"Caleb's Revenge"
A/N: Hello again, I had a secondary plotline form while writing my first fic so here it is. I don't know if I will make many chapters for this. But if you like it feel free to voice your thoughts in the review section. I wanted to say thank you to my latest reviewer for pointing out how hard it was to read this story, and giving me pointers on how to fix it. It helps me improve my writing, and I will be applying these new 'techniques' to my other story as well.
It was a normal day for Caleb, well... as normal as being an outcast to society can be to a young boy. It pissed the boy off to even think of his parents and what they did. But because he was related by blood, he was outcasted out of fear he would become what his parents had. For he was an Azimuth, his dad betrayed his people, and his mom in a vain attempt to get her husband back basically committed genocide. Caleb paused to reminisce about his parents, one left behind in an alternate dimension, the other executed for their crimes. This put Caleb in a very sour mood, which he had been since he was old enough to read and write. It had been over six years since he had been ripped from his mother's arms before her execution. He continued his walk from the supply drop. He (in the government's eyes) was still technically a part of society, so he was given basic niceties and the choice of where he wanted to live. But it had some strings attached; he had to keep at least a mile away from civilization. He had chosen a treehouse on the edge of an expansive forest. It was a nice cozy 10'x10' square room with only the essentials: a small desk with a lamp, a small bed, a small dresser, and a small chair. Caleb had one person to thank for a place to live, a single councilman named Kaden. Caleb never understood why the councilman fought so hard to get him what he has now. Caleb's best guess as to why would be that the councilman once had a kid and lost him, so Caleb could be his adoptive son. As he continued his trek back, a rift opened up in front of him. He stood there still, pondering what had just materialized in front of him. A few seconds later, a ship flew through the portal. He acted on instinct and leaped as high as his little legs would allow. He barely cleared the hood of the ship but wasn't very lucky when it came to the windscreen. He collided with the windscreen smushing his face flat with the sudden acceleration knocking him out cold.
time jump 45 mins
Caleb slowly regained consciousness, keeping sure to not open his eyes so he could listen to his surroundings.
"Well clank how is he?" Asked an unknown male voice that felt very familiar to Caleb, but he couldn't quite place it.
"He appears to be fine, thanks to the nanotech you applied," this 'Clank' replied.
The male shuffled around the seat he set Caleb in to grab the vial of nanotech tube to be put away.
"Don't you think he should have been awake by now?" Asked an unknown female voice.
The male voice responded, "I think you might be onto something Rivet, but I think we should let him rest. He got hit pretty hard, and he seemed to be quite exhausted when we found him." Caleb, as all young people do, got bored, so he faked waking up. He let out a yawn, then shook his head to clear the cobwebs of sleep. The male voice spoke up. "Hey little bud, how are you?"
"Tired," Caleb replied with a yawn.
"That's... good, say what is your name?"
"Clabe" he replied shyly
"That's good, mine's Ratchet" Ratchet then gestured to Rivet, "this is Rivet," who waved at Caleb. He then pointed to Clank "and this is clank," Said robot also waved. Caleb, not one to be rude, waved back. Rivet was pondering where the young boy's parents were and why he was alone in the forest.
"Hey, Caleb, what were you doing wandering alone out in a forest?" she asked as caringly as possible.
"That… oh, I... I... I'm an outcast," this statement caused both adult lombaxes and robots to frown. "Not that I wanted to be, but because of what my parents did, no one wants to care for me out of fear," Caleb replied sadly.
"That's… interesting… where have you been living then if no one wants to take care of you?" Rivet asked.
Caleb responded, "I have been living in a treehouse provided by the councilman that fought for my freedom to live." Caleb frowned, "He's a nice old man, he provides me food and water." Caleb paused, brow furrowing in confusion, "I think he called them MRE's." He paused to stick his tongue out and to blow a raspberry. The adult lombaxes gave each other looks of disgust at this revelation. Caleb continued, "He gave me his name on what I think is a sticky note." Caleb paused trying to recall what it was. He shook his head dismissively and continued. "He told me that I'm... the closest thing to a son he has," he paused to wipe away tears, "he said he was gonna give his all to keep me." Caleb sniffed quietly, rubbing more tears from his eyes. "That was the day I was ripped from my mother's arms as she was killed," Caleb said sadly, burying his face in his little hands.
This was quite a roller coaster of emotions for the two adult lombaxes to deal with. But one thing Caleb said that stuck in Ratchet's head was what he said the councilman said to the young boy.
"So can you tell me what this man's name started with?" Ratchet asked hopefully trying not to sound desperate.
