Yato dashed down the white line, following a long tunnel leading from the terminal. There was more LED lighting ahead, the vehicle carrying his beloved stopping for a moment before veering right. Yato ran after them, only to almost get run over by another hovering vehicle. He threw himself back as his sensors went wild. There were robots big and small, mixing at high speeds with more cyborgs than he's ever met.
Craning his neck over around the corner, Yato saw Hiyori's transporters drive towards the left end of the hall. Yato hissed out her name, looking back and forth for some sort of direction system. There was none so the Wall-E looked down at the lines. It was a six-lane highway, all with the vehicles flying off the ground. It gave him an idea.
His boots took five big steps back, then charged full tilt. Yato dropped to the floor, his ribs and hip sliding along the polished floor. Before he could go further, he latched onto the bottom of an oncoming transport. Even in space, his body was too heavy to lift off the ground, so his back slid across the floor. He could see Hiyori's pod pausing for a spell, waiting to turn left.
Yato grunted at the back-burn and wrapped an arm around the side. The thing rocked as the Wall-E heaved his body on top. Rolling on like he would onto a hammock. Thankfully, there was no one on the vehicle, but that also meant there were no controls. He saw Hiyori's transport turn left as his approached closely behind. Yato panicked when his vehicle began to merge in the opposite direction. He looked to the sky and sighed.
"The things I do for love." Yato let his body fall to the left, latching onto the front and twisting the right side up. The air under the transport hummed at a higher pitch as it was pushed off it's course and latched onto a new floor-line. Around him, other cyborgs honked and hollared at him. Yato sheepishly waved behind him before leaning forward. He willed the transport to move faster, Hiyori and the three other cyborgs in sight. If possible, an even brighter light glowed from the end of the tunnel. Hiyori's was enveloped first, then Yato. He squinted against the unnatural brightness, then opened his eyes.
Massive. The area he found himself in must be the main deck, but, there was just a pool? The ceiling had a cartoon sun and some clouds, providing enough light for the entire area. Even without it, the walls and buildings surrounding the resort were covered with electronic advertisements. They overlapped each other and showed nothing but entertainment and food in a cup.
Yato gasped out in awe. This room alone- if you could call it that- put the city to shame. Even in it's old glory days. His hover pod slowed down and Yato snapped out of his daze. In front of him was another hovering device. This one looking like a chair. Yato's head shot up when he noticed there were in fact human heart beats around him. All around him. In the chair in front of him, and in the multitude chairs that now joined him as he continued onto another highway.
Massive. These people, humans if his sensors weren't mistaken, were much larger than he remembered them being. They rivaled hogs or hippos, their faces taking on a huge pear shape. All of humans wore red onesies. Each person's face was four inches way from a personal holographic screen. Yato peeked at the woman next to him, another woman was on the screen speaking to her. To his shock, the woman next to Yato spoke back. He was amazed by this futuristic phone, until he heard an echo behind him, and he saw the woman on the screen sitting on the other side of him.
Yato rolled his eyes, then shook his head. He needed to focus on following Hiyori. Her transport was just up ahead, waiting in line at what looked like a train station. He couldn't lean with his transport squished between these massive bodies. Yato stood up, flailing his arms to keep balance on his new surf board. He was in the third lane out of four. Only one line separated him from Hiyori.
The Wall-E looked to his right. There was a very large man with slick-back brown hair coming this way on his chair. He would have to time this just right. The man sipped on his meal, eyes lazily on the screen, completely unaware. Yato bunched his muscles, hoping these hover chairs had a strong balance system.
Brown boots landed securely on the top of the chair's back, the entire thing tipping backwards. The brown-haired man dropped his drink as he flailed his chubby arms.
"What the-!" He shouted in a gruff voice.
Yato landed safely on the other side, sighing in relief. The ground beneath him shook, but it couldn't have been him. Similar words from Yukine were shouted at him and Yato turned to see the man on the ground. He was on his stomach with a fierce expression, asking what just hit him. It was clear he didn't see the Wall-E, so Yato started making his way to the station.
"Hey! Someone? Hey! Help!" the grounded man's cries sounded to strong for someone who could only roll over. Yato whined looking towards the ceiling for some sort of holy guidance. He balled his fists up and swung them before groaning out loud. Yato rushed back to the stubbly-pear-faced man-pig.
The Wall-E slowed his movements. Two more Secur-Ts stood beside the human, one trying desperately to help him back into the chair. The other stood, alerting oncoming traffic that the pathways have concaved off their straight path to avoid further accidents. Yato nearly laughed. The Secur-T cyborg trying to help the man back in his chair was a little blading man with round glasses. He sweated and grunted along with the human, practically shaking, trying to avoid being crushed.
