Chasing Sparks

The night was just beginning and the city was pretty quiet.. Well, in the neighborhood part of town it was. Not much activity ever really happened at this time of night; especially here. Well, there had been that one dude who did graffiti on sombody's car the other weekend, but thta was only because all the teenage kids had gotten out of school for the summer and they were all so excited.. Among these young people was a girl. Her name was Vivi. Or at least that's what everybody called her. She wasnt what you'd call your average prep or highschool girl.. She was what the teens would classify as a "goth", and despite what others said/thought she was pretty intelligent for her age.. In reading, not math. She hated math. With a passion.

On that particular night, however, she was pretty happy, a feeling of deep excitment in her gut. She had the whole summer. Two and a half months with no school. The thought tickled her inside as she ran upstairs to her room, taking off her "school clothes"; a pair of black baggy Tripp shorts, and a black tanktop with fishnet sleeves. She had a black beanie on, but didnt take that off yet. In her underwear she walked across the room toward her bathroom to take a shower... She stoped at the mirror to look at her self and rubbed her belly area, sighing. To her slight disappointment, she'd gained a slight bit of weight during the school year. Oh well. She would work it off this summer when she went to swim practice with her cousins. That was always fun, and she looked forward to it. It started next week. She puffed out another sigh and walked into the bathroom. It took her an average of 20 minutes to take a shower, get dressed into her Invader Zim pajamas, and get her toothbrush out. She was about to brush her teeth, but stopped. Maybe a nice chocolate chip cookie that her mother had made a batch of earlier that day would be nice. Walking down the stars in her socks, she was vey careful not to slip. She had been careless many times and fell on the stairs. It was embarassing to admit to anyone that she had fallen on the stairs over 4 times... Mostly because her father would never let her live that one down.. He had an annoying tendancy to joke around a bit too much at the wrong time.. Chuckling, she descended the last few steps, without falling, and did a little victory dance, only to almost fall on the wooden floor in the living room. Regaining her balance, she looked around quickly and started walking out of the living room stiffly as if nothing had happened.

Sitting up in her room, about 3 minutes later, she was on her favorite website, deviantART. She was in the middle of making an abnormally long reply to a comment on one of her pictures, when the electricity fluctuated and the power went out for a few seconds. Her heart skipped a beat and she looked up at the light as it flickered back on. After the initial surprise was over, she looked back at the computer screen and silently mouthed the work 'damnit'. Her computer had restarted and she'd lost everything she'd just typed. She looked back up at the light as it started flickering again. Suddenly, outside there was a loud electrical sound. She dashed out the door to the concrete balcony which jutted out a good six feet from the apartment building she lived in.

"Whoa!" She shouted, ducking back into her doorway just as a shower of sparks flew onto the balcony. She approached the closed window carefully, and peered out to see what had caused it. The sight that greeted her was something that would remain imprinted on her memory forever. Two robots, one extremely large,colored red and blue, and another, smaller black one, perched atop a telephone pole. Electricity emanated from it that made sparks fly from itself whenever it moved. She watched in amazement and slight fear as the bigger robot threw a vicious punch at the smaller robot, but missed. The small one was too fast to be caught with such a predictable move. Vivi was a definite combat video game junkie, so she knew the basics of fighting. 1; You had to be fast and unpredictable, or you'd get clobbered. 2; You needed a lot of strength to back up your fast and unpredictable-ness or you'd get thrashed. 3; Never give up. You may lose a battle, but you will never lose a war if you're determined. Or you'd get killed.

