Chapter 3
~The Seed is Planted~
AN – If a scene seems familiar to you and I've missed parts, just assume it's following the movie plot. I didn't want to bore you guys with things you've already seen/know :)
"My turn."
Hiro grinned and clenched his fists, which were faintly pulsing a green light. Suddenly the roar of a scooter burst through the crowd and separated Hiro from the gang of people.
Hiro blinked and his eyes returned to their normal chocolate brown. His view of the delinquents was entirely blocked by Tadashi's face, who was wearing an irritated expression. 'How did he even know where I was?!' Hiro thought.
"Hiro, get on!" Tadashi ordered.
Hiro grinned. "Tadashi! Good timing!" He hopped on to the back of the scooter, grabbing his brother's shoulders just in time as they scooted off.
Tadashi pressed his lips into a thin line as he concentrated on swerving around the various objects strewn across the alleyways, hoping to make a quick beeline straight back to the café, getting caught by the police was definitely not a part of his plan.
After a brief trip to the local police station, the boys and an annoyed Aunt Cass finally made it home. Hiro scrambled up the stairs, and jumped into the chair at his desk. His fingers furiously hammered at the keyboard as he searched the Guys In White database for the ghost named Technus.
Pulling up the ghost's profile and glancing through, Hiro began to gradually panic. The words 'Hostile' and 'Destroy on sight' jumped out at him. After hearing the ghost's plan on world domination, the new information didn't reassure him that it was an idle threat.
'I have to go back out there and find this guy.' Hiro decided.
Meanwhile, Tadashi walked up the stairs and hung his helmet on a hook.
"You better make this up to Aunt Cass before she eats everything in the café." Tadashi suggested. He didn't like the feeling of making his Aunt worry and stress over his mischievous brother when he, himself, could have prevented it.
"For sure." Hiro replied, staring at the computer screen intently as he rapid scrolled to find any information on the ghost's weakness.
"And I hope you learned your lesson, bonehead."
Hiro spun around on his chair and looked at Tadashi innocently as his older brother attempted to get a look at his computer screen. "Absolutely."
Tadashi stood with a hand on his hip. "You're going bot fighting again, aren't you?"
"Ummm, yeah…There's a fight across town." Hiro shrugged, deciding to use this as an excuse to leave the house. He refused to make eye contact. "If I go now, I can still make it."
Hoping that his lie was convincing, Hiro looked towards his brother with a grin that quickly faded. The disappointment in Tadashi's face was evident and the guilt in Hiro's heart grew. It wasn't fair to make his brother worry over him so much when Tadashi had his own life to live. Ever since Hiro could remember, he had never once held a secret from Tadashi.
"When are you going to start doing something with this big brain of yours?" Tadashi poked Hiro in the head.
Hiro frowned. "What? And go to college like you, so people can tell me stuff I already know?" He batted away Tadashi's hand.
"Unbelievable… What would mom and dad say?" Tadashi sighed, dragging his hand across his face.
Hiro paused. Looking down at the ground, he shrugged.
"It doesn't matter, because they're not here anymore, Tadashi. They're gone. I practically saw them die, remember?"
Tadashi winced, sorrowful eyes looking at Hiro. He walked over to the coat rack and threw a helmet at Hiro, who caught it with surprise.
"Hey! I'll take you." Tadashi said.
Hiro froze.
"Really?"
"I can't stop you from going, but I'm not going to let you go on your own."
There was no way he could let Tadashi take him to a non-existent bot fight across town. And there was definitely no chance that he would be letting Tadashi know his secret or put him in a position where he could get hurt.
Hiro held the helmet outstretched as if to give it back to Tadashi. "Uhh, no. It's fine, I'll get the tram."
"No trams run this late, bonehead." Tadashi laughed, already heading down the stairs with his own helmet under his arm.
"I'll walk then!"
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm taking you and that's final." Tadashi said simply.
Hiro watch his brother descend the stairs with disbelief.
"Oh no…"
On the other hand Tadashi had no intensions of taking Hiro to his bot fight. Very subtly, he began guiding the scooter away in the opposite direction.
He was fully expecting the ride to be filled with lectures from Tadashi and he found it unusual that his brother hadn't said a word. It wasn't until the university could be seen that it clicked in Hiro's mind.
"What are we doing at your nerd school?" Hiro threw his arms up in annoyance. "The ghost- I mean, bot fights that way."
