"Breaking news now! Tiny bot crime wave targets San Fransokyo! The techno terrors' latest victim? Joe's Diner. Beloved home of the Joe Dog."
Ari groaned at Bluff Dunder's report. "There goes another one." She huffed. There had been a recent string of robberies to establishments, she saw on the news Hiro, Fred, and Baymax fighting a small dog, but there was another one sneakily grabbing the register. "Even Big Hero 6 wasn't 'big' enough heroes."
She slammed her head onto the counter, she just wanted to get through her day in the Lucky Cat.
"Oh man! I was so busy with the three-headed one, I missed my chance to fight a kraken!" She overheard Fred complain to the group, they were mostly upset about their failure to protect Joe's Diner.
"Hey Ari." She diverted her attention to greet Mikan, who had walked up to the counter. "I'd like a black coffee with two sugars."
"So, the usual." Ari hummed, getting a cup from the coffee machine. Steam hissed as the drink was poured. I never noticed that the piece Hiro used to fix the coffee machine was a part of Steamer's steam tank… nice way to put that old tech to use. She chuckled, handing the cup to Mikan.
"Thank you." Mikan replied with her change, then noticed the circles under her eyes. "What's keeping you up?"
"I've been keeping watch over the cafe." Ari yawned. "I'm not letting no tiny robot steal from us."
"Interesting." Mikan hummed, taking a sip from her cup. "How is that going? What steps do you take?"
"Well, I wake up early, like an hour before the cafe opens. And I keep guard two hours after it closes, and Mochi has been sleeping on the counter for the past few days. So if anyone comes in, he can alert us. Like a cat alarm!" Ari explained. "Pretty smart, right?"
"Yes, smart." Her eyes gleamed. "Clever of you to keep watch, I know that the Lucky Cat Cafe will be safe under your eye."
"Thanks!"
"You're welcome." They chatted until Ari got a message from her phone.
Hiro: Meet at Fred's house, asap.
"Oh, gotta go." She turned to Cass, "Aunt Cass! I'm going to Fred's house!"
"Okay!" Cass replied, "stay safe!"
"I will!" Ari waved to Mikan as she exited, the snow-haired girl carried a sinister smile as she left.
Ari opened the door to Fred's room and found the gang sitting by the couches. "I'm here," she walked up to them.
"Right on time." Hiro greeted her. "I've called this meeting because we need to talk about the serial robberies."
"Can someone explain?"
"Hiro suspected this guy named Stan because it was his bot that robbed Joe's Diner." Gogo explained. "But when we got there…"
"The police were already arresting him." Wasabi added. "She's all caught-up, now what?"
"Well, I have a theory about the robberies," He told them. "Baymax?"
"According to the police reports, these suspects were arrested after their bots were caught stealing on camera." The robot brought up four mugshots.
"But the police haven't found any trace of the stolen cash, which means..."
"They already spent it." Gogo took a sip of her drink.
"They lost it?" Ari guessed.
"Or they wisely invested it?" Wasabi also guessed.
Honey Lemon guessed correctly. "Or they didn't steal it."
"Exactly!" Hiro pointed to her.
"Yes!"
"Look, I know these people, none of them could pull off a crime spree."
"How do you know these people?" Ari raised an eyebrow. "I thought your job was to arrest criminals, not befriend them."
"No, that's your job." Hiro cheekily replied.
"Hey!" The others snickered.
"I knew them from my bot-fighting days, one must know their way around the ring to succeed." Hiro explained. "Anyways, who do we know in the bot-fighting world who could mastermind a crime wave?"
"Aunt Cass..." Fred whispered.
"Obake?" Ari frowned.
"Yama." The others answer without hesitation.
"Yama! So close." The comic fan huffed, then turned to Ari. "Why did you think it's Obake?"
"Because he's been a thorn in your side?" She shrugged. "I don't know every villain you guys fight."