She had heard of these... Robots before.. She didnt remember what they were called, because she didnt read the paper, or watch the news, and she didnt listen to all the crazy rumors and gossip that went on at her school. In short, she was pretty tuned out to what was happening in the world. The hair on the back of her neck raised slightly when a loud shriek came from outside. The little robot had somehow gotten ahold of the other and was sending a very powerful electrical current into him. She frowned. Not good. She was sure that if something didnt happen in favor of he larger robot, he was toast. It occured to her that electricity was like fire if there was a limited amount of it. It could be put out with water. Acting entirely on that notion, she darted downstairs, nat caring about slipping that time, and skidded across the tile floor in the kitchen as she tried to stop by the sink. The cupboard below the sink had a lot of tools and stuff, and she remembered seeing a bucket. Luckily for her, it was still there. A very large, red plastic bucket that her father used for... For God knows what. She grabbed it, dumping the bottles of cleaner and whatnot onto the floor, not caring to pick up herm ess. She'd do that later. Using the sink, she filled it with water and ran out of the kitchen, careful not to spill very much of it. Her parents were gone for the night and she'd have liked to keep this scenario a secret if possible. Up the stairs again, even more so careful here, as to not make the steps slippery. As she came to her room, and the balcony, she was releived to see that the big robot was still somewhat okay. She kicked the sliding door open and rushed to the side of the balcony, leaning over slightly so she'd be closer. She had to hit that little bastard head on if she had any hope of this plan working. After a three second count, she threw the water and it did hit it head on. It took the entire contents of the bucket srtaight in the face and the electricity it had been using fizzled out. This opportunity gave the larger robot a chance to grab the little robot and smash it into the ground. That did inflict some damage, but not enough to kill. It ended up squirming out of his grasp and getting away. The larger robot seemed to have been about to chase after it, but hesitated. It was a lost cause... He was not in the best shape to be chasing after such a fast little thing, not to mention the human who was standing on the balsony, staring at him. He had yet to thank her for the help. Without her he'd probably be.. Well.... Toast. Turning his attention to her, he noticed that she was still sort of leaning over the balcony, probably mezmerized by him. It was hard not to stare if you'd never seen a being like him before.. He knew that. Gently he reached out and, using merely a single finger, nudged her back onto the balcony so she wouldnt fall. She seemed to snap out of her trance and shook her head before jumping backward, startled. She'd not expected any reaction from him to her act of bravery, even less had she expected him to touch her. She blinked before saying,

"Uhhh... U-hum.. H-hey there...." He looked at her and nodded slightly, as if acepting her greeting, and proceeded to make one of his own.

"Hello. Thank you for your help, I owe you a great deal for-" He started, but Vivi interrupted him.

"What? O-oh, no, really, forget about it, I'm just too big of a softie to sit and watch something like that happen..." She said, a little too quickly so she sounded a little nervous. She never really talked to anyone, much less a giant robot, so of course she was nervous. His voice sounded a lot different than she'd thought it would... The robot paused for a slight moment, most likely thinking about her reply.. Finally he looked at her, and she could see a certain softness in his gaze that portrayed something close to a romantic look, or the way friends might look at eachother.

"What's your name?" He asked. She blinked and smiled a little.

"Call me Vivi." She said, sticking out her hand, and realising a few moments later how stupid that was. How in the flying flehoodle were they going to shake hands? It just didnt seem possible, considering size differences. She was surprised when he very gently took her hand in two fingers, returning the friendly gesture without a second thoguht about size. As they each let each other's hands go, there was a slight, but comfortable moment of silence. Vivi looked down at her feet for a moment and then back up at her new friend.

"And.. What can I call you?" She asked, smiling and tilting her head a little bit.

"I am Optimus Prime." He answered flatly, as if there was nothing special about telling sombody his name. Vivi chuckled, more in excitement than anything else.

"Nice. It definitely fits you." She grew a little bolder, now that they knew each other's names. She approached him a little slowly, and sat on the edge of the balcony, swinging her legs off the edge. The two were now a mere three feet from eachother.

"So you're a..." She couldnt remember what they were called..

"Autobot." He replied softly. Vivi nodded.

"Yes, that's it..." She said very quietly and reached out slowly. She had a habit of not really understanding the reality of something unless she could feel it.. Connect with it.. Her hand brushed against the cold metal surface of his forehead before making full contact. Her natural warmth seemed to pulse from her hand, through his head and throughout the rest of his cold metal body. It was an almost magical moment as a connection of some sort took over them. Optimus leaned very slightly into her touch, feeling a yearning deep inside for more of that warmth that emanated from her. Everything was silent for a few minutes, but Vivi was the one to break the calmness.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .