I'm not sure where this idea came from, but I had a lot of fun writing it! I really wanted to let Robotboy learn something that wasn't covered in the series. Writing the dialogue for these guys is an interesting challenge for me. I really hope everyone enjoys this and the parts to come. Right now I'm only shooting for three parts, but we'll see.
The steep street that the Turnbull house stood on was not the safest place to learn skateboarding. Not that this would stop a pair of energetic ten-year-old boys who were itching for a chance to go on a real roller coaster.
"Okay, check this out. It's gonna be wicked!"
Tommy Turnbull was standing at the top of the hill with Robotboy on one side, watching him with great interest, and Gus on the other. He closed one eye and squinted down the hill, trying to size up the perfect path.
"Aw. . . How come you get to go first?" Gus complained.
"Because it's my skateboard."
He hadn't been able to buy a new one since most of his allowance went to parts for Robotboy. On the other hand, Robotboy had helped him build his own board, and Tommy was confident in it. As long as it would run smooth and straight what more could he need?
"You're really no fair, Tommy. You won't even let me borrow Robotboy to-"
"Gus, I said no!"
"Why G-man want borrow Robotboy?" The little robot looked up at Tommy, his curiosity to see the skateboard they had made in action momentarily eclipsed.
"It's nothing. Don't you dare try to talk him into it," Tommy warned, knowing that his robotic friend wouldn't see the harm in Gus's crazy schemes. "Or I won't let you stay over to watch Zombie Overlords with Chainsaws III." Tommy was half ready to give up the first run on the skateboard if that was the only thing that would distract Gus.
"What zombie?" Robotboy wanted to know.
They're awesome. "They're all like 'Gruuuh,'" Gus explained, holding his arms out stiff and making a stupid face with his tongue hanging out.
"Like mummy?"
"No, no, no. They're all, 'Blea, I eat'cher brains!'" This time Gus brought his hands up near his face and wiggled his fingers creepily.
"Like vampire!"
"No! They're all, 'Gwaaar!'" This time Gus threw both hands up, fingers crooked like claws, looking very little like a zombie at this point.
"Wolf-man?"
Tommy was momentarily incapacitated with laughter as Gus's attempts to explain got increasingly further from being zombie-like. Robotboy's confused guesses only made it more hilarious.
"Swamp-thing? Snake-hair monster? Mrs. Principal-lady?"
Gus finally turned on Tommy and asked, "Man, you gonna go or what?"
"Yes! Want see wicked Tommy!"
Robotboy's praise had an instant effect on Tommy's ego. He abandoned his attempt to spy out an optimal route down the hill and jumped onto the skateboard without a second thought.
The ride was an absolute rush. Tommy crouched low on the board, eyes narrowed against the wind as his blond hair was whipped back from his face. Fences and street lamps flashed by on either side, faster and faster. The steep hill plunged him to what felt like the speed of a roller coaster on its first drop.
It was almost like flying, right up until he had to jerk and swerve away from a stray cat. The front of the skateboard caught on a street lamp when he couldn't right himself in time. The skateboard stopped with a jerk, but Tommy didn't.
Tommy experienced a split second of a very different kind of flying. He hit the edge of the sidewalk, hard enough to get the wind knocked out of him, and rolled off into the street. He instinctively threw both arms up to protect his head.
In the next moment Tommy felt the familiar impact of being caught and lifted in a pair of metal arms. Before he'd even had time to think about it, he knew he was safe.
"Thanks, Ro," Tommy gasped out.
"Tommy okay?"
"Yeah. That was some kind of wipeout, though."
"What kind wipeout?"
Tommy laughed, "Nevermind. Wait! We have to get the skateboard."
Tommy grabbed up his skateboard, which had flipped over and lay with its wheels still spinning on the sidewalk. He didn't protest when Robotboy simply flew them up to the top of the hill. He was low enough to be hidden by people's fences. Besides, Tommy didn't think he would ever get tired of flying with Robotboy.
"You want to go next, Ro?" Tommy offered.
"No way!" Gus grabbed the skateboard, puffing out his chest and stomach. "It's time for the G-man to show you how its done."
Robotboy didn't seem to be interested in what happened with the skateboard anymore. After letting Tommy down he had landed and couched with his hands on his knees to look at Tommy's legs.
"Tommy leaking," he announced, alarmed.
