Atlas's first day at school

By Dan

Atlas Boy 1980 Astro Boy series. Tezuka Productions. All rights respected. For Fandom enjoyment only.

I was so angry that you could cook an egg on my head...but don't try it because you'll mess up my wonderful hair and then I'd have to bury you like a rail spike. I was very angry because as usual I had challenged Astro to meet me in combat and once again he gave me a very terse blow off...

"I'm in school right now? Can you just wait till like 3 o clock?" He said back to me. Wait? Keep me waiting you little dog cookie snacking, human hugging, flesh bowing mongrel? Oh trust me, Astro's very act of operating created all kinds of names and new phrases. I would have none of his excuses. I flew to this so called "School" he was in and found the classroom where he was cavorting with his fleshy "fat bag" friends and landed on the window sill showing very much my displeasure at being so rudely told to wait...

"YOU!" I screamed while pointing my finger in a very commanding manor. "GET UP YOU PIECE OF JUNK!"

Astro looked back behind his shoulder as the rest of the human kids around him did and he dared to sigh at me..."Really Atlas? Really? Can't you just wait?"

Oh I was angry now..."No! I won't wait! You get out of that stupid seat and fight me now! Do you hear me or do I have to wreck this stupid room to make my point clear?!"

Now...I had met Kenichi Kennedy before and that's a human with spirit and guts which I admire. As I jumped off the window sill and started to march with my fist clenched for a fight...Ken jumped from his seat and got right in my face...

"Didn't you hear what Astro said?! You can't fight here Atlas. Go away!"

Now because I had the Omega Factor? I could have easily backhanded Kennedy across the room...I could have killed him. Ask the stinking bastards who hung with Skunk Kusai what I could do to people...

I slowly took Kennedy by his shoulders, moved him aside, straitened out his wrinkled clothing and told him...

"You should probably tell your classmates to leave?...oh...right now?" I then turned looking to start swinging on Astro's smug little puss when a woman blocked my way...

"Huh? Do I have to move you too?" I asked as I looked up at her. I leaned slowly around her and pointed at Astro..."Tell her to move?"

The woman glared at my face and said calmly though with a slight agitation..."What do you mean coming in here and violating my class?...little man?"

My mouth gaped open..."Little man? Do you know who I am?"

The woman replied..."Oh I know all right. Now I will ask you again? What do you mean by coming in here and violating my class?"

I stood with my hands on my hips...I was sort of bouncing on my toes to try and measure up to the woman...which Astro laughed at me...

"Don't you laugh at me you stupid bucket of toilet bolts or so help me I'll pound you!" I snapped back. That's when the women poked a finger in my face...

"The only one who'll pound in here is me if you don't watch your mouth and behave yourself. Now Astro said you can wait so you can wait. You're welcome to sit in my class and be respectful or leave." The woman snapped at me.

Now...I don't take well at all to being ordered around by any human...any time...at all...so...you know? I'm gonna get lippy...

"Now see here!" I snapped as I pointed. "I gave him a challenge to fight me and he blew me off! Now if you would excuse me...flesh bag...I'm going to serve my challenge and you better not get in my way do you understand me?!"

That's...when I got into trouble...first came the air piercing scream...like someone put a big rock concert speaker right up to my ear and let it go...

"WHY YOU LITTLE BASTARD?!" The woman yelled as loud as she could.

Then...my left ear felt as if it was getting ripped off! Now why in hell would anyone make a robot with very vulnerable ear lobes? She snatched my ear and gave it a serious twist...

"YEEEEEOW!" I was screaming like crazy! "OW! OW! OW! OW!"

She dragged me to an empty desk right across from Astro's and plopped me down on it! I mean...I was humiliated! I could hear some of the kids in the class laughing at me! Which the woman quickly remedied...

"Everyone stop it! Astro?! Stop laughing...this is a very serious thing." The woman gave me a most dangerous look..."Now? Are you going to give me any more lip Atlas?"

When I didn't answer her...she twisted my ear again...

"OW! OW! OW!"...NO! Please stop it!" I cried.

"I want to hear your answer young man?" She demanded.

