Disclaimer: Pigs in a blanket? OLD SCHOOL. Cookies in a blanket? Me LIKIE. :D
OMG. I updated MTR. What is this world coming to? X3 Heheh, anyway, I really have to say, thanks a bundle for the patience you've been giving me on this story. I always seem to get distracted from it! Also, I'm really not quite sure where the plot's going...yet. I assume I'll figure it out sooner or later. I'm actually amazed at how much public attention Max is getting, now that's he's a robot. He's become a much cooler character, wouldn't you agree? I know I think so! :P Anyway, as always, next chapter. More mindless stupidity on the way, ain't I great?
...
"OK Brock, time to spill."
The squinty-eyed teen sweatdropped, predicting what was coming next. Oh, please no, he pleaded in his head. Not this, please...
"Why don't you have any eyes?" Ash asked curiously. Too late.
Brock cleared his throat, fumbling nervously with his shirt collar as he tried to think of a solution out of the mess. He'd gotten away with it many times before but now, stuck in the cage, destined for pretty much nothing for the next several hours, he had no excuse for his escape plan. "Err...well, you know...it's sort of a long story..." he mumbled. "I uh...wouldn't have time to tell the whole thing..."
Misty rolled her eyes. "Come on...tell Ash already. You know he'll just bug us about it a million times over." she pointed out. "Besides, we pretty much have a lifetime in here anyway, so might as well just explain how it happened." Although she didn't admit, she too, was curious. And without anything else to do in the dark, spooky, boring place, she had to find something to keep her occupied.
"Yeah! Yeahyeahyeahyeah!" Ash agreed excitedly, placing himself right in front of Brock, Indian Position with his hands together, resting on his lap – all ready for story time.
"Em...well..." trailed Brock. Misty smirked at him, almost as if to pressure him into it. Brock finally gave in, heaving a long sigh. If they wanted to know that badly, it couldn't really hurt to just tell them, would it?
Another sigh. "Alright, alright." he confessed, putting his hands up. "It was...it was super glue." Misty, Ash and Pikachu exchanged shifty looks. Even May, curled up in the corner of the cage in a depressed state, picked her head up in interest and puzzlement. Misty made almost a snorting sound.
"...super glue?" she chuckled, holding her mouth in attempts to contain her laughter.
Brock stuck out his lower lip. "Yeah...I don't see what's so funny about that." he commented. "How would you feel if you lost your vision for life due to a prank pulled by your own insane brother? If only I had known falling asleep with my eyes open would bring on such harsh consequences, but..."
Misty blew.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HOLY CRAP AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LAWLZ BROCK AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ROFL ROFL ROFLLLLL! -" Misty then proceeded to roll on the floor, laughing.
Ash gasped. "Misty!" he accused. He gave an encouraging pat to Brock's back. "It's not Brock's fault he...he..." He tipped his hat down in order to cry. "...became blind, just because he happened to like sleeping with his eyes open. How would you like it if you fell asleep with your eyes open, and then your sister Daisy came up and super-glued them shut and blinded you?! OH, POOR BROCK! Such injustice in this world!" He then proceeded to sob.
"There, there, Ash. It's not that big of a deal." Brock assured the young boy. "I've gotten used to it, and even though I can't read Braille, I've developed a sixth sense that helps me determine what my brain sees...so all's good."
"...wait, a sixth sense?" asked Misty. Pikachu also cocked his head in confusion.
"Yeah." answered Brock. "It's kind of a complicated subject to explain. I've sort of learned how to use the ability with my knowledge of pokemon that lack eyesight, such as skitty, makuhita and swinub. Then, I tried to adapt to it."
"Uh, sure..." trailed Misty, not really half-believing what he said. "So, what colour were your eyes before they got glued shut?"
Brock looked at her. (well, turned to her, and used his sixth sense) "Brown, of course." he replied. "The same colour as my mom, Lola."
Ash scratched his head, then brought up a very curious question. "Wait...isn't everybody but your mom in your family blind, Brock?"
Brock flinched and then sweatdropped. Uh oh... "Er...well..." he started, sounding a bit nervous. "After I got my eyes glued, I went to get revenge on my brother, and once I did that, he got revenge on a sister of mine and then she got revenge and then before you know it -"
"It was inherited, wasn't it?" Misty asked, cutting in. Brock sat there for a moment, then sighed, giving into silence surrender.
