I thank December Slientvale and Whirlpool24 of Deviantart for helping me.
"Don't even think about it." The red creature sternly stated to the giant. "I think we have all had enough excitement for one night."
The giant opened its mouth, as if to protest, until the red creature interrupted him. "Nope! Don't even think about giving me that sad face! We are going to find a place to rest for the night and that's that!"
The giant somehow pouted and meekly nodded.
"Dude, relax." The blue creature told her companion. "There's no need to shout at him."
The red creature simply huffed and crossed his arms. "Well sorry if I don't want to be seen more than we have to and get captured by humans!"
"You worry too much. I doubt that boy and one other human would be enough to hurt him or us." The blue creature assured him.
"You don't worry enough!" He replied.
Sighing, the blue creature turned and addressed the giant. "He does have a point though." She admitted. "We have a big day tomorrow. It's best to get some rest. We can go find that human later after we all got a good night sleep. You do sleep right?"
Receiving a nod, the creature smiled. "Then let's get going."
Nodding, the giant turned away from the power station. Heading deeper into the forest to find a safe place for him and his new friends to sleep.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next morning, the three beings were up bright and early. For the moment they were simply exploring the area. The creatures were focused on getting a lay of the land in case they needed to hide.
As the giant walked through the woods, they all stopped as they heard his stomach growl. The two creatures on his shoulders felt the vibrations. The two creatures chuckled at this until the blue one's stomach growled as well. Leaving the giant and the red creature to chuckle at her.
"I'm hungry. What do you say we stop to find some food for our metal friend here and us?" She suggests to her counterpart.
"Hm. I guess. But it's going to be a little harder to find food for him than it is for us." The red one replied.
"We'll figure something out." She assured him.
"Why does that make me worry when you say that?" He whined.
Laughing at him, she directed the giant to head towards the town, but made sure he wasn't too close to be spotted by anyone. The creatures told him to not follow them and to try to wait for them to return. If someone came close and it wasn't them then he could leave and they would find him later. But they made sure he understood not to leave the forest.
Heading into town, the blue creature was feeling bold and despite her companion's protest, telling her they needed a plan first, she made her way into the back of the Diner's kitchen. Growling in irritation, the red creature followed her in. The kitchen was relatively quiet with only a handful of cooks preparing the meals. The only time they turned around was to place food on a counter as it waited for waitresses to come pick it up to deliver to customers.
Smiling with mischief, the two creatures hid below the counter. Using her tail, the blue creature slid food from the plate and onto the finned appendage like a spatula before slowly retracting it back underneath the counter for them to eat. Both thoroughly enjoying sandwiches, sausages, toast, and a few other foods they could get their tail and hands on.
Distracted by their meal, they failed to notice Annie, the mother of Hogarth, coming in through the door leading to the diner. In her hand a tray full of dirty dishes and scraps to be thrown away. Tired from last night, she had to do a double take to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But her eyes did not deceive her. Right there in the kitchen were two creatures, red and blue, sitting under a counter getting food off the plates sitting ready to be served. Taking only small portions so no one would notice the missing food.
They were just as her son had described to her last night. Especially the blue one.
She was so startled, she dropped her tray.
Jumping in surprise, the two creatures turned to see the cause of the noise. The brunette hair woman in pink pointing at them in shock as she trembled. Her scream locked in her throat and unable to escape. Her finger pointing at them as the chefs turned to see what the commotion was about. Unable to see the creatures from their hiding spot, the cooks only glared in irritation at Annie. The men were upset over the mess and they were already running short on dishes from the squirrel incident yesterday.
"Annie what the heck is wrong now?!" One of the chefs demanded as he put his fist on his hips, his expression stern.
"S-Sir there's a-," Annie began to say, pointing towards the two creatures under the counter, only for the two creatures snap out of their fright and quickly scurry out the door. Taking a bag of oranges with them as they escaped notice of the chefs.
"Well, spit it out!" The chef yelled, tapping his foot.
Hearing the door slam shut, all eyes turned to the source of the sound, only to see nothing.
