Fresh Start

Hiro Hamada was unconsciously slumped at rest in his swivel chair. His head lolled to one side of the armrest while he snored on; his hands hung limply across the sides and one bare foot was propped against his desk. Stacks of folders littered the desk. Countless long-forgotten side notes dotted his wall and computer frame. Even more notes and papers showing complex data of all sorts were strewn across the wooden floor. Some were even tightly clutched in the boy's hands. Multiple toolbox components were swept onto one side, while the rest either hung on tiny metal racks or rested on the workspace table among electrical chips, wires, wood chippings, and other missing parts to electrical gadgets.

As for rest of the boy's room – well, except for the bed, which wasn't slept in for days – the room looked like a hurricane swept through it.

Basically, an early and peaceful morning in the high-tech city of San Fransokyo. Save for the incoming rush of a few stray vehicles upon the steep streets, all was quiet near the Lucky Cat Cafe where Hiro lived, and its vicinity.

A miniature robot-shaped alarm clock resting near Hiro's bedside hit 6:30 A.M.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Hiro awoke with a jerk. The sudden grating noise startled him, so that he teetered for a second on the unstable spinny chair; making frantic hand-circles in the air, he fell off with a terrific crash.

A moment of incessant beeps from the persistent alarm and silence from Hiro while he recovered his senses. Then,

"Ow," he groaned from the floor.

After which he instantly recognized the familiar squeaks of his huggable healthcare robot padding over to him.

"You have fallen," his marshmallow-y companion stated blankly and peered down at his fallen patient.

Hiro grunted. "Ugh, seriously, dude? I'm ok." With another grunt, he picked himself of the floor, turned off the alarm, and then caught sight of the calendar hanging above. Today's date was circled with bright red, which could only mean-

"M-my presentation!" Hiro gasped. "It's today!" That's when the feeling of nausea washed over him. He dizzily stumbled over to his bed to recover. Baymax, sensing Hiro's state, walked over and scanned him against the boy's wishes.

"My scanner found a decrease in your brain activity and function, primarily in the thamalus, a structure involved in alertness and attention; and in the pre-frontal cortex. Diagnosis: Sleeplessness."

Yeah, yeah, I know," Hiro sighed as he picked up his spilled sheets. Of course it was true. He did spend a considerable number of sleepless nights studying, studying, studying. When not doing that, he prepared for the big presentation, which was today, at his university. Plus, with the job of creating his presentation on his PowerPoint slide show and practicing his speech, all this took time.

"Sleeping too little can be very detrimental to your health," Baymax continued. "However, sleeping too much can cause lethargy."

Sleeping too much? Nah, not a problem. Given the chance, he doubted that would've helped anyway. The thought of the upcoming presentation was giving him butterflies in the stomach.

"Sorry, Baymax," Hiro responded truthfully. "But after this presentation, I'll try to sleep in tomorrow."

"I am still concerned about your sleeping schedule. On regular school days you sleep for approximately 3-5 hours, while the average young adult requires about 7-8 hours of sleep each night..."

Hiro decided to ignore the medical lecture and entered into the bathroom to change and ready himself.

Twenty minutes later, he was studying himself in the mirror with a satisfied smile on his face. He wore a sweater with his university's logo printed on it, the usual khaki shorts, and a cap with the San Fransokyo Ninjas initials. A backpack was slung over his shoulder, filled with his presentation papers as well as his own personal mini laptop and projector. He wanted to practice with his friends beforehand, since the SFIT show took place in the evening and he lacked the confidence to perform without their help. But other than that, he felt fresh enough to greet the new day.

"Well, how do I look?" Hiro asked his robot friend after mentally reciting fragments of his speech in front of the mirror as well as fixing up his posture to look presentable enough.

"You look: cheerful, yet: tense. I detect some changes in your hormonal levels – your pubescent mood swings-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Hiro waved him down.

It was two years since he was admitted into SFIT. Since then, he gained a few inches in height, he noticed, as he put his hand on the crown of his head and brought it against his wall's height marks to compare his past height. Also, his raven-black hair was messier than ever, if not a little longer by half an inch.