"Yeah." he said, embarrassed as he let his lie be known. He traced his finger on the ground. "It was passed down from my father Flint, who had inherited it from generations beyond. It's an extremely dominant gene, so none of us managed to get our mother's eyes...it's completely in the genes..."
"But Brock, you never even wear jeans anymore. You wear sweats." Ash stated wisely.
"..."
"Ash...just shut up." Misty grumbled, narrowing her eyes.
Ash's face was twisted in an odd mix of confusion and bewilderment. "What I do?" he demanded. Brock chuckled, glad that the attention was off of him and Pikachu joined in, because he was amused at Brock's attempts to make everyone forget his lie from the past two minutes.
Misty rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder why I even decided to travel with you two back in Kanto." she puzzled. Right after speaking this, a sudden sigh was heard from the corner of the room.
"Sometimes I wonder how Max seemed so trusting and loving from the start, but now he's suddenly changed into some kind of...man-made machine." May mumbled to herself, sighing again.
"May, how many times must we go over this?" Brock quired, directing his voice toward the direction of the isolated girl. "Max is merely a victim in this crisis. Someone has made him to act evil like this, and has shut his heart to love and happiness. There's nothing Max can do about it. He's still your brother, and he'll always be – the only reason he's evil is because of someone else's doing."
"You have to admit, his chainsaws were pretty cool though." replied Ash.
Misty slapped her forehead. "He almost killed us..."
Ash giggled. "I know!"
May sighed. "This is getting us nowhere." she promptly said, scooting closer to the rest of the gang to share a little bit of info she had been pondering. "Look, I know we've gone over the suspects, but I really don't think Team Rocket or Harley could really go this far. Plus, there's been some clues laying around every time something weird happened to Max – somehow, they are familiar to me, but I can't exactly match them up to either of the suspects! I think it had to be someone else, but..." she held her forehead. "I just don't know who..."
"Was it Gary?" offered Ash.
"No Ash, we've already been through this." answered Misty with a facefault. ".."
"...was it Richie?"
Ash was simply ignored as Brock cut in, asking a question to May. "So," he started. "You say that you've found some clues laying around? Well, what kinds of clues are we dealing with?"
May scratched her chin. Did she still have those items on her? Since those times in her adventures when she had managed to pick up those "hints" in which to carry along with her, she never remembered ever taking them out at least once to observe them. She probably still had them somewhere in her fanny-pack...
She rummaged through the pack around her waist and felt around for the clues she had stashed there earlier. Pencil? Nope. Pokeball? Nope. Identification Card? Nope. Rubber Ducky? Nope, nope, nope. Items from the fanny-pack were tossed into the air in every which way as she searched for the elusive objects needed to solve the mystery.
"It's raining rubber duckies!" Ash laughed excitedly, putting his arms in the sky.
Finally, the tossing of the items ceased. After fully emptying her fanny-pack, May now held both an emerald-centered wedding ring and premium hairbrush in each hand. "These," she stated, holding them up for everyone to see. "were the couple of things I found at the crime scene both times of Max's unusual behaviour. I can't figure out where I had seen them before – would any of you guys happen to regognise them?"
Brock carefully removed each item from May's hand and observed them closely. "Well," he commented. "There's one thing we can be sure of – our wanted culprit behind this scheme appears to be female."
"...or sexually confused." Ash added.
Misty face-palmed. "Well..." she wondered aloud. "You know, the hairbrush could be anybody's, really. It could be Jessie's...or James's."
"Would they be able to afford it?" quired Brock. "But still...it is a possibility. It could also be Harley's hairbrush – his hair definitely looks like it could be brushed with a premium brush. Misty's right...the hairbrush could be anybody's, really. What I'm more concerned about," he put a finger to his brain. "is that wedding ring. That pretty much rules out any kid, even Harley...unless of course, it was illegal marriage." Everyone sweatdropped. "I'm also unsure that the Team Rocket we know are not married in any way. Plus, neither of their birthdays are in May...and the birthstone of the wedding ring is emerald."
"Right...wait, hold on," Misty interrupted. "You know their birthdays?"
Brock shrugged. "Sure."
"How in Kanto would you know something like that?"
