Author's Notes:

I do not own any of the characters associated with My Life as a Teenage Robot; they all remain property of their respective owners, as this is an unauthorised work of fanfiction.

However, The characters Madolyn Petruger, Jonathan Hartman, David Hartman, the android Riah and The Malid are copy-righted by Brandon. and remain under my ownership. The ideas and concepts behind above mentioned characters also remain under my ownership. Unauthorised use of my characters is prohibited.

Also, I expect all who are reading this to be familiar with existing characters in the MLaaTR franchise, as such I won't go into depth explaining them.

This is my first real piece of fan-fiction, and I hope I do the characters the justice they deserve. I also hope to bring a new level of concepts and ideas to the story-writing table for you all to enjoy.

So without further ado, Let the tale begin.

Chapter 1: The Exchange Student

"I never expected it to end like this."

The grating sound of metal on metal send a shiver up his spine. Turning to the camera, he continued speaking.

"I always knew he would come after me, but not so soon. I knew he'd try to kill me, too."

A loud thud resounded through the chamber, the computer throwing angry beeps as the containment field began to collapse.

"I'm still weeks away from finishing the final algorithm. I've uploaded the calculating program into the RH-12 AI. All she has to do is survive long enough to finish the calculation."

The computer screen flashed red bold letters: CONTAINMENT FAILURE.

"David, I'm sorry for all the years lost. I know how much our bond meant, but a lot more is at stake than wasted years."

The heavy iron doors began to bubble and boil, turning white hot.

"Madolyn, I admit. You're a genius, if not secluded. Thanks for the inspiration. I hope your nano-fibres are a success; ground-breaking stuff that."

The doors melted into white-hot slag, a soul-crushing presence suddenly filling the room. An emergency final barrier threw itself up in front of the attacker, yellow energy crackling as it tried to push through.

"And Dr. NoreenWakeman. Please, I implore you. You're the only one left alive who can finish the project. Please, everyone's life is at stake here. You're the only one smart, wise and composed enough to finish RH-12."

The emergency barrier shattered, the presence of End filling the room once more. He stared directly into the camera, a tear forming in his eye.

"And RH-12." He paused, cutting the video feed. No one needed to see what was about to happen.

"I love you, my daughter."

The room was filled with the sound of rending flesh.

She simply couldn't understand it. Why did they keep trying over and over again when all that awaited was humiliating defeat?

The Global Response Unit used her super-strength to crush and compact the Cluster soldiers into a neat ball, before swinging them around and launching them into space, hopefully out of sight and mind for a long time.

"We'll meet again, XJ-9," the alien Queen growled, opening a slip-space portal before jumping through.

"Yeah, yeah, Vexus..." Jenny Wakeman sighed, "We've all heard that one before." The turquoise robot turned to the crowd, a cheerful smile across her face. "So, Brad. Mall this afternoon?"

The young man with a bright shock of orange hair walked out. "Sure thing, Jen."

The local Tremerton mall was abuzz with gossip about how Jenny had just saved the day. Again. She couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride at her achievement. It's not every day that your average teen saves the day.

Again.

The rest of her day went by uneventful, except for the Krust Cousin's failed attempts to replace Jenny's drink with a rust-inducing compound. She had Tuck to thank for saving her from that, despite his serious indigestion afterwards.

Even her trip home in the fading light was uneventful. Saying goodnight to Brad, she walked into her house.

"Hey, mom!" she said, spreading a cheerful smile.

"Good-evening, XJ-9," the elderly woman replied almost methodically. Dr. Wakeman shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Is...something wrong, mom?" Jenny asked, taking a hesitant step towards her.

The woman turned to her robot daughter. The exhaustion and stress behind her eyes was evident, but the calmness in her voice spoke otherwise. "Everything is fine, XJ-9. Go get some sleep."

"But it's not even night-time yet!" the teenage robot argued, throwing up her hands.

The finality in her mother's voice told Jenny that arguing would be useless. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow, XJ-9."

"Yes, mother…" she grumbled.

"I need to run an overnight diagnostics and tune-up of your systems. So please, just get some sleep."

Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. Jenny's mom has never before asked her to go to bed early. What was so special about tomorrow, as well? Wasn't it just a normal school day?

Letting loose a frustrated sigh, XJ-9 initiated her sleep-mode, allowing the dream chip to whisk her away to happy lands and fluffy elephants.

Whatever her mother had done, Jenny was glad she had done it. Never in her entire activation period has she felt so good. Every joint was oiled; every system was working to 100%. Heck, even her main memory banks had been defragmented.

Nothing could spoil her mood as she strolled through the school corridors in elation.

The intercom boomed through the crowded hallway. "Miss Wakeman, please report to the principal's office immediately."

'Oh great…' she thought, subconsciously cringing as everyone's eyes in the hall quickly turned to her.

A thick, British accent spoke mockingly. "Oh look, the rust bucket has gone and gotten herself into trouble."

"Ah hope it wasn't for leakin' oil all over the hallway, cuz."

Sure enough, there to spoil her day, were Brit and Tiff. Jenny was about to throw back a warning when the intercom sounded again.

"Immediately, Jennifer."

The entire hall stared and chuckled as Jenny passed, her cooling system suffering a glitch as heat rose in her face.

