Episode 2: Where it all began part 2

If a person looked in the dictionary and found the word bad luck, they would find a picture of Ikki Tenryou printed next to it. Having slept in that morning, the ten-year-old boy had a rude awakening in the form of the school bus drifting down the road without him. Without so much as a goodbye to his mother, the boy frantically raced out the door with a piece of dry toast stuffed into his mouth as he raced down the street trying to hail the bus down. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, and Ikki was forced to run as fast as he could and hope that he made it before the first bell.

The good news was that the school wasn't very far from his house; just a few blocks and a jump across the four-way intersection next to the mini-mart. However, the bad news was that there was a road block, three roadblocks to be exact, and their names were Samantha, Sloan, and Spike. These three were kids from his school with a nasty reputation. Together, they formed a gang called the Screws, and their lot in life was to make everyone within reach miserable. They pranked teachers, beat up kids for lunch money, and Samantha, the worst of the lot, forced her two underlings to do her own homework. This was all bad enough, but, for reasons Ikki still couldn't figure out, they seemed to delight themselves the most by tormenting him.

As he came upon the intersection, Ikki had to stop short because of the green traffic signal. As the cars went about their business, Ikki was anxiously waiting for the light to turn red again. By his guess, the first bell had most likely already run. Granted, that wasn't exactly a good thing, but he figured he could live with it.

"As long as I make it there before they show up." he muttered to himself.

At last, the walk signal switched on, and Ikki prepared to sprint the rest of the way. He started to cross the street, but something suddenly snatched him by the back of his collar. He was then flung backwards and onto his rear, and he looked up with terror into the faces of the Screws. An insurmountable amount of dread was coursing throughout Ikki's body, and he gulped heavily as he fished for something to say. However, Samantha beat him to the punch.

"Well look who it is, Screws." She had a voice like nails on a chalkboard. "If it ain't our old friend Ikki. Late for school, ain'cha Ikki?"

Ikki smiled and offered a nervous chuckle. "I, uh, kinda slept in. You know how it is."

He began to slowly get to his feet.

"I know you guys must have a lot of plans to get back to, so I don't let me get in the way of them. I'll just be going now. Bye!"

He started to make a dash between them, but he was stopped short when Sloan and Spike filled the gap.

"Ah, no you don't." Spike jeered as he and Sloan grabbed Ikki by both arms. "What do you think we should do with him boss?"

Samantha flashed them a wicked grin, and she beckoned for them to follow. Sloan and Spike dragged Ikki into the alley next to the mini-mart, and they could see Samantha standing next to a newly opened dumpster. Ikki's eyes went wide with horror, and he struggled to escape his captor's grip, but by then it was too late. Sloan and Spike them him by the arms and legs, and then, upon Samantha's command, they tossed him into the open dumpster. Samantha then slammed the lid shut, and she and her gang cut loose with wild laughter.

"Gotta run, Ikki!" she said as she tapped on the side of the dumpster. "Some of us actually plan on getting to school today." With that, she and her cronies made their way out of the alley, across the street, and on their way to school.

About an hour later, one of the employees of the mart was walking out the backdoor with a large bag of trash. This was Henry, the clerk, and he was in for a rude awakening. He flung open the dumpster lid, and his eyes popped open when he saw a kid sitting among the trash.

"Ikki?!"

The boy looked up. "Hey, Henry."

The older boy immediately dropped his bag of trash and reached inside. He pulled Ikki loose, and he crinkled his nose.

"Yeesh, what a smell!" He placed two fingers over his nose. "Screws again?"

Ikki nodded dejectedly, and Henry scoffed.

"For crying out loud, this is getting ridiculous!" He started to go back into the store, and he motioned for Ikki to follow. Once inside, Henry called Ikki's mom to pick him up. As they waited, Henry bought the boy a soda in a weak attempt to make him feel better. The boy looked mighty low, and it only made Henry angrier. This wasn't the first time he had to pull Ikki out of a jam because of the Screws, and he was one of the few people that ever seemed to notice when those three acted up.

About an hour later, Ikki's mother, Chidori, Tenryou arrived in her car. After thanking Henry profusely, she gathered up her son, and the two of them made their way back home. It should be said that if ever there ever was a saint in the world, it would be Chidori Tenryou. The entire ride home, she didn't make a single comment about Ikki missing school or his horrendous odor. Once they were home, she ushered him to the bathroom to get cleaned up, and she prepared him a cup of hot chocolate. For the rest of the day, she kept Ikki company with the one thing she knew would perk him up: Medabots.

Quite easily the biggest thing to hit the world over for fifty years, Medabots were model sets of robots, and Ikki absolutely adored them. The greatest appeal was their power sources: the hexagon shaped medals. When installed, the tiny robots could be moved about by remote control. While collecting them was half the fun, the real enjoyment came from pitting two medabots against one another in robattles. The rules were simple enough that even Chidori could follow it. Each part of the medabot-the head, each arm, and the legs-could be damaged a certain number of times. If either part reaches its limit, it ceases function, and the battle is over when the head ceases function. Chidori wasn't a very good medafighter, but she didn't care about that. Ikki was smiling again, and that was good enough for her.

The two carried on and had fun until the later hours of the days. What finally stopped them was a knock on the door. Chidori got up from the living room floor and made her way to the door. She opened it to reveal a young girl around Ikki's age dressed in pink overalls with short, brown hair.

"Ikki, it's Erika!"