Tommy looked down to find that he had ripped his jeans and scraped his knee badly when he fell. There was even a little blood running down his leg from it. It actually hurt now that he was aware of it.
"It's no big deal, Ro. It'll stop in a minute."
"Robotboy fix!" Robotboy held up one arm, the joints in his hand parted and made way for what Tommy instantly recognized as a torch.
"Whoa! No way, Ro! You can't weld me, okay?"
"Dude, that would be wicked cool! You'd be like a cyborg!"
"No. I wouldn't."
Robotboy's antennas drooped when Tommy yelled at him. Tommy crouched down in front of him to catch his eyes and patted him on the top of the head, trying to cheer up his little robot friend.
"I know you're trying to help. It's just that repairs for humans are a little different, okay?" Tommy smiled to see Robotboy perk up again at the reassurance. "You're a good friend, Ro."
"Okay, man, now you're just harshing the G-man's vibes," Gus objected.
"So go already."
"G-man wipe out too?"
"Uh, no! I'm gonna show you how we ride in my town!"
Gus hopped onto the skateboard, which immediately took off down the hill with him.
"Whoa! Whoa! I wasn't ready!" Gus shouted, arms flailing like a windmill.
His ride didn't even last as long as Tommy's. Donnie was out in the Turnbull's front walk collecting the mail, and apparently he couldn't resist clotheslining Gus as he rocketed by. Gus fell and went skidding along on his butt for several feet.
Tommy winced in sympathy. There was a second while his hand hovered over Robotboy's deactivation switch, but Donnie went back inside, laughing, without even glaceing up the street.
The skateboard kept flying down the hill without Gus, only to be demolished by a run-in with a van at the next intersection. Tommy winced again at the loss of the board they had worked to build together.
"So much for that," he sighed.
Tommy started down the hill to meet up with Gus, who was rubbing his backside and howling about sidewalk-burn. Tommy really couldn't blame him for that one.
"Tommy still leaking."
"It's just a little blood. It told you it'll stop soon."
"Blood?"
"Blood is. . . It's an important fluid humans are full of. It carries nutrients and oxygen and stuff." This from science class, though Tommy had never paid as strict attention to biology as he did to anything concerning robotics. Robotboy didn't seem to understand, so he tried to make it simpler. "You can just think of it like oil or coolant. It's something that keeps humans running, so it's important not to lose too much of it."
"Tommy, no leak blood!" Robotboy was even more alarmed now.
"Okay, I'll put a bandage on it. Come on."
By this time they were in front of Tommy's house. Tommy deactivated Robotboy and caught his shrinking frame before he could fall, in case he had to get Robotboy past his brother inside.
"You okay, Gus?"
"The G-man needs a new pair of pants," Gus moaned. When he stood up it was obvious his skid down the sidewalk had left a sizable hole. Tommy averted Robotboy's eyes.
"Yeah, you might want to go fix that," Tommy agreed. Besides, it was probably better if he could explain blood to Robotboy without Gus adding in stuff from horror movies.
"I'll meet you guys in time for the movie, so don't start without me!"
"Sure."
Tommy went inside and slipped upstairs, trying to avoid Donnie. He made it to the upstairs bathroom without incident. Inside, he quickly closed the door and activated Robotboy once again.
"No want Tommy lose blood," Robotboy protested again as soon as he was activated. He had really become fixated.
"I'm gonna fix that right now."
Tommy looked down at his knee and noticed that his knee was kind of dirty, to the point where it looked like a mix of blood and mud. He took off his shoes and jeans and stepped into the tub to rinse off his leg. He didn't think to take his socks off until after they were soaked.
"Tommy leak more blood!" Robotboy cried. The scrape had started bleeding again once the dirt was washed out of it.
"I said it's okay. You're supposed to clean out a cut before you put a bandage on it," Tommy tried to explain.
Tommy took a paper towel and tried to dry his knee and blot up some of the blood. He opened the medicine cabinet with his free hand and quickly noticed that the bandages he wanted were on the top shelf, well out of his reach. He stretched to grab at them and came up short.
"Could you get that for me?"
Robotboy floated up easily and handed him a bottle from the top shelf.
"Chest hair mega-grow? Ew! It this Donnie's?" Tommy dropped it on the counter. "A little to the left, Ro."
Robotboy picked up the spray bottle that was right next to the box Tommy wanted.
"Not that. That's the disinfectant mom puts on cuts."
"Ooooh."