"Not everything criminal lately is because of the big bad." Fred told her. "Classic superhero 101."
"What do you think, Baymax?" Honey Lemon asked the robot.
"While possible, there is no evidence to support this theory." He explained.
"Ooh! Me! Me!" Fred frantically raised his hand. "I know exactly how we can get evidence!" He runs over to his comic book shelves and plucks one out. "Much like in the Captain Fancy Holiday Espionage Special, we need to go undercover to find the evidence!"
"We're not going undercover." Gogo shutted it down.
"Come on, Gogo, I already got fake mustaches for everyone."
"It's not a good idea."
"Actually." Hirp spoke up. "It's a great idea-"
"Ha!" Fred cuts him off, he was wearing one of the mustaches from the wall behind the tv, Ari made a mental note to question where he got that stuff.
"I mean, it's mostly a great idea." He elaborated. "Just not the part where we all go."
"You're right." Fred removes the mustache he put on Baymax. "Baymax is pretty conspicuous."
"No Fred, I have to go alone, I-I know that world. I'm the perfect spy." He knew his way around the ring, which person to not anger, and when matches were. He could practically do it with his eyes closed!
The others, on the other hand... had quizzical reactions, even his sister was frowning at him. "What? I can handle this, guys!"
"Yeah, but remember how Tadashi did everything he could to pull you out of the very dangerous, very illegal world of bot fighting?" Wasabi pointed out.
"I don't know Hiro, it might not be the best idea." Honey Lemon added.
Meanwhile, Gogo batted away the fake mustache Fred was trying to put on her. "Stop it!"
"I agree with everyone," Fred frowned, "except for Gogo's harsh denial of the mustache."
"Ari?" He turned to her, hoping that at least someone would agree with him.
"I have faith in you." Ari told him, he gave a sigh of relief. "A little bit."
"Kiddo, really?" Gogo shook her head.
"What? Hiro's just gonna go poke around, I trust him."
"See?" He pointed to her. "I won't actually be fighting, I-I'll only be there long enough to find out what Yama's up to. It's our best shot."
They all exchange reluctant glances, they didn't want to put Hiro in that situation but he was right. He was the one best equipped for spying, they just hoped it would only be for one night.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: The Noodle Burger I work at got hit
Fredzilla: Noodle Burger Boy….. : (
Mikan Ferns: Cry me a river
Gogo: Dude
Sara Ferns: Mika!
Hiro Hamada: Which Noodle Burger do you work at?
Sara Ferns: The Noodle Burger two blocks away from SFIT, most of my shifts are after school. So it's a quick walk
TheLittleMermaid: You got robbed?
Sara Ferns: It wasn't during my shift. I came in today and the manager told me that there was a robbery last night
Wasabi: Glad you weren't hurt
Sara Ferns: Thanks, but these serial robberies are ticking me off!
Sienna Kline: Same
TheLittleMermaid: Ditto, I'm this close to falling asleep on the counter
Fredzilla: Ari plz get some rest
TheLittleMermaid: No! I must keep alert!
TheLittleMermaid: I'll just chug coffee
Sara Ferns: You're too young
TheLittleMermaid: I work in a coffee shop and I do what I want!
It was late at night, Cass had closed the cafe and was fast asleep. Hiro was on his computer searching for where the latest bot-fight was. It felt like the old days, fresh outta high school and having an itch for mischief.
Ari leaned over his shoulder. "You seem excited."
"Uh-huh."
"Should I be concerned?"
He shook his head. "No, just reminiscing about older times."
"I didn't know you were a serious bot-fighter." Ari brushed a tuft of hair out of her eyes. "Frankly, I'm not sure what one is."
He swirled his chair so he was facing her. "Well, a bot-fighter is someone who competes in bot-fighting matches, battles with their homemade small robots, like Megabot here." He gestured to his bot, the smiley-faced bot that was currently collecting dust on his desk.