Caleb furrowed his brow in thought, "I think it starts with 'K' but I don't know". Caleb paused again and let out a yawn "If I find that note I can give it to you."
"Where can we find this note," Ratchet asked, sounding a little anxious. The only one who did not notice this was Caleb. Partly because he was tired and that he wasn't very good at reading emotions. "Can we go back to the 'fort' and look?" Caleb asked expectantly.
After getting agreement from the others, Ratchet had Caleb show him the way to his 'fort'. After arriving, Caleb scurried up the Ladder with the adults close behind. Caleb got straight to work by sifting through the peppers on his desk. "Here it is," he exclaimed, handing the paper to Ratchet. Ratchet seized after reading the name on the paper. 'Kaden Starlight' was scribbled in black ink on the time-crinkled paper. Ratchet's seizing didn't go unnoticed by anyone. "Do you think it could be him?" Clank asked ratchet.
"Quite possibly, Clank," Ratchet responded then thought for a moment. "Hey, Caleb, do you have a picture of him?" he asked hopefully.
"I don't have a photo of him, but I could if I had access to the internet," Caleb thought for a moment. "I think, I could point him out if you had one." Ratchet to his credit contained his excitement, just barely. He slowly pulled out Alister's pocket watch and showed Caleb the photo. As Caleb raised the photo into view he inhaled sharply and seized at what he saw. The adult lombaxes gave each other confused looks as a tear formed in Caleb's eye. "Dad" he whispered as he was slowly reached for the image of Alister. Rivet was the first to attempt to comfort Caleb as he cried. Ratchet soon joined in on the hug wondering what set him off. "It's ok bud, we are here, not going anywhere any time soon." Rivet soothed scratching Caleb behind the ears in a tempt to get him to purr. They hugged for a good five minutes before they attempted to break the hug.
"Hey, Caleb, when was the last time you had a bath?!" Ratchet exclaimed, covering his nose after getting a good whiff of him.
"What's a bath?" Caleb asked innocently.
The adult lombaxes gave him a dumbfounded look.
"What?" Caleb asked embarrassed.
Saddened by the fact that he did not know what a bath was. Ratchet stated, "We can deal with that, we would just have to go back to my dimension." Ratchet paused at Rivets's confused face. "I say my apartment because it has the most living space for three lombaxes," Ratchet explained.
Ratchet then turned to Caleb, "I want to help you get over what happened, but you are going to need to tell me what you saw in the photo. Now can you tell me who you saw in that image?"
"I saw dad," Caleb said with a whine in his voice. "The last time I saw him was six years ago in a photo during mom's trial."
"Can you point to who your dad is in that photo?" Ratchet asked caringly. Caleb nodded and pointed to Alister. "Interesting, what do you remember about him?"
"I know that he was left behind," Caleb replied.
Rivet piped up, "there is one thing I don't understand. How is it that you are 8 years old claiming that Alister is your dad but the last time your mom had physical contact with him was over 20 years?"
Caleb responded, "from what I learned in the little I have read about biology in that textbook" Caleb pointed to said textbook. "I think mom's reproductive system was held in a state of stasis till it was set straight by something. But I don't know, it's my best guess." Caleb then turned to Clank, "Clank, can you do research on this, I want to know."
"Sure thing Caleb," Clank responded kindly and quickly got to work.
Rivet spoke up, "if we are going to give you a bath you are going to need a change of clothes." in resonance to this Caleb dashed over to his dresser and flung open the drawers, and started flinging clothes on his bed. Caleb somehow in the chaos managed to land a pair of boxers on Ratchet's head; causing said male to sigh and remove them in front of a giggling Rivet. After 15 minutes of 'packing', they had a backpack with 3 changes of clothes and Caleb's favorite toy. Kit piped up before they left, "we need an alibi, Caleb how often do you go on hikes?"
Caleb tiredly responded with a yawn, "after each supply run."
"Do you leave a note?" she inquired further
"Not often," he again repaired with a yawn. "If you want me to leave a note I will," Caleb added with another yawn. Kit nodded in response, Caleb quickly scribbled a note saying he was going on a hike. After Clank mentioned adding a date, Caleb added the last one he saw at the supply drop. After doing so he almost fell over out of exhaustion, if it weren't for Rivet's quick thinking he would have. She decided to carry him all the way back to the ship 'cause he couldn't stand up straight. By the time they reached the ship, Caleb was out like a light.
A/N: And done, I hope you enjoyed reading and you can see I went back and revised a bit.
