AN: Okay, so I've been writing fan fics on my computer for years now…I've just never posted any of them or let anyone else see them. But when I saw Metropolis, I loved it very, very, very, very, much and went online to read any fan fiction I could find on it. But there were hardly any, and the number of fics centered around Kenichi and Tima were so few that I could almost count them on one hand. I found this very upsetting, and decided that in order to right this terrible wrong, maybe it was time that I let someone else read the stories that popped out of my head…other than my Digimon partner, Tasermon, and my pet guinea pig, whose name is Snowball. So here it is…my very first fic ever posted anywhere about anything. Since it is my first time ever writing for other people, please excuse any misspellings or grammatical errors. It includes some background information about Metropolis, but even so, I recommend that you watch the movie if you haven't already done so in order to fully understand the fic. Also, I tried to make the characters seem as little OOC as possible, but like I said, this is my first post. Plus, since the fic takes place several months after the Ziggurat's collapse, I figured their attitudes and personalities might have changed just a little. Okay, now I'll stop before I really start to ramble. Once again, first fic…so please be gentle.
Disclaimer: Oh, yeah right, go ahead and just try to sue…it'll be worth it just to see the look on your face when the judge hears it and laughs so hard he falls out of his chair. This fic has been rated M for safety, mostly for future chapters, which have the possibility of becoming lemons. Oh, and Treasure Hunters was a 1982 kung-fu movie directed by Lau Ka-Wing.
Metropolis Heroes Rising
Chapter 1: Treasure Hunters
He gazed upward through the gaping hole, sunlight pouring down through the opening that was several square kilometers in size. It was one of several that were formed recently between Zone 1 and the surface level when the Ziggurat, the world's tallest and most massive superstructure, collapsed upon much of the city below. He was standing with his back up against a concrete pillar, his body hidden by the dark shadows formed by the sunlight as it invaded the underworld of Metropolis. Next to him, also hidden in the shadows, was a large robot, and Albert II model to be precise. The robot's name was Fifi and its former occupation was a maintenance robot, but not anymore. Now Fifi's primary function, as the robot interpreted it, was to help his human friend Kenichi and his fellow robots help rebuild what had been lost during the great collapse.
Kenichi continued to look upwards through the hole to the ruins of the city above. When the Ziggurat fell the explosions and falling debris were so massive that they breached a good portion of the city's surface level and brought it straight down upon Zone 1. The ultimate result was a domino effect as large pieces from the Ziggurat, the surface, and Zone 1 collapsed down upon Zones 2 and 3, utterly annihilating most of the city's multi-leveled infrastructure. Before the Ziggurat had collapsed, the city of Metropolis had been one of the largest, most modern, and technologically advanced cities in the world. Unfortunately, it was also one of the most ignorant regarding the rights and lives of its human and robotic citizens.
What was once Zone 1 was in fact the original city of Metropolis. By most accounts it was once like most other large cities, with a mix of buildings, roads, and small open spaces where a wide variety of people from many different walks of life lived and worked together in relative harmony. But as the city began to rise in power and influence, many of the wealthier and upper-class citizens began to distance themselves from the cares and plights of the other people in city. When the mass production of robots finally came about, they replaced most of the city's lower-class workers as a source for cheap, manual labor. Thus, most of the city's lower-class citizens found themselves unemployed. Meanwhile, the higher-ups had decided to build a new city altogether, literally on top of the old one. Eventually it came to be that the old city and its downtrodden citizens were plunged into darkness as the uncaring upper-class built a new city whose surface was constructed over the old one. In time, the new city of Metropolis became the surface level, while the remains of the old city were given the title of Zone 1.
As the surface level grew ever larger and its people grew ever more greedy and wasteful, new levels were constructed underneath the ruins of Zone 1 to meet the demands of their increasingly gluttonous lifestyles. The level constructed right below Zone 1, which was appropriately called Zone 2, was devoted to meeting the surface's energy needs and housed an abundance of massive power plants, cooling systems, and energy distribution facilities. Further below Zone 2 was Zone 3, a level that consisted of prodigiously sized water and sewage treatment plants. It also had a prodigious stench to match. The disgusting odor was so powerful that the level was run entirely by robots just so that humans wouldn't have to endure it.