"Urm..." Brock made a nervous face. "Uh, I don't know, I just do. Can't we just...um...accept the fact that I'm just a really smart guy?"
Misty slanted her eyes. "Don't tell me you were...maybe stalking them..."
Brock started sweating tremendously. "OK, OK, I did for a long while, I admit! I just couldn't help it! I know they're criminals and all but that Jessie is SUCH a hottie! Almost as much as Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy even! Only, we were never destined to be with each other!" He sobbed in his hands. "I had even directly declared my love!...only too bad her partner was around to witness it."
"Whoa...deep." Misty said, rolling her eyes. "No wonder James hates your guts."
"STOP REMINDING ME!" he cried, still in an emotional state. Ash patted his friend on the back sympathetically for comfort.
Pikachu just slapped his forehead. "Peeka bi...(Serves him right)."
"Anyway, if you would mind...we have a little bit of a bigger problem, here." May sighed impatiently. "The ring." she continued, holding it out further. "The birthstone is emerald, and that means it has to be someone with a May birthday. Who do we know that has a May birthday?"
Ash scratched his chin. "May...May...May," he repeated to himself then smiled. "Oh, that's funny, you're name is May!"
May sweatdropped. "They were going to name me April at first, you know." she explained. "But they decided against it. I guess my mom thought May was a prettier name than April...I don't know, really. I think naming people after months in the first place is just stupid. Same with seasons...I mean, Autumn? Summer? Why, I even met this guy named Spring once. Kind of awkward if you ask me."
It was Misty's turn to grumble. "Getting off subject, again." she noted. "Think birthdays, people. If we list everyone's birthdays that we know, we might be able to figure it out! Or at least, narrow it down quite a bit."
"Misty has a good point." Brock cut in, obviously over his pouting spree. "To start, what are the first birthdays that come to mind?"
Ash raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"August 21!"
Misty slapped her forehead. "Ash...that's your birthday."
"Yup!"
Ash stared at Misty for a good long while with a huge smile spread across his face and without making any other movement whatsoever. He just kept staring. And staring. And staring.
A sweatdrop proceeded to roll down the back of Misty's orange head. "Why do I even bother?"
Suddenly, before anyone else could say or do anything else of importance, the loud creaking of a door arose in the silent dungeon room. Everyone perked their ears and glanced in the direction of the creaky wooden rectangle that was opening due to a turning within the golden knob. From out of the shadows, a figure appeared and began to clumsily approach the cage.
"Uhh...if you don't mind me asking," Brock questioned almost immediately. "...Are you the evil mastermind behind this?"
The person stood in front of them and his image became clearer. He was tall and lean with a face full of freckles, and the outfit he wore consisted of a dorky pink t-shirt, raggedy khaki pants and brown sandals that looked like they could've come from another time era. To top it off, he wore a huge white scientist-like jacket with tons of buttons that had not been buttoned – hence, the fact that his pink shirt was showing from underneath. As the particular young man had approached the cage, he tripped over what seemed to be something in his path, causing his glasses to slide down his nose, which he quickly pushed back up in a very nerdily fashion.
"Well, as a matter of fact, no, I'm not." he said, in a deeper voice than the others had been expecting. They shot each other weird looks and then glanced back at the pink-shirted guy standing outside the bars.
"Then, who exactly are you?" quired Misty suspiciously. "You a robot, too?"
Ash shrugged. "He's geeky enough to pull it off." His comment made the man on the other end give him a look of annoyance, but it didn't go any farther than that.
"No," he replied instead, pulling his lab coat tighter around himself. "I am not a robot."
"Then who the heaven ARE YOU?!" Misty asked again.
The man took a look at each individual inside the cage, then cleared his throat. "I am William, the Mistress's servant." he explained. "I work here for her and carry out her duties, and in exchange, she gives me quite the large pay – one much more promising than my last one, let me tell you. Anyway, I've been given the job as your personal guard and caretaker, so we might as well get used to one another."
"Ooh, in that case...Hi, I'm Ash Pallet and I'm from Ketchum Town! And I'm here with my best friend, Raichu, who's going to be a Pokemon Master someday once he wins all his gym contests! Very pleased to meet you!" Ash giggled, shaking hands with the visitor through the bars. "Is it OK if I call you Wil?"
"Uhhh..." he trailed as he was shook wildly up and down.
"Thanks, Wil!"