"Tsuguha, please come and assist- oh! Thank you, that was fast- huh? Who are?" The male Secur-T blinked his beady eyes as Yato scooped the human from under his arms and lifted him up. The two cyborgs heaved and the big human was back in his chair, pieces of slick back hair falling out of place. They both stared at the Wall-E in confusion while Yato craned his neck to see Hiyori's transport next in line. By now the other Secur-T had ran up.
"Okay, Akiha, sir! The signs have arrived! I'm so sorry for the inconvenience! Thank you for your patience." Her bun bobbed as she ran over in a panic. She, too, blinked I awe behind glasses at the cyborg in dirty brown wearalls. Yato ideally wondered why they needed glasses. Was it possible these Secur-T didn't have eye inserts?
"Who are you? What the hell is a Wall-E?" The sitting man narrowed his brown eyes, mouth set in a bit of a scowl. Yato decided he liked this human. He seemed honest.
"I'm Yato!" The Wall-E stuck out a hand. The man looked at his hand, then Yato, then back at his hand with a raised brow. After some deliberation he nodded.
"Daikoku." his chubby fingers gripped Yato's fully as he shook hands once before letting go and crossing his arms. Out of the corner of his eye, Yato saw the hover-train round the pool deck.
"I appreciate you helping me out. Sometime these new glorified mall cops do things too by the book. I owe you one-hey! Don't run off when I'm praising you!" Daikoku hollered after the Wall-E. Yato didn't even look back but waved over his shoulder.
The train was almost done being loaded, Hiyori's pod sideways between two humans. Yato ran up to the open side, hurtling over the blue safety fence that shot up out of the floor. He stumbled and crashed against the back wall, finally taking a breather. Yato found himself nestled between two chairs that faced over the fence, not that anyone was looking past their screens. Hiyori was to his left, just on the other side of a young human.
The vehicle hovered around the pool, zooming further into the massive space cruise. Above them, and the ads, Yato saw tons of tiny apartments. Below, appeared to be entertainment and food courts. Robots, controlled by people behind screens, played sports both new and old. They passed a school, where children sat in floating desks and hunched over desks equipped with holo-screens.
Yato peaked around the woman next to him. Hiyori was still sound asleep, the two Sectur-Ts sitting with their backs to him. At the very front sat the Go-4, tapping on the screen embedded in his fore arm. The Wall-E had to get over there. First, Yato wriggled his leg around the back of the floating chair. He doubted this curly-pink-haired woman would notice him switch spots with her. Pushing forward, his chest gently pushed the chair. Until the train took a right turn and this heavy weight champion crushed him. The Wall-E held back a cry and pushed the chair with more force, just enough to get back out.
He felt for his speaker, happy that it wasn't cracked again. He was much too far to get replacements. This woman still happily chatted away to the screen, young eyes shining with laugher. She looked friendly enough to approach.
"'S'cuse me?" Yato said, "'S'cuse me?"
He shook her chair this time, but she didn't notice. He just watched as her and the people around her somehow changed the color of their onesies from red to blue. The last thing he need was to alert the other cyborgs. How long had it been since he last spoke to a non-working human? Had he ever?
"Um," Yato waved his fingers through the screen, "Excuse me?"
He pulled back when her screen flickered out a view and she jumped. Yato was about to address her again, a little impatient, when he saw her eyes focus. Her mouth opened slightly and she leaned forward. No one but Yato even acknowledged her sound of awe as they whizzed past dancing colors and lights. She acted like she was the one from Earth. She then seemed to remember something, the bright pink curls bobbing.
Yato blinked with wide eyes when she turned to look at the culprit. He bit his tongue as she looked him up and down. He didn't think he could take another confused disgusted look, followed by fairly obvious questions. But to his surprise, a smile grew across her rosy cheeks.
"Wow! You're kinda cute!" she squealed.
The Wall-E grew warm in the face. Her face showed she was genuine, if not a little playful. Yato decided he liked her.
"My name is Kofuku! Please to meet you!" The woman, Kofuku, introduced herself.
"Hello Kofuku! My name is Yato, but I'm sure you could already tell that." Yato said, giving a mock bow. When he looked up at her with a grin, she mirrored it with just as much mischief.
"Was there something you needed from me, Yatty?"
"Yatty? Oh um, I just need to sneak past you." Yato pointed at Hiyori's pod. Kofuku looked to where he was pointing, but didn't move.
"Oh she's so cute!" Kofuku turned and shouted in excitement. Her chair rocked as she leaned towards him with sparkling eyes. Yato agreed just as enthusiastically.
"Are you two together?" Kofuku practically purred.
"Ah well, no. I mean! Not yet anyway."
"An Eve huh?" Her eyes narrowed with amusement, "That's pretty high class." She leaned in more and Yato put a hand against the back of her chair. Yato let out a small laugh, this woman was the gossip type but she meant no harm. Yato was happy to humor her right back.
