Henry leaned idly on the counter. It was almost mid day. The weather outside was great. He wished he could have an ice cream and relax.
"Henry, have you returned the magazines yet?!"
"Not yet, Sir."
"Well hurry up and get on with it." The voice boomed. Henry sighed, stretched his arms into the air and yawned. He moved over and started lifting the magazines. Medabot World, Girl Love, Top Gear, Sudoku Game Guide and Cooking For Pleasure. He set them down on the counter and started writing the returns down. With a quick pause to take a look at the new KBT that was coming out.
"That looks really cool, hunh Henry?" He heard a familiar voice say. "I'd be tempted to get one for Metabee, if he was worth the money."
"HEY." Henry looked at Ikki. He'd gotten older, had a little stubble forming on his chin. Metabee had a white body with showy yellow trims, a curved missile launcher with grey spouts sitting neatly on top.
"Hey, shouldn't you be at school?" Henry asked.
"I have a free period, I just came to grab some lunch. Then I have maths." Ikki said. Henry nodded. "Can I grab some potato chips?"
"Sure." Ikki lifted some cheese curls and checked his watch.
"Put it on my tab Henry, I'm late for a robattle with Sam!" Henry lifted his hand to complain, but was stopped by the teen running out the door. He rolled his eyes and noted down the curls on his private list. Least he could trust Ikki to pay it next week. He'd have Spyke in later to help him out at least. Part timers always lightened his load. He got back to his magazines checking each bundle off. He was getting bored of this. Much too old. He was considering a management job. Something classy. With a pinstripe suit maybe.
He chuckled at the idea as he tied the magazines together. He lifted the bundle to set them outside, sucking in some of the fresh warm air. He would be glad to have a day off tomorrow. Maybe get a little bit of time at the beach? He watched a mother walk by with her toddler. Offered a cheerful smile, but she ignored him. He shrugged it off. Stepped back into the shop.
"Henry, you get the magazines done yet?" His boss asked; a short man with glasses and a moustache.
"Yes Mister Yamasaki."
"Good." He looked around. "Mop the floors and then take your break."
"No problem." He said, grabbing the mop and starting to slosh it over the floor. The bell of the door jingled. Henry glanced up, smiling at the young woman who walked in. "Hello Gina." He greeted. She beamed at him.
"Hello Henry." She sidled up to him. He cocked a brow. Gina made him feel like a pervy old man in her short sensible skirt and heels. "How are you?"
"Same old." He leaned on his mop for a second. "How's your new job going?"
"Good, I enjoy it. Besides this skirt." She grabbed a bottle of water and a banana. "Better money than babysitting, that's for sure." She pulled out a few coins and set them on the counter. "Keep the change Henry, I've got to run."
"What's the hurry?"
"Meeting someone for an early lunch." She peeled the banana. "Then I'm back in the office tomorrow morning."
"Okay, I'll see you whenever." He said, waving as she jogged out. Everyone but him seemed to be in a rush. He let out a sigh. Back to his mopping. Today seemed like it'd just drag on. The man watched some shoppers idly look at different cans of this and that. A woman amused a baby with a little Cyandog shaped rattle, Henry chuckled, letting himself get lured back towards his work. The mop softly sloshing over the shiny white floor of the old hop mart.
Henry set up a little warning sign (caution, wet floor!). His manager stood behind the till, fretting over some papers. Henry cleared his throat. "I'm heading off for my break." The man with the moustache and faint hint of comb-over looked over with a blank expression, as if forgetting who Henry was.
"Oh… OH… sure, go ahead." Henry sighed, sticking his hands into his pockets and wandering to the door around back. Passed by the stacked boxes of broken medabots due to go back to Doctor Aki for repair. The Christmas decorations that they never put back into storage. He swung the door of the staff room open, turning to see some little work drone medabot scampering towards the stock room. A medabot with wheels built into its leg parts. It was loading some groceries into a carrier bag that it could loop over its back. It would tap the phone receiver hooked to its head and talk idly to a customer.
"Yes, yes Miss." It said in a comforting voice. "I can take credits directly into my card reader…. I'll be right there, thank you for using Hop Mart transport."