The man sweatdropped and managed to free his hand from Ash's clutch. Then, as if Ash were a creature of great fifth, he wiped his hands on his pants with a look of distaste.
"So," May started, trying to get back on an older subject. "You said that the one you work for is a lady? That summons it up quite a bit. But then again, I wasn't too sure I'd see just any old guy walking around with a huge emerald ring on his finger."
"Quite smart, are we not, Velma?" William quipped, raising an eyebrow. "You are indeed correct, my Mistress is in no form male in any manner. If figuring out her identity is what you are trying to do, I can assure you, it is a huge waste of time. My Mistress plans to reveal herself shortly, so it would be utterly pointless to spend hours puzzling about the ordeal."
Misty didn't look so happy. "Alright, wise guy..." she fumed, putting her hands to her hips. "If trying to solve a mystery would be considered wasting time, what do you suppose we do then? Unless you haven't noticed, we are stuck here in a cage, you nincompoop!"
William just smiled, ignoring the insult. "Yes, you are in a most hopeless situation, if I did say so myself." he replied, picking at his nails. "Frankly, I don't care what the heck you do in there – it won't matter later, anyway. Either other way, my Mistress will still see to the disposing of you meddling kids, and your little pikachu too."
Pikachu sparked his cheeks. "Pi peeka! Pikachu! (Enough with the lame Scooby Doo jokes, already!)" he growled, slightly annoyed.
"Hey Wil," Ash started suddenly and out of random. "Why are you here? Did you come to bring us food? 'Cos I'm hungry!" He rubbed his rumbling tummy for emphasis.
"As a matter of fact..." William responded as Ash's eyes began to lit up, "...no." Ash frowned.
"Just kidding!" laughed William. "Yah, I did." Everyone sweatdropped. "Mistress ordered me to bring you down some table scraps from yesterday's dinner. She hopes it is enough to keep you all alive so you can witness the great domination plan in action when the time comes. She is very excited for you to see it."
"I bet she is." Misty mumbled sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
"You said you have food, Wil?" Ash pushed on, trying his hardest not to get too off subject from the things of importance. "Can you give us it? I am very hungry! Please Wil! PLEASE!" He sunk to his knees in a pleading stance, whispering the word "please" over and over again as if it would have made any difference.
"Geez, kid," William replied, scratching his head. "No need for begging, I already said -"
"PLEASE!" he screamed.
"Um...kid, really," William said uncertainly. "I told you I'm going to -"
"OH PA-LEEEEZE!" the child moaned. "PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEEEEEEAAASSSEEE!" He bowed down to the ground, grabbing it with his hands. William sweatdropped.
"You learn to ignore it after a while." Misty assured with a sigh. William did not know what to say in response – he kept a blank look on his face, then cleared his throat.
"Um...alright." he finally said, straightening the collar of his dorky pink shirt. "Anyway," he started. "I was just going to tell you that if you want your food, you are going to have to wait over by the far left hand corner of your cage. It will come to you soon enough."
"Food? What kind of food?" asked Ash excitedly, no longer in a depressed state.
William smirked, or at least, did the best that one of such nerdiness could muster. "Only the most delicious." Ash clapped his hands in response and then ran to the left corner of the cage, eagerly awaiting his meal. William's watch beeped and he glanced down at it. "Oh, would you like at the time?" he gasped. "Now, it was very pleasant meeting you prisoners, but I must be on my way. So much to do and so little time to do it. See you all soon...have a great day!" William shouted hastily as he left the room, shutting the door on his way out to bring silence to the place...or at least, for the first three seconds.
"Oh, that Wil, he's so generous," laughed Ash. "I mean, what a guy. Going out on a limb just to get us the most delicious food in the whole entire world. Gotta respect people like that, ya know?"
Brock sweatdropped. "Ash, he was only being sarcastic." he explained.
"Aw, Brock!" Ash giggled. "You're just jealous, aren't you? It's OK, someday you'll probably figure out how to make things other than soup or sandwiches." he assured. "Heck, maybe it'll be easier once you get yourself to learn Braille!"
"He's probably not going to feed us at all." May sighed.
"He is." Misty argued. "He said his little Mistress person wants us to stay alive. To witness her world conquest? Pssh...oh please, like I believe that. She's probably gonna turn us into computerized robots like she did to May's brother."