Kenichi's gaze slowly turned downward until he was staring directly ahead at the debris fields that were spread across the remains of what had been Zone 1. If they were lucky, then this area just might be the one where they would find the treasure they were hunting for.
"Beep beep beep beeeep beep?"
"I don't know for certain, but it looks pretty safe." He answered his robotic pal as he slowly stuck his head out further from behind the tunnel to get a better view. "Do you detect anything out there?" Fifi moved out from behind the shadows and slowly scanned the giant piles of rubble.
"Beep beep boop."
"Well alright then, let's go." Kenichi turned to his friend, gave a quick nod, and ran out from the shadows at full speed until he reached a piece of concrete debris a few meters out and ducked behind it. A moment later he raised his head above the fallen concrete slab and looked around the monstrous chasm cautiously, making sure he had not been spotted. When it looked like the coast was clear, he stood up and waved for Fifi to follow him. The robot quickly caught up and together the two zipped forward towards on of the main debris fields, periodically ducking and hiding behind some obstruction or piece of wreckage in hopes not being seen.
Back before the collapse, the city's zones had been tightly controlled and there were only a few entrances and exits between the various zones and the surface. In order to travel between the different zones or to the surface level, a special pass was needed that was very hard to obtain, especially if the person didn't have a lot of wealth or power. The restrictions were even worse for robots. Most robots were assigned to a specific zone, and once activated, spent the remainder of their lives working in that zone. Any robot that left their assigned zone was shot on sight by the Marduk security forces and their bodies were turned to scrap. But since the Ziggurat's collapse created huge gaping holes in many places, theaccess between levels was now much easier, especially since much of the security and military forces had either been destroyed during the collapse or had deserted their posts afterwards. But factions still existed and there were many dangers in the city, especially in the subterranean levels and out in the open areas and debris fields. Thus, Kenichi and Fifi had to proceed with caution. Fifi in particular had to be careful, since robots were sometimes seen as nothing more than emotionless, nonliving machines by some of the city's remaining human inhabitants. Kenichi knew this to be nothing more than propaganda produced by the people who were ignorant of the robots' true potential and looked down at their very existence. He despised their lies with every fiber of his being, and became quite agitated at the mere thought of some ignorant human abusing his robotic friends like that.
"Beep beep beep…beep beep."
"No, I don't see anyone either." Kenichi replied while slowly looking around. "We should be safe for now, but if we're spotted, I want you to head back into the tunnel as fast as you can, got it?"
"Beep beep."
The two companions crept out from behind a pile of small rubble and approached the main debris field, careful to make as little noise as possible as they went. The debris field was well over a square kilometer in size and consisted of a great deal of junk and wreckage from the surface, as well as rubble from the buildings that once were a part of this area of Zone 1. In some places the rubble was several thousand feet high, in other places there was hardly more than a heavy layer of dust and grit. In a few spots there were large holes in the floor that indicated where pieces of debris had fallen straight through Zone 1 and down into Zones 2 and 3. Nearby this debris field were several others that were just as large, if not larger. This particular field was the third one that they had searched through in just the past month.
"Guess we had better get started. You take that pile over there and I'll take that one." Kenichi said, pointing to two of the relatively smaller piles that were fairly close together. "And be sure to stay where I can see you, I don't want you falling into Zone 2 again! I nearly lost you last time!"
Kenichi was very protective of Fifi. He viewed the large, loveable robot like a big brother and wasn't about to let anything happen to Fifi if he could help it. He felt the same way about all of his friends, and was equally protective of the as well. Kenichi hoped that they saw it that way, instead of viewing him as a bother to them. He was just concerned about them, particularly because of the fact that they were all didn't really have anyone in Metropolis that he was close to that wasn't a robot. Sometimes this caused certain problems; since most of the city's other human inhabitants weren't too fond of the robots. Kenichi didn't really see why. It was like they were totally ignorant of the fact that the robotshad emotions and thoughts just like they of them never even took the time to learn anything about the robots, without whom the city couldn't even have functioned properly.
