Metabee walked slowly through his neighborhood as a golden light peeked through the hills and distant buildings. The city was still busy and somewhat crowded, but it was about to get louder.

A new day had arrived.

Metabee was ready to throw up his hands and admit defeat.

He couldn't believe that he found no trace of Ikki except for that white rag that was with Henry. Rage and frustration welled up inside him like a volcano; he could erupt anytime and there'd be nothing anyone could do about it.

It took several minutes, but Metabee managed to get to his house in a relatively short time span. He faced the front door and steeled his nerves. "Well, Metabee, time to face the music." He held in a shudder when he thought about Mrs. Tenryou having his head on a nonexistent silver platter.

She was normally a very sweet woman, but this situation was anything but normal, and no doubt she would freak out. 'With good reason,' Metabee slumped.

He was about to turn the doorknob when he heard worried one-sided conversation from inside. He turned and crept to the front window which was open (apparently, Mrs. Tenryou liked to open the window every morning to let the breeze flow; Ikki had often complained that it allowed mosquitoes and other pests to get in) and listened.

"What do you mean they're gone without a trace? Isn't there anything else the department can do? Yes... I understand... Goodbye, Sargent Tanaka."

Metabee heard Mrs. Tenryou put the phone down and sigh with worry; Ikki and Metabee hadn't returned that night. She couldn't help but wonder if some horrible fate had befallen Ikki, even with Metabee there to protect him if anything went wrong. All the more reason for concern.

Meanwhile, just outside, Metabee clenched and unclenched his fists as guilt started to gnaw at him. He only wanted to robattle! Not get every person close to him and Ikki sick with worry!

He backed up from the window.

"I ain't goin' home. Not until I can find Ikki and bring him back." Metabee shook his head in weariness, "ah, Ik, the things I do for you."

Ikki slept surprisingly peacefully that night. No weird nightmares. No weird foreshadowing or prophecies. No weird dreams of any kind whatsoever.

On the other hand, his back was absolutely killing him.

Ikki woke up to Flame turned away from him, still guarding his cell. The hallway outside the prison was bustling with some sort of urgency that the young Medafighter could immediately pick up.

He turned to Flame, "what's going on out there?"

Flame tensed, "no idea - I've been here all night."

"You're not hiding something, are you?" Ikki asked, although the accusation within his tone was apparent enough.

Flame twitched, "I'm just as clueless as you are."

'So much for that,' Ikki became annoyed, he needed to know something that would hint to his fate. 'They probably aren't going to keep me around for very long... I wonder why they took me to begin with - if they wanted a ransom, they could have taken Koji; he's filthy rich... Whatever it is, I hope they'll let me go.'

Perhaps this was a naïve way of thinking, but it was the only thing that comforted him in that moment. For all his bluster as a skilled Medafighter, he was still a kid after all.

He was scared.

"...He is born with the power to bring doom upon your world or save it..."

'This whole thing would be a lot easier to deal with if I didn't get a splitting headache every time I so much as think about it,' Ikki rubbed his temples as they started to throb.

"Uh... are you okay?"

The slightly concerned voice of Flame cut through Ikki's thoughts and he looked up. "Yeah. Just a random headache. Nothing to worry about," Ikki reassured with a wobbly smile, wincing as he did so.

Flame looked at him with slight suspicion before turning back around. Ikki sighed in relief as he fell back on his cot, listening to the commotion outside and the mess in his mind that was his thoughts.

'He's perfectly healthy...give the experiment a try.' Those words echoed and swirled endlessly around his head, never giving Ikki a moment's reprieve. 'I wonder what they're gonna do to me.'

The sound of approaching footsteps and quiet grumbling roused Ikki from his thoughts.

"Ex," Flame greeted simply.

Ikki took one look at Ex and a face-splitting grin appeared. A bright red slap mark highlighted his cheek and Ex himself didn't appear too pleased. "What're you laughing at, brat?" He snapped.

"I'm guessing Isis gave you the angry female treatment?" Ikki jabbed.

Ex's face flushed and his hands tightened on the tray of food. Flame seemed to have been amused as he turned away from Ex. Ex entered the password on the keypad and bars retracted, allowing him to come in, "if you're as clever as they say, I suggest shutting up. I'm not in the mood to be dealing with you."

"Take it easy, Ex. Quit bullying the kid," Flame said.

"You should have seen him this morning, "Ikki quipped. Ex gave him a withering glare.

"Here," He thrust the tray towards Ikki. "Not that I care, but you need to eat. I can't have you fainting now."

"Why? What's gonna to happen to me?"

"Classified information, kid. You'll find out soon enough." Ex walked out of Ikki's temporary prison and slid the bars shut, automatically locking them, "Flame, you keep slacking off and messing around with the kid, I'll report you for not doing your job right."

"I've been standing my post all night!" Flame protested.

"You're not supposed to talk to him - and don't lie to me, you seem awfully fond of him already - he's a prisoner, not a guest."

"Gee, I certainly couldn't tell." Flame muttered. He shifted before stating, "I don't need you to tell me how to do my job."

"Clearly I do. You keep this up and you might actually get dismantled this time. Can't have a Medabot who won't do as he's told."

Ikki snorted quietly, 'he thinks this guy is bad? He should have seen Metabee.'

Flame's visor flickered momentarily with anger, "you were leaving?" His tone was surprisingly composed.

Ex left the room and its occupants, Flame idly cracked his knuckles - or the closest thing to knuckles that a robot had - and glared daggers at the doorway that Ex walked through, "I never liked that guy. Only one who can tolerate him halfway is Isis."

"Hmm." Ikki made an uncaring sound as he inspected his meager breakfast.