"Yeah. She's like, the spoiled rich daughter of a doctor or something. But it was love at first sight. We just had a connection, you know? I guess you could say we're soulmates." Yato decided with his arms crossed. He had his nose up in the air, but when he looked back at her he saw she wasn't smiling.
Kofuku's eyes were wide and her lips slightly parted. Yato feared he offended her in some futuristic way but she quickly covered the expression with a smile. He couldn't see her eyes, but the familiarity of the expression hurt him.
"'Soulmates', huh?" She sat back in her chair, "That sounds really sweet."
Yato blinked and stood a little straighter, understanding drawing his face with hard lines. He licked his lips and pressed them together, rubbing the ends of his fingertips together to try and dry the awkward sweat. He looked off the train to the blur of neon lights. The Wall-E's heart urged him to at least try.
"Yeah. You know, everyone has one." Yato focused his maya colored eyes to hers when she felt them on him. Kofuku's wide eyes looked at him, hopeful and confused. When the silence stretched on, Yato's eyes flickered away then back to her.
"Soulmate." He clarified.
"Do you really mean that?" Kofuku leaned closer, her chair rocking sideways. The Wall-E gave an awkward smile at the stars that danced in her eyes.
"I do," Yato was surprised that every word was true, "I think you have one too, a soulmate. But I think you would have a better chance of finding him if your face wasn't so buried all the time." Kofuku giggled and fell back in her chair, happiness coloring her cheeks. The train slowed into the station. Once the door was down, passengers started leaving the transport. The Gopher began turning the transport off the trains.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Kofuku agreed with a small smile.
"And you know what," Yato stepped off after them, but turned to look at Kofuku over his shoulder, "He would be a fool not to be looking for you too."
Yato followed Hiyori's pod out of the train station and off towards the rear of the ship. The Wall-E's lungs heaved as he signaled his body for long distance running. He tried to stay along the sides and just out of earshot, the LED glare off of Hiyori's pod the only thing he could see. Yato followed her into an empty part of the ship, looking to be a sports complex. Then they slowed down to a completely different environment.
For one thing, this part of the ship had a severe lack of advertisements, and overall color for that matter. The floor went from an off white to a black marble, the walls were lined with windows without balconies. Inside, the Wall-E saw something rare on this ship: people working. Cyborgs, his mind filled in for him. He nearly slowed to a stop as he watched men and woman in business attire, type away and answer phones. Across from them were more offices, filled with long tables of cyborgs and robotic arms, building new machines or fixing others.
In front of Yato, the Go-4 brought Hiyori in front of a large grand door made entirely of glass. The room surrounding it didn't look too big, but a long tube stretched from it seemed to touch the very ceiling.
The Wall-E took in a sharp breath and picked up the pace. Up ahead, the transport had made its way into the glass doors, the Go-4 speaking to someone at the front desk.
"No!" Yato was just reaching the glass doors when Hiyori's pod was brought into an elevator and was sent careening upwards. The Wall-E burst through the entrance and slowed to a stop in the middle of the room. He let out a groan and let his torso fall forward, saved by his hands on his knees. The sound of Yato's heaving was interrupted by a stiff voice.
"Who are you? And what are you doing in the Captain's Lobby?" The man practically barked. Yato looked slightly to the left of the elevator to see a tall desk with two similar looking men behind it. The cyborg that just addressed Yato like he walked in naked, had long black hair that fell past the desk, and wore a white and black uniform. His eyes were also dark, squinting at him due to the twisted, angry expression he was giving the cleaner.
"Was there something you needed help with?" The other man leaned forward and spoke to Yato in a much softer tone. This one had the same hair style and eyes, only his were a much lighter color. His hair was a fair blonde while his skin was much paler, he looked like a copy that ran out of ink.
Yato jogged up to the desk as both cyborgs followed him with their similar eyes. The desk was just high enough to settle under his chin. The Wall-E hooked his fingers on the pristine counter top and finally caught his breath. From this close he could read the cyborgs' types and names. They were both Typ-Es. The soft blonde is named Kiun, while the one that looked at the Wall-E like he just cut him off on the interstate, is named Take. It was odd how some cyborgs had names and not others. He would have to ask Yukine about that later.
"Yeah, hi. I'm a Wall-E from Earth and I was, um, on that transport? And I, uh, fell off." The end of Yato's sentence tilted up in question. Both Typ-Es' eye brows raised to their hairline as they looked down at Yato's most convincing smile.
Take did a spit take, then let out a howl of laughter. Yato's cheeks went pink and his brows pinched together when the man proceeded to laugh himself to the floor. Kiun, on the other hand, continued to stare at Yato, as if in a trance.