"Anything yet?" yelled Kenichi to Fifi, who was slowly sifting through his pile of rubble.
"Beep beep boop."
"Well, just keep on looking and I'm sure we'll find one eventually." he yelled. Then, under his breath, "In about a hundred years maybe…if we're lucky."
"Beep beep beep beep beeeep beep?"
"Huh? No, it's a giant, black metal cylinder with fluid transfer hoses sticking out of the sides near the top and an electrical utility conduit on the bottom, Remember?"
"Beep beep beep."
The two continued searching, sifting through the seemingly endless mountains of metals, plastics, and other pieces of junk. The piece that they were looking for was actually quite large, nearly a meter in diameter, but with half the city crumpled up around them, the task seemed greater than finding a needle in a haystack. It would be a little easier if they had more help, but he was reluctant to have any of the other robots out here in the open. The less attention the robots drew, the better. Besides the robots, Kenichi didn't really know anyone left in Metropolis, which meant he couldn't rely on any of the other humans helping him, not that he would anyway, considering what their reaction might be when they figured out what he was looking for.
Kenichi wasn't originally from Metropolis, but from Japan. A short time before the collapse of the Ziggurat, he had accompianed his uncle, Shunsaku Ban, from Tokyo to the great island city-state of Metropolis. His uncle, who had taken care of him since he was little, was an investigator trying to track down the infamous Dr. Laughton, who was suspected of smuggling and experimenting on human organs illegally and was wanted in several countries for his crimes. Kenichi and his uncle had tracked him to Metropolis, where they were given the assistance of a police robot, named Pero. Together, he, his uncle, and Pero found 's secret lab deep in the bowels of Zone 1. They had arrived just as Dr. Laughton's lab was being engulfed in flames. While his uncle tried to rescue Laughton from the fire, Kenichi had bravely searched the rest of the flaming structure for signs of anyone else who might need to be saved. That was when he had first met…her. The one who had changed his life. She was his best friend. She was the one who showed him what robots were truly capable of, the one who helped him explore his own emotions, his own humanity. She, who wasn't even a human herself, but was something much greater…she who was an angel.
"Tima…" whispered Kenichi quietly to himself. He had stopped at the thought and sat down on large piece of scrapped titanium plating. He wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his head in legs, cuddling up in an almost fetal-like position. He sighed and thought back on his times with the girl that had changed his life before the collapse.
"Beep beep beep? Beep beep? Beep?...Beep?...BEEEEPPP!"
"Huh?" Kenichi was suddenly jolted out of his numb state by Fifi, who had been trying to get his attention for a little while now and had resorted to the equivalent of yelling at him to try and awaken him from his dazed state. Kenichi stood up in an instant and made a slight bow, apologizing to his friend. "Sorry about that! I guess I kind of drifted off there for a second."
"Beep beep beep beep beep boop." It seemed that Fifi had realized what Kenichi had been thinking.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. We're doing this for her and if we want to get it done then have to keep on searching." Kenichi stretched out his arms, turned around, and continued inspecting the pile of debris he had just been sitting on.
"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!" Kenichi could tell that Fifi had now cheered up, just by the happy, perky tones of his friend's beeps and the way Fifi's body jerked and swayed in a manner that clearly reflected his joy.
The two continued searching for what must have been several more hours at least, clearing one pile and then moving on to the next. Though they made great progress, especially after Fifi's little pep talk, they had still only searched a small fraction of the debris field. Then suddenly…
"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
"Huh?" Kenichi turned around and faced his companion, who was digging through a pile of rubble off to his side. "Found what? What did you find? The missing piece to the-"
"HEY YOU!" Kenichi spun around and nearly fell off his pile in shock to see who was shouting at them and why. At the end of the chasm, near the tunnel they had entered through, stood a group of five men, all wearing dirty and torn up clothing. Several of them had weapons in their hands.
"YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? IS THAT YOUR ROBOT? WHY ISN'T IT AT ONE OF THE CONSTRUCTION SITES HELPING THE OTHERS? THIS AREA HASN'T BEEN ASSIGNED TO BE CLEARED YET!"
Things had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. The men might have just wanted to know what was going on, and may have had no intention of harming them, but somehow Kenichi doubted it and he certainty wasn't going to take the chance. If those men figured out that Fifi was thinking and acting of his own accord they might decide to dismantle the robot! Worse still, they might find the other robots in the tunnels, and then they would find…NO! No, he was NOT going to let that happen! They had to get out of here fast! But how? The men were only a few meters away from the tunnel. Even if they tried to run they'd never get there in time. He had to act quickly if he was to ensure Fifi's safety.
"FIFI! JUMP!" Kenichi yelled as he jumped off of the rubble and quickly ran for the far side of the chasm, away from the men. Fifi followed suit and within seconds was right on Kenichi's trail.
"HEY YOU! STOP! WE NEED TO TALK TO YOU!" shouted one of the men, who took off after the boy and his mechanical friend. Needless to say, the duo did not stop. Fifi, being much faster than Kenichi, swept up his human counterpart from behind, and carried him in his arms as he zoomed through the debris field, swerving around the piles and chunks of rubble that blocked their path.
"FIFI! STOP!" commanded Kenichi after they had gotten far enough ahead of the men. Fifi slowed to halt and at Kenichi's urgings, put down him down. "We'll split up! I'll try to draw their attention and while they're distracted you go around that line of rubble over there, double back, and head for the tunnel!"
"Beep beep beep beep!"
"We don't have time for that right now! If those men catch you then we could all be in trouble! I'm a human, so they might go easier on me. Head back for the tunnel and I'll try to meet you there!"
"Beep beep!" Fifi didn't put up any further argument and rushed behind a pile of rubble just as the men came into view, panting in exhaustion from trying to keep up with the robot.
"Hey over here! Look at me!" shouted Kenichi, flailing his arms around in the air.
Just as predicted, the men were ignorant enough to focus only on him and didn't even seem to take notice of Fifi's absence. Kenichi ran as fast as he could, dodging debris and hiding behind rubble whenever possible, the men yelling and chasing him all the while. He was actually doing a decent job of avoiding them, but just as he cleared a large chunk of concrete, he tripped over a broken piece of metal and fell to the floor, face first. When he found the power to get to his knees and started to stand up, he opened his eyes…and gasped at what lay before him. There on the floor, not even a meter in front of him, laid Dr. Laughton's red journal! It took Kenichi a second to fully grasp that he wasn't dreaming and that the book lying right in front of him was indeed the doctor's journal, and not just a figment of his imagination or some other red book that happened to look similar. After a few seconds of staring closely at it in dumbfounded amazement, he knew there was no mistake. It had to be the journal!
Kenichi scurried forward, and snapped the book up in his arms, clutching it closely to his chest as if it were a life preserver, for truly it was. It was a life preserver that could help save one of his friends, his best friend!
"TIMA! YES!" Kenichi cried out at the top of his lungs, holding onto the book for dear life. Unfortunately, his sudden outburst had attracted unwanted attention.
"HEY!-pant-YOU THERE!-pant-STOP!-pant-PLEASE!-wheeze-" cried out one of the men who had been chasing him, and who was near exhaustion from said chase. Kenichi looked up in fear at the approaching man, clutching the book to his chest even tighter than before. He was NOT going to let the man take the book away from him. He'd rather fight than be parted from it if that's what it took.
But before the man could come any closer, SWOSH!, Kenichi was swooped up into the arms of a robot speeding by so quickly that the approaching man barley had time to register it.
"Fifi!" shouted Kenichi as his robotic comrade speed forward through the debris field and into the tunnel before any of their pursuers had a chance to follow them! Once inside the tunnel, Fifi slowed down slightly, but still kept a good pace as he turned, weaved, and flew down the maze of intersecting and crossing tunnels and pathways. When they were a good enough distance into the tunnel system to ensure that they weren't being followed, Fifi stopped, released Kenichi and checked him over for damage.