"Oh, why's it illegal?" She raised an eyebrow. "And why's it dangerous?"
"Long story." He turned to his screen, he had found a fight by the usual ring. "Welp, that's my queue. You guys stay here."
"But, Hiro-" Baymax spoke up.
"I'm sorry Baymax." Hiro scooted to the robot. "Yama's already bot-napped you once. It's safer if you stay here."
"Am I staying too?" Ari shivered. "I can come, I-I'm not scared of Yama anymore."
He raised an eyebrow. "You're not?"
"Y-yeah! He only kidnapped me because Obake told him too! And he's not gonna do that ever again so-so I'm good!"
"Then why are you shaking?" Hiro gestured to her shivering knees.
"I-I'm not!"
"Shivering can be a sign of low body temperature or a sense of fear." Baymax pointed out.
"Fine..." Ari huffed. "But if it is dangerous everyone says, I'd be a bad sister for letting you go back into that world."
Hiro placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not going back because I want to, I'm going because it's the right thing to do."
"It is the right thing to do. But it is also illegal. I do not understand." Baymax stared at him.
"I'll explain later." Hiro flipped up his hoodie and began walking down the stairs, but Ari pulled him into a hug.
"Last hug, be safe." She squeezed him tight and kissed his cheek. "I love you."
Hiro flashed her a warm, comforting smile. "I love you too, I promise to be safe."
He sprinted into an alleyway, a dog barked as he ran past neon colored signs and filthy dumpsters. He flipped his hood on as he entered a "abandoned" building, when in reality it was lit blue on the inside, and several other bot-fighters were in. He smirked a bit as he saw the match going on, he recognized Gus, an experienced bot-fighter with a scorpion bot fighting someone new. He ducked under the stairs when Yama and the referee walked past him.
The guards behind them were conversing. "The guy put mayo on my noodle burger after I said 'no mayo,' I had to hurt him."
"I like mayo."
As Yama headed upstairs, Hiro crept behind the crowd, curious about the match as people cheered.
That's when he saw her, and her wormlike bot.
She was about a year or two older than him judging by looks, her skin was fair, she had auburn hair and light cold-blue eyes. She wore a purple beanie, a pink sleeveless shirt, grey jeans with stars that went to her ankles, and black fingerless gloves. Her bot chittered as it circled the scorpion, and then a claw broke it. The girl gasped and the crowd cheered. The referee removed her name from the board.
"You've fought every night this week, and you haven't made it past the first round once!" Gus tossed a piece of her bot back to her. "Take some advice from a pro, Trina. Give up."
"You wish Gus." Trina sneered. "I'm playing the long game."
Hiro watched her leave the circle and retreat to one of the back corners where most fighters tweak their bots before a fight. He glanced to the stairs, now was his chance. He sprinted over but jumped to the wall when seeing two guards walk down.
"Ketchup on your noodle burger, I can get behind that. Mustard? Relish? Great." He snuck behind them.
"Mayo!"
Hiro took one step up the stairs and saw Yama heading down, he gasped, he was so dead for sure.
"Shh!" A pair of hands reached out and pulled him into a corner, Yama didn't notice.
Hiro got a good look at the face who rescued him. "Relax, would you?" It was Trina, she was speaking more softly to him.
"What're you doing?" He asked her.
"Saving you, obviously."
"I don't need saving." He stood up and hit his head. Hiro placed a hand to where he bumped into the ceiling. "But thanks." Hiro tried to walk away but Trina dragged him back.
"Why were you sneaking into Yama's office anyway? Last I checked, you were blacklisted, Hamada."
"I'm sorry, have we met?" He flipped his hoodie on, he didn't recognize her at all from his bot-fighting days, and he'd know a pretty face like th-wait what?
"Any bot-fighter worth their circuits knows you." She narrowed her eyes. "You were a legend. Until you became a loser."
"A what?" He huffed in offense. "I never lost!"
