BE-

SMASH!

Astro slammed down on new, NEW, NEWLY, DOUBLE NEW, NEW alarm clock

"BROTHER!" Astro lifted his head to Zoran; already all dressed in his cloths standing infront of him.

"What?" he moaned.

"I could have turned it off." She reminded.

"Little too late for that now…" he examined her and sat up. "Why are you all dressed?"

"I'M GOING SHOPPPING!" she practically screamed in his ears. He tilted his head.

"What? Who with?"

"Ember and Cora." She answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why should I have to?" she pouted.

"It's what younger siblings do, tell their older siblings where there going so we can watch after you."

"Well then where are you going today, mister?" she asked suspiciously.

"Hey! YOU'RE the younger sibling, not me! I'm distinctly older than you." Astro said, jumping off the bed.

"What make YOU the older one?"

"I'm taller then you. Now when are you going? I'll drop you off."

"Ten-ish." Zoran replied casually. Astro raised an eyebrow.

"Ten-ISH, or ten?"

"Ten-ISH." He sighed.

"Okay, what time is-" he looked to the broken clock. "Oh, right…um, it should be ten around now. Here, com'on." They walked over to the window and Astro slid it open. Zoran gasped.

"You mean you're gonna fly me there! SWEET! Arrive in style!" Astro smiled.

"Com'on! Hop on." Zoran leapt onto his back, almost knocking both of them out the window. Astro boosted his rocket boots and zoomed over the city, headed for the Metro Mall.

"Cora, where are you going?" Sluch asked. Cora took one last stroke to her hair with her brush and started to make her way through the orphanage halls and rooms. "That is none of your business." She answered simply.

"Hey Cora! Where ya goi'n?" Dean called from the tire swing.

"None of your business!" she called back.

"Cora, where are you going?" asked Grace.

"Cora where are ya going?" joined Janett.

"OKAY! If you all MUST know!" Cora sighed. She turned to all the kids, who had fallen silent. "I am going shopping! There! Happy?"

"Who with?" Janett continued. Cora sighed and looked at her.

"Do you have to know?" she nodded. "Okay, Miss Nosey. I'm going with Zoran and Ember." Cora answered, walking to the curtain door.

"Astro's knew sister? Will Astro be there too?" Cora stopped in her tracks. She sighed again, but this one was not of annoyance. Her anger flames had cooled down, thinking how Astro hadn't texted back from the last thing she had sent that night. I shouldn't have written that…Cora thought to herself. But he asked, right? I told the truth. She turned to the still staring kids. "No." she answered, leaving the room.

Astro landed on the pavement out side the shopping center. Zoran stumbled off his back, laughing. "That was so fun!" she giggled. Astro laughed at the drunk like nature. Suddenly she turned serious. She held out her hand. "Brother I need money." Astro sighed and dug his hand in his pocket.

"Um…" what was in there? His phone, gum…why the hell was gum in there? I don't eat gum…oh well, what else… a paper clip, principal's note, the criminal photo of Black and Stone…Astro took the photos and ripped up Stone. "Ha! Take that!" he mumbled to himself.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Zoran put her hands on her hips. Astro looked up at her, letting the tiny pieces of Stone drift away. He cleared his throat.

"Um, nothing." He dug in his other pocket. What's in this one? Hmmm, I really got to clean out my pockets more often… more gum…what the hell? A medal…Astro took the medal out. It was gold with a red rim. Zoran looked impatiently at it. "What is that?"

"My Hero of Metro City medal…huh, I was wondering where that was…"

"Is it money?" Zoran asked.

"No."

"Can I sell it?"

"No! My badge!" Astro said defensively, holding the medal to his chest. God, I'm turning into a Zoran, he thought to himself.

"Com'on!" Zoran urged. Astro dug in the pocket again. Yes! He felt a couple of notes scrunched in the bottom. He took them out. "Um…that's about seven hundred. There you go." He passed the notes to Zoran. She took them and sighed.

"Is that all you've got?"

"Hey! I protect this city from aliens and killer machines; I don't really have time to work on my allowance!" Zoran smiled and turned up her nose.

"Excuses, excuses…" Astro narrowed his eyes. He looked around to see Cora standing out side a car. Her parents were out with her, her mother giving her a safety lecher and straightening her cloths. After a few nodes from Cora she smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "Okay. Have fun, sweetie!" she called as Cora ran up to him and Zoran.

"Hey Zoran!" she called. Zoran looked up, shoving the money in her pocket. Her eyes lit up.

"Cora!" they hugged and Cora looked up at Astro. They looked awkwardly at each other. She cleared her throat.

"Um, hey…" she greeted softly. He waved a bit.