Ignoring his brother, Tadashi parked his scooter and strode towards the entrance of the Ito Ishioka Robotics Building.
"Gotta grab something."
Hiro scrambled off the scooter to catch up with Tadashi who was already speeding through the building.
'Curse those long legs!' Hiro said under his breath.
"Is this going to take long?" Hiro guffawed, glancing worriedly at the window to see if there was any sign of Technus.
"Relax, you big baby, we'll be in and out. Anyway, you've never seen my lab."
"Oh great, I get to see your nerd lab." He said sarcastically. But after seeing how enthusiastic his brother was, he turned curious. "So… what have you been working on?" (*1)
Tadashi stopped in front of his lab and opened the door for Hiro. "I'll show you." He walked over to his desk and rummaged through his toolbox.
Once he had the item in hand, he motioned for Hiro to come closer.
"Duct tape?" Hiro rolled his eyes. "Hate to break it to you bro, but it's already been invented."
Without warning, Tadashi slapped a piece of the tape on Hiro's forearm, smoothing it out before ripping it off with glee.
"Ow! Dude, ow!" Hiro looked to his older brother with a betrayed expression.
Tadashi took a step back, letting Hiro see the gigantic inflated robotic marshmallow that was stood across the room from him.
"This is what I've been working on." Tadashi presented.
Baymax.
The robot bumbled across the room and waved.
"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention, when you said 'ow'."
Alarm bells were ringing in Hiro's head whilst the robot merely cocked his head and blinked. It was as if Baymax recognised him. Calming his nerves, Hiro took a deep breath, he would attempt to play dumb and pretend to have never seen Baymax before. He could only hope that the robot was either smart enough to catch on or dumb enough to have not logged their last conversation.
"A robotic nurse?" He quirked an eyebrow at Tadashi as his eye twitched involuntarily.
Tadashi, who was stood behind Baymax with his arms crossed, nodded at Hiro.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" A familiar board of different facial expressions flashed across Baymax's belly.
Hiro turned to Tadashi, frowning. "Physical or emotional?"
Tadashi, with sad puppy dog eyes, quivered his lower lip in response.
"I will scan you now." Baymax looked at him from head to toe and back up again. "Scan complete. You have a slight epidermal abrasion on your forearm, I suggest an antibacterial spray."
Hiro obediently held out his arm for Baymax to administer the antibacterial spray that shot out from the robot's finger.
"Huh, not bad, you've done some serious coding on this thing." Hiro congratulated his brother. He didn't need to pretend with saying this statement. No matter what his brother did, Hiro would always be left speechless and left in awe at the cataclysmic ideas Tadashi would come up with.
"Uh-huh, programmed him with over 10000 medical procedures." Tadashi tapped a circular section that would be positioned over Baymax's 'heart' if he were a human. "This chip is what makes Baymax, Baymax."
Hiro smiled as he pushed the chip back into its slot and took a step back to once again marvel at his big brother's work.
Baymax peered at the younger Hamada. "Hiro, from your last scan, it appears the ectoplasm concentration is increasing in your-"
Hiro's eyes widened. "So uh, vinyl?" He hurriedly interrupted, hoping to derail the robot.
Tadashi frowned. 'Ectoplasm?' He thought subconsciously whilst answering Hiro. "Yeah, going for a non threatening huggable kind of thing."
The younger Hamada hadn't had the chance to properly examine Baymax last he saw him and jumped at the chance that was being offered to him.
He walked around the robot once before sticking his face into Baymax's belly, hoping to get a glance of how the robot ticked. He wasn't disappointed.
"Killer actuators, where did you get those?" Hiro exclaimed. He'd been wanting to get his hands on some for months for a pet project.
"Machined them in here, in house. He can lift 1000 pounds." Tadashi said nonchalantly.
Hiro turned to Tadashi with surprise. "Shut up."
After Hiro's thorough examination, with Baymax's vision following him curiously the entire time, Tadashi suggested that Baymax be put back in his charging station.
"I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care." Baymax blinked.
Hiro recalled the phrase with a hint of a smile. "Well then, I am satisfied with your care."
Suddenly, the door to Tadashi's lab quietly squeaked open, revealing a middle-aged man standing in the doorway. "Burning the midnight oil, Mr Hamada?"
"Oh hey, Professor Callaghan, I was just finishing up." Tadashi made a move to pack away his toolbox, leaving Hiro to his Professor.
