A/N: Hey everyone! I've finally gotten around to rewriting and publishing this! I know it's been a few years, but I've also been tossing in ideas here and there and finally got around to it haha. This version is going to be much more drawn out and will appear almost completely different from what I had before. I've gone ahead and deleted the previous version's three chapters!

Well anyway, here it is! I hope you like the rewrite and stick with my brain baby :)

Chapter 1

The air was trembling. The ground was quaking. A ragged tear in the very fabric of time hung in the air, rippling and dancing in a wild array of colors. It tore at anything within its grasp, hungrily trying to claim the city - the world - as its own. Gazing upon the situation at hand, Astro's eyes were wide, the colors from the tear dancing in his milky brown depths. It pulled at him and his clothes, urging him closer, stopped only by his grip on a nearby pipe protruding from the wall.

He had no idea if he could even stop this. Regardless, it would be something that would take all the willpower he had. Lives were at stake. If he didn't stop it…

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and nodded once.

Let's do this.

. . .

Dr. Tenma's penthouse - 5 hours earlier

The house-bot, Orrin, set a full plate of breakfast in front of the young ebony-haired robot boy who sat at the dining table. Orrin's metal fingers slightly scraped on the porcelain of the plate as he scooped his hand from underneath, turning away and rolling off in another direction.

Mouth watering at the sight, the boy quickly dug into his breakfast, which consisted of eggs, bacon, and toast. Despite him being a robot, he could still eat real food; it was how he'd managed to have been fooled for as long as he did, thinking he was still human - still Toby.

Astro was created as the replacement for Dr. Tenma's deceased son, Toby Tenma, after his untimely death. During his creation, Astro was powered with the Blue Core, an infinite power source from a fragment of a star. Loaded with the DNA of his counterpart, Astro believed he was Toby. That is until Dr. Tenma took it upon himself to completely dissipate the idea. Toby - now without a name for himself - left the only home he'd ever known and took to the skies, trying to figure everything out. The former president, Stone, had been hungry for power, and thus took it upon himself to try and capture Astro to take back what he thought was rightfully his. However, it didn't exactly go as planned.

They'd lost Astro on the Surface, the heavily-polluted and devastated earth below Metro City; the first floating city. Locating Astro after a few days of searching, they finally found him and brought him back to be deactivated. During the deactivation, Dr. Tenma had a change of heart and protected his son's doppelganger by reactivating him and letting him escape. Overcome with anger, Stone demanded the Red Core's possession - the Blue Core's opposite, and its weakness. However, the Red Core's weakness was also the Blue Core - if they'd touched, there would be catastrophic damage.

Loading the Red Core into the Peacekeeper - a robot meant for peaceful negotiation - the giant robot eventually absorbed Stone into itself. Stone took over the body of the robot and tried desperately to search for Astro, creating destruction in his wake. Seeing this, Astro went back to try and stop him, sacrificing himself after seeing the Red Core's one weakness.

Astro finished his meal, remembering everything that had happened with a pang. It was different now. His father and the citizens of the city accepted him for what he was, granting him the status of protector.

Out of his peripheral, Astro spotted his father as he hurried into the room, grabbing his satchel that sat by the door. He peered into the mirror and plucked at his dark brown hair, pulling out yet another gray strand. He was getting tired of those things…

"Heading off?" Astro called from his place at the table.

"Yes," his father answered absentmindedly, continuing to mess with his hair and straightening his goatee. "Today's the big day! We just have to put the finishing touches on our project and then it's presentation time."

"The wormhole projector, right?"

Dr. Tenma nodded, pulling on his lab coat. "Orrin, if I'm not back by dinnertime, prepare the meal I requested last night."

The house-bot beeped an affirmative, a smile plastered on his face as he rolled by with more plates to wash.

Turning to look at Astro, Dr. Tenma added, "I'll see you when I get home, kiddo." He hurried out, the door sliding shut behind him.

"Bye, dad! Have a good day!" Astro exclaimed cheerily, pushing his plate forward.

Picking up the glass of orange juice, he quickly downed it in a few gulps. As the silence settled into the room, Astro could pick up the pitter-patter sounds of Orrin washing the dishes as well as the laughter of the squeegee robots outside of the window. Meeting their gazes, Astro waved at them. If they could wave, he was sure they would've. He turned back to Orrin. "Alright, I'm off!"

