José opened the door slowly, straining to not make a sound. It was useless, as the noise from the city swallowed the room instantly.

"José? Is that you?"

The boy didn't move. Across the room, a rocking chair began to move into a rhythm. The old lady occupying it had been awoken from her sleep.

"José, if that really is you, you better say so before I kill you."

"Yes, abuela, it's me" José said defeated.

"I'm gonna kill you anyways. Who said you could leave the house at night?"

"I just needed a part for Zeppi, I didn't-"

"Don't you even start! Come inside, and close that damned door!"

José shut the door behind him as he began to take off his gear. The room fell silent, the outside hustle and bustle turned away. José clicked on a lamp to further inspect the chip he had stolen from PILLAR. In the soft light, he could make out his grandmother, still rocking, wearing the same clothes she always did.

"This is the last piece I need, abuela. Zeppi can finally come back to life!"

"Good, then I can program him to kick your ass whenever you break the rules. How many times have I told you, child, in bed by 7pm?"

"Abuela…"

"Go on, get to your room. Make sure you turn off that light, too."

With a click of the lamp, José left the dark room and fled into his room. The boy's grandmother slowly decreased the speed of her rocky, and finally settled back into slumber. José's room was small and cluttered, with most of the space taken up by the skeleton of a human-sized robot. The boy slipped his googles over his eyes before opening the circuit board in the back of the robot. With a few sparks, José fits the chip snug into the board. The robot suddenly jerked awake, nearly smacking José square in the face.

"Master José, please forgive me! The sudden activation of my conscious chip motorized my-"

"Zeppi, relax. Glad to see you up again."

"Master José, how long was I out of commission?" the robot asked.

"Two months."

"I… see."

Zeppi had, for what it was worth, a realistically built human body. Given the right skin, he could even pass for one. The only thing holding him back from impersonating a human was his head, which was comically square. José's grandmother had insisted on this change, despite her vision being poor. 'He's too real, I don't like it' she would say. What sat before José now was no more than a normal man with a paper bag over his head.

"Zeppi, don't feel so bad. I was the one who fried your chip, I should've known better than to push you that far."

"But Master José, we were so close. I could feel it building up inside me…"

"I think that feeling is what caused your shortage, buddy. I guess robots really can't learn to use Hamon…"

Zeppi remained quiet at that realization. His mechanical whirls and pings let José know he was deep in thought.

"You know, you don't need Hamon to fight back, right Zeppi?" José asked.

"But Master José, Hamon is the only effective way to fight back. You said it yourself, when you started my training."

"It's not worth your life, Zeppi. Besides, I think it was kind of misguided to think artificial life could have access to Hamon anyways" José chuckled somberly.

The two sat in silence for a minute. Hamon users were becoming few are far between, José knew. His parents were, which is where he learned the craft. But after their deaths, José was alone. He suspected his grandmother knew Hamon, but she was far too old to keep the practice up. He kept tabs on the local freedom fighters, but if there was a Hamon user among them, they never made an appearance.

José's thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of the city. There was a crash, and he heard his grandmother let out a shout. Someone had broken in.