Chapter 4: Octus' date
Meanwhile, Octus, still in his "Newton" hologram (as he had been for most of the day), drove with Kimmy to Amber's house after dropping off Jason and Ilana. There were flashing lights and music coming from inside the house. Octus' scanners had difficulty distinguishing the sound in that direction. "Kimmy, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Totally. We're gonna be fine. Trish's parents aren't home to ruin everything. We're gonna party till' midnight, I bet."
The two of them approached the door. "No need to ring ourselves in. You just show up to parties like this," Kimmy explained to Octus. "Let's split up and enjoy ourselves, ok? By the way, I'm okay if you check out somebody else here." "Why would I 'check someone out'? What does that mean?" Octus asked.
"Oh, Newton!" Kimmy laughed. "You have so much to learn about being normal. Just have fun, ok?"
"Right. You be careful," Octus replied.
"Relax, Newton. We're here to have fun, remember?"
They walked inside. The music was even louder now. The vibrations were pounding against Octus' auditory receptors. People were all over the place, Octus observed. Some were just talking, while other were dancing like maniacs. Upon entering the house, Kimmy approached a few of her friends and talked to them, trying to catch up on the latest gossip. Octus wandered into the kitchen to get a drink. There he saw Meat and few other jocks in the corner, sipping beer. "Hey, dude!" He called out. "Glad you could make it, bro! I need your help!" Meat called.
"With what?" Octus asked.
"Listen, there's this girl I think is hot, but I can't talk to her. Could introduce her to me, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"
"Meat, you don't need me for this. It only takes a small amount of courage to talk to this girl."
"Yeah, but I don't wanna screw things up. I need you, the Lady Professor, to do it for me," Meat replied.
Octus sighed. "If you insist..." he was immediately met with a hug from Meat that could've crushed his circuits.
"Thank you bro! You're the best!" Meat yelled right into his auditory receptors.
"Ok, ok, let go!" Octus cried. "I will help you. What does she look like?" Octus asked.
"Uh...her name's Melanie...and I, uh...can't really...remember what she looked like..." Meat replied.
Octus sighed. "I guess I'll find her somehow," Octus said with disdain. Meat was lucky to have a robot friend like him. Octus began his search in the living room, with Meat in tow. The robot noticed that some kids had passed out and were now sprawled on the couches or the floor. Everyone else danced around them. Octus searched his databanks for the name Melanie. He had a copy of Sherman High's records in there, and he soon found the name Melanie. Octus quickly found her bio-signature. He followed the signature to its source, which led away from the living room and into a closet in the hallway. Octus detected Melanie's bio-signature in there, along with another signature, a male's. Octus noted that the two individual's hormone levels were fluctuating. Octus detected spikes in dopamine, testosterone, estrogen, and adrenaline. He was unsure of what to do. Consulting Meat for advice would be ineffective. After some hesitation, he knocked on the door.
Almost immediately, the door flung open, and Octus found himself face-to-face with Brandon Chase, Kimmy's ex-boyfriend. Behind him was a girl that Octus assumed was Melanie. They weren't too happy about being intruded upon, obviously.
"Which one of you twerps just interrupted me and my girl? Was it you, Newton?" Brandon demanded.
"I came here to talk to Melanie," Octus replied. Turning to Melanie, he said, "My friend, Edwin, would like a word with you," he said to her.
"Who? Oh, you mean Meat," she said. "What do you want?" She asked the jock.
"Hi!" Said Meat, waving with a silly grin on his face. "I...could we...go out sometime?" He asked, feeling a little shy in the presence of this girl.
"Forget it!" Melanie cried. "Brandon, get these dorks out of here!"
"Sure thing," Brandon replied delivering a punch into Meat's face, sending him sprawling on the floor. Meat yowled in pain.
"That's not cool, man! I didn't know that Melanie liked you! I-" he began. His words were interrupted by another punch to the face from Brandon.
"Shut up, idiot!" Brandon yelled. Suddenly, he felt himself being lifted up into the air. Octus had grabbed him by the shirt collar.
"Refrain from attacking my friend!" Octus said, trying to maintain his usually calm demeanor.
"That's it, I'm getting Kimmy. She'll get rid of these dorks!" Melanie exclaimed. And she ran off in search of her.
"Hey, wait! Where ya goin?" Meat called, following her. Now only Octus and Brandon were left. After Brandon stared Octus down, he said, "You stole my girlfriend. You think you can just get away with that?"
"She left you for a reason. If you leave now, I won't hurt you," Octus replied, unflinching. Brandon gave a low growl and tackled punched Octus in the face. Octus, being a machine surrounded by gel, was unaffected. Brandon, now furious, tried to attack Octus with a series of punches and kicks. But they were no to no avail. Octus blocked most blows with machine-like reflexes. Brandon, even further enraged, took some steps backwards, and punched Octus in the chin one last time, his knuckles hitting the spot where Octus' jawbone was. At least, if he had a jawbone. Octus was barely damaged. Brandon stood, confused. That blow should've knocked him out cold! Brandon delivered one more kick into Octus' face, trying to knock off his glasses. Brandon's rage subsided into bewilderment as he realized that Octus' glasses wouldn't come off.
"Would you stop trying to hurt me? It won't do any good," he said.
"Hmmm...I don't know what's up with you, but if I can't hurt you..." Brandon gave a malicious grin, "I'll just have to teach your friends a lesson!" He cried. And with that, he dashed down the hallway and ran into Kimmy. After hearing about the situation from Melanie and Meat, Amber had forced everyone not involved to leave the party.