"So help us if your son brought in ANOTHER squirrel! Annie, clean that mess up!" The second chef yells at her, fuming as he turns back to his sausages. "Oh and those broken dishes are coming out of your paycheck."
"I-!" Annie started to protest, only to shrink under the anger of the chef's and her boss. "Yes sir." Annie solemnly says and she bent down to clean up the broken dishes.
Looking up from the mess, she looked at the still swinging door. "My son wasn't lying about the creatures." She muttered to herself.
Meanwhile back in the forest, the two slowed down as they noticed that not one person was coming after them and panted to slow their breath. Using a tree to brace himself, the red one glares at his blue counterpart and notices the bag in her hand.
"See? This! This is exactly why I said we need a plan! And you had to take their oranges too?" He says as he crosses his arms.
Catching her breath, the blue creature's expression was stern. "Of course I did. We need this food. If we ration it properly, we won't have sneak back in any time soon." She pointed out.
Seeing her companion refused to budge, she signed as she prepared to admit her wrongs. "And I guess you were right about how some of the humans would react. We should have had a plan. But I'm not sorry about taking the oranges. I was trying to be practical and to plan ahead like you always tell me to. Anyway, that woman that saw us? I think she's the mother of that boy. She has the same hair and nose as he does." She says as she opens the bag and tosses him an orange.
"You're too laid back about these things!" He huffed as he caught the orange and started peeling it. "So what about the woman? So what if she's the boy's mother? That still doesn't change the fact that this makes three humans that have seen us. We're going to get into a heap of trouble if other humans believe them and start searching the forest for us! Not to mention there is a fifty feet tall giant running loose out here with us that eats metal!"
He ranted as he took a bit of the orange. His face twisting at the bitter taste, but unwilling to waste the food as he continued to eat. "There isn't exactly a lot of metal in the forest in case you haven't noticed. Sooner or later he'll have to get closer to towns in search of food. Humans are going to notice huge bites missing from their transports and stuff."
Signing, the red creature calmed down and slumped to the forest floor. Sensing her companion calming down, the blue creature sat down beside him and took out her own orange.
"What are we going to do?" The red creature asked. "We can't just abandon him."
"Don't worry, Dude." She assured him as she placed a comforting webbed hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure something out."
"What makes you so sure?" He asked.
"We've been friends for a long time now and have gone through some tight spots together before. As long as we have each other's back, there is nothing we can't do. Sure, we've never dealt with something this big before, but I think we can do it. Best friends forever?" She asked. Offering to do their special handshake.
Chuckling at the comforting and slightly silly gesture, the red creature lifted his own hand and they performed their ritual.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Traveling through the forest, the two creatures were having difficulty finding the giant.
"He's at least fifty feet tall! How does one lose something that big?!" The red creature ranted.
"We did tell him if someone came close and it wasn't us then he could leave and we would find him later. It was an oversight on our part. This forest is huge." The blue creature pointed out, only earning an aggravated growl from her partner.
"At least we know he should still be somewhere out here in the forest and not off wandering outside of it." The blue creature said, trying to look on the bright side.
"Thank goodness for small mercies." He said sarcastically. "At this rate we'll end up back at those lighting towers."
"You don't think he went back there to eat the rest of it do you?" She asked.
"It's really the only thing out here that's metal. And he was hungry enough for his stomach to growl. I certainly wouldn't put it past him." The red one said.
"Then we better go check." The blue one said. With a nod from her companion, the two headed back to the power station.
On the way there, they spotted the giant's footprints heading outside the forest. Picking up their pace, they spotted him in a farmer's field eating a tractor.
"No! No no no, put that back! It's not for eating!" They shouted.
Seeing his friends return, the giant swallowed the bit in his mouth and quickly put the tractor back.
"Come on, big guy. We need to get back to the forest. We're too exposed out here." The red creature ordered.
Picking up his friends, the giant did as he was bid and headed back to the forest. In the forest, they ended up heading back to the power station. When they got there, the place was swarming with humans as they attempted to clean up the place.
"Just great." The red creature muttered as he rubbed his face.
"At least the giant wasn't here when they started. They would have created a bigger commotion if they had found him." The blue one responded.
"Giant dude," The blue creature addressed him. "We're going to go see what's going on. Stay close by and out of sight of the humans. Those guys down there." She pointed to make sure the giant understood. "Got it?"
The giant nodded, and the two creatures slipped off the giant and into the trees.
Looking around, they spotted a man exiting a black car nearby, a bald eagle with shield over its chest and a question mark in each talon. A atom symbol above its head and surrounded by a blue ring with the words Bureau of Unexplained Phenomena on it.
The man in question wore a grey trench coat and fedora. A red tie around his neck which was darker than his auburn hair. His blue eyes staring off into the distance as he smoked his pipe.
Usually, the creatures had certain feelings about people. It was one of the reasons they were more okay with certain humans seeing them than others. They usually stayed out of sight as a general precaution. The man before for them was the sort of human they had bad feelings about. He was the type of human they avoided. The creatures didn't trust this man. They recognized a coward when they saw one.
They watched as the human showed some sort of badge to the head electrical worker. Growing curious what this man could mean for them and their friend, the two grew closer to overhear the conversation.
"Marv Loach. I'm the-" Marv began introducing himself only to be interrupted.
"What happened here?" Kent Mansley, the agent sent by the government as a field agent for the Bureau of Unexplained Phenomena, asked.
"Not sure. Sometimes the line'll snap if the weather is bad, sure." Marv admitted as he followed Kent up the road and through the wreckage of the power station. "But for a whole tower to get twisted up like that... whoa. It's got me beat. It's almost like it was bitten off by some enormous beast." Marv described.
Listening to Marv, Kent Mansley pulled out pen and paper, writing down notes and Marv's statement. The creatures could tell from Kent's expression and his tone that he didn't believe Marv. "Enormous beast, yeah. What do you think? Escaped gorilla?" Kent asked.
"Err," Marv uttered, knowing it sounded crazy. "What department is that again?"
Taking a few steps forward, Kent was dismissive of the entire thing. "Frankly, I'm not at liberty to reveal the particulars of the agency I work for... ...and all that that implies."
"You mean the," Marv started to ask, using his hand to help quieten his voice and softly continue his question. "national security?"
"Hmm. Let's put it this way. Every once in a while, things happen... ...that can't be rationalized in a conventional way." Kent began as he started to walk away. "People wanna know that their government has a response. I am that response." He pointed to his chest. "So were there any witnesses?"
"Well, sir, if you'll just follow me." Marv asked as he adjusted his belt and led Kent to his truck. Opening the back of his truck, Marv took out what was left of Hogarth's BB Gun. "We did find this."
As the BB Gun was handed over to him, Kent examined it. The words 'Hog Hug' were the only thing that could identify the owner.
"United States Government, huh? Guess that means something big's happening here, eh?" Marv asked.
"No, Marv. Big things happen in big places." Kent informed him, showing the contempt the agent held for the town of Rockwell. "The sooner I fill out my report, the sooner I can get back to them."
With that, Kent walked away from Marv carrying the BB Gun, muttering to himself sarcastically. "Enormous beast, yeah..." He chuckled as he entered his car. "Biggest thing in this town is probably the homecoming queen-" Kent muttered, dropping the BB Gun as he noticed not only missing seat, but the entire other side of the car had a chunk bitten out.
"OH MY GOD!" Kent yelled as he jumped out, terrified, and his fedora fell off. Looking around, he then quickly runs back to the power station.
The two creatures snickered at the human's reaction before they noticed as Kent left that their friend was still there. His arm emerging from the trees as he presumably took the rest to eat.
"Come on. We need to get him out of here before he's spotted." The red creature said.
Together, the two headed into the forest after their friend.
As they left, Kent returned escorting Marv to his car.
"Come on Marv, I need a witness. It's around the corner." Kent frantically urged the other man along.