"Quitting is the same as losing." Trina pointed out. "Now get out of here before Yama sees you!"
"Uh, why do you care?" Hiro questioned, he got up to the stairs but yelped as Trina ran up to him and grabbed his hand.
"I don't." She backed him into a wall. "But if you cause trouble. Yama might shut the fights down, and I want to win."
There was only one way to get her off his back. "Yeah? No, me too." Hiro lied. "I'm actually un-retiring!" He slipped past her but she grabbed his hand again, later he'd admire her tenacity.
"Sure, that's why you're here with no bot." She replied sarcastically. "My mistake."
"No, your mistake was not shielding your memory unit properly." He pointed out.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. I mean, I'm the loser, right?" He parroted her words. "Who cares what I think?"
The crowd cheered behind them, Trina raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Huh, you still have your bark." She teased.
"Hey, I'm not rusty in everything." He glanced to the back corners/ "C'mon, I'll show you how to fix your error, let an old pro show your way around the ring."
"Pfft, what makes you think I'm a rookie?" Trina let him go, internally he gave a sigh of relief.
"Well, I saw your match with Gus." They began walking over, Hiro could've sworn a purple and black hooded figure with white hair poking from their hood was watching them go, but he shrugged it off. "How long have you been bot-fighting?"
"Few weeks, maybe a month." She shrugged. "Lost track of time."
Definitely a rookie, with an attitude. Hiro mentally chuckled, he was no better when he started out.
"See?" Hiro pulled up a tablet, showing Trina the problem with her newly fixed bot. "Those numbers mean your power source is outputting a B field that's corrupting your stored data."
"Huh." She grabbed the tablet. "Looks like you're right. Gotta beef up the shielding."
"You could do that. Or, you could focus on the extra B field and use it." He suggested, pointing out how it could be used as a laser for the bot. He glanced over to the ring where Yama had just won against another fighter.
"Maybe you're not a total loser." Trina told him.
He could only smile back. "Thanks, I guess." Hiro cleared his throat. "How often are you able to make it to the fights? Do you have to worry about parental supervision?"
"My father lets me do what I want." She shrugged. "My big sister sometimes comes to the matches and she wins a lot of money betting on bot-fights."
"Ah, a gambler is she?" Hiro chuckled. "So it's just you, your dad, and your sister?"
"Well there's a little brother, but he can be annoying." Trina joked. They both laughed.
"Ah, little siblings, I have a little sister, she can be a pain." He meant no offense to Ari… but sometimes she poked her head through the garage one too many times.
"Little sister?" Trina raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Ari, she's not my sister by blood, but she's family." Hiro explained. "You got a problem?"
"Nah, my brother and sister were adopted too, I'm the only one related to our father." Trina shrugged.
"Oh wow, sounds like the Fern kids." He joked. "They're three classmates I have who are siblings with no blood relation, David, Sara, and Mikan."
"Hm, I've heard of them." Trina hummed, there was gleam in her eyes.
"Cool." He felt his phone buzz, and nearly gasped as it was close to midnight!
Ari: Where r u?! I am this close to calling the team.
Hiro groaned. "And my sister's being a pain right now," he begrudgingly sent a text back.
Hiro: I'm on my way back. Chill.
"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow night." Trina flashed him a grin that made him smile.
"Sure, might as well watch you win." he chuckled. Hopefully the others wouldn't grind at him for that.
The next day…
He was wrong, so wrong.
At lunch, after telling them the info he found from fellow fighters on his way out. They all complained when he said he was going to have to go back. Oh come on, I'm still not fighting. And Yama's bot fighting the bots in the robberies isn't proof enough. Hiro thought to himself as Gogo and Fred claimed him to be a "face liar."
He ate his burrito in silence as the group gave him weird looks. He had enough and retreated to his lab to finish lunch. If he had brought Baymax to school, the robot might've claimed that chewing food and walking at the same time was hazardous.