I don't care how much Aunt Cass nags, I am not going to brush my hair. I like it just the way it is.

He still possessed some features reminiscent of the fourteen-year-old version of himself, though, such as his scrawny, gangly build and slight overbite.

He smiled briefly at his reflection. Calm down, Hiro, you look good enough for the job. Just put the confident face on, and you'll do fine. You still have time. He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes and exhaled. Then before Baymax could point anything else out, Hiro quickly grabbed Baymax's chubby inflatable arm and led him downstairs to the café. "Come on, Baymax! Don't wanna be late for our meeting!"

He heard the familiar sound of plates clanging and gentle chatter resounding from the cafe as he hit the bottom step, Baymax toddling after him. 7 o'clock: the time when the café opened. Also one of the times when Cass received the most customers, since her breakfast menu was none the less popular than the café itself.

Now, to find Aunt Cass and help her in whatever way I can with running a restaurant. Hiro stifled a yawn before glancing around to catch sight of his aunt.

He did spot her, but not as the usual cheery café owner bustling about to fill people's food orders. No, she was seated with several men in dark business suits. All of them seemed to be in the midst of a heated discussion.

Hiro's face fell. He knew perfectly well why they were here.

"...and for the last time," Cass screeched in an unnaturally high-pitched voice, "my nephew isn't going anywhere!"

"Contain yourself, ma'am," one business man replied with a noticeable attempt of restraint in his voice. " You don't understand, Miss Hamada, the entire nation's already caught on to his astounding exploits, I'm sure that he will be content with this job and within time, become very successful-"

"That's enough, you are not gonna pressure him with anything!" Aunt Cass interrupted. She picked up the loads of folders containing the multiple written offers and shoved them into the man's hands.

"My nephew is. Staying. Here. He will get a real job ONLY when he wants to and when he's ready!"

"My dear woman, someone of such exceptional talent-"

"I don't care how smart he is!" Cass finished tersely and shooed away the rejected employers before turning and nearly bumping into Hiro.

"Oh, hello, sweetie," said Cass, smiling painfully. "Sorry about all this. I told them that-"

"Oh, no, no, it's ok, Aunt Cass," Hiro said, smiling back reassuredly. "This thing happens all the time, might as well get used to it."

"Well, people sure get kinda pushy, don't they?" Aunt Cass sighed heavily. She knew too well the pressures the various companies were trying to lay to let her nephew, even though he refused all offers each time. A child genius he may be, but even he knew he was still a young teenager who had yet to blossom into adulthood.

"Anyways," Aunt Cass snapped back into her warm smile to match the freshness of the usual morn, "where are your dear friends? I don't see them here today..."

"Oh, they have a lot of work to catch up on, so we're meeting back at my lab," Hiro replied, reddening. Most of it was true, except he didn't mention what kind of work they had to catch up on. That part was top-secret. He quickly changed the subject. "So, um, what's for breakfast today, Aunt Cass?"

"Well, today's your big day – mmph!" Aunt Cass squealed inwardly for her dearest before suggesting, "Tamagoyaki is on the menu today, so how about that? What would you like it with, a side of bacon or...salmon?"

Hiro shrugged. "I don't know, how about salmon?"

"All right, sweetie!" Aunt Cass beamed. "Coming right up for my dearest nephew!"

"Oh, wait, don't you need help with your customers and...?" Hiro asked hesitantly.

"No, I'll manage. Just sit down and wait for your breakfast. I don't want you to worry yourself about anything today but that grand speech!"

Less than five minutes later, Aunt Cass placed the steaming plate of breakfast with the side of salmon on the counter.

"Thanks, Aunt Cass." Hiro briefly bowed before taking his breakfast to the table, Baymax toddling after him. A familiar chorus of girlish giggles reached him as he made his way to a café table.

Oh, no, he thought, feeling his ears redden. Them.

