Astro stood in place mid-air after defeating the alien that came out of the blue. As some robots carried it away to a make-shift lab to study it, a tentacle broke off, revealing that it was a robot made to look and act like an alien.

Everyone gasped at the sight, including Astro. Nobody was expecting a robot to look like an alien. Astro was lost in thought for a minute until he shook it off and headed back inside his apartment.

Once he reached the interior of his home, he heard a distant voice. it was none other than his father, Doctor Tenma.

He listened closer at his conversation with Doctor Elefun.

"I was on the phone with an old colleague, and he told me that there's another core. A violet core!"

Tenma gasped. His eyes widened with fear. "Do you think Stone wanted both cores so he could try to replicate this... Purple core?"

"It's a possibility we can't ignore. This core, whatever kind of power it may hold could be dangerous."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying we should look for it."

"Yes, or maybe Toby can help us find it?"

Elefun paused. "He could, but we have to search all through the surface for it. mahbe he can help us go through all the robot parts we discarded through the years."

Astro kept silent. He knew if he made a sound, thwy would be concerned about him eavesdropping.

He stopped listening and ran off to find Cora. He quickly turned on his rocket boots and flew toward her distant voice. Once he got closer to the voice, he noticed Cora's building was right next to his place. He entered the building and headed toward the apartment where her coice was coming from.

Once he got to the door, her mother answered and her eyes lit up once she saw the robot hero.

"Oh my! Are you Astro?"

"Uuum, yes." He stammered, his body lightly shaking from anxiety. Surprising enough that he can feel human emotions.

Cora's mother put a hand on her chest and smiled. "Please, come in!"

Astro obeyed and walked around, processing his surroundings. Cora's mother happily sat down on the couch in the living room area and patted a spot next to her. Astro sat on the spot she wanted him to sit on and sighed, trying to make himself comfortable, but not too comfortable.

"First, I wanted to say thank you for saving my daughter. It means a lot to me and my husband."

"Oh, it was no problem. By the way, I don't mean to pry, but why did Cora end up on the surface?"

Cora's mother looked down at her knees. Tears threatening to pour out of her eyes.

"Follow me." She said forlornly.

Astro followed her to a framed holographic news article.

"About 4 years ago, we were on a trip to the other side of the city and we were a bit close to the edge. Some robots were about to be discsrded and tossed off the edge, but they rebelled and saw us, took Cora and they all jumped with her in their arms."

"What? That must have been horrible! I'm so sorry! I'm glad shes okay."

"Yeah, and it's all thanks to you!"

Cora's mother hugged him tightly. His eyes widened for a a second, but calmed down and he hugged her back. She gently broke out of the hug and looked into his eyes.

"Just promise me that no harm will ever come to my daughter, and that you will always protect her."

"Of course! I promise."

Astro said with glee.

"But be warned!" She continued. "My husband... he hates robots because of what happened, and I'm not too fomd of them either, but you... you saved my daughter and everyone else. You're a hero!"

Astro smiled and noticed all the pictures of Cora when she was younger.

"Is this Cora?"

"Yep! She was the cutest little baby!"

Astro gazed at a picture of a tiny baby with black hair sitting upward and smiling.

He also noticed a bunch of pictures of Cora as a small child in school pictures. It's strange that he never really knew Cora when he was Toby, though he had heard from someone that a child was kidnapped by a few robots and ended up on the surface.

So many questions still rang in his head. Does Cora's father hate him because he's a robot? How could Toby not know Cora if they used to live in the same city?

Cora was in her room brushing her knotted hair, angrily trying to get her hair untangled. She wore a completely different outfit now. She looked much cleaner than how she was on the surface. Her style looked much more like the person she said she hated so much, even though in reality, she was one of the Metro City citizens the whole time.

Suddenly, Cora noticed Astro's voice outside her bedroom door. Her eyes widened until she remembered him being a robot, then she calmed herself down and sighed.

Cora's mother walked toward the kitchen. "I'll let you and Cora catch up! I hope to see you again soon!" she said lovingly.

Cora pressed a button on the side of her door and watched it slide open with ease. She left her room and went out into the hallway without realizing she still had her hairbrush stuck in her hair.

Astro slightly cringed when he noticed the hairbrush stuck in her hair, but proceeeded to wave to her.

"Hey Cora! Uuuuh, you kinda have a hairbrush stuck in your hair."

Cora gasped and ripped the hairbrush out of her hair and hid it behind her back as if she was hiding a weapon.

"Heeey, Astro! What brings you here?" She asked with both awkwardness and happiness.

Astro laughed a bit before replying.

"Well, I can track voices with my suoer hearing, and I, well..."

"Oh! you found my voice and decided to follow me?"

She asked with a smirk.

Astro's face turned red at the sight and started to look flustered.

"Uuuh, yes, I did. im sorry if i was invading on your privacy. you never told me where you li-"

"ASTRO!" Zane's voice exclaimed. He ran over to Astro and hugged him.

"Hey Zane! How have you been?"

"I got adopted! So I'm officially Cora's brother now!"