"Don't pull so hard." Marv told him.
Kent paid him no mind as he started panicking. "I've never seen anything like it. It's like a big, big "chomp" out of the side of the car." He gestured with his hands. "It's like a bite out of a ham sandwich, like a-" He trailed off, lost for words when he saw his only evidence was gone. Only his fedora and the BB gun remained.
Marv was confused. "What err- What are we looking at here, Mr. Manley?"
"Something big, Marv." Kent answered as he surveyed the forest, picking up the damaged BB gun. "Something big."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Far away from the government agent, the 'something big' was happily finishing off the rest of the car as the blue creature laughed.
"Well that was something," She chuckles, remembering the agent's face. "And that should do until we can find a lot more for him to eat."
"Yeah, but now that nasty human is going to stick around more," The red one angrily pointed out to his companion.
"Chill, dude." The blue creature waved off his concern. "We'll just have to be more careful. We'll figure something out. For now, into the forest, my metal friend." She directed the giant as the three of them headed away from the humans.
In the distance, a voice calling out caught the blue creature's attention as she angled her years to listen closer.
"Hello! Come out! Hey, big metal guy, I got food here for you! Metal! Crunchy, delicious metal! Come and get it!"
"Hey dude, do you hear that?" She asked.
"Yeah." He replied.
"Isn't it that kid from last night again? And did he say he's got food?" She asked.
"Sounds like it." Looking at her expressing, the red creature sighed as he knew she wanted to check it out. "Let's go." He groaned.
Following where the sound originated, the three soon found the boy hiding behind a log with a camera. Leaning against a stump, was a sheet of metal.
The giant, being a curious creature, leaned in for a closer as camera went off in the boy's face.
The red and blue creature jumped at the sound it made, but settled down when nothing bad happened.
As the boy continued to watch the sheet of metal, he soon grew bored and laid down on the tree limb he was hiding behind. It wasn't long until he fell asleep. Taking the opportunity, the giant approached the metal sheet. The sound of the footsteps startled the boy awake as he pulls out the camera as he sees the small tree stump, the sheet of metal gone.
Turning back around, he gasped in surprise as it reappeared beside him, but bent. Looking up, the boy's eyes widen as he looks up to the giant robot with the creatures on his shoulders. Before the creatures could say anything, the boy turned and ran off in fright. The robot began to follow him, not understanding why his other little savior was running away from him.
Hogarth continued to run, until he ran smack right into a tree limb. The force of which knocked him to the ground and his nose bleed as the giant robot caught up and approached him. The creatures jumped off to land right next to him. Hogarth looked up at the giant robot and the creatures. The Giant bent down to get a better look then say down in front of Hogarth as the ground shook and Hogarth cringed in fear.
For a moment, there was noting but silence. Slowly calming down, Hogarth stretched his legs out and the robot did the same.
Seeing as they were not hostile to him, the boy was first to break the silence.
"So I guess you're not gonna hurt me, huh?" Hogarth asked calmly.
"We wanted to thank you." The blue one spoke.
Hogarth jumped at the sound of her voice, surprised that they even could.
"You can talk?" He muttered in awe.
"Yep, me and my partner have being doing it for ages. The big guy can't yet, but we're working on it." She informed him.
Shaking his head out of his stupor, Hogarth addressed her words from before. "Thank me? For what?"
The creatures didn't respond, instead, the Giant reached over and dropped the bent switch in front of him.
Recognizing it, Hogarth was once again surprised. "The shutoff switch." Looking up, he addressed the giant. "You saw me save you."
The giant said nothing, his metal face somehow expressing nothing but innocence as he continued to watch Hogarth.
"So where are you from?" Hogarth asked, trying to start up a conversation with the aliens. "You came from the sky, right? From up there." Hogarth pointed at the sky. "Don't you remember anything?"
"Well, he did." The Blue one answered, pointing to Giant.
"Hmm," Hogarth hummed as he looked over the giant. "Maybe it's that bump from your head." He suggested.
Having it pointed out, the robot placed his finger on his head, feeling the dent.