The boy got up and went over to meet her as Chidori went to work on dinner. The two children gravitated towards the couch in the living room. Erika was one of the few friends Ikki could say that he had. They were next door neighbors, and they had known one another since they were babies. Erika was also the head journalist of the Riverview City elementary school. Every so often, she would ask Ikki to perform little jobs here and there to help her get the truth to her stories. Ikki never really minded doing these things, but every so often she would go too far and it would lead to the them ending up in some ridiculous and embarrassing situations. Nevertheless, when push came to shove, Erika was always there for Ikki, just as she was here for him now.

"So how bad is it?" Ikki asked.

Erika made a face. "I wouldn't say it's too bad. Although, don't be surprised if you here people calling you 'Stinky' from now on."

Ikki groaned and covered a face with his hands.

"Hey, cheer up." Erika said quickly. "I mean, look at the bright side."

There was a long moment of silence between the two of them, and all they could hear was Chidori cooking in the other room. Ikki's face drew into a sneer, and he glared at Erika.

"You know, when you say something like that, you're supposed to come up with something to back it up!"

"I know." Erika mumbled sheepishly. She searched her thoughts carefully thinking of something, anything, that could cheer Ikki up. Suddenly, she spied one of Ikki's medabot models, and her face lit up. "Hey, that reminds me! Did you hear about the upcoming Medabots reality show?"

Ikki perked up at this. "Reality show?"

Erika nodded. "I heard my dad talking about it since he's gonna be one of the reporters doing coverage over it. I can't give you an exact date for when it'll start or what all is going to happen, but my dad assured me that it was going to be a major hit."

"That just goes without saying." Ikki said as he trembled excitedly. "A reality show about medabots just can't fail. I can't wait!"

The two shared a laugh, and Chidori secretly smiled to herself, glad that her son had recovered. Just then, the front door opened again, and in stepped Ikki's father, Fuyuki Tenryou. A mid-sized man with short, black hair and pale skin, his thick rimmed glasses did little to hide his exhausted look. Erika took this as a sign that it was time for her to go.

"See ya later, Ikki." She said with a wave. "I'll see if I can press my dad for more info about the show. Try not to miss the bus tomorrow."

She then excused herself and made her way out the door without another word. Chidori gravitated towards her husband, and she welcomed him with a hug and a kiss.

"Welcome home, sweetheart. Oh my, what's that?"

She gestured to Fuyuki's arm. There seemed to be some sort of box, though the label was covered. Fuyuki cracked a tiny grin.

"Oh, it's nothing special. Just a little gift I picked up for Ikki on the way home."

The effect was instant, and Ikki was soon standing in front of his father with a look of anticipation. Fuyuki smiled, and he presented his treasure to Ikki. It was a new medabot model kit, the picture on the box displaying a spider themed robot. It warmed the man's heart when he watched his son's face light up as he took the box in his hands.

"Oh, wow! This is the new Spidar set!"

Fuyuki's grin widened, and he gave a nod.

"I know that you've had your eye on it for a while now. Why don't you take it into his room and get started putting it together. I'll be with you in a bit."

Ikki nodded feverishly, and he rushed off for his bedroom. His parents remained quiet for a long time, waiting just long enough to hear Ikki's bedroom door slam shut. When they were alone, Chidori looked over to her husband. Her usually infectious smile had wilted into a frown.

"I know you better than that, dear. You wouldn't have done something like this unless you had bad news you didn't want Ikki to know about. What's wrong?"

Fuyuki's own smile fell, and he lowered his head.

"You know me so well, honey." he said with a feeble attempt at humor. He sighed. "I'm afraid that I have been laid off…again."

Chidori's eyes became as large as pie tins, and her hands went to her face as tears began to form in her eyes.

"N-now now now, sweetie!" Fuyuki stammered, taking his wife's hand and patting it gently. "I know that it sounds bad, but there's good news. On my way home, I ran into Henry at the minimart. I asked him if he had an opening, and he said he would talk with his manager. I'll be talking with him in the morning."

"At a minimart?" Chidori croaked as more tears seeped through.

"It isn't ideal, I grant you." Fuyuki admitted. "But at this point I'll have to take what I can get. We'll just have to take it easier on our purchases from now on."

Chidori fell silent and she tossed a glance towards a photograph hanging on a wall. It showed the three of them from when Ikki had just turned five years old, his birthday present being his very first medabot that Fuyuki had brought home from work.

"I just can't help but think about how miserable you'll be, though. You don't belong behind a counter and register. You should be back in the lab making medabots for children like Ikki. You're no criminal, and you certainly aren't an embezzler!"

"Chidori, ssh!" scolded Fuyuki. "We don't want Ikki to overhear. I know how you feel, but it can't be help. If it wasn't for Dr. Aki's kindness as well as the money being returned, I wouldn't even be here right now."

He pulled his wife into a hug, and he held her tightly in the way only he could do. It made her feel safe and secure, like nothing would ever tear them apart.

"As long as we have each other, we shall never want for nothing."

Chidori smiled her wonderful smile, and she nodded.

"You're right, sweetheart, as always. I love you."

Fuyuki smiled. "And I love you."

As the loving couple shared their tender moment, the two of them failed to catch the sound of sniffling coming from the other side of the door. Ikki had his back to his bedroom door with his still unopened medabot clutched tightly in his arms. One by one, tears rolled down his face, and an overwhelmingly empty feeling claimed his stomach. Indeed, he had heard it all, and the fact that he was powerless to do anything was the worst feeling of all.