Chapter 13: Lost Pocket
A thick layer of dark clouds covered the sky in all directions. Any sunlight was blocked out, casting a shadow all over the ground. Every few minutes, thunder would rumble from deep within the clouds. A storm was bound to break out at any moment.
For Doramen, this was terrible news. Usually he'd be home at this time, and would be thrilled to be able to potentially enjoy some rain from the comfort of his living room. Today, however, he'd stayed after school to study for a big test, and that meant he would have to deal with a potential downpour on the way home.
He sat at his desk in one of the bigger classrooms of the school, and as he tried to focus on reading his notes for the umpteenth time, he couldn't resist constantly glancing at the huge glass windows that every school seemed to have. The clouds could begin dumping rain at any moment.
"Dude, stop looking at the clouds," scolded an all-too familiar voice.
Doramen looked to his right, where Doralien was sitting in a desk directly across the narrow aisle.
"I can't help it," Doramen said in an attempt to defend himself.
"You can't study and watch the weather at the same time," Doralien pointed out.
"I guess."
Instead of studying with a textbook and worksheet like he'd had with Doraemon, Doramen was using a computer this time. He had the painfully small laptop sitting on his desk, where it was displaying a document he'd made of all his notes. Constantly staring at the screen was starting to give him a headache, despite ironically being a piece of technology himself.
He sighed softly and once again read through the pages and pages of notes, occasionally fixing a typo or altering the formatting to his liking.
How am I supposed to remember all of this? This is insane, even for a robot! he thought.
His ear twitched slightly when he heard Doralien typing something on his own computer. The sound was rather annoying, and he used the break in his train of thought to glance out the windows again. To his dismay, the windows were plastered in raindrops. Even worse, since he was sitting in a huge building, he couldn't hear the pleasant and soothing sound of raindrops hitting the roof.
Now he really couldn't concentrate. He tried again and again to read through his notes, but the information was going nowhere. He had to read the same bullet point several times before he could finally process it and move on to the next. Even bullet points that were only a couple words were difficult for him to study.
I'm gonna forget all of this the moment I get home, he thought.
"Hey Doralien," he began, glancing over at his friend.
Doralien continued to type for a couple seconds before stopping and looking at Doramen.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I can't concentrate," Doramen admitted.
"It's because of that dang rain!"
"I know…"
"Dude, the test is in two days. You don't have much time to study!"
"I can't remember all of this."
Doralien leaned his arm over the back of his seat.
"How much do you remember?" he asked.
"Not much," Doramen muttered.
"You can't try to cram it all tomorrow. Trust me, it doesn't work."
"Yeah, but…"
Doramen couldn't help but once again look out the windows. It was raining harder now.
"There are so many other things I could be doing right now," he murmured.
"But this test is important," Doralien argued.
Suddenly, Doramen got an idea.
"Wait, can't I take my laptop home with me?" he asked.
Doralien scoffed and chuckled.
"If you're struggling to study at school, you're really gonna struggle to study at home," he said.
"I've done it before," Doramen muttered in an attempt to defend himself. "Actually, I usually study at home."
"Well, if you think you'll actually get something done, then go ask the teacher."
Doramen nervously glanced over at the far left corner of the classroom, where a large desk was. Sitting at the desk was a robotic woman shifting through a stack of papers.
"You think she'll say yes?" Doramen asked, lowering his voice.
"I asked her once, and she was okay with it," Doralien answered.
Doramen hesitantly stood up. He and Doralien were the only students in the classroom, and somehow that made him feel even more nervous. He slowly navigated through the rows of student desks until he was only a couple feet away from the teacher's desk. She didn't notice him.
Here goes nothing, Doramen thought, approaching his teacher.
"Umm… excuse me…," he murmured shyly.
The teacher looked up at him with a smile.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Would it be okay if I took my laptop home with me? I think I'd study better at home," Doramen explained.
"Sure, as long as you bring it back tomorrow! And you're responsible for any damage."
"Got it. Thank you!"
Doramen quickly went back to his desk, where he sat down with a sigh of relief.