"Beep beep beep beep! Beep beep beep beep beep beep! Beep beep boop boop!"
"What! Hey! Stop it! That tickles! Hahahahaha!" Kenichi laughed out loud as Fifi continued to physically inspect his body to make sure he was okay. "Hahahaha! No, seriously, stop! I can't take much more tickling!" At Kenichi's insistence, Fifi stopped his examination.
"Beep beep! Beep beep beeeep beep beep…beep."
"I'm fine, really. I got more scratches from digging around in that pile of rubble than I did during that chase. And besides, what about you? I thought I told you to make a run for it."
"Beep beep beep beep beep beep….beep beep beeeep beep boop."
"I didn't mean for you to make a run for it with me in your arms! And you knew it." Kenichi giggled and nodded his appreciation to his robotic friend. Apparently Fifi had no intention of leaving him behind, and had purposely made his own interpretation Kenichi's pleas just so he could swoop in at last moment and rescue him, and the red book, in the process. "Ahh! The journal!" Kenichi stared down at his arms, elated beyond relief to see that it was still clutched tightly to his chest. For a second he had been afraid that he had dropped it during their escape, but apparently he had a firm grip on it the whole time, even when Fifi was tickling him to death. "Look Fifi! The journal! Dr. Laughton's journal!" cried Kenichi as spun around in circles and jumped and leaped for joy because he was so happy!
"Beep beep beep beep beep beep! Beep beep beep beep beep beep?"
"It was just lying there right on the floor! I can hardly believe it!" Kenichi turned the book over in his hands. It looked to be in almost perfect condition! There was hardly a scratch on it! It had survived the fall of the Ziggurat virtually unscathed! "Fifi, do you know what this means!" The look on Kenichi's face was priceless. It could have lit up the sun itself! Fifi hadn't seen his friend anywhere near this happy in months!
"Beep beep beep beep! Beep beep beep boop!"
"That's right…" Kenichi whimpered blissfully. He was so overwhelmed that knees began to buckle and he slid slowly down to the floor, his back against the wall. "Tima…" he whispered. "With this book we can get her back the right way! No more guess work, no more theorizing, no more improvising…" Kenichi closed his eyes; it all seemed like a wonderful dream. After so many months of waiting and working and toiling he finally had all of the answers right here in his hands. And to think that it was right there on the floor the whole time, right out in the open, not buried under rubble or burned in one of the fires or destroyed in the explosions or anything! He was just thankful that he found it when he did, before something happened to it or the debris was cleared away by one of the reconstruction crews.
"Beep beep beep beep beep beep, beep beep beeeep beep!"
Kenichi was brought out of his daze by his mechanical friend's happy and curious rantings. "More? What do you mean there's more?"
Fifi reached towards the hollow storage compartment that served as his abdomen, where he had once been forced to store sewage waste back when he was still a maintenance robot. He opened the mechanical door leading to the hidden compartment and pulled out…
"The bottom assembly to the regeneration capsule!" cried out Kenichi joyfully! This was it! One of the final missing components! It was the treasure that he and Fifi had originally set out to search for that morning. "Where did you find it!"
"Beep beep beep beep beep beeeep beep beep beeeep beep!" explained Fifi, reminding him of how he had found the device hidden amongst the debris just before their search had been so rudely interrupted.
"Yes! We did it! We found Dr. Laughton's journalAND thebottom half of the capsule's assembly in just one day!" Kenichi practically jumped onto his older robotic brother, giving him a tight bear hug that seemed to make Fifi go almost crazy with glee! "Thank you!" he whispered while still clutching his friend. He had to close his eyes to try and stop the tears from coming out, and even then it didn't work. "Thank you so much Fifi! I could never have done this without you! I owe you everything! I owe you my life! Tima owes you her life! I can never repay you or thank you enough!" His friend responded by beeping and booping liked there was no tomorrow.