"Have a good day, Astro!" Orrin called from the kitchen, waving his soapy sponge at him.

Astro hurried out of the dining room and up the stairs to his bedroom. As he reached his door, it slid open, welcoming him back. Grabbing his backpack and confirming its contents, Astro turned to his bedroom window. Sliding it open with ease, he stepped onto the ledge and watched the daily life of Metro City mull by. With a relaxed smile, he spread his arms wide and fell.

"Woohoo!" he exclaimed with a laugh as he fell through the air. Putting his bag onto his back, he finally activated his rockets and cut through the air like a missile. He would never get tired of that. Hands on his bag's straps, he flew through the streets, passing by shops and businesses. The people that were outside smiled and waved at him; some even shouted at him with excitement. He waved back heartily, continuing on his way towards his destination, the wind following in his wake.

It had been about a year since the city's encounter with Stone and the Peacekeeper robot. It took them a few months to clean up all the debris and rebuild, but they had managed. During that time, Metro City had remained on the Surface, becoming lax and more inviting to the Surface-dwellers. His father had even gotten his job back at the Ministry of Science after Dr. Elefun stepped down as Head Minister. He had also been re-enrolled in Metro High, much to Astro's dismay. Some people - students and teachers alike - had been conflicted about allowing a robot to study in school. However, his father insisted that despite Astro having a supercomputer in his brain, he still learned at a normal pace.

He frowned as he thought of the fact that because he was a robot, he was deemed 'artificial intelligence'. He knew he wasn't just that. He had emotions. Real thoughts. Real feelings.

Pushing the thought away, Astro finally neared his high school. Several students dotted the front path in front of the steps as they prepared for their day. He cautiously touched down where no one was and hurried up the steps, hands clutching his bag's straps.

"Hey, Astro!" a student called with a wave.

"Astro!" another student greeted, a friendly smile on their face.

Astro smiled back with a quick wave, bounding his way up the final steps to the front doors. Hands on the cool metal surface, he was about to push them open when a hunk of metal barreled into him from behind. With a shout of surprise, Astro fell to the ground, halfway in and out of the door. As he turned to greet his oppressor, he was met by dozens of licks to the face.

"Astro! I've missed you so much - bark!"

He recognized the robot dog, Trashcan, who belonged to his friends from the Surface. "Hey, Trashcan!" Astro laughed, turning his face to the side to try to avoid his licks.

"Sorry, Astro!"

Trashcan was quickly pulled off of him. Whilst wiping off his face, he saw Zane, an apologetic look on his face as he held back the excited pup. The tanned boy smiled sheepishly at him. "I tried to catch him before he jumped on you, but he slipped outta my grasp, hehe…"

"Slipped out of your grasp! Pssh! You weren't even looking at me - bark!" Trashcan barked in response.

"Don't give him grief, Trashcan," Astro giggled, standing and brushing off his clothes. Zane rose an eyebrow at the robot boy. Trashcan couldn't be heard by humans, only by Astro and other robots.

Zane, Widget, and Sludge were all adopted by Cora's parents after their reunion, and since then, both Zane and Cora attended Metro High School with Astro. The twins went respectfully to the grade school down the road. After telling the Metro City police about Hamegg and his orphanage, they stormed the place, but the orphanage had been empty aside from a few kids who were still hiding there. Hamegg was still yet to be found.

"I was trying out some things with his affection chip," Zane said, brushing off Astro's comment. "Seems like it needs a bit more fine-tuning, huh?" Trashcan whined in his grip, struggling to get closer to Astro, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. Zane laughed and rubbed the top of his head. "You're such a goofball!"

"Why'd you bring him to school, though?" Astro asked.

"I asked Mr. Moustachio if we could bring him in for a group study today," a voice answered.

Astro turned to see Cora stepping out the front doors, her dark hair and purple streaks shining in the morning light. She bent over and patted Trashcan's head as she continued. "Plus, he's just so darn cute, no one could resist his charms!"

Trashcan whined and shyly looked away, causing the three of them to laugh. The warning bell rang for class to begin and the trio ambled inside, Trashcan in tow.