"Brandon! What's going on here? I don't even think Amber invited you here. Stop bothering Newton and get out!"
"Not yet. Where's that stupid jock that tried to move in on my new girlfriend, Melanie?"
"I- don't know," Kimmy answered frantically. "Let's just all forget about-"
"TELL ME WHERE HE IS!" Brandon shouted, pinning Kimmy against the wall.
"I just said I don't know! Newton, help!" Kimmy yelled, crying. Amber, Tiffany, and Monica watched from afar with fear, unsure of what to do. Brandon covered Kimmy's mouth so that she wouldn't scream.
"Just tell me where Meat is and I won't hurt you," he said angrily.
Octus, meanwhile, heard Kimmy's cry for help. Octus ran down the hallway and into the living room, where Brandon was preventing Kimmy from escaping. Kimmy watched as Octus, with inhuman speed, rushed over to Brandon and pushed him aside with amazing strength, slamming him into the wall. Octus made sure not to use his full strength.
"Let's go!" Octus said to Kimmy as Brandon was still stunned. They two of them left Amber's house, with Kimmy's three friends following close behind. They had seen the whole thing. Meat, meanwhile, was waiting outside.
"Newton! What happened in there?" He asked.
"I can explain. Just get in the van, and we'll talk as I take you home," he said. Meat obeyed, waiting patiently in the car. Turning to Kimmy, Octus asked, "Did he hurt you?"
"No," she replied. "He was just...so angry. What happened to him?" She asked. Octus responded by explaining what had happened with Meat, Melanie, Brandon, and himself. "I didn't mean for things to go the way they did," Octus said. "I'm so sorry for ruining your evening."
"You didn't ruin my evening, and neither did Meat; Brandon did," replied Kimmy. She leaned up and kissed him. "You saved me back there, Newton. I can't thank you enough. I'll wait for you in the van," she said. Kimmy climbed in the van with Meat, who still felt like he was responsible for all of this. Octus went back inside the house. He took one look at Brandon and said:
"Leave." Brandon obeyed immediately. Octus was about to leave for the car when Amber beckoned for him to stay so she could talk to him for a second.
Back inside the van, Meat was apologizing to Kimmy. "Meat sorry," he said.
"Oh, Meat," said Kimmy, hugging the big jock. Meat felt a little better until he saw Octus talking to Amber from outside the car window. Meat left Kimmy to see what was going on. He caught the tail end of Amber and Octus' conversation. Amber was in tears. Tiffany and Monica had already left in their own cars.
"And if my folks find out what happened here...oh, I'll be ruined!" She cried.
"I have to get Kimmy to safety," Octus replied. "I would help you, but..."
"It's okay, bro! I got this!" Said Meat. "I'll help you clean up the house, Amber."
"You will?" she asked. "Thank you!" She said, hugging him. Meat blushed, and gave a thumbs-up to Octus. In reply, Octus gave Meat a silent fist-bump while the jock was still being hugged by Amber. Octus, seeing that his work was finally done, went back to the van to drop Kimmy home.
"Thanks again for everything," Kimmy said as her robot boyfriend dropped her off at her house. She gave him one last good-night hug, and Octus replied with "Goodnight, Kimmy. If Brandon ever bothers you again, come tell me. I'll take care of it," he said.
"Thanks, sweetie!" Kimmy cried as she watched Octus drive away. "That nerd-no, my boyfriend-just saved me," she said aloud.
Octus arrived home at exactly the right time. "Where were you?" Lance asked as he answered the door. "You're a little late," he said, pointing to his armor. His armor could tell time, just like a normal Earth watch.
"I'm not late, Lance. Your watch may indicate 10:31 pm, but my internal clock says that it is clearly 10:29 pm, Central Standard Time. Your armor's internal clock is slightly fast."
"Fine," Lance sighed, realizing that Octus, being a machine, would probably find it difficult to accept that his programming could have any errors. "Could you at least tell me where you were?" He asked as they walked inside the house.
"I was with Kimmy," Octus replied almost nervously, hoping to not have to reveal what happened at Amber's house. "We...had some difficulties, but everything's fine now."
"Oh. Well, in any case, care to tell me how you're date went?" Lance asked, no longer suspicious.
"I'd rather not elaborate," he said. "It didn't exactly go as planned."
"Neither did mine," Ilana said as she appeared from the kitchen. "But that just made it better."
"Well, it made mine...unusual," he replied, smiling. Octus would have chuckled at this point, if he had been capable of doing so. The three of them started to climb upstairs to bed.
"Hey...do you think we can keep this up forever?" Ilana asked when they got to the top and began to head to their separate rooms.
"You mean...our identities on this planet, or fending off Mutradi?" Lance asked.
"The first one," she replied. "I mean, I would like for us all to be happy with who we're dating, but...what will happen when it's time to go home?" She asked, turning to Octus. He merely frowned and turned away with his head hung down. "I don't know," he replied. "I don't want to think about it, Ilana."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said as Octus turned to face her again. "It's all right. It's inevitable that we will have to leave, but we can never take our friends back home with us. This is their home, just as Galaluna is ours."
"I agree with Octus, Ilana," Lance replied. "But let's not think about it until the time comes, ok?"
"I agree," Ilana said. "But how would we break the news that we're not from this world to them?"
"Hopefully, we never will," Lance said as he went into his room. Octus quickly did the same after wishing Ilana goodnight.
"But eventually..." she said aloud as she walked back to her room and got ready for bed, "...we have to."
Hoped you all liked this! I know there weren't any epic monster battles, but I feel that not every episode needs them in order to have worth. Please give substantial reviews!