"So," Yato cleared his throat and looked to Kiun, "if you could just let me go wherever they went, I'd really appreciate it." Yato glared when Take tried to crawl back on his chair only to make eye contact with the cleaner and fall back down, tears streaming from his eyes. This seemed to snap Kiun out of whatever he was in, and the blonde straightened up.
"I'm sorry, but we can't let you into the Captain's Chamber without proper representation and, or identification." Kiun informed. At this point, Take was back in his chair, superior expression on his face as if he wasn't just rolling on the floor.
"That's right. And I doubt you have either," Take crosses his arms, "only the elite with high qualifications may hold an audience with the captain of Heaven's Sun." The Typ-E stuck his nose in the hair. Yato didn't have much experience with his type, but if he wanted to get up to Hiyori, he would have to play fairly.
"By 'elite' do you mean yourself?" Yato just wanted to clarify. Take took the bait, hook, line and sinker.
"Why of course! Kiun and I are the gatekeepers for the captain! We hold almost the same rank as Bishamon!" Take leaned back in his chair and chuckled, looking up at the ceiling.
"So I'm guessing you are more advanced than us little guys."
"But of course! I'm a Typ-E for the caption! Its necessary I am able to out-preform lower lever workers." Take looked Yato up and down with a smug expression. Next to them, Kiun grew bored and fell asleep. It must be hard being such a high-performance cyborg.
"Anything I can do you can do better?" Yato double checked.
"Of course!" Take proclaimed. Yato sighed in mock despair, leaning dramatically against the counter top.
"You're probably right. You really could beat me in anything, an inferior machine like me can't even hope to win against you." The Wall-E mourned while Take's nose grew bigger. But then Yato straightened up, catching the other man's attention.
"Well, I mean, anything except Rock-Paper-Scissors." Yato leaned against the counter with a polite smile. The Wall-Es eyes flicked back up at the Typ-E to see he had jolted into a sitting position. Yato looked at his nails, trying to snuff out his smile.
"I can defeat you in anything! Even this pointless 'rock-paper-scissors'." Take used air-quotes around the name of the game.
"I don't know," Yato drawled, "I'm pretty good. Back home, you could say I'm the best."
"Ha! The only 'best' here is me!"
"Ah, well, it's pointless anyway."
"Pointless though it may be, I can't allow you to be in the caption's lobby-in my presence- and claim to be better than me at something. Now, miscreant, explain the rules." Take listened intensely to the rules of such an important Earth game. Kiun, being shaken awake to ensure there was no cheating, listened as well.
"That's it? Ha! If this is your best, you cleaners really are low on the totem pole. This is hardly worth my time." Take said.
"Well then, how about we raise the stakes?" Yato quirked a brow. The Typ-E grinned and hopped down from his chair, making his way to the front of the desk.
"What could you possibly offer me?"
"If I win, you let me go to the caption's chamber. If you win, you can escort me to the chamber, and announce how you captured a stowaway singlehandedly." Yato said, hoping that would be enough.
"You're on, Wall-E!" Take agreed, looking excited by such a thrilling thought. They set up their hands, fist in palm, facing each other with hunched backs.
"Is the jingle really necessary?" Take asked with chagrin.
"Yes! You can't play rock-paper-scissors without the rhyme! It's common curtesy and gives you time to think-"
"-Alright, alright, I get it. Let's just get to it!" Take put on airs again. His confident, challenging smirk back in place. The two looked up to Kiun, who nodded with an amused smile. Then, the game commenced.
"What!"
"Ha!"
"No!" Take roared down at his fist, signaling rock. He then gave Yato the most fiery look of rage the Earthling has ever seen.
"I win, Take." Yato shrugged, waggling his fingers in the paper position.
"Kiun!" Take's head whipped to question the verdict. The blonde Typ-E just shrugged and declared Yato the winner. Take let out a righteous cry of fury.
"I'm the winner! Now let me-"
"-Best two out three!" Take interrupted Yato, getting in the ready position. Yato rolled his eyes and did the same. Several games and aggressive singing later, Yato was still victorious.
"Best 5 out of-"
"Enough!" Yato shouted, he pointed straight at Take's face.
"I win and that's that! Now let me through!" Yato demanded.
"I will do no such thing!" Take crosses his arms, "There's no way you could- Kiun!"
"Yes?" Kuin perked up from his spot over the keyboard. His innocent face not distracting them from the sound of the elevator door opening. Yato nodded in thanks and made a break for it. Take howling and waving his fist after him.
"Come now, Take. How about I practice with you?" Kiun said as Yato waved at him from the elevator. Take grumbled and made his way back behind the ridiculously tall desk. Their newfound past time, the last thing Yato saw before the doors shut and he was sent soaring upward.