One hour passed and Tommy was thinking if presenting Robotboy to his friends, Gus and Lola, would've been safe or not. They were going to arrive at Tommy's house soon.
"Professor Moshimo said I have to keep him secret from people... I get why. But I'm sure I can trust my friends. They wouldn't reveal the secret to anyone else." Tommy thought as he moved his eyes on his new friend.
He wished the little robot could've said something, maybe Robotboy was thinking his friends should've known about him, but Tommy got nothing in response.
Tommy tapped his chin, thinking about an alternative way Robotboy could communicate with him when "a lightbulb went off in his head".
"I got it! Maybe, you can temporarily communicate with me in another way. It's not going to be ideal, but this way we'll know what you're thinking in a simple way." Tommy told Robotboy.
The robot looked rather curious about what his friend meant and tilted his head a bit.
"You can nod or blink once if you want to say "yes" or if you like something and you can blink twice or shake your head if you want to say "no" or you don't like something. How does that sound for now?" He asked for Robotboy's opinion on the new communication method.
Giving it a go, Robotboy decided to give him a smile and a nod, letting his friend know he liked the idea while he couldn't speak. Both of them were finally making some progress in communication.
"Okay, now that you can tell me what you're thinking, would you like meeting my pals? They're Lola and Gus and they'll want to meet you as I'll tell them about you." Tommy posed the question to his new friend, knowing he could get an answer from him thanks to the new communication method.
They were people Tommy liked, so why couldn't Robotboy like them too? The blue and white robot nodded to Tommy's question, wanting to meet his friends.
"Great!" Tommy grinned. "They'll love to know about y-"
"Tommy! Your friends are here!" Deb called for her son after hearing the doorbell ring.
This was the perfect timing for Tommy. "Hehe... speaking of Lola and Gus, they're here already! Follow me, Robotboy: we'll go downstairs so that you can meet them!" He instructed the robot, so he could learn about Tommy's friends.
Tommy hid Robotboy in his new backpack and quickly went downstairs, excited to present his new friend to Gus and Lola.
He opened the door.
"Happy birthday, Tommy!" The two friends said.
"Thank you, guys!" Tommy responded, hyped to show his friends Robotboy.
"We've brought our presents for you, here they are." Lola said, handing her gift over to Tommy.
Tommy opened the box, revealing a Human Fist video game.
"Wow, thank you, Lola!" Tommy said, happy to see his present.
"Hey, don't forget G-Man's gift, Tommy!" Gus held out his gift to him.
"Don't worry, I was getting to you Gus, trust me." Tommy assured his friend, opening the second gift. Inside the present was a Human Fist action figure. "You guys really know me so well! Thank you both!"
Lola smiled, seeing that her gift made her friend happy. "It's nothing, Tommy. We just knew where to look for gifts you would've liked, that's all." She told him.
"And that Human Fist, boy, he's the greatest! Smashing stuff and bad guys with that huge fist, awesome stuff baby!" Gus imitated the superhero as he was speaking to Tommy.
As his friend finished talking, Tommy decided to show Gus and Lola his new friend. "Well, I think Human Fist is awesome, but... I think you may want to see something that's even more awesome." He explained to his friends, getting their attention.
Tommy led his friends upstairs so he can show them his best gift he got in his room.
"See, someone sent me an amazing present, I'm sure you will like it as well. I present you... Robotboy!" Tommy said, opening his backpack after making sure only Gus and Lola were watching.
Upon seeing Tommy's friends, Robotboy made a worried expression, not knowing who the two people were.
"Don't worry, Robotboy, they're my friends, Gus and Lola! There's nothing to be scared about." Tommy said to reassure the little robot.
In the meanwhile, Tommy's friends were amazed, seeing something they thought could only exist in a science fiction story.
"Wow! You hit the jackpot, dude!" Said Gus, astounded. "You got a real robot, cool!"
The fact Gus said this loudly scared Robotboy, making him hide behind Tommy and holding his hand in fear.
"Gus, can you refrain from being loud as usual, please? Robotboy's still rather timid and shy." Tommy didn't appreciate how his friend looked a bit not respective of his new friend.
"Right Gus, show some more respect!" Lola agreed, trying to meet Tommy's new friend properly and gently walking up to the robot.
"It's okay, Robotboy. Sometimes Gus just doesn't think before he speaks or talks too loudly."
The robot loosened his grip on Tommy and smiled to Lola, demonstrating his trust towards her.