"Hey…"

"ASTRO!" they all jolted there heads over to non other than Bruss and his gang with one of the Blondies, which so happened to be Zibby. A fire quickly smoked in Cora's stomach. "DIDN'T KNOW YOU'D BE DOWN HERE!" Cora looked to Astro. He was just staring at them, wondering what would be the right reaction. Cora then cleared her throat.

"Um, so, err…me and Zoran will head off, Ember shouldn't be long…" Cora took Zoran's hand and made her way into the center. Astro sighed and made his way over to Bruss. They all sat on an outside table, eating sweets and trying to hit people with the sticky leftovers. Bruss rose up and aimed for Cora's mother with a piece of gum. "Steady…steady…" as he chucked it Astro leaped over and caught it, turning and tossing it in a bin. Bruss narrowed his eyes. "Hey! That would have been a perfect hit!"

"Yeah, on Cora's parents." Astro defended. Zibby sighed.

"Oh, COM'ON!"

"No, Zibby, YOU COM'ON!" Astro suddenly snapped back. They all eyed him almost with a knowing glare. "Thanks to YOU, and your 'make Cora jealous because I know she's better than me kiss', I'VE been rejected by someone who ACTUALLY LIKES ME!"

Cora glanced back to Astro, talking with the gang. Oh my god…she thought. "He's still hanging out with them?" she shook her head and tugged Zoran into the doors.

"So thankyou all for ruining one of my best friends' relationship with me, next time a eight legged killing machine comes I'll make sure you'll get the full hero experience." And with that, Astro turned his back and walked off, leaving the gang wide eyed and Zibby fuming.

Hamegg looked up to Zog and the kids, playing around. He laughed as some of them fall head first in a impressive flip onto the old mattresses they had put around him to jump onto. Annex did a cartwheel infront of Hamegg. "Hamegg, I'm hungry!"

"I'm hungry too, kid, but we don't always get what we want." Annex sighed and ran up to join the others. Hamegg looked over to Zane, Sluch, Widget and Trashcan, washing the car. Widget scrubbed a wash brush over the bonnet. "So, how do you think Stone and Black escaped?" she asked. Zane, washing a window, shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe they got some help."

"Hey have you guys noticed Hamegg disappearing a lot?" Sluch whispered, wiping the back window. They all leaned over closer to each other and nodded.

"Yeah." Zane whispered. "But it could mean anything. I mean, maybe he's finally fed up of seeing your face!"

"Hey!" Sluch flicked some of his soapy water into Zane's hair.

"Why you little-!" Zane chucked his cloth onto Sluch's cheek. Hamegg looked around and then made his way into the building.

"WATER FIGHT!" the other kids raced over to join.

"What? No-!" soon the whole area was a war zone of flicking suds and spraying water. Zane and Widget looked up as Hamegg disappeared inside. "See what I mean?" Sluch joined.

"Where is he going?" Widget asked. "He would usually order us to stop wasting water."

"I don't know…" Zane said, staring at the door as a flying flannel soared over and slapped him on the cheek. "Hey…"

Hamegg made his way into his lab. He sat in his arm chair. He exhaled a tired sigh, reached out and grabbed the neck of a bottle of whisky when he heard something. Foot steps, coming from the corner of the room. Out of the vastly casts out shadows came non other than Stone. Hamegg dropped the bottle in shock. It crashed onto the hard concrete floor into a thousand dark shattered pieces. "Elegant." Stone nodded, staring down at the bottle. Hamegg wiped the shocked expression from his face and scowled at Stone.

"What are you doing in here? How did you get in? You better not have been spotted!"

"Settle down!" Stone ordered sternly. "Now, I've come here to discuss Astro, and no I wasn't detected entering." He said, pushing past Hamegg and sitting on a small metal stool. Hamegg twisted around and eyed him.

"But how did you get in?"

"The door, genius. Now, your robot you created which has called it's self, Zoran, has failed. Using the same DNA was a bad move, they've completely clicked with each other and now are actually what you would call 'family'." Hamegg snarled. "Did Zoran at least deliver the infection chips?" Hamegg nodded.

"Yes, a few nights ago she-"

"HEY!" they both turned towards Black in the doorway. Their eyes widened.

"BLACK?" Hamegg asked in astonishment. Stone turned his head away.

"Dam…" Black drunkenly half fell down the steps to join them.

"You're supposed to be dead!" Hamegg exclaimed.

"Sorry to disappoint ya, mate, but technically YOU'RE supposed to be squished by Zog an' YOU'RE supposed to be in smithereens with the Peace Keeper. So I've simply just joined the club."

"Why are you here, you drunk maniac?" Stone insulted.

"So glad you asked, you uptight bastard." Stone snarled as Black collapsed on the lab table. He pointed to both of them. "I need more stuff." He said.

"Stuff?" Hamegg asked. Black sighed.

"It ain't ROCKET SCIENCE ladies! Ya know, tools, materials…stuff."