A group of three geeky-looking girls enthusiastically waved at him, got up from their tables and simultaneously squealed "Hi-i!" at the mussy-haired boy. He frequently found them hanging out at the café with more of their swooning girl friends during Saturday mornings – the days when he learned to avoid them.

"Um – hi," he uttered quite awkwardly before moving farther out and taking a seat with his back turned to them.

Ugh, what a day. First the business people, and now I've got fangirls. Fangirls!

As though that wasn't bad enough, when Baymax took a seat next to Hiro, he stated, "I am sensing a case of chronic blushing, sweating, and constant fidgeting, a combination that means: embarrassment. Why are you embarrassed, Hiro?

Even more giggles ensued from behind.

"Girls, girls, please!" Aunt Cass, who appeared just in time, clucked in amusement before switching to a brisker tone. "I know you're all fond of Hiro in one way or another, but do leave Hiro alone! Now go eat your breakfast or shoo!" She waved her arms at them to indicate her point before approaching Hiro.

"So, why are they stalking me again?" Hiro asked nervously before briefly whipping around to see that the girls weren't within earshot.

Cass patted Hiro. "Oh, sweetie, they like you. Why..." Aunt Cass tittered, "all that publicity in the news about you and your amazing inventions are bound to get you some notice! The girls aren't bothering you in any way, are they?"

"Well, it's been like two months, so you kinda get used to them. Sorta. Even though they can be slightly overbearing." Hiro shrugged. "I just don't understand girls."

Before Aunt Cass could reply, noise similar to that of static electricity crackled across the café. Everyone whipped their heads around at the source, which came from the thin television screen hanging on the wall. The current television program was being interrupted by another one, and an urgent one for that matter. The words BREAKING NEWS scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

"We interrupt our program for a newsflash on Action TV," the reporter on livestream announced. "We are receiving reports about yet another sequence of bombings in the downtown city region, followed by the mysterious disappearances of several people, most of whom have been reported to be famous scientists as well as inhabitants of San Fransokyo. The total number of casualties is over 200, summing it up to over 1000 casualties in over the year that similar events have taken place."

Hiro paled. This would make it the fifth time in under a year that this is happening.

Behind Hiro, everyone else's eyes were glued to the screen. The fangirls' eyes, already largely amplified by their wide-rimmed glasses, grew even larger.

"While the SWAT team has yet to find and apprehend the terrorist masterminds behind this," the reporter said, "we have collected a clue that may warn us about the attackers' presence." Some shaky video footage popped up on a window next to the reporter as he spoke. Apparently some gutsy person videotaped the scenario as he ran backwards, causing his recording device to shake. It showed people screaming, running for their lives as the grand building collapsed in flames. Then the inexplicable happened: a deafening sound, like a cross between a clap of thunder and a sonic boom, resounded across the entire area. It immediately followed up with a brilliant flash of light behind the building and a visible wave that swept in omniverse directions; the wave's force knocked people off their feet and caused even more debris to pour down on them.

"Furthermore, the SWAT team admits that such phenomena occurred the during the previous four attacks," the reporter continued when the footage blinked out of sight. "One of their top agents, Mr. Michael Chen, also reports to have sighted a group of suspicious-looking individuals, hours before the official bombings. Mr. Chen, can you describe to us how they looked like?" The reporter finished and handed over the mic to Chen.

"My pleasure, sir," the burly agent spoke huskily. "So me and my men arrive earlier today when all 'this' happened," he said, gesturing with his hands at every syllable. "And since the bombing happened at the famous Kasumi Medical University, we rushed in and evacuated everyone out of the area. Then as I and some of my men rush inside the building to check for any survivors, I hear this eerie slippery sound behind me. I turn around – my men are on their backs and mysteriously unconscious. By some stroke of luck, I was still on my feet while looking for anything suspicious. And then I found a clue: through all that smoke and fire I saw several masked dudes zooming up the ceiling on some weird suspension ropes. And-" the agent's eyes widened at the screen as though to intensify his astonishment, "- their suits! They looked like modern-day ninjas, I swear! Except all shimmery-silvery, and they gave me this impression like the suits were blending into the background! In fact, I wouldn't have noticed them if they weren't in such a hurry..." the interviewee paused. "I ran to the roof to follow them while trying to signal more of my men, but of course, 'fore I could do much else, that crazy flash of light erupts outta nowhere, like the apocalypse itself, and an hour later, we receive another missing person report on Sophie Yi, former researcher and student at Kasumi Medical..."