"It's awesome! Can he talk?" Asked Lola, curious.
"No, he can't talk yet. But we have a different way to communicate." Said Tommy, referring to the way he invented to understand Robotboy's opinions.
"What? Your robot can't talk? That's impossible!" Shouted Gus, startling Robotboy once again.
"Gus, I already told you to not talk loudly!" Said Tommy, annoyed by how his friend didn't listen to him earlier.
"Anyway, my way to understand Robotboy's opinions bases itself on eye blinks and nods. If Robotboy agrees on something, he blinks or nods, else he shakes his head or he shakes his head." Explained Tommy.
"Wow, that's clever, Tommy!" Answered Lola, liking her friend's idea.
Despite being startled twice already, Robotboy managed to keep his composure just in case he had to answer some more questions.
"Here, I can demonstrate how we communicate right now, watch." Tommy then faced Robotboy to ask him some questions. "Robotboy, do you like the fact Gus frightened you?"
He shook his head and blinked twice to let Tommy know he hated it.
"Do you want him to apologize to you?" Tommy made one more question for the robot.
Robotboy replied with a nod and one blink.
"Gus, did you look at that? I think you owe Robotboy an apology for frightening him twice." Tommy told Gus, feeling that would be enough to make his friend lower his voice tone.
"Okay okay, sorry about that, Robotboy, sometimes I don't know I talk too loudly. Could you forgive the G-Man?" Gus said, hoping that Robotboy was one easily forgiving others.
The robot blinked and nodded, smiling.
"You're lucky Robotboy has a forgiving nature." Tommy pointed out to Gus.
Not being able, the trio started to think about how would Robotboy's voice be. Would it be high pitched? Low pitched?
"You know Tommy, this has got me thinking. If Robotboy could speak, what voice would you like for him?" Lola asked Tommy, having many thoughts on Robotboy's ideal voice.
"I bet he'd have a rocking cool voice for a rocking robot." Gus suggested, imagining the voice the robot would have.
"To be honest, it doesn't matter too much to me. He's still going to be my friend, no matter what voice he has." Tommy stated.
Suddenly Debbie Turnbull, Tommy's mom, called his son and his friends. "The cake is ready, come downstairs!"
"Okay, we're coming!" Replied Tommy.
"Robotboy, you'll have to stay here for some time. Don't worry, I'll be back soon." Tommy explained to his robot, making him understand that he didn't have to worry.
Tommy and his friends went downstairs, leaving Robotboy in the bedroom.
The blue and white robot was thinking if talking already would've been a good idea, as he didn't want to say words incorrectly.
After a few seconds, Robotboy decided to try and say his first word.
"Tom-my." The robot said, surprised by his own voice and especially by the fact he said his best friend's name correctly.
"Tom-my." He repeated, wanting to practice some more.
In the meanwhile, Tommy heard someone talking upstairs.
"Wait a minute mom, I have to check a thing upstairs." Tommy said, proceeding to walk to his house's first floor.
"Robotboy... is that you...?" Tommy whispered, slowly opening his bedroom's door.
"Tom-my!" Robotboy exclaimed upon seeing his friend.
"Y-you can talk!" Tommy said in an excited tone.
The reaction Robotboy received from Tommy gave his self-esteem a big boost. As Tommy was very happy to hear that first word from him, saying another word would make him even happier.
"I'm so proud of you Robotboy! You really did it!" Tommy gave his best friend a hug after storming in the room and after complimenting him.
Hearing that word, he wondered if "proud" was a good thing. "Tom-my... proud?" Robotboy gave that word a try, surprising himself again as he got it right.
"Yes, and me being proud means you did a good thing!" Tommy explained. It was the best thing that could have happened at that moment, as from that point onward, Tommy could have properly talked with Robotboy.
"Tommy! Are you done up there yet? Your ice cream cake is going to melt if you stay up there for too long!" Deb called out for Tommy, reminding him about his cake.
"Coming mom!" Tommy answered back, then turning back to Robotboy. "Keep practicing, Robotboy. You have no idea how happy you just made me after I heard that word. Keep it up! I'll be back for you after I finish my piece of cake downstairs, okay?"
"Okay, Tom-my." Robotboy responded back, thinking that "Okay" was something he had to say as well, getting it right.
Tommy smiled as he heard that from him and surprised by how fast he learned three words, then running back downstairs to finish his cake before it could melt, leaving Robotboy alone in his room once again.