"So what did she say?" Doralien asked.
"She said I can bring it home as long as I bring it back tomorrow," Doramen answered.
"See? I told you she was gonna say yes!"
Doramen once again looked out the windows.
"I wanna go home," he admitted.
"I guess we have been here for a while," Doralien muttered, looking at the time displayed in the bottom right corner of the laptop's screen.
"Come on, let's go."
Doramen went ahead and turned off his laptop without waiting for a response. He shoved it in his pocket and stood up.
"Wait for me!" Doralien exclaimed, hurriedly trying to shut off his own laptop.
Doramen put his arms behind his back, patiently waiting. Doralien stood up as well, but instead of putting his laptop in his pocket to take home, he took it to a large metal bookshelf at the front of the classroom. Folded, unused laptops were piled across the four shelves, and yet there were two distinct gaps—Doramen and Doralien's laptops. Every student had their own laptop that was assigned to them. Doralien gingerly returned his to its rightful spot, and then went back to Doramen.
"Ready to go?" Doramen asked.
"Yep!" Doralien replied cheerfully.
After saying goodbye to their teacher, the two robot cats exited the classroom and made their way to the front exit of the school. They stood in a big eating area, with various tables scattered around a rectangular area. A huge pole stood in each corner, holding up a tarp that kept the tables—and Doramen and Doralien—protected from the rain.
"Jeez, it's raining cats and dogs out here," Doralien groaned.
Doramen immediately felt at peace now that he could hear the rain splattering against the pavement. It was such a soothing sound to him. He retrieved an umbrella from his pocket and opened it.
"Why did you take out your umbrella?" Doralien asked, confused.
"So I don't get wet," Doramen retorted.
"We're gonna use our Anywhere Doors to go home, right?"
"No. We're walking."
"Walking!? Do you see how hard it's pouring right now?"
Doramen sighed in annoyance. He had a feeling Doralien was going to protest.
"It's lazy to use your Anywhere Door every time you need to go somewhere," he lectured.
"You seriously expect me to walk in that rain?" Doralien challenged.
"I know you have an umbrella. Come on, pull it out."
"Fine, mom."
Doralien begrudgingly reached into his pocket and pulled out his own umbrella. Doramen smiled at him and opened his umbrella.
"Come on, we haven't hung out together that much recently," he said.
"Fair enough," Doralien muttered, also opening his umbrella.
After hesitating briefly, he and Doramen began their walk home. Although they obviously didn't live together, their houses just happened to be in the same direction from the school. This allowed them to be able to walk together for most of the way there. Eventually though, there would be a point where Doralien would have to part from Doramen to go down his own street.
"So… you and Doraemon are dating now, right?" Doralien asked suddenly.
"Yeah, we are," Doramen answered with a big smile.
"How's it been going between you two?"
"Well, we haven't spent much time together lately because of school, but… we're doing good."
Doralien nodded thoughtfully.
"What's it like being in a relationship?" he asked.
"Being in love is so great. I feel like Doraemon is always there for me, no matter what. We've got each other's backs, no matter what. Doraemon told me that he believes he can tell me anything. He said that he trusts me not to judge him, or tell it to someone else behind his back," Doramen explained.
"That's good. What about you, though? Do you feel the same way?"
Doramen's smile faded, and that was all Doralien needed to know what he was thinking.
"It's okay, bud. You'll get there one day," he assured the red robot cat.
Doramen was silent for a moment, appearing to be deep in thought.
"I can tell Doraemon a lot of things, but not everything. That day will never come," he murmured.
"And that's okay!" Doralien exclaimed in an attempt to encourage Doramen.
"Can we talk about something else, please?"
"Right, sorry."
Doralien fell silent as he tried to think of something else to talk about. Thunder rumbled loudly above him, making him worry that the downpour was going to worsen.
"Are our pockets really bottomless?" Doramen asked suddenly.
"Of course they are. How else would all of our gadgets and tools fit inside?" Doralien asked back.
"I guess. You think we could fit a car inside?"
