RoboticCity, Poetic Love
Chapter 6: Rebirth can only happen after Destruction

"Quatre-chan!!! I miss you so much!!! It's so long since we talk. So, what can I do for you? I will do anything for my best friend on earth!" Omi says.

"You can stop working for a night and get out of your lab." Quatre answers through the phone.

"You are kidding right? I'm in the middle of a major breakthrough!"

"You're always in the middle of a major breakthrough! Stop performing miracle for one day and come see my concert."

"But you have concert ALL the time!!! You're the most famous musician ever walk the earth!!!"

"Are you saying you're BORED of my music?"

"How many 'most amazing' performances can one hear anyway? And why do I have to leave BoA to hear your concert?"

"Because you are my Best Friend, that's why!"

'Well, can't argue with that. When is the concert?"

"Next Friday, at 7pm, I got you and Toboe a box seat. You can bring your friends too."

"Alright, I will see you." Omi hands up the phone. He then turns back to his computer and says, "so, my friend, where were we? Oh, yeah, the new project!"

Ken and Youji come back in and say, "Omi, time to go."

"But I just started a new project!!!"

Down at the parking lot, Kiba is getting on the car when he hears Omi screaming, "help!!! Kidnapping!!! I'm being detained without my consent!!! I need to get back my office!!! My BoA is waiting for me!!!"

"They're at it again." Hige laughs. Not too far away Ken and Youji are pulling Omi out of the elevator. Omi is holding onto the elevator door.

"Good evening, little guy. How are you HOLDING up?" Hige says.

"That's not funny, Hige-kun!!! Tell them to let me go!!! I want my BoA!!!" Omi shouts.

"You're not seeing your BoA." Youji says.

"You guys cannot get me away from my BoA." Omi screams, "I'm coming, BoA!!! Wait for me!!!"

"Who is BoA?" Kiba asks Hige.

"Omi's computer." Hige explains.

Omi finally loses his grabs and let go of the elevator. The elevator doors say "have a nice day" and close.

"I want to get back to BoA!!!" Omi pleads.

"Well, we were gonna ask you to go see Toboe with us; but I guess your BoA is more important than Omi…" Hige says.

"No!!! I want to go see Toboe-chan." Omi says. Ken and Youji let go of the boy. Omi gets onto the car of Kiba's father.

"Thank you, Takuya-san." Omi says to Kiba's father.

"Toboe doesn't work at the same building as you guys?" Kiba asks.

"No, Toboe's lab is all the way at the other side of the corporation." Hige says.

They ride pass lots and lots of metallic skyscrapers. Kiba says, "These all belongs to Future Tech?"

"Yeah, Future Tech is the biggest Research Corporation in the solar system. We did everything you can imagine."

"There got to be hundreds of buildings in the corporation." Kiba looks out of the window.

"Thousands." His father says. "We got over 6700 buildings in the corporation; and that's only in Future Tech. We have research center all over the world."

They stop at a triangular building that is supported by a gold colour metal. The whole building is made with glasses that are the same colour tint. Kiba says, "The building looks like a gold pyramid under the dusk sun light."

They enter the building and enter an elevator. Kiba notices they are going down, not up. The elevator goes deeper and deeper. Kiba feels like he is going straight down to the center of the earth. He is half expecting to see boiling lava when the elevator doors open.

The elevator finally stops and the door open. Kiba exclaims, "are we in hell?"

"what are you talking about?" Hige asks. Omi laughs, "that's what I asked Toboe-chan's parents when they took me here."

In front of Kiba is an cold, eerie hallway that is so long and dark you cannot see the ending. Strange noises are everywhere, and their echoes fill the hallway, making it even scarier. Kiba swears the moment he steps out of the elevator; some ghostly figure will come and snatches him.

"Are you thinking that once you stepped out of the door, a ghost will come and snatches you away to a cooker and boil your or something?" Omi asks Kiba.

"More like roasting…" Kiba mutters.

"You always have the strangest imagination, my son…" Mr. Takuya says and walks out of the elevator. Kiba sticks his head out of the elevator and make sure there is nothing dangerous around before stepping his foot out.

They arrive at a room with computers all around and a hologram in the middle. Toboe is standing there, looking at the hologram attentively. Toboe's cat sees Kiba and meows.

"Hello, there, kitty!"  Kiba says.  Toboe turns around and looks at Kiba.

Kiba smiles to the boy, "hey, I got you and your kitty a little present." He gives Toboe the small backpack.

Toboe lowers his head. Kiba puts the backpack into Toboe's hand and says to the boy, "I see it at the store window and it reminds me of you so much. I just have to get it for you."

Toboe blushes and lowers his head. Kiba looks around and says, "so, this is where you work, huh? Look like some really intense research. You're so smart. I can never do anything like that."