He tentatively nibbled at some eggs before he made a face and blanched, "they really need to fire the cook; this is gross!"

Flame gave him a sympathetic glance, "I'd go for the toast unless they burnt it."

"Oh, they burnt it all right... I wasn't very hungry anyway," Ikki pushed the platter away.

"Suit yourself."

Ikki glared at the Medabot, "you try eating this and survive food poisoning!"

"I think I'll pass considering I don't have a mouth," Flame answered easily.

Ikki's chuckles was quickly interrupted by oncoming footsteps. Flame quickly stood to attention and stared straight ahead, akin to a soldier. Isis and an older doctor walked into the room and quickly opened the cell holding Ikki hostage, "come on. We need to go through with this."

You might as well talk to Ikki in a foreign language or something related to that; he couldn't pick up any further clue on what's going on in Isis' words. "What're we doing now?" Ikki asked, confused.

"...You'll see," Ikki didn't like the vagueness in her voice.

The doctor quickly took out a syringe with liquid sloshing through it. He reached for Ikki and the latter suddenly had a crystal clear view of what was going on.

"Is that a needle? NO WAY! Get that thing away from me!"

Perhaps not as clear as one first thought.

"Young man, don't let us resort to unneeded measures. It won't even sting that much!" The physician tried to reassure. "Flame, we may need your assistance."

Flame obediently stepped into the cell, watching Ikki with some amusement, "chill out, man! It's just a shot."

At the mention of the said item, Ikki shuddered, looked at all of them once and took off, surprising Isis, the physician, and Flame alike.

"Get back here!" Flame tackled Ikki face first to the ground and managed to effectively pin him while Ikki was spouting off threats and curses towards the offending Medabot.

"Ikki, it's just a shot, now give him your arm!"

"Get off me! I already got my shots!"

"Well, you're getting another one. Hold still and it'll be over."

"Let. Me. GO!"

At once, the struggling two quickly dissolved into a mushroom cloud of fists and feet while the embarrassed Isis closed her eyes and twitched her eyebrow, annoyed, and the doctor coughed awkwardly.

"All right. That's enough, don't make me have to knock you both unconscious," Isis threatened, as she split the two apart.

After pulling the brawling pair off each other, the physician administered the shot. Ikki felt like he had a cotton ball for a head and was tempted to pass out right there in the hallway. That wasn't normal, was it?

With Flame begrudgingly supporting him and Isis keeping an eye on his progress, passing out wasn't going to be much of an option. They'd probably drag to wherever they were going anyway.

They entered a cold room filled with murmuring voices and Ikki felt a chill crawl down his spine. He could barely see due to the drug that they gave him, but Ikki was sober enough to judge whether or not he liked this place.

The answer? A big, fat no.

Flame didn't seem to like the room either. He instinctively and unconsciously tightened his hold around Ikki and was looking around with apprehension.

"Alright, Flame. Give the boy to me and you will be dismissed," a scientist ordered.

"What's going to happen to him?" Flame questioned.

"Never mind that, just hand him over."

"Just... don't hurt him too much," Flame muttered.

"Flame, do as he says. The boy should be of no concern to you," Isis said.

Flame reluctantly released Ikki from his grip and stepped away, leaving the drowsy and bewildered boy to the mercy of the scientists. At Isis' further prompting, Flame eventually left.

Time seemed to slow down as he was led to some sort of machine - a pod of sorts; Ikki could hearing himself breathing unnaturally loud and the voices of the adults mixed into a monotonous drone.

Don't be afraid - your story does not end here. This is only the beginning...

That cryptic message was whispered into Ikki's ear, causing him to shake his head in confusion.

A ghost?

Ikki was a skeptic when it came to the supernatural, but there were moments when he would look over his shoulder just to be cautious.

Time sped up again. Ikki was roughly pushed forward when his pace was too slow. "Hey, watch it, buddy," Ikki snapped. He was slowly recovering from the unknown drug they gave him and his eyes were slightly brighter.

The odd machine loomed closer and Ikki, none too gently, was 'helped' in.

The door to the oval shaped machine closed and Ikki stood there in the darkness. With the severity of the situation setting in, Ikki began to panic. "Am...am I going to...die?"

This was one of the moments Ikki would not be proud of, but all he wanted to do was to crumple up in a heap and sob. There were still so many things he wanted to do with his life and he ends up dying like a lab rat?

Pathetic.

Ikki heard the machine start up with an ominous rumble and sat up and pulled his legs in to bury his head.

Tears were spilling out of his eyes as he sniffed and trembled, trying to rein in his moment of weakness. He thought of various people in history going down in blazes of glory. This wouldn't be one of those, but Ikki wouldn't die like a coward.

He would rather die like a man.

He wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand roughly and glared at the doorway as the machine took on a high pitched whine. Green lights suddenly switched on, illuminating the boy and accenting the different circuits.

Ikki had time for one more idle thought and the faces of nearly everyone he had shared his adventures with - friend, foe, and rival alike - filled his mind as he shut his eyes tight and braced himself for the inevitable to happen.

At last, his thoughts came to a stop on Metabee: the blockhead of a 'Bot who drove him absolutely nuts all the time, yet stuck closer than any brother would.

He smiled.

The machine nearly deafened him.

The world went black.

Author's Note:

Edited: 7/31/18

Okay. Here's the new chapter as promised.

How did it turn out for you guys? Did you like it? Was there something wrong that I need to fix? You can nitpick if you feel like it, but keep in mind that if it relates to the plot, it's next to impossible for me to fix at this point. I'm not perfect. :)

Anyway, keep an eye out for another update next month on the same date as today. I'm experimenting with a new update schedule. ;)

Yours Truly,

Winterbornbree