Kenichi could hardly believe it. He had hoped that there had been a regeneration capsule somewhere in the Ziggurat, just in case Tima had needed a recharge after being hooked into the leviathan's corrupt systems. He doubted that the malevolent Duke Red would leave something like that up to chance, especially considering that it was Tima's welfare that was at stake. Still, even if there was a backup capsule, Kenichi had all but given up hope that it would have survived the collapse intact. Yet, here it was. And just by glancing at it through his watery eyes Kenichi could tell that the damage to it was remarkably light. A few missing wires and cracks in the exterior casing seemed to be the extent of it. With the help of the other robots, he could have it looking like new in no time. They were finally on their way to achieving their goal of rebuilding what the collapse and the evil and maniacal Duke Red had taken away from them. They were going to get Tima back!
"Beep beep beep beep. Boop beep beep beep beep boop boop. Boop boop boop beep beep beeeep!"
Kenichi sniffed, his eyes still watery, and glanced up at his friend, finally releasing him from his bear hug. "You're right-sniff-we should get going.-sniff-The others will be waiting for us. And-sniff-we still have lots of work to do, but at least we're making some solid progress now."
Fifi nodded in agreement, and put the capsule assembly back into his storage compartment. Before he could seal the compartment however, Kenichi handed him Dr. Laughton's journal and told him to store it along with the assembly. "There's nobody I trust more than you to keep it safe." After Fifi happily beeped a thank you, Kenichi once again climbed aboard the robot, which then took off down the tunnel towards the safe haven that they and the other robots currently inhabited.
Their base of operations was in an isolated section of Zone 1. It was on one of the higher floors and was really a platform with several old but sturdy brick and metal buildings. The buildings were just a few stories tall, and they weren't much to look at, but they provided adequate room and protection. Part of the platform had been ripped off during the collapse, leaving most of the buildings with a view of one of the larger chasms and the subsequent gapping hole leading to the surface level. The platform was surrounded on three sides by tall concrete and metal walls that kept it relatively isolated from the surrounding neighborhoods. In addition to the walls acting as a security barrier, several of them were also support structures for buildings up on the surface level, which was probably the reason why they were originally built.
Kenichi and Fifi had stumbled across the little borough a few months back while they were surveying the damage caused by the collapse. No one seemed to know what happened to the humans who lived there before. It could have been that they were evacuated after the collapse, or maybe they had just decided it would be safer to move to another part of the city. The circumstances didn't really matter. The main thing was that it was isolated and provided more than enough room for Kenichi, Fifi, and a small assortment of their robotic friends to live in relative harmony.
As Fifi sped out of the tunnel and onto the platform with Kenichi holding on for the ride, they were greeted by their mechanical comrades, many of whom scurried out of the nearby buildings and shadows to meet them in the center of the platform. Some of the robots were small, others large. Several were Albert II models like Fifi was. There were maintenance robots, construction robots, and even a few service robots that were originally from the surface level. They only numbered several dozen, which barley even qualified as a fraction of the city's gigantic robot population, but there were other groups of robots living in similar circumstances in other parts of the city, and the robot communities were growing in number. Since the great collapse had made it easier to gain access to Metropolis's different zones, the robots were finally free to congregate and roam about some of the city's less inhabited underground areas at will…most of the time.
Some of the robots still had jobs and duties to perform, most having to do with Metropolis's clean up and rebuilding efforts. Some worked in shifts while others, who were supposed to be working continuously, just managed to slip away unnoticed on occasion for a much deserved break. Upon Kenichi and Fifi's arrival, they were greeted by a chorus of cheerful and curious beeps, boops, clicks, whistles, and other various mechanical noises. Only the most advanced of Metropolis's robots had voice synthesizers, which allowed them to speak human languages, and most of those were surface level robots that tended to the city's wealthier residents. Kenichi, who had spent the past several months living in isolation with his robot pals, quickly caught on to their mechanical language and was able to easily understand what they were saying. Since all robots understood human languages, as they were programmed to accept voice commands, the language barrier between Kenichi and the robots was quickly dismantled.
