hinges and shook the YIST's building.

"That's more like it!" Ziggs yelled, his ears ringing from the loud blast. As the smoke dissipated and the rubble settled Ziggs noticed that there was a glow that had remained. Ziggs shut the star rods in the chamber off. But the sphere of light had remand. It was as big as the chamber.

Essence bomb detonation log #34:

The essence I used in the bombs never dissipated. It's all still in the chamber just setting there in a sphere. When charged with something like a blast from a normal bomb it gains a charge and grows. The sphere seems to be eating away at the interior of my blasting chamber. This is not good.

Ziggs tried putting the door back on its hinges. The door was too heavy for Ziggs to lift off the floor. Ziggs started to panic as the essence bubble started to grow.

"What do I do? WHAT DO I DO!?" Ziggs shouted.

Lucky for him Heimerdinger was doing inventory today and found the buildings lack of essence quite odd.

"Where would a year's supply of essence disappear to?" He pondered to himself "Probably around the vicinity of that blast" He concluded to himself, as the building quaked.

Heimerdinger ambled towards the basement and down the long stair case. He arrived at the ballistics lab the star lamp was glowing and the door was shut. The scientist opened the door to find Ziggs stuffing the blasting chambers entrance with anything that he could fit into it.

"What are you doing Ziggs? Heimerdinger asked.

"NOTHING!" Just, you know, remodeling!" Ziggs said sarcastically.

"What seems to be the problem?" Heimerdinger step forward to examine the issue. Ziggs feverishly kept packing the doorway with odds and ends from the lab. He claimed Ziggs pile off random lab stuffs to look through the doorway.

"Ziggs what is that thing?" Heimerdinger asked curiously.

"I don't know, I think it came from my essence bombs I was trying." Ziggs said

"Please tell me you didn't use all the essence!" Heimerdinger exclaimed. Looking at the massive glowing essence bubble now shredding the retaining wall 10 feet from the Ziggs's pile meant to cover the door.

"I didn't use all the essence, I'm sure there is some I haven't found yet." Ziggs retorted.

Heimerdinger twitched his mustache, as he stared down a nuclear bombs worth of essence energy slowly consuming his building's basement. He knew just what to do. Heimerdinger ran out of the room without saying a word.

"Hay, where are you going?" Ziggs felt beside himself. He felt like he couldn't do anything right. He couldn't get his bomb to explode right.

Heimerdinger climbed the long stair case to the first floor then proceeded to climb two more flights of stairs to get to the engineering lab. The lab was full of his inventions.

The air was thick with the smell of static and coffee. It was clean but still rather unorganized. Heimerdinger opened a closet and begun digging to the bottom looking for a device he had not used yet.

"Eh here it is. Thank the divinities it's still here! I thought I threw it out." Heimerdinger pulled out and old dusty, rusty machine that looked like a wand attached to a backpack.

Heimerdinger ran back down the stairs, cursing the length of the case and the weight of the machine. He entered the ballistics lab panting a great deal. Yordle's lacking sweet glands use panting as a way to cool off.

"Your back, what's that?" Ziggs said trying to holding up his wall of random lab equipment.

"This is my Drain-out-of-Mana Machine, or DOOM for short. But today we will be re-purposing it for essence. Essence is mana in its purest form after all."

Heimerdinger pulled items out of the doorway so he could get through. Jumping in front of the pulsating glowing orb of destruction, he readied the wand.

"This should neutralize the essence so I can capture it. This could be hazardous." Heimerdinger warned Ziggs.

"Terrific, danger is our life." Ziggs said ready to help.

"I will start at fifty-percent capacity. That should keep any burning or tissue damage to a minimum." Heimerdinger said turning brass dials on his machine.

Heimerdinger pushed a button that clicked, turning on his DOOM machine. Cogs began to click and a mechanical hum started.

"First we fire the protons," Heimerdinger explained his plan to Ziggs. "This should neutralize the essence. When you see a change in color you throw the mana trap." Heimerdinger tossed Ziggs a steel box decorated with a hazard tape.

He pulled the wands trigger causing a sparking proton beam to spiral forth into the essence bubble causing it to ripple and hiss. The bubble began to glow blue.

"That's a great reaction!" Heimerdinger said with great relief, "Now! Throw the box!" Ziggs threw the box in front of the bubble. Heimerdinger flipped a switch and the mana trap began drawing the proton beam into itself along with the essence bubble.

To Ziggs' surprise, the mana trap pulled the entire bubble inside and clicked shut. With the absence of the bubble, it was easier to see how big it had gotten. The blasting chamber was easily 1000 square yards. The crater left by the bubble took over 999 yards and had damaged the walls. The creator left behind could fit three of Rico's steam engines end to end. Steal bits fell from the celling as a static charge flowed down the walls making buzzing noises.

"Well, that was one hell of a delayed reaction." Ziggs said looking at the decimated chamber. "Ouch!" Ziggs reacted as Heimerdinger clocked him over the head with a ratchet.

"Don't ever do that again!" Heimerdinger told Ziggs looking at him scornfully for moment. Moments after his eyes softened as he saw Ziggs dejected face.

 Humdinger shook his head angrily, " However, we did learn a great deal after all. I did get to use my DOOM machine for the first time. We also learned that pure essence should never be used in a bomb."

Ziggs rubbed the new knot on his head. He lifted his right ear; a gold earring glinted in the light of the star rods.

"Why do you think the essence reacted the way it did, Heim?" Ziggs asked, "I blew up 12 bombs with little to no reaction. Then I used my hexplosives just to see something explode you know? Than that essence bubble appeared out of nowhere."

"Why, I don't know for sure Ziggs. It sounds like the essence needed a blast from your hextech explosives as a catalyst to manifest." Heimerdinger hypothesized.

"Makes you think doesn't it. I mean those warped stars might not be warped at all just distorted by an invisible essence bubble." Ziggs figured.

Heimerdinger paused for a moment his ears shot straight into the air, "Ziggs you are a genius. We need to tell Halley!"

As Heimerdinger said this, someone else stumbled down the stairs. It was an inebriated Rico looking for Ziggs.

"Ziggs, *hic* I did it *hic*" Rico slurred his words. "We have founding for the rail road.*hic*" Rico hung onto Ziggs as he tried telling him his good news. Whisky hung heavy on his breath. "Oh no! Ziggs what happened, your room esploded." Rico said trying to say exploded. "Do you have a place to sleep tonight?"

"I don't live in the blasting chamber Rico." Ziggs said trying hard not to laugh at his drunken friend.

"Perhaps we should take him home first." Heimerdinger suggested. "It is rather late. I will call for an emergency conference for the institute tomorrow."

Ziggs took Rico home. It was dark out and Ziggs wondered where the hours went. It did not seem like he worked 12 hours straight. Now that he knew, hunger pains started growing inside his little tummy as he carried his comrade home.

"I'm sorry Ziggs. *hic* I'm sorry I left you *hic*." Rico said "I didn't even think of inviting you,*hi* I'm sorry.*hic* I am a bad friend."

"No you're not Rico, I needed to get to work anyway." Ziggs told him.

"Oh, okay, *hic*"

They arrived at Rico's apartment complex. Ziggs got him up the stairs to his room safely and then proceeded home himself.

Ziggs had an odd feeling on his way home. He thought for sure someone was following him. He heard footsteps behind him, every time he stopped walking the footsteps would stop. He would look but he would find the streets barren as if he were the last soul in Piltover. He arrived at his loft safely however. Still starving but too tired to go out for anything Ziggs once again took off his gear and collapsed on to his bed.

Sleep took him instantly.