"That's great! I'm happy for you guys!"

"Thanks!" Zane said while smiling proudly.

Cora motioned for Astro to follow her, which he did after her gesture. They both entered her room.

Cora sat on her bed and patted an empty spot next to her, silently asking him to sit next to her. Astro sat where her hand was and looked into her eyes.

"Whats up?"

Cira sighed. "I was wondering why you didn't tell us you're a robot. I'm not mad though, at least not anymore, but I still wanna know."

Astro looked down at his knees. He knew she was gonna ask him at some point.

"I was going to tell you, I tried, but the words couldn't come out due to the fear of you guys kicking me out. I wanted to feel alive for once. I wanted to feel like a human again and fit in."

Cora looked at him with worry and sadness in her eyes.

"What were your thoughts when Hamegg told you I'm a robot?"

Cora looked at him with wide eyes, then turned away from him.

"At first I thought, How can that be true? You're so human-like! Second, I was angry you lied to us, until..."

"Until?" Astro echoed.

"Until the robot games. In the beginning I wanted to see you get beaten up by one of the robots-"

"Wow! Nice!" Astro said sarcastically and got up to walk out the door.

"But! When I saw your scared face, I wanted to jump into the middle of the arena and hug you and take you away from that horrible place."

Astro stopped at the door and turned to her. "You really mean that?"

Ckra nodded and continued. "I care about you, Astro! You're my friend, robot or not. Nothing is going to change how I feel about you."

Astro hugged her and smiled. "Thank you, Cora. That means a lot to me."

They broke from the hug once Astro got a call on his cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Son! There's something we need to discuss."

"What about?"

"It's better if I explain it in person."

Astro looked at Cora and she looked back with a "Go ahead" expression.

"Alright, I'm nearby, so I'll be home in a few seconds."

"Good! See you soon!" Tenma chirped excitedly and hing up.

Astro looked back at Cora. "I'm sorry about that. My dad wants to talk to me about something."

"Don't worry about it! Go on! I'll be at Hamegg's place to hang out with the twins."

"Alright, see ya!"

He ran to her window and flew out, using his rocket feet. Once he got to his apartment, Dr. Tenma was waiting for him on the couch.

"Hey dad! What did you wanna talk to me about?" Astro asked while entering from the balcony.

"Well, Dr. Elefun and I were talking earlier and we both found out from our old colleague Anthony about a purple core! Isn't that amazing?"

"Wait! There's another core? How is that possible?"

"Well, that's exactly what I was wondering and it seems that Anthony used to work with the purple core and found out about it's abilities."

"What are it's abilities?"

Tenma suddenly got another phone call from Dr. Elefun. He put a finger up to Astro if saying, "One second".

Astro leaned back into the couch and listened to their conversation.

"Hey, Bill! We just finished the new project. Do you want me to send him over?"

Tenma's eyes lit up and he smiled. "Yes! Of course! Send him over right away!"

"Alright, he is on his way now. See ya in a bit!"

"See ya!" Tenma said feeling elated.

Astro perked up. "Who's he?"

Tenma looked at him with wide eyes, and then laughed. "Oh! He's going to be your brother."

"WHAT?!?" Astro asked feeling confused. "Why a brother?"

Tenma stood up straight and fixed his coat.

"Well, I've been thinking about a lot of things. I think it would be great to have someone fight alongside you... you know, a side-kick!"

"But... A brother?!?"

"Yes To- I mean Astro. He'll also be watching over you while I go on my trip to find the purple core."

"But I don't need a babysitter! I'm technically a teenager!"

"You don't need to see it as babysitting, See it as two brothers hanging out with each other!"

Tenma said positively. All Astro could do was stare at his father with angst and confusion in his eyes.

The doorbell rang and Orrin rolled up to the door, answered it and gasped when he saw a tall, nicely dressed young man.

"Hi! you must be Orrin!"

The tall man's deep voice booming through the room. Orrin stuttered and backed away, letting the mysterious man into the apartment.

Tenma got up from the couch and stood by the doorway. "Speaking of the devil, here he is right now!"

Astro saw as a tall, slightly muscular looking man walked into the room waving at him.

"Hello! You must be my little bro!"

"Nice to meet you, brother." Astro said hesitantly.

"My name is Cobalt." He said with a smile, holding his hand out to shake his brother's hand.

Astro shook his hand awkwardly and tried to fake a smile, already feeling like he wasn't going to like Cobalt.

A lot of questions started brewing in his robotic brain. Why did his father make this robot? How can it look so human-like just like him? He had to know these answers.

"Dad!" Astro spoke up firmly.

Tenma looked down at the small robot. "What is it?"

"Why did you make him?"

"Astro! Don't be rude! This will be good for you Astro! So don't fight me on this or I will ground you!"

Astro looked at him with anger in his eyes before storming off to what once was Toby's room. Cobalt looked at Tenma with wide eyes.

"Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?"

Tenma put a hand on Cobalt's shoulder and smiled at him. "No! You're fine. You're perfect! you both are. He just needs some time to adjust to this change. That's all."

Cobalt smiled at Tenma.