"Max..." May whispered, unable to get the image of the short boy with the glasses and green shirt out of her mind. Which brought up the question...where was he now, anyway? Was he carrying out evil deeds for his master? Was he sharpening his chainsaws so he could kill them all on mere command? May couldn't stop thinking about it, as much as she tried. Even Ash's annoying yakking couldn't get the boy out of here head. Max, she thought to herself, almost wishing he could hear her as she clutched onto the thick metal bars. Where are you, my brother?
...
"Wake up, my sweet, darling servant." a voice with a viscosity of honey flowed into the room.
The boy's eyes cracked open to the gleaming lights above him. He blinked a few times to get used to the light and as he did so, the blurred figure in front of him became clear.
"Um...where am I?" he asked, completely confused. Do I have amnesia or something?, the boy thought to himself instantly. It seemed to be a possibility, since he couldn't remember anything about his past. In fact, he didn't remember anything at all – that he was pretty sure of.
"That does not matter, my beloved robot," the woman towering above his body assured. "What does matter, is that I have finally gotten your batteries changed and your system has been completely wiped and rebooted. Now, may I ask," she went on. "My robot, do you happen to remember anything about yourself? Anything at all?"
The boy began to gradually sit up, hoping that somehow it would get his brain running again. He just had so many questions! As he closed his eyes and tried to think of something – just any little piece of information about himself – until reality swept in and he realised that he really was clueless. He shrugged helplessly and looking into the eyes of the woman he responded, "no."
The woman smiled. He wasn't sure why she was smiling, she just was. Was it good that he had amnesia? Maybe he was a villain or something in his past...that would explain why this woman was so overjoyed about him losing his memory. Apparently, from the information gathered, he was a robot. A computerized machine? That couldn't be true. He smoothed his hand down his leg, only to feel hard metal underneath with a nail hammered into his kneecap. He gasped. He really was a robot!
"E-excuse me, ma'am," Max stammered quickly. "But...am I really...a robot, like you say?" The woman nodded back.
"Yes," he replied. "You are indeed, a robot." She watched as a frown enveloped on the child's face. "Oh, don't get me wrong, though," she hastily added. "Being a robot isn't that bad...no, it isn't at all!"
Max scratched his metal head. "It isn't?"
"Oh, no!" the woman laughed. "Of course it isn't. Why, robots have so much more potential then humans, my dear. They have their own weaponry developed from inside of them, so they never have to worry about anything bad happening to them. Plus, they have sturdy wheels for rolling around and a heavily armored body to protect them from any harm...whether it be fire, grass, electricity." She laughed again. "Why, the best part about being robot is that no matter what happens, you never die. Sure, you run out of energy and sometimes go a bit out of control, but that is easily fixed within minutes of battery re-charge and you're back to normal."
"...never die?" Max repeated. "I'm immortal?"
The woman nodded. "Well, yes, for the most part, you are." she replied. "There's only one thing that can kill a robot like you."
Max's eyes widened. "W-what can kill me?" he asked.
The woman's smile curved and she continued speaking to him in her sweet, milky voice. "Oh, only water," she answered. She saw Max's face twist into fear. "But it's not that big of a deal...usually."
"What do you mean, usually?"
"Well," she went on. "It is true that I still have not been able to figure out how to make you completely stable. For some reason, water continues to be a problem with your programming. You've only been exposed to water once, and when you did, you..." she cleared her throat. "...exploded, an explosion so large that your parts were blown all over Lake Gowawa and beyond." Max put his robotic hand to his mouth as he listened. "And let me tell you," the woman went on. "It took a lot of time and effort to find them all and piece you back together. We even had make you a new chainsaw and arranged a new nose for you. Those pieces were unfortunately lost for good and not even my excellent henchman could find them."
"So, if I touch water," Max whispered softly. "Then I will explode."
"Well, yes, that is also true," said the woman. "But it shouldn't be much for you to worry about, Max. I've been keeping you well away from H2O so you can rest knowing that, for the most part...in this building, you are safe."
"So, my name is Max." the robot breathed. He had been wondering that ever since he woke up, and now he finally knew. Now that he knew his name, was it possible he could remember some of his past too?
"Yes, that would be your name." confirmed the lady. "MAX2823. That is what I named you when I first created you."