"OW!...No...no I won't insult you any more! Please!" I cried until she let go then held my ear..."You...you abused me!" I screamed.

"You keep acting like a little jerk in my class and I will abuse you...and I promise? You will remember it for a long time!" The woman put a drawing pad and pencil before me. "Now...do you promise to keep quiet while I conduct my class and be patient until school is over?" She asked.

"But..." I tried to reply but the threatening fingers of her hand made me cringe..."Yes?"

The woman scowled. "I want to hear you say it Mister Atlas."

I replied with a little sob..."Yes...I promise to keep quiet and wait."

The woman patted my head. "Now...I'm sorry I was so forceful to you. But I think Astro knows me better than you do." As the woman went back to the front of the room and the kids returned to their seats...I leaned over to Astro...

"Who is she?" I asked.

"Our teacher." Astro replied. "Miss Myoki."

"She's a terrorist." I said. "Does she treat you like this?"

Astro smiled. "I only got to taste her wrath once...and that's enough. Be thankful she didn't whip out the electro-paddle and spank your butt."

I looked back at her then back at Astro..."Will you still fight me after school?"

Astro replied. "I will honor your request but we better stop talking."

After a little silence...we turned to each other again...

Astro: Isn't she cute?

Atlas: I am noticing. I sort of want to be disciplined by her again. She excites me.

Astro: You're weird.

I spent the rest of the time doodling in the drawing pad until Miss Myoki called on me...

"Atlas?" she said with a finger. "Come up here?"

I wanted to tell her off but that would have been playing into the humans hands to show that I was a monster. I walked up to the desk...

"Yes?" I said.

"Turn around?" She told me, which I did.

"So class?" She addressed all the kids in the classroom. "This is Atlas. I'm sure most of you know who he is by now. Atlas? Tell the class something about yourself?"

Oh boy...talk about awkward. "Tell them about myself? Was Miss Myoki dense? What did she think I might say? Most if not all of them knew about me...how I really hated humans, hated Astro, hated robots who liked humans...I had knots in my processor and all the while I got that stupid little "simp" Astro glaring at me...oh I so wanted to punch his face in at that moment...

"Must I?" I turned back to Miss Myoki. "I don't even go to school."

She said..."It's a courtesy. Just tell them the truth."

I bit my lip and shifted a boot a little..."Um...hello...I'm...I am Atlas."

"Hello Atlas." All the kids replied.

"I am currently...oh...5 years old...in robot terms...in human appearances I'm like 11 or 12. Kind of the same as Astro." I was so uncomfortable. "I...I think most of you know me by now? For those who don't? I...well I...well I hate humans and I hate him." I pointed to Astro. "My goal is to defeat my hated rival and force my will upon you humans because...to be honest...you're all defective and to me you're the worst things on Earth."

That got more than a few glaring looks of "How dare you."

I turned back to Miss Myoki..."That's about it."

Then she said..."Class? Any questions?"

Like my head exploded..."Do what?! Questions?" I thought. "I have to answer questions?"

They started raising their hands and I'm seriously uncomfortable..."Um...you?"

One girl asked..."Are you and Astro alike? I mean...you look like each other."

"Cough!" That was a zinger..."Um...I certainly hope not. I mean there is a close resemblance but...I don't ever want to be like him! Certainly not how he acts!"

Astro opened his mouth..."Yeah...he's a secret admirer of me guys."

"Grrrrr...shut your stupid mouth!" I yelped.

"Astro?" Miss Myoki warned him. "No goading? I don't want you two brawling in here."

I chose another, Astro's friend Alegio..."Are you two evenly matched? If you keep saying why you want to defeat Astro, why haven't you done it yet?"

Astro snapped out. "I told you he has a secret admiration for me Alegio! Sheesh sometimes you can be so dense."

I started to stomp towards Astro when Miss Myoki caught my arm. "What did I tell you Astro?!"

"Gee Miss Myoki, can't I state a fact?" Astro replied.

Miss Myoki got in front of me..."Astro? Get up and go to the corner."

"Huh? But I'm not doing anything wrong?" Astro replied.