. . .

Ministry of Science

"Dr. Elefun, could you hand me the proton fabricator?" Dr. Tenma called from underneath a hefty-looking machine, his exposed hand making a grabby motion. "I just have to tweak the undercarriage a little more."

Dr. Elefun nodded from beside him in a chair, breaking off his eye contact with the screen he had been typing on and handing him a tiny stick-looking object. Dr. Tenma took it in his hand and continued messing around underneath the machine. "I hope this will work," Dr. Elefun finally voiced, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Of course. It can only get better," the Head Minister replied from below. A subtle vibrating noise sounded through the air as Dr. Tenma turned it on. "There! Should be problem-free!" Dr. Tenma rolled out from underneath his creation and stood, his lab coat layered in places with grime. "Go ahead and try it."

Dr. Elefun nodded and typed a code into the computer that he was sitting at. As he pressed enter, a brightly colored light flashed on the machine and the hum started growing louder. A string of light streaked through the air and over to the other side of the room, creating a tiny hole about the size of a head. Dr. Elefun laughed, clapping his hands together with a smile. "It works!"

Dr. Tenma's eyes shone as he looked upon his creation. "Transporting things from oasis to oasis just got so much easier!" he said, turning his gaze to his friend. "We've really done it, Elefun." Powering off the machine, the wormhole stuttered out of existence. "Call up the council and have them join the presentation. We need to have this approved."

"Will do!" Dr. Elefun replied, typing away at the computer.

A little beep sounded from Dr. Tenma's hand as he took out his pager. A robot that looked like a slightly older model of a house-bot stepped into the room. Waving the robot over, Tenma gestured to the wormhole generator. "Help me get this to the testing room, could you? Thanks so much." The doctor then waved his colleague over as they both left the room.

The robot began hauling the machine out of the room after them, grunting with some effort. The robot pushed with all his might, rolling the machine over a cord. It rocked back and forth as it went over the cord, loud clunking rattling through the air. The robot squeaked in alarm as a bolt fell out with a clang. It picked it up and quickly looked around the machine's surface, trying to put it back in. The robot, however, could not find the missing bolt's home.

"Are you coming?" Dr. Tenma called from the re-opened doorway. "We don't have all day, you know!"

With a gulp, the robot dropped the screw back on the ground and hurried through the door after the two scientists.

. . .

Testing room

Excited murmurs filled the air as people began pouring into the exhibition. Dr. Tenma and Dr. Elefun stood at the head next to the machine, their hands behind their back as they waited for everyone to get settled in. As the room filled, Dr. Tenma held up his hand for silence. The people quieted, eagerly awaiting the speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dr. Tenma began, his gaze drifting around, "as you all have heard, today we are here to present a true scientific breakthrough! I present to you, the wormhole generator!" He pointed with his hands at the machine, and the audience let out a collective ooh.

"With this device, we'll be able to instantaneously send supplies between the oases around the world!" Dr. Elefun spoke. "We have prepared a few things to send to Sunset City as a demonstration, as you can see here," he added, nodding to the box next to the machine, "and the President of the city will be a witness to this event!" Dr. Tenma pressed a button and a hologram of the President of Sunset City appeared next to the control panel with a smile.

Looking at his colleague, Dr. Tenma's smile grew wider. This was it! The moment he had been waiting for. "Are you ready, Elefun?" he asked. Dr. Elefun nodded in determination.

Both of them turned back to the machine. Dr. Tenma's finger hovered over a button on the control panel. "Behold!" he shouted, slamming down on the button. The machine whirred to life, expressing an array of vibrant hues of red, blue, and green. It almost resembled the Northern Lights, back when the world was less polluted. "The wormhole, Elefun, if you would?"

Dr. Elefun nodded, pressing the button for the wormhole generator. Just as it had done a few moments ago, the machine shot out a stream of light, the wormhole appearing on the other side of the room. Some of the audience in the back row stood to see better, exclaiming in awe as they saw the display.

"And now, the supplies!" Dr. Tenma nodded off to the same robot as before. Slightly startled, the bot hurried over and picked up the box, making its way towards the wormhole.

