Cora checked out the junk yards. They were completely waste filled. She made a sick face as she walked around the piles and piles of stuff.

Hamegg would be waiting for her, no doubt, but she couldn't really do anything about that. She was lost. Sighing, Cora realized Hamegg and the others had probably already left. The moon was high in the sky and the robot games moved from city to city.

Not that that really bothered her. After all, Hamegg was abusive, and the kids were forced to 'mock kill' robots. Cora never really liked mock killing. But she relied on Hamegg for her daily bread, and for her clothing. So she was once again an orphan, wandering in the junk yards, hoping to be found.

Just then, she heard a large… CLUNK!

"WHHAAAG!" a boy-ish voice sounded.

"What the…" Cora quickened her step. She slithered up a pile of spare parts seven feet high, and peered over the other edge into a trash filled chasm.

There, standing out amongst all the grey and drab spare parts, was a teenage human boy. Looking extremely confused and out of place.

"Hey! Are you lost, too?" Cora called to him, just happy to see someone.

"Yeah… kinda." The boy said, looking all around him for the voice. Cora giggled. He was kind-of cute.

"Well, I'm over here!" Cora surfed down the pile of junk on a piece of metal and landed next to surprised boy. He looked a tad uncertain, as if he had had a rough day.

"Where you from?" he asked.

"The surface, duh! That's why I'm down here. I'm one of the kids from Hamegg's robot games, ever heard of that?" Cora babbled blissfully. After four hours of silence, she was happy to find someone else. Even if it was a guy, who looked like he had been hit over the head, and it was most likely midnight.

"No, I haven't heard of that." the kid mumbled, looking down. "I'm from Metro City."

"Oh… really?" Cora felt her enthusiasm fall. A Metro City kid. "So you here for some-sort of, eh, tour?"

"I was… dumped." his eyes fell.

"They dump kids?" Cora took a step away from him, repulsed. "I knew they were a bunch of snotty noses and dirty fannies but… dumping their own children!"

"Are you joking? Are you acting?" the boy cocked his head.

"No, I'm seriously not." Cora took him in. He was cute, that was certain, with the oddest hair do. Two spikes, one on top of his head a little far from the middle of it, and the other sticking out on his right side.

"Well people don't dump kids." the boy stated plainly, looking moody.

"What's your name?" Cora asked, changing the subject.

"I'm… Toby." Toby said, but he looked unsure of it. "But, I don't really think I AM Toby. Because, you see, I'm really a ro-…" he stared at her.

"A ro-?" Cora prodded.

Something flickered in his eyes. Uncertainty. "A rogue." he finally finished. "I'm a rogue." but Toby didn't even look convinced of that.

"Well, just to let you know, I am too. I think my people left me behind and I'm stuck out here in this junk yard. It's nearly impossible to find your way out of here. I took a wrong turn somewhere… would you wanna come with me? When we reach Chicago, if we ever do, you can call whoever you need to call, and I can work on relocating Hamegg." Cora offered.

"Well.. I suppose." Toby took a step towards her and scratched the back of his head, "But I have no one to call. I'm all alone." his hazel eyes searched into hers. "You're the first girl I've met since…" he stumbled, "since the accident."

Cora smiled, "Yeah, well you'll meet a lot of us." she began to trudge back over the hill of garbage, back the way she came. She called over her shoulder, "We'll have to set up camp somewhere for the night!" somehow, she felt like she didn't need to worry about sleeping next to this guy.

Toby scampered up with abnormal speed and strength. "Alright!" he said cheerily, looking happy to be going somewhere. "Listen, they called me Toby up there, but I don't want to be called that any longer. It doesn't seem right. My past, and all." Toby said casually.

Cora slid down the other side, not saying anything until she reached the bottom. "What are your interests?" she asked.

"My interests?" Toby answered.

"Yes, you can pick a name from your interests. It's a trick my mom taught me. I used to do it all the time when I was having trouble naming something. Like, hmm, I like the constellations.. And one time I found this odd looking super hero trinket, so I named it Astro. You know, Astronomy?" Cora babbled.

"Astro…" Toby played around with the idea, "Astro-Boy…"

"You're not a super hero or anything special are you?" Cora scoffed with a twinge of annoyance. She was already looking for a nice place to stay by feeling around with her hands. "Astro-Boy sounds like, science fiction."

Toby's face fell, "And that's how I feel." he paused, helping Cora find a place less filthy and grimy to settle down for the night. "Perhaps… I can just be, Astro."

"W-what?" Cora laughed. "ASTRO?"

"Why not?" Toby/Astro looked hurt.

"Oh, well I suppose." Cora mumbled, finally finding a place enveloped with towels. It seemed as if some guy already lived here, a hobo, perhaps. But that didn't worry her now. She slid into the tiny hole and stretched out. Feeling Astro hesitantly slide in next to her.

"I like the name Astro." he said rebel-ish-ly.

"Fine then, keep it." Cora said, already drifting off to sleep. Many things worried her. One was that she was now a rogue, and the other was that whoever lived here might come back.

As her eyes closed, she felt a light finger touch her face. She jumped up and banged her head on the hard garbage top of the alcove. "WHAT WAS THAT?" she cried.

Astro's eyes went down. "I'm sorry." he said. "You wouldn't understand."

"I think." Cora said stonily, "I can understand this: you are finding it pretty awesome to be sleeping next to me. You can sleep outside, if you want to," she gritted her teeth, "or you can sleep in here, if you promise not to touch me."

Astro laughed stupidly, "You are silly! You have a sick mind, as well! I was only touching your skin to feel… what it feels like." he finished, his laughter burbling off.

"You are a strange man, Astro." Cora huffed, laying back down.

"Yes, yes I am." Astro sighed and laid down next to her, scrunching as far away as he could from the angry girl.

Cora fell asleep within seconds. Despite being in a dark, little hole padded only by towels and sleeping next to a strange boy. 'What have I got to loose?' was her last thought.