"You're antagonizing when I warned you not too young man now get in the corner, face the walls and stay quiet." Miss Myoki warned. I was...rather surprised to see this happen, I mean...I always thought Astro was super "soupy" you know? A real perfect and pliant human hugging fool and here he was lip-ing off..."

"He's a stupid idiot." Astro snapped at me.

"How about I idiot your face?" I replied snarling.

"I get punished and he gets to spout his garbage." Astro snorted. "That's messed up Miss Myoki."

Miss Myoki put me back at the front of the class where I picked another kid..."Why do you hate humans so much? None of us hate robots. If we did, Astro wouldn't be here."

I thought for a moment. "Because humans have the potential to be back stabbers. Oh you can be good now because your in school but any other time? Every one of you has the same trait to be bad. Today you might allow Astro in here but give it a few years and I bet some of you wouldn't have a care to toss him in a trash can...like you do most of our brothers and sisters."

You know Kenichi Kennedy..."That's sort of unfair Atlas. None of us have ever shown you any disrespect or a threat but instead of being helpful and wanting to improve things between us? You want to start a war between robots and humans.

"No I don't." I snapped back. "I want humans to stop their stupidity and the best way for that to happen is for sappy, pliant little morons like Astro to stop living in fantasy land and deny the reality of humans and their faulty DNA. You're the things on the planet building nuke bombs, dropping garbage all over the place, wrecking the air, melting the ice and being idiots around the clock."

"Miss Myoki!" Astro shouted from the corner. "You can't let him keep spewing his garbage!"

"Astro!" Miss Myoki snorted back. "I told you to face the corner young man."

I sighed and walked around. "It's hard for me to tell anyone about where I came from but if you'd been abused and you saw from my own eyes how humans treat robots and ruin the earth... do you think you could put up with it?"

Abercrombie, Astro big school friend, pointed an accusing finger at me. "You said you wanted us in cages! He said it everybody! Huh? Do you deny it Atlas?! Just try and put me in a cage, I'll beat you to a pulp with a pipe!"

"Abercrombie!" Miss Myoki snapped. "Sit down!"

"There! You see?!" I yelped. "You all can sit in school and say you'll be nice to everyone or that you'll respect everyone but when you hear something you don't like? Especially when you hear only part of something...which I knew "that" leash wearing dufus would not explain properly? The knives always come out!"

Miss Myoki looked at Astro. "Astro? Is Atlas right?"

Astro stood wringing his hands..."Well he's a jerk Miss Myoki!"

"I don't care if he's a jerk Astro. I'm trying to have a teaching moment here. Now is Atlas right? Did you take what he said and twisted it?"

Astro looked at all the kids in the room. "Yes...I did."

I watched the faces and many of them were surprised...if not stunned. You wouldn't expect such a thing from Astro...certainly his human friends never thought he'd twist a story around.

Miss Myoki asked..."What's the real story about this then?"

Astro stood shifting a boot..."We were in an argument and...and I told him that if he hated humans so much then why doesn't he just cage them all..."

I sighed..."Because that would do nothing. They'd fight like hell. If I got tossed in a cage? The cage'rs couldn't run fast enough to get away from my rage."

I rubbed my thick yellow hair because the subject was uncomfortable..."Most of the time...I...I was kept in a cage."

Everyone in the classroom gasped...then some of them gave Astro the most upsetting looks...

"How could you lie like that Astro?!" One girl yelped.

I found myself defending my rival. Talk about awkward..."Don't go ripping on Astro... I mean... if I had a rival who wanted to beat the snot out of me around the clock? I might try to sneak an advantage for some public brownie points too."

Alegio stood up. "But you were thrown in a cage! That's not right at all...no wonder you think humans suck."

Miss Myoki yelped. "Alegio?!"

"Well come on? I mean you throw someone in a cage and that's like...you know... big neon sign blinking "WE SUCK"

Astro was giggling. "Very descriptive there Alegio."

"Bing, bing, bing, bing..."

The school bell finally rang and I thought I was going to get my fight when Miss Myoki pointed at me and Astro..."You two get to clean the room together."

"Clean the room?" I replied. "I don't go to school."

Astro walked up and just snatched my hand. "I'll show you were the cleaning stuff is."