"You're Professor Callaghan, as in the Callaghan from Callaghan's laws of robotics?" Hiro said in awe, his eyes going wide and his mouth formed the shape of an 'o'.
"Yes, you must be Hiro, bot fighter right? When my daughter was younger, it was all she wanted to do..." Sadness flickered across his face for a brief moment before being replaced with a bright smile. "Ever think about applying here?"
"I dunno, he's pretty serious about his career in bot fighting." Tadashi said, heading to the lift at the end of the corridor with Hiro sputtering behind him.
"Well, we push the boundaries of robotics here, my students go on to shape the future. Nice to meet you, Hiro. Good luck with the bot fights." The professor said before the doors of the lift closed.
"Gotta hurry if you want to catch that bot fight." Tadashi chuckled at the image of Hiro's expression with mouth hanging open, speechless. He strapped his helmet on and started the scooter. But Tadashi turned quizzical when he saw Hiro pacing back and forth muttering to himself.
'This place is practically a wonderland for me. I was so wrong. I should have started university straight away, then I might not be in this problem right now.' But then Hiro came to the realisation that if he did, he would have never been caught in that accident and the horrors of that day. He would have still lost his parents, and nothing could change that, but he wouldn't have these amazing ghost powers.
"I have to go here. If I don't go here, I'm going to lose my mind." Hiro's hand combed through his hair as he voiced his thoughts. But then his mind flicked back to his ghost counterpart and all the possible adventures he could have. He hadn't even figured out the full extent of these new powers, he could barely control them. Going to university would be filled with dangers of getting caught and becoming a human experiment in the biology department on the university campus or even encountering another ghost.
Hiro looked at Tadashi, suddenly serious, he had made up his mind.
"How do I get in?"
End of Chapter 3
AN: You guys have been awesome, seriously, thank you thank you thank you for the reviews and support! If you want to check how I'm doing with the next chapter, check my profile :) This chapter had to be split in half, it grew into 12 pages without warning so just 1 more chapter until the awaited scene of Tadashi dying/living. And then after that, we'll have Hiro's first ghost fight! Hmm, what to write, what to write!
(*1) The rest of the team will appear in this fic, just not right now because I have a little something in mind, I just hope it plays out well.
Review replies:
Yondaime Namikaze – Thank you so much for the review! Oh good, I'm so happy! I thought that chapter was really slow haha. Huuushh, you're spoiling my game plan *wink wink* ;) He could, but you'll just have to see the chapter after next chapter hehe Might just have to make suspicious Tadashi in the next chapter a thing, that is, if he lives.
Wolfan Terror – Heyo! Firstly thanks for your review! Muahaha, you shall see after the next chapter ;) Yes, pretty much, I don't think I want Hiro to have a full transformation because depending on how feedback goes, after the Big Hero 6 movie arc, I might want to delve into the DP fandom instead?
Sabeloid – Thanks for taking the time to review! Yeah! I'm still reading it right now so I haven't caught up to the latest chapter yet hehe. At least you're writing something every night, so it's guaranteed to get somewhere? :) Thanks! Well, I'd love to tell you but you'll just have to see after the next chapter whether or not Tadashi will know ;) I am planning on the whole team having a part in this fic, but I'm just not sure how yet ^^"
Flynn Crowe - And you reviewed… LIKE A BOSS! :D Seriously though, thank you so much! Hopefully, it'll get even better from here on out! DP was one of my favourite shows as well!
Guest – Shhhhh, don't spoil the game plan ;) Thanks for reviewing!
ThirtySixBuns – *Screams with you* THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Haha, thanks for reviewing! :)
Angela3000 – Thanks for the review! Hopefully this chapter is a little bit more detailed, if it's still not up to scratch, send me a PM! :)
Maple – Thank you, hopefully I'll be able to figure out more of this idea because I've only gotten as far as the next 2 chapters hehe. ^^ Thanks for the review!
Book-Reading-Addict – I'll think about it ;) Thanks for reviewing!
Ravelt Knightwalker – Thank you for the review! Hopefully I didn't update too late for you! ^^"
UmaKeMEInSaNe – I KNOW RIGHT! :D Thank you for reviewing :)
TheLoneSpirit – Wow, thank you for adding this fic and me to your lists as well as reviewing! Hope you like this chapter! :)
Purpalz Miner – Haha, I'm updating as fast as I can! :) Thanks for your patience! ^_^
a ghost named yukimenoko – Thank you so much for your review and suggestion! Check your inbox! I will have sent a reply through there :)
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