At the relief of seeing their friends return safely, and at the great news that they had actually found the bottom assembly to a regeneration capsule, the amount of jovial noise increased significantly. Then, Kenichi reached into Fifi's storage compartment and pulled out Dr. Laughton's journal, holding the book over his head for everyone to see. Once he explained to them exactly what the book meant, the crowd made a ruckus of joyous noise so loud that Kenichi nearly had to cover his ears! For a moment he was afraid that the celebration was becoming so loud that it might attract unwanted attention, since he was sure that it could be heard halfway clear across Zone 1. He couldn't blame them in the least though, for they had found a great treasure. With the contents of the book, they could finally make their family whole again!
After a long while, when the jubilating robots had finally managed to calm down ever so slightly, Kenichi stepped forward and started walking towards a three story, metal, gray building in the far corner of the platform. The crowd of still cheering robots parted, making a path for their human friend. He marched forward happily, wearing a large, goofy grin across his face and his eyes beginning to water up with tears of joy yet again. Fifi came up behind him, holding the capsule assembly in his arms. Together, the two made their way into the building via a large open doorframe in the front. It was here that the tears finally threatened to stream down Kenichi's face yet again as he stared at the site before him.
Scattered across the length of the small, warehouse-type structure were tables and boxes covered with the remains of old and currently non-functioning robots. Wires and pieces of metal and computer chips and spare parts of every shape and size filled the dimly lit building. This building was the main reason why their community had moved into this particular borough. This was the center for all of their activities, one of the primary reasons they had all come together. This was where they rebuilt their robotic friends and brethren that were destroyed or damaged during the great collapse. And in the very center of the building, lit up by sunbeams flowing through a hole in the roof, was a large metal table. And on the table lay the scattered pieces and body parts of a very distinct and beautiful mechanical humanoid, one of the most sophisticated and advanced ever created in the world.
"Tima…" Kenichi whispered, slowly making his way towards the collection of mechanical parts, towards the remains of his best friend.
Tears freely flowing down his cheeks, he reached forward and gently placed the red book near the table's edge. His hand, trembling, drifted towards the damaged remains of the human-like face, and gently stroked one cheek, then the other. Kenichi's gaze wondered to the edge of the table, where the young robotic girl's heart was laid neatly on top of a pile of old, faded, yellow newspapers. His hand wandered away from her face and slowly picked up the heart. He felt its weight and texture in his hand. The device was the most essential to her reconstruction. It held all of her emotions and feelings and most of her memories. He gently placed it back down upon the paper.
Tears still in his eyes, he turned around, only to see that Fifi and the rest of his extended family had followed him in and were giving him mechanical looks of hope and happiness. Kenichi had never felt so humbled. They had all gone to such great lengths to him out, some risking their lives on occasion, even though he was just a human kid. His voice cracked as more tears streamed down his already wet face.
"T-Thank you a-all s-s-so much. I could n-never had done any of this without y-you. A-All of you." he sniffed. Fifi came up to him, and enveloped him in a brotherly bear hug. They had all sacrificed so much just so that he, so they, could bring their friend back. "I p-promise I won't let you all d-d-down." His face suddenly sprouted a look of utter determination and willpower, and he slowly unburied his face from the body of his robotic friend, his drying eyes scanning each member of his mechanical family who stood in front of him. In a very bold declaration, he shot a fist up into the air and loudly proclaimed, "We WILL get Tima back! I promise you!" At that moment, the robots' cheers grew deafening. As he turned back around to stare down at the mechanical face of his soon to be resurrected friend, he whispered, "You changed my life, saved me so many times, now I'm going to do the same for you. I promise I'll get you back Tima…I promise you'll finally be safe…I promise." And the tears ran down his face once again.
Well, how'd ya like it? I already have several other chapters planned out, and can write plenty more, but I wrote this chapter in such a way that I think it can stand alone as kind of a one-shot…especially if it doesn't seem like too many people liked it or want it to be continued. So, what'd you say? Should I continue posting it, or just leave it as it is and write the other chapters just for my personal enjoyment without posting them here?