"Ohhh, poor thing," Cass clicked her tongue with pity.

"...which confirms that the city of San Fransokyo truly has an unidentified criminal rampage on its hands," the reporter concluded. "Here, many of our viewers will, of course, wonder whether this famous team called Big Hero 6 is going to step up, unmask the villains' identities and save the day as they always do." Here the reporter looked slightly apologetic before continuing, "However, unsatisfied citizens are protesting that the superhero team is failing in its job to capture the terrorists the last five times they struck. Forms of protest includes street riots, failing to file in police reports that could help the heroes track down criminals, and even threatening to sue former superhero Stan Lee unless he puts a stop to the 6's crime-fighting activities. Due to this arising controversial issue, the San Fransokyo Public Security Agency has recently decreed an issue that thereof bans any unauthorized superhero activity-"

"Hiro, what's the matter?" Aunt Cass suddenly asked Hiro. For Hiro shot up from the table so abruptly that the shakers and sauce bottle tipped over.

"Er, um, sorry, Aunt Cass," he stuttered, and fidgeted. He couldn't focus under mixed pressure and fury. "Gotta run – er, my friends are waiting, d-don't wanna be late," he ended up chuckling.

"But, sweetie, you've barely even finished your-"

"Gotta run, I'll explain later!" Hiro replied in a high-pitched voice. And, slinging his bag over his shoulder and grabbing Baymax by his chubby inflatable hand, Hiro scrambled out the door with Baymax behind, leaving behind his unfinished breakfast and a mildly puzzled Aunt Cass.

"Oh, um, ok!" Aunt Cass answered, flustered that her nephew didn't even bother to give her a good-bye hug. "Bye, dear!"

What has gotten into him? Aunt Cass wondered as she cleared Hiro's dish. Is he...oh, this might sound crazy, but it's almost like he's hiding something from me. He wouldn't do such a thing...right?"

Aunt Cass wasn't the only one to notice the rushed departure of the boy...

No one looked twice at the small, slim figure near the doorway of the café, seated and well-hidden behind a spread-out newspaper.

The stranger first lowered the paper and scrutinized Hiro's and Baymax's moving forms by zooming in to them via telescopic lens on a pair of eyeglasses; then the stranger turned on the communicator.

"Hey, Loon, ya loony bird, do you read me?"

"That's Loon Choo to you! Don't you EVER call me a loon again!" came the indignant answer from the other end.

"Yea, whatever. Anyways, I'm calling to say that I found them."

"Them? As in-"

"Affirmative. Studied them for weeks. The short scruffy one is named Hiro Hamada, apparently leader of a superhero group they call Big Hero 6. His healthcare companion is Baymax."

"Good. Where are they now?"

"Out. He's meeting up with his superhero friends at SFIT."

"Good, good. Now, follow them for a little while longer and see how much more you can find out."

"Roger."

No one noticed the figure calmly lay down the newspaper and swiftly, quietly, stride out the café after Hiro and Baymax.


-And I'm BACK! Timeless, if you(and my other loyal readers) were wondering, no, I did NOT get wiped off the face of this planet, even though it might seem like it cuz I didn't update in a while. But no, life just interfered. :P

-I've been bubbling with too much excitement while writing this, cuz BH6 is totally ruining/taking over my life! Know how I know? I watched Big Hero 6 eight times. EIGHT TIMES, ppl. And I rarely even watch movies twice! Talk about ultimate obsession :/

Thanks for reading! Like the storyline so far? A yeah or nah from the readers would be appreciated. As would feedback.

Toodles!

KoolKat