Shaking, eyes closed, the robot stepped inside. It felt…weightless? The bot then felt solid ground beneath its feet once more and slowly opened its eyes. It let out a big sigh of relief, nearly dropping the box of supplies as it fell to the ground and kissed it.

The audience watched the entire thing on the hologram projected next to the generator and cheered. "Great job, Dr. Tenma," the President of Sunset City said, smiling down at the two. "This is a major technological advancement. You have my full support!"

"Splendid!" Dr. Tenma laughed, hands in the air to his sides. His eyes found their way to the audience, seeing the council in the crowd. They all nodded their heads in approval. This day couldn't get any better!

The machine suddenly let out a loud snapping sound and something sharp hit the floor with a loud clang. The room grew quiet and Dr. Elefun lowered himself to his hands and knees to see what happened. His eyes grew wide as he noticed the paneling on the ground. As he watched, one of the wires became undone, sparking like mad. "Tenma? We have a problem," he hissed, standing back up. As his worries were voiced, the wormhole's beam suddenly became larger and the generator began vibrating erratically.

Dr. Tenma took one look at it and turned to Elefun. "Shut it down, quickly."

"I-I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" Tenma spat.

"What's happening?" an onlooker called, fear in his voice.

"What wire is it?" Tenma whispered hastily to his colleague. Dr. Elefun's face was pale as his eyes slid to level with Tenma's. "What wire, Elefun?" Tenma asked again, panic sinking into his tone as he clutched his clipboard with great pressure.

"The…failsafe," Elefun answered, his brow sweating. Tenma's eyes widened.

"Get everyone out," Dr. Tenma hissed. "Quickly!"

"E-everyone! We have a small emergency," Dr. Elefun shouted above the noise. "Please remain calm and exit the room immediately."

The hologram of Sunset's President shut off. Elefun began to usher out the audience while Dr. Tenma pushed the machine past the safety point, lowering the shield. A large containment unit came down from the ceiling and covered the machine, bolting into the ground with several clicks.

Like a flame to a dry forest, a brightly-colored flash lit up the room. Everyone that remained in the room raised their voices in alarm, covering their eyes. When the light dimmed to just a glow, Dr. Tenma lowered his arm and gasped.

This was no longer a small problem.

Despite being inside the containment unit, the projector was still shining its beam towards the back of the room. What sat there now was something out of a scifi movie.

"Elefun! Get the building evacuated! Sound the alarm. Now!" he shouted above the clamor.

"Right!" Elefun answered, hurrying everyone out while pressing the alarm button on the wall.

Tenma stared at the tear in space-time as it began to suck in the objects on its side of the barrier, his eyes wide in horror.

. . .

Metro High School

"Do you think it would be cool to have superpowers?" Zane asked, fiddling with his food on the tray in front of him.

"Mm," Astro absentmindedly answered, hand on his chin at the lunch table as he stared out of the window.

"I mean, not like your powers, but like actual superpowers!" he corrected. "Like shooting fire or lightning from your hands! Or even being invisible!" He pumped his fists in front of him in excitement. "That would just be super cool!"

"Mm."

Zane waved a hand in front of Astro's face in disappointment. "Hey, you're not even listening! And here I was opening my heart out to you."

"I'm sorry, Zane. I just have this bad feeling all of a sudden," Astro replied, removing his hand from his chin and messing with the food on his tray. His stomach dropped in response and he pushed his food away.

"Relax, buddy! I'm sure everything's fine," Zane laughed, putting his arm around Astro's shoulders. "Hey, I know a good spot on the Surface that'll totally help you clear your mind if you're up to it."

"No thanks," Astro answered as Zane removed his arm. "I don't think skipping school is a great idea. Plus, don't we have a presentation to do next period?"

"I guess you're right…" he muttered, hand on the back of his neck. After a moment, he let out a sheepish laugh.

The pager in Astro's pocket buzzed to life and he jumped in surprise, dread following as he looked at the message:

Astro! You need to get to the Ministry as soon as you can! It's gone horribly wrong! We've begun the evacuation protocol. Please hurry!

If he could sweat, he would be doing so at this very moment.

Cora finally came up with her tray and plopped it next to Astro. "Hey boys, what's up?" Seeing the expression on Astro's face, hers darkened. "What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know," Astro stammered as he put away the pager. "I think I have to go."