Robotboy turned and sprayed the disinfectant on Tommy's knee.
"Yeow!" Tommy yelped. The disinfectant hurt more than the cut itself.
Robotboy dropped the spray bottle and hovered over Tommy, eyes glowing with concern.
"Tommy hurt?"
"It just stings," Tommy explained, already embarrassed at his own outburst. "Hand me that white box."
Robotboy picked out the right thing this time. Tommy took one of the large bandages from it, wiped away the blood that was starting to dribble down his leg again, then stuck the bandage in place.
Robotboy inspected the bandage curiously. He even paused in mid-air and scanned Tommy's knee, blue beams of light from his eyes tracing up and down over the bandage.
"Tommy still leaking! Bandage no fix."
"It's okay," Tommy reassured him. "The bandage will help it close up, and then it'll start healing. That's when your body fixes itself on its own, instead of needing repairs," he explained, before Robotboy could ask. "That's what humans usually do, unless they're hurt really bad."
Tommy started cleaning up while Robotboy considered this.
"Robotboy want heal too."
"I'm not sure you can heal the same way, Ro. I mean, when you get damaged it's usually-"
"Robotboy want heal too!"
"You have me to fix you up. Isn't that enough?" Tommy tried. Once his little robot friend got attached to an idea it became very difficult to dissuade him.
"Tommy put on bandage. Robotboy heal too! Like real boy!"
"You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
Robotboy inspected himself all over for damage, even though Tommy was always careful in his repairs.
"Here." Robotboy held out one leg and pointed to a place close to his own knee. "Have dent."
Tommy bent down to inspect the small dent. He must have missed that one last time he'd gone over Robotboy's basic repairs.
"I can fix that right up."
"Tommy bandage!"
"That's not going to help."
Robotboy's antennas drooped, dejected, making Tommy feel guilty.
"Sorry, Ro."
"Want heal. Like Tommy."
He looked so depressed, and it wasn't a very big dent. . .
"Okay, you can try it."
Tommy got out another bandage and carefully stuck it over the dent on Robotboy's leg. "There you go."
"Yay!" Both of Robotboy's antennas shot straight up in happiness.
It didn't last long. In a minute the bandage started to peel off of Robotboy's leg, unable to stick to the smooth metal.
"Bandage no like Robotboy."
"I'm sorry, Ro." Tommy patted his friend consolingly, watching the bandage float to the floor. He didn't like to see Robotboy sad, but it the adhesive didn't stick. . . that gave Tommy a sudden idea.
"Wait here a second. I know how to fix it."
Tommy dashed downstairs, not minding his smarting knee, and gathered up a handful of colorful magnets from the fridge. He ran back up to the bathroom and found Robotboy trying to make the bandage stick.
"This'll fix it."
Using the fridge magnets, Tommy was able to make the bandage stick over Robotboy's dent. That simple thing cheered him right up again. Tommy laughed to see Robotboy flying circles around the bathroom, admiring his new bandage.
"Come on. We'll just hang out until it's time for the movie."
They left the bathroom for Tommy's room, Robotboy streaking across the hallway in a blue and silver blur.
"So did Gus ever explain to you about zombies?"
Robotboy considered before stating, "Zombie scary, smelly, go 'Gwar,' and eat brains. Like mummy-vampire."
"That's a good description," Tommy laughed.
Plopping down on his bed, Tommy looked over when Robotboy settled next to him. He had that look that suggested he was still processing new data. That probably meant more questions, which Tommy didn't really mind. It was good Robotboy was so curious about his world.
"Vampire drink blood," he started, after his moment of consideration.
"Well yeah."
"Vampire take out blood. Like drain oil."
"Sort of. That's how they kill you and turn you into a vampire too." Tommy put his fingers up to his mouth like fangs. "Bluuh. I vant to suck your blood."
"Vampire bad!"
Tommy quit with the fake fangs. "It's not a real problem. They're not real."
"Robotboy no like vampire!"
"Are you kidding? Vampires are awesome!"
Tommy looked around to find that Gus had let himself in when he came back with fresh clothes. He had walked in just in time to defend one of his favorite movie monsters.
"Vampire bad!"
"Vampires are awesome!"
"Vampire bad!"
That sort of argument wasn't going to get settled any time soon. Tommy put his hands over his head and groaned in frustration. He didn't mind Robotboy's curiosity and questions, or even the way he would get fixated on things, but this quibble he could do without.