The strange noises echo the lab again. Kiba asks, "Where do those strange noises come from?"

"Toboe, you want to show my son around?" Mr. Takuya asks the boy. Toboe nods and walks away. Kiba follows him.

"We've seen the lab before. Why don't we wait for you here? There is something I want to ask Mr. Takuya." Omi says.

Hige looks at Omi and says, "oh, yeah. I want to get something to eat at the vending machine, too. The Soba from this vending machine taste so much better."

Kiba blinks. He knows what everyone is trying to do… They are trying to get Toboe and him together. Hige says, "well, go! Don't keep Toboe waiting. You'll be surprised to see what he can do!"

Kiba follows Toboe to a door. The door opens and Kiba hear loud howls. He recognizes the howls from the movies he saw, "No way!!!"

Inside the lab is a glass window. In the window there is a VR environment of and India open field, with stimulations of India kids running around, laughing and playing. And in the middle of the VR field, there is an elephant roaming in a VR stimulated river.

"Toboe, that elephant is real!" Kiba says.

"Yes, sir. That is a real elephant. His name is Dumbo." A robot walks up to Kiba and smiles to him.

"Dumbo? The flying elepant?" Kiba asks the robot perplexed.

"Flying, sir?" The robot looks back at Kiba. (The robot will have looked perplexed, too, if she has an emotion chip, lol)

"Never mind me. My name is Kiba. You don't have to call me sir."

"Toboe's mother used to call me Bon Bon, Kiba. I work for Toboe. It's nice to meet you." The robot says.

"Did you guys make the elephant?" Kiba asks.

"No, this elephant is transported here from India. The VR environment is created with the info from the elephant's homeland to make our guest feels more at home." Bon Bon says.

"What's an elephant doing in Future city?"

"It was wounded and Toboe is treating it. Toboe's parents have been doing it for years. There are over 500 endangered species from all over the world staying in this lab. If they are wounded and their vets cannot save them, Toboe will take them in and cure them." Bon Bon explains.

"You know what, Toboe? You must be an angel." Kiba says. Toboe blushes in the cutest, sweetest shade of red possible.

Toboe shows Kiba all the animals that the older boy only heard of, Penguins, Peacocks, cheetahs, pandas and buffalos. There are even aquariums with strange creatures like jellyfishes and sea horse. "I can't believe there are so many real animals in the Future City." Kiba exclaims.

"There is an underground tunnel that connects our lab to the outside cities. Most of the animals are transported here from the tunnel." Bon Bon says.

"A tunnel?" Kiba asks.

Bon Bon says, "it used to be a highway connecting the old Future City to the outside world. During the great earthquake that happened 50 years ago. The old Future city crumbled and gets buried. The new city was built over the ruin. The tunnel is the only thing left from the old city." They arrive at the tunnel, a giant glass tube that is a track for bullet train. Kiba can hear the bullet train speeding through the tunnels.

"This is where all the animals get in and out of the city." Bon Bon says to Kiba.

"Thank you, Bon Bon, for showing me around." Kiba says.

"You're welcome." Bon Bon says before she heads back to work. Toboe walks back to his office. Kiba follows the boy.

"So, did you see the tunnel, isn't that cool? You never imagine something like that exist underneth the city, do you?" Hige says to Kiba.

"It's cool, but I kind of feel bad that the whole city got destroyed, must be very sad day for a lot of people." Kiba says.

"It was. I heard my grandpa talked about that day. The Earthquake appears out of nowhere and completely destroyed the whole old Future city. No geologists see it coming at all.  It was labeled the saddest day in human history. Future City collected the brightest and smartest group of people in the world, and they all died in one night, just like the Alantis.  But at least something good comes out of it. Future City is rebuilt with top technology and the best robots the world had to offer. It's the most advanced city in the world." Takuya says.

"I guess you're right." Kiba says, still feeling a little depressed.

"Don't let that bother you too much. Come on, let's take Toboe to get some spaghetti, shall we? Toboe loves spaghettis. You want to join us, Hige?" Omi says.

"Sounds wonderful! Come on, let's go, Toboe." Hige gets out of the office. Toboe follows.

"Omi, how come there is nobody here?" Kiba asks.

"Toboe is the only one here. He did the research and tells the robots here do the treatment. It was his parents' project; they worked on it together with Toboe's help. They didn't hire anyone to help them; so no one can really take over the project." Omi says.

"It just feels like a lot of work load for Toboe. He is doing three people's work now that his parents pass away." Kiba says.

"You're right, that's really intense workload and I was worrying about him. I wanted to him to take a vacation, too. But I'm afraid it might actually do him more harm than good. His work gives him some sanity. If he isn't working he just sit at a corner and get more and more close up, so we let him back into the lab.  At least he is moving around."

TBC...