"I mean, some of our bigger gadgets are probably already the size of a car, so yeah I think it's definitely possible."
"It's just weird to me that we can put an infinite amount of things inside."
"I think it's great. We don't have to deal with the hassle of backpacks or suitcases like humans do."
"But there's no shelves inside. Everything just… floats around and you gotta dig around to find what you want."
"True, true."
Doramen peeled off his pocket and looked at it.
"Why do we have these, anyways? Why did the humans give us these bottomless pouches and fill them with strange devices? Half of our gadgets are only good for really specific scenarios. How many times do they think I'd want to give a tiny hitman a quarter so he can knock someone over?" he asked.
"Because we're robots. We were made to help humanity," Doralien answered.
"With what? They can't take care of themselves?"
"We work together."
"Yeah, to make their lives even more convenient than they already are."
Doralien sighed softly. He'd lost count of how many times he'd had this same conversation with Doramen.
"Just be thankful that we were even invented in the first place. Without humans, we wouldn't exist. They've blessed us with the ability to live in society as if we were humans too, and they keep updating us as time goes on. We have so many features now that older robot cats don't," he lectured.
"Oh! Did you know that the very first robot cat models didn't even have genders?" Doramen asked eagerly. "It was like the same robot cat copied over and over again, but with a different personality! The humans who owned them got to decide if they were a boy or a girl! …Or something else."
Doralien chuckled to himself, amused at how little it took to completely shift Doramen's attention to a different topic.
"Crazy, isn't it? And now look at us. We can get married and even have children with each other," he remarked.
"I knoooow! It sounds impossible—robots having kids, but it is possible! Robot cat kittens are soooooo cute!" Doramen gushed, pressing his paws against his cheeks, while still holding his pocket.
"Yeah, they are cute."
"Do you think you'll be a dad someday?"
Doralien gave Doramen a weird look, his eye wide.
"What kind of question is that?" he retorted, his cheeks bright red.
"I'm just wondering," Doramen replied with a big, teasing smile.
"I don't really know what kind of answer to give you. I want to focus on school. I couldn't imagine trying to juggle parenthood and classes at the same time. Later on in life, when I've graduated and I have a job, maybe I'd think about it, but… I can't really do that if it turns out that I'm still single by then."
"Fair enough."
Doralien had to admit to himself that he was feeling a little uncomfortable. He figured that now would be a good time to think of something to change the topic, before Doramen came up with any more personal questions to ask—even though he'd asked that same question to him multiple times in the past.
Suddenly, Doramen slipped, and fell backwards right onto his back.
"Are you okay, buddy?" Doralien asked, immediately crouching down and holding out his paw.
"Yeah, I think so," Doramen muttered, sitting up.
He winced and rubbed his back a little before taking Doralien's paw and standing up.
"That hurt," he said.
His entire backside, including the back of his head, were now soaking wet from lying against the ground, even thought it was only for a brief few seconds. His back ached a little, but other than that he felt fine, if he wasn't annoyed at himself for falling.
"How's your back?" Doralien asked.
"It hurts a little, but I'll be fine, really," Doramen insisted.
Doralien turned, about to start walking again, when he realized something.
"Umm… Doramen, weren't you carrying your pocket?" he asked.
"I am. Why do you ask?" Doramen replied.
He glanced at his left paw and realized with horror that his pocket was now gone.
"I-I think I dropped it when I slipped!" he exclaimed.
For a second, the two robot cats looked frantically around the vicinity for where Doramen's pocket could've gone. It didn't take Doramen very long to notice that it was being swept farther down the street from the floodwater on the sides of the road. The water, while painfully shallow, was moving very quickly.
"I see it! It's down there!" Doramen exclaimed, pointing to it.
Doralien squinted, his limited eyesight making it difficult for him to see the small object that was rapidly getting farther and farther away.
"I… think I see it!" he said with uncertainty.