"Tommy, what happened upstairs? Also, is it just me or you're much happier than before?" Lola asked as Tommy came back to his friends.
"Robotboy learned how to talk! And he did it on his own!" Tommy explained to his friends, smiling.
"What? He can talk? A few minutes ago you said he couldn't do that!" Gus said.
"He just learned a few words for now. But he seems to learn quickly so, who knows, maybe he'll be able to make full sentences in very few days!" Tommy said, having faith in his robot.
While Tommy, Gus, and Lola were eating their cake, Robotboy decided to practice more to impress Tommy even more.
Unsure on what word to practice on, Robotboy picked a word he thought would've been important to learn other things.
"What." He said, getting the pronounce right like before.
The word Robotboy said seemed to be one of those words used in both questions and answers. He heard it often, so he thought it was something to try. He also heard "friend", and he didn't know what that word meant either.
"What friend?" Robotboy asked himself, hoping he could figure out the meaning of "friend".
The blue and white robot was walking around the room while trying to use what he learned so far to figure out the meaning of "friend" but still couldn't get the meaning of what that word meant. Tommy probably knew what "friend" meant, but he was downstairs and Robotboy didn't want to disturb him while he was eating his birthday cake with his friends.
However, he was about to have his question answered as he heard some footsteps come upstairs, but Tommy was heard groaning.
"Oh man, I don't think I should've eaten that cake so fast." Tommy said while he was rubbing his stomach, walking up the stairs.
Lola giggled to that. "Tommy, I know you're excited, but you didn't need to eat that ice cream cake that fast. It was way too cold, not even Gus could take it without getting a brain freeze or something." She told him.
"Hey! You know the G-Man could eat a tub of ice cream and come out okay!" Gus protested.
"I'll take that into consideration next time." Tommy tried to make a smile as he rubbed his belly, and opened the door to his room. "Robotboy?" He called for him.
"Tom-my!" Robotboy's ears raised as he saw his friend again, also letting Gus and Lola hear his voice. His voice was very cute.
"Tom-my, what friend?" Robotboy asked, impressing everyone else in the bedroom.
"I can't believe it! You learned other words in the few minutes in which we were eating our cake!" Tommy exclaimed in an excited tone.
"By the way, a friend is someone you like, someone you can trust and someone you know who always helps you when you're in need of help." He explained afterward, with Robotboy listening.
At this point, Tommy wondered if Robotboy had learned to use "Yes" and "No" instead of the old system relying on blinks and nods.
"Robotboy, do you like being here with me?" He asked.
The robot nodded and blinked once, smiling and making Tommy understand that Robotboy still didn't learn how to answer questions "Yes" and "No".
"Since now you can talk, why shouldn't we adapt our communication method to the knowledge you have now? From now on, instead of answering with eye blinks, you can answer with words!" Tommy said.
"If you agree or like something, you can say "Yes". If you don't like something you can say "No". Do you like this idea?"
"Yes!" Robotboy answered with the new communication method, smiling.
"Robotboy's got a cute voice!" Lola pointed out, liking how the robot's voice sounded.
"I thought it could sound better." Gus shrugged, only to receive a light punch on his shoulder by Lola.
"Gus!" Lola snapped at him.
"Ouch! Uh... I mean, it's a nice voice, yeah!" He agreed after Lola glared at him.
Robotboy heard that and considered piecing together a more complete sentence. "Robotboy have cute voice?" He asked the group, stating himself in third-person.
Tommy got surprised as heard that. Did he just say a sentence, and pose a more "complex" question?
"Yes! Of course you do!" He answered back, while Robotboy reacted with a grin.
The speed of his learning was incredible. It seemed as if after learning 1 word, it turned into some sort of "snowball effect", with words after words coming out of his mouth. Professor Moshimo would be very impressed if he heard all of this now. But already at that moment, the robot's achievements made Tommy, Gus, and Lola very happy.
"Tom-my, Gus and Lola friends?" Robotboy asked, trying to use "and" for the first time.
"Yes, I'm your friend, Robotboy." Tommy answered, while after that Robotboy raised his "ears" for the happiness.
"Right Robotboy, I'm your friend as well." Lola said.
"Don't forget the G-Man, he's your friend too!" Gus followed.
"Yes, you too, Gus." Tommy assured his chubby friend he was included in the list.
Certainly, with 3 new friends, Robotboy's life was going to go on an upward climb, and from that moment on, he could get all the help he needed to learn about life and to speak and even learn how to do other hobbies his friends had. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.