Unfortunately he had to run into Ari when he entered his lab. His sister was fast asleep on his desk, he poked her and she yelped, jumping into the air.
"Ari." He groaned. "Why are you napping on my desk?"
"I took an extra hour on watch." She yawned. "And I wanna know how it went. Did you meet anyone new?"
"No." he lied.
"I can tell when you're lying at this point." Ari frowned, and he couldn't resist those ocean blue puppy eyes.
"Fine." Hiro huffed. "I met this girl named Trina-"
"A girl?"
"Shut up. She was nice, 'bit of a rookie and something." He just couldn't place that strange feeling.
His sister gave him a funny smirk. "What?" He frowned.
'And you give me grief for my crush on Juniper." She teased. "You seem to be liking this bot-fighter you just met… hmmm?"
"Oh shut up." He pushed her away. "Bot-fighting isn't illegal, betting on it is. And your crush is a thorn in our side whenever she and her mom bust out of jail."
"It was one time." Ari held up a finger. "And I'm just joking, I mean you can't be in love with someone you just met."
"You did."
"Dude, not cool." Hiro grinned when seeing her flustered reaction.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sienna Kline: The person next to my dorm is blasting Avril Lavinge and I am debating breaking down the walls and stuffing paint down their throat.
Rachel Rosemary: I'm gonna have to call my dad if you do that.
Sienna Kline: I was joking
Sara Ferns: "Sorry to hear love," -David
Gogo: Oof
Sienna Kline: Are headphones that expensive man?!
Mikan Ferns: Some are.
Sara Ferns: Yeah, if you want the good stuff
Rachel Rosemary: So what kind of music is dude playing?
Sienna Kline: MINA SAIKO, ARIGATO.
Gogo:
Sara Ferns:
Mikan Ferns: kawaii...
Sienna Kline: STOP BLASTING HELLO KITTY ON LOOP.
Rachel Rosemary: Yeah I don't blame you if you poison them. That's annoying.
Hiro felt great pride as he watched Trina's match, it was going better than last time since she took his advice. There was a moment in the match where her opponent thought he won, but then Trina's bot reformed, and laser blasted the other one down.
"Yes!" She cheered.
"It worked!" Hiro pumped a fist in the air, he headed to the back corners, and Trina walked up to him.
"Good call on the extra B field!" Trina playfully punched his shoulder.
"Yeah, but making that perfectly symmetrical focusing coil out of spare parts was all you." He rubbed his shoulder.
"I'm all about spare parts." She took a seat and began checking the code on her computer.
He picked up her bot. "Where'd you learn how to bot-build like that, anyway?"
"Self-taught." Trina took her bot and fiddled with it. "I watch, I learn." She plugged it into the computer. "Don't let this go to your head, but I watched all your fights."
Hiro blushed. "Yo-you did?"
"You were good." She grinned. "Why'd you quit?"
"I-I don't know." He looked down. "I'm over it now. Plus, my aunt wasn't a fan of bailing me out of jail."
"Pfft." She snickered. "You were pretty bad escaping when the police showed up."
"Hey!" Hiro crossed his arms.
"All I'm saying is, if you like something and you're good at it, why deny yourself?" She held up her controller, and he looked up at her. "We both know you wanna."
Hiro stared at the controller, he couldn't deny the itch he's had since returning to the ring. The desire to crush the opponent, the money, the power. He shook his head, thinking of how worried Ari had been!
"My sister would kill me." he sighed.
Trina softened her gaze. "I see, y'know a good sister would be accepting of what makes you happy. Like how my siblings are, she must be a stick-in-the-mud."
"No well..." Hiro couldn't help but think about how obnoxious her teasing was. "A little. She's been cranky due to staying up to prevent the cafe from getting robbed. So, I can't blame her."
"Paranoid much?" Trina hummed.