"What makes you think I'm going to lend you them after what happened to the other one?" Stone growled.

"Bet's off, guys. I just want to kill the fricken thing. I'll pay for all of it if you guys just let me finish 'is contraption, alright? Deal? Sold? Great!" Stone and Hamegg glanced at each other and looked back to Black.

"Fine. You've got yourself a deal, Black." Black smiled and jumped off the table, throwing a card to them.

"That's were I kinda, well, live. K?" with that he practically jumped out through the doorway and left.

Astro walked along the outside of the shopping center. A smile was on his face. "That so showed them…" he mumbled. He walked past another public bin, when a hand reached out and grabbed him. "WHOA!" Astro was dragged to the ground to come face to face with Conner and Henna. He sighed. "Okay, what's going on?"

"You totally paid out Zibby and Bruss BIG TIME!" Henna said excitedly.

"We heard the whole thing!" Conner joined. Astro smiled. Then he shook his head.

"Wait…you've been stalking me?" Henna and Conner diverted their eyes and started whistling. Astro raised an eyebrow at them and shook his head again.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Astro's phone suddenly started ringing. He dug in his pocket and pulled it put, a piece of gum falling out. "Ooo! Gum…" Conner reached out and snatched it up.

"Hello?" Astro talked into the phone.

"Astro." He recognized the voice straight away.

"Dad? What's wrong? Are you at your destination yet?" Henna and Conner watched as the conversation went on.

"Sadly no, and we'll never get there if you don't come over to help us. The whole ship has malfunctioned and I need you to get one of the smaller transportation cars working so I can go to a supply store to fix the engine." Astro nodded and stood up.

"I'll get there in about half an hour."

"Good."

"Bye." He clicked the phone off and shoved it back in his pocket. Conner and Henna stood aswell.

"Where are you going?" Henna asked.

"The Surface to help my dad and the other thirty scientists on his ship. Which might I add, is going down as we speak." Astro answered. Conner nodded.

"Yep, good enough excuse to leave!"

"Go save them! We'll be waiting." Astro smiled and boosted his rocket boots, surging him high into the sky. I'll have to be quick, he thought to himself. If the whole ship's in danger, there's no time to waste.

Zoran looked around the center with wide eyes. Cora looked at her and smiled. There was a huge fountain in the center, surrounded by walking and talking families and people, with all sorts of shops and cafes. Ember was seen pushing through the crowd towards them. They waved as she came panting over. "It's a compete ZOO in here!" she heaved.

"Well, yeah, haven't you ever been to a mall before?" Cora asked. She shook her head.

"Never was interested. You?"

"Nope." They smiled and looked at Zoran, still staring wide eyed at all the sights.

"I think we're all new. Hey Zoran, how much money you got?" Ember asked. Zoran shook her head, diverted from the mall and looked to them.

"Oh, me? Astro gave me $700."

"That's all?" she nodded. Then she smiled slyly. She pulled put a credit card out of her pocket. Cora and Ember's eyes turned big and glassy.

"Where did you get THAT?" Cora said with a smile. Zoran casually started walking ahead.

"It's daddy's credit card." She answered like a spoilt daughter.

"Won't your daddy-(ahem) your DAD, be angry?" Cora asked. Zoran turned to them.

"Well that's just a risk will have to take, huh?" they all grinned.

"Com'on! Zoran we have to get you cloths!" Cora said, running after.

"No way! I wanna get a new 360BlackAttack hover board!" Ember whined.

"Hey, all I want is skate boots, a pony plush, Xbox1000 video game, new cloths including a new pink pop skirt with matching stripy stockings, a pet hamster coloured rainbow which I'll call Jelly, new and improved arm cannons, a bed pillow with my name printed on it, a white laptop and a cookie and I'll be fine." they all raced to the entrance of the nearest cloths store entrance. Cora and Zoran raced in but Ember stood stubbornly with her arms crossed. Cora stopped with Zoran and looked back at her. "Well? Aren't you coming?"

"I won't be caught DEAD in a cloths store and that's final." She remarked.

"Oh com'on, Ember! It's just a wittle bit of cloths shopping! You won't even have to try some on!" Cora encouraged, walking up to her. She turned away.

"No." Cora grabbed her arms and tried to pull her in.

"You're… coming…with us!" she groaned as they fought with each other. Ember tugging one way, Cora pulling the other way. Zoran leapt over and took hold of Ember's sleeve. Ember looked at her. "Ah-oh…" Zoran tugged slightly on her arm. Ember got practically thrown into the store and landed on her stomach. Some people stared with confused looks on their faces. "Thanks for that Zoran…thank's A LOT." She mumbled. But Cora and Zoran were already raiding the cloths racks. She sighed. "It's gonna be a loooong day…"