"Oh, how embarrassing…" she muttered softly, slowly walking to the office. What had she done this time? She was sure she had checked her oil before coming to school.

The principal greeted her with a grim face, a thick uniformed Sky-way patrol officer standing in the corner.. "Miss. Wakeman, please take a seat."

"Yes, sir?" she managed weakly. Ok, keep cool, Jen. You've got this. You've done nothing wrong, right?

"Are you aware that a new exchange student will be coming to out school tomorrow?"

"Um…no?" she said nervously.

"David Hartman. Was sent here by his uncle."

"Why are you talking to me about this?"

The principal smiled. "You see, for some reason David's file has been marked high-priority. I'm not allowed to say what that means, but what I do know is that he needs to be here by tomorrow."

Jenny raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "So, why can't he just take a taxi or something?"

"Because he's currently located in South Luangwa Valley, about a ten hour drive from Lusaka."

"And…where's that?"

"In Zambia, my dear. The heart of Africa. We need you to escort him here safely."

"Uh...I still don't understand," Jenny said, shifting uneasily. "Can't Sky-Way Patrol simply do it if it's that important?"

The office took a step towards her. "We've only just managed to approve the paperwork approving me to tell you that the approval form for approving the pick-up and transfer of David Hartman is still in the approving process. It should be done in about three days."

The principal chided in, "And we don't have three days. Saddle up, Jennifer. You leave immediately."

The robot's eyes widened in surprise, throwing up her hands in protest. "But what about my homework? My classes?"

"Any work missed out will be sent to your mother for you to get to when you have free time."

She was about to argue when the man's stern voice cut her off. "Immediately."

Finding Lusaka was easy enough. Her internal GPS had the entire global map uploaded to it already; but finding the game reserve was nigh impossible – especially when those regions had neither roads nor landmarks to go by. All she had were GPS coordinates and a lot of generic bush to sift through.

She scanned the area from above, hoping to find some sort of human life.

'Hang on, what's that?' she thought, her sensors picking up faint movement down below. Sure enough, when zooming in, she found a tall man dressed in dark green trousers and safari shirt. He was crouched down, moving slowly towards a spot.

Her curiosity quirked, Jenny decided to hover above and see the scene unfold.

The man brought out a long pistol, peering down the attached scope. Following the line of fire, Jen saw a lone buffalo grazing peacefully. How could he? It's just an innocent animal!

A loud crack echoed through the air as the buffalo fell down. For a moment the man looked as though he was about to inspect his kill when his hands began to frantically open the pistol's barrel, quickly loading in another shot.

Looking at the downed animal, Jenny saw why. The buffalo had stood up and was now charging towards the man. Without watching any further, she switched off her jets, plummeting towards the ground. He may be cruel but that's no reason to defy her programming; his life was in danger.

'C'mon, I have to make it!' she thought anxiously. The beast had already closed most of the gap long before the man had even put a new round in.

Placing herself between the man and buffalo, Jenny caught it by the horns before using her super-strength to toss it into a nearby river.

For a moment, the only sound was Jenny's cooling system slowly drawing in and releasing air and the man's breathing.

Jenny turned to face him."Are you okay?" she asked.

Only now Jen saw that he wasn't really a man, more of a boy. He looked 17, had roughly cropped straw-coloured hair. His narrow face had about three days worth of stubble, his sky-blue eyes glaring angrily at her.

"Robot," he began, "You are faced with a moral situation. A car accident has occurred, two people are in critical condition: a young orphan girl and an older business man with a wife and child." He took a breath, the fierce look in his eyes not relenting. "The girl has a 27% change of surviving, the man a 63% chance. Both are pleading for help. You can only save one, leaving the other dead with his or her blood on your hands."

The boy's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "Who do you choose?"

Jenny was speechless. It took her a few moments before she remembered how to speak. "H – how do you expect me to answer that!" she exclaimed. "Jeeze, I come help you and this is the thanks I get?"

The angry hiss from him sent a jolt through Jenny's system. "Answer the question, robot."

She let the situation play through her mind. A young orphan that no one would miss, but still so young in life, or the sole bread-winner to a family. No matter what, she simply couldn't answer the question.

"I – I…" she stuttered. "I can't answer that. I'm sorry. There's simply no way I can save both. I'd probably go after the girl. But then that leaves the man's family all alone…but no one will miss the girl?"

Jenny let loose an angry scream. "NO! I can't answer it!"

She heard a small click by her belly-bolt. Looking down, Jen saw the man open the hunting pistol, pulling the bullet out. It had been aimed straight at her.

A crack of a smile formed on his face. "Good answer." He turned, as though to hide the guilt in his face. "I'm sorry, Jennifer. I couldn't take the risk. Any normal automation would've saved the man. A robot with a generic morality chip installed would've saved the girl."

He turned back to her. "Only someone human couldn't truly answer the question."

Jenny felt her cooling systems suffer another glitch as heated anger began to rise. She stared at the young man, completely dumfounded.

"Alright, I have had ENOUGH!" she erupted, her internal coolant threatening to boil over as steam shot out from her pigtails. "Something is going on and it seems everyone except me knows! Who are you, and why are you here in the middle of no where and why am I expected to come out here to play taxi?"

A friendly grin cracked his face. "I'm David Hartman, and I believe you're here to bring me to school?"