The Last and Only Romance
Michael Collins
Part II: Mysterious Cause
I was surprised when came up to me; surprised when he offered to buy me a drink.
However, after a fairly long conversation, during which Gen did nothing to irritate me or show a single fault, he surprised me even more by asking me to come with him.
He asked me to come with him and his robot friend, T-260G, to help them fight Caballero.
At first I thought he was joking. Caballero had had a firm hold on Scrap for as long as I could remember. No one dared to mess with him.
Evidently, no one should have messed with Gen, either.
He told me that Caballero's henchmen had kidnapped a boy named Thyme in his home town, Junk. Gen and T-260G had rescued him, but it wasn't easy. Now they wanted to settle up with the tyrant.
I thought about it. I was good with guns; I usually carried two around with me, one hidden, one not. It was important to have protection in a town like this. I also knew a few Light magic spells, just in case something very threatening happened. Gen seemed nice enough, I found myself wanting to please him, and the cause could not be better.
But Caballero was dangerous. He had more henchmen than Gen could guess, and even if I joined Gen and the others, I thought, it would still not be enough.
Then I realized that if I didn't do this, I would go nowhere. Life in Scrap was worse than boring; it was dangerous, it was hell. One like me, a commoner without any real ties, could only live in a small place and stay at the bar. I worked at the Junk Shop occasionally, when they needed extra help. That wasn't good for me. I realized that I hadn't thought about my future much.
That was when I decided. I couldn't stay in this town any longer. Life was meaningless. If I helped them, I'd have something worthwhile to put my energy in. Maybe I could even leave Scrap. The idea was so remarkable, so wondrous, that it was like a fairy tale dream. Once you've become set in a way of life, a change seems incredibly strange.
"I'll go with you," I said. "You're going to need help, I can tell you that. Caballero's not an easy enemy to deal with."
"With you on our side, we won't have to worry about anything," said Gen, smirking.
I laughed. "If only it were so easy."
We prepared ourselves; Our group consisted of Gen, myself, the robot T-260G, and a monster named Riki. It was four against a large group of thieves, robbers, and gang lords.
I made myself forget fear.