"Yeah." They talked for a while, Hiro kept a close eye on the match as he conversed with Trina. While she didn't bring up the topic of bot-fighting again, it did feel like a relief to speak with someone so relatable. He was getting sick of his sister and their friend's pestering, so it was a nice change of pace.
He felt a heavy feeling in his heart as he departed for home, but he knew that it would only last until he came back again.
The heavy feeling didn't go away as he headed upstairs to his room, he walked by his passed out sister on the counter, and stared at Baymax's charger when he reached the top. He opened the drawer he placed Megabot in the other day, behind him, the robot's charger beeped. As Hiro turned around, he bumped into Baymax's soft belly, and quickly pocketed Megabot. "Oh. H-Hi Baymax."
"Hello, Hiro. You are back late." Baymax stared down at him.
"Yeah I mean-I guess I lost track of time." He lied, then glanced outside. Oh wow it's practically morning, thank god I didn't run into Aunt Cass on my way upstairs then.
"Did you find proof that Yama is responsible for the crimes?"
"Well, no. I'm gonna have to head back. Again."
Baymax blinked at him. "Anyway, time for bed." He walked to his bed, hoping to get a few hours of rest, at least it was a weekend.
Ari woke up to a scream. "Ari!" she looked up and saw Cass pulling her into a hug. "Are you okay?!"
"Wh-what's going on?" She sleepily yawned. Cass lifted her up, and she saw what the scream was for.
The cafe was a mess, tables were knocked over, poor Mochi was tied up, and the register was gone.
"Oh no!" Ari gasped. "We got robbed! I'm so sorry!" She burst into tears as she untied Mochi.
"It's not your fault sweetie." Cass frowned. "Guess we weren't lucky in the robberies.
"Y-yeah, but I was keeping watch!" She huffed. "To the point I passed myself out..." The truth was that she stayed a few extra hours when Hiro left at night, and the toll paid it's cost.
"I gotta tell Hiro this." She muttered. He needs to find out who's causing these robberies fast.
When she got to SFIT with the bad news, Ari saw Honey Lemon and Wasabi also in Hiro's lab, inspecting a small robot.
"I found a string of code that allows an external remote overdrive." She heard Hiro say.
"Yama must be using his bot to infect the others when they're fighting." Honey Lemon added.
"He robbed the cafe." Ari spoke up, they turned to her and gasped.
"No! Say it isn't so!" Wasabi dramatically exclaimed. "nNot the Lucky Cat!"
"Yes." she yawned. "I tried so hard… but in the end, it didn't even matter."
"Aww don't say that." Hiro patted her shoulder. "We just need to find Yama's executable file, and we've got him."
"And how are we gonna do that?" Wasabi questioned, he was scraping some goop off of his boot.
"Easy." Hiro held out Megabot. "I'll keep Yama busy by fighting him while you guys break into his office.
"What?!" Ari gasped.
"Fighting him?!" Honey Lemon also gasped.
"What happened to just watching?" Wasabi frowned.
"Guys, don't worry, I've got this." He was about to exit but Ari stopped him.
"Hiro, I can't let you go back into the fight." She frowned, "we can just go in the morning or send out a distraction, or something not involving going back to an illegal-for-some-reason world!"
"You really are a stick-in-the-mud." He frowned. "I've got this."
"Hiro-"
Slam!
The door was slammed shut in front of her, Wasabi and Honey Lemon exchanged concerned glances.
Oh no… what do I do? Ari frowned, she was seeing her brother go down a dark path. He didn't even react much when I told him what happened to the cafe.
I need help, and fast.
AN: Here comes trouble!
And by trouble I mean Trina, great villain, but oh boy... you'll see
And yeah, the Lucky Cat was not safe from the robot robberies. I wonder if SOMEone had something to do with that.
Sorry n.n;
Hopefully Hiro doesn't do anything dumb next chapter... right?
hehehe
QOTW: Next chapter the teen siblings have a bit of an argument about the bot-fighting, so thoughts on this whole situation?