The two teens looked at each other with worry and then turned back to Astro. In response, the school's alarm system sounded. The lunchroom was filled with the sounds of scared children.

"Everyone, please remain indoors. This is not a drill. I repeat, please remain indoors. This is not a drill…"

Astro stood and hurried off towards the door at the other end of the room. He was suddenly yanked back by a hand and turned to see Cora on the other end of it. She looked scared. Like really scared. Her sapphire eyes filled with emotion. "Astro, please...be careful."

"I will. I promise."

And with that he hurried outside, flying towards the Ministry of Science.

. . .

At the Ministry

Let's do this.

Reopening his eyes, Astro bounded off to another pipe and took in his surroundings once more. It was to the point where the wormhole was tearing off the metal panelling of the walls inside the test lab. The shield was completely shattered, portions of it being carried inside piece by piece.

Eyes narrowed, he looked towards the source; the project his dad had been working on. He had seen it a few times, so it wasn't hard to spot. It was inside of a containment unit that was bolted into the floor. However, despite its containment, it was still producing the beam necessary to keep the tear open. He would need to destroy it.

Still gripping onto the pipe, he made one of his arms into a cannon and hastily shot at the machine. The energy bursts veered away from his target and into the tear. Frowning, he looked around for another foothold. He would have to get tactical with this one.

Astro shot up with his rockets to the ceiling, where the overhead rafters were still intact. Hopping from beam to beam, Astro positioned himself directly behind the machine and then dropped. Landing behind the glass that held the culprit, his hands gripped the surface. He could feel the tear pulling him even from behind it.

With a frown, Astro slipped his fingers under the edge of the rim at the bottom and lifted, but his fingers slipped right off. He fell back a few steps but quickly regained his footing. After a moment, he gripped the corners of the glass unit and pushed. Cracks appeared in the glass and he paused. So close!

Taking a couple of steps back again, he readied his cannons and fired. More cracks. Squinting, he fired them again. Finally, the glass broke straight through - success! The machine started squeaking forward, pressing its sides against the glass in front. Now being more exposed, Astro was having a hard time keeping his footing.

Creeeeeeeeeeeak!

Suddenly, a panel broke off from behind him and came barrelling towards the rift. After hearing the noise, Astro turned and with a gasp -

Smack! The panel tossed into him and he lost his footing. With a yelp, Astro tried to right himself with his rockets, but he was already dangerously close to the rift.

Crack. Crack!

The glass of the containment unit was breaking even further due to the pressure of the machine against it. No!

Finally, the glass gave way and the projector broke free of its containment…with Astro in its path. With a shout, the machine smashed into him, sending both him and the projector through the rift.

All of the debris that had been cascading through the air crashed to the ground, a deafening sound marking its defeat. The rift slowly blinked out of existence, leaving the room terrifyingly quiet.

Time seemed to slow as the minutes ticked by. A lone drone flew into the room, aiming its camera eye around every which way. Seeing that it was safe to enter, the drone turned back towards the door - or where the door had once been - and chirped. Dr. Tenma poked his head out from around the corner and entered the room slowly, making his way over the debris. Dr. Elefun and several others followed.

"Astro?" Dr. Tenma called, glancing around. "Astro?!"

A chorus of wails calling for the protector of the city arose as the Minister hurried towards the end of the room. The drone that had flown through the room came over to Dr. Tenma.

"Where is he? Do you detect the Blue Core?" Dr. Tenma asked the bot in desperation. The bot - if it could even sound sad - let out a mellow beep and hung its head.

Trudging over towards the end of the room, Dr. Tenma stared at the pile of debris that had fallen in a circle. Lying there in the center was Astro's pager. The man fell to his knees, fear and loss sweeping through him as he picked up the pager gently in his hands. Hyperventilating, Dr. Tenma gripped the pager and his fist pounded the ground in front of him repeatedly, with a shout full of grief.

"Damn it all! Damn it all to hell!" His tears finally fell and whimpers sounded from his lips. Hands to his face, he wept, comforted only by the presence of Dr. Elefun's hand on his shoulder.

A/N: Don't forget to leave a review!~