Doramen sighed at his friend, not having the time to show him where it was. He knew he was going to have to run to catch up to his pocket, so he broke out into a run and began his chase. The rainwater dripping off the edges of his umbrella made it difficult for him to see, even more so now that he was running, but he did his best to keep an eye on his pocket. Gradually, he began to catch up, but he also began to run out of breath. It was no secret that he wasn't in the best shape. Despite this obstacle, he pushed through and tried to speed up.
Suddenly, a dog appeared from the house that Doramen's pocket was passing by. Without any hesitation, the dog reached its head out and grabbed Doramen's pocket with its mouth. It then turned around and went back towards the house, taking the pocket with it.
"Hey! Give that back!" Doramen shouted as he neared the house.
He nearly fell again as he came to a stop in front of the house. The dog had only gone a few feet away when it had heard Doramen shouting and came to a halt. It gave Doramen a curious, yet also blank look.
"That's my pocket! Spit it out!" Doramen demanded, pointing aggressively at the dog.
The dog had no reaction. Doramen sighed in frustration and, in the heat of the moment, grabbed part of his pocket that was hanging out of the dog's mouth. He then began to pull, trying to force the dog to let go. Instead, however, the dog relented, and pulled back. This quickly resulted in a tug of war, which the dog was clearly enjoying. It wagged its tail as it continued to pull against Doramen and hold on tight to his pocket.
"Let go, dammit! You're gonna rip it!" Doramen hissed, pulling harder.
Robot cats' pockets were notorious for being very flexible and stretchy, but like all things, there was a breaking point. The dog got more excited and began to aggressively shake its head to entice Doramen to pull more aggressively. Doramen, getting increasingly more frustrated, fell for the trick and pulled harder.
However, the dog's aggressive head shaking resulted in its sharp teeth penetrating and tearing the pocket. As Doramen pulled harder, increasing the tension, eventually it became too much. The pocket was effectively ripped in half. Doramen was knocked back from the recoil, and was barely able to catch himself and prevent another fall. Thinking he'd successfully yanked his pocket from the dog's mouth, he held up his pocket in triumph. However, that triumph was immediately crushed when he realized he was only holding half of his pocket. He looked at the dog, which was still holding the other half in its mouth. The dog ran around in a circle and crouched down on its front legs, putting its rear end in the air as a clear indication that it wanted to continue playing.
Doramen was crushed. He couldn't stop staring at the torn up piece of fabric in his paw. The pocket was, of course, useless now. His stomach felt empty and heavy when he realized that everything that was inside of the pocket was now trapped in that bottomless void forever. The only entrance to that void was now gone.
Just then, Doralien caught up to him.
"Doramen! Did you get your pocket back?" he asked, oblivious.
All Doramen could do was flatten his ears and hold up the broken half for Doralien to see. The teal robot cat gasped, his eye widening.
"What happened?" he asked.
Doramen pointed to the dog, which had finally spat out the other half of the pocket. It was full of tears and puncture marks from the dog's teeth. Doramen and Doralien realized in unison that there was no hope of repairing it.
"This can't be happening," Doramen mumbled, looking at the ground, defeated.
"Wow… I'm so sorry, buddy… I.. guess you're gonna have to get a new one now," Doralien murmured.
"I don't know if I can even afford one."
"I'm sure you can. They're actually not that expensive, depending on what features you get."
Doramen sighed.
"Well… I guess I better do that now. I don't want to walk around without a pocket. It feels like I'm naked," he said.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Doralien asked.
"No, you can just… go home. I'd rather do this alone."
"Okay, if you insist… I guess I'll see you tomorrow, bud."
Doramen watched as Doralien awkwardly continued to walk down the street. Instinctively, Doramen reached to his belly to pull out his Anywhere Door, only to sigh when he was reminded that there was no pocket for him to reach into, and no Anywhere Door for him to retrieve. With a heavy heart, he turned around and walked back up the street in the opposite direction Doralien was going.
I can't believe this is happening… I have no pocket!
….
Doramen took a deep breath as he walked into the store. He looked around, somewhat comforted when he saw there was only one other customer in the vicinity. He had to admit, the place looked pretty nice. It wasn't very big, but it had pretty colors and nice decorations. There were a bunch of different pockets up on shelves along with several mirrors scattered across the place.