"You heading out Courier?"
"Yes Henry." It responded, locking its wheels into place.
"You be careful now." He said, flicking the light of the staff room.
"I always am Henry." It assured him, wheeling it's self out. Henry grinned. That new medabot might take his job eventually. Or would, if it had more personality.
Henry slumped onto a chair. He lifted a newspaper, scanning the first page absently.
'MYSTERY OF THE GHOSTLY MEDAFIGHTER PHANTOM' it shouted at him, showing off some blurry images of a person with a long cape. Henry scoffed, opening his lunch box.
"Amateur." He mumbled, pulling out a chicken sandwich and eating half of it in one bite. He turned the page. A lady was showing off her breasts. Henry raised his brows in appreciation before turning to the Q and A. Erika had a few pieces in here sometimes.
He grinned, seeing her cute little face sticking her tongue out at him. She was showing off a victory motion with her fingers, while Brass' face was on the other side of the page. She offered the medabot's perspective. Brass had a great new body. A cream medabot with a magical girl theme, and a real bow tying up her wired hair.
'Dear Erika,
I am having problems with my medabot's robattles, he seems reluctant and is self conscious about losing. How can I build his confidence without pressuring him? He's my best friend, I really love to robattle, and want us to be great partners, any ideas?'
Dear Deeply Motivated,
I had a friend once who had the same problem. Their medabot was convinced that it was broken and no good. And while it was probably true, their medafighter managed to convince them that they were still the best medabot in his eyes. You need to let your medabot know you'll be there for them no matter how a robattle ends. I recommend robattle classes, which are running all over the country, hosted by some of our up and coming young champions.'
Brass Says: Be sure and come see us if you're at the Riverview classes, we'll be there every Friday, and email us at .
Henry let out a laugh. He was never sure what to make of these. Erika whined about how pointless it all was. Often opted to write stories when a space opened up. He was impressed that she had got this far already. He set the paper down and finished his sandwich. He grabbed a chocolate bar and looked over some of the little notices posted on the wall.
-Fire code, when alarm sounds make your way our, and assist-
He'd read that before. He checked the time and stood up, heading back out to the shop. He paused, seeing Doctor Aki stepping in the door. He narrowed his eyes. Walked over to the elderly man. "Hello Doctor."
"Henry!" He greeted, patting Henrys shoulders. "Good to see you again!"
"You too." He paused. He continued along with his old friend. "How is Karin doing at school?"
"She's doing great… won't stop cleaning toilets though." He shrugged, lifting a tin of hot dogs. "I worry about her sometimes."
"I wish you'd send her in our direction. Ours has been backed up for weeks." Henry watched the doctor rummage through the pudding cabinet.
"Oh, you finally got a new shipment!"
"Sorry Doctor. But you still need to pay your tab before you can purchase any more pudding cups."
"Oh come on Henry, you know I'm good for it!"
"I know you're good for it. Which is why you need to PAY." Doctor Aki frowned.
"Hey, can I get a look at the new Medacorp catalogue? I wrote a great article in there about Medal repair advancement."
"I saw that! I'll get it for you now." He said, walking towards the magazines. Lifted the Medacorp magazine. It promised help with data storage, free ammo if you subscribed and a special article written by Doctor Aki. "I only glanced at this, it must be really exciting to see your work published like thi---"
He was interrupted by the sound of scientist shoes running out the door with a cheerful jingle. Henry slowly stood. The doctor was gone, and a trail of pudding cups was left. Henry grumbled and dashed to the door. He slid into the street just in time to see the doctor running away, an arm full of pudding.
"That does it!" He shouted, seeing Doctor Aki swerve around a corner. "You're BARRED!" He shook his fist in annoyance before rubbing his temples. "… Which is exactly what I said last week." He said. Turned back towards the store. It felt like things just never changed around here.
He really wished something would though. Planned on filling out an application for that management job.… As soon as he was done filling out the cereal. Henry stepped back inside the store and lifted the pudding cups, setting them back into place.
Only nine hours to go.