"So, I am Max, the robot." he repeated again, trying to sort the information given. He looked up at her in a confused state. "That is who I am?" The woman nodded. "Then who are you?"
The lady seemed to flinch a bit, but quickly redeemed herself. "Why, I am your master, Max. Your creator. The one who brought you into this world. You work for me because that it what you were made to do. I have been waiting a long time for us to finally come together again."
"We were separated?" he quired. "Why?"
"Well," the lady started. "About two years ago, I sent you along with a girl going on a pokemon journey, disguised as a human. I sent you off hoping that you could gather important information for me about everything you experienced – like people, pokemon and even the environment."
"Why did you want me to gather information?"
"It was all part of the plan," she further explained. "With the information you collected into your storage chips, I would know how to make my plan completely full proof. Fortunately, I found a couple chips unharmed, so the data is being downloaded to my computer as we speak."
"But, I still don't understand," the boy muttered. "How were we separated? What kind of plan are you trying to fulfill? Why do I have amnesia?"
"Oh, dear Max," she cooed, patting his head. "These things will surely clear up in due time. But...there is a little something that I would like to show you. Something important."
"Important?" Max asked. What could it be? What was so important? Would he finally uncover some of his past?
The woman shuffled in her pocket and drew out a picture. "This," she told him, placing the photo in front of his face. "Is a picture I have downloaded from your storage units. You must have taken it with the hidden camera between your teeth." She shook her head with a smirk. "You never really knew how to control that thing very well."
Max stared closely at the photograph in front of him. The figures on it consisted of a boy with black messy hair and a red hat, a girl with long brown hair and a bandanna, a man-boy with slits for eyes and spiked brown hair, and a small yellow rodent with sparks flying from its cheeks. They were all standing in front of a large lake of water. Max cocked his head. "Who are those people?" he asked. The photo was snatched away as quickly as it had been placed before.
"Those people," she hissed, in a much angrier tone. "Those are our enemies, the ones who nearly killed you."
Max gasped. "B-but..." he protested. "They didn't look too bad to me. Why would they want to kill me?"
"Because," the woman continued, sneering. "They're goal is to ruin our plan, our perfect plan, and to conquer the world in our place. All they want..." she went on, lying, "Is to dominate the world. To get rid of anything that isn't human. To get rid of your kind Max...you and other robots like you. They want to kill you all."
Max just couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Th-that's so cruel..." he responded. He didn't want to believe it, but the woman seemed so sweet and sincere – she just had to be telling the truth, no matter how astounding it sounded.
"I know...it is, isn't it?" she sighed. "It's a shame that such evil people must exist in this world. But you know," she patted his back. "Everything is going to be alright, Max. If you help me prevail with my plan, we can save all the robots and bring peace to the world again."
"We...we can?" Max sounded relieved. "But, what about those people that are out to kill me? Won't they come and try to hunt me down?" A terrifying image crossed his mind and he closed his mouth to keep from whimpering in fear.
"No, they won't, my dear." the woman assured. "I have captured them. They are behind bars for now, so you are safe. But the thing is..." A fake tear slid down her cheek. "It isn't always going to be that way. Not unless you can agree to help me, Max. A mere human like myself and my henchman can not do it. I'm counting on you Max, to help stop this injustice. To bring robots back and to stop them from being killed so inhumanly. Will...will you agree to help? You're our only chance."
Max couldn't help seeing this woman in such a depression. Was it really true that without his help, the world for robots would be doomed? They would all be killed by humans...including him? He didn't want that kind of future...he just wanted to be in a place where everybody could be happy, where robots and humans and pokemon could all just live together in happiness. If it took his help to get to that ending, then he decided he would do it.
"OK." he said softly, shaking his hand with the woman. "I will join forces with you."
The woman turned her head enough so that the robot would not see her grinning evilly from under the shadows. I've finally got you Max, she thought, hiding in a snicker. It seems it was easy to gain your trust when you don't have any remembrance of your past. Another phase of my world domination plan...is complete, thanks to you. She then turned her face back to the boy and squeezed his metal body in a tight embrace.
"Oh, thank you so much, my sweet robot." she told him softly...and then in an even softer voice that he could not hear, "I will indeed be counting on you."
...
Dang, finally finished this chappie...THAT took a while. X3 Anyway, dun forget to review and stuff! :P