I sure hope I can find something that'll work, Doramen thought, trying not to get intimidated by all the different options.
He folded up his umbrella and awkwardly carried it around as he aimlessly wandered through the store, wondering where to start.
"Good afternoon!" called a male voice.
Doramen turned to see a human man sitting at a desk in the upper left corner of the room. A few papers and a cash register sat atop the desk. The shopkeeper stood up and approached Doramen, giving him a friendly smirk.
"Welcome to my shop," he greeted. "I can see that you are in need of a pocket."
"Y-yeah," Doramen mumbled, embarrassed.
"What might you be looking for, sir?"
"I just want a regular white pocket."
"Alright. What kind of fur would you like it to have?"
Since robot cats were covered in fur, most pockets came with artificial fur on them to help them blend better with a robot cat's belly. There were dozens of different types of fur that one could get on a pocket, since robot cats were manufactured in over a dozen countries, leading to them developing a variety of different fur coats.
Doramen stroked his belly thoughtfully, studying his own pelt.
"I have thick fur, so a pocket with thick fur, please," he said.
The shopkeeper nodded thoughtfully. He pointed to the other side of the room, against the right wall, where there was a fairly small display of pockets.
"Those have thick fur," he said. "Try one, and see how it looks."
Doramen walked over to them curiously. Most of them were plain white, but there were a few that were different colors, such as blue and green, and a couple even had basic patterns on them. Doramen grabbed one of the plain white ones and stuck it to his belly. He then stroked it repeatedly, seeing how it felt against the fur on his belly.
The fur is too long, he thought.
He put the pocket back on the shelf and tried on another one. As he thoughtfully tested how the fur felt, he got the feeling that the shopkeeper was staring at him.
I know you're probably waiting for me to hurry up and buy something, he thought in annoyance.
After deciding that the second pocket's fur wasn't quite thick enough, he tried on a third one. This one, however, felt more right. It wasn't perfect, but Doramen knew that the chances of him finding one with fur that had the exact same length, thickness, and texture as his own fur were practically zero.
I think I'm gonna go with this one, he thought, feeling more confident.
He walked over to a nearby mirror and checked himself out, standing in various different angles to see how it looked. The fur on the pocket was just good enough to where it wasn't noticeable that it wasn't the one he'd had before.
Feeling confident and relieved, he approached the shopkeeper, who was wandering around the center of the store.
"Excuse me sir, but I think I found a pocket I like," he murmured shyly.
"Good, good. So, normally these pockets are completely empty, but you can choose to have one with some gadgets inside—for a fee. We call them gadget packets," the shopkeeper explained.
"I'd love to have some gadgets. How much is it?"
The shopkeeper gestured for Doramen to follow him. He took the red robot cat back to his desk in the corner of the room and reached underneath it, pulling out a sheet of laminated paper.
"Here is a chart of the gadget packets we offer, along with their prices," he said, sliding the paper towards Doramen.
Doramen grabbed the paper and read it over. He immediately felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him when he realized that all of the prices were beyond his budget.
"Err… these are all out of my budget," he muttered, sliding the paper back to the shopkeeper.
"Alright, so you just want the plain, empty pocket then?" the shopkeeper asked.
"Yeah…"
Doramen couldn't help but flatten his ears.
I don't have any gadgets anymore…, he thought solemnly.
After buying the pocket and leaving, he had no choice but to walk home. All of his enjoyment of the rain was now gone. Now he just thought it was annoying, and he wished it would stop. By now the sky was pure dark gray, almost black in some spots.
Doramen could feel himself starting to get cold. He just wanted to go home, but unfortunately for him, he no longer had the Anywhere Door that would allow him to escape the rain in an instant.
I guess this is my life now… Gadgets are so expensive, there's no way I could ever afford one without getting a job… I don't really have a choice but just accept that I don't have any gadgets anymore…
A sigh escaped him.
What kind of robot cat am I?