"We came from the ocean." The blue creature continued.
"Hey! There's no need to tell him that!" The red one hissed.
"Calm down! The ocean is huge. It's not bad to admit where we came from." The blue one replied.
"Do you two have names?" Hogarth asked as he watched them fight.
Snapping back the human, the two shared a sad look before they answered in unison. "We don't remember."
Hogarth brought a hand up to his chin as he thought for a moment. "I got it! You could be called Flame." He says, pointing to the red one. "And you could be called Pearl." He says, pointing to the blue one.
Thinking over the name, the newly dubbed Pearl smiled and nodded in agreement. "Hmm I like that name."
"It's...ok," He said after thinking about it for a moment.
"So, let's see if we can teach him more words," Hogarth picked up a rock, "See this? This is called the rock. Rock."
"Rok," The Giant repeated.
"Oh that's pretty good," Pearl said and then ducked as Giant picked up a huge boulder behind her.
"Rock?" Giant asked Hogarth and showed it to him.
"Good," Hogarth said with a smile.
"Though a rock of that size is a boulder," Flame pointed out.
"Rock," Giant said as he pulled out a pine tree.
"No, no. That is a tree," Hogarth said to him and then gestures between the two "Rock." "Tree. Get it?"
"Rock." "Tree," Giant said as he looked at the boulder and the tree.
"That's right!" Hogarth exclaimed excitedly and grinned, "Wow, my own giant robot, I am now the luckiest kid in America! This is unbelievable. This is the greatest discovery since, I don't know, television or something. I gotta tell someone. I should call- No, they'll panic. People will always wig out and start shooting when they see something big like you."
"Hmm?" Iron Giant asked in confusion.
"Wig out?" Pearl asked in confusion as well.
"Wig out. It means crazy. You know like...uh..." Hogarth said and then shows them by blubbering and wiggling his fingers by his head.
Then the Giant copied him.
"No, no! Don't do that!, " Hogarth chuckles and then points to Iron Giant, "That's the kind of stuff that makes them shoot at you."
Meanwhile Kent Mansley is at the mayor office to tell the officials what he saw.
"Two nights ago a fisherman ran aground with an unknown object he claimed came from the sky. People assume it was a meteor or a downed satellite, " He said to them while peeking out of the blinds like to make sure someone wasn't listening in from outside with his pipe and then turned back to them, "This is no meteor gentlemen. This is something far more dangerous. So-"
"So, we can't call Ripley's Believe It or Not! because they wouldn't believe it, " Hogarth carried on like he had for a while. In fact, Giant was starting to lull off and then jolted back awake to pay attention, "And uh...oh it's getting dark and if I don't get home soon, Mom's gonna wonder where I am and if she comes looking for me and sees you guys, then we got a screaming problem again."
"Actually your mother already saw us. We...had to make a food stop in the kitchen of her diner," Flame said and looked at Pearl as she smiled sheepishly.
"You saw my mom?!," Hogarth exclaimed and then bit his lip, "Uh, did she wig out?"
"Well she did shriek and that's when we had to leave," Pearl said as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Ok then in that case, for now, would you, you know, just...just stay here, okay? I'll come back tomorrow," Hogarth asked them and then watched Giant collect Flame and Pearl before standing all the way up, "Wow! Well, goodbye."
Hogarth started to walk away and Giant started to follow him.
"No no no. Me go, you stay. No following. I'll bring food for you two as well, " Hogarth told him and then waved him off. As he started to walk he heard giant footsteps behind him and got irritated, "I told you! I'll come back tomorrow! Now stay! Geez Flame, Pearl can't you make him understand?!"
"We'll try but it's not like we've known him for very long," Flame said and then turned to him, "Giant we can't follow him. We have to stay-"
Giant cut him off by following Hogarth more and Flame had to latch onto his shoulder piece to keep from falling off.
"No no no no! Bad Robot," Hogarth shouted in the distance.
"Giant stop!" Flame shouted as well as Pearl tried to help him back up.